Premiere touts royal flush
London -- It was more regal than most movie premieres; two dames and the queen were in attendance at a showing of "Ladies in Lavender" in Leicester Square.
Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith, both 69 and co-stars of the film, were given second billing Monday as Queen Elizabeth II was the guest of honor.
Dench and Smith portray two spinsters in a post-World War II Cornish fishing village who take in a mysterious young Polish man they find half-drowned on a beach.
Pitt stop in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- Brad Pitt spent four days in Ethiopia to learn more about AIDS in Africa as part of a fund-raising campaign to combat the disease on the world's poorest continent.
The trip was organized by DATA, a Washington-based lobby group co-founded by rock star Bono that campaigns on Third World trade, debt and HIV/AIDS. Pitt began his first visit to Ethiopia Friday and left late Monday night.
While in Ethiopia, Pitt, 40, visited local projects fighting the spread of HIV.
Trump ivory towers
New York -- Business schools around the nation are including tips from "The Apprentice" in their MBA programs.
The show and its star, billionaire Donald Trump, have been used in the past to spark debate among students. But now professors are using fundamentals from the NBC hit in the lecture halls.
"Business as a discipline and an academic study area is on the rise," said Denise Schoenbachler, chairwoman of Northern Illinois University's marketing department. "And things like this that are innovative and unique get students excited."
Good feeling from 'Bad Education'
Los Angeles -- Pedro Almodovar has been down the red carpet before, but the director said it felt like the first time at the Hollywood premiere of his new film, "Bad Education."
"For me, premieres are like when you fall in love," Almodovar explained, speaking in Spanish. "It's like the first time in that it's going to last forever."
"Bad Education" teams Gael Garcia Bernal and Fele Martinez in an often gritty examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.
Peace prize for former Cat
Rome -- The singer once known as Cat Stevens will receive a peace prize from a foundation headed by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Yusuf Islam is expected to attend today's ceremony in Rome, where he'll receive the Man for Peace award from Gorbachev.
Islam will receive the award "for his dedication to promote peace, the reconciliation of people and to condemn terrorism."
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