People

The actor Sean Penn, was in such splendidly grumpy form at the Toronto film festival at the weekend that reporters speculated he might be in need of a cigarette, rather than the ice cubes he chomped during a press conference to promote his latest film, Into the Wild. Last year, in the same hotel, Penn smoked throughout a similar conference, landing the hotel - though not himself - with a C$600 (£280) fine for allowing the violation of anti-smoking regulations. On Sunday a policeman guarded the door to the press conference, allegedly to control the crowd rather than to ensure he didn't light up again. Inside, Penn made himself agreeable: "You can stop taking pictures because I can't think," he said, adding that the snapping of cameras was the ugliest music in the world. The new film is about a young man's trek into the Alaskan wilderness, which sounds as though it's where Penn would rather be.

Ricky Gervais, currently packing the Hammersmith Apollo, has not only upset his neighbours in north London with plans for a swimming pool and gym under his home, but is also crossing swords with the local paper, the Hampstead and Highgate Express, for allegedly invading his privacy by publishing a picture of his house. The Ham and High claims to be mystified by the latest bout of celebrity sensitivity because he didn't complain when the paper more closely identified his new residence when he moved in last year. Meanwhile Gervais is getting his own back on the neighbours by claiming if they continue to annoy him, he'll rent the property out to drug addicts.

The Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead on her doorstep last October, is one of the nominees for the Sakharov human rights prize, to be awarded by the European parliament next month. The others shortlisted for the £34,000 prize are the Chinese activists Zeng Jinyan and Hu Jia, Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Afghan women's rights defender Joya Malalai and a Sudanese lawyer, Salih Mahmoud Osman

Senator Hillary Clinton may not have been able to speak Spanish during a televised debate aimed at Hispanic voters in Florida on Sunday, but she sure mangled her English, claiming the contentious issue of immigration had been "demagogued" by politicians "and that must stop". Perhaps she just mis-spoke.