US rap star Snoop Dogg has been denied a visa to enter the UK on his European tour with fellow rapper P Diddy.

He was due to play in London on Tuesday, then in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Nottingham.

His spokeswoman said he was “mystified” at the decision. Tuesday’s London show would go ahead, she added. P Diddy will appear at Wembley Arena.

Snoop Dogg was cautioned last year after being arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and affray at Heathrow airport.

“Snoop and his team are hoping the British government will reconsider this decision, especially as he has toured here before and sees the UK as being the highlight of the tour,” the spokeswoman said. “He has asked how he can help rectify the situation and would happily talk to and give assurances to officials.”

The rapper, real name Calvin Broadus, was held overnight by police in Sweden earlier this month on suspicion of using drugs. He also faces weapons and drugs charges in the US after three arrests last year.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it could not comment on individual cases.

The warnings were loud and long. “Match-fixing has to be sorted,” said the former England captain Ian Botham in 2001, “or someone will be assassinated.” Fears grew when killings in Dubai and South Africa were blamed on gangs running illegal bets on cricket matches; and a major investigation into corruption in the game revealed that players and officials believed their lives to be in danger.

The warnings were loud and long. “Match-fixing has to be sorted,” said the former England captain Ian Botham, “or someone will be assassinated.” Fears grew when killings in Dubai and South Africa were blamed on gangs running illegal bets on cricket matches; and a major investigation into corruption in the game revealed that players and officials believed their lives to be in danger.

Now there is a body, that of the Pakistan coach, Bob Woolmer, who was strangled a week ago at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. The whole team was questioned afterwards, but last night Jamaican police spoke to the team captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, about the murder for a second time. They also interviewed the assistant coach, Mushtaq Ahmed, and the team manager, Talat Ali. All three men have now been released; later, the team left Montego Bay on a flight heading home to Lahore. Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston, Mark Shields, said he had no reason “at this stage” to believe any of the Pakistani team were involved in the murder.

Yet there were reports that Jamaican detectives were investigating the possibility that Woolmer was involved in a row with members of his team just hours before he died. A Jamaican police source told the Mail on Sunday that ” when Mr Woolmer boarded the coach to go back to the hotel, he was very, very angry. Our investigators are looking into a report that he confronted some members of the touring party on the bus. They did not perform up to standard and he vented his disgust verbally.”

There is alternative speculation that Mr Woolmer was killed to prevent him revealing details of mafia betting syndicates. An angry friend of Mr Woolmer said he had “absolutely no doubt” that the warnings stretching back six years ­about violence coming to the game had been proved tragically right. The former South Africa captain Clive Rice said he was convinced his fellow player and coach had been intending to tell the truth about matches being thrown. The Pakistan team has been dogged by such accusations, as were Mr Woolmer’s employers, South Africa. “Bob knew a lot of what went on during the match-fixing scandal in which Hansie Cronje was nailed,” said Rice. “He told me a lot that never came out.”

Cronje was banned for life for taking gifts and cash in return for fixing games. He died in a plane crash five years ago, but Clive Rice does not believe the official line that it was due to pilot error. “I am convinced his death wasn’t an accident, and I will continue to believe that until the day I die.”

He fears Mr Woolmer has become the next victim of south Asian gangs which have long been accused of paying players handsomely to play badly, and even bribing or threatening officials to influence team selection.

Two Pakistan team officials are due to stay in Jamaica until the coroner allows the body of Mr Woolmer to leave the island. An inquest with a jury will be held “as soon as practical” said police; but they have revealed that death was from “asphyxia due to manual strangulation” .

Depressed and unable to sleep, the coach sent an email to his wife from room 374 at 3.12am last Sunday morning. The leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who was next door, said he did not hear any noises. The Pegasus Hotel said there was no record of anyone using an electronic key card to enter Mr Woolmer’s room on the 12th floor. Jamaican police say that suggests the 58-year-old Englishman opened the door to his attacker. His body was found in the bathroom by a maid later that morning and police sources have suggested he was wearing only a towel. Vomit was found nearby, leading officers to suspect he was drugged or poisoned. Nothing had obviously been stolen. ” It looks as if it may be somebody [who was] somehow linked to him,” said the Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields, on secondment from Scotland Yard.

