BECKHAMS SEEK DAMAGES OVER CLAIMS IN TABLOID

Beckhams seek damagesover claims in tabloid
LONDON -- David Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria, are taking legal action against a British tabloid that claimed their "happy marriage" is a sham.
Beckham, the world's most recognized soccer player, and his wife, the former Posh Spice, are seeking libel damages against the News of the World newspaper over an article that carried the headline: "Posh and Becks on the Rocks." The case will be heard before a judge and jury at London's Law Courts in December.
During a pretrial hearing Monday the couple's lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, said the Beckhams would argue they had been defamed by the newspaper and there was no truth in the story alleging that the pair were maintaining a false image of a happy marriage to protect their financial interests.
Richard Spearman, a lawyer for the newspaper's publishers, News Group Newspapers, said the article suggested that because the Beckhams' "substantial fortunes depend upon their public perception, the claimants have been cynically and hypocritically trying, for financial reasons, to convince the public that they continue to enjoy a happy marriage."
Branson stunt washed out
LOS ANGELES -- Richard Branson got a thunder-and-lightning show second to none for the opening of his newest Virgin Megastore.
Unfortunately, Monday's storm was so dynamic, it forced the British daredevil tycoon to cancel plans to rappel from the side of the three-story Hollywood complex where his new 20,000-square-foot store is located.
Also canceled were rooftop performances by INXS -- newly fronted by J. D. Fortune, winner of the CBS' "Rock Star: INXS" reality show -- and bands Gang of Four and Dredg.
The new Virgin store is the 250th worldwide and 18th in the United States.
Photographer winsappeal in Kidman case
SYDNEY, Australia -- A photographer suspected of planting a listening device outside Nicole Kidman's home will not have to give a DNA sample to police, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
One of Kidman's security guards spotted the device near a sidewalk outside the Oscar-winning actress' lavish harbor-front mansion in January.
Police later alleged that celebrity photographer Jamie Fawcett, 43, had been captured on security camera footage near the house around the time the bug was planted.
The Waverley Local Court in April ordered Fawcett to supply police with a DNA sample to be compared with samples allegedly found on the listening device.
But Fawcett appealed the ruling to the New South Wales state Supreme Court, which held Tuesday that he could not be forced to provide police with a DNA sample since there was no evidence he had violated any law.
Today's birthdays
Former ambassador to Russia Robert S. Strauss is 87. Columnist Jack Anderson is 83. Author John le Carre is 74. Actor John Lithgow is 60. Former National Organization for Women President Patricia Ireland is 60. Singer Jeannie C. Riley is 60. Talk show host Charlie Chase is 53. Singer Jennifer Holliday is 45. TV host Ty Pennington ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition") is 41. Actor Jon Favreau is 39. Amy Carter is 38. "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker is 36. Comedian Chris Kattan is 35. Rock singer Pras Michel (The Fugees) is 33. Actor Omar Gooding is 29. Country singer Cyndi Thomson is 29. Actor Benjamin Salisbury is 25.