Priest admits making phony bomb threat

Priest admits makingphony bomb threat
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Papa don't preach?
Amsterdam prosecutors said Friday a 63-year-old priest has confessed phoning in a fake bomb threat to a Madonna concert in the Dutch capital city last week.
"He was hoping to stop her from performing her famous 'crucifixion' act," prosecution spokesman Robert Meulenbroek said, referring to a scene in the 48-year-old pop star's latest show.
The scene, a mock re-enactment of the crucifixion of Christ, offended some Christians during earlier concerts in Italy and Germany. Two Amsterdam concerts went ahead as planned Sunday and Monday, despite a handful of protesters.
Meulenbroek said it was likely prosecutors would seek a community service punishment for the priest, since it was very likely this was his first such offense.
The priest was arrested almost immediately after making the threat Sunday, since he used his home phone to make it, and he called an emergency services number where the call was automatically traced. The priest was brought before a judge Friday and has been released pending judgment, Meulenbroek said.
DeGeneres will hostnext Oscar ceremony
LOS ANGELES -- Ellen DeGeneres has been tapped to host next year's Oscars, the Academy of Motions Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced. It will be the comedian and TV talker's first time hosting the Oscars show and first appearance on the award show. She has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast twice and co-hosted it once, and hosted the Grammys twice.
The 79th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to be broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC on Feb. 25. This year's Oscarcast, in March, was fronted by "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
DeGeneres is the host of the syndicated talk show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which has won 15 Daytime Emmys since going on the air in 2003.
Lohan gets purse back
LONDON -- Lindsay Lohan may be in luck. British police said Friday they had recovered a handbag that went missing from the star's luggage cart at Heathrow Airport.
"A member of the public contacted us to say they had found it and brought it in," a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity. "We have not yet established what, if anything, is missing."
Lohan's representative, Leslie Sloane Zelnick, told the syndicated television show "The Insider" on Thursday that the orange Hermes bag contained jewelry and the actress' asthma medicine.
London's Evening Standard newspaper on Friday ran a picture of a tearful Lohan, 20, which it said was taken just after she realized the bag was missing.
Today's birthdays
Actor Topol is 71. Singer Dee Dee Sharp is 61. Football commentator Joe Theismann is 57. Actor Tom Wopat is 55. Actress Angela Cartwright is 54. Actor Hugh Grant is 46. Actor Adam Sandler is 40. Model Rachel Hunter is 37. Rapper Dray (Das EFX) is 36. Actor Goran Visnjic is 34. Pop-jazz singer Michael Buble' is 31. Actress Michelle Williams is 26.