Bianca Jagger arrives at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala in this Sept. 24, 2007 file photo in New York
NEW YORK - Bianca Jagger has been evicted from her rent-stabilized Park Avenue apartment after several years of quarreling with her landlord over claims of toxic mold and questions about her residency, her lawyer said.
After a recent appeals court ruling against her, Jagger knew the eviction was coming. She found out from a neighbor's phone call that a sheriff had arrived Wednesday to move her possessions to storage, lawyer Daniel Bryson said.
"This is an absolute travesty," he said.
A lawyer for landlord Katz Park Avenue Corp. didn't immediately return a telephone call early Thursday.
Lawyers for the 62-year-old Jagger, who was married to rocker Mick Jagger, have maintained that Katz evicted her as payback. She sued the landlord in 2003, claiming mold had made her sick and the apartment unlivable.
But Katz argued that the 18th-floor apartment couldn't be Jagger's primary residence — a requirement for occupying a rent-stabilized unit — since she was in the U.S. on a tourist visa that required her to show that she intended to leave after a temporary stay. The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division agreed in October, noting that Jagger, who is a British citizen, keeps at least one luxury apartment in London.
The actress-turned-activist has been a tenant in the Upper East Side apartment for 20 years. Under the complex rent regulation laws, evicting her may allow the landlord to raise the $4,600-a-month rent substantially.
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Striking writers picket outside the studios of NBC's 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' in Burbank, November 5, 2007
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co.'s NBC television network is reimbursing some advertisers after shows failed to deliver guaranteed audiences.
The refunds represent ``an extremely small portion'' of NBC's business, the New York-based network said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The amounts weren't disclosed.
Broadcast television audiences have declined 8 percent this year, Lehman Bros. analyst Anthony DiClemente said in an interview before the announcement. The 18-to-49 age group prized by advertisers has fallen 10 percent, he said. Viewership may erode further this quarter as networks air more reruns because of the strike by TV writers, who walked off their jobs Nov. 5.
``The broadcast networks will be experiencing audience deficiencies in some ways during the fourth quarter,'' said DiClemente, who has ``neutral'' ratings on shares of CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co., the parent of ABC. ``One or more of the broadcast networks will certainly be forced to make good on ratings guarantees.''
GE, the world's third-biggest company by market value, yesterday forecast profit growth that trailed analyst estimates. Earnings will rise at least 10 percent next year as growth slows in consumer finance and health care, the company said.
`Better Positioned'
Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chief executive officer, projected NBC Universal, the unit that includes the broadcast network, will grow 10 percent to 15 percent next year, and said ``this is the wrong time to think about exiting'' the business.
``The TV network business is going to change,'' Immelt said today in an interview on CNBC. ``The fact of the matter is GE is better positioned to win through these changes than any competitors.''
NBC Universal accounted for 9.9 percent of GE's revenue last year. General Electric is the world's biggest provider of jet engines, medical imaging equipment, locomotives and private- label credit cards.
NBC ranks fourth in total audience among the broadcast networks this season and is third in the 18-to-49 age group, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Adweek reported NBC's reimbursements on Dec. 10.
GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, rose 32 cents to $37.35 at 11:05 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Before today, the shares had fallen less than 1 percent this year.
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An employee of the Gorringes auction house displays an autographed photograph of the Beatles and a lock of John Lennon's hair in a copy of his book, 'A Spaniard in the Works', Worthing, England, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007.
LONDON - Imagine that. A lock of John Lennon's hair sold for $48,000 Wednesday in an auction of Beatles' memorabilia collected by the band's hairdresser.
The hair — inside an autographed copy of Lennon's book "A Spaniard in the Works" — sold to an unnamed telephone bidder.
Gorringes auction house had estimated the hair would sell for $4,000 to $6,000.
Lennon gave the book and the lock of hair to Betty Glasow, the Fab Four's hairdresser during their heyday. He wrote in the book, "To Betty, Lots of Love and Hair, John Lennon xx."
"It is astonishing that there is still so much interest in the Beatles and the sale goes to prove that John Lennon is still an icon," said Francesca Collin, a spokeswoman for Gorringes.
"To have some of Lennon's hair along with a signed note from him really does give it fantastic provenance and authenticity," Collin said.
Glasow, who kept the Beatles' moptops trimmed on the set of their films "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" in the 1960s, decided to sell the items because she wanted fans to have them, said Nick Muston, a director of the auction house.
"She feels that rather than these things being stuck in a drawer with nobody enjoying them, real enthusiasts (could) get their hands on these things," Muston said.
Other items sold at the auction in Worthing included signed photographs of the band dedicated to Glasow, including one that George Harrison signed "George "Dandruff" Harrison." It sold for $13,000.
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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Three cable networks saw solid returns from original holiday movies during the weekend, led by ABC Family's "Holiday in Handcuffs" with an average of 6.7 million viewers.
Meanwhile, initial projections are showing that Disney Channel and USA Network are in a tight race for this year's total-viewers crown among basic cable networks, while USA is leading TBS in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults 18-49.
"Handcuffs," which aired on Sunday, was ABC Family's most-watched telecast ever, according to Nielsen Media Research. The movie, starring Mario Lopez and Melissa Joan Hart, also set network records in key demos, including adults 18-49 (3.2 million viewers), adults 18-34 (1.6 million), women 18-49 (2.1 million) and women 18-34 (1.1 million).
For the week, "Handcuffs" was the second-most-watched cable telecast behind ESPN's record-breaking "Monday Night Football" telecast (17.5 million).
Lifetime and Hallmark Channel also got good news with their holiday movies. Lifetime's "Lost Holiday: The Jim and Suzanne Shemwell Story," starring Jami Gertz and Dylan Walsh, averaged 3.6 million viewers Sunday. Before "Lost Holiday," a 7 p.m. airing of the Rob Lowe/Kimberly Williams-Paisley film "The Christmas Shoes" averaged 3.9 million viewers, becoming Lifetime's most-watched weekend movie of the year.
Meanwhile, Hallmark Channel's "The Note," starring Genie Francis and Ted McGinley, averaged 3.9 million viewers Saturday. "The Note" stands as Hallmark's third-most-watched original movie premiere ever.
Elsewhere in cable ratings news:
* MTV's "The Hills" went out with a bang, drawing 4.7 million viewers to what was originally scheduled to be its third-season finale at 10 p.m. Monday. (The network has ordered eight new episodes to air beginning in the first quarter.) This season's 18 episodes averaged 3.9 million viewers.
* The premiere of A&E's original series "Paranormal State" (2.5 million viewers) at 10 p.m. Monday became the network's most-watched series premiere since "Dog the Bounty Hunter" in August 2004.
* CNN's "Heroes" awards telecast didn't do much to help the network in the ratings, with the three-hour special averaging only 567,000 viewers on Thursday and then coming in fourth place among cable news shows in repeats Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Overall in the 2007 cable viewership race, Disney Channel is leading all basic cable networks in primetime with an average of 2.7 million viewers, while USA is close behind with 2.67 million. Disney Channel had held the record for most-watched cable telecast ever, thanks to this year's "High School Musical 2" premiere (17.2 million), until ESPN's "MNF" edged it out last week.
In the key demos, USA is leading the pack, beating closest competitor TBS in adults 18-49 (1.2 million vs. 1 million) and in adults 18-34 (558,000 vs. 541,000). USA also is leading in 25-54, followed by TNT (1.2 million vs. 1 million).
USA's lead in the demo races was spurred by "Burn Notice" and "The Starter Wife," the top new original cable series for the year among adults 18-49 and 25-54.
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Quiet Riot singer Kevin Dubrow performs at the Henderson Pavilion, in this, Sept. 1, 2007, file photo
LAS VEGAS - The death last month of Kevin Dubrow, lead singer for the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot, has been ruled an accidental cocaine overdose. Clark County coroner spokeswoman Samantha Charles confirmed the cause Monday after toxicology results were received Monday.
Dubrow was found dead Nov. 25 at his Las Vegas home. He was 52.
Quiet Riot was perhaps best known for its 1983 cover of "Cum on Feel the Noize." The song, featuring Dubrow's powerful, gravelly voice, appeared on the band's album "Metal Health" — which was the first by a metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
DuBrow recorded a solo album in 2004, "In for the Kill," and the band's last studio CD, "Rehab," came out in October 2006.
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TV Guide cover from January 27, 2001, featuring game show hosts Alex Trebek of Jeopardy! (l) and Regis Philbin (r) of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Game show icon ‘resting comfortably;’ rep says he’ll be back for tapings
LOS ANGELES - “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek suffered a minor heart attack, Access Hollywood has learned.
A representative for the legendary game show host released the following statement to Access on Tuesday:
“Alex Trebek, host of ‘Jeopardy!’, has had a minor heart attack. He is resting comfortably in a Los Angeles hospital, and he will be back in the studio for the next scheduled tapings in January.”
Trebek is 67 years old.
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Actor Daniel Baldwin arrives at the screening of Showtime's "Our Fathers" at the Director's Guild Theater in Los Angeles May 10, 2005
LOS ANGELES - Daniel Baldwin's attorney said he will ask a judge to cancel an arrest warrant issued for the actor, calling Baldwin's recent failure to show up in court a mix-up.
A Superior Court judge issued the no-bail bench warrant Friday and revoked Baldwin's probation when he didn't appear in court to give a progress report on his drug rehabilitation.
The 47-year-old actor was required to meet with the judge in connection with a cocaine-possession case.
Baldwin was aware of the hearing and contacted his probation officer Thursday to report that he couldn't make it because he was in Canada shooting a movie, said his attorney, Grant Hoagland, adding the message apparently didn't reach the judge.
"It was a miscommunication," he said Monday.
When Baldwin returns to Los Angeles, Hoagland said he planned to take him to court to ask the judge to recall the arrest warrant and reinstate his probation.
The case stemmed from Baldwin's arrest last year, when police said they found him and another man in a Santa Monica motel, possessing cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
Baldwin is undergoing treatment in hopes of getting two misdemeanor charges dismissed. Under California law, some drug offenders can have the charges dropped if they successfully complete rehab.
Baldwin, brother of Alec, Stephen and William Baldwin, has appeared in the television series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and the movie "Car 54, Where Are You?"
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Gary Colins and Mary Ann Mobley are seen here on April 13, 2000 at the opening of "Framed: A Photo Retrospective" -- Gary Collins being arrested for drunk driving on Tues Oct 23, 2007
LOS ANGELES - Gary Collins has been sentenced to four days in jail after he pleaded no contest to charges in a drunken driving case.
Collins was arrested in an October crash in Sherman Oaks that involved an 89-year-old motorist. The actor-TV host wasn't found at fault in the collision, but officers said they smelled alcohol on his breath.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Rebecca Omens instructed Collins, 69, to surrender by Jan. 10 to start serving his sentence.
She also ordered Collins to serve four years' probation upon his release, pay a $500 fine, perform 100 hours of community service, enroll in an 18-month alcohol education program and attend 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
A court clerk said Collins was sentenced immediately after pleading no contest Thursday to two counts in the crash.
Collins was driving a 2004 Ford Explorer when his sport utility vehicle was struck by the other driver in the San Fernando Valley, police said. Collins' vehicle then crashed into two parked cars.
Collins wasn't injured, and the older man was taken to a hospital for unspecified injuries.
During his long TV career, Collins has made appearances on series such as "JAG," "Yes, Dear" and "The Young and the Restless," as well as on "The New Hollywood Squares."
He hosted the "Hour Magazine" talk show in the 1980s.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Viewers desert shows hit by strike
The WGA strike has had a devastating impact on latenight ratings, sending numbers for all the yukfests tumbling -- and ratcheting up the pressure for the hosts to return to work.
Hardest hit: latenight leader "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." According to Nielsen data for the first full month of the strike (Nov. 5-Nov. 30), the NBC flagship -- while still the No. 1 show in the daypart -- suffered a stunning 40% decline among adults 18-49 vs. the same frame a year ago. It averaged a 1.2 rating/5 share in the key demo compared with a 2.0/8 last year.
NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" also saw its audience shrink. Skein fell 36% from a 1.1/7 last year to a 0.7/4 last month.
The news was equally grim for Comedy Central's "Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report." Stewart's fake newscast suffered a very real 29% decline (down to a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demo), while Colbert was off 33% (to a 0.4).
Latenight skeins on CBS and ABC were also way down, though the impact wasn't quite as severe.
"Late Show With David Letterman" notched a 1.1/4 for the frame, down 21% for the frame (but finishing closer to "Tonight" than it has in years). "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" averaged a 0.6/3, off 14% vs. year-ago numbers.
ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live (0.6/3) declined 14% (though its overall audience of total viewers, and its viewership among adults 18-34 -- like Colbert's -- was flat).
As bad as the numbers are, it's worth noting that they rep the worst possible comparison for the latenight shows. Last year, all the skeins aired original segs filled with big-name sweeps guests. This year, it was all repeats (including, in the case of Leno, decades-old reruns).
DVR usage has also increased markedly in the past year, another factor in the ratings declines.
The networks will no doubt have to offer serious make-goods to advertisers if the numbers continue to decline, but there is an upside for the nets: They're not shelling out millions in salaries to the hosts (or their staffs), so the short-term financial impact will be negligible.
Still, there continues to be buzz that a few of the hosts are itching to return to work, with network execs eager to see that happen. But people familiar with the situation said it's unlikely anyone will cross a picket line as long as serious contract negotiations are ongoing.
