LONDON (AP) -- Wearing little more than sun screen, socks and boots, Steve Gough is walking the length of Britain to celebrate the joys of nudity. Efficiency isn't one of them.
His 847-mile trek has been hampered by eight arrests, an examination at a psychiatric hospital and several nights in jail. This week, he's starting over after Scottish police shipped him back to his starting point in Cornwall for a court appearance.
But the 44-year-old father of two is undaunted and spent Thursday hitchhiking his way back to Scotland -- though he did wear clothes to increase his chances of getting a lift.
"I am celebrating myself as a human being," Gough said. "We have all been brought up and conditioned to think our body is something to be ashamed of. We are made to feel bad about ourselves and that is damaging society. I am determined to carry on."
Gough left Land's End in southwest England on June 16 bound for John O'Groats in the far north of Scotland, hoping to cover around 20 miles a day on foot.
One day and 15 miles later, he was arrested in St. Ives and charged with breach of the peace. The case was abandoned after magistrates found he had not committed a criminal offense.
Three days later, he was arrested in the Cornish coastal resort of Newquay and charged with offending public decency. He appeared -- stark naked -- in court Monday. The court forced him to wear a blanket but did not impose a fine.
"It has taken a week out of my walk," said Gough, whose bare backside graced the pages of The Independent newspaper Thursday. "But I have had a bit of publicity."
The intrepid rambler insists he is not a nudist, but a person who wants to "enlighten the public, as well as the authorities that govern us, that the freedom to go naked in public is a basic human right."
Apart from being beaten up in St. Ives on June 18, and told by a farmer in Yorkshire to "put on your trousers," Gough said public reaction had been largely positive.
"Probably a third of walkers have been OK and courteous," said the hiker, who dons clothes at night to keep warm. "Some people have really been enthusiastic and stopped to talk to me. I have even had people give me money."
Gough said he first became "involved in all this naked stuff" 10 years ago when he visited a nudist beach and "thought it was nice how people wandered around nice and relaxed."
He says that eventually alienated his partner, the mother of his children aged 5 and 7.
"We have separated. I was becoming more expressive and that became difficult for her," said the truck driver, who hopes to finish his trek by September -- barring further run-ins with police.
There is no law in Britain against public nudity, although there are laws against indecent exposure -- which requires proof of intent to insult a woman -- or any behavior likely to cause "harassment, alarm or distress."
According to the British Naturism society, there are some 2 million naturists, or nudists, in Britain.
"Some people think this sort of walking is damaging to naturism," said Sue Piper, research and liaison officer for the 18,000-member society. "Others think it is really very brave of him and he is bringing naturism to the forefront."
"I support his ideals, although generally speaking I prefer to keep a rather lower profile," said Tony Baldwin, chairman of the 300-strong Singles' Outdoor Club which was founded in 1981 and organizes nudist walks between March and October.
"We never really have any trouble. We normally get a cheerful word or a smile," he added.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor Tom Sizemore was the subject of a domestic abuse complaint by his now ex-wife long before he took up with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, a sheriff's detective testified Thursday.
Detective Mark Gayman told jurors he answered a 911 call to Sizemore's home on Jan. 24, 1997, and found the actor drunk and angry. He said Sizemore's then wife, actress and tennis player Maeve Quinlan, was in a bedroom, her eyes puffy from crying.
Gayman said she told him that Sizemore had knocked her down and kicked her in the neck and chest with his bare foot during an argument.
"I saw redness on her chest and neck," Gayman said. Gayman added that Sizemore threatened to beat up his partner.
The "Black Hawk Down" actor was taken into custody but later released when Quinlan declined to file charges.
Gayman's testimony came in the third day of Sizemore's domestic abuse trial. Sizemore, 41, has pleaded innocent to 16 misdemeanor counts of hitting, harassing and threatening Fleiss, his ex-fiancee.
The charges include counts for making about 100 harassing telephone calls to her in a one-year period, vandalism, threatening to inflict injury to a person or property and corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition.
Sizemore, who is free on $100,000 bail, faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted of all the charges.
Fleiss previously served 21 months in prison for tax evasion and attempted pandering. She met Sizemore shortly after being released in 1999.
Testimony was to resume later Thursday, when jurors were to hear from a battered women's expert. With the jury out of the courtroom, Superior Court Judge Antonio Barretto told attorneys that he was allowing the testimony because he considered it relevant to the case.
"You seldom see someone's testimony where they've been belittled and physically abused over such a long period of time," said Barretto, who had listened to two days of testimony from Fleiss about her alleged verbal and physical abuse.
Barretto said it also was unusual to have a woman who is independently wealthy remain with an alleged abuser.
"You don't normally see a complaining witness in a domestic violence situation who is financially independent," he said.
Fleiss, 37, earlier testified that she owns several businesses and has an income that allows her to live comfortably and independently. She also said she did not plan to sue Sizemore for monetary damages.
Earlier Thursday, jurors heard from soap opera actor John Enos, who said he was Fleiss' first boyfriend after her release from prison. He recalled being awakened at 4 a.m. in May 2002 by Sizemore, who demanded to see Fleiss.
"He had a 40-ounce bottle of beer in a paper bag and Heidi's purse and he was very upset," Enos said. "….He wasn't being that rational."
When he was told that Fleiss wasn't there, Enos said Sizemore drove around the block several times, screeching the tires on his Porsche sports car.
Two days later, Enos said a bruised Fleiss showed him a cut on her head, which she said was incurred when Sizemore pushed her down on a concrete driveway.
RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) -- A woman on trial for breast-feeding her baby while driving on the Ohio Turnpike testified Thursday that she nursed behind the wheel because her husband told her to.
Catherine Donkers, 29, said she had stopped at a highway rest stop May 8 to feed her 7-month-old daughter, but realized the baby was still hungry after she got back on the road, headed to Michigan from Pennsylvania.
"I called my husband, and he directed me to continue on, to drive to Michigan and nurse my child in the car. We did not feel we were breaking any law," Donkers said. "I had the cruise control on at 65 mph."
Donkers, who is representing herself on several misdemeanor charges, called herself to the witness stand Thursday afternoon in Portage County Municipal Court.
Breast-feeding while driving "certainly isn't a primary choice as a form of feeding my child," she said. "I certainly had no intent to harm my child. I never would."
Her husband, Brad Barnhill, asked to stand in for his wife at the trial, but the request was denied. The couple says their religious group requires Barnhill to be responsible for punishing Donkers. He also testified Thursday.
"I directed her to do everything she did that day. … Under our faith, she obeys me," Barnhill, 46, said during a break. He has said he told his wife to nurse while driving to save time.
The couple -- who lack a marriage license but claim to be married -- belong to the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, which has a history of challenging the government.
State Highway Patrol Sgt. Michael A. Harmon testified Thursday that Donkers handed over what appeared to be a homemade Pennsylvania identification card instead of a driver's license. Donkers' sect maintains that driver's licenses should not be required.
The sect was founded in Henderson, Nev., in the 1990s. Barnhill says he is a minister in the fellowship with 650 followers.
Police stopped Donkers after a trucker called 911 to report he had seen a woman driver holding a baby on her lap. Donkers refused to pull over for three miles as a state trooper pursued her.
When she eventually stopped at a Streetsboro toll booth, troopers said she refused to cooperate until she called her husband for permission.
The couple says Donkers did not stop immediately because she didn't realize right away she was being followed and she wanted to stop at a public place because she had been assaulted by police before.
Prosecutor Sean Scahill asked Donkers if she had to use her hands to move the baby while the car was moving. "For a very short time I did," she said. "It took me approximately all of a quarter of a second."
Donkers faces counts including misdemeanor child endangerment, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Closing arguments were scheduled for Friday.
Barnhill said he and his wife were living temporarily in Pittsburgh for work, but Donkers was a resident of Livonia, Mich., when arrested.
BEIJING (AP) -- A 1-year-old girl who was born with three legs and abandoned by her parents on a Beijing street is to undergo surgery to remove the extra limb, state media and a doctor said Thursday.
Doctors at Dongzhimen Hospital in the Chinese capital plan to study the limb for 20 days before operating, a doctor in the hospital's orthopedics department told The Associated Press.
"The operation will be as difficult as separating Siamese twins," said the doctor, who would only give his surname, Qu.
The girl was found in March by Beijing police and turned over to welfare authorities, the newspaper Beijing Times said. It said the hospital is treating her for free.
The third leg is growing out of the girl's back and had started to deform her lower body, Qu said.
"The leg has a nerve in it connecting it to the spine," he said. "This makes separating the leg very difficult."
DENVER (AP) -- Four people were found shot to death in a duplex and two others were critically wounded, authorities said Thursday.
Police gave few details of Wednesday night's shooting but said a search was under way Thursday for two men.
There were no indications the shooting was gang-related, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. The dead, a man and three women, appeared to be in their 20s and 30s. Police said they did not know whether the victims were related.
The two wounded men were in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center, police said.
Police were alerted to the shootings by a neighbor who heard gunshots just before midnight. Officers went to the home and found the victims, a police department statement said.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Cooler temperatures Thursday brought relief from Europe's blistering heat wave, but experts warned that weather blamed for deaths, drying rivers and scorching wildfires could last through September.
In Belgium, clouds and a light morning rain kept the mercury from rising to a record-breaking 104 degrees as had been forecast by Belgium's Royal Meteorological Institute.
But temperatures hit 98.6 in the north, and were expected to "remain quite high," said Edward De Dycker, the institute's chief forecaster. "The heat wave continues."
Winds shifted to the north over Britain, lowering temperatures that had been in the mid-90s to as low as 72 degrees at Heathrow Airport. On Wednesday, London registered its highest-temperature ever -- 95.7.
Speed restrictions remained for some British trains because of fear that rails would buckle in the heat, which Network Rail said already had happened 21 times from Monday to Wednesday.
Some towns in northeastern France have had no train service since Tuesday due to buckled rails, the national rail authority, SNCF, said, adding that with the tracks at 127 degrees, repair work had not yet started.
It was 97 in Paris Thursday afternoon, compared with Wednesday's high of 103 -- just shy of the all-time high of 104.7 set in July 1947.
Still, the death toll blamed on the heat wave rose to some 40 after Croatian police said a 41-year-old policeman guarding the U.S. Embassy in a Zagreb suburb died of heart failure likely triggered by the heat.
Two elderly women in southwestern Spain died Thursday of heat stroke, increasing to 16 the number of fatalities blamed on the hot weather in that country, officials said.
Spanish authorities also said some 1,600 people were evacuated from a campground and several villas in the northeast when a forest fire spread through surrounding hills. Two people were arrested on suspicion of setting fires in central Spain, where most blazes were either out or under control.
The temperature of the Mediterranean sea off the Spanish coast has risen to 89.6, 10 degrees above normal and the highest in 45 years, Spain's National Meteorological Institute reported.
Forest fires also eased in Portugal, where an estimated 400,300 acres have burned so far this year, most in the last three weeks, killing at least 14 people. Blazes fanned by hot winds near the French Riviera and in Corsica killed five people last week.
