Namibia grants Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie right to ban foreign journalists

[lovely bones]

Let the games begin!!!

Namibia granted Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie the right to ban foreign journalists from the country.

Namibia 'bowed to pressure' from Pitt and Jolie over birth

Oscar-winning actor Angelina Jolie has given birth to a daughter fathered by Hollywood movie star Brad Pitt. Jolie, 30, gave birth to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie Pitt, in Namibia, Africa, People magazine reported yesterday.

Pitt, 42, and Jolie met in 2004 while working together on the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in which they played married assassins ordered to kill each other. The movie ends with the two still alive and happily married.

Jolie already has two adopted children - son Maddox, 4, and daughter Zahara, who is about 15 months old.

The new baby had become the ultimate big game hunt.

The Republic of Namibia - the impoverished country of 1.8 million known for its wild remoteness - not only welcomed the movie stars, it handed over control of its international land borders and airspace to them.

As the world awaited the birth of the child at a luxury villa complex on the coast, Namibian authorities said they had bowed to pressure from Jolie and Pitt and granted them the right to ban foreign journalists from entering the country - a remarkable move for the Government of any sovereign state.

The stars told ministers they would quit the country unless allegedly intrusive journalists and paparazzi were brought to heel.

As many as 50 of the world's most determined paparazzi had been lured to the Burning Shore Beach Lodge on the Atlantic coast by the prospect of getting the first picture of the child, though some reports say the pair have already sold the rights for the photo for $5.4 million, all proceeds going to charity.

But the exceptionally high-profile presence of Pitt and Jolie promises to be a massive boost to tourist income in the desperately poor country, where the average wage is $46 a week.

Three weeks ago, one South African and three French photographers were expelled from Namibia, a move attacked by human rights groups as a clear breach of the country's civil liberties legislation.

Nonsense, said the Government. "This lady is expecting," Prime Minister Nahas Angula said at the time. "You guys are harassing her. Why don't you allow her some privacy? Harassment is not allowed in Namibia."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/...ectid=10383967

[pacific breeze]

Celebrites gone mad...it's not like these high school dropouts have actually done anything to help the world. Well, maybe Angelina, but even political leaders don't command this kind of ridiculous, over-the-top treatment. The world is batshit crazy.

[Voodoo Child]

Originally Posted by lovely bones

Let the games begin!!!

I can't play without Kari!

Originally Posted by pacific breeze

Celebrites gone mad...it's not like these high school dropouts have actually done anything to help the world. Well, maybe Angelina, but even political leaders don't command this kind of ridiculous, over-the-top treatment. The world is batshit crazy.

High five!

[Alphachimp]

Just think what's going to happen when they finally decide to leave Namibia...

Big game hunting is right-

[Somerset]

I have no words for this absolute mockery. Batshit crazy is right.

[ediebrooks]

Why don't they just make them King and Queen of Namibia?

[buttmunch]

I think they'd be fab as King and Queen. Let's re-colonize the continent, eh?


In all fairness though, I'd take advantage as well if I were in their situation and really, this can only be good for Namibia. Tourism is sure to shoot through the roof.

[ediebrooks]

But they are very arrogant.

[buttmunch]

Eh, I'd be arrogant too if half the paps in teh world were after pics of me, the man and the kids.

[dababe]

YOU photographer John Liebenberg was arrested for the second time in Namibia on Wednesday and charged with trespassing. After his first brush with the law John – on the trail of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – spent the entire weekend in the police cells. The magistrate who discharged him without a penalty on Monday sharply criticised the fact he’d been kept in custody for so long.

In the first instance John was arrested on the grounds of a police station – a public place. In the second he was nabbed outside the property of a restaurant, on public soil, and released on R1 000 bail.
The case drew worldwide media attention, with the general sentiment being that police were intimidating and harassing photographers with the simple aim of ensuring the Pitts’ privacy. The South African National Editors’ Forum condemned the police’s “heavy-handed approach”. We fully understand that even celebrities sometimes want to escape the media’s long lenses but we cannot condone the way in which the media’s right to report and Namibians’ right to freedom are being restricted because Hollywood’s golden couple are in town.

http://www.you.co.za/OpenArticleDisp...Category_id=57

[Lalique]

ah yes, the power of money. I'm sure B and A had the baby there because they knew they could pull something like this

[asha22]

This is ridiculous........and its going to get worse. Im not sure if its doing their humanitarian image much good.................civil liberties seem to be all over the place for everyone. Bit of a power crazed regime going methinks.