Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are suing the News Of The World over the story the tabloid ran late last month claiming that the couple were splitting up, and had come to an agreement over custody of their children and the division of their assets.

The couple's lawyer, Keith Schilling, explains: "The News of the World has failed to meet our clients' reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations, which have now been widely republished by mainstream news outlets. We have advised them to bring proceedings, which they have now done".

Schilling adds that the divorce lawyer identified by a number of publications as an advisor to the high profile pair, one Sorrell Trope, has in fact never met them. She has given a statement to Schilling, which reads: "I have had no contact from... Angelina Jolie and / or Brad Pitt. I have never met... your clients or had any involvement with either of them. The foregoing is true with respect to all other members of this firm".

No comment from the News Of The World. Jolie and Pitt, meanwhile, have been out and about looking ostentatiously in love. I'm not a cynic, though, so I'll assume that they do actually like each other.