Chris Brown pulls weeds at a Virginia police stable for the first day of his 180-day court-ordered community service

Singer Chris Brown spent Wednesday at a Virginia police stable where he began performing his community service in connection with his sentence for assaulting Rihanna.

Before he got there, Brown had Tweeted to his fans: “On my way to community service.”

The “With you” singer worked along with two others who were serving probation, clearing tall weeds and brush by hand and with yard tools. Additional officers were on hand, but only a few fans and television crews gathered nearby.

Brown donned a red cap, work gloves and a fluorscent orange vest over a white ‘wife-beater’ t-shirt – in contrast to the designer suits he’s accustomed to. He didn’t speak to the media but he waved to fans who saw him working.

‘Check out my outfit,’ Brown said in an afternoon Internet ‘tweet’ that included a picture of himself in his work duds.

Judge Schnegg repeatedly made it clear at that she wanted Brown to perform physical labor, rather than community service, in Virginia, where his family lives and he has a permanent home. Richmond Police spokesman Gene Lepley said Brown’s schedule will be flexible and include assignments like washing government cars, picking up trash and cleaning up graffiti.

“We’ll just take a look at it day by day and certainly would ask for the cooperation of the public and Chris’ fans so that he is able to satisfy the work requirements,” Lepley said.

Brown also will go through a 52-week domestic violence program sponsored by Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Virginia.

Schnegg ordered Brown to stay at least 100 yards away from Rihanna, unless they are attending an “entertainment industry event,” when the restriction is 10 yards. Saying that she was not immune to “chatter on the airwaves” about his whereabouts, the judge sternly advised Brown that violating any probation terms would put him in prison.

Brown must pay for the extra guards who work while he is performing community service.

Pop star George Michael insists he was “stone cold sober” when his Land Rover collided with a truck on Firday

The Faith hitmaker was arrested and questioned after his Land Rover car collided with a truck near Reading in the early hours of Friday morning. George Michael confirmed the incident Saturday but said in a statement he had been “stone cold sober.”

“Neither of us was charged because we were both stone cold sober. We both think the other is to blame so this is just an insurance fight,” George Michael said, referring to the lorry driver.

Michael says he didn’t want his fans or family “worried by what they are reading.”

The former star of 1980s pop band Wham was held in the early hours of Friday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink and drugs, but was released without charge after five hours, the BBC reported.

Police confirmed a man had been taken to the Lodden Valley police station near Reading in southeast England Friday.

“Officers were called at 1:00 am on August 14 to a collision on the southbound carriageway of the A34, approximately two miles north of the M4,” a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said.

“It was between a silver Land Rover and an articulated lorry. The driver of the Land Rover, a 46-year-old man, was arrested at the scene.

“He was taken to Lodden Valley police station where he was questioned and released at 5.55am.”

According to the truck owner Laurie Rowe, Michael had been completely disoriented and had no idea what was going on. He even tried to climb into the cab of Rowe’s lorry and said something about being afraid to go to jail. Rowe said the impact was so violent and Michael hit them so hard that he “didn’t think he would have survived.”

The incident came just weeks after authorities handed the singer back his license in June, 2009. He was banned from driving for two years in 2007 when he was twice found slumped behind the wheel of his parked car in London. During the subsequent court case in June, 2007, Michael admitted he had been driving “while unfit”, claiming that he was guilty due to “tiredness and prescribed drugs”.

Bombing attacks in Baghdad kill at least 42 people, injures 130 and destroys 32 houses

A series of early morning bombings near the northern city of Mosul and in Baghdad killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens more, Iraqi officials said.

The attacks provided a grim example of U.S. military warnings that insurgents are trying to derail security gains as the Americans scale back their presence and raised fears that Sunni insurgents are increasingly targeting Shiites in an effort to re-ignite sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.

The worst attack was in the village of Kazna that is home to members of Iraq’s tiny Shabak minority, where two large truck bombs exploded at around 5 am, killing 30 people, injuring 130 and destroying 32 houses, according to figures from one hospital. The death toll was expected to rise as numbers come in from two other hospitals.

At around 6:30 am, car bombs exploded a minute apart in two different neighborhoods of western Baghdad targeting locations where casual day laborers gather to pick up work. The first, in the Shurta neighborhood, killed 10 people and the second, in Amel, killed seven. Both neighborhoods are home to Shiites.

Two other explosive devices exploded in two other Baghdad neighborhoods, targeting Iraqi army patrols. They injured eight people.

Mahmoud Hussein, 28, said he was asleep on a roof, about 150 yards (140 meters) away from the truck bombs, when then explosion flattened his house.

