Taking Names

Eye on Dubai?

Pop star Michael Jackson, on a private visit to Dubai, reportedly is thrilled by the Gulf Arab emirate, which is in the midst of a construction boom — leading many to speculate that he may be considering a move there.

Reuters news agency, quoting local newspapers, reported yesterday that the King of Pop has been touring the emirate, the Gulf region’s trade and tourism hub, for the past week in the company of Dubai-based Arab rally-driving champion and friend Mohammed bin Sulayem.

According to published reports, Mr. Jackson has made inquiries about real estate.

The singer, who turned 47 yesterday and was acquitted of child sex abuse charges in June, is living in the Gulf Arab kingdom of Bahrain as a guest of the royal family.

Clintons go Hawaiian

Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a vacation on Hawaii’s Kauai Island with their daughter, Chelsea, doing what most tourists do — shopping, eating out and golfing, albeit with a movie star.

According to Associated Press, the Clintons have been spotted hiking the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali Coast and golfing at Princeville with “James Bond” actor and Hanalei resident Pierce Brosnan.

The Clintons stayed at a private luxury home on Kauai’s lush North Shore. They also have been accompanied by a team of Secret Service agents.

Hanalei Gourmet owner Tim Kerlin said the former prez picked up a deli sandwich, while his wife and their daughter enjoyed a restaurant appetizer specialty: deep-fried crispy artichoke hearts.

Mr. Clinton last visited Kauai in 1992, when he spent a day campaigning on four islands for Hawaiian Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono, who lost to Gov. Linda Lingle.

Brit fit

Pop princess and mommy-to-be Britney Spears stormed the set of little sister Jamie Lynn Spears’ Nickelodeon show, “Zoey 101,” last week and screamed at a 13-year-old co-star who had been feuding with Jamie Lynn — leaving the traumatized actress in tears, the New York Post reports.

“Britney had the talent coordinator bring [co-star] Alexa Nikolas over to Jamie Lynn’s trailer — where she proceeded to scream that Alexa was an ‘evil little girl’ and that she had better watch herself or she ‘will never work in this town again,’” the newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying.

“Alexa was in tears,” the source adds. “She was sobbing and totally upset — I mean, she has been buying Britney CDs since she was 6, and then Britney tears her to pieces? It was totally uncalled for. While Jamie Lynn is the star, Alexa still works there, and it is technically her set. And the fight was a petty,13-year-old thing between Alexa and Jamie Lynn, who is becoming a real pest. Britney should have stayed out of it.”

Story Continues →