Emma Thompson has been enshrined in concrete outside the historic Pig ’n’ Whistle pub on Hollywood Boulevard.
The 51-year-old actress was presented with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, two weeks ahead of the August 20 release of her latest film, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.
Nanny cast-mate Maggie Gyllenhaal and House star Hugh Laurie, whom Thompson dated when they were at Cambridge university, were on hand for the ceremony, as was a baby pig, who posed for photos with Thompson on her new star.
Thompson also had a pint of beer on her new piece of pavement property.
She won an Academy Award for her leading role as Margaret Schlegel in 1992’s Howard’s End.
Clinton quake anger
Former US president Bill Clinton said international donors were still reluctant to keep their promises of billions for Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction.
Visiting Leogane, a town where hundreds of thousands of homeless still live under tents, Mr Clinton said he hoped the presentation of £189 million worth of projects at the August 17 meeting of the commission he co-chairs with Haiti’s prime minister would help open their wallets.
Frustration is running high nearly seven months after the quake, which killed a government-estimated 300,000 people. Reconstruction remains all but stalled as 1.6 million people remain homeless and rubble continues to choke the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
Castro attending parliament sessions
Fidel Castro will attend a special session of Cuba’s parliament, his first appearance in official government proceedings or in front of MPs since falling seriously ill four years ago.
Cuban state television announced that the former president would attend the session, which would be broadcast nationwide.
The statement did not say whether or not Castro, 83, would address the assembly, which will discuss the threat of nuclear war – a session requested by Castro, who has written about the topic for months.
TV host’s protest
US columnist and TV host Fareed Zakaria has returned a First Amendment award and £6,300 payment to the Anti-Defamation League in protest at the group’s opposition to a proposed mosque near the site of the September 11 2001 attacks in New York.
The ADL, the leading Jewish civil rights group in the US, said it was “saddened” and “stunned” by Mr Zakaria’s decision.
Mr Zakaria, a Newsweek and Washington Post columnist and CNN host, said on Newsweek’s website he could not in good conscience keep the league’s Hubert Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize he was given in 2005.
Disfigured teen’s constructive surgery
A disfigured Afghan teenager whose photo was featured on a Time magazine cover has arrived in California, for reconstructive surgery on her nose, cut off, she said, as a punishment for running away from her violent husband.
The Grossman Burn Foundation in Los Angeles said 18-year-old Bibi Aisha was staying with a host family.
Dr Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon and co-director of the Grossman Burn Centres, said he would meet Ms Aisha to discuss her treatment.
Poland storm chaos
A heavy storm that struck Poland flooded homes, hospitals and roads and forced several tube stations in Warsaw to close.
Emergency officials evacuated people caught in the floods, among them passengers of a bus that got stuck on a flooded main road. Firefighters said they received about 1,500 calls about flooded homes and roads, and trees being knocked down throughout Poland, 500 in Warsaw alone.
Revived baby dies
A newborn baby girl who was declared dead but later revived inside her coffin has died, authorities in Mexico said.
Hidalgo state attorney general Jose Rodriguez said the baby, born prematurely, died of asphyxia, three days after being wrongly declared dead by a doctor in the town of Tulancingo.
During the wake the baby’s parents heard a strange noise coming out of her tiny coffin and when they opened it, found her crying.
Flooded? Have a slice of pizza
The government of Trinidad is feeding flood victims – with pizza.
Officials have begun distributing 10,000 vouchers for the national chain Mario’s Pizzeria to poor communities hit by flooding last week.
Together with private-sector donations, the government is funding the £53,000 cost of buying the ingredients and boxes and Mario’s will also foot part of the bill.