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Thursday, December 31, 1998 Published at 13:42 GMT


Entertainment

Busta Rhymes busted

Busta Rhymes: Loaded handgun allegedly found in his car

Rapper Busta Rhymes and his manager have been arrested in New York for an alleged firearms offence.

The 26-year-old, whose real name is Trevor Smith, was stopped and arrested along with Gerald Odom, 25, on Sunday after police allegedly found a loaded handgun in the singer's Mercedes-Benz car.

The police also charged Odom with possession of a bag of marijuana.

Busta Rhymes was nominated for a 1998 Grammy for his song Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.


Dana 'to stand in Euro elections'


[ image: Dana: Stood in the 1997 presidential election]
Dana: Stood in the 1997 presidential election
Former Eurovision Song Contest winner Dana is preparing a new bid to enter Irish politics, according to reports.

The 45-year-old singer - who won the competition with All Kinds of Everything in 1970 - is reportedly planning to stand in the 1999 European Parliament elections.

The mother-of-four - real name Rosemary Scallon - finished third with 14% of the national vote in last year's presidential election won by Mary McAleese.

Her campaign was based on traditional Christian values and prompted the entertainer to indicate an interest in entering politics full time.

She was later approached by both of the Irish Republic's main political parties, the currently in-office Fianna Fail and the opposition Fine Gael. Reports in Ireland say Dana would run as an independent.

Earlier this year she moved from the US to County Cork and she is tipped to stand in the south-western constituency of Munster.


It's daytime TV war, warns Vanessa


[ image: Vanessa Fektz: Gloves off in morning TV war]
Vanessa Fektz: Gloves off in morning TV war
Chat show queen Vanessa Feltz has vowed her new show will thrash its ITV rival - fronted by the woman who replaced her - in a head-to-head ratings battle beginning next week.

Ms Feltz, who was fired by Anglia Television in a much publicised row during the summer, starts her new morning programme The Vanessa Show on Monday on BBC One at 0945 GMT.

The show runs against ITV's Trisha - which filled the slot she vacated.

"She's no competition," Ms Feltz said of her replacement Trisha Goddard. "I'm certainly not worried - no sweat."

She jokes in the four months since she quit ITV she had spent her mornings throwing tomatoes and eggs at the screen.

"It's horrible when someone else is doing it and you're at home in your dressing gown and eating your Frosties," she said.

Her new programme will be "a topical news discussion" and will feature offbeat celebrity features.

Other features will include consumer problems and a live family fly-on-the-wall documentary.

"Daytime audiences are normally fed a diet of pap and they have to live with that," Ms Feltz said. "The BBC is waking up to that."


Pop divas team up for film


[ image: Diana Ross: Teaming up with young star Brandy]
Diana Ross: Teaming up with young star Brandy
Two generations of pop divas have teamed up to make a movie - with Motown legend Diana Ross joining current star Brandy playing mother and daughter in new film Double Platinum.

It features Ross as an ambitious singer who abandons her new-born daughter to follow her dreams of stardom. She succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, but 18 years later finds her daughter - played by Brandy - has the same talent.

She decides to help her - but that involves revealing her identity.

Before filming started in New York, Brandy admitted she was nervous about working with Ross.

But she said: "I will ask her for advice, because there's a lot I want to know about this business, especially in terms of longevity".


Sean Penn: 'I'll quit acting'

Actor Sean Penn has said he wants to leave the industry - despite receiving glowing reviews for his latest roles.

He told the New York Times that once he finished work on Woody Allen's next film, in which he plays a 1930s jazz musician, he will move behind the camera instead.

He said: "I'm talking about a whole career of feeling that the movies I cared most about, movies like At Close Range and She's So Lovely, were just not seen. So I would rather write and direct."

However, others feel he'll be appearing on screen for some time to come.

Warren Beatty said: "He's not going to give up acting. What Sean means is that he would like to give up the thought of making the brand of picture that opens big on a Friday night."



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