But Richard Sydenham, a friend to several Pakistan players and founder of a cricket website featuring them, said: “This was a high-profile tournament which was supposed to have a great level of security. Knowing this, how often do people actually lock their doors in a hotel? Woolmer could have thought it was room service or a maid.”

He was declared dead at the hospital just after noon. That same day, even as players came to terms with the death of a coach who was also a father figure, the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his retirement from one-day cricket and leading the team at test level.

Mr Woolmer’s wife, Gill, said soon after the news broke that she was sure her husband had not committed suicide. He had been planning to retire to their home in South Africa to write books and run cricket academies after the World Cup. The International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit is now investigating whether the murder was related to gambling. A proof of Mr Woolmer’s unpublished autobiography went missing before the killing, but its co-author insisted yesterday that the coach was not “harbouring information on match fixing” and certainly not in “association with corrupt bookmakers”.

However, a second author claimed Mr Woolmer asked him for help with another, different book about his time with the controversial Pakistan team. “I am not a name-and-shame guy, just the honest facts,” Bob Woolmer wrote in an email to the journalist Osman Samiuddin, saying that he intended to start work on this book after the World Cup.

There were whispers that defeat to the West Indies at the start of the tournament looked unlikely, while defeat to the cricketing minnows of Ireland the day before Mr Woolmer died was undoubtedly one of the greatest upsets in the history of the game. “Pakistan was devastated,” said Usman Hamid, a writer in the country. “People were really shocked and they condemned the team for losing to such a little adversary.”

Helping the ICC inquiry is Lord Condon, a former head of the Metropolitan Police, who investigated the state of cricket six years ago: “The most disturbing aspect of the tolerance of corruption is the fear that some people have expressed for their personal safety, or the safety of their family.”

Lord Condon reported in 2001 that he had “spoken to people who have been threatened and who have alleged a murder and a kidnapping linked to cricket corruption”. One criminal had influence over the selection and performance of a team, while a contract killing in South Africa took place after a dispute between rival match fixers.

Ian Botham, speaking just after the Condon report, warned that the scandal would not go away “because of the amount of money involved” Botham said nobody had been stupid enough to approach him, but he imagined that once involved in the “web of intrigue” it would be impossible to get out. “You don’t. You’re in it for life.”

Internet and spread betting on cricket has become massive; and in Pakistan and India, where gambling on the result of games is illegal, gangs gather billions of rupees in bets. Bets cover everything from the batting order to the number of runs an individual player might get. For a single match between Pakistan and India, an estimated £510m will be placed in illegal bets.

“The large sums of money being bet also mean the threat of corruption is a significant one,” says the ICC, pledging to be vigilant. The television commentator Kishore Bhimani has described being accosted by a gangster called Sharad Shetty who runs illegal gambling in India and Pakistan as the right-hand man of an even more powerful figure. “He asked me to send signals on TV if rain was threatened or there were any dramatic happenings in the dressing room or any other naughtiness,” said Mr Bhimani. “I fled with my life intact.” In January 2003, two months before the last World Cup, Sharad Shetty was shot dead in Dubai.

Bob Woolmer’s death may yet prove to be unrelated to corruption but even before police confirmed it as murder the former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz blamed “the match-fixing mafia”, saying: “I believe he found out about what went on in the West Indies and was about to reveal all.”

Socialite heiress Paris Hilton is finally getting justice after charges are being filed against 10 airport workers and 1 transient who evidently went through her bags and stole some expensive items as she boarded a British Airways plane last year.

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has filed misdemeanor theft charges against 27-year old George Penaranda, a former baggage screener, who is of stealing a $100,000 limited-edition watch from Paris’s carry-on luggage.

The City Attorney’s Office claims that a coworker spotted the man snatching Paris’ watch and reported the incident to a supervisor.

“Today we are sending a message to those who might consider committing a crime at LAX, be they an employee, a passenger or a visitor–you better think again,” City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Friday during a news conference at the airport.

The charges against the 11 suspects include petty theft, grand theft and conspiracy. If prosecuted they could spend from six months to a year in jail and be fined up to $1,000.

Lindsay Lohan’s mum Dina has reprimanded Lynne Spears for not standing up for her mixed up daughter Britney Spears.

Spears recently left the Promises rehabilitation centre in California after completing a 30-day program to fight substance abuse.

