Libel

The government warned Britain's tabloid newspapers Friday to "clean up their act" or face laws to curb sensationalist journalism which has led to huge libel awards. Home Office minister Timothy Renton, responding to public anger over the way tabloid newspapers fight their circulation wars, announced the setting up of an independent review of press behavior. He told Parliament that the investigation will be completed within a year and will be followed by legislation if press behavior did not improve.

If there was any chance of the lawsuit between Britney Spears' parents and her ex-manager, Sam Lufti, ending politely, it went out the window on day one of the trial . Lufti, who is suing Jamie and Lynn Spears for libel after they assumed control of her estate and filed a restraining order against him, alleged through his attorney, Joseph Schleimer, that Britney Spears "liked to use amphetamines -- speed or uppers. She liked to take that drug. And most of the things that went wrong were related to that drug.

If it please the court, let us stipulate to a few things upfront: First, Zsa Zsa Gabor does n ot look so fat that it would take three or four strong men to lift her onto a horse. And Elke Sommer does not resemble a bald-headed, Hollywood has-been who hangs out in seedy bars and has to sell hand-knitted pullover sweaters to eke out a living.

It was a good thing John Travolta was getting smooched by wife Kelly Preston on the "Savages" red carpet Monday night, because the actor hasn't been getting much kindness in the rest of his public life. Travolta -- recently hit with a couple of now-you-see-'em, now-you-don't federal lawsuits brought by "John Doe" masseurs who accused the actor of sexual battery and then had their suits dismissed without prejudice -- has some new paperwork crossing lawyer Martin Singer's desk.  A lawsuit from a third accuser, a former cruise ship VIP steward who alleges Travolta assaulted him on a Royal Caribbean Cruises sail in 2009, was filed last week in U.S. District Court.

A jury Monday ordered Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband to pay Elke Sommer $2 million for allegedly telling German publications that Sommer is a financially strapped Hollywood has-been. The Santa Monica Superior Court panel awarded Sommer $800,000 in general damages for statements attributed to Gabor and $1.2 million in general damages for statements linked to Frederick von Anhalt. The jury was scheduled to resume deliberations today to decide punitive damages.

An NBC attorney attempted Friday to persuade federal appeals court judges in Pasadena to strike down the largest libel verdict against an American news organization--a $5.3-million judgment that the network defamed singer Wayne Newton in newscasts that linked him to organized crime figures. NBC lawyer Floyd Abrams said the stories were the product of aggressive reporting, not ill will, and should be protected by the First Amendment. But Newton's lawyer, Morton R.

Why is it that libel of an individual is subject to legal penalties whereas libel of minorities is legally protected as freedom of speech? ROBERT GUM Long Beach

It all started with anonymous emails. The Central Basin Municipal Water District, the emails alleged, was guilty of corruption and double-dealing in awarding a $1-million federal grant. Officials at Central Basin, a water agency serving more than 2 million L.A. County residents, publicly denied the claims, suggesting the emails were sent by the firms that didn't get the contract. But Central Basin didn't stop there. It hired a law firm and last month filed a highly unusual libel suit against the unnamed authors of the email.

If there was any chance of the lawsuit between Britney Spears' parents and her ex-manager, Sam Lufti, ending politely, it went out the window on day one of the trial . Lufti, who is suing Jamie and Lynn Spears for libel after they assumed control of her estate and filed a restraining order against him, alleged through his attorney, Joseph Schleimer, that Britney Spears "liked to use amphetamines -- speed or uppers. She liked to take that drug. And most of the things that went wrong were related to that drug.

Clint Eastwood settled a libel lawsuit against the writer and publisher of an unauthorized biography he said portrayed him as a wife abuser. As part of the settlement, announced Thursday, the book's author and publisher agreed to remove a reference to Eastwood beating his former wife, Maggie Eastwood, as well as other statements the actor-director said were false and defamatory. Eastwood filed the $10-million libel action in 2002 against St.

It all started with anonymous emails. The Central Basin Municipal Water District, the emails alleged, was guilty of corruption and double-dealing in awarding a $1-million federal grant. Officials at Central Basin, a water agency serving more than 2 million L.A. County residents, publicly denied the claims, suggesting the emails were sent by the firms that didn't get the contract. But Central Basin didn't stop there. It hired a law firm and last month filed a highly unusual libel suit against the unnamed authors of the email.

