Spector retrial to start in September
LOS ANGELES, May 23 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has set a September start date for famed music producer Phil Spector's murder trial.
Spector is accused of killing struggling actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, Calif., mansion in February 2003.
Spector's first trial ended in September with the jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared.
Since then, most of Spector's defense team has moved to other cases and his request for time to hire new lawyers has been granted.
E! Online said Fidler, the judge, who presided over Spector's first trial, has scheduled the retrial to start Sept. 29.
The California Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on the defense's motion to have Fidler removed from the case, E! Online said.
Yoko copyright infringement suit dismissed
BOSTON, May 23 (UPI) -- U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel has dismissed the claim of a Massachusetts company that accused singer John Lennon's widow of copyright infringement.
The company, World Wide Video, insists it owns the rights to hours of reportedly revealing footage of Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono filmed at their British estate in 1970, The Boston Globe said.
People who say they have seen the tapes told the newspaper they show Lennon smoking marijuana, talking about how he kicked a heroin habit and stating he would like to put LSD in U.S. President Richard Nixon's tea.
Zobel also ruled this week that Ono may proceed with a counterclaim against the video company, in which she maintains she is the rightful owner of the tapes.
In addition, the federal judge has ruled that World Wide Video may pursue its lawsuit against a Florida man it says wrongfully sold the tapes to Ono, the Globe said.
Robert Redford engaged to Sibylle Szaggars
BERLIN, May 23 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford says he is engaged to marry his long-time girlfriend, German artist Sibylle Szaggars.
The couple began dating in 1996, Hello! magazine said.
"We are engaged and very happy with that. (Sibylle) is my fiancee and that says everything, doesn't it?" Redford, 71, told a German magazine.
Hello! said the pair hasn't set a date for the wedding.
This will be Szaggars' first marriage and Redford's second. He was previously married to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he has three adult children. He and Van Wagenen split up in 1985.
Cook appears in Disney commercial
LOS ANGELES, May 23 (UPI) -- Newly crowned "American Idol" winner David Cook has become the first singer to star in an "I'm Going to Disney World!" commercial, Walt Disney World said.
The commercials traditionally feature sports stars using the catch phrase.
Cook shouted, "I'm going to Disney World!" Wednesday night after learning he had won the TV singing competition series "American Idol."
Disney said camera crews captured Cook's pronouncement on the Nokia Theatre stage in Los Angeles, just moments after host Ryan Seacrest announced Cook's name as the winner.
Cook was then featured in the newest "I'm Going to Disney World!" commercial, which aired only hours after the "Idol" finale.
A new attraction called "The American Idol Experience" is scheduled to open January at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disney said.
