FRIDAY, May 4, 2001
WORLD
Spain abuzz at prince`s girlfriend
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NORWEGIAN MODEL Eva Sannum, pictured here after a 1997 fasion show in Madrid, is the focus of controversy in Spain, where speculation is mounting that Prince Felipe intends to marry the commoner. Monarchists believe the marriage could drag the Spanish royal family into disrepute. AP PHOTO |
MADRID (AP)
Eva Sannum`s Nordic good looks seem to have captured the heart of the Spanish crown prince, but as sightings of the couple increase, so do many Spaniards` worries that blonde beauty alone does not make a queen.
Although Prince Felipe, 33, hasn`t made his intentions known, his frequent appearances with the 26-year-old Norwegian fashion model - skiing in the Alps, dining in a Madrid restaurant, walking arm-in-arm in India - have triggered speculation of an imminent engagement.
Monarchists and nobility warn such a marriage risks dragging the widely respected Spanish House of Bourbon into disrepute, on a par with Britain`s scandal-ridden House of Windsor.
"I would consider as a grave error a wedding which would put us on a level with the English and wich perhaps would make me consider the advantages of a republic," Jose Luis de Vilallonga, the official biographer of King Juan Carlos, wrote in the ABC dialy.
Felipe, the Prince of Asturias, is the third child and only son of Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
Spaniards have followed the prince`s love life with keen interest ever since he dated American Gigi Howard while in graduate school at Georgetown University. He has since appeared with other girlfriends, but none attracted the vocal criticism aimed at Sannum, whom he has reportedly been seeing since 1998.
After the Alpine trip, commentators noted that Sannum was a Lutheran, the daughter of a divorced auto parts shop owner and hadn`t finished her university studies. They also criticized her appearances in lingerie ads and a photo showing her sunbathing topless.
Historian Carlos Seco Serrano questioned whether Sannum mearured up to the line of Roman Catholic aristocracy who have married into the 301-year-old Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty.
"It would be inconceivable," he wrote in ABC, "to see a youngster recommended by her `perfect measurements` on a throne occupied with perfect dignity in the past century by Maria Christina of Austria, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg - and today in an exemplary manner by Sofia of Greece."
But others rushed to the couple`s defense, arguing the prince should be able to choose his bride like everyone else.
Raul del Poze noted Tuesday in the newspaper El Mundo that the tradition of marrying aristocracy for reasons of state was formulated by mid19th century King Alfonso XII, "who left Madrid replete with bastards."
The proximity to the royal family of some critics have prompted speculation that their objections reflect the monarchs` own reservations about their son`s relationship. A palace spokesman declined comment on the issue.
Although 60 percent of Spaniards surveyed in a recent poll said the prince should marry for love, many expressed concern over the succession.
"Many feel that if the price doesn`t choose the right queen, it could threaten the survival of the monarchy," said Carmen Enriquez, a longtime royalty reporter for Spanish television.
Tragedy strikes supermodel family for second time
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| Niki Taylor |
ATLANTA (AP)
Niki Taylor made her first million by 16, her megawatt smile gracing one magazine cover after another. Younger sister Krissy soon followed her to stardom.
Then twin tragedies struck.
Niki reaturned to their Florida home in 1995 to find Krissy dying, a victim of what doctors would later call an unusual, undetected heart condition. Now Niki is fighting for her own life after an auto accident from which she initially appeared to emerge unscathed. Doctors say she suffered severe liver damage in the crash.
Tayloor, 26, a top model since the early 1990s, remained in critical condition Wednesday at Atlanta`s Grady Memorial Hospital. Her older sister, Joelle Bolline, said Taylor has opened her eyes, nodded and squeezed relatives` hands but is not yet able to speak.
"She knows we`re all here for her," Bolline told ABC. The model`s parents, Barbara and Ken Taylor, also were with her at the hospital.
"She`s had a lot of tragedy in her young life," said Linda Wells, editor of Allure magazine, which once put Taylor on its cover three times in a year.
Taylor made the cover of Seventeen magazine when she was barely 14. At 17, she was the youngest spokeswomen ever signed by Cover Girl cosmetics and has since appeared on more that 200 magazine covers.
"Niki Taylor really personifies the freshness of youth," said Seventeen Editor Patrice Adcroft. "She has a warmth and beauty about her and she`s so accessible, so nice."
When Krissy Taylor joined Niki on the cover of Seventeen in 1993, the family discovered they had more than one supermodel in the house.
"I can`t think of a pair of sisters who were both as successful as Krissy and Niki," Wells said.
Instead of feeling threatened, Niki was thrilled to work with her best friend, she told Cosmopolitan in a 1998 interview.
"we were inseparable," she said. "My sister was the strongest person I know - if she went after it."
After Krissy`s death at age 17, Niki Taylor never did another cover for Seventeen. She later said she thought about giving up modeling "plenty of times."
"There is not one day that goes by where I don`t think of her or talk to her," she told ABC in 1997.
She forced herself to go back to work, and it paid off. Taylor made $5.1 million last year, according to the British magazine Business Age.
In Sunday`s accident, Taylor was riding in a friend`s car when the driver ran off an Atlanta street and hit a utility pole, apparently because he looked down to answer his cell phone, police said.
At first, Taylor thought she was fine, her publicist said. She got out of the car by herself and didn`t think she needed medical attention until she was felled by abdominal pain.
