On the global Taff Trail

By Tom Bourton BBC News Online

There is just no escaping Catherine Zeta Jones this week.

She is in the dock, in the Oscar frame and among the movie rumours too.

It has been revealed in the US magazine Variety that Swansea's most famous export since Dylan Thomas will soon be sharing the screen with husband Michael Douglas for the first time.

Billy Bob Thornton will star opposite Catherine Zeta Jones

Although the pair both starred in Traffic, they did not actually appear in any of the same scenes.

They are now said to be looking forward to playing two criminals in Monkeyface, a thriller about a heist in the world of horse racing.

Filming on the movie - directed by Brit Stephen Frears, who recently helmed Dirty Pretty Things - is due to start in Miami in September.

Zeta Jones' latest film Intolerable Cruelty, which was written by the Coen Brothers and co-stars George Clooney, Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton, has been pencilled in for a November release date.

Elsewhere, internet gossip on Dark Horizons is linking Pembrokeshire's Christian Bale with the lead role of Mr 47 in a film called The Hitman.

There are precious few details about, but it could well be linked to a highly-acclaimed shoot 'em up game called Hitman: Codename 47 published by Eidos.

Sad loss

On a more melancholy note, Tom Jones has cancelled a series of his concerts in Las Vegas after the death his 87-year-old mother.

Jones is said to be "devastated" and is expected to bury his mother, who moved out to America 25 years ago, alongside his father in Los Angeles.

Rumours about the name of the Stereophonics album are circulating

Treforest-born Jones is due to tour the UK later this year.

Meanwhile, there is a snippet more news on the Stereophonics, with rumours circulating on a fans website that You Gotta Go There To Come Back could be the name of the new album.

Time will tell if that turns out to be true.

Men Behaving Badly actor Neil Morrissey has been speaking about his new project renovating a hotel called Hurst House in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.

The star has a 30% stake in the scheme, which is due to open next month, and could expand to include a health spa and swimming pool.

"It's going to be so fantastic," he told the Welsh Mirror.

Finally, according to Heat magazine, Charlotte Church is to join an illustrious list of stars and become the youngest person to address the Oxford University Union.

Her appearance is scheduled for March, and the union's spokesman has reportedly described Ms Church as "very brave".