Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has become a father again at age 68 after his wife, Sally Humphreys, gave birth to twin girls. Wood’s publicist Karen McNamara said that the couple “are delighted to announce the birth” of Gracie Jane, who weighed 6 pounds (2.7kg), and Alice Rose, who weighed 5.7 pounds (2.58kg). The twins are the fifth and sixth children for Wood, who turned 69 yesterday, and the first for 38-year-old Humphreys, who married Wood in 2012. – AP
Indian police demand removal of ‘disrespectful’ comedy video
Police in India have asked Facebook and YouTube to remove a video posted by comedian Tanmay Bhat that mocks a legendary Indian singer and a cricket player. Bhat posted a Snapchat video last week using the app’s face swap feature to impersonate cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and singer Lata Mangeshkar and show them arguing with each other. The 43-year-old Tendulkar retired from the sport in 2013, but still has iconic status. Mangeshkar is one of India’s most famous singers, having performed thousands of Bollywood songs in a career that has spanned more than six decades. Neither celebrity has commented on the video or the angry response it prompted. Bhat is a member of the popular comedy collective All India Bakchod, which pushes the boundaries of humour in a country where such jokes are often deemed disrespectful. – AP
Emily Blunt lands title role in Mary Poppins sequel
Into the Woods star Emily Blunt will take over the role of Mary Poppins from Julie Andrews in a sequel to the 1964 Disney classic, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda – creator of smash-hit Broadway show Hamilton – also in the cast as new character Jack, a street lamplighter. The film, Mary Poppins Returns, will centre on a now-grown Michael Banks and his three children in the aftermath of a tragedy and the help they get from Mary Poppins and Jack in Depression-era London. Rob Marshall is set to direct and the script is by Finding Neverland writer David Magee. The film is scheduled for release on December 25, 2018. – AP
After 50 years of acting, Jodie Foster is focusing on directing
Hollywood star Jodie Foster is setting her sights on directing more movies as she marks half a century in the spotlight, but says she has no plans to quit acting completely. The 53-year-old, who was in Sydney this week to promote her latest directorial effort, Money Monster, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, made her debut behind the camera in her 20s with Little Man Tate but has only directed a handful of films since. "It's crazy," she said. "I started [directing] when I was 27 and I've only made four movies." She said bringing up two children and difficulties in getting films funded had hindered her. A former child star, Foster said it was "kind of an amazing thing" that she had been acting for 50 years, but her life was now more focused on directing. In addition to films, the two-time Academy Award winner has directed episodes of critically-acclaimed Netflix series Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards. – AFP
The Little Prince painting sells for €133,000
An original watercolour painting from classic French book Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) was sold at auction for €133,200 (Dh544,300) this week. Six buyers battled it out for the painting, which fetched more than double its list price. Guillaume Romaneix, a books and manuscripts specialist at Artcurial, said, "The price obtained for this iconic image is a measure of the status of this universal work of art and its international fame." The painting shows the prince in the desert, standing on a dune with his scarf and hair blowing in the wind. It was used for the first US edition of the classic illustrated book by aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The author had escaped to America during the Second World War after Germany's invasion of France and wrote the book there in 1942. It was published in 1943. The Little Prince has sold 145 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 270 languages. – AFP
New Wally Lamb novel will appear first as multimedia app
Author Wally Lamb's new novel, I'll Take You There, will come out on paper in November, but first it will be released as a multimedia app. Metabook and HarperCollins said the book will appear on November 20 as an app and two days later in paper, audio and e-book editions. Metabook, a digital start-up that helped design the app, acquired the novel in 2013 and licensed rights to the other editions to HarperCollins. The app will feature a soundtrack, short movies and images based on Lamb's novel, which tells the story of a film professor and a haunted theatre. Lamb is known for such best-sellers such as I Know This Much is True and She's Come Undone. Other authors who have published app versions of their work include Rick Riordan and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. – AP