Northern California jolted by strong quake

LOS ANGELES — Northern California was shaken Thursday by a strong earthquake, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage from the towns nearest its epicenter.

The quake was measured at 6.0 on the Moment Magnitude scale and was only seven miles (11 kilometers) deep, according to experts from the US Geological Survey.

It was centered off the western Pacific coast some 35 miles from the town of Petrolia, in Humboldt County, but was strong enough to be felt some 275 miles away in San Francisco, residents said.

"We don't have any reports of injuries or damages yet," said Jordan Scott, a spokesman for the California emergency management agency. "We are still gathering information as it is a pretty recent occurrence."

There were also no reports of injuries in Ferndale, a town some 36 miles from the epicenter that suffered some damage on January 9 when a 6.5-magnitude quake hit.

"So far nothing has been reported here. I went around, and looked down main street at some of our buildings that were affected in the last one, and I haven't seen any additional damage yet," said city manager Jay Parrish.

"I was surprised it was a 6.0, I thought it was more like 3.5. It didn't seem that strong to me. Almost everybody felt it though."

It was the same story in Eureka, a nearby town of some 26,000 people that was also affected on January 9.

"We have no reports of damage yet. We didn't feel it as strong as the last one," police spokesman Murl Harphan said. "I was sitting at my desk here and it gave us a pretty good jolt."

The quake occurred in an area known to seismologists as the Mendocino Triple Junction where three tectonic plates meet and cause frequent seismic events.

Geologists say an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 percent certain of hitting California within the next 30 years.

Studies have said that a 7.8 magnitude quake could kill 1,800 people, injure 50,000 more and damage 300,000 buildings.

A 6.7 earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994 left at least 60 people dead and did an estimated 10 billion dollars damage, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.

N.Ireland leader's wife under psychiatric treatment

BELFAST — The disgraced politician wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson is undergoing intensive psychiatric treatment as her husband's future hangs in the balance, he said.

Iris Robinson is being treated after revelations she had an affair with a lover 40 years her junior and secured 50,000 pounds (56,000 euros, 80,000 dollars) from two wealthy developers to help him set up a restaurant.

She is quitting her seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Britain's House of Commons, and pressure is mounting on her husband to resign over allegations about how much he knew about his wife's financial dealings.

Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), moved to quash speculation about 60-year-old Iris' whereabouts, saying: "Iris is receiving acute psychiatric treatment from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust."

His wife has been suffering from acute depression.

Her former lover, Kirk McCambley, now 21, has refused to comment on the allegations.

Robinson has vowed to clear his name, but one of his predecessors as leader of the semi-autonomous British-run province said Sunday his position was becoming untenable.

David Trimble, who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 for his efforts to bring stability to Northern Ireland after three decades of violence, predicted in a BBC interview that Robinson would quit in the "next few days".

Trimble, an Ulster Unionist who was Northern Ireland's inaugural first minister from 1999, said: "If (Peter Robinson) is going to fight to clear his name, then the place to do that is from the back benches.

"To have a situation where a party leader sees his wife expelled from the party and acquiesces in it, doesn't even persuade the party to give her a decent way out, shows there has been a complete loss of authority."

Robinson denies any knowledge of his wife's financial dealings. If he had been aware of them, he should have reported them to parliamentary authorities.

The scandal emerged as tensions were already running high between the pro-British Protestant DUP and its Catholic partners in the power-sharing government in Belfast, Sinn Fein, who want a united Ireland.

The two former arch-enemies have shared power since 2007 but have failed to reach agreement on when policing powers for the province should be transferred from London to Belfast, the final part of the devolution process.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams vowed to keep working to resolve Northern Ireland's political problems, regardless of the scandal.

"There is a crisis but it is a political crisis. That is the difference," he said. "We are prepared and others are prepared to work through these issues and more particularly to work beyond these issues."

Fears of a return to violence in the province rose significantly last year, when two British soldiers and a policeman were shot dead in attacks claimed by dissident republicans.

In the latest incident Friday, a Catholic police officer was seriously injured after a bomb exploded under his car as he drove to work. He remains in a critical condition.

Plummer's 'Caesar' to Appear on Canadian TV; DVD Also Available

Christopher Plummer's 2008 Stratford Shakespeare Festival performance as Julius Caesar in Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra will be broadcast in high definition Dec. 26 on Canada's CTV.

