China: Bjork’s ‘Tibet!’ cry hurt our feelings

Shanghai, China – China will be stricter on foreign performers after Icelandic singer Bjork shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” at the end of her concert in Shanghai this week, the government said Friday.

A statement by China’s Culture Ministry said Bjork’s outburst “broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings.”

Bjork shouted “Tibet!” after a passionate performance of her song “Declare Independence” on Sunday. The outburst drew rare public attention inside China to Beijing’s often harsh rule over the Himalayan region.

The statement, posted on the Culture Ministry’s Web site, also said “there is no country that admits that Tibet is an ‘independent country.”‘

Bjork has performed the song to support other independence movements in the past. She dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing last month in Japan. The lyrics include the phrase “Raise your flag!”

Boy band mogul pleads guilty to federal charges

Orlando, Fla. – For years, Lou Pearlman wowed banks and investors with slick talk and a lavish lifestyle. But when the one-time architect of the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync set his hand on a courtroom Bible, he set the act aside.

Pearlman pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. The plea was the result of a lengthy federal probe alleging he bilked investors and banks out of more than $300 million.

Pearlman’s Transcontinental Airlines Inc. didn’t have 41 airplanes, as he represented to investors. He had two, he said.

And he didn’t have a German investment partner with a $50 million line of bailout capital, he acknowledged. In fact, that guy was also trying to get money out of him.

“I’m accepting full responsibility,” Pearlman said in a roughly 50-minute change of plea hearing.

He will be sentenced May 21, and faces up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Pearlman also pledged to help prosecutors locate coconspirators and any remaining assets, but couldn’t explain to U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp where the money went.

Violinist injured, cancels performance

Columbia, Mo. – Itzhak Perlman has canceled a concert because of a shoulder injury.

The 62-year-old Israeli-American violinist, who in 2003 was treated for a rotator cuff tear on his right shoulder, was to perform Sunday at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

On Thursday, his agent called to say he needed to cancel because of shoulder inflammation, said Kimberly Mouser, assistant director of the Concert Series.

“We are canceling the performance this weekend but are looking for another date with the hope of rescheduling as soon as possible,” said Elizabeth Sobol, Perlman’s manager.

Perlman’s recordings have won 15 Grammy awards. Last month, he won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. He was the soloist in John Williams’ Oscar-winning score for “Schindler’s List.”

Rihanna helps woman find bone marrow donor

New York – A leukemia patient in dire need of a bone marrow transplant reportedly has found a donor after Grammy-winning singer Rihanna publicized her case.

“The English language does not have words that are adequate to thank someone for working to save your life,” Lisa Gershowitz Flynn of New York wrote in an e-mail to supporters Thursday, People.com reported.

Flynn, a 41-year-old lawyer and mother of two small children, was diagnosed in November 2007 with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. People.com said last month that doctors had told Flynn she needed to find a marrow donor within four to six weeks.

Rihanna had done previous work with DKMS, an international donor network based in Tubingen, Germany. “When I heard about Lisa’s plight, my heart broke,” the 20-year-old singer told the magazine last month.

Rihanna’s campaign to help Flynn sparked more than 5,000 calls and e-mails to DKMS, and about 2,000 new donors have registered. It wasn’t clear how or when Flynn’s 32-year-old donor registered with the organization. Flynn has said she was touched by Rihanna’s efforts.

Is Lisa Marie Presley fat? No, just pregnant

New York – Lisa Marie Presley wanted to keep her pregnancy private, but felt she had to say something when photos of her looking heavier were ridiculed in the news media.

“After being the target all week of slanderous and degrading stories, horribly manipulated pictures and articles in the media, I have had to show my cards and announce under the gun and under vicious personal attack that I am in fact pregnant,” the 40-year-old singer wrote on her MySpace page.

Presley and her husband, music producer Michael Lockwood, are expecting a baby next fall, her spokeswoman, Cindy Guagenti, said Friday. It will be the third child for Presley, who has two children from her marriage to ex-husband Danny Keough.

The announcement comes several days after photos of Presley – daughter of Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla – eating lunch in Los Angeles made the media rounds, with the London newspaper The Daily Mail asking: “Like father like daughter? Bloated Lisa Marie is now the double of dad Elvis.”