Paul McCartney is over an illness that forced the cancellation of his Asian tour. McCartney "has recovered well enough to travel on an airplane" on Monday, said the organisers of the Japanese leg of his Out There global tour. The former Beatle arrived in Japan on May 15 and was due to play four sold-out dates in Tokyo and Osaka. But the 71-year-old cancelled all his gigs as well as the South Korean leg of the tour, saying he had taken unwell with an undisclosed virus. The Japanese tabloid Nikkan Gendai, citing an unnamed person close to the musician, said on Tuesday that McCartney had a laparoscopy – surgery using a thin tube inserted into his abdomen. A viral disease had been "suspected for nausea, vomiting and stomach ache but his case was diagnosed as an intestinal obstruction". – AFP
Sunaina Roshan to write book on brother Hrithik
Sunaina Roshan, who this week launched To Dad, With Love, a pictorial biography of her father, the actor and filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, says her next project may be a book on her superstar brother Hrithik Roshan. The Roshan family attended the book launch in New Delhi on Monday, where Sunaina said "a book on Hrithik" might follow. Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif were recently in Abu Dhabi on a three-week filming schedule for their forthcoming action drama Bang Bang. – IANS
Rolling Stones return to the road
The Rolling Stones, who interrupted their world tour in March after the death of Mick Jagger's girlfriend, returned to the road on Monday with a high-energy show lasting over two hours in Oslo, Norway. Playing to a sold-out crowd of 23,000, Jagger did not mention his late girlfriend, the fashion designer L'Wren Scott, but proved himself proficient in Norwegian between songs. The band played hits from their decades-long catalogue, including a rendition of You Can't Always Get What You Want featuring Bergen's Edvard Grieg Youth Choir. The Stones' next concert is in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 29.– AP
Saif and Varun might star in KJo film
Bollywood's celebrity filmmaker Karan Johar, or KJo, is reportedly in talks with the 43-year-old star Saif Ali Khan and the two-film-old Varun Dhawan, 27, to star in his next production, a "young love story" directed by the filmmaker Mohit Suri. A source told The Times of India that the drama "needs two male actors with an appreciable age difference between them. The modalities are being worked out". Johar celebrated his 42nd birthday in Mumbai on Saturday with a grand party that was attended by the Hindi film industry's A-listers. – The National staff
Cowboy crooner Herb Jeffries dies
Herb Jeffries, the jazz singer and actor who performed with Duke Ellington and was known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" in a series of all-black 1930s Westerns, died of heart failure on Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 100. His death was confirmed by Raymond Strait, who worked with Jeffries on his not-yet-published autobiography, Color of Love. With a mellow voice and handsome face, Jeffries became familiar to jazz fans, but segregation in the film industry limited his movie career. He scored a big hit with Ellington as the vocalist on Flamingo, recorded in 1940 and later covered by a white singer, the popular vocalist Tony Martin. Among the other songs he did with Ellington were There Shall Be No Night and You, You Darlin'. – AP