Trinidad transsexual praised for suing state
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JOWELLE DE SOUZA, a hero in the gay community, sits in her hair styling in San Fernando, Trinidad, April 16. AP PHOTO |
SAN FERNANDO, Trinidad (AP)
Inside Jowele De Souza`s small beauty shop, she`s the master of color and cuts. Outside, she`s hailed as a champion of transsexual rights in this conservative Caribbean country.
De Souza, a transsexual, was rexently awarded 30,000 Trinidadian dollars ($5,000) by a High Court judge after lawyears reached an out-of-court settlement to pay for charges of unlawful arrest and police harassment.
She is the first transsexual in Trinidad to sue the state for a violation of constitutional rights. Such suits are rare throughout the Caribbean, where sexual minorities often stay silent about harassment or crimes against them for fear of reprisals.
"It`s one of the biggest problems in our community. It primarily affects transsexual women - male to female," said Shannon Minter, an attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a U.S. organization that gives legal aid to geys, leabians and transsexuals.
De Souza doesn`t like to talk about the incident that propelled her to hero status. Her case was settled out of court after one of the policemen accused of harassing her, Eric George, killed himself and his wife before a trial could be held.
"Between you and me, it`s over with now," said the 27-year-old woman, wearing a sparkling blue dress in her second-floor hair salon.
Police arrested De Souza and charged her with assault in March 1997 after she pushed a photographer. She said the photographer knew all about her past and was taking pictures of her without permission.
De Souza said that after she was taken to the police station by officer George, she endured hours of taunting about her sexuality by him and other male officers. The men insisted on searching her, even though her identification and appearance indicated she was a woman. They eventually relented but insisted on having a female officer strip search De Souza, who had a sexchange operation when she was 19.
"There was no legal right to search," she said. "I pushed (the photographer). I didn`t assault him with a deadly weapon."
Cases of violence and police harassment far more serious than De Souza`s can be found everywhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, said Minter of the rights center.
Activists point to a recored of indiference by the region`s criminal justice systems about violence against sexual minorities, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission says that the number of human rights violations against transsexuals and transvestites in Latin America is staggering.
In Guatemala, gay rights activists have documented six to 10 murders of transvestites every year between 1997 and 1999. In El Salvador, seven similar killings were reported in 1999 and 12 in 1998. Activists say most of these cases have not been seriously investigated and none has been solved.
Laura Bush makes People beauty issue
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
U.S. first lady Laura Bush was named one of the 50 most beautiful peopole in the world Wednesday, becomeing the first wife of an American pressident to win a place in People magazine`s coveted annual list.
Laura Bush, 54, joins the ranks of Julia Roverts, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in a list diminated by Hollywood movie stars and pop singers.
Bush told People she applies the "less in more" philisophy to her beauty routine as well as her handbag. "Just like every other woman in America, I carry a lipstick, a hairbrush and Altoids," she said.
British actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, the new wife of Micharl Douglas, graces the cover of the People spescial issue and although it is her third appearance on the list she still recalls a time when she was the ugly duckling.
"I was teased because I had a really flat-looking nose and before I got braces my teeth used to stick out a bit," she said of growing up in Wales.
Oscar winner Julia Roberts makes her sixth appearance, a record she shares with Michelle Pfeiffer and Tom Cruise. Oscar winner Benicio del Toro smolders alongside Johnny Depp and Britain`s Colin Firth, while "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" stars Chow Yun Fat and Zhang Ziyi reflect the list`s international flavor.
Basketball player Kobe Bryant, Baseball Player Alex Rodriguez, American footbaal coach Jon Gruden, TV executive Carole Black and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. are among the noncelebrity beauties on the list of 50.
The list is alphabetical rather than in order of beauty.
Jenna Bush hit with underage drinking charge
AUSTIN, Texas (UPI-Kyodo)
A community court judge Wednesday delayed hearing the case of Jenna Bush, Prisident George W. Bush`s 19-year-old daughter, who was ticketed last Friday for possession of alcohol by a minor at a downtown Austin bar.
Judge Elisabeth Earle accopted a motion by Bush`s attorney, William Allison, to delay the case because of knee surgery he underwent Monday. He requested more time to prepare. A new date could be scheduled within a week.
Neither Bush nor her attorney were in court Wednesday.
The president`s daughter received the citation early Friday at a bar in the popular 6th Street entertainment district of Austin only hours before her father arrived in town to speak at the dedication of the new Bob Bullock Texas Hitory Museum.
Plainclothes detectives were making a sweep for underage drinking when they ticketed Bush and five other minors in the bar. Police have been cracking down on underage dreinking in Austin and they have issued 270 citations this year.
Michael McDonald, an assistant police chief, said Bush was not taken into custody, as is the custom with the citations unless the person ticketed is a danger to themselves or others. "She wasn`t treated any differently than anyone else," he said.
McDonald said Jenna Bush`s Secret Service detail was outside the door and unaware of that was going on inside the bar.
A first offense under the minor-in-possession-of-alcohol law carried a possible fine of up to $500 and from eight to 12hours of community service.
Bush, a freshman at the University of Texas, attracted media attention last February when her Secret Service detail Picked up a friend at the county jail in Fort Worth after he was jailed on a public intoxication charge.
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