Monday, 1 October 2007

Smoking age raised

The legal minimum age at which tobacco can be bought in England, Scotland and Wales has gone up from 16 to 18.

The government hopes the move will reduce the number of young people who smoke and make it easier for retailers to spot under-age smokers.

Earlier this year it launched a website and advertising campaign aimed at teenagers to highlight the change, which came into force on today.

The move follows the banning of smoking in public places in the three nations. About 9% of 11 to 15-year-olds smoke, and ministers hope the move will reduce this figure.


Babes bag topspot

Pop trio Sugababes have seen off competition from former X Factor winner Shayne Ward to take the number one position in the UK singles chart.

Their track, About You Now, outsold Ward's No U Hang Up/ If That's OK With You to claim the top spot.

Last week's number one, Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls, fell to number four.

Rock group Foo Fighters entered the album chart at number one with Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Ian Brown's The World Is Yours entered at No 4.

Anderson to wed
US actress Pamela Anderson is to marry Rick Salomon, the former boyfriend of celebrity heiress Paris Hilton.

The couple have been granted a wedding licence in Las Vegas, enabling them to marry at any time over the next year, officials in Clark County confirmed.

Salomon, 38, is best known for making an explicit video with Hilton. Former Baywatch star Anderson, 40, divorced musician Kid Rock earlier this year, having been married to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee until 1998.

Last month, Anderson appeared on a US television talk show hosted by Ellen de Generes and announced that she was engaged. But she refused to identify her fiance, other than disclosing that he was a poker player.

The screen star's most recent marriage to Kid Rock ended after just four months.
At the MTV Music Video Awards in Las Vegas in September, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Tommy Lee, the father of Anderson's two children.

Lee and Anderson also gained notoriety for recording an explicit video. The tape involving Hilton and Salomon, recorded in infrared, was initially circulated on the internet before being released as an X-rated film entitled One Night in Paris.

TV is Dead?

Channel 4 is to bring a group of senior TV executives together to discuss the future of television in a series of on-air debates next month. TV is Dead?, produced by Liberty Bell, will reportedly see Five's Lisa Opie, Sky One's Richard Woolfe, the BBC's Ashley Highfield and Endemol's Peter Bazalgette discuss the subject in a five-part series for Channel 4's schools morning slot.
The programme will be part of a season where the channel explores how the TV industry can reach the teenage audience. Starting on October 15, the season also includes a reality show from Princess Productions. Get Me the Producer will see Greg Dyke putting 12 producers through their paces for a chance to win a 12 month contract with So TV, and Who Really Runs the World, produced by Form Media, will consider the media's role in enhancing conspiracy theories.


In other News

* Big Brother twins Sam and Amanda have decided to spend the money they have earned since they left the show on flying to America so that they can meet their idol Paris Hilton.
* X Factor girl band Hope are being groomed to win the ITV1 talent series, according to a report. Last night's episodes saw the group being formed from rejected solo singers at the boot camp stage, after judge Louis Walsh suggested the idea as an "experiment".
Show sources have claimed that Simon Cowell is now desperate for the girls to win the series and challenge the Spice Girls in the Christmas chart battle.

* Duncan James is moving in with Tara Palmer-Tompkinson while he moves house.

* Cult telly show Knight Rider is making a comeback 20 years after it was axed.

* New channel Virgin 1 will enable users to upload their own comedic content through a video social networking site.

* Family film The Game Plan has beaten Middle Eastern terror thriller The Kingdom to become the weekend's biggest box office success in North America.


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