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

HIS PEERS: A 12-member jury was officially sworn in today well ahead of schedule in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial. The panel consists of four men and eight women ranging in age 20 to 79; there are seven whites, four Hispanics and one Asian.

BLAKE WATCH: The defense in Robert Blake's murder trial resting their case today without calling the former Baretta to the stand.

DOUBLE FAULT: A judge granting a restraining order against a homeless man accused of stalking tennis star Anna Kournikova. William Lepeska, who's being held in a Florida psychiatric unit, must stay 1,000 feet away from the pinup.

OOOPS! MY BAD: Paris Hilton apologizing to her celebrity pals after someone hacked into her cell phone and swiped their phone numbers and e-mails. Many of her friends have been flooded with calls from fans and curiousity seekers.

JACK JACKED: Thieves stealing over $350,000 worth of jewelry from Jack Osbourne's suitcase during a flight from Los Angeles to London, U.K. tabloid The Sun reports.

MAKING NICE: Clear Channel Communications and Howard Stern are resolving their contractual dispute stemming from the radio network's nixing of Stern's show in 2004. Both sides are dropping their lawsuits due to a settlement between the fueding parties, per reports.

OFF THE KOB: Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch announcing on a Bakersfield radio station that he has quit the rock band after finding God.

DEEPLY AFFECTED: Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, an ambassador for UNICEF, telling Reuters that her hubby was so moved by their tour of the devastated areas of Sri Lanka ravaged by last December's tsunami that she predicted he'll probably write a song about it and it will deeply influence his future work.

LICENSE TO SUE: Sean Connery sued for $30 million by a neighbor, who claims the former James Bond star is using "bully" tactics to try to get the man and his family to leave a New York townhouse they share with the Connerys.

PULP CSI: Quentin Tarantino signing on to direct the season-finale episode of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, per the Hollywood Reporter.

DANGERS OF REALITY TV: Former MTV personality Julie Brown is suing ABC for $500,000, claiming she was left scarred after sitting in a tub of leeches during a 2003 episode of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.

HITCH-ING A RECORD: Will Smith earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records Tuesday by appearing at three movie premieres in one day to promote Hitch. Smith used a private jet to canvass the U.K., flying from Manchester to Birmingham to London.

SPLITSVILLE: Christian Slater filing for divorce from wife Ryan Haddon Slater. The couple, who have two small children ages five and three, have been married five years.

SO SORRY: R&B singer Eric Benét telling Access Hollywood that he has written a song apologizing to ex-wife Halle Berry for his new album.

TRY TRY AGAIN: After starring in an ill-fated sitcom pilot for ABC, Jennifer Love Hewitt signing on to play a psychic in an untitled CBS drama about a young newlywed who can talk to the dead, per the Hollywood Reporter.

BACK ON TOP! After snagging Album of the Year and Record of the Year at last week's Grammy Awards, the late Ray Charles' duets album, Genius Loves Company, soaring to number one on the Billboard charts with 224,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

SHOW TIME: Prince, who won the Oscar in 1984 for his Purple Rain score, set to make his first appearance as an presenter at this Sunday's 77th Academy Awards. Last year's Best Actor winner, Sean Penn, has also been tapped as a presenter.

IDOL NEWS: Kelly Clarkson set to kick off her first solo headline tour Mar. 30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that will wrap up in Vancouver on May 29.

ON THE OUTS: Brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein reportedly close to finalizing the contractual details allowing them to exit Miramax, which is owned by Disney, and strike out on their own.

THEY WRITE THE SONGS: John Fogerty, Steve Cropper, Isaac Hayes and David Porter among the artists set to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. The ceremony is set for June 9 in New York.

BACK TO BASICS: Ben Affleck returning to his indie roots to star in Truth, Justice and the American Way, a low-budget drama in which he'll play actor George Reeves, the 1950s Superman star who died under mysterious circumstances.

BADA-BING: Sopranos star Edie Falco joining Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson in Freedomland, a drama about a carjacking that ignites a racially charged media storm, according to Variety.

TEAMING UP: Online movie ticket company Fandango signing a deal to have its service offered through IMDB.com.

CONTENT MATTERS: About 50 of 350 PBS stations ignoring an FCC warning and going forward with plans to air the 90-minute Frontline documentary A Company of Soldiers that contains 13 expletives uttered by U.S. troop. The remaining stations plan to air a bleeped-out version instead.

MOURNED: Rising Korean star Lee Eun-ju, who headlined Taeguki, one of the highest-grossing films in South Korea's history, reportedly committing suicide by hanging herself with a necktie in her dressing room after suffering a severe bout with depression. She was 25.