Taking the Beatles Online

Coming to a computer near you: the Beatles. The question is when. A spokeswoman for Apple Corps, the Beatles' record company, confirmed yesterday that it was preparing to make the group's catalog available online, Reuters reported. ''There's no firm date on any of this at the moment,'' she said. ''There are a lot of projects that Apple are working on at the moment.'' The Beatles have been high-profile holdouts from Internet music, where soaring sales lifted revenue to $1.1 billion last year. Plans by Apple Corps -- owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison -- to make the Beatles' catalog available online emerged in testimony by Neil Aspinall, the managing director of Apple Corps and a former Beatles road manager, during a trademark lawsuit against Apple Computer. He said Apple Corps was digitally remastering the entire catalog, an enterprise that would pave the way for selling the songs online. ''I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters,'' Mr. Aspinall said in a statement to the High Court in London.

Rapper Who Was Killed Fired First Shot, Police Say

Police officers investigating the fatal shooting of the rapper Proof say he fired the first shot at the CCC nightclub in Detroit before dawn on Tuesday, wounding a man who was in critical condition yesterday, The Associated Press reported. The officers also said that they had questioned a bouncer, Mario Ethridge, a cousin of the wounded man, Keith Bender. ''He came in because the Detroit Police Department asked him to,'' Mr. Ethridge's lawyer, Randall Upshaw, told WXYZ-TV. ''Does that sound like a murder?'' Mr. Upshaw declined to say if his client had shot Proof, 32, left, whose real name was Deshaun Holton, but said whoever did had acted in self-defense. ''The understanding of every witness we've spoken to is that Proof pulled out a weapon,'' Mr. Upshaw said. ''Proof shot Keith in the face, and Keith was unarmed.'' Sgt. Eren Stephens of the Detroit Police Department said that if the person who shot Proof was protecting himself or someone else, he would not be charged. Proof, a member of the rap group D12 and best man at Eminem's wedding in January, was shot three times in the head and chest, according to the Wayne County medical examiner's office.

Indonesian Police to Ask Playboy for Postponement

The chief of police in Jakarta, Indonesia, said yesterday that he planned to ask the publishers of the local edition of Playboy to postpone its second issue, Reuters reported. If they do not comply voluntarily, the police chief, Firman Gani, said he would appeal to higher authorities for support. He said a postponement would enable the police to determine if the first issue, which prompted a violent demonstration by male Islamists on Wednesday at the Playboy offices, had violated any laws in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. A nonviolent protest, including women and children, took place at the offices yesterday. A building manager said Playboy had moved out overnight.

Spacey Replies to Critics

Kevin Spacey defended his stewardship of the Old Vic Theater in London yesterday after the early closing of its latest production, Arthur Miller's ''Resurrection Blues,'' directed by Robert Altman. Mr. Spacey, above, told BBC Radio that it was ''not unusual for a show to come off early'' and said it was ''not a disaster'' that the theater would now be dark all summer. An Academy Award winner for his performances in ''The Usual Suspects'' and ''American Beauty,'' Mr. Spacey has been the artistic director of the theater since 2003, under a 10-year contract he said he was ''more determined than ever'' to complete. ''This is the middle of our second season,'' he said. ''It's very early going; nothing has put me off from our goal and our plan.''

Museum Renovation Is Set

The 42-year-old National Museum of American History, an arm of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, is to close to the public on Sept. 5, the day after Labor Day, for major renovation. It is scheduled to reopen by summer 2008, according to an announcement on its Web site. Plans call for a new skylighted central-core atrium and grand staircase; a new gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem; and an updating of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting and other systems.

Mormon Texts Stolen

Two first editions were among 11 copies of the Book of Mormon stolen from the Pioneer Memorial Museum on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City, The Associated Press reported. The books, a Tibetan wood printing block and another religious text could be worth more than $300,000, the authorities said. The theft was discovered early Wednesday, and investigators said that a hammer had been used to shatter a glass case where the books were stored. Two of the books, the central text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were published in 1830, when the church was founded by Joseph Smith, said Lt. Tony Garcia of the Utah Department of Public Safety.

Footnotes

The title is ''Sphinx.'' The life-size painted bronze statue made public by the BBC yesterday actually depicts Kate Moss in a yoga pose, her ankles behind her ears. The sculptor, Marc Quinn, says Ms. Moss and the Sphinx share ''mystery.'' The work, the first of five statues of Ms. Moss by Mr. Quinn, is to be seen in Groningen, the Netherlands, this month. All five are to be shown later in New York. After three nights in jail as part of a five-year sentence for killing an endangered antelope, the Indian film star Salman Khan, above, was released on bail yesterday in Jodhpur, Reuters reported. An appeal of his conviction is planned. ''All the King's Men,'' a remake of the Academy Award winner for best picture of 1949, is to be released by Sony Pictures on Sept. 22, Reuters reported. Starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini and Anthony Hopkins, the film was to have come out last December. It was postponed because editing and music were incomplete.

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