Hillary Clinton turns down sitcom

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declined an offer to make an appearance on the comedy sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

The actor Jason Segel revealed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last week that he and the show's producers asked Clinton to portray the mysterious titular mother on the series. Clinton politely declined with a rejection letter.

According to the internet blog Politico, which acquired the note, Clinton said she was "delighted" to be invited, but, "as you can imagine, I am a little occupied at the moment".

"Perhaps someday I can help you forget Sarah Marshall … again," she wrote, referring to Segel's previous film. "My only condition is that there be Muppets involved, and that is non-negotiable."

Duran Duran to headline Olympics

There will be a retro feel at a concert to mark the start of the London Olympics, with the 1980s heartthrobs Duran Duran among the headliners.

The organisers said on Tuesday that the band will represent England at the July 27 concert in London's Hyde Park, which features acts from each of the four parts of the UK.

The lead singer Simon Le Bon said the show would be "one of the highlights of the last decade for us".

The other headliners are Snow Patrol from Northern Ireland, Stereophonics from Wales and Scotland's Paolo Nutini.

* AP

Coke Studio focuses on fusion music

The fourth episode of Coke Studio, which was broadcast last night on MBC1, took music fusion to a new level when the Palestinian Chehada brothers combined two of the most traditional eastern instruments, the oud and the buzuq, with the electrifying house music of the German-Spanish DJ, Jerry Ropero. The result was a traditional song, Neyalu Albu, played beautifully in stimulating modern electronic beats and sung by the Moroccan singer Jannatt. Coke Studio is broadcast on Wednesdays at 10.30pm on MBC1.

Once leads Tony nominations

The low-tech musical Once, based on the love story of a Czech flower seller and an Irish street musician in Dublin, received a leading 11 Tony Award nominations on Tuesday.

Two other musicals - The Gershwins'Porgy and Bess and Nice Work If You Can Get It - each got 10 nominations. Peter and the Starcatcher, a play about the origins of Peter Pan, earned nine nominations, and the revival of Follies and the new Disney musical Newsies got eight nods each.

The Tony Awards will be held on June 10. Neil Patrick Harris will host.

* AP

Jessica Simpson has baby girl

Jessica Simpson gave birth on Tuesday to a baby girl. The father is her fiance, the former NFL football player Eric Johnson.

Simpson, who recently appeared pregnant on the cover of Elle, said she was delighted to welcome Maxwell Drew Johnson, her first child.

"Eric and I are elated to announce the birth of our baby girl," the 31-year-old singer and actress wrote on her website. "This has been the greatest experience of our lives."

Dolby adopts Oscars venue from Kodak

The Hollywood venue that hosts the annual Oscars show was renamed the Dolby Theatre on Tuesday, after the audio pioneer gained naming rights previously held by the bankrupt camera company Kodak.

The California-based audio technology pioneer Dolby announced a deal with the CIM Group, which owns the Oscars venue, to put its name on the theatre for the next 20 years.

The theatre has hosted the Academy Awards since 2002.

* AFP

Pop artist up for Turner Prize

A pop performance artist who has staged works about the Incredible Hulk and Jabba the Hutt is among four finalists for Britain's most influential and most-mocked art award, the Turner Prize.

Spartacus Chetwynd, who uses elaborate handmade props and costumes for carnivalesque performances inspired by everyone from superheroes to Michael Jackson, is a contender for the prize, awarded annually to a British artist under 50.

The other finalists are the film and video artists Luke Fowler and Elizabeth Price, and Paul Noble, who produces minutely detailed drawings of a dystopian imaginary city named Nobson Newtown, populated by human excrement. The judging panel said Noble's work was an "utterly compelling ongoing narrative" about a "dysfunctional" world.

The Turner Prize often sparks lively debate about the value of modern art.

An exhibition of the artists opens at London's Tate Britain in October.

* AP

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