Cannes protestors want more sexual parity

Even in the world of entertainment, somebody's always mad about something.

At the Cannes Film festival, five women from French feminist group La Barbe took to protesting on the red carpet due to the lack of female directors at this year's fest.

Of the 22 films vying for this year's Palme D'Or, none were directed by women.

La Barbe (which means The Beard) previously had a letter complaining about the male-dominated line-up published in Le Monde and The Guardian newspapers.

Cannes' artistic director, Thierry Fremaux, defended the woman-free line-up, saying he does not pick movies based on who has made them.

La Barbe's point, echoed by many women directors in the U.S., is not that films made by women are getting slighted, it's that women are not hired to make films.

Meanwhile in Gaza, relatives of slain Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh seek to block the release of "Kidron," a movie being made in Israel about his 2010 assassination in Dubai.

The killing of al-Mabhouh was widely blamed on the Israeli Mossad, which never confirmed or denied involvement. Israeli defense officials have alleged that al-Mabhouh played a role in smuggling weapons from Iran to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The movie, which features Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli as a temptress working for the hit team, is a "Zionist conspiracy" to defame al-Mabhouh, said his cousin Ahmed. Details of the suit are still being worked out, he said.

The movie's producer, Micha Scharfstein, said "Kidron" takes artistic license and is not meant to be factual.

The casting of a supermodel may have been a tip-off. Like Rihanna a on a "Battleship."

When Lady Gaga was set to perform in Indonesia recently, Islamic hard-liners got the concert cancelled because she was bad for the country's morals.

In the Philippines, Gaga's getting heat from the Christians.

Biblemode Youth Philippines members marched and held vigils over the weekend, claiming they were offended by Gaga's music, particularly her song "Judas."

No one has been convicted recently but under Philippine law, people who offend race or religion can be sentenced to up to six years in prison.

Authorities in the majority Roman Catholic country approved the Gaga concerts, set for Monday and Tuesday.

Coal miner's fibber?

It's not unusual for an adult to lie about his or her age, but in the case of Loretta Lynn there are ramifications.

Lynn's birth certificate on file at the state Office of Vital Statistics in Frankfort, Ky., shows that Loretta Webb was born on April 14, 1932, in Johnson County, Kentucky. That makes her 80 years old, not 77. Also on file is her marriage license and two affidavits from her mother, Clara Marie Ramey, and S.W. Ward Jr., who was not related to the family, listing the same birthdate.

In "Coal Miner's Daughter," the autobiography that became an Oscar-winning film, Lynn said she was married at 13 and was a mother of four by 18. Most books and public references to Lynn list her current age as 77.

When contacted by the Associated Press, Lynn's spokeswoman, Nancy Russell declined comment. She said Loretta has told her before in no uncertain terms, "If anyone asks how old I am, tell them it's none of their business!"

In the rich get richer category, Facebook's IPO may not have been met with the irrational exuberance some on Wall Street expected, but it wasn't bad for Bono.

His Elevation Partners owns 2.3 percent of the company, whose market cap currently sits at around $104 billion.

If only he could figure out how to grow food for Africa in Farmville.

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Email gensleh@phillynews.com.