Apologies

It was "The Jay Leno Show's" big prime-time debut, but Kanye West unquestionably stole some of the spotlight from the host to announce he'll be taking time off to reflect on his actions after his controversial outburst over the weekend at the MTV Video Music Awards. One day after the famously outspoken artist interrupted an acceptance speech from 19-year-old country star Taylor Swift at the award show, suggesting that her prize for best female video should have gone to Beyoncé, a contrite West appeared on Leno's new NBC show to deliver an apology.

When she met Barack Obama two years ago, Caitlin Cox proudly wore the two bronze medals she had won at the Special Olympics. The then-Illinois senator grinned as she showed him pictures of her signature bubble-gum-pink bowling ball and posed for photographs with her. Cox, who has Down syndrome, excitedly recalls that meeting each time she sees Obama's photo on a magazine cover or hears him mentioned on TV.

Four days after a profanity-ridden audiotape of Christian Bale ranting at the director of photography on the set of "Terminator Salvation" hit the Internet -- launching a veritable tsunami of fan reaction, Web creativity (including a dance remix) and comedic skits on late-night talk shows -- the actor has finally done what many professional public-relations types have advocated all along: He owned up to his mistake and apologized for his bad behavior.

The documents Chan Share clutched as he left China were forged. It was 1939 and Asians were not allowed to immigrate to the United States. So, like many others, Share claimed he was a "paper son" and had a California-born relative whose records were lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Charles Barkley didn't blame a wife or a cousin or the family dog for putting some unknown substance into his glass or forcing him to get behind the wheel of some unidentifiable vehicle after having a drink. Barkley came back to the TNT "Inside The NBA" show Thursday night for the first time in nearly two months and he was mostly just Charles, maybe biting his lip a little but also accepting blame for his arrest in December for driving under the influence.

Terrell Owens knows melodrama and controversy, but does he know comedy? The new Comedy Central series "Tosh.O" last week featured a video clip of Owens taking his place behind the mike at a fake news conference, where Owens said, "It's going to be a busy season; I figure I better get all my future apologies out of the way now. "I'd like to apologize to my teammates and the coach for my excessive celebrations. I guess I'm the only one who gets excited.

They shout "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" and "Oi! Oi! Oi!" at St. Mary's basketball games in Moraga these days. But the best news that Patrick Mills, the standout freshman from Australia, heard this week didn't have anything to do with the latest top 25 ranking for the Gaels, who play at Loyola Marymount tonight and at Pepperdine on Monday. It was word from home about the Australian government's formal apology to Aborigines and other indigenous Australians for the racist policies of the past.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Another day, another act of contrition from baseball players mentioned in the Mitchell Report. Monday, pitcher Andy Pettitte apologized to the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and his fans for the "embarrassment" he caused by taking human growth hormone, and reliever Eric Gagne apologized to his family, friends and new Milwaukee teammates but stopped short of admitting to the use of performance-enhancing substances.

He refused to take the Americans' blood money. Mohammed Hafidh Abdul-Razzaq had been summoned by U.S. Embassy officials who wanted to make amends for the killing of his 10-year-old son. The boy died during a shooting involving employees of Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. security firm. Deputy Chief of Mission Patricia A. Butenis told him that she was sorry for what had happened, Abdul-Razzaq recalled. She gave him a sealed envelope. It had his name written on it. Abdul-Razzaq pushed it away.

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Thursday disavowed the remarks of another Chicago pastor, who mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton and her pre-New Hampshire primary tears. In an Internet video recorded Sunday, Father Michael Pfleger, an activist Catholic priest and pastor visiting Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, of which Obama is a member, says: "When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on.