Stevie Wonder may play in Morocco

Plus: Downey Jr signs on for more Avengers; after four decades, Black Sabbath tops charts; Abercrombie drops mocking Taylor Swift T-shirt; Bonham Carter to play Fairy Godmother.

Stevie Wonder says he will perform in Morocco for delegates from the World Intellectual Property Organisation if they reach a deal to make it easier to produce Braille books for the visually impaired.Show more

Stevie Wonder has offered to sing live for international negotiators who are in Morocco trying to forge a deal to give the visually impaired greater access to reading material. In a video message on Friday, Wonder, channelling one of his hits, urged delegates: "So do it, we get it signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." Wonder said he'd fly to Marrakech to celebrate with delegates if they strike a deal. Some 600 negotiators from the 186 member-states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation are meeting until Friday. - AP

Downey Jr signs on for more Avengers

Robert Downey Jr has signed up for two more Avengers films. The actor will reprise his role as Iron Man/Tony Stark for The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3. Joss Whedon will also return as director. Whedon says he's writing the screenplay for part two. Production is set to begin in March, with a theatrical release in May 2015. Downey Jr had previously suggested Iron Man 3 might be his last spin in a stand-alone Iron Man film. - AP

Black Sabbath tops charts

Black Sabbath landed its first No 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart this week, 43 years after the rockers debuted their first album in the US. Their 19th studio album, 13, knocked last week's No 1 album by Queens of the Stone Age. "The news is absolutely amazing - we couldn't have imagined this would happen," Tony Iommi said in a statement. Daft Punk held steady for the second week at No. 2 with Random Access Memories, while Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience climbed from ninth to third. - Reuters

Abercrombie drops Taylor Swift T-shirt

Abercrombie and Fitch says it's no longer selling a T-shirt that mocks Taylor Swift's prolific love life. Swift's fans used social media including YouTube and a Change.org petition this week to complain about the baggy T-shirt that read: "#more boyfriends than t.s." Swift, 23, is notorious for writing hit tunes about ex-lovers including John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal and, most recently, Harry Styles. She briefly modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch a decade ago. - AFP

Bonham Carter to play fairy godmother

Helena Bonham Carter has signed on to star as the fairy godmother in a new movie version of Cinderella to be directed by Bonham Carter's former boyfriend Kenneth Branagh. The live-action fantasy movie has already signed on Lily James as Cinderella and Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother. Reports suggest the Game of Thrones star Richard Madden, Downton Abbey's Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger are also in talks for roles. - IANS

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