Will inform for beer

Worth a try

A New Zealand brewer is offering a lifetime supply of free beer in exchange for the return of a laptop stolen in a break-in. Croucher Brewing Co. co-owner Paul Croucher said Friday the computer contains "all our financials" as well as label designs for new beers and business contacts. Croucher estimated the total value likely would be about $19,500 for a lifetime of beer.

People

Author outs Dumbledore

Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the megaselling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the character Friday night at Carnegie Hall in New York. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Oprah's school woes

A dormitory matron at Oprah Winfrey's school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa has been suspended amid allegations of serious misconduct. Police confirmed they had been informed of the allegation, but weren't yet investigating. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls at Henley on Klip, just south of Johannesburg, opened in January amid much fanfare.

Book tour canceled

Denounced worldwide and suspended from his job, DNA pioneer James Watson canceled his book tour in England on Friday and returned to his home on Long Island, N.Y., but not without adding fuel to the controversy over his questioning of Africans' intelligence. In an opinion piece in a British newspaper, Watson apologized again. He also said science must address questions of genetics and intelligence, though the answers might be "cruel." Watson, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize for co-discovering the structure of DNA, has been condemned for telling the Times of London he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really."

Winehouse busted

British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for marijuana possession and held overnight, a police official said Friday. Winehouse had a hit single "Rehab" this year and has spoken openly about her battles with drugs and her penchant for alcohol and marijuana.

By the numbers

Tibet visits higher

More than 3.2 million people have visited Tibet this year, breaking all records and doubling tourist spending in the Himalayan region, thanks to a new railway and airport, state media reported Friday. The tourists spent 3.89 billion yuan ($518 million), an increase of 90.1 percent from on the same period last year.

Passages

Jan Wolkers, 81, novelist, poet and sculptor whose sex-charged books including "Turkish Delight" helped shake off the shackles of postwar conservatism in the Netherlands, died Friday on the North Sea island of Texel.

Today in History

1803: The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

1968: Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

1977: Three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.

Today's Birthdays

Singer Tom Petty, 57. Actor Viggo Mortensen, 49. Rapper Snoop Dogg, 36. Actor John Krasinski, 28. Actress Jennifer Nicole Freeman ("My Wife and Kids"), 22.

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