But Dina Lohan believes the Toxic singer’s mother should have protected her daughter earlier against the scathing media reports criticising Spears’ downward spiral into rehab.

She says, “I don’t know her mom. But I love this kid, and I feel so badly for her because I’m a mom. The girl is a beautiful kid. She married some guy just to get out of the limelight. Cut her some slack.

“Her mother, I’m surprised she didn’t come forward. I’m not gonna sit back and go, ‘You’re gonna trash my kid?’ If my daughter was in high school, I would be at the principal’s office. Hello?”

Britney Spears certainly doesn’t have to worry about money according to details from her divorce settlement.

Britney Spears is worth an estimated $100 million.
The singer’s enormous wealth was revealed in leaked documents drawn up by the legal team who prepared her premarital agreement with estranged husband Kevin Federline.
Britney, who has agreed to give Kevin $10 million in their divorce settlement, has made $26.5 million from her music career alone.
Lea Goldman, the associate editor of business bible Forbes magazine, said:
“She is a very wealthy woman and protected by an ironclad prenuptial agreement.”
Her contract with Zomba Records earned her $6.72 million for her last album ‘Into the Zone’ and the accompanying 2004 tour netted her an estimated $20 million.
Music royalties from films and adverts make Britney around $60,000 a year.
She also has an estimated $33.25 million in six high-interest bank accounts.
Her endorsement deals have earned her $21.6 million, including the record-breaking $9.27 million Pepsi deal she signed in 2001.
The ‘Toxic’ singer also has deals with Samsung, Toyota, Kirin, Proactiv, Skechers and Nabisco.
Britney’s 2004 deal with Elizabeth Arden earns her royalties on best-selling signature fragrance Curious, plus a skin-care and cosmetics line, amounting to $16.7 million. She is guaranteed to annually earn between $1.96 million and $2.94 million until 2009 from the deal.
Britney owns four homes, including properties in Malibu and Orlando, plus a vast Louisiana forest - the total worth of which is around $22.6 million.
The 25-year-old has also earned $6.5 million from her TV appearances, plus magazine and film deals - including $3 million for her role in ‘Crossroads’.
Britney, who checked out of Malibu’s Promises rehab centre this week, has been advised to try and revive her music career as soon as possible.
Executive editor of Rolling Stone magazine Joe Levy said: “The best thing Britney can do right now is take some time away for herself and make a great record.
“The old saying is that she’s just one hit away from a comeback. Side by side is the saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
Forbes magazine recently ranked Britney as the 12th richest woman in entertainment.

Britney Spears is out of rehab. So now she has no excuse when she starts acting goofy again.

By the way, we’re just kicking ourselves for not marketing a Britney Spears Chia Head when she went nutty and shaved her head last month. If anybody out there tries it now, we’ll sue.

Anyway, Spears checked out of Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility “after successfully completing their program,” Spears’ manager, Larry Rudolph, said in a statement released by Jive Records late Tuesday.

He asked that Spears’ privacy be respected. And that no one start mass producing Britney Spears Chia Heads.

Spears, 25, entered the facility Feb. 22 after a bout of bizarre behavior that included shaving her head, getting tiny lips tattooed on her wrist and beating a car with an umbrella. Spears’ activities have been steady media fodder since she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in November.

Under a temporary agreement, the two have joint custody of their sons, Jayden James, 6 months, and Sean Preston, 18 months. Federline and the children reportedly visited Spears during her treatment.

Spears hasn’t disclosed why she sought treatment at Promises, where a 30-day stay costs $48,000. Promises alumni include Ben Affleck, Charlie Sheen, Diana Ross and Matthew Perry.

Tara Conner hands over her Miss USA tiara on Friday to a new beauty queen after a year of pageant scandals that boosted interest in an industry struggling for 21st century relevance.

Conner, 21, saved her crown by going to rehab last year after a bout of underage drinking and drug-taking that tarnished the image of the wholesome pageant princess while giving the 55-year-old competition unprecedented publicity.

On Friday, the newly sober Conner hands over her title at the end of a two-hour televised ceremony in Hollywood that will select Miss USA 2007 from 51 finalists who have paraded in swimsuits and ballgowns and confided their dreams and passions to a panel of six judges.
The new Miss USA could have a hard act to follow.

