Lawrence in King and I

Fat Friends actress Josie Lawrence is to take over the starring role of Anna in the West End stage hit The King And I.

Lawrence will replace Elaine Paige who leaves at the end of her contract in April, after a year starring as the teacher who wins the heart of the King of Siam.

The actress is known for her role in ITV slimming drama Fat Friends and Channel 4's Whose Line Is It Anyway as well as being an accomplished stage actress and comedienne.

She will take over the role at the London Palladium on 24 April.

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Carlos Santana toasted in Mexico

Grammy award winning guitarist Carlos Santana has been honoured after a 46 year absence in his home town of Autlan, west-central Mexico.

Virtually the whole town of 2000 people turned up to cheer the man whose father was a well-known musician in Autlan.

So delighted was Santana at the turnout and the naming of a street after him he said: "I scratch myself and I don't wake up."

He added that he learned to play music in the local church before expanding his learning in Tijuana's bordellos and asked for a minute of silence in honour of his father.

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Womack leads Country Music nominees

Toby Keith and Lee Ann Womack have six nominations each including album, single and song in the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Among the other multiple nominees were Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, the Dixie Chicks and Brooks and Dunn.

Dixie Chicks, Hill and Keith are all among nominees for entertainer of the year.

Winners will be announced during the 36th annual Academy of Country Music Awards show on 9 May.

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Shaggy eyes third number one

Jamaican-born ragga artist Shaggy is on course to bag his third UK number one single, after selling almost four times as many copies as the current number one from Atomic Kitten.

Early sales figures show that Shaggy's It Wasn't Me sold 81,000 copies on its first day in the shops on Monday.

Atomic Kitten's Whole Again - which has been number one for four weeks - sold 21,917.

Shaggy - whose real name is Orville Richard Burrell - previously had chart-topping hits with Oh Carolina and Bombastic.

Manic Street Preachers, who released two new singles - So Why So Sad and Found That Soul - look likely to land the number three and four spots in the new chart on Sunday.

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Judge says fan must not contact Houston

A New Jersey Superior Court Judge Kenneth MacKenzie reinstated an order barring a woman from contacting singer Whitney Houston.

Desiree Weeks, 33, who has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, repeatedly sent letters, cards and gifts to the pop star.

Houston had a previous restraint on Weeks lifted in June, believing she was locked up securely, but filed for the reinstatement because Weeks escaped from Hospital for 11 hours in January.

"You hear stories of people stalking celebrities and you never know if they're realistic threats or not," said Houston's attorney.

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Besson scriptwriters agree to mediation

Two scriptwriters who went to a Paris court to stop the release of a new film produced by director Luc Besson, who made The Big Blue and Subway, have accepted mediation.

Besson wrote the forthcoming film Yamakasi: the modern day samurai with Julien Seri and Philippe Lyon, but the two were fired during filming.

Seri and Lyon took the case to court calling for a halt to the release of the film, which is due out on 4 April.

They have now agreed to mediation, but Seri and Lyon are seeking millions of francs in compensation and recognition of their copyright.