Two swimming-related deaths in Britain on Tuesday were linked to efforts to escape the heat, which became difficult as water levels dropped in lakes and rivers.
Italian authorities were forced to close a road near the resort of Sorrento, a picturesque town on the Gulf of Naples, for a few hours to clear away charred trees.
Scores of people were evacuated as a precaution in Tuscany and the northwestern Liguria region, according to the Civil Defense Department. Scattered blazes were reported in Lazio, the region including Rome.
Weather experts from Italy's state-funded CNR research center called the heat wave one of the five worst in the last 150 years and said it would likely last until next month.
Intense monsoon activity in Africa south of the Sahara has been blamed in part for the merciless heat.
While southern Europe is used to sizzling summers, the heat has prompted some unusual measures in the north.
A model of Elizabeth Taylor in the Amsterdam department store Bijenkorf had to be returned to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum because it was in danger of melting.
The central German city of Goettingen ruled that a three-day reggae festival beginning Friday could only go ahead under a strict smoking ban, citing the risk of forest fires.
In Belgium, polar bears at the Antwerp zoo were fed their apples and fish popsicle-style -- frozen in blocks of ice. Authorities in the medieval city of Bruges gave the drivers of horse-drawn carriages permission to take off their hats. However, it ruled out wearing shorts.
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- About 500 homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that touched down Thursday in north Palm Beach County, flipping semitrailers, snapping power poles and tearing roofs off businesses. Only minor injuries were reported.
Most of the damage took place north of West Palm Beach. At the Garden Walk mobile home park, the tornado collapsed the roofs and walls of several homes and pushed others off their foundations. At least two tractor-trailers nearby were tossed upside down.
A gas leak forced the evacuation of 200 residents in the mobile home park. Emergency crews rescued some residents trapped in their mobile homes.
"Everyone is very lucky that nobody was killed," said Palm Beach County sheriff's spokeswoman Diane Carhart.
The leak was controlled and residents were allowed back into the mobile home park late Thursday.
Two suspected looters were arrested late Thursday in an industrial park near the mobile home park, officials said.
About 21,000 people were without electricity in Palm Beach County. Power was out in most of Riviera Beach, where reports of damage were extensive. The roof of a Pepsi-Cola plant was torn off, heavy rain caused street flooding and closed roads, and looting was reported in the storm's wake.
At Driftwood Plaza in nearby Jupiter, a metal roof covering 32 stores was damaged, said Tammy Goodwin, owner of the Coastal Massage Day Spa.
"We were right in it," she said. "Pieces of the roof were flying off. A pole came down. There was a lot of damage, a lot of debris. Things were flying."
Red Cross spokeswoman Laura Botting said two shelters had been opened in Palm Beach County as of 9 p.m., and that other shelters may open if needed.
The weather service said the tornado was spotted at 5:13 p.m. and cleared out by 5:40 p.m. Forecasters were surprised by the rapid development of the system.
"It caught us," forecaster Bob Ebaugh said.
PARIS (AP) -- Just how far parents might go to help children reach the sporting elite has become shockingly evident in France with the arrest of a man on suspicion he spiked the drinks of his 16-year-old son's tennis rivals with a prescription drug.
One player died in a car wreck after apparently falling asleep while driving, and another was hospitalized for two days, investigators say. Police are trying to determine whether there were other victims.
Christophe Fauviau, 43, a retired soldier from Tercis-les-Bains in southwestern France, was arrested Saturday and placed under judicial investigation to determine whether he should be formally charged with unintentionally causing a death by administering toxic substances.
He is suspected of giving the anti-anxiety drug Temesta, which can cause drowsiness, to several opponents of his son, Maxime.
Calls to the Fauviau home Wednesday and Thursday went unanswered.
The case is reminiscent of Houston's "cheerleader mom," Wanda Holloway, who was charged in 1991 with trying to hire a hit man to kill the mother of her 13-year-old daughter's cheerleading rival. Holloway, who served six months in prison, hoped the grieving daughter would drop out of tryouts for the school cheerleading squad.
Suspicions about Christophe Fauviau arose at a tennis tournament June 28 when a tennis player reported seeing Fauviau tamper with the player's water bottle just before his semifinal match with Maxime, police say. The player turned the bottle over to police, who say it tested positive for Temesta.
The next day, Maxime defeated another player in the tournament's final match. That player fell ill shortly after the match and required a two-day hospital stay, Capt. Christian Flagella, a police investigator in the town of Dax, said Thursday.
In another tournament July 3, Maxime defeated 25-year-old Alexandre Lagardere, a school teacher. Lagardere complained of fatigue after the match and took a nap at a friend's house near the stadium. He slept for two hours, then was driving home when he crashed his car and died.
Police believe Lagardere fell asleep at the wheel. Toxicology tests showed traces of Temesta in his system, which investigators suspect was administered by Fauviau.
The case has shocked many French people, and especially its tennis world.
"It is unparalleled, scandalous," Thierry Pham, a member of the French Tennis Federation technical committee, said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Pham said he was particularly puzzled because Maxime is not considered champion material. "He was not part of the tennis elite for his age, which makes it even the more bizarre. He was just a good, local player."
It is Fauviau's 13-year-old daughter, Valentine, who is seen as her family's great tennis hope.
"She is one of the best players in the country in her age group," Pham said. "For her it is very sad, because she will have to suffer pressure in her career because of what her father did."
Fauviau is not accused of drugging any of his daughter's opponents, but Pham said he recently clashed with the tennis federation over what is best for her career.
