Van Morrison birth report ‘utter fiction’

Los Angeles — Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.

The false report was disseminated Monday by a Los Angeles-based publicist for Morrison, Phil Lobel. The publicist was quoted by an unidentified associate on Thursday as getting the report from the Morrison site.

The false report was picked up by several news agencies, including The Associated Press. The false report on the Morrison Web site claimed that a woman identified as Gigi had just borne a son with Morrison.

The singer issued a statement Thursday through an international public-relations agency stressing that the report was completely false and the malicious product of a hacker’s attack on his official Web site, vanmorrison.com.

John Saunders, president of the European arm of the U.S. public-relations firm Fleishman-Hillard Inc., said he contacted Morrison and his wife, Michelle, after seeing the reports and finding them hard to believe.

“The reports were complete and utter fiction. None of it was true,” Saunders said.

Obama family visits theater to see ‘Avatar’

Kaneohe, Hawaii — President Barack Obama’s family is spending part of the last day of 2009 watching the futuristic adventure film “Avatar.”

The Obamas visited a movie theater near their rented vacation home in Hawaii on Thursday morning for a screening of the 3-D hit. Officials say the first family and their friends had the theater to themselves to watch director James Cameron’s tech-heavy film.

The Obamas, including first daughters Sasha and Malia, left their compound before noon on New Year’s Eve. Before the screening, Obama, a self-described movie buff, worked out at the Marine Corps base nearby.

The Obamas are set to return to Washington in the new year.

2 more grandchildren for Prince Charles’ wife

London — Prince Charles’ office says his wife has become a grandmother for the third — and fourth — time.

Clarence House says Laura Lopes, the daughter of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, gave birth to twin boys on Wednesday. The boys have been named Louis and Gus.

Camilla already has two other grandchildren. Lopes has a 23-month-old daughter with husband Harry, and her son Tom Parker Bowles has a 2-year-old daughter with his wife Sara.