Chile warms to Sting

SANTIAGO, Chile – British rock star Sting was awarded a medal Monday by the Chilean government for his promotion of human rights.
The Gabriela Mistral Medal, named after Chile's 1945 Nobel-Prize winning poet, was presented to Sting by Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear.
"Sting has made a very important contribution to the world and to our country by promoting the cause of human rights," Alvear said.
Attending the ceremony at the Foreign Ministry was congresswoman Isabel Allende, daughter of Salvador Allende, the Marxist President toppled in the bloody 1973 coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
"This is a nice necktie," Sting joked, showing the sash that was part of the decoration along with a golden medal.
Sting has participated in benefit concerts, and in the '80s wrote the song "They Dance Alone," a tribute to Chilean women who lost their husbands to repression by the Pinochet government. (AP)

Moore or less safe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Roger Moore, Hollywood's former James Bond, didn't need any gadgets fancier than an air bag to escape harm in a real-life car crash.
Moore, 73, and his Danish girlfriend Christina Tholstrup were being driven to a TV studio in Goteborg on Saturday when another car collided with theirs. Air bags inflated and no one was hurt. (AP)

Rio’s week of rock

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Tens of thousands of music lovers flocked to Rio's City of Rock concert Saturday for the second day of performances by international and local pop stars.
The seven-day music marathon was expected to attract more than 100,000 fans to listen to American bands R.E.M., the Foo Fighters and Beck, as well as local stars Barao Vermelho, Fernanda Abreu and Cassia Eller.
Mike Mills, lead singer of Saturday's star attraction, R.E.M., told reporters the band will play music from its upcoming record, "Reveal."
"It's a record about how difficult it is to lead a spiritual life in today's non-spiritual world," he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. rock signer Beck, who has been a fan of Brazilian music since childhood, asked local singer and composer Caetano Veloso to join him on stage. "He is an inspiration for me," Beck told local reporters. Beck's performance was to be followed by the Foo Fighters.
Organizers hoped 1.5 million music lovers would buy tickets to see the $31 million event this year, with as many as 1 billion others to see it on pay-per-view television and the Internet. (AP)

Pulitzer star ties the knot

CALCUTTA, India – Pulitzer prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri married Alberto Vourvoulias, a fellow New Yorker, in a traditional Hindu ceremony on Monday.
Only family members and close friends were invited because Lahiri wanted a "very personal affair."
Lahiri won the Pulitzer in 2000 for her book "Interpreter of Maladies," a collection of short stories mainly about Indian immigrants in New England and her childhood in Calcutta.
Throngs of journalists, photographers, television crews, fans and curious onlookers waited in vain outside the gates of the sprawling house in a Calcutta suburb where the wedding was held.
Relatives said Lahiri was dressed in a traditional red bridal sari, with red and white flowers in her hair and gold jewelry she had inherited from her grandmother.
Vourvoulias, a journalist with Time magazine, wore a typical Indian dhoti or sarong with a silk kurta, or shirt, and hand embroidered shoes.
Lahiri, 33, born in London of Indian parents, went to school and university in the United States. (AP)

Becker loses the love match

HAMBURG, Germany – Tennis star Boris Becker and his estranged wife, Barbara, have reached an out-of-court settlement of their alimony and custody dispute, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported.
The three-time Wimbledon winner and his wife will share custody of their two sons, and she will receive a one-time payment of $14.4 million, the newspaper said.
That is about six times more than she was entitled to under a prenuptial contract.
Dana Clay, a spokeswoman for Boris Becker's Miami lawyers, said Sunday she was not aware of any settlement, but added that the two sides had been "extremely close" to reaching an agreement Friday. (AP)

Bassinger makes a getaway

LOS ANGELES – Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger has filed for divorce from actor Alec Baldwin. Basinger cited irreconcilable differences in the petition filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the document, the couple separated last month.
Basinger, 47, who won an Academy Award for her role in "L.A. Confidential," seeks physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Ireland. The two will share joint legal custody and Baldwin will get visitation rights, the petition says.
Representatives for the couple could not be reached after hours Friday. A call placed to Basinger's lawyer, Neal Raymond Hersh, was not immediately returned. The two were married in August 1993.
Baldwin and Basinger starred together in "The Getaway." (AP)