British singer Adele extended her reign at the top of the weekly US Billboard 200 album chart to four weeks on Monday, and enjoyed a boost in sales of her previous album as well. Her record-setting album 25 sold another 728,000 copies, 297,000 songs and was streamed 8.4 million times in the past week, totalling 825,000 units, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. Adele's 2011 album 21, with which the singer won six Grammy awards, climbed four spots to No 10, with sales of 49,000 units. Tickets for the 27-year-old singer's 56-date North America tour, her first in five years, sold out in minutes last week. Justin Bieber's Purpose climbed one spot to number 2, while Coldplay's A Head Full of Dreams, dropped from No 2 to No 7. – Reuters
Obama to appear on Seinfeld’s talk show
US president Barack Obama will be Jerry Seinfeld's first guest when the seventh season of his online talk show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, begins on December 30. The show usually features the New York comedian, who is a fan and collector of cars, picking up fellow comics in classic vehicles and taking them out for coffee and conversation. Obama and Seinfeld recorded the special edition at the White House this month. According to White House officials, they took turns circling the South Lawn in a 1963 Corvette Stingray split-window coupe, before chatting over coffee in a basement dining room. They chatted about what makes life in the White House life remarkable and routine. The interview will be released on New Year's Eve on Crackle, Sony Pictures' online service, and at Comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com. – AP
Initial filming for Salman Khan movie completed
Ali Abbas Zafar, director of Bollywood star Salman Khan's upcoming movie Sultan has revealed that the first stage of filming is complete. "First schedule of @SultanTheMovie wraps today. 20 days down, 90 more to go. Scenic beach from set window make the day," Zafar tweeted on Monday. The action film is reportedly based on the life of a wrestler. Khan is said to have undergone intensive physical and martial-arts training for the role. The film's leading lady is yet to be revealed. There had been persistent rumours that actress Parineeti Chopra was part of the cast, but the Ishaqzaade actress took to Twitter this month to deny the reports. Sultan is scheduled for release during Eid next year. – IANS
Rowling speaks out on Potter play casting
Harry Potter creator J K Rowling on Monday praised the casting of a black actress as the wizard's sidekick Hermione Granger in a London play that is a sequel to her series of books and the movies based on them. Producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, due to open in June, announced on Monday that Swaziland-born actress Noma Dumezweni would play the role made famous by Emma Watson in the films. Creator Rowling gave her seal of approval in a tweet, writing: "Brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione." However, some Twitter users pointed out that lines from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban say that the character's "white face was sticking out from behind a tree". Dumezweni won an Olivier Award for her role in the play A Raisin in the Sun. The West End show, written by English screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne is being produced with Rowling's collaboration. Set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – the seventh and final novel of the series – sees Harry working for the Ministry of Magic. "It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children," the synopsis reads. "As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places." – AFP
Tarantino gets his Walk of Fame star
Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, just days before the release of his latest movie The Hateful Eight. Tarantino told the crowd that gathered at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard how his parents used to take him to see films at the famed theatre, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and his first Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever. "The line went all the way down the block. And we stayed in that line, and at one point of that line, I stood right there," he said, pointing to his star. "So, I have called Hollywood my home even before I lived in this ZIP code for a very, very long time." The filmmaker has won Oscars for Django Unchained in 2013 and Pulp Fiction in 1995. The Hateful Eight has received lukewarm reviews and was snubbed by the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations. – AFP
Cosby sues model for defamation
Comedian Bill Cosby sued model Beverly Johnson on Monday, claiming that she had defamed him by accusing him of drugging her. She is the eighth accuser he has filed suit against this month. Johnson is among more than 50 women who have come forward in the past year with claims that Cosby drugged, and in numerous cases sexually assaulted, them in incidents dating back decades. Cosby’s suit alleges that Johnson, a leading model in the 1970s and ’80s, and one of his most high-profile accusers, defamed him and intentionally inflicted emotional distress. He is demanding a jury trial, court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court showed. Cosby’s representative, Monique Pressley, said that “Mr Cosby states that he never drugged defendant, and her story is a lie”. A representative for Johnson was not available for comment. Cosby, 78, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He has never been criminally charged. Many of the alleged incidents occurred decades ago and the statute of limitations for prosecuting them expired long ago. Last week, Cosby filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts suing seven of his accusers for defamation. They had filed suit against Cosby last December accusing him of assault, libel and slander. – Reuters