"He became known to us because of his daughter," Pham said. "He refused to let her join a tennis school in Toulouse and refused to allow her to play for the junior national team this summer."
Despite the doping allegations, the tennis federation is not planning extra security measures at local or national tournaments.
"It would be a bit sad if we had to start putting water in a safe with locks and a key," Pham said. "It's not right to change rules because of an isolated incident."
MIAMI (AP) -- The current hurricane season is likely to be busier than originally thought, with more of a danger to the United States and Caribbean, government forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now expects seven to nine hurricanes, including three to four major storms packing winds of at least 111 mph. An above-average two hurricanes and two tropical storms have formed so far as the season approaches its peak, from mid-August through October. The full season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
"Many of the hurricanes this season will develop over the tropical Atlantic and move westward as they strengthen. These hurricanes could pose a threat to the United States and/or the Caribbean Islands," said Dr. Gerry Bell, head of the administration's seasonal prediction team.
The administration updated its forecast from May, which expected six to nine hurricanes, of which two to four would become major. The updated forecast predicts 12 to 15 tropical storms, above previous expectations of 11 to 15 tropical storms. The historical average is 10 tropical storms and six hurricanes.
"Nobody can tell you exactly where they'll hit or when, but what we can say is similar seasons, based on historical data, averaged two to three land-falling hurricanes in the United States and one to two hurricanes in the region around the Caribbean Sea," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Mayfield said hurricanes are more likely because of several factors: relatively warm sea surface temperatures, a strong African jet stream and other conditions that have existed over the past eight years. The 1995-2002 period has been the busiest for hurricanes in more than half a century.
Hurricane forecaster William Gray updated his prediction Wednesday, saying the remaining summer months should be quieter than normal, but October will have above-normal hurricane activity.
All forecasters cautioned coastal residents from becoming complacent.
"If you're lucky enough to live on the beautiful Gulf or Atlantic coast of the United States or down in the Caribbean, you need to be prepared no matter what," Mayfield said.
HOUSTON (AP) -- Salmonella in pea salad sickened more than 600 inmates at a state prison last month, authorities said.
The Texas Department of Health said Thursday the contamination likely resulted when eggs from the prison's chicken flock were brought to a food preparation area without being properly cleaned.
The salad was served July 2 at the Darrington Unit prison in Rosharon, south of Houston. The next day, about one-third of the inmates were beset by diarrhea, nausea and fever.
Prison employees are served the same menu as inmates, but their food is prepared in a separate kitchen. None of them came down with the illness.
All of the inmates recovered, the state agency said.
Unclean raw foods are the most common sources of salmonella.
DENVER (AP) -- A former housekeeper for JonBenet Ramsey's parents still plans to publish a book about the 6-year-old's slaying -- but with a blank chapter where her grand jury testimony would have appeared, her attorney said Thursday.
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the state's grand jury secrecy law prevents Linda Hoffman-Pugh from using the testimony in a book as long as there's a chance another grand jury could be called to investigate the case.
Hoffman-Pugh's lawyer said the planned book, "The Death of an Innocent," would contain a blank, 32-page chapter in place of the testimony.
Buyers would receive postcards to send their names and addresses to the publisher to receive copies of the chapter if it is ever published, attorney Darnay Hoffman, said.
Hoffman also said an appeal of Wednesday's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court is likely.
Hoffman-Pugh worked for John and Patsy Ramsey when JonBenet was found strangled and beaten in the basement of their Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996.
No one has been charged in the slaying, and the grand jury issued no indictments.
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Cast into a city gas chamber to be euthanized with other unwanted or unclaimed dogs, it appeared the roughly year-old Basenji mix had simply run out of luck - and time.
But this canine had other ideas.
When the death chamber's door swung open Monday, the dog now dubbed Quentin - for California's forbidding San Quentin State Prison - stood very much alive, his tail and tongue wagging.
Animal-control supervisor Rosemary Ficken had never seen such a survivor, and she didn't have the nerve to slam the door shut again.
This 30-pound animal, she believed, beat the odds and should live on.
"She told me, 'Please, take him. I don't have the heart to put him back in there and re-gas him,"' said Randy Grim, founder and head of Stray Rescue of St. Louis, the charitable shelter that took in the dog before taking the animal's story public.
Quentin's ordeal was played and replayed Wednesday on local TV stations, drawing people looking to adopt him.
"To me, it's a miracle or divine intervention," Grim said. "I can't help but think he's here to serve a higher purpose. This case blew me away. This is amazing."
On Wednesday, Quentin was a little malnourished but "in very good condition," Grim said. He was being checked for heartworm and other maladies by a veterinarian.
"You can tell he's really digging it," Grim said. "He has a bed, love, food and water."
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - Peggy McCormally didn't want her family to throw her an 80th birthday bash. But she did request a major celebration in her honor: a traditional Irish wake.
"When my husband died, I thought it was such a shame he couldn't enjoy the great party we had to celebrate his life," she said.
McCormally's oldest son, Sean, said his mother wouldn't accept any celebration but the wake.
"Who are we to argue?" he said.
McCormally joked that by attending her own wake, she also would be able to decide if her will should be changed.
"Anyone who didn't come is in big trouble," she laughed.
Only two of her 11 grandchildren didn't make the Saturday wake, and they were forgiven because one couldn't get out of work and the other had just gotten married.
McCormally received a quilt made by her children and grandchildren and an hour-long prayer service in which family and friends said all the nice things about her they otherwise might have waited to share at her funeral.
