IT was almost like a scene from Baywatch. Serena Williams runs along Miami Beach, the sea lapping around her feet, as she confidently showed off her new bikini body.

The tennis ace was looking in incredible shape, 18 months after she paraded a far beefier figure along the same stretch of coastline in an ill-fitting bikini. In these new pictures, Serena is toned, slimmer and her dimply thighs are no more. She also appears less muscular, perhaps the result of toned-down training due to a recent foot injury, which caused her to miss the recent US Open, won by Belgian Kim Clijsters. She withdrew to give herself time to recover from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot, which she reportedly sustained by standing on broken glass in a restaurant in Munich. The top-seeded tennis star said earlier this month that she is using the down time to complete numerous projects while not on the court. She was joined on the beach by her on-off boyfriend, rapper Common. The pair basked in the glorious weather, with Serena nibbling on food and sipping on a drink.

Later she took to the waters, braving the chilly sea, and made a splash in her mismatched bikini. Serena, who recently celebrated her 29th birthday, has been turning heads as she showcases her new glamorous look. She was seen at various runway shows at New York Fashion Week recently where she mingled with the likes of American Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

— Daily Mail

Lil’ Wayne goes solo in NY jail solitary punishment

Lil’ Wayne is facing the music after being accused of breaking jail rules by having gear for listening to tunes: he can expect to go solo for the rest of his time behind bars in a gun case.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper was moved into what city jail officials call “punitive segregation” for a month on Monday, until his expected November release date, Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello said. It’s his punishment for stashing a charger and headphones for a digital music player in his cell earlier this year, officials said.

Lil’ Wayne generally will now be confined to his new cell 23 hours a day, with such exceptions as visits and showers, instead of being allowed to mingle with other inmates most of the day. He’ll eat in his cell and won’t get to socialise even during his hour-a-day of recreation, Morello said. The rapper will also have to forego TV, and he’ll be limited to one phone call a week instead of a chat a day or more, except for calls to his lawyer, Morello said. The lawyer, Stacey Richman, had no immediate comment. The 28-year-old rapper, one of the genre’s biggest stars, has been held since March in the Rikers Island jail complex for attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he had a loaded semi-automatic gun on his bus in 2007.

— AP

Michael Douglas bravely fights on against cancer as Danny DeVito accepts award on his behalf

Brave Michael Douglas continues to defy his cancer and carry on with normal life. The 66-year-old actor is undergoing gruelling treatment to fight his throat cancer, which doctors have said he has an 80 per cent chance of surviving. As Douglas concentrates on regaining his health, his friend Danny DeVito headed to Zurich to pick up a prestigious award on his behalf. DeVito, who co-starred with Douglas in Romancing The Stone and Jewel Of The Nile, accepted the Golden Icon Award on behalf of his friend at the Zurich Film Festival. Despite the actor’s illness, DeVito kept things light-hearted, telling the audience: “Michael is so strong.

“He gets better and better with every movie he makes. So that’s why I tell him to work more.” Last week Douglas’s wife Catherine Zeta-Jones abandoned plans to watch the Ryder Cup after attending the grand opening ceremony. On Wednesday evening Zeta-Jones had said that her husband was “doing great, given the circumstances”. The Oscar-winning actress has also pulled out of a new film role so she could spend time with her husband during his health battle. Zeta-Jones, 40, had been due to play Vivien Leigh in the film My Week With Marilyn alongside Kenneth Branagh and Michelle Williams — a part she was said to be eager to take.

— Daily Mail