'Fat Brother' hits screens

Twelve slimmers are taking part in a Dutch reality TV show which has been dubbed "Fat Brother".

Over 13 weeks they will compete to win their weight loss in gold while locked in a castle near Maastricht under the constant gaze of TV cameras.

The show Big Diet is made by Endemol - the company behind the successful Big Brother series.

To make things more difficult, the castle contains a "temptation fridge" of fattening snacks.

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Survivors at Pearl Harbour premiere

Disney's latest epic Pearl Harbour will receive its premiere before 2,000 guests on board a US aircraft carrier in the real Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

Survivors of the attack by Japanese bombers in December 1941 will attend the screening on 18 May.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer at a cost of $135m (£84.4m), the film stars Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett alongside British actress Kate Beckinsale.

The film hits UK screens on 1 June.

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£1m appeal to save music archive

The British Library has launched an appeal to raise £1m to try to keep an historic music archive in the UK.

The collection includes a score of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony annotated by the composer.

The manuscript is the centrepiece of the Royal Philharmonic Society Archive which is to be sold for £1 million to raise cash to help young musicians

The collection also includes the original score of Mendelssohn's First Symphony that he presented to the Society after its 1829 premiere.

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UN role for jazz musician

Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis has been appointed a cultural ambassador by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The 39-year-old, who made his name with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, becomes the first jazz musician appointed by Annan to serve as a "messenger of peace".

Others include singer Luciano Pavarotti, former boxer Muhammad Ali, and basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Marsalis called music the perfect passport for a global ambassador.

He said: "Music is an international language. It's even a cliche to say it.

"It's having an impact on people - it's impacting their culture, it's what they dance to, it's what they make love to, it's what they study to."

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Streisand joins new Snow White

Barbara Streisand has re-recorded the song Some Day My Prince Will Come for a new DVD version of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The singer performed the track backed by a symphony orchestra at a studio in Hollywood on Monday.

The 1937 original has sold 25 million copies in the US, and Disney is hoping to repeat the success of the remastered Fantasia 2000.