Stars to lose 1st class travel

Hollywood actors will have to give up flying first class under a fresh cost-cutting agreement, which will force them to mix with ordinary holidaymakers in the cheap seats.

Movie studio bosses met with union officials this week in a bid to hammer out a money-saving preparation, and they agreed to slash stars' travel costs in return for improved pay rates, health insurance and pension contributions.

The latest rules are expected to come into force next year and will see stars forced to travel in coach class for journeys less than 1,600 kilometres or between Los Angeles and New York or Canada. For longer trips, actors will be able to upgrade to first class, but only if no business class seats are available.

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists struck the tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Michelle Obama adds Spain journey to 2010 holiday agenda

Michelle Obama has supplementary an additional vacation to her summer agenda, with a journey to Spain with daughter Sasha, 9, next month, the White House announced on Monday.

The travel is being owed by the White House as a "confidential mother-daughter journey with longtime family friends." The supplementary vacation voyage comes when Malia, 12, will be going off to immediately camp for the first time.

While the trip is being described as "private," "while in Spain, Mrs. Obama will pay an administrator vacation to Their Majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain at their provocation," the White House said, with the behavior to be closed to the press.

That the East Wing is announcing the journey is a welcome upgrading. I'm all for giving Mrs. Obama and the kids lots of solitude but when they start hanging out with heads of state, well, that's worth letting the public know.

In June 2009, Mrs. Obama's office declined to reveal in advance Mrs. Obama's voyage to London and Paris where the first lady and her daughters visited the French president at the Elysee Palace and the wife of a now former British prime minister.