Sex and drugs overshadowed the official mission of Miss USA 2006 to travel the nation as an advocate for breast and ovarian cancer education and research,

In addition to Conner, who has spoken of being abused as a child, of being an alcoholic since her teens and of using cocaine, two other beauty queens have stumbled this year.

Property mogul and Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump fired Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, after racy photos of her surfaced online and Miss New Jersey, Ashley Harder, quit when she became pregnant against Miss USA rules

Conner, a Kentucky blond, is not expected to whitewash her troubles when she makes the traditional speech summing up her year.

She told “Access Hollywood” this week she thought the pageant would benefit from her experience.

“I think it is going to bring out a whole different era of people. The new girl will bring a new flavor to the title, just like I brought a very strange flavor to the title,” Conner told the television show.

She may also reveal some of the six tattoos that she was told by pageant officials to cover up. “It’s me. They’re cute. That is the great thing even now. They (pageant officials) are so accepting of me and it is like this huge family,” she added.

Beauty contests have tried for years to reinvent themselves in the face of sagging TV audience ratings, competition from racy reality TV shows and attacks by feminists who see them as demeaning.

But Trump’s decision in December to give the tearful Conner a second chance made headlines around the world. News outlets competed for a first interview when she emerged from treatment in January.

Two handwritten Anna Nicole Smith diaries, including one in which she reportedly says, “I hate sex,” were sold on eBay for more than $500,000 Thursday night.

A 1992 diary, featuring 26 entries from June 3 to Aug. 16, sold for $282,500. And a 1994 diary, in which she writes, “My husband is very sick and very weak,” went for $230,000.

That brings the total to $512,500, not including the 20 percent buyer premium.

Thomas Riccio of Universal Rarities, the California memorabilia house that auctioned off the diaries, said the buyer was a German businessman.

He is “a huge fan” of the former Playboy Playmate, Riccio told TMZ.com.

The 1992 diary has a blue cover with the words, “I follow my own star,” on it. Inside, Smith says, “I hate for men to want sex all the time. I hate sex,” reports the gossip Web site PerezHilton.com and other gossip sites.

She also reveals she cheated on her late octogenarian husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. Still, in the 1994 diary, she writes, “I wait each hour to comfort him with medicines and prayers.”

Meanwhile, the National Enquirer and Star magazine are reporting that Smith died with a toxic level of sleeping medication in her system.

The medical examiner investigating Smith’s death will release an autopsy report Monday, presumably disclosing what killed the former reality TV star.

Dr. Joshua Perper, the medical examiner for Broward County, Fla., and Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said they will hold a joint news conference to discuss the cause of death.

The conference will take place at 10:30 a.m. EDT Monday outside the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office.

A spokesman for the Seminole Police Department, Gary Bitner, told TMZ the findings at Monday’s news conference “are going to be a significant announcement.”

“It continues to be a non-criminal, unexplained death,” but Perper’s findings “are going to provide some resolution” in Smith’s death, Bitner told TMZ.

Perper’s initial autopsy report showed no immediate indication of a drug overdose and no sign of major external injuries, but a conclusive cause of death has been pending.

The medical examiner delayed the release of the full autopsy report after police gave him additional evidence, though authorities have not said what that is.

Prosecutors have said they are not treating the case as a homicide.

Speculation about what led to Smith’s untimely demise on Feb. 8 at age 39 has run rampant since she collapsed in a Florida hotel room and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, with theories ranging from a drug overdose and pneumonia to suicide and murder.

An inquest into what killed Smith’s 20-year-old son Daniel in September will begin next week. The official report found that he died of drug-related causes brought on by a lethal interaction of medications.

On Tuesday, a Bahamian judge ordered Smith’s baby daughter to undergo a DNA test to determine who is the child’s father.

Smith’s companion Howard K. Stern and her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead maintain they are 6-month-old Dannielynn’s father and are fighting for custody, along with her estranged mother Virgie Arthur.

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, who also claims he could be the baby’s father, provided his DNA sample in Los Angeles on Friday.

Results of the comparison of Dannielynn and Birkhead’s DNA samples are expected around April 3.

The girl, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could inherit millions from the estate of Smith’s late husband J. Howard Marshall II. Smith had been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.

The New York Post, FOX News’ Phil Keating and The Associated Press contributed to this report.