Catherine Zeta-Jones hurt in clash with paparazzi

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and Michael Douglas were in a scuffle with the paparazzi just hours after the Swansea-born star collected a CBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Video footage of the incident, which emerged over the weekend, shows the aftermath of a media scrum which began when Zeta-Jones and her husband were chauffeured back to their Westminster hotel in London after a dinner with friends at Gordon Ramsay’s Claridge’s hotel restaurant.

The 41-year-old had earlier attended a ceremony at Buckingham Palace with the couple’s two children, Dylan, 10, and Carys, seven.

The pair are filmed trying to make their way through a group of photographers and Zeta-Jones can be heard shouting: “How dare you punch me.”

She is seen clutching her chin and lip and demands: “I want a police officer right now. He punched me. The guy coming in here, he punched me.”

In the footage, which is already racking up thousands of hits on video sharing websites, Michael Douglas is then seen to his help his wife before hotel security intervened in the incident.

Douglas recently declared he had won a well-publicised battle with throat cancer but still requires monthly checks.

Speaking afterwards, a representative for Douglas said: “You saw it for yourself. Otherwise, the trip and the ceremony were fabulous and such a joy for everyone.”

Thursday’s scuffle is the latest in a string of clashes between Zeta-Jones and the paparazzi.

In 2003 the couple won a landmark court ruling after claiming that a photographer who sneaked into their wedding had invaded their privacy.

During the case Catherine told the court how she was once scared by a photographer who jumped out of a doorway at night to get a shot of her.

On another occasion, she crashed her car into a lamppost trying to escape from a photographer.

Later, Zeta-Jones was driving her son in California when photographers for a British tabloid paper crashed into them.

Under Californian law, drivers have to get out of the car to exchange details.

She told London’s High Court at the time: “They immediately jumped out of their car and took photographs of me looking furious at the side of the road.

“They then published them in an article about me being consumed by road rage.

“This incident made me very angry.”

Publicist Max Clifford said each case of paparazzi intrusion should be judged separately.

“I’m sure that in some cases a line has been crossed and in others the star is being a little precious,” he said.

“In this latest case with Catherine, only she and the people involved know exactly what took place.”

He added: “The thing I tell all the stars that I have represented is that they must expect and put up with a degree of it. Of course the days when the paparazzi played the game are long gone, in fact these days anyone with a camera or even a mobile phone is a member of the paparazzi.

“It has got harder for people to live with and I sympathise with that, but of course there are certainly cases where the celebrity is being a little precious.”

A spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said there had been no complaint and no investigation was taking place.

Prince Harry's car hits royal photographer

PRINCE Harry's minders face a grilling after a car carrying the young royal hit a photographer in central London, leaving him hospitalised.

The snapper was struck as the Prince was whisked through a press pack in a silver Ford car in the early hours of this morning.

Party-loving Harry had been celebrating England's Six-Nations rugby success at central London's Beaufort House before calling it a night around 2am and climbing into the vehicle with his protection team.

The prince was heading to his car with his minders. With Harry safely inside, the car pulled into the street hitting Mr Margiocchi in the leg and knocking him to the the ground.

Millions of Photos from the Sygma Archive May Soon be Destroyed

In 1999 Corbis — privately owned by Bill Gates — paid $20 million to acquire Sygma, a legendary photo agency that was the largest in the world at the time. After the acquisition, the agency bled money and suffered heavy fines due to the mismanagement of photographs, paying $2 million at one point for losing 750 of one photojournalist’s photos. In 2010 the new agency, named Corbis Sygma, filed for bankruptcy after its debt had risen to €73m (~$100 million). Now the court appointed administrator of the defunct company is saying that millions of images in the collection may be destroyed after a failed attempt to sell them at auction.

Up to 12 million photographs by an unknown number of photographs are at risk, and they simply don’t have the resources to return the images to their owners. Hopefully someone comes up with a solution for saving these historical images soon…

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas Involved in Paparazzi Scuffle

 On Thursday, Catherine Zeta-Jones was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), the third-highest rank in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. But hours after the ceremony, the Welsh-born actress, 41, and husband Michael Douglas were confronted by paparazzi outside their London hotel, reports Entertainment Tonight, and the altercation was caught on video. 

Zeta-Jones was allegedly hit in the face by an aggressive paparazzo, and she screamed out, "I want a police officer right now. He punched me," according to ET. While she reportedly shoved the paparazzo out of the way, Douglas intervened. 

The actress's rep was not immediately available for comment. When reached, Douglas's rep, Allen Burry, told ET, "You saw it for yourself," referring to the video footage of the incident. "Otherwise, the trip and the ceremony were fabulous and such a joy for everyone." 

Bingle angers paps with photo deal

TAKING a cue from experienced paparazzi catnip Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, Lara Bingle is understood to have struck a deal with photo agency Big Pictures for a cut of the profits made from her own photos.

It is understood rival agencies are seething over the deal, which are generally commonplace in the US.

The move means Bingle can create and control the pictures released for sale to magazines and newspapers.

Bingle was snapped yesterday looking perfect after a long-haul flight from London.

The photo had a price tag of $250 and it is thought Bingle would receive about 50 per cent of profits in a deal.

News of an alliance came as a surprise to Bingle's manager, Titus Day, who denied the pin-up had struck an agreement with self-proclaimed "Mr Paparazzi" Darren Lyons.

