In brief: Senate seat for Kirsten Gillibrand

After being spurned by Caroline Kennedy, the New York Governor David Paterson has chosen 42-year-old congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacated Senate seat........... Sienna Miller is to star in a Broadway play. The 27-year-old actress ,who once studied acting in Manhattan, will take the lead role in Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, an adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie, which opens at the Broadway Theatre in September. As reported here, Miller was recently dropped from Ridley Scott's new film about Robin Hood, allegedly because of her party lifestyle............ Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, has decided to put her acting career on hold to take a degree at Cambridge University. Watson, who achieved four A grades in her A-levels, is understood to have won a place to read English at Trinity College.............. Gwyneth Paltrow has set up an exclusive Hollywood book club. On the actress's website, Goop.com, she helpfully lists the favourite reads of her friend and fellow member, Madonna. These include The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, The Bad Girl by renowned Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts...........An attempt by Olympic oarsman James Cracknell, doctor Ed Coats and TV presenter Ben Fogle to get to the South Pole before a team of Norwegians had ended in failure. Cracknell had hoped to better the performance of Captain Scott's team, who in 1912 were beaten to the pole by Norwegian Roald Amundsen. However, instead of arriving 35 days later, as Scott did, Cracknell and co were beaten by just 20 hours............... The prosecution case against the legendary music producer Phil Spector, who is standing trial for the second time for allegedly murdering Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles home in February 2003, ended on Thursday. Next week the jury will hear the case for the defence............. Steven Gerrard, the captain of Liverpool football club, is due to appear today at North Sefton Magistrates' Court, Southport. He was charged with assault and affray in December following an alleged nightclub attack............. Kelly Osbourne, the daughter of Sharron and Ozzy Osbourne, has checked herself into a US rehabilitation centre............ ·