If talks break down, however, it's possible one or more hosts will decide it's time to return. Johnny Carson made a similar call about six weeks into the 1988 WGA work stoppage.
While many latenight scribes signed an ad last month urging the hosts to stay off the job, it's unlikely a decision to return would cause a permanent rift between writers and hosts -- though many would no doubt be sorely disappointed.
In an interview with Time.com last month, striking "Late Show" scribe Bill Scheft said he and his peers "would have no problem" if Letterman returned sans scribes.
"David Letterman on the air without writers, pissed off and talking about the strike, would be the greatest ally the writers could have," he told the magazine's website.
Nonetheless, the hosts are said to be extremely sensitive about the idea of returning -- particularly given the flack Ellen DeGeneres took for choosing not to go dark. Carson Daly, who's not a WGA member, also suffered a public rebuke by the guild when he chose to return to work after NBC said it would lay off his staff.
One longtime observer of the latenight scene said he felt it was unfair to expect the hosts to stay out. After all, this person claimed, only about 20% of most latenight shows is crafted by writers.
A number of showrunners have continued rendering producerial services during the strike. And members of the DGA who are also WGA members haven't been pressured to give up their directing gigs (think "Star Trek" helmer J.J. Abrams).
A few weeks into the strike, reps for the various hosts began having informal talks about if and when it would be appropriate to return (Daily Variety, Nov. 16). Those conversations came as NBC, in particular, began to quietly push the hosts to return or else face the prospect of staff layoffs.
With the WGA talks ongoing, the hosts chose to stay off the air. As expected, the Peacock laid off staffers, though hosts Leno and O'Brien have been personally funding their salaries. Letterman's Worldwide Pants has also been paying staffers on both "Late Show" and "Late, Late Show" at least part of their salaries.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Slow pace frustrating, holidays loom
With few clear signs that the five-week writers strike will end soon, the WGA faces the daunting prospect that the majors will lose patience with the slow pace of negotiations and make a take-it-or-leave-it offer as early as next week.
Little progress emerged from Thursday's talks, with both sides meeting briefly in the morning, followed by WGA negotiators waiting most of the day for the companies' response in two key new-media areas -- Intenet downloads and jurisdiction.
Neither side issued a statement at the end of the day other than confirming that negotiations will resume in the ayem today for the fourth straight day. But time's starting to run out, partly due to the looming holiday season with Christmas and New Year's Day falling midweek and essentially wiping out any chance for the sides to meet for those two weeks -- should they still be negotiating.
At the close of talks Wednesday night, the WGA issued a guardedly optimistic statement indicating that it had, during the two previous days, achieved its first "substantive" talks with studios and nets on issues important to writers.
The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers -- which is amidst a PR shuffle -- has responded only defending its New Economic Partnership proposal, which the WGA dismissed out of hand last week. Informed sources indicated Thursday that recent progress has been relatively minimal, with major gaps remaining on thorny issues such as writers receiving ad revenues, Internet streaming of theatrical product, digital downloads and jurisdiction over made-for-the-Internet original content.
The WGA went public on Wednesday with details of its counteroffer to companies on streaming for TV dramas, proposing a fixed residual plus escalating payments per 100,000 downloads. But sources close to management believe the proposal won't work financially when extended to the DGA and SAG.
Sources warn that the lack of other substantive movement from both sides could signal that the CEOs will decide soon that they've gone as far as they can go and put a take-it-or-leave-it package on the table. The problem for WGA leaders is that such a package may be unacceptable -- in that it will be impossible to sell to a membership that's had its expectations elevated after having been on strike for well over a month.
Pressures are mounting on both sides with most TV shows going dark, latenight ratings falling, the issuing of pinkslips continuing and the growing possibility that the upcoming pilot season will turn to shambles. Additionally, the week of Dec. 17 will see force majeure clauses go into effect, as it will mark six weeks since the strike started - allowing studios to start terminating unfavorable producer and writer deals.
At this point, even its opponents have given the WGA good marks for how it's handled the execution of the strike, with a multitude of picket lines and public events to highlight the issues facing showbiz scribes -- particularly on how they're compensated for work on the Internet and other digital platforms. That's led to surprisingly strong public support for the writers' positions.
But management's increasingly frustrated over how the WGA's handled negotiations. Complaints have centered on slow response and the lack of focus on core issues -- though labor insiders note that the AMPTP often can be just as slow.
"It sounds like they're making a bit of headway on the issue of how to pay for streaming on TV, but I'm also hearing a lot of frustration from both sides," one insider noted. "And the writers don't have much time left at this point. If the strike goes past Christmas, the tide is going to turn against the writers in terms of the rest of the town perceiving them sympathetically."
WGA demonstrations continued on both coasts Thursday, with the WGA East hitting HBO headquarters in Manhattan with over 200 supporters despite freezing temps. New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Rob Morrow, B.D. Wong, Griffin Dunne, Evan Handler, Rachel Dratch, Seth Meyers, Tony Gilroy and Gilbert Gottfried were among the picketers.
In Los Angeles, where the guild has come up with a wide array of themed days, Thursday's picket lines featured canines on the guild's Bring Your Dog Day.
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Shown in this police booking photo released by the Glendale Police Department showing Kiefer Sutherland in Glendale Calif. Wednesday Dec. 5,2007
LOS ANGELES - Kiefer Sutherland was sentenced Wednesday to 48 days in jail for racking up a second drunken-driving arrest in three years and immediately reported to a city lockup. The star of the Fox TV drama "24" was being processed at the Glendale city jail, said Officer John Balian.
Sutherland, 40, who pleaded no contest in October to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08, appeared in court with his attorney and politely answered the judge's questions, said Assistant City Attorney Dan Jeffries.
His request to serve his time at the Glendale city jail was granted and he was ordered to complete the sentence by March 30, Jeffries said.
"Kiefer made the decision to surrender to custody immediately," his attorney, Blair Berk, told The Associated Press.
He could have waited as late as Feb. 12.
The actor was already on probation for a 2004 drunken-driving arrest when he was stopped by police as he left a Hollywood industry party at the trendy Area nightclub on Sept. 25. Authorities said he failed a field sobriety test after being pulled over for making an illegal U-turn.
Sutherland had also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge in 2004. He was sentenced in that case to five years' probation, 50 hours of community service and ordered to attend an alcohol treatment program. Authorities said he fulfilled the community service and alcohol treatment obligations.
He was also convicted of alcohol-related reckless driving in 1993, according to the city attorney's office.
"I'm very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I'm deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers," Sutherland said in a statement issued after he entered his plea in the latest case.
Sutherland, who plays dashing federal counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on "24," won an Emmy for best actor last year.
Under the terms of his plea, he also must serve five years of probation, pay a $510 fine, enroll in an 18-month alcohol-education class and attend weekly alcohol-therapy sessions for six months, Jeffries said.
He could have been sentenced to as much as a year and a half in jail if convicted.
Sutherland will serve his sentence at Glendale city jail, but under a county jail inmate program because of overcrowding, Jeffries said. He must serve all 48 days.
The Glendale jail is a minimum security facility with 48 cells, each of them measuring 10 feet by 8 feet. They come equipped with two beds, a toilet, washbasin and water fountain, but Sutherland won't be sharing his cell with anyone.
"Anyone here for a long period of time will get their own cell," Balian said.
The actor is classified as an "inmate worker" and will be required to perform duties in the laundry room and help prepare food for inmates in the kitchen area.
"He'll be working here for 48 days," Balian said.
Sutherland will also have access to an outdoor area and be allowed two visitors per day.
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Vivica A. Fox arrives at the BET Awards on June 26, 2007, in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - Former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Vivica A. Fox has been booked on a drunken driving charge that could subject her to a $1,000 fine and a jail term as long as six months.
Fox, 43, walked into a Northridge police station Wednesday and was fingerprinted and photographed, officer Ana Aguirre said. The booking process took less than 25 minutes and Fox was released without bail, she said.
A call to Fox's manager seeking comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Fox was ordered by a judge on Monday to turn herself in or face a warrant for her arrest.
Fox was stopped in the San Fernando Valley on March 20 by California Highway Patrol officers who said her 2007 Cadillac Escalade was doing 80 mph and weaving on the Ventura Freeway.
During her arrest, the black actress accused one officer of being a "racist white cop," according to a CHP report.
In September, Fox pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit of .08.
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Toyota Motor Corp.'s new violin robot performs during a press unveiling in Tokyo Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007
TOKYO - Compared to a virtuoso, its rendition was a trifle stilted and, well, robotic. But Toyota's new robot plays a pretty solid "Pomp and Circumstance" on the violin.
The 5-foot-tall all-white robot, shown Thursday, used its mechanical fingers to press the strings correctly and bowed with its other arm, coordinating the movements well.
Toyota Motor Corp. has already shown robots that roll around to work as guides and have fingers dexterous enough to play the trumpet.
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said robotics will be a core business for the company in coming years. Toyota will test out its robots at hospitals, Toyota-related facilities and other places starting next year, he said. And the company hopes to put what it calls "partner robots" to real use by 2010, he said.
"We want to create robots that are useful for people in everyday life," he told reporters at a Toyota showroom in Tokyo.
Watanabe and other company officials said robotics was a natural extension of the automaker's use of robots in manufacturing, as well the development of technology for autos related to artificial intelligence, such as sensors and pre-crash safety systems.
Watanabe presented a vision of the future in which wheelchair-like "mobility robots" — also displayed Thursday — would offer "bed-to-bed" services to people, including the elderly and the sick, just like cars take people "door-to-door."
In a demonstration, a man got on the mobility robot, a motorized two-wheeled chair, then scooted around. Toyota showed how the moving machine could go up and down slopes and go over bumps without upsetting the person sitting on the chair because the wheels could adjust to such changes.
The Japanese government has been recently pushing companies and researchers to make robotics a pillar of this nation's business.
Toyota, maker of the Prius hybrid and best-selling Camry sedan, has been a relative latecomer in robots compared to its domestic rival Honda Motor Co., as well as other companies, including Hitachi Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp.
Honda has been working on robots since 1986, recognizing the technology as critical for its future in delivering mobility for the future. It is showing the latest technology in its own robot — the Asimo humanoid — next week.
Asimo — which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility and is play on the Japanese word for "legs" — first became available for rental in 2000. It's considered one of the world's most advanced humanoids. Seen often at Honda and other events, it can walk, even jog, wave, avoid obstacles and carry on simple conversations.
The 51-inch-tall bubble-headed Asimo looks like a real-life child in a white space-suit, as it has grown smaller and lighter in size with innovations over the years.
Trying to one-up its rival, Toyota has been aggressively beefing up its robotics team. In August, it announced that it was teaming up with Sony Corp., which discontinued its Aibo dog-like robot last year, to develop an innovative, intelligent, single-seat vehicle.
Toyota said it is working with universities and its group companies to speed up robotics development, but ruled out a collaboration with Honda for the time being.
Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said technology that Toyota has developed in industrial manufacturing and automotive engineering will "spiral up" into robots.
"We hope to create a robot that highlights Toyota's strengths," he said.
Also Thursday, the automaker showed its Robina robot, a legless robot-on-wheels, which has already been working as a guide at Toyota's showroom at its headquarters since earlier this year.
In the demonstration, Robina, which has a head shaped like a bobcut hairstyle, interacted smoothly with a person, including carrying on a simple dialogue. It also showed how it could sign its name in script holding a fat felt-tip pen with its three fingers.
"I am 120 centimeters tall and how much I weigh is a secret," the robot said clearly in a feminine voice. "I know a lot about the Prius."
Koji Endo, auto analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo, said it was still unclear whether Toyota's robotics will bear fruit as a real business. But he praised Toyota for trying to branch into new sectors, noting it's likely to produce innovations that will in the long run be a plus for its auto business.
Besides robots, Toyota has a housing operation and is carrying out research in biofuels. Honda is also expanding outside autos, including a jet business, and has long had a motorcycle unit.
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Singer Britney Spears poses on the press line at the Scandinavian Style Mansion party in Los Angeles in this Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 file photo
LOS ANGELES - Child welfare investigators are looking into "multiple child abuse and neglect" allegations in the custody battle between Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline, according to court documents released Tuesday.
In a request to unseal parts of the case file, an attorney for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services wrote that there are concerns about the safety and welfare of the two toddlers, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, if they are left in their mother's care.
Though the agency mentioned investigating referrals relating to Federline, the documents don't provide details.
After-hour calls to attorneys representing Spears and Federline were not immediately returned.
The agency requested the court not alter the current custody and visitation arrangements until their investigation is completed. Federline has temporary custody of the boys after Spears defied court orders about regular drug testing.
The latest tidbits on the custody battle are in 300 pages of documents released by Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon.
The document dump included previous court rulings, expense reports and income statements for both parents, the names of the custody evaluators selected by Spears' and Federline's attorneys and their detailed resumes.
Spears had asked the court to seal the custody and visitation schedules in a declaration filed in October, arguing that "such information greatly increases the chances that the actions of the media could threaten the safety of the children by, for example, causing a traffic accident."
Spears, whose every errand is trailed by a mob of celebrity photographers, is notorious for distracted driving. She is under investigation for injuring a sheriff's deputy while exiting the downtown courthouse in her white Mercedes.
In 2006, she was photographed driving with her son on her lap.
In October, she pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid driver's license and later obtained a temporary California license.
A misdemeanor hit-and-run charge from an August parking lot crash was dismissed after she paid an undisclosed amount to the car's owner.
Spears pays Federline $15,000 per month in child support, and previous court rulings have said that he currently has no income.