But the millionaire Big Pictures agency owner has been seen lunching with Bingle on several occasions in recent weeks, and the former cricket WAG was seen at Sydney airport recently giving one Big Pictures photographer directions to her location.

Big was also the only agency that managed to snap her in London with new beau Jason Derulo.

A rep from Big Pictures didn't return calls yesterday.

Kate Moss' fiancé Jamie Hince attacks paparazzi

Kate Moss' London Fashion Week celebrations didn't end in style last night as fiancé Jamie Hince lashed out at photographers as they made their way home.

The Kills star Hince was pulled aside by patrolling police officers who calmed him down – as well as giving him a stern talking to – while model Kate fretted in a waiting car nearby.

The pair had been enjoying a London Fashion Week afterparty at swish Soho nightclub The Box, but all hell broke lose when one of the photographers allegedly got too close to the Croydon-born model - prompting her protective boyfriend to step in.

Dragging the shocked snapper by his coat and raising clenched fists to his face, Jamie's outburst was watched by stunned onlookers and ended with him collapsing onto the floor.

Cheryl Burke slams paparazzi for lies

Dancing With The Stars professional Cheryl Burke has hit out at the paparazzi for making her life miserable over the past few years.

The dancer, who was ridiculed in the press in 2008 after being pictured in a bikini having visibly put on weight, said that she doesn't think the paparazzi realize how their work affects people.

"I think there's some really nice [paparazzi] out there," Burke told Popeater. "But I do hate the ones that make it difficult for me, the ones that have criticised my weight, the ones who have called me a party girl and have made my parents worry about me.

"It's like I don't think they realize what they are really doing to someone's self-esteem and also to someone's family," the dancer added.

Burke admits that she felt extremely low after the bikini photos emerged and tried a number of extreme diets before settling on simply improving her general health and fitness regime.

$40,000 Awarded to Man Who Had Photos Deleted by Police

A man in Atlanta was just awarded $40,000 in damages after having his cell phone confiscated and photos deleted while filming police activity from a public location. The man was filming for Copwatch, an organization that aims to crack down on law enforcement wrongdoing by filming their activities, and was told by the police that he had no right to record them. An interesting quote from CNN is the lesson this case should send to other police departments,

The lesson is that police departments need to know that citizens can film their activity if it is taking place in a public place.

Store video, paparazzi photos to be cited in Lindsay Lohan necklace-theft case

 
Store video and paparazzi photos are among the evidence authorities have collected as prosecutors plan to charge Lindsay Lohan with stealing a $2,500 necklace from a Venice jewelry store, sources have told The Times.

The law enforcement sources said police have a video from the store showing Lohan wearing the necklace. Authorities also have collected paparazzi photos taken at a later date showing Lohan wearing the necklace in public, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

Police supplied statements from witnesses at the jewelry store, the sources added.

Prosecutors said they plan to file felony grand-theft charge against the actress. She will be arraigned Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Airport Courthouse.

Lohan is on probation and faces a criminal investigation in Riverside County involving allegations that she shoved a worker at the Betty Ford Center. She did not immediately comment on the latest charge, but her attorney has released a statement saying the actress would fight any criminal charges.

Last week, Los Angeles Police Department detectives presented the results of their investigation into the alleged theft to prosecutors. Detectives investigated whether Lohan stole a "one-of-a-kind" necklace that went missing last month from a Venice jewelry store not far from where she lives.

The piece, described as a gold necklace with semiprecious stones, disappeared Jan. 22 from the store in the 1300 block of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and police began investigating a few days later. According to law-enforcement sources, Lohan was seen in a store security video wearing the necklace before it was reported missing.

After detectives began looking into the case and preparing a search warrant, a Lohan associate took the necklace to the Pacific Division police station, sources said.

In the Riverside County case, Lohan is accused of assaulting an employee at the Betty Ford Center.

Lohan spent three months at the rehab center in Rancho Mirage under orders from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox, who spared the actress jail time in October after Lohan tested positive for drugs while on probation in a DUI case.

The judge directed her to stay at the center through January and warned that he would put her in jail for six months if she violated probation again. It was her fifth time in rehab, and she has been to jail three times in connection with the case.

The employee accused Lohan of shoving her but then told investigators she did not want to press charges.

Canon 200-400mm Lens to Include a Built-in Switchable 1.4x Teleconverter

Canon is on a tear today with its announcements. In addition to new Rebel cameras and new entry level flashes, they also have some lens news. First, they’re releasing new versions of their 500mm and 600mm lenses, but even more interesting is the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x lens they announced the development of. This is a zoom lens that has a 1.4x teleconverter built right in. Once you switch it on, it instant turns into a 280-560mm f/5.6 lens!

Justin Bieber's Bodyguard Arrested For Attacking Photgrapher

A bodyguard working for Justin Bieber has been arrested after allegedly becoming embroiled in a scuffle with a snapper who was taking pictures of the teenage pop star.

Security guard Kenneth Hamilton was detained by police on Wednesday after photographer Jason Nicholas accused the bodyguard of pushing him up against a parked car in New York City in November.

Nicholas claims to have suffered lower back pain since the alleged incident.

Cops detained Hamilton this week (beg31Jan11) and handed him a desk-appearance ticket, which requires him to appear in court on a date yet to be set, according to New York Post gossip column Page Six.