Selena Gomez and Linda Ronstadt. Composite: Getty, RexSelena Gomez and Linda Ronstadt. Composite: Getty, RexMusicSelena Gomez to star in Linda Ronstadt biopicFilm from Walk the Line producer will tell story of singer who became a rare successful woman in male-dominated 1970s rock scene Pop singer and actor Selena Gomez is to portray the massively successful US singer Linda Ronstadt in a new biopic. Currently in pre-production, the film is being produced by James Keach, who has worked on a number of music-related film projects including producing Oscar-winning Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line and documentaries on Ronstadt, David Crosby and Glen Campbell.

World newsShot in the darkThe assassination of Galina Starovoitova marks a turning point in Russia's struggle against corruption and political extremism. James Meek investigates the most sinister political murder post-Soviet Russia has seen.A little over four years ago, a woman stood in the biting wind of a dank October day in Moscow, in front of the Palace of Youth, listening to a journalist speak to a crowd of mourners grieving over the death of one of his colleagues, 27-year-old reporter Dmitri Kholodov, whose legs had been blown off by a suitcase bomb in his office.

Sylvia Plath: her life in art and photographs – in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email A visual history of the writer Sylvia Plath is to go on show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. It includes photographs of her throughout her life, rarely seen artwork including self-portraits and letters, and personal objects, including her childhood ponytail, preserved by her mother.

Top 10sBooksNovelist DB John chooses fiction, reportage and memoir that reveal some shocking truths about life in this secretive tyranny North Korea is many things. It is a violent tyranny led by a single family. It is a cold war relic that should have vanished decades ago. Yet it not only endures, it could yet become capable, along with Russia and China, of launching a long-range nuclear strike against the US.

BanksySteve Lazarides was the art renegade’s strategist, photographer and minder. As his shots are published, he recalls the politics, parties and soaring price tags of ‘Matey Boy’ One Christmas, Steve Lazarides and Banksy decided to kill Santa. “Reject false icons,” read the slogan hastily spray painted across their shopfront, behind a highly festive effigy they had created of Father Christmas dangling from a noose. Dotted around were signs intended to lure passersby into their shop, in the hope that they would join in the party and buy some artworks.