“If we had slept inside, we would have been killed,” said Hussein, who suffered a head wound from flying debris.

Qusay Abbas, who represents the Shabak minority as a member of the Ninevah provincial council, blamed security forces for failing to secure the area on the northern outskirts of Mosul, which the U.S. has called the last stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

“I blame everyone who wants to divide Iraq, and every sectarian official shoulders responsibility for this crime,” Abbas said.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents who remain active in Mosul and surrounding areas.

The Monday bombings is the latest in the line of attacks targeting Shiites. On Friday, a suicide truck bomber devastated a mosque used by another minority, Shiite Turkomen, killing 44 people north of Mosul.

The recent series of attacks have raised concerns about the ability of Iraqi security forces to contain violence as U.S. combat troops wind down duties as part of a withdrawal plan that would see all American forces out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Paula Abdul decided not to return to television’s top-rated show American Idol

Paula Abdul dropped an online bombshell Tuesday night on her Twitter page, posting that she had decided to not to return to American Idol after eight seasons.

“With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to Idol,” she revealed on her Twitter website.

“I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all . . . being a part of a show I helped from day one become an international phenomenon.

“What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me.”

Why would Paula Abdul leave the top-rated show in television, one that gave her a sustained, worldwide fanbase she hasn’t had since the days when she sold nearly 50 million albums two decades ago?

Was it the constant needling from fellow “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell? The parade of jokes and online spoofs of her on-air loopiness? No, according to The New York Times, in light of host Ryan Seacrest’s recent $45 million deal, Abdul has been lobbying for a major pay bump in contract negotiations that have been going on since the spring.

The Times reported that Abdul made around $2 million last season and was seeking a big raise, ultimately rejecting a 30 percent salary increase and multiyear deal worth more than $10 million. According to TMZ, the show’s producers made an initial offer that Abdul didn’t like, then they rejected a counter-offer from the judge and made yet another offer to her. But, rather than responding, Abdul reportedly shocked everyone involved by tweeting her goodbye to the show on Tuesday night. The New York Daily News pegged her asking price at $12 million per season.

The abrupt announcement raises questions about the future of the Fox franchise — not to mention her own career.

News of an Abdul exit left host Ryan Seacrest stunned and saddened.

“Everyone that I’ve passed today here has asked me `Is it true? Is it a publicity stunt?’” Seacrest said Wednesday morning. “As far as I know, it’s real. … At this point, she’s decided to leave.”

“I love Paula and I love what Paula brings to `American Idol,’” said “Drop Dead Diva” producer Josh Berman. “I like that she is the nice one. I like that she finds beauty in everyone. … It’s a loss. For me, Paula was the heart of the show.”

Berman, who did not know the details of her “Idol” departure, said the cast and crew of “Drop Dead Diva” — starring Brooke Elliott as a plus-size lawyer — “instantly fell in love” with Abdul when she filmed her first cameo in early July.

Her episodes air Sept. 13 and Oct. 11.

Besides TV cameos, where else could Abdul turn to expand her prospects? The 47-year-old former pop singer-dancer and L.A. Laker cheerleader has a jewelry line that she promotes on the Home Shopping Network. She was recently was the subject of a Bravo reality show that lasted one season.

Abdul’s former publicist, Howard Bragman, has no doubt she’ll land on her feet — somewhere.

“Don’t write Paula out,” he said. “When the earth is destroyed, I am convinced that cockroaches and Paula Abdul will survive. … When Paula Abdul was a Laker Girl, she was the most famous Laker Girl ever. When she was a choreographer, she was the most famous choreographer ever. She became the No. 1 pop star and then she’s on the No. 1 TV show — and it’s remarkable, but she seems to have a quality and ability to rise from the ashes.”

Bragman called Abdul a survivor who considers herself a star and “lives in sort of Paula-land” where she sees the world through “the Paula lens.”

In an interview session Wednesday with the Television Critics Association, NBC programming executive Paul Telegdy expressed interest in working with Abdul.

“We’ve got no specific plans for her,” he told reporters. “But I read the breaking news last night and I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

“She is a major ingredient of the show,” said Nigel Lythgoe, a former “Idol” producer and current judge on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance.” “She’s fabulously talented. The chemistry between her, Randy (Jackson) and Simon is incredible. Whenever anybody talks about reality shows and judges, they are the three that everyone would love to emulate.”

Lythgoe said he talked to Abdul on Wednesday and plans to meet with her soon to discuss future opportunities, including an appearance on “So You Think You Can Dance.”

He said there are no winners following Abdul’s “Idol” exit.

