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LISBON (AFP) - Oscar-winning US actress Gwyneth Paltrow feels dinner talk is far more interesting in her adopted homeland Britain than back in her native country.

"I love the English lifestyle, it’s not as capitalistic as America. People don’t talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner," she told "NS", the weekend magazine supplement of daily Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias on Saturday.

"I like living here because I don’t fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans," the 34-year-old added.

Paltrow, who won a best actress Oscar for 1998’s "Shakespeare in Love," lives in London with British band Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin whom she wed in 2003.

She said having US pop star Madonna, 48, who married British film director Guy Ritchie six years ago, nearby was another advantage to living in London.

"She’s like an older sister. Everything I have gone through, she went through ten times worse and ten times longer. She gives me good advice about how to say no and take care of myself," said Paltrow.

LOS ANGELES — Paris Hilton won’t joke about her peeps. The hotel heiress canceled an appearance at next week’s Billboard Music Awards because she didn’t like the jokes written for her, according to a spokesman.

"It is my understanding that some satirical references ridiculed some of her peers," her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said in a statement. "Paris did not want to say anything that could appear hurtful or embarassing about people she knows."

Mintz said Hilton received a script Friday that contained material she found "objectionable." Representatives for Hilton and the awards show could not come to an agreement about the script’s content so she decided to scrap the appearance, he said.

A call to Billboard was not returned early Saturday.

The Billboard Awards will be handed out Monday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show is scheduled to air live on Fox.

© 2006 The Associated Press

A German film, The Lives of Others, about a secret policeman in the former East Germany, has won best film at the European Film Awards in Warsaw, Poland.

It beat the Spanish film Volver by Pedro Almodovar - which still took five awards, including best director and best actress for Penelope Cruz.

It is the first time the ceremony was held in an eastern European country.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski returned to his homeland to receive a lifetime achievement award.

The Lives of Others is a drama about how East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, destroyed the lives of ordinary people.

Director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck told the audience it meant a lot to win the award in Poland, "since my father was born in this country".

Another director returning to his roots was Roman Polanski.

The Oscar-winning director said it was a moving experience for him to return to Poland.

He dedicated the award to Penelope Cruz and her co-stars, actresses who he said represented "the incredible women that surrounded me when I was a child".

via BBC.

NEW YORK — Her marriage didn’t work out on "Desperate Housewives," but things are looking rosy in real life for Eva Longoria: She’s engaged to her beau, basketball star Tony Parker.

"Tony flew into Los Angeles last night after his game and surprised Eva at her home as she got off work," Longoria’s spokeswoman, Liza Anderson, told The Associated Press on Thursday via e-mail.

"The proposal was romantic and perfect. The couple plans to wed in France in the summer of 2007 in what they describe as a big, happy ceremony with lots of family and friends."

The 31-year-old Longoria, who plays crafty Gabrielle Solis on the hit ABC show, met Parker, a 24-year-old Frenchman, in the San Antonio Spurs’ locker room after a game two years ago.

Longoria divorced Tyler Christopher, who stars on ABC’s "General Hospital," in 2004, after two years of marriage.

© 2006 The Associated Press.

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN — A leading Kazakh writer has nominated actor Sacha Baron Cohen for a national award for popularizing Kazakhstan. Novelist Sapabek Asip-uly called on the Kazakh Club of Art Patrons to give Baron Cohen its annual award, according to a letter published by the Vremya newspaper Thursday.

Baron Cohen’s fictional character Borat "has managed to spark an immense interest of the whole world in Kazakhstan, something our authorities could not do during the years of independence," said Asip-uly.

Government officials in the former Soviet republic have been enraged by Borat’s unflattering portrayal of Kazakh life in the spoof documentary, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

"If state officials completely lack a sense of humor, their country becomes a laughing stock," Asip-uly said.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said earlier this week that Borat has helped to make Kazakhstan better known in the West and he invited Baron Cohen to visit the Central Asian state.

The film, which follows Borat on a trip across the U.S. to report back to his homeland on American culture and lifestyle, has become a runaway hit while generating controversy for scenes depicting misogyny and racism.

"I truly hope my initiative will be supported for the benefit of the glorious nation of Kazakhstan," Asip-uly said.

Asip-uly is known for several novels describing the Russian colonization of Kazakh lands and the Stalinist purges against Kazakhstan’s political and cultural elite in the 1930s.

© 2006 The Associated Press.