FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 24, 2005

SO SORRY: Justin Timberlake accepting damages and an apology from Britain's News of the World Wednesday after the tabloid falsely accused him of cheating on Cameron Diaz with a model.

DINO DROP-IN: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie touring a dinosaur exhibit together in Canada over the weekend. Pitt is in Calgary preparing for his role in The Assassination of Jesse James.

IT'S ON LIKE TRON: Universal Pictures announcing Microsoft has officially signed off on a deal for a Halo film. The Beach writer Alex Garland is working on a script for the film, based on the popular video game series. The movie is expected to hit the multiplex in 2007.

CHART ACTION: Hilary Duff's Most Wanted debuting atop the charts with close to 208,000 copies sold, per Nielsen SoundScan data.

WE SALUTE YOU: Sid Ganis, producer of films such as Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds, elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

IT'S A GIRL: Former Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye and her husband, Punk'd producer Jason Goldberg welcoming a baby girl today, People reports. Poet Sienna Rose Goldberg was born early Wednesday morning in Los Angeles and is in good health.

BACK IN THE SADDLE: Ashlee Simpson ready to make another live performance on television, her first since her SNL debacle last year. Simpson will debut her new material on The Oprah Winfrey Show Aug. 24.

MISSING: Officials say teen actress Scout Taylor-Compton, known for her reoccurring roles on Gilmore Girls and Charmed, has been missing from her Apple Valley, California, home since Aug. 12.

LAST RESPECTS: Some 3.9 million viewers tuning into HBO for the series finale of Six Feet Under, scoring the network its highest ratings in 14 months.

PAT ON THE BACK: CNN President Jonathan Klein commending Bob Costas for bailing out of the Larry King Show Wednesday night after producers insisted on covering the Natalee Holloway case in Aruba.

STUCK WITH HIM: The ABC Family Channel, which was once owned by televangelist Pat Robertson, condemning remarks Robertson made on The 700 Club Monday, in which he called on the U.S. to assassinate Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. However, the network is unable to cancel the show under the terms of Robertson's sale of the channel.

PAST IS FAIR GAME: A California judge ruling Bonny Lee Bakely's dubious past can be referenced during the upcoming wrongful death trial brought by her family against actor Robert Blake. Bakley was shot to death in 2001.

MISSING FILE: Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend filing for bankruptcy in 2000, it was learned Wednesday.

FREE SATELLITE: EchoStar Communications Corp., which operates the Dish network, promising free satellite receivers to every household in any town that agrees to permanently rename itself Dish.

FRESH BLOOD: Elton John and Bernie Taupin's musical The Vampire Lestat making its pre-Broadway premiere at San Francisco's Curran Theater Dec. 13 through Jan. 26.

HERE SHE COMES: Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth and John O'Hurley cohosting the 29th annual Mrs. America pageant Sept. 7 in Palm Springs.

RAPPING UP A DEAL: Gloria Estefan's husband, Grammy award-winning producer Emilio Estefan, hooking up with Diddy to start a new latin hip-hop label called Bad Boy Latino.

TOON IN: Beavis and Butt-Head returning to MTV after seven years to present the Viewer's Choice Award at the 2005 Video Music Awards Sunday. A DVD box set of the 'toon twosome is set for release Nov. 8.

THE WRITE STUFF: The Writers Guild of America filing a second reality TV wage case lawsuit on behalf of writers, producers and editors, claiming that the plaintiffs were subjected to overtime violations and shoddy pay practices.

REMEMBERED: Brock Peters, best known for his role as the falsely accused rapist defended by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 78.

NEW GIGS: Maria Menounos leaving Entertainment Tonight and joining the Today show and Access Hollywood.

MOVING OUT: Clay Aiken selling his Los Angeles-area home and relocating to his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.

CANCER CLAIM: Victoria Gotti backtracking on claims she had breast cancer as she told the New York Daily News, and instead saying she had "precancerous cells" that she chose to treat aggressively. "What I had can be described as a scare," she said Monday during an appearance on CNBC.

HONORED: Elected officials and friends and family of the late Ray Charles gathering in Los Angeles Wednesday to dedicate the Ray Charles Post Office, located near the musician's original studios.