An environmental crusader known as "Mr. Malibu" has apologized to Pepperdine University and retracted accusations that the school is to blame for effluent flowing down Marie Canyon Creek and into the Pacific Ocean. In exchange, the university has agreed to drop a lawsuit against activist Cary ONeal that alleged libel and "invasion of privacy by placing person in a false light in public eye. " In two videos he posted online, ONeal claimed that a foamy substance pooling on a Malibu beach was sewage released by Pepperdine.

Will somebody come clean about those soap-like bubbles in Malibu's tiny Marie Canyon Creek? A legal battle between an environmental crusader and Pepperdine University is raising questions about a frothy cascade of storm water that periodically spills over a beach lined with celebrity homes and into the Pacific Ocean. Videographer Cary ONeal, who blogs as "Mr. Malibu," insists that the runoff is tainted by a sewage treatment plant that serves the university and a housing tract next door, and that the school should be held to task for it. Pepperdine officials dispute that and have gone to court to prevent ONeal's accusation and home-made videos of the sudsy flow from going viral.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs pointedly avoided attempts Thursday to engage the Obama administration in a debate on civil political discourse with potential presidential rival Sarah Palin. Speaking at his morning briefing, Gibbs ducked several questions about the president's response to Palin's comments in the wake of the Arizona shooting spree that left six dead and 19 wounded. Palin on Wednesday branded attempts by some to use the attack as a way of criticizing conservatives as "blood libel.

In saying her critics manufactured "a blood libel," Sarah Palin deployed a phrase linked to the false accusations made for centuries against Jews, often to malign them as child killers who coveted the blood of Christian children. Blood libel has been a central fable of anti-Semitism in which Jews have been accused of using the blood of gentile children for medicinal purposes or to mix in with matzo, the unleavened bread traditionally eaten at Passover. The spreading of the blood libel dates to the Middle Ages ?

Sarah Palin put on full display Wednesday all that makes her a formidable yet divisive contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination ? inspiring to some, maddening to others, a powerhouse who commands the sort of media attention her putative GOP rivals can only envy. In an eight-minute video posted online, the former Alaska governor fiercely dismissed any notion that her firearms-infused political messages in 2010 ("Don't retreat, instead ? reload!") contributed to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.

A court acquitted four journalists at Hong Kong-based Asiaweek magazine in a libel suit over U.S. election campaign contributions. The case of U.S. journalist Ying Chan and Taiwanese reporter C. L. Hsieh, along with the magazine's Hong Kong chief editor and its Taiwan director, was seen as a test of free speech in Taiwan. The judge ruled that the two reporters, who faced two years in jail, met the requirements of "good intent" under Taiwan's criminal libel law.

British Prime Minister John Major and caterer Clare Latimer have accepted nominal libel settlements from the New Statesman and Society magazine over its report of gossip that they had an affair, the magazine said Tuesday. In Tokyo, where he is attending a summit of the world's leading industrialized nations, Major said the magazine acknowledged that the rumors were untrue.

Sarah Palin 's remarks Wednesday in which she accused critics who would tie her political tone to the Arizona shootings of committing a "blood libel" against her have prompted an instant and pronounced backlash from some in America's Jewish community. The term dates to the Middle Ages and refers to a prejudice that Jewish people used Christian blood in religious rituals. "Instead of dialing down the rhetoric at this difficult moment, Sarah Palin chose to accuse others trying to sort out the meaning of this tragedy of somehow engaging in a 'blood libel' against her and others," said David Harris, president of the National Democratic Jewish Council, in a statement.

Former football coach Mike Leach sued ESPN Inc. and a public relations firm Wednesday, accusing them of libel and slander after he was fired by Texas Tech amid accusations that he mistreated a player suffering from a concussion. The suit filed in Texas district court claims the network's coverage of Leach's firing last year was "willful and negligent defamation" and that it failed to "retract false and damaging statements" it made from "misinformation" provided to ESPN by Craig James , the father of the Texas Tech player.