Los Angeles -- Chris Brown won the American Music Award for favorite pop/rock male artist and Alicia Keys won for favorite pop/rock album in Los Angeles Sunday night.
Brown beat Kid Rock and Usher for the male artist award.
"I just want to thank first and foremost all the fans that supported me from Day 1," Brown said upon accepting his award.
The prize was presented by socialite-actress Paris Hilton and hip-hop artist T-Pain, who put his arm around Hilton and told the crowd she wasn't single any more and that they were witnessing a "new beginning."
"In your face corporate America," he declared.
Hilton recently broke up with her musician boyfriend Benji Madden.
Later in the evening, Keys won the pop/rock album award for "As I Am." Her CD beat out offerings from The Eagles and Coldplay.
Los Angeles -- Chris Brown won the American Music Award for favorite pop/rock male artist in Los Angeles Sunday night.
Also nominated in the category were Kid Rock and Usher.
"I just want to thank first and foremost all the fans that supported me from Day 1," Brown said upon accepting his award.
The prize was presented by socialite-actress Paris Hilton and hip-hop artist T-Pain, who put his arm around Hilton and told the crowd she wasn't single any more and that they were witnessing a "new beginning."
"In your face corporate America," he declared.
Hilton recently broke up with her musician boyfriend Benji Madden.
The 36th annual AMA show in Los Angeles featured performances by New Kids on the Block and Taylor Swift.
London -- Michael Jackson is settling with an Arab sheik who sued him for $7 million for allegedly reneging on a recording deal, a spokesman for the U.S. pop singer said.
Jackson had been scheduled to travel to Britain to testify in High Court in person Monday in the legal dispute with Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa, son of the king of Bahrain. But the BBC reported as Jackson was getting ready to depart he learned a settlement in principle had been reached between the two parties and he was told to postpone his travel.
The Arab sheik has contended that for a period of months ending in mid-2006 he paid Jackson's living and other expenses, and built a record studio as part of a deal for the singer to record albums using material he helped write. Jackson contends they were gifts and he had no legal obligation to the sheik.
Fayetteville, Ark. -- An Arkansas couple are suing McDonald's after nude photos of the woman stored on his cell phone left behind at a franchise restaurant wound up on the Internet.
Phillip and Tina Sherman filed their lawsuit Friday against McDonald's Corp., Mathews Management Co., which owns the McDonald's franchise in Fayetteville, Ark., and Aaron Brummley, a manager of the restaurant, the (Fayetteville) Northwest Arkansas Times reported Sunday.
They are seeking more than $3 million in damages after nude photos of Tina Sherman were posted on a Web site.
Phillip Sherman left his cell phone in the McDonald's restaurant July 5.
The phone contained photos his wife had previously sent of herself to her husband's cell phone for his own use, the lawsuit contends.
Chicago -- Actor Nelsan Ellis, who appears in the HBO series "True Blood," says two teachers in Dolton, Ill., are responsible for his entertainment career success.
The actor, who plays Lafayette Reynolds on the vampire-themed drama, said Thornridge High teachers Tim Sweeney and Bill Kirksey helped change his life during his formative teenage years, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.
"I had no intention of being an actor," said Ellis, who moved to Dolton at the age of 14 after his mother was shot.
Motivated by his girlfriend at the time, Ellis joined the speech team and fell under the tutelage of Sweeney and Kirksey.
The black actor told the Sun-Times his ensuing experiences in competitions and then in school plays helped him find a new direction in his life.
Chicago -- A Chicago medical school owned by the parents of Hollywood actor Billy Zane has left its students adrift after suddenly closing, students say.
Electrocardiography technician student Josephine Kilpatrick said the Medical Careers Institute closed with a week's notice in October, cutting short her degree attempt by six weeks, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.
Aimee Lefever said her attempts to become an ultrasound technician were thwarted by the sudden closure of the 31-year-old school founded by William and Thalia Zane.
"I feel very betrayed," the 31-year-old mother of two told the Tribune "I was working so hard and spent so much time studying and preparing, and now to not even be able to finish ... . I feel kind of defeated."
Rome -- A Vatican publication says the late British rocker John Lennon is off the hook for once saying the Beatles beat Jesus Christ in popularity.
The Sunday Times of London reported an editorial in the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, absolved the Beatles rocker for his March 1966 comment.
"We're more popular than Jesus now -- I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity," Lennon said at the time. "Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
The comment from Lennon, who was fatally shot in 1980, not only resulted in condemnation by the Vatican but also death threats and record burnings targeting the Beatles.
The Times said the Vatican newspaper's comments on the matter came just as Lennon's former Beatles partner, Paul McCartney, spoke out about Lennon's drug use.
St. Petersburg, Fla. -- U.S. actor-professional wrestler Hulk Hogan's estranged wife, Linda Bollea, says she needs more than the $40,000-a-month payments she receives.
Pinellas-Pasco County, Fla., Circuit Judge George Greer has been asked by one of Bollea's attorneys to unfreeze a portion of the couple's assets while they are finalizing their divorce, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Thursday.
The request during a hearing on other divorce matters came after Bollea and Hogan, whose real name is Terry Gene Bollea, agreed in August that she would receive $40,000 each month in temporary alimony payments from the former wrestler.
Hogan also agreed to pay for most of the upkeep on the couple's Florida home where she lives.
The Times said Greer sided with Linda Bollea's attorneys regarding their claims Hogan also should pay the home's cable TV, window-washing and pest control bills.
Abuja, Nigeria -- Nigerian musicians said they were pleased to have taken home six of the 10 awards handed out during this year's MTV Africa Music Awards.
The BBC reported Sunday that among the Nigerian stars honored at the ceremony in Abuja was Nigerian rapper D'banj, who earned best male performer and artist of the year honors.
Another Nigerian rapper, Naeto C, was bestowed with best new act honors by MTV Africa at Saturday's ceremony.
The Nigerian musical duo, P-Square, earned best group honors at the first-ever MTV Africa awards show despite having been nominated in five categories.
Nigerian singer Ikechuku was presented with a best video Golden Microphone trophy for his song "Wind am Well," while Nigerian performer 9ice earned top hip-hop honors.
Los Angeles -- "Twilight," a vampire love story written and directed by women, opened at No. 1 in U.S. theaters, Box Office Mojo said Sunday.
"Twilight" tallied an estimated $70.55 million in its first weekend. The screenplay for the romantic horror film, based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer, was written by Melissa Rosenberg and directed by Catherine Hardwicke..
Pushed down to No. 2 was "Quantum of Solace," which pulled in another $27.4 million for a two-week total of $109.48 million.
Arriving at No. 3 with $27 million in estimated gate receipts was "Bolt," featuring the voices of John Travolta, the animated movie's top dog, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton and Malcolm McDowell.
"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" dropped two spots to No. 4 at $16 million for a three-week total of $137.45 million, while "Role Models also fell two places to No. 5 with $7.23 million.
