In brief: Thandie to play Condi

Oliver Stone is in talks with British actress Thandie Newton (right) to play Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (left) in W, his upcoming biopic of George Bush… On the eve of the release of Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist, Lily Allen has withdrawn “by mutual consent” from the judging panel… Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who starred in some of Hollywood’s greatest epics including Cecil B De Mille’s The Ten Commandments and William Wyler’s Ben Hur, died at his Beverly Hills home on Saturday, aged 84… Glastonbury’s headline act Jay-Z, who married his long-time partner Beyonce on Friday, may pull out of the festival after reports that his involvement has caused fewer ticket registrations… Clive Anderson is to be the permanent replacement for the late Ned Sherrin on BBC Radio 4's entertainment magazine show Loose Ends... Madonna and Guy Ritchie, who have a two-year-old adopted son from Malawi, are reportedly set to adopt a baby from India after a recent holiday there... Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, running for a third term in next week’s election, has boasted that he speaks Latin so well he could have engaged Roman emperor Julius Caesar in conversation… ·