Some of country music's brightest stars bid a song-filled, emotional farewell on Thursday to Tammy Wynette, the "first lady of country music".
At a memorial service in the old Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, shortly after a private funeral and burial, the stars gathered to pay tribute to the 55-yearold Wynette, who died on Monday. Some 1,500 fans applauded Lorrie Morgan, who gave a ringing performance of Wynette's signature song Stand By Your Man.
Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro (71), joked yesterday about his health, a favourite topic of speculation among foes and supporters alike, saying he was well but preferred not to be alive two decades from now.
His comments, in a conversation with Dominican and Cuban journalists, were published in state media. Asked how his health was, Castro replied: "Awful, terribly bad . . . They have already killed me about 100 times. I'm going to die from the amount of times they have killed me."
Director Stanley Kubrick has ordered actress Jennifer Jason Leigh back to the Paris set of Eyes Wide Shut to re-shoot all her scenes. According to a French magazine, Kubrick was so unhappy with her acting performance first time round that he's told her to do it all over again.
The film, a thriller of jealousy and sexual obsession starring husband and wife team Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, has already dragged on since November 1996.