Newsmakers

Newsmakers

Dog to be spayed after 17-puppy litter

BERLIN

The dog in Germany that gave birth to 17 puppies soon will be spayed.

Owner Ramon Wegemann, who fed the puppies with a bottle for several weeks because their mother’s nipples couldn’t cope with the demand, made the announcement Thursday.

Wegemann says the 26-hour labor of the eight female and nine male puppies was very tiresome for the purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback, and she does not want to endanger the animal’s health with another pregnancy.

Wegemann added caring for the puppies in her living room “turned out to be a full-time job.”

Etana gave birth to the puppies Sept. 28 in Wegemann’s house in Ebereschenhof near Berlin. The owner says “all the puppies are well” and that “we play with them in the snow and start teaching them how to sit still.”

Lynch vows ‘hissy fit’ in ‘Glee’ episode

NEW YORK

Actress Jane Lynch says her “Glee” character, Sue Sylvester, throws “a hissy fit the likes of which no one has seen before” when the show returns. The Fox hit is on hiatus until a special post-Super Bowl episode on Feb. 6 that features guest shots from Gwyneth Paltrow and Katie Couric, and the students offering their version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” she said.

“It’s got so much firepower,” the Emmy-winning actress said. “There is so much going on in the show that is crazy and funny and wild. I have a hissy fit the likes of which no one has seen before, where I try to destroy the locker room and principal’s office. I try to shoot one of my cheerleaders from a cannon.”

Lohan spat brings scrutiny to clinic

LOS ANGELES

An early morning spat between Lindsay Lohan and a rehab worker isn’t just going to bring renewed scrutiny to the actress, but to the facility where she is being treated as well.

The California Department of Public Health says it is conducting an investigation at the Betty Ford Center, which is supervising Lohan’s court-ordered rehab. The agency, however, won’t say whether its inquiry is directly related to the dustup between the “Mean Girls” star and a worker who later was fired for giving an on-camera interview to celebrity website TMZ. Lohan remains under investigation for misdemeanor battery.

Experts say the interview appears to violate state and federal medical privacy laws.

Soccer star divorcing his actress wife

LOS ANGELES

Court records show soccer star Landon Donovan has filed for divorce from his actress wife, Bianca Kajlich, in Los Angeles. Donovan, who plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy, cited irreconcilable differences for the split with Kajlich after nearly three years of marriage.

Kajlich stars in the CBS comedy “Rules of Engagement.”

They were married on New Year’s Eve 2006 and have no children together.

Baldwin sues Costner over BP centrifuge

NEW ORLEANS

Stephen Baldwin has sued fellow actor Kevin Costner over their investments in a device that BP used in trying to clean up the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The federal lawsuit filed in New Orleans on Wednesday by Baldwin and a friend claims Costner and a business partner duped them out of their shares of an $18 million deal for BP to purchase oil-separating centrifuges from a company they formed after the April 20 spill.

BP ordered 32 of the centrifuges, which separate oil from water, and deployed a few of the devices on a barge in June. BP capped the well in July and kept any more oil from leaking until the sea-floor gusher was permanently sealed in September.

Baldwin and his friend, who both own shares in Ocean Therapies, claim they were deliberately excluded from a June 8 meeting between Costner, his business partner, Patrick Smith, and a BP executive, Doug Suttles. At the meeting, the suit says, Suttles agreed to make a $18 million deposit on a $52 million order for the 32 devices. Baldwin and his friend said they didn’t know about the deal when, three days later, they agreed to sell their shares of the company for $1.4 million and $500,000, respectively.

3 arrested in UK for stealing violin

LONDON

Three people were arrested for stealing a $1.85 million antique violin from an internationally acclaimed musician while she stopped for a snack at a London sandwich bar, British police said Thursday.

South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating inside the sandwich shop outside Euston Station on Nov. 29 when she noticed that her black violin case — which contained the 300-year-old Stradivarius as well as two expensive bows — was missing, police said.

The violin, made in 1696, is one of only about 400 in the world.

Police arrested and charged John Maughan, 26, and two teenagers Wednesday for theft. The teens, age 16 and 14, cannot be named for legal reasons. Maughan is in custody, and the two teenagers are free on bail. Police are appealing for information about the whereabouts of the rare instrument.

Associated Press