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Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is shown at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences third annual Emmy Nominees Tea Party in this Sept. 17, 2005, file photo in Los Angeles
DUBLIN, Ireland - Prosecutors dropped charges against Jonathan Rhys Meyers on Wednesday after he expressed remorse — through his lawyer — for being drunk and abusive at Dublin Airport.
Rhys Meyers, 30, was arrested Nov. 18. The Irish actor faced two charges of public drunkenness and breach of the peace for being abusive after he was refused permission to board a flight to London.
Rhys Meyers did not appear at the Dublin District Court arraignment Wednesday. State prosecutors said they had accepted an apology from the actor and dropped the charges.
Rhys Meyers, however, was given a legal caution — a probationary action under which he could face harsher penalties if he behaves that way in public in Ireland again.
Rhys Meyers' lawyer, Michael Staines, said his client's behavior at the airport was "unacceptable and out of character." He said Rhys Meyers "unreservedly apologizes" to airport security guards, police and staff at the British airline BMI, and planned to make a donation to an unspecified charity as a way to acknowledge his wrongdoing.
Rhys Meyers is one of Ireland's best-known actors. His film credits include "Bend It Like Beckham," "Match Point," "Mission: Impossible III" and "August Rush."
He rose to fame in the U.S. with an award-winning portrayal of Elvis Presley in a 2005 television miniseries, and portrays King Henry VIII in the TV series "The Tudors," which is filmed in Ireland.
Rhys Meyers' arrest occurred six months after he checked out of an alcohol-rehabilitation clinic in California — and just three days before the sudden death of his mother, Geraldine Meyers-O'Keeffe, at age 50.
The cause of her Nov. 21 death in Cork in southwest Ireland was not made public.
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NEW YORK - A driving instructor has sued the makers of the movie "Borat," accusing them of lying to him about the nature of the crass comedy by telling him he'd be in a documentary about the integration of immigrants into U.S. life.
The lawsuit was brought Tuesday by lawyers for Michael Psenicska, a Baltimore high school mathematics teacher who has owned a driving school in Perry Hall, Md., for the last 32 years.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks $100,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages, saying the hit movie earned hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. It says Psenicska is entitled to damages because defendants, including producer Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and star Sacha Baron Cohen, used images of him extensively in advertising the film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
The 2006 film, in which Cohen plays an uncouth Kazakh journalist traveling across the "U.S. and A." in pursuit of Pamela Anderson, has led to several lawsuits and criticism that it depicts Kazakhstan as bigoted and backward. Others who have sued include Southern conservatives, frat boys, Romanian villagers and a businessman seen fleeing from a hug from the British comedian.
Psenicska's lawsuit says Fox and Cohen fraudulently induced him to sign documents approving his appearance in "Borat" just before he was filmed giving Cohen's Borat Sagdiyev character a driving lesson.
According to the lawsuit, the film's staffers had promised they were producing a documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life, a subject that interested Psenicska because he was in the business of teaching foreigners to drive.
Yet, it says, when filming began, Borat did a hugging and kissing routine, struggled with his seat belt like a child, drove on the wrong side of the road, made ethnic slurs, said women had small brains and rolled down a window and offered a female pedestrian $10 for "sexy time."
Twentieth Century Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant said Psenicska consented to the filming.
"He signed a release, and we have an agreement," Brilliant said. "Now, 2 1/2 years after giving his consent and more than one year after the movie was released, Mr. Psenicska has decided to file a lawsuit, citing the financial success of the film, in spite of our agreement."
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Conservators at the Library of Congress screw down the map that first used the name America as it is prepared for its encasement in Washington, December 3, 2007.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.
Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?
"That's the kind of conundrum, the question, that is still out there," said John Hebert, chief of the geography and map division of the Library of Congress.
The 12 sheets that make up the map, purchased from German Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg for $10 million in 2003, were mounted on Monday in a huge 6-foot by 9.5-foot (1.85 meter by 2.95 meter) display case machined from a single block of aluminum.
The case will be flooded with inert argon gas to prevent deterioration when it goes on public display December 13.
Researchers are hopeful that putting the rarely shown map on permanent display for the first time since it was discovered in the Waldburg-Wolfegg castle archives in 1901 may stimulate interest in finding out more about the documents used to produce it.
The map was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. Thirteen years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the Western Hemisphere, the Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world.
The result, published two years later, is stunningly accurate and surprisingly modern.
"The actual shape of South America is correct," said Hebert. "The width of South America at certain key points is correct within 70 miles of accuracy."
Given what Europeans are believed to have known about the world at the time, it should not have been possible for the mapmakers to produce it, he said.
The map gives a reasonably correct depiction of the west coast of South America. But according to history, Vasco Nunez de Balboa did not reach the Pacific by land until 1513, and Ferdinand Magellan did not round the southern tip of the continent until 1520.
"So this is a rather compelling map to say, 'How did they come to that conclusion,"' Hebert said.
The mapmakers say they based it on the 1,300-year-old works of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy as well as letters Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci wrote describing his voyages to the new world. But Hebert said there must have been something more.
"From the writings of Vespucci you couldn't have prepared the map," Hebert said. "There had to be something cartographic with it."
MISGIVINGS ABOUT AMERICA
Waldseemuller made it clear he was naming the new land after Vespucci, describing how he came up with the name America based on the navigator's first name.
But he soon had misgivings about what he had done. An atlas Waldseemuller produced six years later shows only part of the east coast of the Americas, and refers to it as Terra Incognita -- unknown land.
"America has gone out of his lexicon," Hebert said. "(No) place in the atlas -- in the text or in the maps -- does the name America appear."
His 1516 mariner's map, on the same scale as the 1507 map, steps back even further, showing only parts of the new continents and reconnecting the north to Asia. South America is labeled Terra Nova -- New World -- and North America is labeled Terra de Cuba -- Land of Cuba.
"Essentially he's reconnecting North America to the Asian mainland, suggesting a continual world of land mass rather than separated by those bodies of water that separate us from Europe and Asia," Hebert said.
Why the rollback? No one knows.
In writings accompanying the 1516 map, Waldseemuller comes across as if he "has seen the better of his error and is now correcting it," Hebert said.
He speculated that power politics played a role. Spain and Portugal divided the globe between them in 1494, two years after Columbus, with territory to the east going to Portugal and land to the west to Spain.
That demarcation line is oddly absent from the 1507 Waldseemuller map, and flags marking territorial claims in South America suggest Portugal controls the region's southernmost land, even though it is in Spain's area of influence. On the later map, the southernmost flag is Spanish, Hebert said.
"It is possible one could say the 1507 map is influenced strongly by Portuguese sources and conceivably the 1516 map may be influenced more by Spanish sources," he said.
Although the map conceals many mysteries, one thing is clear: it represents a revolutionary shift in the way Europe viewed the world.
"This is ... essentially the beginning or first map of the modern age, and it's one that everything builds on from that point forward," Hebert said. "It becomes a keystone map."
Will Smith (R) poses with producer Akiva Goldsman at a news conference to promote their film 'I Am Legend' in Tokyo December 4, 2007.
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Hollywood star Will Smith had the producer of his latest film holding his head in anguish on Tuesday after the actor gave away the ending of "I Am Legend."
Speaking at a Tokyo news conference, Smith inadvertently revealed the plot, prompting co-producer and co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to shout: "Don't give away the ending!"
Goldsman then pretended to be surprised, but it was all too late, and press handlers asked all present to keep the ending a secret, so as not to spoil it for viewers.
Smith plays a virologist fighting a man-made virus in "I Am Legend," the film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same title.
The movie premieres simultaneously in the United States and Japan on December 14.
This file foto shows people waiting in line to pay for their purchases at a store in Arlington, VA.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US congressional panel Tuesday will ask some of America's largest financial institutions to explain how they set interest rates on credit cards after hundreds of consumers complained to Congress.
The Senate subcommittee on investigations has scheduled a hearing at which consumers are expected to relate how they were subjected to sharp rate hikes on their credit card bills despite paying the bills on time.
The panel, headed by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, held an initial hearing on credit card practices in March, but the lawmaker told reporters Monday that "abuses" were still occurring.
"People who have paid their bills on time, have paid the amount that they are required to pay, nonetheless may face these unilaterally gouging interest rate increases," Levin said.
Many US banks and credit card companies use a process called Universal Default to justify sharp interest rate hikes on credit card bills.
Under Universal Default, a bank will sometimes automatically hike a consumer's interest rate if they are late paying a bill to an unrelated third party such as a department store.
Banks can track consumers' spending, debts and other financial relationships through reports compiled by the Fair Isaac Corporation which also puts together influential credit reports on millions of consumers.
Representatives from Bank of America, Capital One and Discover Financial Services are due to testify before Congress on their respective credit card practices.
Executives from Citigroup and Chase, part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., were invited to testify at the hearing, but declined.
Citigroup stopped applying Universal Default before the March hearing and Chase has since halted the practice, but many other banks still use it to justify rate hikes.
The second hearing also comes as consumer and activist groups have called for an end to what they say are unfair lending practices used by some banks and credit card companies.
Congress heard in March from Chase customer Wesley Wannemacher, who charged 3,200 dollars to his credit card for wedding purchases. Wannemacher paid Chase 6,300 dollars as his charges and interest rates spiked, but still owed 4,400 dollars when he complained to Levin's panel.
Chase subsequently cancelled Wannemacher's bill.
Levin said more than 1,000 consumers had contacted Congress about their credit card bills and that more consumers will be relating their experiences at Tuesday's hearing.
The lawmaker said he hopes to pass legislation early next year to address credit card practices. He said major banks had cooperated with the panel's investigation.
"I believe as far as I know, that they've been very cooperative in terms of providing us with information," he said.
Credit card debt across the United States jumped to 877.1 billion dollars in 2006 compared with 824.9 billion in 2005, according to the Federal Reserve.
Ayumu as he performs the second stage of a memory test in which he must recall the location on a touch sensitive monitor of numerals that have changed to squares, Dec. 13, 2006, at the Institute in Kyoto
NEW YORK - Never mind that TV show that asks if you're smarter than a fifth-grader. Is your memory better than a young chimp's?
Maybe not.
Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in two tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won.
That challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that "humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions," said researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University.
"No one can imagine that chimpanzees — young chimpanzees at the age of 5 — have a better performance in a memory task than humans," he said in a statement.
Matsuzawa, a pioneer in studying the mental abilities of chimps, said even he was surprised. He and colleague Sana Inoue report the results in Tuesday's issue of the journal Current Biology.
One memory test included three 5-year-old chimps who'd been taught the order of Arabic numerals 1 through 9, and a dozen human volunteers.
They saw nine numbers displayed on a computer screen. When they touched the first number, the other eight turned into white squares. The test was to touch all these squares in the order of the numbers that used to be there.
Results showed that the chimps, while no more accurate than the people, could do this faster.
One chimp, Ayumu, did the best. Researchers included him and nine college students in a second test.
This time, five numbers flashed on the screen only briefly before they were replaced by white squares. The challenge, again, was to touch these squares in the proper sequence.
When the numbers were displayed for about seven-tenths of a second, Ayumu and the college students were both able to do this correctly about 80 percent of the time.
But when the numbers were displayed for just four-tenths or two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ. The briefer of those times is too short to allow a look around the screen, and in those tests Ayumu still scored about 80 percent, while humans plunged to 40 percent.
That indicates Ayumu was better at taking in the whole pattern of numbers at a glance, the researchers wrote.
"It's amazing what this chimpanzee is able to do," said Elizabeth Lonsdorf, director of the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. The center studies the mental abilities of apes, but Lonsdorf didn't participate in the new study.
She admired Ayumu's performance when the numbers flashed only briefly on the screen.
"I just watched the video of that and I can tell you right now, there's no way I can do it," she said. "It's unbelievable. I can't even get the first two (squares)."
What's going on here? Even with six months of training, three students failed to catch up to the three young chimps, Matsuzawa said in an e-mail.
He thinks two factors gave his chimps the edge. For one thing, he believes human ancestors gave up much of this skill over evolutionary time to make room in the brain for gaining language abilities.
The other factor is the youth of Ayumu and his peers. The memory for images that's needed for the tests resembles a skill found in children, but which dissipates with age. In fact, the young chimps performed better than older chimps in the new study. (Ayumu's mom did even worse than the college students).
So the next logical step, Lonsdorf said, is to fix up Ayumu with some real competition on these tests: little kids.
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Posted on Dec 3, 2007, 9:02 AM from IP address 204.128.192.3
Scientists have uncovered the mummy of a 67-million-year-old plant-eating hadrosaur, a duck-billed herbivore common to North America.
Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of what appears to be the world's most intact dinosaur mummy: a 67-million-year-old plant-eater that contains fossilized bones and skin tissue, and possibly muscle and organs.
Preserved by a natural fluke of time and chemistry, the four-ton mummified hadrosaur, a duck-billed herbivore common to North America, could reshape the understanding of dinosaurs and their habitat, its finders say.
"There is no doubt about it that this dinosaur is a very, very significant find," said Tyler Lyson, a graduate student in geology at Yale University who discovered the dinosaur in North Dakota.
"To say we are excited would be an understatement," said Phil Manning, a paleontologist at England's University of Manchester who is leading the examination. "When I first saw it in the field, (I thought) 'Shiiiit, that's a really well preserved dinosaur.' It has the potential to be a top-10 dinosaur, globally."
After excavating the dinosaur, scientists encased it and the surrounding soil in plaster. It was hauled to Boeing's giant CT scanner near Los Angeles.
