Trump’s hedge at golf club in gets heave-ho

Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. – Donald Trump’s hedge is history.

The City Council has voted unanimously to order the celebrity mogul to remove a 10-foot-high hedge of ficus trees planted earlier this year at his Trump National Golf Club without city permission.

The council will take final action Dec. 18, and Trump will then have three weeks to remove the hedge.

Hundreds of ficus trees were planted to screen the driving range from nearby homes but neighbors complained that some of them blocked their multimillion-dollar ocean views.

“I wish they could be out by Christmas, that would make a great Christmas present,” Mayor Doug Stern said this week.

“The City Council should be ashamed of its decision,” Trump told the Daily Breeze of Torrance. “It’s very sad that the town is willing to destroy this beautiful hedge. There’s no plant as beautiful as the ficus.”

However, Trump said he would remove the hedge and plant the ficus trees on another of his properties.

Farmers want Jolie’s help for refugees

Manila, Philippines – Angelina Jolie’s help is being sought by a left-wing Filipino farmers group that wants to call attention to thousands of rural people who have been displaced by increased military operations.

The Farmers’ Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, wants the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to send the 32-year-old actress – a UNHRC goodwill ambassador since early 2001 – to look into the rising number of internal refugees in the country.

The KMP wants Jolie to witness “the real situation of internally displaced people in the country,” KMP officer Willy Marbella said in a statement Friday.

More than 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes this year alone because of increased military actions and threats, he said.

The military blames insurgents for the problem. It is battling communist rebels, who have been fighting for a Maoist-led state for 39 years, and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front that has been struggling for two decades for self-rule in the southern Philippines.

Madonna sues board of luxury co-op building

New York – Madonna has sued the people who run her luxury co-op building overlooking Central Park, complaining they won’t let her buy a neighbor’s apartment.

The Material Girl claims in court papers that the co-op’s board of directors wrongfully blocked her purchase of the seventh-floor apartment at 1 W. 64th St. on the Upper West Side.

Madonna, who already owns a large apartment in the building, is asking the court to let the sale go through and award her legal fees, according to a notice filed Wednesday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court.

The 49-year-old singer moved into the building after she was rejected by the board at the ritzy San Remo co-op in 1985 – presently home to U2 frontman Bono.

Midboro Management Inc., the company that manages the West 64th Street building, would not comment on the dispute, and the co-op board president did not answer a call Friday for comment.

Elton John gets rare bird-feather cloak award

Wellington, New Zealand – Elton John has received a specially made bird-feather cloak for his many visits to Maori communities.

“It’s the Maori equivalent to an Academy Award” and means the 60-year-old British singer is an honored member of the Ngati Te Whiti sub-tribe, group chairman Peter Love said Friday in a statement.

The cloak was “gifted as recognition of the enjoyment Sir Elton John’s music has given to Maori over the years and his loyal continuance to return to Aotearoa to entertain,” he said. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand.

John was given the Korowai cloak at a concert Thursday night. He played before 15,000 people in the regional city of New Plymouth, the traditional home of the Ngati Te Whiti, Love said.

The traditional cloak has bird feathers woven into a fine flax mat and is held across the shoulders with a drawstring. Modern cloaks often use colored and white hen feathers because many native bird species are classified as threatened.

The presentation of the bird-feather cloak to John “is significant as it’s rarely given,” Love said.

Will Smith’s not a ‘Legend’ yet in China

Hong Kong – Will Smith’s new sci-fi thriller, “I Am Legend,” is hitting movie theaters across Asia later this month – but not in China.

The delay in the film’s approval comes amid a report that China has issued a temporary ban on American movies to boost the country’s domestic film industry – a move the country’s regulator has denied.

“We struggled very, very hard to try to get it to work out, but there are only a certain amount of foreign films that are allowed in,” Smith told reporters in Hong Kong on Friday.

Smith said he had met with China Film Group’s chairman, Han Sanping, and is working with him to secure a release date for “I Am Legend.”

Smith said he has discussed other movie projects with Han and mentioned that he’s exploring the idea of a remake of “The Karate Kid,” possibly set in Hong Kong or Beijing.

“I am Legend” has already received a green light for release in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Although Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, the territory has maintained a certain amount of autonomy, with its own financial, legal and regulatory systems.