FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, May 22, 2006

BACK TO JAIL: Michelle Rodriguez sentenced to 60 days in Los Angeles County jail Monday for violating her probation on two separate driving-related charges from 2003. Hey, it beats community service, right?

CRUCIFY HERSELF: Christian groups blasting Madonna's use of a cross and crucifixion imagery in her newly launched world tour, calling it offensive and demanding the singer drop it from the tour. Apparently, she's still got what it takes to shock the masses.

BACK ON THE LOOSE: A Namibian judge dismissing charges against a South African photographer Monday, after the paparazzo was arrested for trespassing while trying to snap a picture of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and subsequently spent three days in a communal jail cell. Calling the photog's detainment "unnecessary," the judge set him free to resume the noble quest of tracking the impending birth of the most important and beautiful baby ever.

SAY WHAT?! "I'm talking...you f--kwit, f--king photographers, you should be shot, you should be all shot. Thank you."
--Elton John, breaking from his presentation of an award at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday to offer his opinion of photographers

APPETITE FOR CONFRONTATION: Axl Rose telling Los Angeles radio station KROQ that he got into a fist fight with Tommy Hilfiger at a New York nightclub Thursday after the fashion designer began "smacking" him because he moved Hilfiger's girlfriend's drink. "It was the most surreal thing, I think, that's ever happened to me in my life," Rose said. The release of Chinese Democracy was not expected to be affected by the encounter.

WEIGHTY READ: Oprah Winfrey signing on to pen a book about weight control, Simon & Schuster announced over the weekend at the Book Expo publishing convention in Washington, D.C. The talk-show host reportedly receiving upward of the $12 million former President Bill Clinton earned for his memoir, My Life. Talk about a fat deal!

GAME PLAN: French videogame developer Ubisoft teaming with Touchstone Television to adapt Lost as a videogame for multiple platforms, giving the show's obsessed fans something to do with themselves during endless weeks of repeats.

JACKPOT: The Da Vinci Code racking up domestic ticket sales of $77 million and $224 million worldwide, per Sony Pictures, making it the best domestic opening ever for both Tom Hanks and Ron Howard and the second biggest worldwide opening ever after Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, and proving that no one really listens to what Cannes critics have to say.

STRIP SHOW: Toni Braxton replacing Wayne Newton as the headlining act at the Flamingo hotel and casino beginning Aug. 3. Looks like Mr. Las Vegas may have to come up with a new nickname.

TAKING IT BACK: Dixie Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines telling Time magazine she no longer regrets her infamous 2003 remark about being "ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas," for which she later apologized. "But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever," she said. Judging from the president's approval ratings, some 67 percent of Americans might agree.

ONE WEDDING, ONE FUNERAL: Dog the Bounty Hunter star Duane "Dog" Chapman tying the knot with longtime sidekick Beth Smith in Hawaii on Saturday, the day after his daughter, Barbara Katy Chapman, died in a car wreck in Fairbanks, Alaska. According to a spokesman, Chapman and his 10 surviving children unanimously decided to go forward with celebrating both the wedding and Barbara's life.

CODA: Billy Walker, the Grand Ole Opry legend whose hits included "Charlie's Shoes" and "Cross the Brazos at Waco," died Sunday in a car wreck in Alabama. He was 77. His wife and two of his bandmembers were also killed in the crash, while his grandson was left in critical condition.

REMEMBERED: British film director and screenwriter Val Guest, best known for helming sci-fi classics such as The Day the Earth Caught Fire and The Quatermass Xperiment, died May 10 of prostate cancer. He was 94.