Her husband, John, the editor and publisher of The Hawk Eye from 1965 to 1979, died in 1993.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Best to keep your mouth shut. Splitting your tongue without a doctor or a dentist could land you in jail in Illinois.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday signed into law a measure that restricts the practice of tongue-splitting.
For those who are bored with simple piercings and tattoos, cutting the tongue to make it forked may be the next step.
Some who have had the procedure done say they do it for shock value, while others say it's a spiritual experience.
The legislation would bar anyone but doctors and dentists from performing the procedure. Offenders could face up to a year in jail.
But supporters of the law say the practice is dangerous and could lead to infection.
Rep. David Miller, a Chicago Democrat and a dentist, predicted few professionals will perform tongue-splitting. He said he understands the value of individual rights but thinks many people don't understand the risks, so officials will choose "safety over cosmetics."
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Web site that spoofs the computer programming industry by offering chimpanzees and baboons to work for as little as 50 cents an hour has taken its monkey business too far, says the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary.
The Web site touts a fictitious Des Moines-based company called Primate Programming Inc., which it says was based on work done at the sanctuary showing apes can learn language and perform complex cognitive tasks.
Officials at the research center were not amused and asked the Web site's developer, Dan Mezick, to remove all references to the sanctuary from his site.
The sanctuary is being built on a 137-acre site near the Des Moines River. Founder Ted Townsend has said it will be a world-class research center where scientists can study ape culture, including the way apes learn and communicate.
"We're putting together a team of world-renowned scientists who have devoted their lives to primate learning," said Al Setka, sanctuary spokesman. "Our mission is sanctuary, research and education. We take that very seriously, and we don't want there to be any confusion."
Mezick, president of New Technology Solutions, a North Haven, Conn., company that trains computer programmers, said he never intended to harm the center and planned to remove the references.
The Web site suggests companies provide "a leafy, comfortable workspace" and warns that "hominids (great apes) will not share source code and become very territorial when programming."
People in the News
LONDON (AP) - Britney Spears, casting off the remnants of her sweet-as-pie image along with most of her clothes, says she's relieved she didn't settle down with fellow pop star Justin Timberlake.
Spears tells British Elle magazine for its September issue that the breakup made her a better artist. She also says she hated seeing Timberlake talk about their relationship and that she's actually quite shy.
On the cover, the 21-year-old singer appears in a seductive pose wearing only a pair of tiny black briefs.
"I'll always have feelings for Justin," she says. "OK, not feelings for him, but he'll always have a special place in my heart.
"He was my first love after all. I think I got way too serious, way too young. It's very healthy to not be in that relationship right now."
Spears says she wasn't ready to join friends from her native Louisiana who had settled down.
"I'll call up a friend and say, `Hey! What's going on? You're pregnant? What? Already?' But that's where I come from and that's the mind-set I had all my life," she said.
"Now I think, `Whoah, that would have been the biggest mistake of my life.' Y'know?"
Spears, who split with Timberlake in March 2002 after three years together, says it pained her to see him feature a look-alike of her in the video for his hit song "Cry Me a River."
"Freakin' horrible. You know what I mean?" she says. "It was hard for me that he was so exploitative. Every interview that he did, he was just talking about us in such an open way and I just felt, `Is nothing sacred anymore?' It was weird. It was … disappointing."
On the Net:
http://www.britneyspears.com/home/index.php
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Clay Aiken wowed a sold-out hometown crowd and bathed in an ovation that nearly brought him to tears.
Rising from below the stage, the "American Idol" runner-up opened his performance Wednesday with his single "This Is the Night." When it was over, he stood silently for several minutes as the audience screamed.
Appearing to tear up, Aiken said, "Thank you so much. There's no place like home."
After months of following the Raleigh native's televised journey to superstardom on the Fox talent search, his fans got what they wanted: Clay live.
"Words can't describe it," said 15-year-old Sarah Pearce of Raleigh.
The "Pop Tarts Presents American Idols Live!" tour hit the RBC Center Wednesday, featuring nine of the singers who performed earlier this year during the "Idol" competition.
Through toll-free phone lines and text messaging, viewers crowned Ruben Studdard the winner. Aiken, 24, finished second.
On the Net:
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - The government will award reggae singer Jimmy Cliff with Jamaica's third-highest civic award this year.
Cliff, known for his role in the 1972 low-budget movie "The Harder They Come," will be the only person to receive the Order of Merit this year, though others will receive lesser honors during the Oct. 20 National Honors and Awards ceremony, organizers said Wednesday.
Born James Chambers in rural St. James parish in 1948, Cliff began his career in the early 1960s as a Ska singer with Chinese-Jamaican producer Leslie Kong.
He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in the late 1960s and had a minor song in Europe with "Wonderful World."
It wasn't until writer-director Perry Henzell picked him to play Ivan, an aspiring singer-turned-gunslinger, in "The Harder They Come" that Cliff's career took off.
Singers Ken Boothe and Freddie McGregor, who started their careers in the 1960s, also will be recognized during the awards ceremony for their contribution to Jamaican music, according to the government's National Honors Awards committee.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Robert Wagner found himself encased in a body bag on the first day of filming the cable television movie "Mystery Woman."
His character, Jack Stenning, is a best-selling crime writer who commits suicide, setting up a mystery solved by an amateur sleuth played by Kellie Martin.
"I had to use a little hypnotic therapy with that one," Wagner said. "I was kind of worried that maybe the zipper would get stuck."
Director Walter Klenhard took pity on Wagner.
"He just said, `At the last minute, we'll zip you up and move you in.' I was happy when that was over with, believe me," Wagner said.
