Brad Pitt turns designer for high-end furniture collection

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Brad Pitt has turned his talents to creating furniture for a luxury design house with a high-end collection inspired by both Art Nouveau and Art Deco, according to Architectural Digest.

Pitt, who collaborated on the collection with U.S. furniture designer Frank Pollaro, discussed his inspirations for the capsule collection in the December issue of the magazine.

"I'm drawn to furniture design as complete architecture on a minor scale," Pitt said. "I am obsessively bent on quality, to an unhealthy degree."

Pitt said it was his obsession that introduced him to Pollaro, whom he said embodies the "same mad spirit of the craftsmen of yore, with their obsessive attention to detail."

The dozen-piece collection, which will be unveiled by the Pollaro furniture house in New York between November 13 and 15, will include tables, chairs, an elaborate bed and a bathtub made of marble.

The 48-year-old "Fight Club" actor said he was influenced by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow Rose, drawn with a continuous line. He designed his collection with the fluidity of a single line, be it geometric or circular.

"There is something more grand at play, as if you could tell the story of one's life with a single line — from birth to death, with all the bloody triumphs and perceived humiliating losses, even boredoms, along the way," the actor said.

Pitt has previously worked with well-known architects for his Make It Right foundation to create affordable quality housing for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He also designed a diamond ring for his partner, Angelina Jolie, when the couple got engaged earlier this year.

The actor also became the latest and first male face of Chanel's iconic women's fragrance Chanel No.5 last month, mystifying critics and fashionistas with an enigmatic video commercial.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Patricia Reaney, Bernard Orr)

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Sharon Osbourne has double mastectomy: magazine

LONDON (Reuters) - British celebrity Sharon Osbourne has had a double mastectomy after discovering she was carrying a gene that increased the risk of her developing breast cancer, she told Hello! magazine in an interview published on Monday.

Osbourne, 60, told the publication that the decision was a "no-brainer" in the end.

"As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: 'The odds are not in my favor'," she said in remarks that also ran in the Daily Mirror tabloid.

"I've had cancer before and I didn't want to live under that cloud: I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy."

Osbourne, who put the eccentric life of her family on view in the reality TV series "The Osbournes", said she did not want to spend the rest of her life with "that shadow hanging over me.

"I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl," she added, referring to her son Jack's first child.

"I didn't even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way, I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time. It's not 'pity me', it's a decision I made that's got rid of this weight that I was carrying around."

Osbourne raised her profile by appearing as a judge on successful talent shows "The X Factor" and "America's Got Talent". She is married to heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne.

Her London publicist referred Reuters to the interview which ran in Hello! and the Daily Mirror when asked to confirm the news.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Court upholds Baumgartner fine for punching man

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner failed to have a conviction for assault overturned on Tuesday and has apologized through his lawyer for punching a Greek truck driver in a 2010 incident, a court spokeswoman said.

Baumgartner, the skydiver who made headlines around the world last month after jumping from a balloon near the edge of space, lost his appeal against a 1,500 euro ($1,900) fine for hitting the driver during a traffic jam near Salzburg.

"He apologized and was convicted in absentia with the consent of his attorney. The matter is now finished," the spokeswoman for the appellate court in Salzburg said.

Baumgartner, 43, contended he was acting in self-defense when he hit the truck driver, his lawyer said last week.

Baumgartner parachuted from a balloon high above the Earth last month, setting a record for the highest skydive and breaking the sound barrier in the process.

But in Austria, the apparent road rage incident has generated less welcome publicity on the ground.

Austrian papers have quoted the truck driver, identified only as Dimitrios P, as saying he had given Baumgartner only a slight push and had got a fist in the face in return.

(Reporting by Michael Shields, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Rihanna unveils Chris Brown duet "Nobodies Business"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B star Rihanna unveiled a duet entitled "Nobodies Business" with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown on Tuesday, three years after Brown was charged with assaulting her.

The song was part of an official track list that Barbadian singer Rihanna tweeted to her followers for her upcoming album "Unapologetic," and comes after weeks of speculation in the media that the couple have rekindled their romance being spotted together at numerous events.

While Rihanna, 24, has stayed mum on her relationship status with Brown, the "Turn Up The Music" singer attended Rihanna's Halloween party last week and tweeted a photograph of himself dressed in Arab robes and a rifle.

Brown, 23, is currently halfway through his five-year probation after pleading guilty to assaulting Rihanna on the eve of the Grammy awards in 2009. He was ordered to complete community service and a domestic violence program.

Brown was given permission by a Los Angeles judge to embark on his European tour at a recent hearing overseeing his progress on his probation.

The former couple have had a tumultuous relationship in the last three years, including a restraining order against Brown following the assault.

But recently the two singers have made peace, coming together on a remix of Rihanna's raunchy song "Birthday Cake" earlier this year.

