Names and faces

Justin Bieber was charged with assault for purportedly hitting a Toronto limousine driver several times in the back of the head last month. The news broke just after the Canadian pop star’s attorney entered a separate innocent plea in Florida to drunken-driving and other charges. The 19-year-old performer turned himself in to a Toronto police station Wednesday evening, arriving amid a crush of media and screaming fans. He was charged with one count of assault and is scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on March 10. Police allege Bieber was one of six people who were picked up by a limousine from a nightclub in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, and there was an altercation while en route to a hotel. Police said during the altercation one of the passengers hit the limo driver in the back of the head several times. “The driver stopped the limousine, exited the vehicle and called police,” a statement said. “The man who struck him left the scene before police arrived.” Howard Weitzman, Bieber’s attorney in California, said his client is innocent and declined to comment on the allegations against Bieber or any potential defense.

Oxfam International said Thursday that Scarlett Johansson’s support of an Israeli company operating in a West Bank settlement was incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador. Oxfam’s statement followed Johansson’s announcement Wednesday that she was resigning her Oxfam role because of a “fundamental difference of opinion.” Oxfam said it accepted her resignation. The international humanitarian organization said Thursday that it believes SodaStream and other businesses operating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank contribute to the “denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support.” Some 550,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967, along with the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians seek all three territories for a future state. Pro-Palestinian activists who advocate consumer boycotts of goods produced in Jewish settlements - which are deemed illegal by much of the international community - have encouraged the public to shun SodaStream. The company’s main plant is next to the settlement of Maaleh Adumim in the West Bank. Johansson is to appear in a high-profile SodaStream ad during the Super Bowl.