Russians Dance Around Nureyev’S Defection

Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian ballet star who defected to the West during the height of the Cold War, has been posthumously “rehabilitated.”

Nureyev, a star of Leningrad’s Kirov ballet theater, was granted political asylum in France in 1961.

A year later, in the Soviet Union, he was convicted in absentia of high treason and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Nureyev died of AIDS in 1993 at 54.

Alexander Zvyaginstev, a senior official in the Prosecutor General’s office, was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying that Nureyev had been forgiven under the law on the rehabilitation of “victims of political repressions.”

Loose talk

Prince Edward, youngest of Queen Elizabeth’s offspring, prefers Edward Windsor these days, now that he produces TV docs. “In Britain, if you’ve got a title, you obviously don’t have a brain,” he notes, “so there’s no point in talking about anything else.”

As 50 looms, he’s still the Boss

Singer Bruce Springsteen turns 49 today.

They were skating on thin ice anyway

Nancy Kerrigan has accepted an “undisclosed sum of more than $10,000” from Marvista Computing Co., which runs a Web site that showed fake porn pictures of Kerrigan by using photos of her face grafted onto someone else’s body. Kerrigan had sued for emotional distress, invasion of privacy, defamation and unfair trade practices.

Marvista officials had said the pictures were obvious fakes, intended only for entertainment purposes.

He needs a writing companion

Are you unemployed? And funny? Garrison Keillor may be looking for you. The humorist needs an extra hand to keep “A Prairie Home Companion,” his acclaimed radio program, witty and entertaining.

Minnesota Public Radio, which produces the show, placed ads recently in The New York Times, Variety, the Los Angeles Times and on the Internet. “He was hoping to really be bowled over, but he hasn’t been bowled over yet” by the responses, said producer Christine Tschida.

He didn’t even need help from the other two tenors

When Placido Domingo sang in “Samson and Dalila” on Monday, he tied Enrico Caruso’s record of appearing in 17 opening nights of the Metropolitan Opera season. Caruso did his between 1903 and 1920. Domingo took 30 years to do his.

Times are changin’, but he can still go home

Bob Dylan is bringing it all back home. Dylan, who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minn., and grew up in nearby Hibbing, will return Oct. 22 for a concert at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.