The Barbadian singer told Oprah Winfrey in an emotional interview in August that she and Brown now had a "very close friendship," and that she still loved him.

Other collaborations on Rihanna's upcoming "Unapologetic" album include rapper Eminem, newcomer singer-songwriter Mikky Ekko and rapper Future.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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"Dad's Army" star Clive Dunn dies aged 92

LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Clive Dunn, best known as a bumbling old butcher in the popular World War Two sitcom "Dad's Army", has died, his agent said on Wednesday.

Dunn passed away on Tuesday, Peter Charlesworth said, adding that he believed the actor died in Portugal where he has lived for many years. He was 92.

As Lance-Corporal Jones in Dad's Army - a hit television series in the 1960s and 1970s about a group of local volunteer members of the Home Guard - Dunn was famous for catchphrases such as "Don't panic!" and "They don't like it up 'em."

He also had a No. 1 hit song with "Grandad" in 1971, which he performed several times on TV music show "Top of the Pops".

Dunn was born in London in 1920 and enrolled in an acting academy after leaving school.

He played several small roles in films in the 1930s before serving in the army in World War Two, ending up in prisoner-of-war and labor camps for four years.

After the war he worked in music halls before enjoying success as Jones in Dad's Army.

Underlining his ability to play characters far older than his real age, he followed Dad's Army with a five-year run in children's comedy series "Grandad" as an elderly caretaker.

According to the BBC, he is survived by his wife Priscilla Morgan and two daughters, Jessica and Polly.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Taylor Swift reigns over Billboard 200, Meek Mill debuts high

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country-pop star Taylor Swift held onto the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday as her latest album "Red" kept rapper Meek Mill from the top spot.

"Red," Swift's fourth studio album safely took the No. 1 position after selling 344,000 copies according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Last week, "Red" scored the highest first week U.S. sales in a decade after selling 1.2 million copies. The album has outsold One Direction's "Up All Night" to become the second-biggest album of 2012, behind Adele's juggernaut record "21," which has sold more than 4 million copies this year.

Rapper Meek Mill entered the chart at No. 2 with his debut studio album "Dreams & Nightmares," selling 164,000 copies. The rapper collaborated with fellow Maybach Music artists for his debut, including Trey Songz, Wale, Rick Ross and Mary J. Blige.

Ahead of the holiday season, two festive albums debuted on the chart, with veteran crooner Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby" at No. 3 and Trans-Siberian Orchestra's extended play record "Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)" at No. 9.

Country singer Toby Keith landed at No. 6 with his latest album "Hope on the Rocks," following his appearance and best music video win at the County Music Association (CMA) awards last week.

Country group Little Big Town also saw a boost from their CMA vocal group of the year win as their album "Tornado" climbed the chart to No. 10.

Canadian singer Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse scored their second top ten album this year with "Psychedelic Pill" at No. 8, following their "Americana" album in June.

Over on the Digital Songs chart, Korean rapper Psy held the top spot with his infectious dance-pop single "Gangnam Style," while Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" remained at No. 2 and Ke$ha's "Die Young" was a non-mover at No. 3.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Look who's talking! Kirstie Alley calls Travolta "greatest love"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Kirstie Alley described on Wednesday how she fell in love more than 20 years ago with John Travolta, and rejected widespread Hollywood speculation that the "Grease" star is secretly gay.

Alley, former star of the 1980s TV comedy "Cheers," told ABC television journalist Barbara Walters that she fell for both Travolta and actor Patrick Swayze in the 1980s, although their romances never got physical.

Alley, 61, said she was attracted to Travolta while the pair were making the 1989 movie "Look Who's Talking," calling him "the greatest love of my life."

"Believe me, it took everything I had inside, outside, whatever, to not run off and marry John and be with John for the rest of my life," Alley told Walters in an interview broadcast on breakfast TV show "Good Morning America."

Asked by Walters to comment on persistent rumors about Travolta's sexuality, she said: "I know John with all my heart and soul. He's not gay."

Alley added: "I think in some weird way, in Hollywood, if someone gets big enough and famous enough, and they're not out doing drugs and they're not womanizing, what do you say about them?"

Travolta was single at the time, but Alley was on her second marriage, so she never pursued her feelings, she explained.

Travolta later married actress Kelly Preston, his wife for the past 20 years. But the actor was the target of two lawsuits earlier this year, which were quickly dropped, from two male masseurs who claimed Travolta made unwanted sexual advances.

Alley, who talks more about her love life in her new book, "The Art of Men," said she fell for Swayze while they were filming the 1985 Civil War TV miniseries "North and South."

"We did fall in love. I was more willing to break up my marriage and I wasn't willing to break up his marriage," Alley said, explaining why the relationship failed to go further.

Swayze, best known for his lead role in "Dirty Dancing," died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 at the age of 57. He was married to dancer Lisa Niemi from 1975 until his death.

