Shia LaBeouf’s left hand was “crushed” in a weekend traffic accident and runs the risk of infection, the actor’s lawyer said Friday.

“The force of (the) impact immediately flipped Shia’s vehicle over, and, as a result, Shia’s left hand was crushed,” said his attorney Michael Norris in a statement.

“Shia underwent four hours of surgery on Sunday and has been recovering since then,” the statement continues. “His doctors remain hopeful that he will fully recover, but due to extensive surgery and the nature of the injuries, there remains a substantial risk of both infection and other complications.”

LaBeouf, 22, suffered the injuries when his truck collided with another vehicle in West Hollywood at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

“We have also received information that suggests that the other driver may have been traveling upwards of 50 mph, and that said driver may not have been looking forward at the time of the accident,” the lawyer says.

On Tuesday, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said that LaBeouf, whose passenger was Transformers 2 costar Isabel Lucas, may not have been at fault for the crash. No one was seriously injured in the wreck.

“We have strong evidence that the other driver ran a red light,” sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said. “The case is still under investigation.”

Shortly after the accident, LaBeouf was cited for misdemeanor DUI because “he was showing obvious signs of intoxication from the smell of alcohol coming from his breath,” sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Wolf told PEOPLE.

The actor has yet to be formally charged with any crime.
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Rapper Nate Dogg has been charged with threatening and stalking his estranged wife.

The Area Codes singer, real name Nathaniel Hale, was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers after a car chase with his estranged wife in Los Angeles on 23 June.

His unnamed spouse had called emergency services after the star allegedly made death threats against her and followed her “dangerously”.

Police have charged the rapper with three felony counts of making criminal threats and stalking and one misdemeanour count of driving on a suspended license.
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DMX has been arrested for the second time in a week, this time for trying to buy drugs from an undercover police officer.

The rapper was also arrested last Monday (June 23) on suspicion of driving without a valid licence but was later released on bail.

The star - real name Earl Simmons, who had clearly not learnt his lesson, was caught out again just four days later, as he was arrested on Friday for allegedly attempting to purchase $45 (£22.50) of cocaine and marijuana from a man, who turned out to be a cop taking part in a sting operation.

Simmons is currently being detained at Miami-Dade County jail, and he could be spending a long time there as the star’s legal woes this year are beginning to mount - he was charged with suspected drug possession and animal cruelty in May following raids on his Arizona home.

And previous to that incident he was arrested for allegedly speeding down a Phoenix, Arizona freeway in January, clocking up a reported 114 miles per hour (183 kilometres per hour).
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Martin Sheen In Court For Charlie’s Ex….

Actor Martin Sheen made an appearance in a New York court on Thursday to watch the mother of his granddaughter be tried for assault.

Paula Speert, the ex-girlfriend of Charlie Sheen and mother of his eldest child, 23-year-old Cassandra, is facing charges she attacked her business partner in a Manhattan hotel.
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Speert pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Sheen told the New York Daily News outside court, “It’s a surprise and a shock. We’re here to hear the allegations”.
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Britney Spears was awarded overnight privileges with her sons, PEOPLE confirms.

The pop star hasn’t had her children overnight since January following her forced hospitalization at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

A closed-door hearing Tuesday, attended by Spears and her ex, Kevin Federline, also saw the return of Spears’s first divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, who has officially replaced Stacy Phillips.

L.A. Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini confirmed that Spears’s parenting coach attended the hearing and made statements to the court, and that Spears’s demeanor before the commissioner was “businesslike.”

“I think any judge is pleased to see progress being made by parties in a case,” Parachini added.

Details of the hearing’s outcome were not announced. But a source confirms for PEOPLE that Spears will now be allowed to have her sons Preston, 2 1/2, and Jayden, 1 1/2, with her overnight.

The former couple face a custody trial in August, unless they can settle their case amicably out of court.

Their next hearing is set for July 15.
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LOS ANGELES - Woody Harrelson has been sued for $2.5 million by a paparazzo who accused the actor of assaulting him and breaking his video camera two years ago.

According to a lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Josh Levine was filming Harrelson in Hollywood late one night in June 2006. He alleges the Academy Award-nominated actor choked him, broke his video camera and ordered his bodyguard to attack him.

Levine’s suit says he still has mental, physical and emotional pain from the encounter. He is also suing the unidentified bodyguard.

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Five years after Christina Mae Watson died while scuba diving on her honeymoon, authorities in Australia now believe she was murdered – and they’ve charged her husband with the crime.

David Gabriel Watson, 31, of Birmingham, Ala., faces possible extradition to Australia, where the coroner issued the murder indictment Friday after an investigation spanning months. If convicted of murder, the maximum penalty is life in prison.

“He’s very disappointed, very distraught and displeased,” his attorney, Bob Austin, said, according to the Australian Associated Press.

The couple had been married just 11 days when Christina, who went by “Tina,” drowned while diving in October 2003 at a shipwreck in the waters off the northeastern city of Townsville.

Her husband, who calls himself Gabe, told Queensland police his wife, a novice diver, panicked minutes after entering the water and grabbed his mask, pushing it off his face. Gabe, who is a certified rescue diver, then swam to the surface instead of helping her. Another member of the dive team, who stopped to photograph his dive buddy with an underwater camera, inadvertently captured a photo of her body lying on the seabed.

A witness during the coroner’s inquest testified Watson’s ascent to the surface was “pedestrian and controlled,” contradicting Watson’s statements to the police that he “rocketed to the top.” In addition, Tina’s father, Tommy Thomas, told authorities that Gabe had asked her before their wedding to increase her life insurance and make him the sole beneficiary.

“We’re actually relieved to hear the coroner’s findings,” Thomas told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s something that we have dealt with for quite some time and it validated our beliefs.”
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Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook’s upcoming divorce trial will remain open to the public, a New York judge ruled Friday.