Photo: National Geographic ChannelNicknamed Dakota, the hadrosaur is one of only five naturally preserved dinosaur mummies ever discovered. Unlike previous dinosaur mummies, which typically involve skin impressions pressed into bones, Dakota's entire skin envelope appears to remain largely intact.
"The skin has been mineralized," said Manning. "It is an actual three-dimensional structure, backfilled with sediment."
The fidelity of the envelope, he said, raises the possibility that Dakota could contain other soft-tissue remnants, including muscles and organs.
Then-16-year-old Lyson was fossil-hunting in 1999 in the Hell Creek Formation badlands of North Dakota when he first spotted the dinosaur's bone-like protrusion from a hill. In 2004, after Lyson returned to begin excavating the fossil and discovered skin remnants, a friend studying at the University of Manchester alerted Manning, who had the experience and resources to organize a more cautious excavation.
Only after the body and a chunk of the hillside was moved to a lab did the scientists realize the extent of the discovery. "On vast areas of the tail and body," Manning said, "there was what looked to be a three-dimensional skin envelope, in the same way as a sock around your foot -- which did not make any sense at all."
Manning brought on dozens of scientists and engineers -- in disciplines ranging from computer science to organic chemistry and physics -- to investigate every aspect of the find using state-of-the-art tools.
"Up until Phil showed me this dinosaur," said Roy Wogelius, a geochemist from the University of Manchester studying the soil surrounding Dakota, "I had no interest in dinosaurs. As soon as I saw this specimen, I was fascinated."
In North Dakota, the researchers used Light Detection and Ranging equipment (LiDAR) to develop a three-dimensional topographical map of the area where Dakota died. Manning speculated that the dinosaur collapsed in a riverbed during the late Cretaceous Period and was rapidly buried in mineral-rich wet sand, preventing bacteria from devouring all of its tissue. "There was active-enough chemistry in the sediments that the decay process didn't occur as quickly as the mineralization process," he said. "It was a perfect chemical soup."
The CT scan showed that the hadrosaur's vertebrae, which museums commonly stack together, are actually spaced a centimeter apart. That means we may have been underestimating the size of many dinosaurs.
Image: National Geographic ChannelAfter examining the dinosaur at a local lab, the scientists encased it and the remaining surrounding soil in plaster and hauled it by truck to a Boeing research center in Canoga Park, California, north of Los Angeles. There, Boeing volunteered the world's largest computerized tomography, or CT, scanner, originally built by NASA to scan space shuttle parts for flaws. At 8,000 pounds, the fossil became the largest object ever scanned at high resolution. The researchers are using the data to survey the body's interior before chipping away further on the fossil. "The CT scan is like a roadmap," said Manning. "It will help us recover the rest of the animal more easily and efficiently."
The first significant findings from the dinosaur, currently under review at a major scientific journal, will describe the unique chemical balance that preserved the fossil. The body, meanwhile, remains on the Boeing scanner, as Manning and his colleagues sift through terabytes of data. So far, they have determined that the hadrosaur's hindquarters are 25 percent larger than previously thought for the species, meaning that it could run up to 28 mph -- faster than previously estimated. They have also discovered that the specimen's vertebrae, which museums commonly stack together, are actually spaced 10 millimeters apart. The result, Manning said, implies that scientists may have been underestimating the size of hadrosaurs and other dinosaurs.
The National Geographic Channel, which helped fund the research, will recount the saga of Dakota's discovery in a documentary, Dino Autopsy, Sunday, Dec. 9, at 9 p.m. EST. Manning is also publishing a book, Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs, describing the fossil and its history. Although there are a lot of scientists involved in the project, Lyson and Manning have not yet allowed experts outside the project to assess the mummified dinosaur.
But the scientific findings from the specimen may take decades to exhaust. "I'm 40 years old now," Manning said. "If I live till 80 I think I'll still be at the tip of the iceberg."
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is seen during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in this May 25, 2006, file photo.
BOISE, Idaho - Eight men say they either had sex with Sen. Larry Craig or were targets of sexual advances by the Idaho lawmaker at various times during his political career, a newspaper reported.
One of the men is the former escort whose allegations disgraced the Rev. Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Idaho Statesman reported Sunday.
The newspaper identified four men and reported details of the encounters they say involved Craig. It also reported the accounts of four other men who did not agree to be identified but who described sexual advances or encounters involving the conservative Republican, who opposes same-sex marriage and has a strong record against gay rights.
Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after being accused by an undercover officer of soliciting sex at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and later called a news conference to deny that he is gay.
The newspaper acknowledged that its report was not based on definitive evidence but said it also found no evidence to disprove the accounts of the four identified men. It said it reviewed the senator's travel records, which put him where the sex is alleged to have taken place, and did background checks on those making the allegations.
Craig and members of his staff declined to comment to the newspaper.
But in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press on Sunday, the senator said the newspaper's report was "completely false" and he accused the paper of careless journalism.
"It is unfortunate that the Idaho Statesman has chosen to continue to lower itself to the standards of what can best be described as tabloid journalism," Craig said in the statement.
"Despite the fact the Idaho Statesman has decided to pursue its own agenda and print these falsehoods without any facts to back them up, I won't let this paper's attempt to malign my name stop me from continuing my work to serve the people of Idaho."
The report is the Statesman's latest on allegations about Craig's sexual background since his June arrest in an airport men's room sex sting operation was reported in late August.
Statesman Editor Vicki Gowler said the newspaper spent several months checking the backgrounds and details of the men's stories.
"We believe it's important for you to know what we've learned and to hear the men's own words," Gowler said.
Two of the identified men and one of the unidentified men told the newspaper they had sex with Craig.
One of the men identified in the report, Mike Jones, 50, described as a former male escort, was the focus of the sex scandal involving Haggard, the disgraced leader of Colorado's New Life Church.
Jones said Craig paid him $200 for sex in late 2004 or early 2005. The encounter took place at a studio apartment in downtown Denver, Jones said.
Jones told the Statesman that he did not recognize Craig until his arrest made the news. The newspaper reported that Jones went on the record after Craig appeared in a television news report in August to address the arrest and his future in politics.
Jones has written a book about his experience with Haggard and acknowledged to the Statesman that his allegation about Craig might help sales. A message left for Jones by The Associated Press through his publisher Sunday evening was not immediately returned.
Current phone numbers could not be found for the three other men identified in the Statesman's report.
Amid pressure from top GOP leaders in Washington, Craig announced his intent to resign from the Senate. He later changed his mind, deciding to finish out his term, which expires in January 2009. He is also appealing in Minnesota courts to have his guilty plea overturned.
The undercover police officer who arrested Craig said the senator moved his foot next to the officer's foot and tapped it in a way that indicated he wanted sex. He also alleged the senator sent a signal by swiping his hand under the divider between men's room stalls.
Craig has said the officer misconstrued those motions.
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Posted on Dec 3, 2007, 9:02 AM from IP address 204.128.192.3
Co-author of the book 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,' Richard Leigh arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in this Tuesday Jan 16, 2007 file photo
Richard Leigh, a writer of alternative history who unsuccessfully sued for plagiarism over themes in Dan Brown's blockbuster novel "The Da Vinci Code," has died, his agent said Friday. He was 64.
U.S.-born Leigh, who had lived in Britain for three decades, died in London on Nov. 21 of causes related to a heart condition, the Jonathan Clowes Agency said.
Leigh was co-author of "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail," a work of speculative nonfiction that claimed Jesus Christ fathered a child with Mary Magdalene and that the bloodline continues to this day.
A best-seller on its release in 1982, the book gained new readers after Brown's thriller, which explores similar themes and has sold more than 40 million copies, was released in 2003.
Leigh and co-author Michael Baigent sued Brown's publisher Random House, claiming "The Da Vinci Code" "appropriated the architecture" of their book. A third "Holy Blood" author, Henry Lincoln, did not join the lawsuit.
The authors made a striking pair during the lengthy High Court hearing — Baigent professorial in a suit and tidy gray hair, Leigh sporting a leather jacket and thick sideburns.
In April 2006, High Court judge Peter Smith threw out the claim, saying the ideas in question were too general to be protected by copyright.
The prominent court case sent "Holy Blood" back up the best-seller lists, but Baigent and Leigh were left with a bill estimated at almost 3 million pounds (US$6.2 million; €4.2 million) after the judge ordered them to pay 85 percent of Random House's legal costs.
"We lost on the letter of the law. I think we won on the spirit of the law; to that extent we feel vindicated," Leigh said after the verdict.
That was optimistic assessment. The judge harshly criticized the claimants, calling Baigent "a poor witness" and saying, "I am not sure what Mr. Leigh thought was the purpose of his evidence."
An attempt to appeal the ruling was rejected earlier this year.
Leigh, born in New Jersey in 1943 to a British father and Austrian mother, attended Tufts University in Boston, the University of Chicago and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He worked as a university lecturer in the United States and Canada before settling in Britain.
In the mid-1970s he met Lincoln and Baigent, and the trio discovered a shared interest in the Medieval order known as the Knights Templar. They developed a thesis linking the knights with the Merovingian dynasty allegedly descended from Jesus.
Baigent and Leigh collaborated on several other books, including "Holy Blood" sequel "The Messianic Legacy"; "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception," which alleged a Roman Catholic conspiracy to cover up the scrolls; and "Secret Germany," about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
Leigh's first love was fiction, and he published a book of stories, "Erceldoune and other Stories," and the semi-autobiographical novel "Grey Magic."
He never married. A funeral was held Wednesday.
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Conan O'Brien, host of the NBC late night talk show "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," is pictured in this undated publicity file photograph
NEW YORK - With his nonstriking "Late Night" staffers facing layoffs after Friday, Conan O'Brien has promised to cover their salaries next week, an NBC spokeswoman said Thursday.
"He's paying the staffers' salaries out of his own pocket," NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said. She said O'Brien had informed his staffers earlier in the day. The nonwriting staff numbers about 75.
Production of "Late Night" has been suspended since the writers strike began Nov. 5.
Through this week, NBC had been covering the salaries of its nonwriting staffers, along with those of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Last Call with Carson Daly," which are also in reruns.
But the network thus far has not said whether it intends to continue paying employees of any show on hiatus. All three programs are owned by Universal Media Studios, which, like NBC, is owned by General Electric.
Two weeks ago, before NBC made its initial arrangement, O'Brien had pledged to pay his staffers should the need arise. O'Brien is a member of the striking Writers Guild of America, as are fellow hosts Leno, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and CBS's David Letterman.
About the same time, staffers of "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" were promised continued payment at least through December by Letterman, whose production company, Worldwide Pants, owns both shows. They continue in reruns.
Staffers for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" continue to be paid by ABC, according to a network spokesperson.
Earlier this week, Daly, who is not a WGA member, announced "Last Call" was resuming production, with new shows to begin airing next week.
Defending his decision to return to work, Carson said in a statement that, otherwise, "roughly 75 staff and crew would have lost their jobs."
"As a non-WGA member I feel I have supported my four Guild writers and their strike by suspending production for a month," he said.
Negotiations between striking TV and movie writers and producers continued Thursday.
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Writers Guild of America pickets march and chant outside an outdoor stage where the taping of musical guest Soulja Boy for 'Last Call With Carson Daly' was scheduled to occur on an outdoor stage at NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif., as the WGA strike against motion picture and television producers continues Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Film and TV writers who've been on strike for nearly a month are mulling a new contract offer from Hollywood studios. Producers said the offer they presented Thursday, dubbed the "New Economic Partnership," would pay writers millions of dollars extra for work shown on the Internet, a central issue in negotiations.
The writers asked for a recess in the talks until Tuesday to consider their options, but called on members to continue picketing Friday and Monday.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it was willing to offer $130 million in extra pay over the life of the proposed three-year deal. The offer is "above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the alliance said in a statement.
The Writers Guild of America countered with a lengthy response, saying the producers' proposal only dealt with advertising-supported programs streamed for free and jurisdiction over shows created for the Web "and it amounts to a massive rollback."
The writers said their plan, also presented Thursday, would cost producers $151 million over three years.
"That's a little over a 3 percent increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent," the statement said. "We are falling behind."
No further details of the terms were released in the first statements since both sides imposed a media blackout Monday.
The conflicting details and tone of the statements is confusing, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer who served in the 1990s as an associate counsel for the writers guild.
"None of this computes," he said. "It's very difficult to analyze this in any rigorous way."
The tone of the writers' statement seems angry, Handel said, while the producers' statement seemed more upbeat.
He said both sides should end the confusion by publishing the full details of the proposals.
Meanwhile, about 30 protesting writers converged on NBC's studios in suburban Burbank on Thursday night to rally against restarted production of the late-night show "Last Call With Carson Daly."
Several people said Daly circled the lot before entering a gate with no pickets.
"Last Call" was the first late-night show to resume production since the strike began on Nov. 5. The walkout has also idled production on many scripted television series.
Daly has defended the move, saying he still supports the writers but did not want to see all 75 members of his staff and crew lose their jobs because of the work stoppage.
Conan O'Brien has promised to cover the salaries of about 75 nonstriking "Late Night" staffers next week, an NBC spokeswoman said Thursday.
"He's paying the staffers' salaries out of his own pocket," Rebecca Marks said.
Through this week, NBC had been covering the salaries of its nonwriting staffers, along with those of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Last Call," which are also in reruns.
But the network thus far has not said whether it intends to continue paying employees of any show on hiatus. All three programs are owned by Universal Media Studios, which, like NBC, is owned by General Electric.