“It’s not just all about Paula losing out here,” he said, “the show loses out, too. And Paula, and I’ve spoken to her this morning, is a major talent. She’s an ex-dancer, an ex-choreographer, and now, an ex-judge. I would welcome her on `So You Think You Can Dance.’”

According to “Idol” producers, the three remaining judges, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Kara DioGuardi, are set to fly to Denver to start recording season nine auditions.

Ashlee Simpson and her sister ventured out to Katsuya restaurant for a late night dinner in Hollywood

Ashlee Simpson and her sister went out for a late night dinner at Katsuya restaurant in Hollywood last weekend. The Simpson sisters were accompanied by their BFF, hairstylist Ken Paves.

Earlier in the day, Ashlee made sure to tend to her motherly duties – as she was spotted by paparazzi arriving at the restaurant Se–or Fred with her son Bronx and mother Tina Simpson.

It seems that Jessica Simpson has managed to anger a number of Native American groups, when she said that she was not an Indian giver.

Earlier in the week, a TMZ reporter asked Simpson if she was going to ask Tony Romo to return the boat that she had given to him as a gift when the relationship was still going strong. She replied, “I’m not an Indian giver.”

Jessica reportedly spent $100,000 on the boat back in April. Unfortunately, Jessica and Tony never even used the now infamous boat.

Jacqueline L. Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, told Us Magazine Simpson isn’t the only person who uses the phrase in an offensive sense.

“Most people flippantly use the comment ‘Indian giver’ without realizing its true meaning, Pata said.

The concept of Indians giving and sharing with one another is where the term originated, she explained, but has somehow morphed into an insensitive phrase that stereotypes Native people as ones who give and then take back.

When TMZ spotted Jessica outside Katsuya in Hollywood and asked about her recent quote, she replied, “I am Indian, alright?”

Venus Williams defeated Maria Sharapova at the Bank of the West Classic

Venus Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-2, while her younger sister Serena was upset by Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic on Saturday.

There won’t be an all-Williams final Sunday, but given the way Venus dismantled the hard-hitting Sharapova before a record crowd of 3,828 at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Stadium, the Williams family might still leave town with the championship trophy.

“She’s a tremendous athlete and was probably 10 steps faster to the ball than I was,” said Sharapova, who was playing her fifth tournament since returning from shoulder surgery.

“I should have taken the opportunities I had. That’s something that comes along with playing and right now, it’s not on autopilot for me.”

Sharapova, who returned to the court earlier this year after a nine-month layoff, had 30 unforced errors in her loss.

“Against Venus you have to go more for your shots because you don’t expect her to make the errors,” Sharapova said. “She did many things a lot better than I did. My goal was to create my own opportunities and I didn’t do that.”

Venus Williams had 14 winners, including three aces, against 17 unforced errors.

“I enjoy playing against Maria, one of my favorite matchups,” Venus said. Asked why, she added, “Her game matches up well for my game.”

The victory was Venus’ third in six matches against Sharapova and her first between the two on a hard court in four tries.

“I can’t complain too much,” Williams said. “I could have played a little more consistently but I just really want to keep elevating my game through the week.”

Venus will now face third seed Elena Dementieva for a place in the final after the Russian eased past Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-2 6-4.

Stosur took advantage of her chances against Venus’ younger sister. The upset marked Serena’s first defeat since the French Open quarterfinals and avenged Stosur’s three-set loss to Serena in Sydney in January, when the Australian failed to convert four match points.

“Obviously, I remembered that match back in Sydney and didn’t want a repeat of what happened there,” Stosur, ranked 20th in the world, said. “It’s probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, win of my career.”

“She had a lot of lucky shots; she’s a good framer,” said Williams, who has won 34 Tour singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles. “But it’s obviously all talent. She’s mastered that.”

Stosur saved nine of 10 break points on Friday and played a steady game against the top-seeded Williams, who had a nine-match winning streak snapped.

“She played well and didn’t do anything bad,” Williams said. “She went for broke and struck all her balls as hard as she could. She never lets you get into a rhythm.”

“At the end of the day you have to go out and play well,” Stosur said. “I’d like to take it one more step. I’d love to make it to another final.”

Michael Jackson’s mum and reached an agreement with her son’s ex-wife to keep custody of his kids

Katherine Jackson will remain the guardian of her son Michael’s three children after reaching an agreement with the biological mother of Jackson’s two eldest kids, Debbie Rowe, a lawyer for Katherine Jackson told CBS News on Thursday.

Rowe will have “meaningful visitation rights” with her two biological children with Jackson – Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11 – U.S. television networks CBS, NBC and ABC reported.