Long Island Judge Mark D. Cohen said in his five-page decision he’s keeping the trial open because “open courtrooms, in general and in divorce actions, may provide a basis for societal education.”

He added: “The required high burden of compelling reasons to close the courtroom has not been met.”

The ruling goes against a motion brought by a law guardian for the children and supported by Cook. Law guardian Theresa Mari argued that some of the evidence revealed at trial could damage their two children – Jack, 12 and Sailor, 9.

Brinkley’s attorneys argued to keep the trial open. Divorce trials in New York State are open to the public unless a judge decides to close them.

Cook’s lawyer, Norman Sheresky, expressed disappointment and admonished Brinkley for pushing to keep the trial open.

“Obviously, like any father, Peter is disappointed Christie Brinkley has invited their children to attend the divorce trial,” said Sheresky. “Why would anyone be happy about that? It’s putting herself in front of her children.”

But Brinkley’s lawyer, Robert Stephan Cohen, said, “The reality is he put himself way in front of his children and his wife when he made the awful decision to destroy the marriage. The trial will get at the truth, which is very important to Christie.”

Brinkley also released a statement saying, “I still remain hopeful that these matters can be resolved privately.”

The trial begins July 2.
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Rob Lowe won a small victory Thursday in the first courtroom showdown against a former nanny.

Santa Barbara, Calif., Superior Court Judge Denise de Bellefeuille threw out two of the 12 allegations made by 24-year-old Jessica Gibson.

Gibson’s sexual harassment claims remain intact, however. The two allegations thrown out – on the grounds that there was no legal basis – were related to labor-code violations.

“We’re very pleased with today’s outcome,” said Lowe’s attorney Larry Stein. “The Lowes have consistently denied any wrongdoing and will be vindicated. The entire family is holding up the best they can.”

Gibson’s lawyer, John West, responded: “We don’t consider this a setback at all, Jessica’s case is still intact as a whole.”

Neither Lowe nor Gibson was present at court.

“She’s been lying low,” West added. “This has been a very traumatic situation for her, she’s doing her best to heal.”

In her lawsuit, the former nanny claims the actor groped her and exposed himself during her seven-year employment with the Lowe family.

The Brothers & Sisters star vehemently denies he did anything improper – pointing out that Gibson voluntarily quit the job three times.

A week prior to Gibson filing her lawsuit, Lowe, 44, went public with the dispute on April 7, accusing Gibson of demanding $1.5 million in exchange for her silence. On that day, Lowe preemptively filed a $1 million-plus lawsuit against her.

Since then, a second former nanny, Laura Boyce, 37, filed suit against the Lowes, but only accused the actor’s wife of direct sexual harassment.

The next hearing in the matter is set for July 10.

Academy Award winning director Woody Allen filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking $10 Million from American Apparel for use of his image without permission. The lawsuit states that the actor and director does not endorse commercial products or services in the United States.

Allen’s image (shown at right courtesy of Frillr.com), appeared on two billboards in New York and Los Angeles for one week in May 2007. Allen appears as a Hasidic Jew, a character from his movie “Annie Hall”. The lawsuit calls the billboards “especially egregious and damaging.”

In a statement, American Apparel defended their use of Allen’s image as “Social Parody” protected by the First Amendment. They also stated “We had no intention of selling garments through the use of Mr. Allen’s image … We will make every effort to resolve this with Mr. Allen in an amicable way.”

In addition to its clothing line, American Apparel, based in Los Angeles is known for its colorful CEO Dov Charney and its political efforts in favor of immigration reform.

Was this “Social Parody”, infringement or just an effort to generate publicity? While we may never know for sure, I predict it will go away quietly with a monetary settlement.

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R. Kelly was acquitted of all charges Friday following just hours of deliberations in his child pornography trial, ending a six-year ordeal for the R&B singer.

Kelly was seen wiping his face with a handkerchief then he hugged each of his four attorneys after the verdict of not guilty on all 14 counts - was read. The Grammy award-winning singer had potentially faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Following his aquittall Kelly, surrounded by bodyguards, he left the courthouse refusing to comment as fans screamed and cheered, he sped away in a waiting SUV.

Kelly’s attorney Sam Adam jr told the assembled press that during the reading of the not guilty verdicts his client kept repeating ‘Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus,”.

Prosecutors had argued that a video tape mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002 showed Kelly engaged in graphic sex acts with a girl as young as 13 at the time, but both Kelly, 41, and the now 23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones on the tape. Neither were called to testify during the trial.

The prosecution’s main witness was a woman who said she engaged in three-way sex with Kelly and the alleged victim, the defence discredited this by showing that the man on the tape didn’t have a large mole on his back, Kelly has such a mole.

The procecusions case depended on whether Kelly was the man who appears on a sexually graphic, 27-minute videotape at the centre of the case, and whether a female who also appears on it was underage.

The prosecutions case lasted seven days during which they called 22 witnesses, including several childhood friends of the alleged victim and four of her relatives who identified her as the female on the video.

While in contrast the defence took just two days, calling 12 witnesses including three relatives of the alleged victim who testified they did not recognize her as the female on the tape.

Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker said she believed the female on the tape was a victim, not a prostitute as the defence had contended.

Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for “I Believe I Can Fly,” and is known for such raunchy hits as “Bump N’ Grind,” “Ignition,” and for “Trapped in the Closet,” a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of an ever-expanding cast of characters.

The jury was made up of nine men and three women; of which eight were white and four were black and included the wife of a Baptist preacher from Kelly’s Chicago-area hometown, a compliance officer for a Chicago investment firm and a man who emigrated from then-Communist Romania nearly 40 years ago.

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Well thank God for that mole!