About two weeks ago, staffers of CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" were promised continued payment at least through December by Letterman, whose production company, Worldwide Pants, owns both shows. They continue in reruns.
Staffers for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" continue to be paid by ABC, according to a network spokesperson.
As news of the producers' new offer went around, the protesters gave their initial impressions.
"It's sad that the producers aren't coming forward with a real offer," said David Grae, a writer for "Gilmore Girls."
David Kidd, a screenwriter from Glendale, said he was hopeful, but not overly optimistic, about what he described as an apparent "sweet offer" from producers.
"I don't know what sweet is until I taste it," Kidd said. "Nobody wants to go in and accept a bad offer."
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Jim Claffey, center, president of Local 1, hugs a stagehand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007, in New York
NEW YORK - Broadway stagehands and theater producers reached a tentative agreement Wednesday night to end a strike and almost immediately return to the stage most of the two dozen plays and musicals that have been shut down for more than two weeks.
The settlement came after two days of marathon, all-night sessions and months of negotiation between Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers. The walkout, which began Nov. 10, has cost the city and theaters millions of dollars in lost income.
Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for the union, confirmed the agreement ending the 19-day work stoppage.
"We're glad there's a deal, and everyone should go back to work and the public should go see a Broadway show," Cohen said.
Most shows were expected to resume performances Thursday, the league said.
Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the league, called the deal "a good compromise that serves our industry."
"What is most important is that Broadway's lights will once again be shining brightly with a diversity of productions that will delight all theatergoers during this holiday time," she said.
Negotiations had moved slowly Wednesday as both sides struggled with what apparently was the last hangup, the issue of wages — how much to pay stagehands in return for a reduction in what the producers say were onerous work rules that required them to hire more stagehands than are needed.
Much of the talks had focused on how many stagehands are required to open a Broadway show and keep it running. That means moving scenery, lights, sound systems and props into the theater; installing the set and making sure it works; and keeping everything functioning well for the life of the production.
Renewed efforts to end the strike came after the usually lucrative Thanksgiving holiday week, normally one of the best times of the year for Broadway. Not so this year.
Both Local 1 and the league had been under pressure to find a solution to the conflict as box-office losses climbed — such big hits as "Wicked" and "Jersey Boys" regularly gross more than $1 million each week — and other Broadway unions, such as Actors' Equity Association, began to feel the effects of no paychecks.
Theater-related businesses were hurt, too. City Comptroller William Thompson has estimated the economic impact of the strike at $2 million a day, based on survey data that include theatergoers' total spending on tickets, dining and shopping.
The end of the walkout will mean a scramble for new opening nights for several shows that were in previews when the strike hit. They include Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention," "August: Osage County" from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and an adaptation of an unknown Mark Twain comedy, "Is He Dead?"
Disney's "The Little Mermaid" already has announced it would push back its scheduled Dec. 6 opening — with a new date still to be set.
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The WGA East has reached a tentative agreement with ABC covering about 250 news employees, who have been working under an expired contract for nearly three years.
The guild made the announcement Thursday, noting the deal had been accepted by its negotiating committee and will be put to a vote for ratification on Dec. 13 at meetings in New York and Washington, D.C.
The announcement comes with the WGA in its fourth week of a strike over its major contract, which covers writing on films and TV programs. Two weeks ago, the guild also obtained a strike authorization from members working for CBS News, who have been without a new contract for over two years.
The tentative ABC contract covers newswriters, editors, desk assistants, production assistants, graphic artists and researchers in New York and Washington, D.C.
The deal calls for raises of 3.5% annually plus a $3,700 contract bonus for full-time employees and a pro-rated bonus for those working per diem schedules or for lesser periods of time. The pact also includes a lower night shift differential by one hour in the second year, increases acting editor fees; establishes a new fee for production assistants; lowers payment for a missed lunch period in network radio; and decreases payment for ops room work in network radio while grandfathering current employees.
The new contract will be effective upon ratification and will expire Feb. 1, 2010.
“We’re pleased to secure, finally, a fair contract for our members," said WGA East exec director Mona Mangan in a statement. "More importantly, this contract covers all our WGAE-ABC news members and allows all of them, including the writer/producers at WABC-TV, to remain in the Guild and continue to enjoy the benefits and protections of the union.”
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Candidates deterred by picketers
Hollywood received a welcome bit of good news on Wednesday as the striking scribes and the majors agreed to a fourth day of closed-door contract talks -- a previously unplanned session -- for today.
In another development, Barbara Brogliatti is moving from her slot as top spokeswoman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers into a senior adviser role. Industry sources said the AMPTP member congloms are expected to move to significantly beef up their PR contingent in the next few days in the face of public opinion polls and other indicators that the scribes have a big advantage over the studios in the PR war over the strike thus far.
Also Wednesday, the threat of another WGA work stoppage -- this time by CBS newswriters -- put the kibosh on CBS News' plan to host a Democratic presidential debate on Dec. 10.
Hopes for an end to the strike received a boost late Wednesday with the news that another day of negotiations had been scheduled. Move was not entirely surprising, given growing pressures on both sides to end the work stoppage.
Neither side lifted its news blackout as the strike wrapped its 24th day.
Brogliatti had come aboard at the AMPTP earlier this year, after retiring to the Napa Valley in 2005 from a 15-year career at Warner Bros. She and AMPTP's Jesse Hiestand had been handling PR chores and formed a PR committee of West Coast reps to address the fast-growing workload once the WGA struck.
It's believed that Brogliatti, who wasn't immediately available for comment, informed AMPTP prexy Nick Counter over the weekend that she wanted to step back from day-to-day responsibilities.
Rumors continued to float through the town that both sides have agreed to the outlines of a deal, but most labor observers believe the new-media issues remain a serious impediment to reaching a settlement. The two sides returned to the table Monday following extensive backchannel efforts by leading agents and TV showrunners, leading to speculation that a compromise could be hammered out on thorny issues such as how to compensate scribes for use of streaming video -- even though the AMPTP had proposed a six-week promotional window while WGA leaders had derided that number and said a three-day window would be acceptable.
It's believed that CEOs with heavy TV involvement -- such as CBS' Leslie Moonves -- are among the toppers pushing for a deal sooner rather than later in order to salvage the current TV season and to make a decent stab at getting pilots shot.
However, paying writers for digital downloads may be a major stumbling block since that's a key issue for film studios, which are less vulnerable to the pressures created by a strike. The AMPTP is seeking to retain the current formula, which mirrors the DVD rate of 0.36%, while the WGA wants a boost to 2.5%.
The cancellation of the Dec. 10 presidential debate had been looming in recent days as Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards all said they would not cross WGA newswriter picket lines to participate in the debate.
"CBS News regrets not being able to offer the Democratic presidential debate scheduled for Dec. 10 in Los Angeles," the news division said in an announcement issued Wednesday afternoon. "The possibility of picket lines set up by the WGA and the unwillingness of many candidates to cross them made it necessary to allow the candidates to make other plans."
The WGA hasn't set a strike date for the 500 CBS employees it covers. WGA East spokeswoman Sherry Goldman said Wednesday that starting the strike on Dec. 10 was a possibility, but she emphasized that a final decision had not been made.
The Democratic National Committee said Wednesday that there were no plans to reschedule the debate, which was to be held in Los Angeles at CBS Television City with CBS News anchor Katie Couric moderating.
CBS news staffers have worked for over two years without a contract, and no negotiations have taken place for nearly a year. Earlier this month, more than 80% of those casting ballots gave the WGA backing to call a strike at any time.
Following the cancellation announcement, the WGA and CBS took potshots at each other. The guild said it regretted the move but CBS could have avoided the problem had it been willing to negotiate. "Instead, CBS chose to make a decision that stifles the democratic process," the WGA said.
CBS fired back by saying it had asked the WGA two weeks ago to suspend picketing for a couple of hours on Dec. 10 so the debate could go on.
"Our request was met with silence," CBS said. "Their statement today clearly misrepresents an attempt to have a civil discourse with the guild so that this event of national importance could proceed."
The WGA continued picketing in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday. In New York, about 250 guild members and supporters picketed in front of Time Warner Center/Time Warner Studios, with Tina Fey and Nora Ephron in attendance; in Los Angeles, the guild maintained its picket lines at most major lots.
The Intl. Affiliation of Writers Guilds also staged protests Wednesday as part of an "International Day of Solidarity" in Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Sydney, Auckland, Madrid and Mexico City.
The WGA said the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe has announced it's mobilizing its 22 member guilds to support the WGA.
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O.J. Simpson, center, is flanked by his lawyers Gabriel Grasso, left, and Yale Galanter during Simpson's preliminary hearing in Las Vegas, in this file photo made on Wedneday, Nov. 14, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Two weeks after O.J. Simpson and two other men were ordered to stand trial on kidnapping and armed robbery charges, the former football star and his co-defendants face arraignment.
The three men were due in court Wednesday to enter a plea and have a trial date set for the alleged armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.
Simpson and co-defendants Clarence "C.J." Stewart and Charles "Charlie" Ehrlich were expected to plead not guilty to 12 charges. Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said his client's arraignment should be brief — but added, "There's nothing in this case that has been standard."
A 3 1/2-day preliminary hearing offered a nationally televised glimpse of what could come at trial — with sometimes stunning testimony from witnesses including the two men who say they were robbed at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room and three former co-defendants who accompanied Simpson but took plea deals in return for their testimony.
Simpson, Stewart and Ehrlich each face kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, coercion and conspiracy charges. A kidnapping conviction could bring a life sentence with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction carries mandatory prison time.
Defense attorneys lost a bid during an earlier hearing to get any charges dismissed, despite claims they were based on accounts by "crackheads and groupies and pimps and purveyors of stolen merchandise and gun carriers and con artists and crooks."
The lawyers may challenge an amended complaint filed Monday listing Stewart and Ehrlich as possible witnesses, but not Simpson. Lawyers Robert Lucherini for Stewart, and John Moran Jr. for Ehrlich did not respond Tuesday to messages seeking comment.
A spokesman for Clark County District Attorney David Roger said co-defendants are routinely listed as possible witnesses in criminal cases and that Simpson's name would be added to the list.
"It was a clerical oversight," spokesman Dan Kulin said.
The new document makes no changes in the charges against the three men, but drops Michael McClinton as a defendant. McClinton, who testified that he brought guns to the Sept. 13 confrontation with sports collectibles dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, is on the list of 78 potential trial witnesses.
No new testimony was expected Wednesday, although defense lawyers have hinted at pretrial maneuvers that could affect the case. Lucherini has said he might move to separate his client's case from Simpson's.
Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass must juggle schedules for two prosecutors, seven defense lawyers and herself in picking a trial date.
Galanter said he will seek a date "sometime next year," but declined to be more specific.
Neither Stewart, 53, a Simpson friend and golfing buddy from North Las Vegas, nor Ehrlich, 53, a friend from Miami, are accused of wielding weapons during the alleged heist.
Simpson and his lawyers contend that he never asked anyone to bring guns to the hotel room at the Palace Station casino and he did not know anyone had guns.
McClinton and Walter Alexander, two former Simpson buddies who say they had guns, pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and testified in return for a chance at probation.
Simpson, 60, of Miami, has maintained that he intended only to retrieve items that had been stolen from him by a former agent, including photographs, football awards and the suit he wore the day he was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Prosecutors allege the heist netted tens of thousands of dollars of sports collectibles that bore no connection to Simpson.
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A little earlier this afternoon, striking horror writers within the WGA membership organized their own theme-picket at the Warner Bros. lot, where an exorcism was staged to rid the studio of the "demons of greed" that have thus far prevented them from reaching a fair deal with the Guild. A tipster tells us that the mob invoked a chant of "We Eat Scabs" as holy water was sprinkled on the structure, but we're afraid that no combination of prayer and blessed liquid would be enough to overcome the executive-led, ritualistic sacrifice of helpless assistants taking place just inside the lot's walls, an infernal countermeasure which seems like it would be more than sufficient in repelling the throng's evil-dispelling charms.
In a stark example of behind-the-scenes politicking, the FCC's widely anticipated Tuesday meeting on cable regulatory issues -- originally skedded for 9:30 a.m. ET -- finally got under way close to 9:30 p.m., and the nearly 12-hour delay did not bode well for Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin J. Martin and his plans to rewire some of the FCC's rules governing major cable operators.
An agenda prepared with a heavy regulatory hand ended up significantly lightened, putting Martin clearly on the defensive amid charges of "suppressed" data and a "disturbing" determination to arrive at a desired conclusion.
The meeting that almost never was came as an enormous embarrassment for Martin, who earlier this month very publicly and confidently announced a finding that could lead to new regs over cablers and skedded a vote on it for Tuesday's monthly commission meeting. Per procedure, the FCC chairman decides the items on the monthly meeting's agenda and usually includes only items for which he knows he has enough supporting votes.
The finding involves a provision in the 1984 Cable Act, which states that when cable TV reaches a certain degree of market penetration, the FCC can act to ensure program diversity. Martin said that recent data from Warren Communications show that cable has passed that point. But the industry has strongly disputed the data, and GOP commissioners Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell refused to do anything until they get what they feel is more reliable data.
Democratic commissioner Michael Copps was said to be supportive of Martin, mainly because the finding dovetails with his crusade against big media getting bigger. Jonathan Adelstein, the other Dem commissioner, at first seemed ready to support for similar reasons, but then worried that Martin was trying to rush a vote prematurely.
Serious trouble erupted on Monday evening, when, according to Adelstein and McDowell, FCC data contradicting the Warren data was "mysteriously" made available.
