The singer and actor Justin Timberlake and his actress wife Jessica Biel are celebrating the arrival of their first child, a boy named Silas Randall. Timberlake, 34, was "ecstatic", People magazine reported, adding that mother and baby were doing well after the birth on Saturday. "My amazing son and his beautiful wife have given us the most precious gift in the world." Timberlake's mother, Lynn Harless, wrote on Facebook. Biel and the former N'Sync frontman Timberlake began dating in 2007. They married in 2012 in Italy. – AFP
Rapper Nelly faces drugs charges
The rapper and reality TV star Nelly, real name Cornell Haynes, is facing drug charges after being arrested on Saturday. Tennessee Highway Patrol said that the bus he was on was pulled over at about 9.20am because it failed to display a US Department of Transportation and International Fuel Tax Association sticker. Troopers smelled marijuana and when they searched the bus they found five rocks that tested positive for methamphetamine, a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. They also found numerous handguns. Nelly, 40, who is from St Louis, is facing charges including felony possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He was released on a US$10,000 (Dh36,700) bond. His next court date was set for June 19. – AP
Lebanese actor dies in car crash
The Lebanese actor Issam Breidy was killed in a car crash yesterday morning in Beirut's Al Dora area. He was 35. A well-known and popular face in the country's drama and comedy scenes, Breidy – the brother of TV presenter Wissam Breidy – had appeared in a number of movies, TV series and stage plays. Before the accident, The Daily Star reported, Breidy had been performing with his band at a venue in Beirut's Hamra area. – The National staff
Boston Bombing film slammed
Too soon. That was the overwhelming reaction to the actor Mark Wahlberg's plans to make Patriots' Day, a feature film about the bombing of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Columnists, pundits and relatives of the dead and injured said that the pain and suffering is still too fresh for the families of the three people who were killed and the hundreds injured. "How does someone who markets himself as 'a Boston guy' not see that it is far too soon, that the city is still far too sad for its trauma to be transformed into mass entertainment?" wrote Eileen McNamara, a former columnist for The Boston Globe. Others questioned the timing of the announcement – two weeks before the second anniversary of the bombing and in the middle of the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 21-year-old who was convicted on Wednesday of the attack and could be sentenced to death. CBS Films said the movie would be based on a first-hand account from former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis of the manhunt for Tsarnaev and his brother, who died during a gun battle with police. – AP
Legal battle over grunge tapes
The co-founder of a famed Seattle recording studio is being sued to turn over the master recording tapes to one of the defining albums of the grunge era – Temple of the Dog, which featured members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The Seattle Times reported that A&M Records filed the lawsuit last week. The company says it bought the album from the supergroup in 1991, but Rajan Parashar, who launched London Bridge Studios with his brother, won't give up the master tapes. Temple of the Dog were founded by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who was joined by future members of Pearl Jam, including Eddie Vedder. –AP
