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In the news
By Times staff writer Queen supports Charles in troubles with HarryAfter a weekend of tabloid headlines about her 17-year-old grandson's experimentation with alcohol and marijuana, Queen Elizabeth II said Monday she was pleased with the way Prince Charles handled his younger son. "The queen . . . supports the action which has been taken," Buckingham Palace said in a statement. "She hopes the matter can now be considered as closed." Charles sent Harry to a London rehab clinic for a day to talk to recovering addicts and see the dangers of drug use. Harry said last summer that he'd drunk with friends at a pub and smoked marijuana, according to press reports confirmed by a royal source. Marijuana is illegal in Britain; the drinking age is 18. And police refused to rule out legal action against Harry. Wiltshire Superintendent Mandy Evely said they would investigate and Harry would be treated "exactly the same way" as any other teen. Charles did not comment on Harry's troubles Monday as he made his first public appearance since the story broke. He was endorsing a campaign to save the albatross. Opry station won't changeAfter an outcry from country music fans and stars, the owners of WSM-AM in Nashville, Tenn., announced Monday the historic station will continue to broadcast country music and the Grand Ole Opry rather than switch to an all-talk, all-sports format. The announcement by Colin Reed, president and chief executive of Gaylord Entertainment Co., ended two weeks of heated speculation after word leaked that the company was considering changes at the station where the Grand Ole Opry was born in 1925. Reed said he had been inundated with telephone calls and e-mails. "They were telling us what we knew all along . . . that the listeners of the Grand Ole Opry and WSM-AM are loyal and feel strongly," he said. Director Ted Demme diesTed Demme, a film and TV director whose credits include the movie Blow, collapsed while playing in a charity basketball game and died at a hospital. He was 38. Paramedics rushed Demme, a nephew of Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, to the emergency room Sunday in cardiac arrest, said Ted Braun, a spokesman for Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later. The cause had not been determined Monday, and an autopsy will be conducted, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said. Singer Clooney has cancer surgeryRosemary Clooney had successful lung cancer surgery at the Mayo Clinic, her agent said. Clooney, 73 and the aunt of actor George Clooney, had the upper lobe of her left lung removed Friday. She was diagnosed the previous day during a regular physical exam. Rosemary's agent, Allen Sviridoff, said Sunday that she was talking and laughing with her family the day after the surgery. Box office still Ring-ingNo. 1 for the fourth straight week is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, taking in $16.2-million for a total gross of $228-million. Close behind were A Beautiful Mind and Orange County, the only movie to open in wide release.
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From the wire |