Adelstein and McDowell strongly suggested the contradicting data had been "suppressed" and raised pointed questions about why every previous annual finding the FCC has made on cable penetration relied on more than one source of data. The original draft of the current finding relies only on the Warren data. McDowell called this "disturbing."
Copps, too, expressed a desire for more data to determine whether the cable industry had reached or passed the level of market penetration that would trigger FCC action.
Throughout the afternoon, a compromise was hammered out: The FCC would seek more data, specifically from the cable industry, about market penetration and would require cablers to deliver the figures within 60 days.
Martin said the data were not suppressed. "They weren't even asked for before yesterday," he said. He also said that he included only the Warren data because the commission has acknowledged it to be more precise than other sources. He said he omitted other sources that would have shown an even higher market penetration by cable.
"But in the end, what I think is important, despite all the fighting ... is that we're going to move forward and get more data," Martin said.
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Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow arrives at the North American premiere of 'We Will Rock You' at Paris Las Vegas' Le Theatre de Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada September 8, 2004
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of the popular 1980s U.S. heavy metal band Quiet Riot, has been found dead from unknown causes at his home in Las Vegas, authorities said on Monday.
The body of DuBrow, 52, was discovered on Sunday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Coroner's Office said. An autopsy conducted on Monday was inconclusive and more forensic tests were scheduled to establish a cause of death, she said.
Police confirmed that DuBrow's body was found at his home after they were summoned by friends and neighbors who could not find the rocker.
A Las Vegas police spokeswoman declined to say whether there were signs of foul play or violence.
"I can't even find the words to say," Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali said on his Web site. "Please respect my privacy as I mourn the passing and honor the memory of my dearest friend, Kevin DuBrow."
Founded in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, Quiet Riot shot to the top of the Billboard charts with their 1983 album "Metal Health."
It sold more than 6 million copies and is considered by many to be the first heavy metal record to top the pop charts.
The album's sales were spurred by the quartet's monster hit "Cum on Feel the Noize," featuring DuBrow's powerhouse vocals, and the song's video, which was played in heavy rotation on MTV.
Quiet Riot's subsequent albums did not sell nearly as well and DuBrow was essentially fired from the band amid the ensuing rancor.
.......................................................................................................................................................... Next round of talks scheduled for Wednesday
All that optimism on Monday might just have been leftover holiday cheer.
Talks between stagehands and producers to end the 18-day-old strike that has darkened the majority of Broadway theaters have again ended without a resolution.
The next round of negotiations has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, with the more than 25 shows affected by the strike canceled at least through that day's matinees.
The 13-hour session that wrapped early this morning follows another prolonged round of 20-hour talks the night before.
Both striking stagehands union Local One and the League of American Theaters and Producers indicated Monday that progress had been made in the negotiations over stagehands compensation and were optimistic that an agreement would be reached.
However, while Monday night's talks were successful in resolving one key issue, other sticking points remain.
Local One rep Bruce Cohen reported that the mood of the talks, which broke off around 5 a.m., remains conducive to both sides making a workable deal.
Sources say crucial questions regarding load-in (the period during which stagehands install scenery on new shows) have been resolved but others remain, in particular the rules regarding work during rehearsal time and outside performance schedules.
The last time Broadway was shuttered by a strike was when musicians walked out in 2003. That stoppage lasted only four days. The current dispute already has yielded significant losses to Thanksgiving box office and risks financially crippling Broadway biz if it continues into the Christmas period.
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Finally, the Oprah effect will be put to the test.
After months of rumors that she would do so, Oprah Winfrey will campaign with Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, on Dec. 8 in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Obama's campaign announced on Monday. The next day, she will stump for the candidate in Manchester, N.H., and Columbia, S.C. Details of the events will be released in the next few days.
Iowa holds its caucus on Jan. 3, followed by New Hampshire on Jan. 8 and South Carolina on Jan. 26.
Winfrey's appearance on the campaign trail had been anticipated ever since September, when she hosted a fund-raiser for Obama at her Montecito estate. That event raised more than $3 million for the campaign.
While the campaign stops in the early voting states are certain to draw large crowds and a crush of media, it's uncertain whether Winfrey can deliver not just publicity and money but actual votes.
The hopes on the campaign are that her audience of women, particularly those not otherwise politically inclined, will be inspired to vote, and to vote for Obama.
Although showbiz endorsements don't usually make much of an impact, Winfrey is no mere celebrity: She's a worldwide media figure who has never stepped into partisan politics before.
Polling on Winfrey's impact so far is inconclusive, and some commentators wonder whether Obama even needs her in the first place, given that one of his major hurdles is experience. With Obama's position already improving in Iowa, Time's Mark Halperin wrote on Monday, "American voters are not looking for a celebrity or talkshow sidekick to lead them. Obama is an intelligent and thoughtful potential president, but Winfrey's imprimatur is unlikely to convey those traits to many undecided voters."
But some of Obama's supporters believe that the mere fact that she's never endorsed a candidate before gives her an extra dose of credibility -- and therefore more will listen to her. In other words, Winfrey believes enough in Obama that she is willing to risk turning off segments of her fanbase.
Obama himself told the New York Times recently, "She says she wants to do something, which I was actually surprised by. But I think it's interesting to her."
"CSI: NY" star Hill Harper, a classmate of Obama's who has been campaigning for him in Iowa, called her "courageous" for doing so. "I applaud Oprah for what she is doing," he said last week.
A native of Iowa, Harper cautions against giving the hard sell and telling the notoriously independent-minded voters in the state who to vote for. "You are really just educating people about why you support him," he said.
It will be interesting to see what Winfrey says and how she says it. Last spring, when she announced her endorsement of Obama on Larry King's TV show, she was quick to also praise his chief rival, Hillary Clinton. But that was then, this is now. The nomination race has gotten a bit more caustic.
So expect just as much focus on Oprah as on the candidate himself.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Writers to meet with employers
For the first time since they went on strike three weeks ago, showbiz writers will meet today at the bargaining table with their employers.
This session will be the first to take place under a news blackout. Today's confab, starting at 10 a.m., has been set for an undisclosed neutral site at a hotel without CEOs in attendance.
Neither side's yet indicated if there will be talks on Tuesday. And the silence is being welcomed in some quarters.
"Both sides need to shut up and stay in the room until they get this resolved," one labor insider said. "They've shown that this can't be negotiated in the press or on the picket line."
Optimists theorize that the absence of vituperative end-of-the-day statements -- a singular feature of the contract talks since their launch in July -- may serve to push both sides to knuckle down instead and start crafting a deal.
If there's an agreement to be reached, it would build on the concessions both sides began making at the last session on Nov. 4. There's also hope that today's session may contain some carry-over momentum from the backchannel efforts two weeks ago by leading agents, who helped persuade both sides to resume talks.
Still, there's also plenty of room for pessimism given the wide gaps in bargaining positions, the complexity of setting formulas for new-media work and the bitter tone of public comments. That bitterness has abated somewhat over the past week and a half due to the news blackout, but negotiators on both sides will be under heavy pressure.
For its part, the WGA's resuming pickets at major studios in Hollywood today in the first public action since drawing 4,000 enthusiastic supporters to Tuesday's march in Hollywood. Without scripts to work on, writers have turned their energies to garnering support in a variety of ways, such as creating strike-related videos; more than 750 were posted on YouTube as of Sunday.
At the Nov. 4 session, the Writers Guild of America took its DVD proposal off the table, leading the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to agree to compensate writers for streaming video -- but with a six-week promotional window -- and grant the WGA jurisdiction over made-for-the-Internet writing on derivative properties.
But talks broke down after the WGA went on strike in the Eastern time zone, leading to recriminations on both sides. AMPTP topper Nick Counter insisted that the companies would not return to the bargaining table until the guild stopped striking, at least for a few days; WGA West prexy Patric Verrone, frustrated that the companies did not go further on Nov. 4, threatened to put the DVD proposal back on the table.
It took another week before Counter eased up on his demand, and it wasn't until Nov. 16 that negotiators agreed to set today's meeting. Since then, the collateral damage from pinkslips and the delay of several major feature films has created additional pressure on both sides; as of last week, the Get Back in That Room website had logged more than 460 strike-related dismissals.
Though the WGA's winning the public image battle over the congloms for now, guild leaders face the challenge of maintaining unity among members, a significant number of whom are no longer seeing regular paychecks. Entertainment business attorney Jonathan Handel, a former WGA West counsel, said moves by some showrunners to resume performing directing and producing duties also will ratchet up the pressure on the guild.
And should the new round of talks be unproductive, it's probable the AMPTP would start negotiations with the Directors Guild of America shortly. The DGA has a June 30 contract deadline and usually launches its talks at least six months prior to expiration.
"The DGA's not going to wait forever, particularly if there's no significant movement on tough issues at the WGA negotiations," Handel added.
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As you slowly awaken from your tryptophan-induced comas, only vaguely remembering the pounds of turkey and glasses of scotch consumed over the previous four days, stare bleary-eyed at the weekend box office numbers:
1. Enchanted - $35.322 million ($50.048 million--5-day weekend)
<em>Enchanted</em>'s success was inevitable: families trapped at home for the Thanksgiving holiday with kids who were discovering that their newly purchased <em>Shrek the Third</em> DVDs, once drained of entertainment value by nine or ten viewings, make excellent projectiles, know that a trip to the multiplex is a sanity-saver--even if the cinemas were filled with other harried parents desperately hoping that the combination of a dark theater and some child-sedating musical numbers might temporarily calm their little brood of monsters.
2. This Christmas - $18.6 million ($27.1 million--5-day weekend)
No holiday moviegoing season would be complete without Hollywood reminding us that even though our families are crazy and dysfunctional--and they are, aren't they?--in the end, they're all we have™ and we love each other™. Especially if Delroy Lindo is around to help us keep our shit together.
3. Beowulf - $16.240 million ($23.15 million--5-day weekend)
We briefly considered a trip to Beowulf to ogle Angelina Jolie's computer-enhanced form, but then we realized that we could simultaneously save some money and get our jollies by flipping through our cable movie channels, knowing that at least one example of the actress's many fine, digitally unassisted nude scenes would likely turn up after no more than 20 minutes of surfing.
4. Hitman - $13.035 million ($21 million--5-day weekend)
We suppose we'll never know how many opening weekend millions were sacrificed when Fox, having lost the services marble-headed, monosyllabic action star Vin Diesel, had to settle for shaving Timothy Olyphant's head and praying for the best.
5. Bee Movie - $10.025 million ($15.988 million--5-day weekend)
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Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Deadline Hollywood Daily is debuting a series of "Speechless" videos, in which an impressive roster SAG actors (Holly Hunter! Harvey Keitel! David Schwimmer?) , take to these revenue-deficient internets to silently express their solidarity with their WGA peers. Especially mesmerizing is yesterday's clip of the always-outspoken Sean Penn, who, forced into a rare silence by the ongoing strike, seems to calmly mouth a threat to unseen AMPTP negotiators, warning them that he'll be waiting outside Monday's revived contract talks ready to beat some sense into anyone who refuses to bargain in good faith.
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Dennis Quaid arrives with his wife, Kimberly Buffington, at the premiere of a film in Los Angeles, in this April 11, 2006, file photo
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins were in serious condition in a Los Angeles hospital on Tuesday after a blunder which saw them given massive overdoses of an anti-clotting agent, a report said.
Quaid's children -- Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace -- were in intensive care at Cedars Sinai Medical Center after being given a dose of the drug Heparin more than 1,000 times larger than the normal amount, website TMZ.com reported.
Heparin is used to flush out intravenous tubes and prevent blood clots. Babies typically receive 10 units of the drug but Quaid's children were given 10,000 units on Sunday before the alarm was raised, according to TMZ.com.
TMZ reported that as many as 13 patients received overdoses but in a statement later Tuesday, Cedars Sinai's chief medical officer Michael Langberg said only three patients were involved, without revealing their identities.
Langberg said additional tests and evaluation on the two patients most seriously affected had shown "no adverse effects from the higher concentration of Heparin ... Doctors continue to monitor the patients."
An investigation was underway and the hospital was "cooperating fully with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and will take all necessary steps to ensure that this never happens here again.
"This was a preventable error, involving a failure to follow our standard policies and procedures, and there is no excuse for that to occur at Cedars-Sinai."
Quaid's children were born to the actor and his third wife Kimberly Buffington by surrogate on November 8.
A statement issued by the family requested privacy. "Dennis and Kimberly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and hope they can maintain their privacy during this difficult time," it said.
Quaid, 53, is best known for roles in a string of hit films during the 1980s including "The Right Stuff", "Enemy Mine" and "Innerspace". He also won acclaim for playing Jerry Lee Lewis in 1989's "Great Balls of Fire!"
Quaid's career faltered during the early 1990s as he battled drug addiction but he still appeared in several successful films throughout the next decade, most notably "Wyatt Earp" in 1994 and 2000's "Traffic".
More recently he starred in 2004 disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow".
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This photo released by CNN's Larry King Live, shows Dr. Jan Adams during a scheduled interview with the talk show host prior to walking off the show on Tuesday Nov. 20, 2007 in New York
LOS ANGELES - A plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother the day before she died abruptly walked off CNN's "Larry King Live" during an interview Tuesday with the talk show host.
Dr. Jan Adams said he initially agreed to speak with King to clear up what he said were inaccurate reports about him in the news media. But he said West's family asked him not to appear on the show.
