newsmakers

newsmakers

Rihanna drops in on high school

BARRINGTON, Ill.

Pop star Rihanna has dropped in on high school students in a northwestern Chicago suburb.

Barrington High School earned Friday’s visit as a reward for winning the singer’s “Shine Bright Like a Diamond” video contest.

The five-minute, student-produced video highlighted the school’s volunteer and community-service programs.

The Chicago Sun- Times reports that the singer told students she admired their passion and volunteerism.

Rihanna showed up more than five hours late, but some in the crowd said she was worth the wait.

She also posed for photos before heading off to her Friday night concert at Chicago’s United Center.

Barrington freshman Nisha Ali said, “The fact that she came here and thanked us was a huge deal.”

DeGeneres wows Aussie audience during filming

SYDNEY

Ellen DeGeneres was applauded by a rapturous Aussie audience like a cherished part of the family as she introduced her Australian-born wife, Portia de Rossi, on a Sydney Harbour-side stage Saturday to begin pre-recording Down Under segments for her popular U.S. TV show.

The Emmy Award- winning talk-show host arrived in Sydney with her mom, Betty DeGeneres, and de Rossi on Friday after a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles for a six-day filming trip to Australia.

“I’m moving here; it’s so beautiful,” DeGeneres told 3,000 admirers, who were clearly delighted to be in the sun-bathed Royal Botanic Gardens near the Sydney Opera House for the two-hour recording despite the 86-degree early-afternoon heat.

Guests included Oscar-winning actor and Sydney local Russell Crowe. He presented the 55-year-old host with two kangaroo-hide cattle whips that he said DeGeneres might need to catch “some brumbies” — an Australian term for wild horses — when she visits Australia’s southeast. The pair took turns at whip cracking.

Associated Press