Alley has been married twice. Her second marriage, to actor Parker Stevenson, ended in 1997.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Mom of "Modern Family" actress denies abuse claims

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The mother of "Modern Family" star Ariel Winter on Wednesday denied that she abused her daughter after a judge temporarily placed the 14-year-old actress in her sister's care.

"It's all untrue, it's all untrue," Chris Workman, Winter's mother, told People magazine. "I have my doctor's letter that my daughter's never been abused."

According to court papers, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge last month put Winter, who plays the precocious teenager Alex Dunphy on the Emmy-winning TV comedy, under the temporary guardianship of her older sister, Shanelle Gray.

Celebrity website TMZ.com said Winter's mother was alleged to have slapped and emotionally abused the teen, and had been ordered to stay away from her. Ariel has left her mother's home, TMZ said.

Gray will retain guardianship of Winter at least until a November 20 hearing, a judge said.

Winter's publicist did not return calls for comment on Wednesday.

"Modern Family" portrays the lives of three zany families and has won three consecutive Emmy award as American television's best comedy series.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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UK PM warns of witch-hunt against gays in pedophile scandal

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron warned on Thursday that speculation about the identity of an unidentified member of his ruling Conservative party accused of sexually abusing children could turn into a witch-hunt against gay people.

Cameron, who leads a troubled two-party coalition, ordered an investigation this week after a victim of child sexual abuse in Wales said a prominent Conservative political figure had abused him during the 1970s.

The claims, which follow the unmasking of late BBC star presenter Jimmy Savile as one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, have stoked concern that a powerful pedophile ring may have operated in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I have heard all sorts of names bandied around and what then tends to happen is of course that everyone then sits around and speculates about people, some of whom are alive, some of whom are dead," Cameron said during an ITV television interview.

"It is very important that anyone who has got any information about any pedophile no matter how high up in the country go to the police," he said.

Britain's interior minister warned lawmakers this week that if they named suspected child abusers in parliament they risked jeopardizing future trials.

MPs benefit from "parliamentary privilege" - meaning they can speak inside parliament freely without fear of legal action on a host of legally sensitive issues that might otherwise attract lawsuits.

Reports of child abuse have provoked fevered speculation on the Internet about the identity of the Conservative figure from the era of Margaret Thatcher, prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

When the ITV interviewer passed Cameron a piece of paper with the names of people identified on the Internet as being alleged child abusers, Cameron said:

"There is a danger if we are not careful that this could turn into a sort of witch-hunt particularly against people who are gay."

"I am worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now - giving me a list of names you have taken off the Internet," Cameron said.

The BBC aired a program last week in which Steven Messham, one of hundreds of victims of sexual abuse at children's care homes in Wales over two decades, said he had been sexually abused by a prominent Conservative political figure.

However, the BBC reporter said he could not name the figure because there was "simply not enough evidence to name names".

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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Ex-oil man set to be next leader of world's Anglicans

LONDON (Reuters) - A former oil executive and critic of corporate excess is expected to be named on Friday as the next Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans.

Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, is widely tipped in British media to succeed Rowan Williams, capping a meteoric rise up the Church of England hierarchy since quitting the business world and being ordained in 1992.

He has been at Durham for less than a year.

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said the name would be announced on Friday.

The appointment will follow weeks of speculation that the nominating body assigned to elect the future spiritual leader of the Church of England was split over whether to choose a reformer or a safe pair of hands to maintain the status quo.

Williams has said his successor will need "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros".

The handover takes place at a time when the Church is at a crossroads, with traditionalists and reformers pitted against each other over the issues of same-sex marriage and senior women clergy.

Welby, who is seen as more conservative than the liberal Williams, is widely reported to be against gay marriage but in favor of the ordination of women bishops.

He went to the same elite school, Eton College, as Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and Princes William and Harry,

The bespectacled father-of-five suffered a tragedy in 1983, when his daughter was killed in a car accident, an event he described as a "dark time" which brought him and his wife closer to God.

Christina Rees, a religious commentator and a member of the General Synod, the church's governing body, said Welby was well-equipped for the position of archbishop.

"He's known to be a visionary and a strategic leader, he is prepared to take risks, extremely astute," Rees told BBC radio.

Welby has drawn on his financial expertise gained in the oil industry, in which he worked for Enterprise Oil and French company Elf Aquitaine. Since joining the Church, he has served on a government panel investigating banking standards after the Libor interbank interest rate scandal.

Speaking at a conference in Zurich last month, Welby criticized banks as being "exponents of anarchy" and said they should become more socially useful following the financial crisis of recent years.

"Finance can move from being the wreckage of a hubris-induced disaster, to retrieving its basic purpose of enabling human society to flourish effectively," he said then.

As the new archbishop, Welby would earn about 74,000 pounds ($120,000) a year. He would have lodgings in the Old Palace in Canterbury, southeast England, and the historic riverside Lambeth Palace in London.

His tenure would last until retirement at 70 or until he decides to move on.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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