"I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family and they have asked me not to go on," he said. "And I've said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this. They are my side and so I'm going to respect their wishes."
As Adams got up from his chair to shake King's hand, the TV host asked whether the surgeon would ever answer questions surrounding Donda West's death.
"When they're comfortable, then I'll be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable," Adams said, referring to West's family. "They are what's important to me. I said that from the start and that's what I'll continue to honor."
His brief television appearance came several hours after a funeral service for Donda West in Spencer, a suburb of Oklahoma City.
West, 58, died at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Nov. 10, a day after she underwent breast reduction, tummy tuck and liposuction procedures. She may have died of a heart attack, pulmonary embolism or accidental overdose of painkillers prescribed after the procedures, Adams told the Los Angeles Times for a story posted online Monday night.
Adams said he suspected one theory but wouldn't elaborate until the coroner issues an official cause of death. "I believe I know exactly what happened to her, but I will not comment on it until I see the final report," he told the newspaper.
The coroner has said early indications suggest West died from surgical complications. An official cause of death won't be determined for weeks, pending the results of toxicology and other tests.
Adams said he prescribed West Vicodin after the surgery.
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LOS ANGELES - A film producer was charged with using bogus contracts with foreign distributors to help secure millions of dollars in loans to finance a movie.
Gary Howsam, 60, faces one count of bank fraud and six counts of false statements in a loan document, according to an indictment returned Tuesday by a grand jury in Los Angeles.
The former chief executive of Greenlight Film and Television, Howsam has helped produce dozens of films, including 2002's "Global Heresy" starring Peter O'Toole and 2001's "Ignition" with Bill Pullman. More recently, he was a producer on Showtime's "The Tudors."
After his arrest earlier this month, Howsam was placed on administrative leave from his current post as chief executive of Toronto-based production house Peace Arch Motion Pictures.
A message left early Wednesday with Howsam's lawyer, Donald Randolph, was not immediately returned. Randolph has said his client "looks forward to an opportunity to clear his name in these matters."
The charges stem from loans Howsam obtained in 2000 to finance the production of the film "Going Back." Greenlight hired another company, Hilltop Entertainment, to help sell the movie overseas.
Prosecutors say Howsam and Hilltop co-owner Harel Goldstein doctored foreign distribution contracts to give the impression that companies in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Japan had already paid for rights to distribute "Going Back."
Howsam then used those forged contracts to help secure a production loan of more than $4.8 million from Comerica Bank, prosecutors say.
Each count against Howsam carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, federal authorities said. He's been released on $500,000 bond and placed under house arrest.
Goldstein previously signed a plea deal with the government in which he agreed to provide information about his cooperation with Howsam in the alleged scam, authorities said.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Vote gives WGA authorization to call a strike
The Writers Guild of America may soon be carrying on two strikes at once.
The WGA announced Monday that CBS News employees repped by the guild have backed its strike authorization with 81% support. Almost 300 of the 500 members voted in the election.
The WGA-CBS agreement covers newswriters, editors, desk assistants, production assistants, graphic artists, promotion writers and researchers in New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles. Those employees have been working without a new contract for 2˝ years, with no negotiations having taken place for almost a year.
The vote gives the WGA the authorization to call a strike at any time, although WGA East spokeswoman Sherry Goldman stressed that the goal is to get back to the bargaining table. "We think that this strong authorization vote should send a clear message," she added.
WGA East prexy Michael Winship echoed that assessment in a statement.
"Our members at CBS News consistently have demonstrated their hard work and commitment to quality journalism but have had their dedication and diligence rebuffed by management's refusal to negotiate a fair, respectful contract," Winship said. "By this powerful vote and other actions they have taken, Writers Guild members are sending their CBS bosses an irrefutable message of solidarity: We will do whatever it takes to get what we have earned and deserve."
CBS news and promo writers "deserve a good contract, and this vote is long overdue proof that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve it," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the WGA West. "Their fellow writers of TV, film and new media, who know firsthand what a vote like this can mean, stand behind them in their efforts."
CBS responded Monday with the contention that the WGA should agree to its year-old proposal -- which was rejected by 99% of the employees.
"It is unfortunate that our WGA newswriters have voted to authorize a strike," the net said in a statement. "The offer we presented nearly a year ago was fair and reasonable and remains on the table. It not only includes one of the best medical plans in the country with minimal employee contributions but fair salary increases to all WGA employees as well."
CBS also said it's ready if there's a work stoppage.
"We hope there is no strike," CBS said. "Should there be, however, CBS News, CBS Television Stations and CBS Radio remains fully prepared and ready to continue producing the highest quality news programming for our viewers."
The two sides last met in January, when CBS refused to put forth any new proposals, according to the WGA.
The guild and CBS are at odds over the net seeking the right to combine newsrooms and consolidate the staffs of radio stations in Los Angeles and New York.
The WGA said key elements in the rejected CBS offer included a two-tier wage package -- TV and network radio members in one tier, local radio members in another -- with no retroactive pay; the right to assign current WGA responsibilities to non-WGA employees; and the ability to merge or combine guild shops with non-guild units at WCBS-AM 880 and 1010 WINS in New York and at KNX and KFWB in Los Angeles.
CBS contended Monday that it had proposed an annual increase of 3% for TV and network radio and 2% for radio stations and asserted that the lower-percentage increases the WGA cited are based on spreading the increases as if they were retroactive to April 2005. "The offer of retroactivity expired after CBS had made numerous attempts over a long period of time to conduct and conclude negotiations," the network added.
As for KNX, CBS said it's asking that some WGA-covered writing duties be shared with AFTRA members at KFWB. "This request seems fair given that AFTRA employees had already agreed to it, and that we are offering layoff protection to any worker at KNX affected by the change," it added.
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Anna Nicole Smith, leaves the U.S. Supreme Court, in this Feb. 28, 2006, file photo in Washington
NASSAU, Bahamas - Medical personnel frantically tried to revive Anna Nicole Smith's son after he collapsed in September 2006 in the former Playboy playmate's hospital room, a doctor testified Monday at the start of a coroner's inquest.
After a "Code Blue" alert was sounded, doctors, nurses and security guards crowded into the room and found Daniel Smith unconscious, not breathing and with no pulse, said Dr. James Iferenta, the emergency room doctor on duty at the time. Iferenta said a woman, whom he later learned was Anna Nicole, was distraught and would not let go of her 20-year-old son.
"There was difficulty getting her out of the room," Iferenta said of Anna Nicole. "She clung to Smith during my time in the room."
Her attorney and partner, Howard K. Stern, who was present when Daniel Smith died, discussed the relationship between son and mother.
"She was very close to Danny and I saw it," he testified. "Almost every time I saw Anna Nicole, she had Danny with her."
Iferenta and Stern were among the first of about 35 witnesses expected to testify before a seven-member jury at an inquest to formally determine the cause death. Daniel Smith died about five months before Anna Nicole herself collapsed and died in Florida.
Police have said there is no evidence of homicide in the death of Daniel Smith. An autopsy found the likely cause was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants. The jury can recommend authorities pursue criminal charges if it finds evidence of wrongdoing.
Daniel Smith had come to the Bahamas to visit his mother after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn. His death was the start of a celebrity soap opera that would soon engulf the island chain, where Anna Nicole Smith lived with Stern.
Anna Nicole's death on Feb. 8 set off a fight over where to bury the former model and who would get custody of Dannielynn. She was eventually buried in the Bahamas, next to Daniel, and custody of her daughter went to former boyfriend Larry Birkhead.
On Monday, Stern described identifying Daniel Smith's body at the morgue but did not discuss in detail the events that led up to his death. The attorney general's office said Stern may be recalled as a witness for further questioning.
Stern is the executor of Anna Nicole Smith's estate and has filed papers to make Dannielynn the sole beneficiary of the estate, which has made a legal claim for millions from the oil fortune of the model's late husband, J. Howard Marshall II.
Testimony in the inquest is scheduled to resume Tuesday.
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers from left, John Frusciante, Flea, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith pose with their awards at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in this Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007 file photo, in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Monday sued Showtime Networks over the name of the television series "Californication," which is also the name of the band's 1999 album and a single on it.
The lawsuit alleges unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name and unjust enrichment, claiming the title is "inherently distinctive, famous ... and immediately associated in the mind of the consumer" with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"Californication is the signature CD, video and song of the band's career, and for some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right," the band's lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, said in a statement.
The television series stars David Duchovny as a novelist suffering from writers' block and a mid-life crisis.
The show features a character named "Dani California," which is also the title of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song released in 2006, the lawsuit noted.
The suit also names the show's creator and executive producer, Tom Kapinos, and two production companies, Twilight Time Films and Aggressive Mediocrity, Inc.
A call Monday to an attorney for Showtime was not immediately returned. Attempts to find a listing for Kapinos were not successful.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Showtime and the other defendants from using the title "Californication" for the show, damages and restitution and disgorgement of all profits derived by the defendants.
In July 2007, Kapinos told reporters at a Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills that he first heard the term in reference to Oregon.
"Apparently in the '70s there were bumper stickers that said 'Don't Californicate Oregon,' because Californians were coming up there, and I just thought it was a great, great title for this show," said Kapinos.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Collateral damage stirs return to table
The AMPTP and the WGA will knuckle down and try again.
Feeling the pressure as the strike's collateral damage continues to mount through layoffs of staff, cast and crew all over Hollywood, the two sides will return to the bargaining table on Nov. 26.
The scribes and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers jointly announced the restart of contract talks late Friday, following a week of back-channel moves.
Writers Guild of America picketing continues, however, and the WGA has scheduled a solidarity march in Hollywood on Tuesday.
Amid mounting layoffs and the issuance of "force majeure" notices, talks between showrunners and their respective CEOs -- such as Disney's Robert Iger, News Corp.'s Peter Chernin, CBS' Leslie Moonves and Warner's Barry Meyer -- were also described as key in applying pressure.
A handful of the town's top agents worked to nudge the two sides back to negotiations. WGA West prexy Patric Verrone and exec director David Young met Friday with Iger and Chernin, among others, at the Beverly Hills home of CAA partner Bryan Lourd. The sesh capped two weeks of shuttle diplomacy by senior partners at CAA, Endeavor, ICM, UTA and WMA.
Verrone attributed the return to negotiations as being a "direct result" of member efforts and, in an email, reminded scribes to remain focused on the guild's long-term goals.
"For 12 days, I have repeated that a powerful strike means a short strike. ... Now it is equally important that we prove that good news won't slow us down, either," Verrone said. "We must remember that returning to the bargaining table is only a start. ... Accordingly, what we achieve in negotiations will be a direct result of how successfully we can keep up our determination and resolve."
But during the past week, WGA leaders were also quietly pressured by a number of high-profile screenwriters and showrunners to get back to the table. Those members continue to maintain strong public support for their union, reasoning that any evidence of disunity would be exploited by the AMPTP.
Though labor observers said they were impressed by the WGA's effectiveness in organizing the strike over the past two weeks, they said the guild ran the risk of derailing that momentum as job losses mount throughout Hollywood.
"My sense is WGA members are willing to fight for these issues, but they want to see the leverage from the strike exercised sooner rather than later," one labor expert said.
The announcement that negotiations would resume at the end of Thanksgiving vacation provided the first optimistic development for much of the town since the strike began.
Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees topper Thomas Short blasted WGA leaders last week over job losses, noting that more than 50 TV series have been shut down by the strike. "The IATSE alone has over 50,000 members working in motion picture, television and broadcasting, and tens of thousands more are losing jobs in related fields," he said.
Another impetus for the WGA to return to the table was the possibility that the Directors Guild of America would launch its talks soon if the WGA did not resume its negotiations. Once the DGA and AMPTP make a deal, it's likely that the AMPTP will insist that the WGA deal contain similar terms.
Whether the WGA and the AMPTP can actually make a deal next week is still questionable given the hostility that has characterized relations since the strike began.
Both sides agreed to a news blackout about the talks, which may reduce the sniping.
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Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson is seen here in August 2007
MESA, United States (AFP) - Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson was given 24 hours jail and ordered to perform 360 hours of community service here Monday after pleading guilty to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence.
Tyson, 41, who also received three years probation, had faced a lengthy spell behind bars after prosecutors demanded he be jailed for one year in connection with an incident outside a nightclub in December 2006.
However, Tyson escaped with only one day behind bars after winning praise from Maricopa County Superior Court judge Helene Abrams for his enrolment in a rehabilitation program.
"Mr Tyson I am very impressed with the letters I have received ... probation is warranted," Abrams told the boxer.
Tyson spoke in a barely audible whisper during the proceedings, telling officials: "I would like to apologize for my actions."
Tyson was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 29 last year after nearly crashing his car into a police car as he left a bar.
Police found three bags of cocaine in his car during a roadside search. Tyson admitted using a mood stabilizer, marijuana and cocaine.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas warned earlier this year he would seek prison time for Tyson.
"He has run out of second chances, at least in my book," Thomas said. "I believe some period of incarceration is necessary to help this man break his self-described addiction to cocaine and to protect the public."
Tyson retired from boxing after he lost to unheralded Irishman Kevin McBride in June 2005.
Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) squandered an estimated 300 million dollars in earnings and declared bankruptcy in 2003, and last year fought in a series of exhibition bouts in order to improve his finances.
His arrest in Arizona was the latest in a series of brushes with the law since he exploded onto the boxing scene in the mid-1980s, becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1986, aged 20.
Considered unbeatable for the rest of the decade, Tyson's career went off the rails when he suffered a shock upset to James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.