Wagner, 73, has appeared in all three "Austin Powers" movies and co-starred with Stefanie Powers in the 1980s detective series "Hart to Hart."
"Mystery Woman" premieres Aug. 31 on the Hallmark Channel.
DARIEN CENTER, N.Y. (AP) - Marilyn Manson will have to sit out the Six Flags Darien Lake stop on the 2003 Ozzfest tour. The amusement park says the shock rocker's act isn't appropriate for the venue.
Manson, known for his ghastly, cadaverous look and macabre lyrics, is usually considered one of the headliners of the tour, which includes acts such as Korn, Disturbed, Chevelle and Ozzy Osbourne.
Darien Lake is the only venue on the 30-city tour so far to refuse Manson's performance, The Buffalo News reported Wednesday.
Being banned from shows is nothing new for Manson, whose suggestive, theatrical stage show has made him the target of religious and conservative groups.
"Contractual agreement gives us the right to restrict artists from performing in our concert venue," said a statement by Six Flags. "We decided to pass on the Marilyn Manson performance."
The 34-year-old singer told the newspaper, "Marilyn Manson is simply too dangerous for Darien Lake."
Ozzfest is on stage Monday at Six Flags Darien Lake. Darien Center is 24 miles east of Buffalo.
On the Net:
SEATTLE (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn't mind sharing top billing with Harry Potter. In fact, she enjoys it.
The former first lady's book, "Living History," and J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" have been generating long lines at stores this summer - and sometimes causing a bit of confusion.
"I like going to stores and seeing `Harry' and `Hillary' signs," Clinton said Wednesday.
"There was one night when I was in Huntington, Long Island, and I was there on the same night that Harry Potter made his `appearance.' There were some interesting interchanges.
"Some people for Harry were in my line, and some people for me were in Harry's line. It was so fun," she said.
The New York Democrat was in Seattle for a fund-raising breakfast for the re-election campaign of Sen. Patty Murray - and a book signing.
CALCUTTA, India (AP) - A film criticizing Mother Teresa has been dropped from a festival in Calcutta that will celebrate her beatification, after her missionary order objected, an organizer said.
The Missionaries of Charity order, which Mother Teresa founded to care for the poor, sick and dying, objected to "Hell's Angel," a British Channel 4 documentary based on a 1995 book by Christopher Hitchens.
The book accused Mother Teresa of consoling and supporting the wealthy and powerful while preaching resignation to the poor.
The order had also objected to "Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor," starring Geraldine Chaplin.
That film will still be screened, the Rev. C.M. Paul, chief organizer of the Celebrations Committee, told The Associated Press Wednesday.
The order had complained both films were untruthful.
Mother Teresa died in Calcutta in 1997 at 87. Her beatification will take place Oct. 19 at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The ceremony will be shown live at a large open area in downtown Calcutta.
The film festival is scheduled to begin Nov. 1.
Last December, Pope John Paul II approved a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, paving the way for her beatification. A second miracle would make her eligible for sainthood.
On the Net:
http://www.motherteresacause.info
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Government censors have postponed the Malaysian release of Jim Carrey's latest film, "Bruce Almighty," pending a decision on whether to ban it for trivializing the subject of God, officials said.
The comedy had been scheduled to open Thursday in this mostly Muslim country, but the state-run Film Censorship Board is reconsidering its earlier decision to approve the movie, said board secretary Lukeman Said.
"We have not decided whether to ban it, but we have instructed distributors not to show it until a decision is made," Lukeman said Wednesday.
In the film, God gives Carrey's character, Bruce - a frustrated TV newscaster - all his powers for a limited time. Bruce seizes the opportunity to spice up his relationship with his girlfriend, get himself news scoops and humiliate a rival at work.
Movies screened in Malaysia must abide by a strict censorship code that forbids sex, graphic violence and provocative handling of topics such as race and religion.
Some government officials last month questioned the censorship board's action, saying it insulted God.
"It's not appropriate to show the film in this country," said Abdul Hamid Zainal, a minister in the Prime Minister's Department. "We cannot equate ourselves with God, even as a joke."
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - "Elvis Has Left the Building," an upcoming movie starring Kim Basinger and directed by Joel Zwick, will begin shooting in New Mexico this fall.
New Mexico was selected because of the state's incentives to production companies, producer Tova Laiter said this week.
"These incentives, combined with the beauty of our state and the talent of our work force, allow New Mexico to compete internationally for major film projects," Gov. Bill Richardson said. "We're winning movies that would have gone to Europe or Canada."
Basinger will star as a cosmetic saleswoman who ends up on the run from the FBI after she leaves a train of dead Elvis impersonators.
Hundreds of New Mexico-based Elvis impersonators are expected to be hired.
The production company, Capitol Films, will apply for the Film Investment Fund, a 2002 state fund designed to help with production provided some of the shoot uses New Mexico workers and locales.
The company will also use a 15 percent tax rebate and will utilize the work force training program, a program that offers advanced training for members of film production crews.
"Elvis Has Left the Building" will be based in Albuquerque. New Mexico landscapes will double for Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, Nevada and New York City.
Zwick directed 2002's "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Academy Award-winning writer Frank R. Pierson will serve a third term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He was re-elected Tuesday at a meeting of the board of governors.
Pierson, a governor who represents writers in the academy, was first elected to the presidency in 2001. The president is only allowed to serve four consecutive one-year terms.
Pierson won the Oscar for writing the original screenplay for 1975's "Dog Day Afternoon." He also was nominated for adapted screenplay Oscars for 1965's "Cat Ballou" and 1967's "Cool Hand Luke."
