Free Republic

A beautiful Brazilian soap star has the lead role in her own daytime drama, which casts George Soros, the billionaire financier of lefty causes, as a heavy who not only broke her heart, but also reneged on a promise to give her an Upper East Side apartment worth $1.9 million. The drama will be staged in Manhattan Supreme Court, where 28-year-old Adriana Ferreyr yesterday filed a blockbuster $50 million suit charging, among other things, that the frisky octogenarian slapped her around while they were in bed discussing his real-estate betrayal. The sultry actress and the mogul, who's worth some $14.5...

Fittingly for the launch of the new authorized James Bond novel "Carte Blanche," there was a luxury car, champagne on tap, crack British troops abseiling from the rafters and a long-legged girl on a vintage motorbike. The promotion of American crime writer Jeffery Deaver's book about 007 and his latest escapades, which hits shelves on Thursday, was more like Hollywood than the usually more low-key world of publishing.

The script for Bond 23 was penned by regular 007 collaborators Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (The World is not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) and polished by newcomer Peter Morgan (The Queen). The LA Times also claims Sam Mendes, who is unofficially attached to direct the film, worked on the script last spring. The paper’s source claims “creative discussions among the writers and producers” have hampered the film’s development. The LA Times doesn’t elaborate on the specific nature of the alleged scripting issues, but speculates that it may owe to the lofty expectations placed...