NEWSMAKERS

March 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NEWSMAKERS

Dutch police arrest 2 suspected in art heist

THE HAGUE, Netherlands

Dutch police say they have arrested two men suspected of involvement in an art heist last year in which masked and armed men snatched two paintings, including one by Salvador Dali, from a museum.

The robbers stole “Adolescence,” a 1941 gouache by Dali and “La Musicienne,” an oil painting from 1929 by Polish-born art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, on May 1 from the Scheringa Museum for Realism.

Police say the paintings have not been recovered.

The suspects, men age 29 and 43, were arrested Wednesday morning in the southern city of Breda. Police released no further details.

The museum targeted in the heist closed down last year after the DSB bank owned by its patron, Dirk Scheringa, collapsed.

Ga. Senate postpones honor for Tyler Perry

ATLANTA

A resolution honoring entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, scheduled to be proclaimed Wednesday by the Georgia state Senate, has been postponed.

Perry was to be honored for his achievements as an entertainer and humanitarian. The 40-year-old New Orleans native and Atlanta resident would be the first celebrity to be honored in the chamber this session.

The resolution cites his sharp-tongued “Madea” character, his creation of Tyler Perry Studios as the first independent movie studio of its size in the state and his donations to area food banks and various charities.

Poet laureate writes about Beckham

LONDON

David Beckham has become an unlikely muse to Britain’s poet laureate, who has written a verse about the soccer star’s career-threatening injury. The former England captain tore his Achilles’ tendon in a game Sunday and will miss the World Cup in June as he recovers from surgery.

Carol Ann Duffy’s poem imagines Beckham as the ancient Greek hero Achilles, who, according to myth, was dipped as a baby in the River Styx, making him invulnerable — except for his exposed heel, the origin of the modern terms Achilles’ tendon, and Achilles’ heel.

The poem weaves the mythical story together with references to Beckham’s life. Duffy told the BBC on Tuesday she was inspired because Beckham “is almost a mythical figure himself, in popular culture.”

Fox nears deal with Conan O’Brien

LOS ANGELES

Fox Broadcasting is inching closer to bringing Conan O’Brien back to late night.

Key Fox executives, including Rupert Murdoch, are on board with the plan and would like to finalize a deal in coming weeks so they can make a splash May 17 when the network unveils its new fall lineup. Several significant issues remain, and the Fox talks could fall apart, according to people close to the negotiations who asked not to be identified because the discussions were meant to be private.

But people close to O’Brien are cautiously optimistic.

“We’ll get there,” one of them said Tuesday.