Sid Ganis, a producer who represents the board's public relations branch, was elected first vice president.
On the Net:
http://www.oscars.org/index.html
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) - After 25 years on television and nearly 2,000 cooking shows, lively celebrity chef Martin Yan still gets the jitters.
He took a deep breath at the Palace Hotel recently and asked everyone to bear with him before popping onto the set before a live audience that speaks a different language.
"I'm telling you, I'm very nervous," he shouted out in English. "I've never done this before."
But he's got one secret ingredient that works in every dish regardless of how it's pronounced: humor.
"I'm having fun," Yan said, laughing. "Even though I can't really say it (in Vietnamese), and also when I do say it my accent is so ridiculous, they'll laugh."
Chinese-born Yan of San Mateo, Calif., has become so popular - after broadcasts of his U.S. cooking show, "Yan Can Cook," began more than two years ago - that he attracted a sold-out show of 4,000 to a stadium Saturday where he cooked it up Yan-style with a little help from a translator.
The event, which will air later on television, promoted healthy eating for children in a country where the per capita income is about $420 a year. Yan also gave parents tips about safety in the kitchen, including how to avoid food contamination, which kills dozens of people every year.
The separate 13-part series, "Everyday Cooking With Chef Yan," will air later this year in Vietnam, then in Southeast Asia. Yan says it eventually could be broadcast internationally. His "Yan Can Cook" show now airs in at least 70 countries.
On the Net:
http://yancancook.asianconnections.com
PALM SPRINGS (AP) -- A judge ruled that former first lady Betty Ford must appear for a deposition Friday in a lawsuit against the nonprofit rehab center bearing her name.
Ford, who is not a party to the suit, is director and chairwoman of the Betty Ford Center at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in Rancho Mirage. Attorneys say it could be the first time a presidential spouse is deposed in a court case.
The center's former vice president of business development, Mark Greenberg, filed the wrongful termination suit, alleging he was promised 15 percent of the profits of a recovery program he helped create, but was forced out soon after the program opened.
Lawyers for Ford contend the 85-year-old former first lady has nothing to do with the case. They plan to ask Riverside County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Fry to reconsider his decision.
Greenberg's attorney, Gerald Sauer, said Ford's status should not preclude her from being deposed.
"If a sitting president such as Bill Clinton can be subject to being deposed, then certainly a former first lady can be subject to the same thing," Sauer said.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - It was a family affair Thursday as musical clan the Osmonds received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The single star honors siblings Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy for their decades of work in entertainment. The star, the walk's 2,232nd, is located on Hollywood Boulevard near La Brea Avenue.
"Sharing this star with family says a lot," said Donny Osmond, who wore a neck brace due to an injury he suffered while surfing in Hawaii.
"This star is a tribute to two very special people - our parents," Marie Osmond said before hundreds of screaming fans.
The Osmond Brothers Quartet, made up of the four eldest brothers, debuted in 1962 on television's "The Andy Williams Show." Their performance was a hit, and they went on to become regulars on the show for seven seasons.
"I've never really known a family as talented as them," Williams said after introducing the honorees. "They're like sponges."
Donny, Marie and Jimmy Osmond would later join their older siblings as they toured both nationally and internationally, between making numerous recordings and TV appearances. In 1976, Donny and Marie Osmond became the youngest ever television hosts with "The Donny and Marie Show," which their elder brothers helped produced.
In adulthood, the siblings developed solo singing and acting careers and became involved with various charitable projects, but they often reunited for concert tours or special events. Two other brothers, Virl and Tom Osmond, are not in show business.
Among the best-known Osmond songs are "One Bad Apple," Marie Osmond's country interpretation of "Paper Roses," and Donny Osmond's 1980s hits "Soldier of Love" and "Sacred Emotion."
On the Net: http://www.osmond.com/
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Residents of Soledad say they are insulted by the state's plan to move sex predator Brian DeVries to a trailer on the grounds of a nearby prison.
"This isn't the appropriate location for him," said Noelia Chapa, city manager for the Monterey County town of 13,000 along Highway 101. "He needs to go back to Santa Clara County. We don't want to be the dumping ground here."
State officials, under pressure from the superior court judge who granted DeVries' release in February, chose the spot after months of debate over where to house the first graduate of the state's post-prison sex offender treatment program.
Chapa said the city will petition the same judge Friday to stay his order releasing DeVries by Sunday. If that fails, the city attorney will explore other options, Chapa said.
In a seemingly last-minute move, the state Department of Mental Health announced Wednesday that DeVries would be moved -- at least temporarily -- to a trailer at the edge of the Correctional Training Facility, a medium-security prison less than five miles from Soledad.
"There would probably be no community out there that wants him," department spokeswoman Nora Romero said, adding that she has little faith Soledad's request for a stay will be successful because DeVries will be living on state-owned property.
"We're a small community, and we're just getting over the stigma of being a prison community," Soledad resident Bobbie Reynolds said at Wednesday night's City Council meeting, where members voted unanimously to try to block DeVries' relocation. "It will have such a negative impact, it will be unbelievable."
DeVries' lawyer, public defender Brian Matthews, said he understands the community's fears.
"The thing they should know is that Brian has done the state-of-the-art treatment program, all the doctors have approved his release and he'll be more heavily supervised than any person has been in the state of California," he said. "He's much less dangerous than your average serious sex offender who gets out and doesn't get treatment or supervision."
The move must take place before Sunday to be in compliance with Judge Robert Baines' order. State officials won't say when he'll leave Atascadero, but a used 30-foot trailer was being prepared for him Thursday, Romero said. It was unclear whether the Global Positioning Satellite device DeVries needs to wear to monitor his movements could be programmed in time.
