People: Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Keith Urban

Famous for her sexy image and skimpy outfits, Beyoncé has canceled plans to sing for the first time in Malaysia and will instead perform in neighboring Indonesia, where rules about the dress and behavior of entertainers are less severe, The Associated Press has reported. International Creative Management, the talent agency that represents Beyoncé, said only that her Nov. 1 engagement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, had been canceled "due to a scheduling conflict." But the local promoter, Razlan Ahmad Razali, noted: "Though Indonesia is also a Muslim country, it doesn't have all these issues that we have. She can perform as she likes there."

Britney Spears has lost custody of her two sons after a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles ruled that her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, would take custody beginning Wednesday until further notice. Spears, the 25-year-old pop star, and Federline, 29, had joint custody of their sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, after their divorce in July. The same judge, Scott Gordon, ordered Spears last month to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week, having found that she had engaged in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol." The ruling was the culmination of a rash of bad news for Spears, whose erratic behavior on and off the stage, including shaving her head and diving into the ocean from a public beach in her underwear, had cast doubt on her fitness as a mother.

The Black Eyed Peas held a benefit concert in Mexico City to raise money for local schools and educational programs for needy children. "It feels good to be able to help," will.i.am, the lead singer for the hip-hop band, said shortly before last week's concert at the National Auditorium, "because at one point in time we were teenagers that loved getting involved with the arts." The band's albums include "Elephunk" and "Monkey Business."

The country music singer Keith Urban crashed his motorcycle while being followed by a photographer on the way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting near his home in Sydney, local media reported this week. Urban, 39, who is married to the Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and who has battled substance abuse, was not injured in the accident and signed photographs for fans who came to help, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Urban said the incident was the result of "one person's desire to do his job and my desire to maintain my privacy."

The Russian billionaire who bought the extensive art collection owned by the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and his widow, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, has decided to put the collection's 450 pieces, which include porcelain and paintings by renowned artists such as Ilya Repin, on permanent display at Konstantin Palace near St. Petersburg. This week's announcement by Alisher Usmanov disappointed some museum directors, who complained that because the palace is often used by the presidency for ceremonial functions, the art would not always be available to the public.

The Police, fresh off a reunion tour, have been honored for their contribution to the arts. The French minister of culture, Christine Albanel, named Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers to chevaliers of the Order of Arts and Letters at a Paris ceremony this week. "We are very happy to be among your knights," said Sting, speaking in French. Best-selling songs by The Police include "Roxanne," "Message in a Bottle" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me." Meanwhile, the filmmaker David Lynch, who became a "knight" in France's Legion of Honor in 2002, has received an upgrade to "officer." Lynch, 61, has made such films as "The Elephant Man" and "Blue Velvet."

The fifth in a series of concerts that Nelson Mandela is using to raise awareness about AIDS will be held in Johannesburg on Dec. 1, which is also World Aids Day. Details of the lineup will be announced later this month. Previous shows in Cape Town, Spain and Norway have raised an estimated $3 million and featured such musicians as U2, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Beyoncé, Bob Geldof and Angelique Kidjo.

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Source: www.iht.com