Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEWS NETWORKS CONSIDER LEAVING BAGHDAD All of the major U.S. television news networks are considering pulling their reporters and crews out of Baghdad. Advertisement Word from Variety is that dire safety warnings from the Pentagon have the networks thinking about yanking their correspondents before before a U.S. invasion. "Odds are, everybody will leave," one top news executive told the trade paper. The evacuation discussions even include CNN, whose courageous coverage of the bombing of the city at the onset of the Persian Gulf War a decade ago put it on the journalistic map, Variety said. The trade paper said the networks are considering leaving the city because the possible upcoming attacks on Iraq are expected to be more extensive and devastating. There would be no guarantee of advance warning American troops are about to invade. "If there is military action, it is going to be a bad place to be," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke told news organizations late last week at a Washington bureau chief briefing. "We can't give you a sense of timing -- we can't tell you within 72 hours or 48 hours or whatever. So we can't make business decisions for you, but we can tell you how extraordinarily dangerous we think it is to have your people there." Advertisement Variety said none of the news networks wanted to comment on the record. The goal of the joint discussions among news execs regarding Baghdad is to see if everyone is on the same page, insiders told Daily Variety. No one wants to watch a competitor stay behind and get the exclusive story. NEXT FILM IS BIG CHANGE FOR JET LI Jet Li says he'll play a mentally challenged man in "Danny the Dog" because he needs a change after 23 years and 30 action films. Li currently is working in Paris on the Luc Besson film with Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins. "It's a very unique story," the kung-fu legend told reporters in New York. "I've played in 30 films already. I always play a tough guy or a good guy or a master or something, I save the families, save city, the country, save everyone. This is the first film where Morgan Freeman saves me because my character, mentally, is only 10 or 12 years old, but physically, very strong. He doesn't understand how to be a human being. Morgan Freeman plays a piano tuner and through the music, he brings me back to become a normal human. It's a very warm story and not a typical action film." Advertisement Li can now be seen in the high-octane action flick, "Cradle 2 the Grave." 'BARBRA'S WEDDING' OPENS IN NYC Daniel Stern's new comedy, "Barbra's Wedding," opened Wednesday night at Manhattan's Westside Theatre. Written by Stern, directed by David Warren and starring John Pankow ("Mad About You") and Julie White ("Six Feet Under,") "Barbra's Wedding" is the tale of unemployed, celebrity-obsessed former television star Jerry Schiff (played by Pankow,) who lives next door to the most famous woman in the world, Barbra Streisand. The dilemma? Babs is getting married and has not invited Jerry. The revelation triggers a mad-cap, comic reflection on the media culture of celebrity, including the reverberations on his own marriage to wife Molly (played by White).
