NOT HAVING A BALL: Actress Angela Bassett, who hasn't had a lead role since 1998's How Stella Got Her Groove Back, dissing Oscar winner Halle Berry by telling Newsweek that she turned down the role in Monster's Ball because "I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film...It's about putting something out there you can be proud of 10 years later. I mean, Meryl Streep won Oscars without all that."
CSI: BLUE: Former NYPD Blue star Kim Delaney signing on to join another NYPD Blue alum, David Caruso, on CBS' fall spinoff series CSI: Miami. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Delaney will play a senior crime scene investigator who spars with Caruso, the forensic team's leader.
ROCKET MAN REBUFFED: London's Court of Appeal turning down Elton John's request to reopen his court case against his former accountants, PricewaterhouseCooper, accusing them of negligence.
DAVE & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE: David Letterman making good on his promise to sit down for an interview with Ted Koppel. Letterman will appear on Nightline: Up Close, a new profile-oriented spinoff of the news show debuting on ABC the second week of July.
TALE OF THE TAPE: Two Australian men cleared Monday of charges that they tried to blackmail Russell Crowe with a video of the star brawling outside a bar. A judge ordered the jury to throw out the charges, saying prosecutors failed to prove the two men demanded money in exchange for destroying the tape.
PEACOCK PAGEANT: NBC signing a $50 million deal with Donald Trump to broadcast his Miss USA, Miss Universe and Miss Teen USA pageants. The network will take over CBS' 50 percent stake in the Miss Universe Organization, and will begin airing the three pageants in 2003.
MRS. EDGE: U2 guitarist The Edge tying the knot to longtime girlfriend Morleigh Steinberg in Eze, in the south of France. The pair already have two children together.
YOU'VE GOT BRUCE: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band debuting the title track from their new album, The Rising, today on AOL. The song can be heard--but not downloaded--at AOL keyword "First Listen" or at music.netscape.com.
REBOUNDING: Bobby Brown released from a Fredericksburg, Virginia, hospital Friday after spending three nights there for treatment of an undisclosed infection.
CALL HIM DR. TERMINATOR: Arnold Schwarzenegger accepting an honorary doctorate Sunday from Chapman University in Orange, California. The school recognized the actor's work on behalf of such causes as the Special Olympics and the Inner-City Games Foundation.
A WOMAN'S WORTH: Grammy winner Alicia Keys canceling a concert in Antigua Friday night after the show's promoters failed to pay her $60,000 fee, the Associated Press reports. Officials are hoping to reschedule the show for September.
STILL ON: Israel's satellite television provider deciding to continue carrying CNN International and BBC World broadcasts, despite criticism that the news channels have a pro-Palestinian bias.
SMACKED DOWN: World Wrestling Entertainment's Thursday night UPN series Smackdown suffering a 35 percent drop in its ratings among teenage boys compared to last year, Daily Variety reports. Meanwhile, the WWE's TNN series Raw is also down 19 percent compared to 2001.
PULLING THE PLUG: The British Army recalling some 300 promotional videos featuring music by Brit rockers Oasis after the band refused to give its permission to use the songs and threatened legal action.
SWEET 'N' LOWE: The West Wing's Rob Lowe signing on to costar with Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride) in The Christmas Shoes, a holiday movie set to air on CBS later this year.