NEW YORK: Johnny Nunez hadn’t slept in nearly 18 hours, but there he was backstage at the Baby Phat fashion show on Feb. 2, whizzing about Roseland like someone who had just inhaled a six-pack of Red Bull. His ever-present camera an $11,000 Canon hung dutifully on his right shoulder, as his eyes scanned the room for celebrities. “Tonight’s going to be big,” Nunez said, “because everyone comes out to this event.” Moments later, the music mogul Russell...

Two of India’s biggest film stars one an aging icon, the other the heart throb of a younger generation are battling for popular approval, their rivalry revealed by subtle digs. Amitabh Bachchan, 64, has ruled the Indian box office for decades, and Shah Rukh Khan, 41, is the reigning star and possibly Bollywood’s highest-paid actor. While the country’s celebrity-gossip journalists have compared their star power, fan following and box office fortunes, the two actors had refused to join the fray. But not any more. The comments began after Khan took over a popular television quiz show in January that Bachchan once hosted. “That was your generation, this is mine,” Khan said in an interview. “I’m cool, hip, sexy and wonderful.” In an interview with Times Now television, Bachchan responded: “If you want to do an honest comparison, you should wait for him to get to 65 and then see how he fares.” Both actors say talk of their rivalry is a media creation, but commentators say the controversy won’t hurt either star. (Reuters)

It’s a dramatic shift, when funny men turn serious. Even Eddie Murphy, the latest of Hollywood’s leading comic performers to try, has had some laughs over his own transformation, which could bring him an Academy Award this month. At the Screen Actors Guild awards last month, where he won a supporting actor prize for “Dreamgirls,” Murphy adopted a British accent as he soberly remarked how honored he was to be recognized by his peers. But he could not keep a broad grin in check for more than a few seconds. “No, I’m sorry,” Murphy said after a moment, laughing. “It’s just when the British people come and get the awards, it’s so smooth with their stuff. And I feel goofy up here, ’cause I don’t be winning stuff.” Murphy is favored to follow his “Dreamgirls” co-star Jamie Foxx, the best actor recipient two years ago, as an actor who started in comedy and was awarded an Oscar for a dramatic role. (AP)

The British pop singer Robbie Williams spent his 33rd birthday Wednesday in an unspecified rehabilitation center in the United States, where he is being treated for an addiction to prescription drugs, Reuters reported. His public relations agent gave no further details. Williams achieved fame with the boy band Take That and was treated for drug and alcohol dependency after it broke up in the mid-1990s. He went on to begin a successful solo career.

He’s Salman Rushdie, the university professor, once again. Rushdie, the author of “The Satanic Verses” and “Shalimar the Clown,” this week began a five-year position at Emory University in Atlanta. He will teach world literature to graduate students. His appointment is coupled with the donation of his literary archives to the university’s library. They include manuscripts, journals and letters from his writing career. Rushdie, 59, who has lectured at campuses around the world, said he chose Emory, in part, “because they asked me and nobody else ever had.” The school’s library already is home to archives from the British poet laureate Ted Hughes and the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. (AP)

Omar Sharif, the Egyptian-born actor best known for his roles in “Dr. Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia,” was sentenced to two years’ probation and 15 hours of anger management after he pleaded no contest this week in Beverly Hills, California, to misdemeanor battery for punching a parking valet who refused to accept a \20 note, breaking the man’s nose. According to the lawsuit, Sharif, 74, was belligerent and intoxicated and called Juan Anderson, a Guatemalan immigrant, a “stupid Mexican” for refusing to accept the currency. In American courts, a no contest plea is the same as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes in criminal cases, but cannot be used as an admission of guilt in a civil case. Anderson is seeking $17,000 in compensation, the actor’s attorney said. (AP, NYT)

A drama about a Brazilian man killed by the police in London is being filmed by a British studio with Stephen Frears, who made “The Queen,” as executive producer. Mango Films will focus on events before the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber by the police in July 2005, and the impact of the shooting on London’s Brazilian community. The director, Henrique Goldman, said it would be a “human” story. (BBC)

Action Insight | Written by ActionForex.com | Jan 19 07 15:23 GMT | Forex Mid-Day Technical Report Dollar Firmer but Still in Range Dollar is mildly firmer in US session after better than expected preliminary University of Michigan sentiments which rose to 98 in Jan, from 91.7, above consensus of 92.5. However, generally speaking dollar is still bounded in tight range against majors without much progress. Richmond Fed Lacker and Kansas City Fed Hoenig will speak on economic outlook today...