Stewart loses casino battle

Rod Stewart has lost his long-running legal battle with a Las Vegas casino, and has been ordered to pay them $2.9m (€2.4m) by a federal judge.

The Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? Rocker and his lawyers were also instructed to pay $150,000 (€125,700) in legal fines and contempt-of-court costs.

The dispute came about when Stewart cancelled a Millennium New Year's Eve gig because he was still recovering from throat surgery that had taken place some months earlier, but failed to repay his advance to the Rio hotel-casino.

Kristina Pickering, a lawyer for the casino, says: "It was the right result."

However, Stewart's lawyer Louis Miller insists the ageing rocker plans to appeal the decision.