FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, April 27, 2006

MORE SALT FOR JEN'S WOUNDS: People naming Angelina Jolie the World's Most Beautiful Person, as well as matriarch of the World's Most Beautiful Family. Related: Brad Pitt's carefully calculated mission to re-elevate himself to "Most Beautiful" status declared a success.

SAY WHAT?! "Just in general to kiss Tom Cruise is, you know...an experience of a lifetime. I highly recommend it."
--Michelle Monaghan, on the experience of locking lips with her Mission: Impossible III costar.

GIRL TROUBLE: As if he didn't have enough on his plate, Charlie Sheen sued for $1 million by a woman who claims Rose, the female stalker character in his sitcom, Two and a Half Men, is based on her and portrays her unfairly. Ursula Auburn claims she had a somewhat one-sided "series of romantic encounters" with Sheen between 1992 and 1998, and admits in her lawsuit that she "in many ways pursued " him by pulling moves such as showing up at "events Sheen was to attend." She complains that Rose is "depicted on the show as a crazy female with no life." Warner Bros. has denied her allegations, but we're thinking if the shoe fits...

BASIC MATERNAL INSTINCT: Sharon Stone accepting an apology and "substantial" undisclosed libel damages from Britain's Daily Mail after the paper published a story last July alleging that Stone left her four-year-old son in a car outside a restaurant for two hours while having dinner with a "mystery male companion." The actress' lawyer called the allegations completely untrue and said that Stone actually dined with her son on the night in question. If she'd at least cut up her kid's hotdog with an icepick or something, we'd have an easier time buying into Basic Instinct 2.

PICKLED: Kellie Pickler eliminated from American Idol Wednesday after viewers finally remembered that Carrie Underwood already won last year.

IDOL BY THE NUMBERS: 47.5 million--the number of votes cast on American Idol this week (setting a record for a non-finale episode); 28.7 million--number of viewers tuning in for Tuesday's Idol; 5--number of contestants still in the running after Kellie Pickler's elimination; 1--number of wardrobe malfunctions during the performance episode, courtesy of Katharine McPhee.

NO-BRAINER: NBC renewing Law & Order for a 17th season; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for an eighth season; and Law & Order: Criminal Intent for a sixth season. Color us psychic, but we're betting we'll be able to write pretty much this same item next year when the Peacock reups the L & O family for its 18th, ninth and seventh seasons respectively.

BAD DOGG: Snoop Dogg and five associates arrested at London's Heathrow Airport after a fracas that reportedly left seven police officers injured. Apparently, there was some misunderstanding as to what the rapper meant by "fizzle clizzle."

CODE CRACK: The judge who presided over the The Da Vinci Code copyright case reportedly inserting a secret coded message into the text of his ruling, reading "smithcodeJaeiextostpsacgreamqwfkadpmqz," according to the lawyer who discovered it. Per E! Online's crack team of code breakers, the message roughly translates to "Nobody loves me. This is a desperate cry for attention. Anybody out there?"

SHELLING OUT: Don Johnson paying $14.5 million to save his 17-acre ranch in Woody Creek, Colorado from being sold at public auction. Who knew Miami Vice residuals were such an inexhaustible resource?

DRAMA KING: Actress Jan Maxwell exiting the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Entertaining Mr. Sloane, after complaining about the bad behavior of her costar, Alec Baldwin. In an email published by the New York Post, Maxwell complained that Baldwin had put his fist through a wall and was "throwing things around with all of us cowering." We're guessing Kim Basinger's penning a thank-you letter right about now.