Directed by Des McAnuff for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the film was originally broadcast on Canada's Bravo! on April 4 following screenings at Cineplex Entertainment theatres. The Dec. 26 broadcast is at 2 PM (check local listings).

A DVD of the filmed performance is available through the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Theatre Store, or by calling (800) 567-1600.

Nikki M. James joins Plummer as Cleopatra, "the enchanting teenage queen of Roman-occupied Egypt," according to production notes. "Their first encounter under a desert moon leads to a shift in history as Caesar teaches Cleopatra to overcome her timidity to become a determined player in the game of power politics."

The Caesar and Cleopatra principal cast also includes John Vickery, Timothy D. Stickney, Diane D'Aquila, Peter Donaldson and Steven Sutcliffe.

Plummer will play Prospero in The Tempest at Stratford in 2010.

The screening offers audiences who may never have attended the famed Stratford Festival to see the organization's passionate work up close. Shakespeare is the festival's core mandate, but works by international authors (classic and contemporary) are staged there annually, between April and November.

Caesar and Cleopatra is produced by Plummer, Barry Avrich and Michael Levine.

The 2010 season of The Stratford Shakespeare Festival begins April 10 and features productions of As You Like It, Kiss Me, Kate, The Tempest, Dangerous Liaisons, Evita, Peter Pan, The Winter's Tale, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, Do Not Go Gentle, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and King of Thieves.

Blackout hits BlackBerry users

A widespread service outage affected BlackBerry users across North and South America Tuesday evening.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, which is based on Waterloo, Ont., has confirmed there are some email delays.

Would-be users tweeted their frustration on social networking site Twitter. Some said they also couldn't connect to the internet.

A spokesperson for RIM said the company is working to fix the problem, but could give no estimate when service will be restored.

The outage comes on the heels of another BlackBerry email outage in North America that struck on Dec. 17.

'80s stars Platinum Blonde to enter Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame

TORONTO - The '80s pop band Platinum Blonde is being inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.

Known for such melodic new wave hits as "Standing In The Dark," "Crying Over You" and "It Doesn't Really Matter," the band will be recognized at a luncheon March 12, 2010 in Toronto.

Vocalist Mark Holmes, drummer Chris Steffler and guitarist Sergio Galli broke onto the music scene in 1982 with catchy singles, big blond hair and glam-rock style.

Keyboardist Kenny MacLean joined the band in 1985, roughly four years before they would split up.

MacLean died in November 2008 at age 52 just as he was preparing to release his third solo CD and as the band was planning a long-awaited reunion gig.

The award will be handed out as part of festivities planned for Canadian Music Week, set for March 10-14, 2010.

Cruz, Freeman on Golden Globes short list

LOS ANGELES — Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela in "Invictus" and Penelope Cruz in "Nine" look likely to take home Golden Globes nominations Tuesday along with films "Julie & Julia," "Inglourious Basterds," "The Hurt Locker" and "Up in the Air."

Organized and chosen by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the Golden Globes will be held in Beverly Hills on January 17; they are traditionally seen as a key indicator in the battle for honors at the Oscars.

The excitement starts at 1300 GMT as singer-actor Justin Timberlake joins actor John Krasinski to unveil nominees in 25 categories in film and television.

Though 67.4 percent of films that won best picture at the Academy Awards also won a Golden Globe, in recent years the awards have proved an unreliable barometer of Oscar winners.

The rags-to-riches drama "Slumdog Millionaire" is the only film in the past five years to have followed up a best picture statuette at the Golden Globes with victory at the Oscars.

So far this year, no one film has emerged as a clear awards season powerhouse.

But comedy "Up In the Air," starring George Clooney as a lonely corporate down-sizer who begins to question his life, got a big boost earlier this month after being named best film by the National Board of Review.

The film also grabbed a share of the best actor prize for Clooney, with veteran Freeman also winning for his portrayal of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus."

"Invictus" -- based on journalist John Carlin's book "Playing the Enemy" -- tells the story of how Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup staged in South Africa to help unify the country in the early post-apartheid years.

Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes have two categories for best picture -- one for musicals and comedies, the other for dramas.