In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping a beauty queen at a pageant in Indianapolis, Indiana and was sentenced to six years in prison.
He was released in 1995, and although he regained two of his world titles in 1996, he was never to recapture the aura of invincibility he had once enjoyed.
He was knocked out by Evander Holyfield in 1996, and the following year was banned from boxing after he bit a chunk out of Holyfield's ear during their rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tyson was jailed again in 1999 for assaulting two people following a traffic accident.
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Mentwabe Dawit, the mother of an Ethiopian baby adopted by Angelina Jolie, smiles in the southern city of Awasa November 17, 2007
AWASA, Ethiopia (Reuters) - The mother of an Ethiopian baby adopted by Angelina Jolie denied on Saturday that she had ever challenged the adoption, and said she was happy her daughter had found a home with the Hollywood star.
In an interview at her tiny home in the southern city of Awasa, Mentwabe Dawit rejected newspaper reports in the United States and Europe this week that she wanted two-year-old Zahara returned to Ethiopia.
Her words had been twisted, she said, by "so-called journalists" who had visited her and claimed to be working for the Oscar-winning actress.
"I have never disputed the adoption," Mentwabe told Reuters. "This was a mistake. It was something I never said."
On Thursday, the Ethiopian agency that arranged the adoption said it was "legal and irrevocable" and that Zahara's grandmother had told an Addis Ababa court her daughter was dead.
Earth-Floored House
Speaking on Saturday in her earth-floored house, lit by a single light bulb, Mentwabe said she ran away from her home five months after giving birth because she had no food for her baby.
"I decided to flee rather than watch her die," she said.
Her mother searched for her for months around Awasa, 270 km (170 miles) south of the capital, but eventually concluded that she must have died and put the baby girl up for adoption.
Jolie, who also works as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, adopted her in July 2005. She adopted a Cambodian refugee boy, Maddox, three years earlier.
In Awasa, Mentwabe kissed a picture of the actress.
"This is to show I have no ill feelings towards her," she said. "I think my daughter is a very fortunate human being to be adopted by a world-famous lady. I wish them both all the success they deserve."
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Dan Rather poses for photographers as he arrives for the 28th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards gala in this Sept. 24, 2007 file photo in New York
NEW YORK - CBS asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a $70 million defamation lawsuit that veteran television newsman Dan Rather filed against the network and its parent company, arguing that he waited too long to take legal action.
The former anchor's lawsuit claims his bosses made him a "scapegoat" for the controversy that arose over a disputed story about President Bush's military service.
CBS' motion argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was filed in September, more than two years after he was removed from his "CBS Evening News" post.
All of the claims in Rather's lawsuit against the network and Viacom Inc. "are barred by New York's one-year-statute of limitations for defamation," CBS said in a 30-page reply motion filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.
CBS' court papers also contend that all of the claims relating to breach of the newsman's contract with the network should be thrown out "as CBS did not breach any obligations to Rather."
CBS issued a statement after filing the motion, saying the company was "mystified and saddened by the baseless and self-serving allegations and distortions of fact raised in his (Rather's) lawsuit."
Rather's lawyers, Martin R. Gold and Edward J. Reich, in a statement said: "It is unfortunate that CBS is trying to delay discovery of the facts and the trial of Dan's claims. We are confident that the court will reject these tactics."
Rather's lawsuit says he was made a "scapegoat" to placate the Bush administration after questions arose about a story he narrated that concerned the president's military service during the Vietnam War.
Rather narrated the September 2004 report that said Bush disobeyed orders and shirked some of his duties during his National Guard service and that a commander felt pressured to sugarcoat Bush's record.
Rather, whose final months at CBS were clouded by controversy over the story, said the defendants' words and actions damaged his reputation and cost him significantly. He left "CBS Evening News" in March 2005.
Besides CBS Corp. and Viacom, Rather's lawsuit names CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News, as defendants.
The lawsuit seeks $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages.
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This booking photo provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows Lindsay Lohan. A Sheriff's spokesman said Lohan surrendered to the Los Angeles County women's detention center in Lynwood at 10:30 a.m. Thursday Nov. 15, 2007, to serve a one-day sentence for drunken driving
LOS ANGELES - Lindsay Lohan was a jailbird for just 84 minutes Thursday, becoming the latest celebrity to serve less than a day for a drunken driving offense.
Lohan, 21, turned herself in to the Los Angeles County women's detention center in Lynwood at 10:30 a.m. She was searched, fingerprinted and placed in a holding cell in the inmate reception area but got to keep her street clothes, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
"She was cooperative," he said.
Lohan was released at 11:54 a.m. Her original daylong sentence was reduced because she met criteria that took into account overcrowding at the lockup and the fact that her crime was nonviolent, Whitmore said.
Did the celebrity receive special treatment?
"Absolutely not. This is what we do for most everybody in this position," Whitmore said. In fact, 30 to 50 women are granted early releases from the facility every day, he added.
An e-mailed message seeking comment from Lohan's publicist was not immediately returned.
In May, the star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" was arrested after crashing her Mercedes-Benz into a tree in Beverly Hills. She was arrested again in July after the mother of Lohan's former personal assistant called 911 to report that her car was being chased by an SUV. The chase ended in Santa Monica, where police arrested Lohan for being behind the wheel. In both cases, Lohan was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine.
In August, she reached a plea deal on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges stemming from the arrests. The judge sentenced her to four days in jail — the mandatory minimum for a second drunken-driving offense — but gave her credit for 24 hours already served. She elected to complete 10 days of community service instead of 48 hours behind bars.
The total deal called for her to enter treatment, spend a day in jail and perform community service.
"It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs," Lohan said in a statement released by her publicist in August.
Lohan had until Jan. 18 to serve the jail time.
She spent two minutes longer in lockup than Nicole Richie did in August for a similar offense.
Richie was arrested Dec. 11, 2006, after witnesses reported seeing her black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle headed the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank. She pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor DUI charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail because it was a second driving-under-the-influence conviction. She served 82 minutes in custody, during which she was booked but never actually placed in a cell.
Richie's co-star on TV's "The Simple Life," Paris Hilton, served 23 days at the same jail this year after she was found guilty of driving on a suspended license while on probation for an alcohol-related reckless-driving case.
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Talks are underway to bring the laughs back to latenight.
Reps for several of the major latenight skeins -- including "Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"--- have been engaging in secret backchannel conversations with each other about when it might be appropriate for their hosts to return to their studios. It's unlikely anything will happen until after Thanksgiving, however--and even that could be optimistic.
Still, according to several network execs with knowledge of the situation, there's been talk of resuming production on some shows as early as next month, with Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 mentioned as possible return dates.
The problem with locking in a date: "Nobody wants to be the first to go back," says one wag.
What's more, nobody wants to go back too early, particularly if it appears a settlement of the strike could be at hand. But with most of Hollywood bracing for an extended work stoppage, producers have been forced to start talking about a return.
Toward that end, reps for the major broadcast network shows--but not the networks themselves-- have been quietly feeling each other out, trying to determine when might be the appropriate time to return to work. All the major latenight talkers have been dark since the WGA strike began Nov. 5.
Since none of the shows wants to be the first to return to production, the behind-the-scenes conversations seem to be aimed at reaching an informal agreement that would result in at least two shows from separate networks returning on the same date.
While Letterman, Leno and O'Brien all want to be respectful of their writers, they're also deeply concerned about the impact of a prolonged strike on their non-WGA staffs.
NBC, for example, had told producers on its latenight shows that it would only continue paying staffs through Nov. 16 (Daily Variety, Nov. 7).
Producers of the Peacock shows lobbied the net to keep the paychecks coming, however, and late Thursday, the network agreed. Staffers on Leno and O'Brien's shows, along with those on "Last Call with Carson Daly," will be paid for at least two more weeks, a network spokeswoman said.
Letterman, whose Worldwide Pants Prods. is solely responsible for staffer salaries on "Late Show" and "Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson," has told staffers they're not going to be cut off. Company will "continue to pay the non-writing staff of the shows - fully compensating lower-salaried employees, and providing a substantial portion of salaries for those at the higher end -- at least through the end of the year," a Worldwide Pants spokesman said.
As for whether "Late Show" will return before the strike is settled, the spokesperson was non-committal.
"Next week's tapings of 'The Late Show' and the 'Late Late Show' have been cancelled and we will continue to make a week-by-week determination about future tapings," he said. "Of course, we all want to get back to work as soon as possible, and it remains our hope that both sides in this dispute will make progress toward that end. In the meantime, we will continue monitoring this situation closely as we make decisions regarding our future production schedule."
As for "The Tonight Show," exec producer Debbie Vickers last week issued a statement saying she was mulling all sorts of options in order to keep her staffers working, including bringing in guest hosts to fill in for Leno.
"Late Night" exec producer Jeff Ross also declined comment, except to say that he had been focusing his efforts on getting NBC to keep paying his non-WGA staff for as long as possible.
It's unclear if producers for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" or "The Colbert Report" have participated in the behind-the-scenes talks with other latenight producers. Comedy Central is still paying the support staffs for those shows.
However, it might be more difficult for those skeins to return without writers--particularly "Colbert Report," which is mostly scripted.
One big factor in any decision to go back to work: The WGA's reaction. Latenight producers were taken aback by the WGA East's condemnation of Ellen Degeneres after she opted to return to work.
A guild spokesman said there have been no talks with the latenight shows about granting waivers.
“Late night hosts who are WGA members are prohibited by our strike rules from performing writing services,” the rep said. “As many of the hosts have themselves commented, it is extremely difficult to produce first-rate shows without writers.”
The latenight camp is hoping the Carson precedent--he returned to work a month before the strike resumed--- will mute any negative response if and when their shows return.
In addition, latenight producers note that only about 20% of their shows is scripted. The rest is filled with interviews and musical performances.
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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - December is coming into focus for the Directors Guild of America. Barring a resumption of talks between striking film and TV writers and the studios, the directors are likely to begin their own labor contract negotiations sometime next month.
There appears little chance that the DGA's much-anticipated talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the bargaining arm of the studios, will be announced before Thanksgiving, so it will probably be December 1 at the earliest before the parties could start talking turkey.
Historically, the DGA tends to seal its deals about six months before the end of current contracts. With the guild's current film and TV pact expiring June 30, that alone would suggest an imminent start to its AMPTP talks.
Still, the WGA strike, now in its second week with no resolution in sight, presents a situation that hasn't existed since the last WGA walkout in 1988. That's not necessarily going to slow down the DGA in launching its talks, but it does suggest at least three possible scenarios:
* The WGA and AMPTP get back on track with their talks, and the DGA decides to wait out those negotiations.
* The strike continues, but the DGA -- which has yet to engage substantively with studio reps about holding early talks -- suddenly sees signs that its own talks could prove intractable.
* The DGA receives informal assurance that the AMPTP will embrace early talks with a welcoming attitude and directors begin negotiations while writers are still walking picket lines.
There is often a spectrum of opinions at the AMPTP over issues and strategy. But one top studio executive reflected a broad sentiment when he recently suggested that early talks with the DGA wouldn't have to come at the expense of a long impasse with the WGA.
"We should resolve everything as quickly as we can," the studio insider said. "So if (DGA executive director) Jay Roth were to call, I'd drive to his house right now."
The DGA's negotiating committee, chaired by veteran Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates, already has met several times to forge a strategy.
Had the WGA's unproductive talks with the studios dragged on beyond the October 31 expiration of the writers' contract, the DGA likely would have already engaged with the AMPTP by now. But the writers strike gave directors pause, and it was deemed necessary to wait a few weeks to see if guild picketing and studio disruptions might bring the parties quickly back together.
With little evidence of an imminent resumption of the writers' talks in the offing, the DGA can now proceed with its own negotiations -- with one big proviso.
Should the AMPTP sign off on December talks with the DGA, there also must be evidence that an attractive contract would be on offer. Most specifically, the studios must signal that they won't bring their hated "cost recoupment" proposal into the directors' negotiations.
At the start of the writers' negotiations in July, the AMPTP had two key proposals. One would have revised current compensation formulas to allow studios to recoup certain basic costs before paying any residuals in the future, and the second would have delayed any new Internet residuals for three years while the matter was studied.
There is "zero chance" the directors would begin talks unless assured that the first proposal is dead, a source said. And indeed, the concept was pulled from the writers' negotiations after it became a big impediment.
The DGA isn't thrilled with the idea of a new-media study, either. But it's less clear whether the guild might be willing to accept a more narrowly drawn study than the one proposed to the WGA, which rejected the proposal out of hand.
Notably, there appears broad optimism that prenegotiations assurances can be secured and that the DGA and studio reps will engage in actual contract talks soon.
Said one well-placed source, "I think there is a very good chance that by the end of the year we could be at the table with the DGA."
If that happens, and a DGA deal is quickly secured, WGA leaders will have one big decision: use that deal as a template for its own resumed talks or continue to strike for a deal more in line with writers' agendas. Certainly the area of new-media content could give rise to different DGA priorities than those at the WGA.
Both guilds aim to expand compensation for creative contributions on new-media content, but the directors tend to put more weight in negotiations on establishing jurisdictional rights. Also, the DGA has shown a willingness to give ground on certain compensation issues to reap gains in other areas.
Three years ago, the WGA's contract expired, and writers worked under terms of the old pact for five months. Eyeing the impasse, the DGA reached out to management to launch its own talks, with the directors sidestepping a fractious debate over DVD residuals to secure a deal providing $60 million in health and pension gains.
The WGA ultimately accepted a similar new contract.
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