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Actor Daniel Craig has been confirmed as the new James Bond.

The English star of gangster film Layer Cake, who arrived at a press conference in London by speedboat, will play a tougher, grittier and darker 007.

"It's a huge challenge. Life is about challenges and this is one of the big ones as an actor," said Craig, 37, who will be the sixth James Bond.

He joked he "had a couple of Martinis" when he got the role. Casino Royale is due to start filming in January.

"We've got an incredible script and that's my first line of attack," he said. "Once I'd read that, I realised that I didn't have a choice. I had to go for it."

He admitted taking the role was a big responsibility but added: "I've just got to step up to the plate and deal with it."

Bond was "a huge iconic figure in movie history and these things don't come along very often", he said.

Director Martin Campbell said the 21st Bond film would be "definitely darker, more character, less gadgets".

Craig told reporters: "Together with Martin, I want to make the best film we can, the most entertaining film we can."

The actor said he was not looking to redefine the role, but added: "It's a question of taking it somewhere maybe where it's never gone before."

Craig said he had received encouragement from predecessor Pierce Brosnan and had tried to think of it "like any other job".

He also admitted there was a danger of being "trapped" by being stereotyped in the role.

PAMELA ANDERSON has returned to China after People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) arranged for her to appear on phone cards as part of their latest anti-fur campaign in Asia.

The former BAYWATCH beauty caused a storm last year (04) when she starred in Chinese billboard advertisements topless, with her back to the camera next to Chinese characters which read, "Cold shoulders are nothing compared to the pain they feel. Please don't wear fur."

Chinese censors doctored the advert on three occasions before allowing it to be displayed publicly - and the government owned company China Telecom has now printed 70,000 phone cards featured a softer version of the billboard advert.

Anderson says in statement released by PETA: "The people of China deserve to know about the immense suffering of animals killed for their fur.

"Once people know that animals are electrocuted, drowned, bludgeoned to death and sometimes skinned alive, they realize fur is disgusting and that there's nothing luxurious or fashionable about it."

Olivia Newton-John Says Says Thought She'd Never Sing Again After Her Longtime Boyfriend Disappeared

Olivia Newton-John is still hoping her missing boyfriend returns more than three months after he disappeared.

"I love him very much and this is very hard to go through," Newton-John said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "He has a young son so we still hold out hope that he will come back."

Newton-John's longtime boyfriend, 48-year-old Patrick Kim McDermott, failed to return from a June 30 overnight fishing trip off the California coast.
The Coast Guard has been investigating his disappearance as a missing person case, including the possibility that McDermott had staged his disappearance.

McDermott had filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and was embroiled in a legal dispute in April over late child support payments to his ex-wife, actress Yvette Nipar. The couple have a 13-year-old son.

"It's very much a mystery and speculation has been rife and I choose not to buy into the speculation," Newton-John said. "This is such a personal thing for me and his family and we've chosen not to talk about it because it's an ongoing investigation."

Newton-John, 57, appeared opposite John Travolta in the 1978 movie "Grease." She is best known for songs such as "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical."

The singer, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 13 years ago, recently released a new album, "Stronger Than Before."

Oops! ... It happened again. Britney Spears' jewel-encrusted bra has been removed for a second time from Internet auction site eBay -- this time by the pop singer herself.

The bra was one of dozens of wardrobe items and other personal belongings that Spears put up for bid on eBay to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and bidding on the bejeweled undergarment had surpassed $60,000 before it was withdrawn on Saturday, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said on Monday.

In a message posted on her official Web site, Spears, 23, told fans she was "concerned that some of you might be confusing this bra with something that it's not."

The message says eBay accurately described the bra as having been worn by Spears during a promotion for an HBO concert special, but "it is not the one I wore onstage during the 'Baby One More Time' performance."

October 1, 2005 -- WHEN rock 'n' roller Ralph Covert made the switch to kids' music, he heard it from the critics - one in particular.
That one, he recalls, sat him down and said, "OK, Dad, here's the things that made that record babyish."

It was Covert's nearly 6-year-old daughter, Fiona.

She went on: "If you wanna appeal to kids older than 3 or 4, here's the stuff that kids like me, 5 and older, are gonna find babyish and make us not wanna listen to it ..."

Then Fiona told him it was OK to rock.

Since then - under the band name Ralph's World - the Chicago rocker has...