World Vignettes

1,000 ad ideas to be considered for Di8217;s fund
LONDON: The fund setup in memory of Princess Diana is currently considering some 1,000 commercial deals that could generate hundreds of millions of pounds for her favorite charities, the fund8217;s legal adviser says. The news suggests that the fund will not be wound up soon, despite criticism from Diana8217;s brother Charles, the ninth Earl Spencer, and her mother, Frances Shand Kydd. They say the fund has lent its name to a number of inappropriate projects. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp on Sunday night, legal expert Jonathan Cameron said that eight months after Diana8217;s death in a Paris car wreck, around 200 companies a week are still submitting projects for the fund8217;s approval. Earl Spencer protested against the fund8217;s tacky commercialisation of his sister8217;s memory when it decided to put her name on tubs of margarine and a scratch-off lottery card, and called on the fund8217;s trustees to set a deadline for winding up the operation. But AndrewPurkis, the fund8217;s newly appointed chief executive, told the BBC that the fund will keep going.8220;Many people are not expecting the fund to sort of splutter and then go out like a firework,8221; he said.

Titanic record
TOKYO: US blockbuster Titanic sailed through the box office record books in Japan, attracting a wave of more than 12 million people since its debut last December, a film distributor said on Monday. The film featuring Leonardo Di Caprio, a heartthrob for Japanese school girls, has earned 18.3 billion yen 136.8 million dollars here so far, said a spokesman for the Twentieth Century Fox Inc. That placed it at the top of the box office top earners, ousting Japanese animation film The Princess Mononoke to second place with its gross box office takings of 18.25 billion yen. 8220;Titanic will be a long run and we are expecting more box office receipts,8221; the spokesman said, adding the film would still be shown in 230 theaters nation-wide until later thisyear.

Peabody winner
NEW YORK: Nate Thayer, a Bangkok, Thailand-based journalist who sold a story about Cambodian leader Pol Pot to ABC television8217;s Nightline8217; rejected the prestigious Peabody Award for the piece, saying ABC and Ted Koppel stole his work. Thayer, 38, said in the May 25 edition of the New Yorker magazine, that Koppel promised the story would be a one-week exclusive with north American television rights only. But before the story went on air, Thayer said ABC shipped photos of the footage worldwide, put the news on its web site and allowed the New York Times to preview part of the story in a publicity effort. The effort scooped Thayer8217;s own print account for the Hong Kong-based far eastern economic review. In a letter rejecting the Peabody Award, Thayer said, 8220;Ted Koppel and Nightline8217; literally stole my work, took credit for it, trivialised it, refused to pay me and then attempted to bully and extort me when I complained. They should not be rewarded for thisbehavior and I under no circumstances want my name associated with these violations of basic journalistic ethics and integrity.8221;

Jackson thriller
WINDHOEK: A crowd of 1,500 fans rushed onto the runway of the Windhoek International Airport after the arrival of pop star Michael Jackson in the Namibian capital. The crowd had been confined to the airport balcony, but managed to get onto the tarmac, where they were told to wait behind a plastic cordon. Jackson arrived on an Air Namibia flight from Frankfurt for a three-day tour of sparsely populated Namibia to take a look at investment opportunities. As he disembarked from the plane on Sunday, Jackson was barely able to accept a bunch of flowers, before being mobbed by the crowd, whom the police were unable to keep at bay. Jackson was then whisked away by a car hurriedly brought onto the tarmac by security personnel.