Eurovision's most controversial competitor, the Israeli transsexual, Dana International, has appealed to voters to ignore her sexuality.
Speaking at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena where the contest will be staged on Saturday, the dark-haired singer said: "Just listen to the song and try to forget my personal story. It is a singing competition, not a sexual competition."
Wearing a low-cut black dress, the petite star revealed she would wear a dress by designer Jean-Paul Gautier to perform her hit entry, Diva.
Zurich's Planet Hollywood restaurant has closed just eight months after its glittering launch with the likes of Cindy Crawford and co-owner Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The ignominious closure comes amid bankruptcy proceedings against its owner, Roman Frumson, who was murdered in February in Spain.
A new official portrait of Queen Elizabeth was unveiled yesterday showing her bathed in a hazy, flattering light.
The study by Robert Wraith shows her sitting in formal evening wear - a red dress and long black cape, and holding in her hands a pair of black gloves. The painting has been likened to Pietro Annigoni's famous 1954 portrait.
A collection of 20th-century European art considered by experts to be one of the best in private hands has been bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Collector Natasha Gelman, who died on Saturday in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the age of 86, left 85 works by Ma- tisse, Picasso, Braque, Balthus, Modigliani and two dozen other masters, with an estimated value of $300 million.