Justin Bieber and Usher face copyright lawsuit

Plus, Timberlake announces a world tour and his new album; Lauryn Hill gets three years in prison for tax evasion; Helen Mirren gives noisy drummers a royal rebuke.

Justin Bieber is being sued for copyright infringement. EPA

Bieber and Usher face copyright lawsuit

Two Virginia songwriters are suing Justin Bieber and Usher for US$10 million (Dh36.7m) for copyright infringement. Devin Copeland and Mareio Overton claim Bieber's song Somebody to Love, which features the teen star's mentor Usher, contains numerous lyrical and stylistic similarities to a song they wrote in 2008 by the same name. The lawsuit says Copeland and Overton provided a copy of their song to musical promoters, who in turn gave it to representatives of Usher. Usher first recorded the song as a demo for his 2010 album Raymond v Raymond. – AP

Justin Timberlake announces his new album and a world tour

Justin Timberlake will embark on an international tour in October – his first in six years – and will release 10 new songs at the end of September. The 20/20 Experience, the singer's first album in seven years, was released in March. He is now planning to release 10 new songs in a second installment of The 20/20 Experience on September 30. The North American leg of Timberlake's tour will begin on October 31 in Montreal and finish on February 10 in Omaha. The European, Australian and South American tour dates have yet to be announced. – Reuters

Hill gets three months for tax evasion

Lauryn Hill stood in federal court on Monday and compared her experience in the music business to the slavery her ancestors endured before a judge sentenced her to three months in prison for failing to pay about $1 million in taxes. "I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them," Hill said. "I had an economic system imposed on me." The sentencing took into account unpaid state and federal taxes from 2005 to 2009. In a forceful statement to the judge punctuated by occasional raps with her fist on the podium, Hill described how she failed to pay taxes during a period when she'd dropped out of the music business to protect her children, who now number six. – AP

Aerosmith in Manila for their first South-east Asia show

Members of Aerosmith have arrived in Manila for their first concert in South-east Asia. Steven Tyler told journalists jostling for pictures on Monday: "I can't wait to play, I can't believe you guys." Aerosmith is performing in Manila today, with tickets costing up to $480. The band's show in Indonesia was cancelled, with the promoter Ismaya Live citing safety concerns. It wasn't clear if the decision was connected to an alleged bomb plot targeting Myanmar's embassy in Jakarta. – AP

Helen Mirren gives noisy drummers a royal rebuke

A troupe of street drummers got a shock when Helen Mirren, dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, emerged from a London theatre to berate them for disrupting her show. Mirren is starring in The Audience, a drama about the weekly meetings between the queen and Britain's prime ministers over her 60-year reign. Mirren told the Daily Telegraph that she used less-than-royal language in her rant. "I'm afraid there were a few 'thespian' words used," Mirren said. "They got a royal ticking off but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately. I felt rotten, but on the other hand they were destroying our performance so something had to be done." – AP

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