“It’s an agreement, an agreement for the best interests of the children. This is not a money deal. This is not about money,” Londell McMillan, Katherine Jackson’s attorney, said in a an interview on CBS News’ “The Early Show.”

“All of the parties are resolved. There is no situation better for these children than for them to be raised and reared in the loving care of Mrs. Katherine Jackson,” he said.

He declined to go into specifics and would not address reports about what kind of visitation Rowe would get, if any.

E-mail messages sent to Rowe’s attorney seeking comment Thursday were not immediately returned.

Michael Jackson, who died June 25 at 50, was the sole parent to his three children. He was married to Rowe, but both had described the relationship as borne out of a friendship and said that Rowe had given birth to his two oldest children as a “gift” to Jackson. They divorced after Paris-Michael was born and Rowe was largely absent in her children’s lives. His third child, 7-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket, was born to a surrogate and the mother’s identity has never been revealed.

In Jackson’s will, he expressed his desire to have his mother take care of his children. But after he died, Rowe expressed interest in raising not only her two children, but Blanket as well. In a phone interview with television station KNBC, she also said she would seek a restraining order against Joe Jackson, Michael’s father; Michael Jackson had a complicated relationship with him and often spoke of beatings at the hands of his father.

After Mrs. Jackson, 79, was named by a court as the children’s temporary guardian, Rowe won a delay in a guardianship hearing while she decided whether to seek custody. Other hearings were delayed at the request of both parties, and McMillan had described the negotiations between both sides as very cordial.

Michael Jackson gave Rowe a financial settlement after they divorced in 2000 and she relinquished her parental rights. But they were reinstated by a judge in 2005 after Rowe went to court over the children. The custody dispute was settled in 2006. Terms were not disclosed. Jackson retained primary custody of the children.

Rowe and Katherine Jackson will split the cost of a child psychologist for the children, who have been living with their grandmother and their extended family at the Jackson family home in Encino, Calif., since Michael Jackson’s June 25 death.

The “Thriller” singer left his estate, valued at $500 million in an attachment to his will, to a family trust that benefits his children, his mother and charities.

“That estate is worth, in my estimation, a couple of billion dollars,” McMillan said, referring to the value of the estate if it achieves its potential earnings. “You hear $500 million. Don’t buy it.”

Authorities have targeted the property of Michael Jackson’s personal physician for the second time in less than a week

Federal agents raided the Las Vegas home and office of Michael Jackson’s personal physician on Tuesday as the probe into the star’s sudden death increasingly appeared to focus on whether the physician gave him drugs before the King of Pop died.

It was the second raid on Dr. Conrad Murray in less than a week as officials seek evidence into the cause of the “Thriller” singer’s sudden death by cardiac arrest on June 25.

Murray’s lawyer said after the first raid last week that police and DEA agents were looking for “evidence of the offense of manslaughter.”

Their probe now seems focused on Jackson’s use of prescription drugs, particularly the anesthetic propofol and Murray’s possible involvement in providing it.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents carried away five or six plastic storage containers and several thick manila envelopes after a three hour-search of Murray’s sprawling home in a gated Las Vegas community.

Across town, authorities searched his medical offices, Global Cardiovascular Associates Inc., for nine hours seeking documents. Investigators removed several boxes but declined to describe what they had seized.

Chernoff declined interview requests Tuesday but issued a statement saying the sealed search warrant “authorized investigators to look for medical records relating to Michael Jackson and all of his reported aliases.”

Chernoff said Murray was present during the search of his home and assisted the officers, who seized cell phones and a computer hard drive.

Last week’s search at Murray’s office in Houston yielded information from a computer hard drive, billing and medical records, vials of medication, a Rolodex card and other objects, according to court documents cited in numerous media reports.

Investigators are still waiting for the results of toxicology reports to determine exactly what caused Jackson’s death, but are operating under the theory that propofol caused his heart to stop.

The King of Pop’s family have said they want whoever gave Jackson’s drugs to be prosecuted.

“If he [Murray] is responsible, whoever is responsible, they should be brought to justice,” Jackson’s brother Tito told “Entertainment Tonight.”

“Michael was physically fine as far as I’m concerned. He was strong, he was in good health.”

Tito said the family had tried to stage an intervention several years earlier because of Michael’s prescription drug use, but were kept away by his handlers.

Murray, 56, who is licensed in California, Nevada and Texas, became Jackson’s personal physician in May and was to accompany him to London for a series of concerts starting in July.

He was staying with Jackson in the entertainer’s rented Los Angeles mansion and, according to Chernoff, “happened to find” Jackson unconscious in his bedroom the morning of June 25. Murray tried to revive him by compressing his chest with one hand while supporting Jackson’s back with the other.

