The winning bid is a world-rights deal with the Alfred A. Knopf imprint in hardcover and the Vintage trade paperback imprint, both owned by Random House Inc. Although terms were not disclosed, the $5 million that insiders say Agassi scored catapults him into an exclusive memoir club that includes former President Clinton, who got an estimated $12 million, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who scored more than $8.5 million from Penguin Press, Hillary Clinton, who landed $8 million from Simon & Schuster, and Jack Welch, who got $7.1 million from TimeWarner Books (now a part of Hachette Books).

His deal is believed to be a champion among sports memoirs. In an unusual move, the winner was not the highest bidder. The top bid was believed to be $5.35 million, but Agassi agents Michael Carlyle and Richard Pine at InkWell opted to take an offer from Knopf, which was actually in fourth place after a week of fierce bidding that started at $4 million. HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette's Warner 12 imprint were all jockeying for the lead in and around the $5 million to $5.35 million range. President Clinton, who also published with Knopf, was said to have urged Agassi to go with his imprint.

There is no timetable for the launch of the book, which would have to sell in excess of 500,000 copies to break even, one industry source estimated. The book is expected to cover Agassi's stormy marriage to Brooke Shields, his current one to tennis great Steffi Graf, as well as his work with underpriveleged youths at the Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas.

The former Spice Girl – who moves to Los Angeles in the summer with husband David and their three sons – is keen to teach her American pals about classic English literature and sees the club as a perfect way to do it. The 32-year-old star plans for members of the exclusive book club to meet once a month at each other's houses, where they will discuss the book they've been reading.

A source told Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "When Victoria told Katie about a book club, Katie thought it was a great idea, especially as she would love to learn more about British classics. "Victoria has asked five of her friends, including Jennifer Lopez and Katie, to become members." Books that Victoria wants to talk about, include Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Emma' and 'Sense and Sensibility', as well as tomes by literary giants Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.

Katie – who has become close pals with Victoria – told Victoria the club would be a great way of making friends while David plays for new soccer team Los Angeles Galaxy.

Forensic teams associated with the British Transport Police are still investigating the incident. The attack was not the first time the iconic train has been hit by vandals. In September 2003, the company was forced to spend about $6,000 on repainting one carriage after it was painted with graffiti. No timetable has yet been put on getting the train back up and running, a spokeswoman told BBC News.

The train's red color and the distinctive number 5972 on the front of the engine make it instantly recognizable as the Hogwarts Express. In J.K. Rowling's books, the train carries Harry and his fellow wizardry students to and from the Hogwarts school each year. In real life, it carries tourists around the U.K. during the summer months and was used by Warner Brothers in the Harry Potter film adaptations.

A U.S. collector who bought an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe in 1962 for $250 is offering the painting for sale in May and can expect to fetch over $15 million, auctioneers Christie's said on Monday. "Lemon Marilyn" was one of 13 portraits the celebrity-obsessed artist made of Monroe after she committed suicide in August, 1962. "Orange Marilyn", another painting in the series, was sold for $16.3 million in 2006.

Christie's did not reveal the identity of the private collector, who bought the painting at Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery in New York, where Warhol held a one-man exhibition that included eight paintings in the series. The work will be on public display at Christie's in London from Monday until Wednesday, and will go on sale at auction on May 16 in New York.

Other media companies also have major concerns about YouTube, but Viacom's was the first lawsuit filed by a major media owner. Several media companies have reached agreements to supply YouTube with clips, including CBS Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and the British Broadcasting Corp., but many others remain reluctant to deal with the Web site because of copyright concerns. YouTube had been a quirky, fast-growing startup until the deep-pocketed Internet search behemoth Google Inc. bought the company last November for $1.76 billion.

But YouTube's soaring popularity, especially among younger people who are increasingly tuning out traditional media, has broadcasters frightened of losing viewers and advertising dollars. Last month, Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips from its site, and since that time, the company has uncovered more than 50,000 additional unauthorized clips, Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said.

A quick search of YouTube's site turned up numerous clips from Viacom programs including segments from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoon. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, Viacom says YouTube "harnessed technology to willfully infringe copyrights on a huge scale" and had "brazen disregard" of intellectual property laws.

Viacom is especially at risk because many of its shows are aimed at younger viewers who also are heavy Internet users. At the same time, Viacom is trying to find other, legal ways to distribute its shows digitally, such as by selling episodes of "The Daily Show" and "South Park" for $1.99 each through Apple Inc.'s iTunes service. Those shows can then be viewed on a computer or iPod.

