FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, July 6, 2003

REMEMBERED: Barry White, the deep-voiced soul man whose baritone pipes provided the soundtrack for many a make-out session during the past four decades, died Friday morning in Los Angeles, according to his longtime manager. He was 58.

PASSING: N!xau, the diminutive Bushman plucked out of the Kalahari Desert for stardom in the hit film The Gods Must Be Crazy has died, police officials confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday. No cause of death has been determined. He was said to be 59.

BOOSTING MORALE: Arnold Schwarzenegger pumping up Independence Day celebrations as he cracked jokes and screened Terminator 3 for American soldiers in Iraq as part of a USO tour of the Gulf on Friday. "I tell you oil wells all around. I have not seen that much oil since the last time I oiled up for the Mr. Universe contest," he quipped.

HE'S BACK ALRIGHT: T3: Rise of the Machines topped the box office this weekend, racking up another $44 million for a total of $72.5 million since Tuesday. In second place, Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde tallied just $22.9 million, bringing her comedy sequel $39.1 million since its Wednesday kickoff.

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS: Jackass alums Steve-O and Chris Pontius co-hosting The Nature Show, a surreal spin on Discovery Channel-style wildlife documentaries which will see the pair travel to far away places like Africa and have close encounters with the animal kingdom.

HIGH COMPLIMENT: Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney praising Eminem when asked by the BBC if there was someone in popular culture who sparked interest in poetry ala Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Eminem "has sent a voltage around a generation," said Heaney. "He has done this not just through his subversive attitude but also his verbal energy."

GOOD MORNING: Soledad O'Brien set to make her co-anchor debut on CNN's American Morning telecast with Bill Hemmer starting Monday. She replaces Paula Zahn who moved to primetime.

BUSTED: Hip-hopster Beanie Sigel posting bail and getting out of a Philadelphia jail on Saturday after surrendering to police late Thursday and being charged with shooting and injuring a man outside a bar. The victim has recovered.

LEGAL EAGLE: The real Erin Brockovich's law firm adding Beverly Hills and the city school district to a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit that alleges toxic fumes from an oil well on a school campus caused 21 former students to get cancer, including three who died.

STILL PRACTICING: CBS set to bring back Ted Danson's comedy Becker, which hadn't even been renewed until a few weeks ago, on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m..

FOR SALE? Entertainment mogul Merv Griffin announcing plans to possibly sell his famed Beverly Hilton hotel to a local real estate developer, which would retain the hotel's name.

WHEREVER THEY MAY ROAM: Metallica's latest album, St. Anger, going platinum as it sold more than 137,000 copies last week to reach the one million mark in album sales. The album is holding steady at Number Five on Billboard's album chart.

SPLITSVILLE: Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone and her newspaper editor hubby Phil Bronstein announcing on Thursday they plan to divorce after five years of marriage. The couple adopted a baby boy in 2000.

PLAYING POTTER: A Harry Potter videogame for Playstation2, Xbox and the Nintendo, GameCube set to hit stores later this year, software developer Warthog confirmed Friday.

HOT STUFF, EH: Singer Shania Twain topping a poll of 500 Canadian beer drinkers as the sexiest female in Canada. Former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson came in second.

KEEPING HER DAY JOB: Screen Actors Guild's nomination committee submitting Melissa Gilbert's name for a second term as President with actor James Cromwell for the new position of secretary-treasurer.

A BRADY VACATION: Seven original cast members of The Brady Bunch filming a 90-minute documentary in Hawaii for the Travel Channel, 30 years after the Bradys' family vacation there was nearly ruined by the curse of an ancient tiki doll.