Prayers for Harrison in Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles

LIVERPOOL, England - Prayers of remembrance were said for George Harrison in his home city Sunday - in churches, cathedrals and at makeshift street-corner shrines.

Three days after 58-year-old Harrison died from cancer in California, Canon Michael Wolfe offered a prayer of thanksgiving for "the Liverpool Beatle, George Harrison" at the city's Anglican cathedral.

Wolfe told about 200 parishioners in the vast and echoing cathedral that Harrison would be remembered "for his contribution over the years to song and music, and for his work for charity."

As Liverpool launched into the Christmas holiday season Sunday with a parade, many in the city paused quietly to remember the local son who bore his fame and his illness with equal forbearance.

"George will be remembered for being dignified about being a member of The Beatles," said 21-year-old James Elliker, stopping outside the gates of Strawberry Field, the Salvation Army children's home immortalized in a Beatles song. "He'll be remembered as the nice one."

Behind him a sign pinned to the red wrought-iron gates echoed Harrison's final message to his fans: "Love one another."

Notes, flowers and cards continued to arrive at Beatles sites across Liverpool on Sunday - at the tiny terraced house where Harrison spent the first seven years of his life, by the road sign at the top of Penny Lane, the quiet suburban street the band eulogized in song. They were left by people who paused for a moment in silence before moving on. (AP)

New single for Winslet

NEW YORK ¨l Newly single herself, actress Kate Winslet has decided to release a single for Christmas.

Winslet, who separated from her husband, director Jim Threapleton, a few months ago, first drew attention to her voice when she did some singing for her role in the 1995 film "Sense and Sensibility." Recently, she caught the eye and ear of Andrew Lloyd Webber who, having heard her sing, is thinking of casting her in "Phantom of the Opera" as the lead, according to the New York Post.

The Oscar-winning actress, who has a one-year-old daughter, Mia, with her estranged husband, is now dating director Sam Mendes, who won an Oscar himself for "American Beauty."

Her new single, called "What If," is a romantic ballad. It was expected to top the charts for Christmas in the U.K., but will encounter tough competition from Robbie Williams' and Nicole Kidman's new duet, a Frank Sinatra cover taken from his album "Swing When You're Winning." (TRJ)

Madonna and Ritchie to "relive the moment"

LONDON - American pop superstar Madonna and British film director Guy Ritchie are to spend their first wedding anniversary at the Scottish castle where they tied the knot, the British tabloid The Sun reported.

The paper said the couple, married in the strictest secrecy just before Christmas last year at Skibo Castle, have invited close friends to relive the moment.

It said the couple had booked every room at the fairytale castle to ensure their privacy.

The world press descended on Scotland for last year's wedding, but the couple excluded the media from the ceremony and celebrations.

Madonna said of her wedding afterwards: "It was a truly magical, religious experience. It was very personal and intimate. We could both feel that everybody was rooting for us and supporting us. There was so much love." (Reuters)

Japan celebrates royal birth

TOKYO - The forbidding gates of Japan's Imperial Palace opened Sunday to let waves of well-wishers onto its manicured grounds to fete the birth of a baby girl to Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako.

Rituals honoring the birth Saturday of the royal baby - the imperial couple's first in eight years of marriage - started out as a family affair: Hours after delivery, a court messenger placed a sword and purple robes of silk beside the infant's pillow.

But on brilliant Sunday afternoon under a cloudless sky, it was the public's turn to take their party to the palace.

Tens of thousands of Japanese - from young children to elderly couples - lined up at the palace to sign a congratulatory book. Many waved Japanese flags and shouted "Banzai!" - or long life.

"Our social status is completely different, but as mothers I'm sure we are praying for the same things. I'm rooting for her," said Mayumi Kikuta, a housewife who like Masako is 37. She had come with her husband and four children to sign the registry.

The procession of people offering their congratulations at the palace began with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who led a group of senior government officials.

"Many citizens are expressing their delight in a direct way... It is bright and heartwarming," Koizumi was reported as saying before he paid his respects.

Masako suffered a miscarriage in 1999, amid the media frenzy of her first pregnancy. Naruhito later criticized the press for putting undue pressure on the princess. (AP)