It took up to a half hour before paramedics were called, Murray’s lawyers have said. The paramedics arrived about three minutes later and tried to revive the pop star for another 42 minutes before taking him to nearby UCLA Medical Center, where Jackson was pronounced dead.

Propofol typically is used to render patients unconscious for surgery. It can depress breathing and lower heart rates and blood pressure.

Home use of propofol is virtually unheard of, and if Murray left Jackson’s side, he would have violated guidelines for the safe use of the drug drawn up by the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Gay protesters heckled by supporters of Sarah Palin

The announcement that Sarah Palin will step down by the end of July stunned the political establishment, fueling speculation about why she is leaving office with 18 months left in her first term and whether her future will include a run for the presidency.

Palin arrived about 12:15 p.m. Sunday at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks, where thousands gathered for the picnic and her resignation speech.

Among those present was Donna Michaels, 57, of Fairbanks, who wore a red T-shirt that said: “Palintologist.”

The T-shirt defined a Palintologist as “someone who studies Palin and shares her conservative values, Maverick attitude and American style.”

Michaels also held a poster board sign showing the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner when Palin announced she would resign. Michaels altered the banner headline “Palin steps down,” replacing the last word with “up.”

“She’s really not stepping down. She’s stepping up to do something bigger and better,” said Michaels, who attended the picnic with her daughter and two granddaughters, one of whom who wore Sarah Palin-style eyeglasses.

Larry Landry, 51, of Fairbanks held up a red, white and blue sign that that read, “Quitting: the new American value.” The other side read: “Thanks for the laughs.”

Landry, a registered independent, said he respected Palin when she ran for governor in 2006, but he felt she changed during last year’s presidential campaign.

“She turned into a vicious vixen,” he said. “She descended into ugly, divisive politics.”

Landry was standing next to a friend while holding the sign when he was taunted by a passerby. “Well look here, it’s a couple of gay guys, a couple of gay fellas,” the passerby commented. Landry’s friend then showed the heckler his wedding ring, saying he was married.

Alaska’s first female governor arrived at the state Capitol in December 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections. Her prior political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla’s mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Unknown on the national stage until Republican John McCain tapped her as his running mate, Palin infused excitement into the Republican’s presidential bid. But she also became the butt of talk-show jokes and Democratic criticism, targeted at news that the Republican Party had spent $150,000 or more on a designer wardrobe and what some considered poor performances by the Alaska governor in television interviews.

Palin had been an outspoken opponent of marriage equality both as governor and as a vice-presidential candidate. She signaled her support for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody in an interview, “I am, in my own state… I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage.”

Michael Jackson’s personal physician administered powerful anesthetic to help King of Pop sleep forever

Dr. Conrad Murray, the personal physician for Michael Jackson at the time of his death, is now being reported to have administered the drug that killed the King of Pop.

The official, who requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing, told The Associated Press on Monday that Jackson regularly received the anesthetic propofol to go to sleep. The source also said that Dr. Conrad Murray administered the powerful drug on the last night of the 50-year-old’s life.

Though toxicology reports are pending, investigators are working under the theory that propofol caused Jackson’s heart to stop, the official said.

Murray, 51, has been identified in court papers as the subject of a manslaughter investigation and authorities last week raided his office and a storage unit in Houston. Police say Murray is cooperating and have not labeled him a suspect.

Police searching Jackson’s home after his death found propofol and other drugs, an IV line and three tanks of oxygen in Jackson’s bedroom, and 15 more oxygen tanks in a security guard’s shack.

Propofol can depress breathing and lower heart rates and blood pressure. Because of the risks, propofol is only supposed to be administered in hospitals. Instructions on the drug’s package warn that patients must be continuously monitored, and that equipment to maintain breathing, to provide artificial ventilation, and to administer oxygen if needed “must be immediately available.”

Jackson had trouble sleeping and the official said he enlisted various doctors to administer propofol, relying on the drug like an alarm clock. He would decide what time he wanted to awaken and at the appointed hour a doctor would stop the intravenous drip that delivered the drug, the official said.

Murray became Jackson’s personal physician in May and was to accompany him to London for a series of concerts starting in July. He was staying with Jackson in a rented Los Angeles mansion and, according to Chernoff, found an unconscious Jackson in the pop star’s bedroom the morning of June 25. Murray attempted to revive him but could not.

Murray’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has said the doctor “didn’t prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson.” When asked Monday about the law enforcement official’s statements he said: “We will not be commenting on rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources.”