Spielberg will executive-produce a six-hour miniseries based on Stephen King and Peter Straub's best-selling supernatural thriller The Talisman for the summer of 2008, with DreamWorks Television producing. Spielberg, who produced Into the West for TNT, will be joined by his longtime partner Kathleen Kennedy as executive producer, along with Ehren Kruger (Skeleton Key, The Ring), who will adapt the King/Straub novel. Darryl Frank, who heads up DreamWorks Television, will be co-executive producer, along with Justin Falvey.

The Talisman, which was published in 1984, marked the first collaboration between King and Straub. It tells the story of Jack Sawyer, a boy who goes on a quest through this world and through a parallel world known as "The Territories" on a mission to obtain a mysterious talisman that will save his dying mother's life and that of her "twinner," the Queen of the Territories.

The film was shot over a three-day period in 1970 by Tony Cox, Ono's former husband. It shows Lennon and Ono at their countryside estate and captures Lennon writing "Remember" and "Mind Games." In 2000, it was sold by Cox to three New England men, John Fallon, Ray Thomas, and Robert Grenier, for $1 million.

In a letter that was sent to Berwick Academy, Dorothy Weber, Ono's attorney, asserted that Ono owns the tapes shot by Cox. "Mrs. Lennon owns all rights, title and copyrights in and to all film, outtakes and videotapes embodying the images of the late John Lennon and herself as filmed by Anthony Cox in 1970," wrote Weber. "The sum and substance is that there is a dispute over the ownership of the film, but I can't get into the specifics while there's a pending dispute," Weber later told the Globe.

In a statement released by the school, Berwick said the copyright ownership was in question. "Berwick Academy received a correspondence from Ms. Ono's attorneys indicating that Ms. Ono retains a copyright interest in the footage and has not granted a license or permission for a public showing of the film. Given the apparent dispute over ownership rights in the film, Berwick Academy has decided not to show the film as previously scheduled until the parties resolve the underlying ownership dispute," the statement read.

Tom Rubin, associate general counsel for Microsoft, will say in a speech in New York that while authors and publishers find it hard to cover costs, "companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the back of other people’s content, are raking in billions through advertising and initial public offerings."

Mr Rubin's remarks, presaged in an article in Tuesday's Financial Times, come as Google faces criticism and legal pressure from media companies over services allowing users to search online for books, films, television programmes and news. Viacom, the US media group, instructed YouTube, which Google owns, to remove 100,000 clips of copyright material.

The Authors Guild and a group of publishers backed by the Association of American Publishers have separately sued Google for making digital copies of copyrighted books from libraries without permission. Mr Rubin will tell the AAP's annual meeting that Google's decision to take digital copies of all books in various library collections, unless publishers tell it not to, "systematically violates copyright, deprives authors and publishers of an important avenue for monetising their works and, in doing so, undermines incentives to create."

He will say Google is breaching copyright law because it has "bestowed upon itself the unilateral right to make entire copies of copyrighted books." Google thinks it is acting legally because it publishes only "snippets" of copyrighted works unless it has the publisher's permission. But Mr Rubin will say in Tuesday's speech: "Google is saying to you and other copyright owners: 'Trust us, you're protected. We'll keep the digital copies secure. We'll only show snippets. We won't harm you, we'll promote you.' "But . . . anyone who visits YouTube . . . will immediately recognise that it follows a similar cavalier approach to copyright."

The FBI's Art Crime Team says the painting turned up for sale in New York in 1989, the same year Spielberg bought it from a legitimate dealer. It was Spielberg's staff that alerted the FBI when they noticed the painting on a list of stolen art. "They were gracious and responsible to come forward with that information," Assistant Special Agent Tom Noble told ABC News.

Noble said Spielberg's staff allowed FBI experts to authenticate the painting, which shows children at their desks facing a bust of Lenin. The painting was worth about $20,000 when it was stolen. The FBI estimates it is worth about $700,000 today. "It is just wonderful that it has been found," said Laurie Norton, director of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. "It is good to know it was in safe hands, as Mr. Spielberg is a devoted and passionate collector of Norman Rockwell."

Spielberg is a trustee on the board of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Norton said it is not uncommon for stolen paintings to turn up after decades, since thieves often wait for a case to go cold before putting a painting on the market. The FBI is allowing Spielberg to keep the painting until it can be determined where it belongs.