All the treatment providers for DeVries' mandatory therapy, drug testing and physical exams are located in San Jose, which means -- when he gets a driver's license and a vehicle -- DeVries will be commuting.
"There's no room for error," Chapa said. "If something happens, it happens and it's not going to be something minor."
DeVries, 44, molested at least nine young boys in New Hampshire, Florida and San Jose before serving his last term in prison. To help demonstrate his intent to reform, DeVries was castrated in August 2001. DeVries said the surgery took away his ability to get sexually aroused.
He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital in 1997, after finishing his last prison sentence. He's been locked up - in the hospital or in prison - since September 1993.
The state expects to spend at least $180,000 a year on his housing and treatment. DeVries expects to cover the rest of his expenses by selling his paintings or handmade jewelry. He's also working on a novel.
"It's a hard thing to know that you're a hated person and to know that the things you do are hateful and hated by others," DeVries told The Associated Press last month. "There's no justifying my life. There's no 'poor me' in it. I'm not a sympathetic character."
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- Lawyers for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad are seeking permission to hire a consultant to help them navigate a jury pool that has been exposed to massive publicity and may have lived in fear during last year's killing spree.
It is rare for a Virginia court to allow an indigent defendant like Muhammad to hire a jury consultant at taxpayer expense, but Muhammad's lawyers say the special circumstances make it necessary.
In a motion made public Thursday, the defense team also outlined its proposals for jury selection, asking for individual questioning of potential jurors about their views on the death penalty. In addition, the defense seeks additional peremptory challenges, by which potential jurors can be dismissed without cause.
Last month Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. ordered a change of venue from Manassas to Virginia Beach, about 200 miles away. The change was based on pretrial publicity and the pervasive fear that gripped the Washington area during the October shootings, when 10 people were killed and three others wounded over a three-week span.
While some concerns about the jury pool have been reduced by the change in venue, they have not been eliminated, the defense team contends.
In an affidavit filed to support the defense motion, Charlottesville jury consultant Jeffrey T. Frederick called the change of venue "a good first step."
"However … many jurors can be expected to have a great deal of 'knowledge' of the case and to have formed opinions concerning the guilt or innocence of the defendant," he said.
The defense team wants to hire Frederick, who has worked for the defense in federal death-penalty cases in Virginia, and for prosecutors in the cases against Iran-Contra figures Oliver North and John Poindexter.
The defense argues that extensive, individualized questioning of potential jurors is the best way to weed out inappropriate jurors, such as those who don't understand that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Millette has indicated willingness to consider some of the defense team's ideas, including a brief questionnaire that would be filled out by all potential jurors. But he rejected a proposed lengthy questionnaire that he said delved into matters beyond what is necessary.
Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Lawyers for fellow sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo have not requested a jury consultant. The judge in that case has already denied a request for extra peremptory challenges and ruled that juror questioning will be done in groups of three.
GSTEIGWILER, Switzerland (AP) -- Two trains filled with foreign tourists collided Thursday near the Swiss Alpine resort of Interlaken, injuring 64 people.
One driver ran a red light on a single-track stretch between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, braking when he realized his error. The oncoming train was going 31 mph when it crashed head-on into the stopped train at about 9:50 a.m.
Railway officials said a total 280 passengers ware aboard the trains. Almost all the injuries were moderate or light, though a Swiss man was airlifted to a hospital for serious head injuries.
Neither driver was injured; one managed to jump to safety just before the collision.
Between 4,000 and 6,000 passengers per day travel on the rail line, which leads to popular Alpine resorts such as Grindelwald and the Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest railway station.
FLEMINGTON, N.J. (AP) - A judge refused Thursday to throw out a manslaughter indictment against former NBA star Jayson Williams, who is charged in the shooting death of a limousine driver.
Judge Edward Coleman said defense attorneys failed to prove Williams was a victim of bias or vindictiveness by prosecutors. A similar request was rejected in December.
Williams, 35, is accused of recklessly handling a shotgun that killed Costas Christofi in February 2002 at Williams' home in Alexandria Township.
He could face nearly 55 years in prison if convicted on all charges. The trial is expected to begin in January.
The 6-foot-10 Williams was among the NBA's best rebounders when leg injuries led to his retirement from the New Jersey Nets in 2000.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- E-mail evidence indicating a novelist accused of killing his wife discussed having sex with a man may be used as evidence against him, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Orlando Hudson ruled in favor of prosecutors who said the e-mail and gay pornography found on Michael Peterson's home computer support their theory that Peterson didn't have the happy marriage his lawyers have described.
Peterson, a novelist and former newspaper columnist, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Kathleen, on Dec. 9, 2001. Prosecutors say he beat her to death and tried to make it look like an accident; defense lawyers say she had been drinking and fell down a flight of stairs in their home.
Prosecutors said the e-mail exchanges showed that Peterson discussed paying for sex with a man, whose name was not disclosed. The evidence is important not because it showed Peterson was interested in men, but because "it's relations outside of marriage," prosecutor David Saacks said Thursday in a hearing without the jury present.
"If it's an idyllic relationship in this marriage, why is he e-mailing" this man, Saacks said.
But defense attorney Thomas Maher said Peterson wasn't emotionally involved with the man. "This was strictly business," he said.
The hearing continued Thursday morning without the jury, with testimony by a computer expert who discussed how the information was retrieved.
Posted in Backpage on Friday, August 8, 2003 12:00 am Updated: 9:09 pm.
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