Other leading contenders for best drama include the Iraq War movie "The Hurt Locker," director Kathryn Bigelow's gripping drama about a maverick army bomb disposal expert, and Quentin Tarantino's World War II revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds."

"Up In the Air" is expected to feature in the musical and comedy contenders, where it is likely to face stiff competition from "Julie & Julia," starring Meryl Streep as trail-blazing television chef Julia Child.

The big favorite could well turn out to be "Nine," director Rob Marshall's star-studded musical about an Italian film director played by Daniel Day-Lewis.

His character struggles to balance the demands of his wife (Marion Cotillard) and mistress (Penelope Cruz). The film's cast also includes Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench and Kate Hudson.

Another box office hit expected to pick up nominations on Tuesday is Pixar's latest animated offering "Up."

Reggae star Buju Banton facing drug charge in Fla.

MIAMI – Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton is facing a drug charge in Florida.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, has been in U.S. federal custody in Miami since Thursday.

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman David Melenkevitz said Sunday that Banton was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. The charge stems from a DEA case in Tampa.

An e-mail to Banton's independent record label was not immediately returned Sunday.

Banton's ninth album, "Rasta Got Soul," is nominated for a Grammy. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation launched an online petition protesting the nomination, saying some of Banton's earlier lyrics have advocated violence against gay people.

'The View' apologizes for 'hooker' remark

NEW YORK – The daytime talk show "The View" is apologizing for calling one of Tiger Woods' alleged girlfriends a "hooker."

In a statement Friday, the show said Joy Behar's (BAY' hahr) remark about Rachel Uchitel (YOO-kih-tehl) was a joke. But the show apologized for any hurt feelings or misimpressions.

Uchitel's lawyer, Gloria Allred, had demanded the apology. She said her client was upset by what she characterized as the "highly offensive" remark on Thursday's show.

Allred asked for an on-air retraction, but hasn't gotten it. Friday's episode of the talk show was taped before the apology was issued.

Slater says changes coming on 'The Forgotten'

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Actor Christian Slater says some changes are in store in upcoming episodes of his ABC drama "The Forgotten."

Slater stars in the show about amateur detectives who investigate the deaths of John and Jane Doe victims. He said ABC has signed off on a few more episodes despite the show's lackluster ratings.

One of the changes is new cast member Elisha Cuthbert, whose film credits include "The Girl Next Door." Slater says Cuthbert brings a new energy to the set.

The actor's comments came Thursday during a taping of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Slater is helping volunteers renovate the home of Sherman and Gina Heathcock of Hattiesburg, Miss. He said the episode will air in 2010.

Egypt says Israel stalling on prisoner swap

CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit accused Israel on Sunday of stalling on a prisoner swap with Hamas for a captured Israeli soldier by refusing to free certain Palestinian prisoners.

"Israel is still placing obstacles toward releasing all those demanded by the Palestinians," said Abul Gheit, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry.

"We hope that the Israeli side, which decided to achieve this exchange, will go through with it and not place further obstacles," he said.

Israel and the Islamist Hamas have held indirect talks sponsored by Egypt and mediated by Germany to finalise a swap which would see the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Both Israel and Hamas reported progress last month in the negotiations, which have dragged on since Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip three years ago.

But both sides downplayed reports of an imminent deal after the secretive negotiations snagged over a group of militants Israel said it would not release.

Israeli MP Daniel Ben Simon said on Saturday that prisoner swap deal could go ahead in the next "week or two."

On Saturday, Egypt's state-run MENA news agency quoting Abul Gheit as saying that Israel should not "exaggerate its demands."

According to Arab media, negotiations have stalled over Israel's refusal to free Arab-Israeli prisoners or Hamas members responsible for particularly deadly attacks and its insistence on expelling some of the released prisoners.

The prisoners under dispute include popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti, who is seen as a possible successor to president Mahmud Abbas.

Ultra-nationalist Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has vowed Barghuti would remain in jail.

Also on Sunday, the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported that a team of four French doctors entered Gaza a week ago and and performed medical check-ups on Shalit.

An Egyptian security official confirmed to AFP that three French doctors went into the enclave through the Egyptian border crossing of Rafah but there was no indication that they treated Shalit.