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Games

Fab Four fun

The Beatles, whose iconic music is not available through iTunes or other online services, will let MTV, creator of the "Rock Band" game, use its songs in a video game for the first time, betting the tunes will hook a new generation of fans. The game, based on the Beatles' career, will feature songs including "Help!" and "Yesterday" spanning the group's whole catalog with input from surviving band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The as-yet-untitled game will be released during the holidays next year. Games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" give players karaokelike prompts to play along with songs on toy electronic instruments.

Update

A "Law & Order" delay

USA Network is pushing back the start date of the eighth season of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" featuring Jeff Goldblum from Nov. 7 to the first quarter of 2009, cable-network officials said this week. This will allow the new season to run uninterrupted for 16 episodes. No other reason for the postponement was given. Goldblum joins the established cast as Detective Zach Nichols, stepping into the vacancy left by the departure of Chris Noth, who played Detective Mike Logan.

It's the law

Adultery a crime

South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld a ban on adultery Thursday, rejecting complaints that the 55-year-old law is outdated and constitutes an invasion of privacy. The decision was the fourth since a 1990 ruling upheld a law that makes it a crime to have an extramarital affair. Guilty spouses face up to two years in prison if convicted, though few end up behind bars. The number of adultery cases filed in South Korea has dropped in recent years, declining to 8,070 in 2006 from 12,760 in 2000.

Size doesn't matter

Faced with mounting public criticism, Vietnam's Health Ministry suspended a widely ridiculed plan to ban short, thin and small-chested people from driving motorbikes for safety reasons.

People

Phoenix: No more films

Actor Joaquin Phoenix, who turned 34 Tuesday, told TV newsmagazine "Extra" that he plans to quit Tinseltown: "I'm not doing films anymore." Probed further by "Extra's" Jerry Penacoli, Phoenix said, "I'm working on my music. I'm done. I've been through that."

For sale

Notorious fixer-uppers

Panama's government says it received no bidders for two crumbling mansions, valued at $6.1 million, that once belonged to former strongman Manuel Noriega at an auction Thursday in Panama City. Noriega, ousted in 1989 by a U.S.-led invasion, was convicted of drug racketeering in a Miami federal court. He served his sentence and is fighting extradition to France.

Passages

William Wharton, 82, a successful impressionist painter who at 53 published his first novel, "Birdy," which won a National Book Award, died Wednesday in Encinitas, Calif. Wharton painted under his original name, Albert du Aime.

Estelle Reiner, 94, who uttered the famous line, "I'll have what she's having," after watching Meg Ryan fake an orgasm in the movie "When Harry Met Sally," died Saturday at her Beverly Hills, Calif., home.

Fred Baron, 61, a prominent Democratic fundraiser linked to the John Edwards mistress scandal, died Thursday of multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.

Today in history

1517: Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

1941: The Navy destroyer USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of some 100 lives, even though the United States had not entered World War II.

1968: President Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.

Today's Birthdays

Author Dick Francis, 88. Actress Lee Grant, 81. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, 77. Folk singer Tom Paxton, 71. Actor David Ogden Stiers, 66. Director Peter Jackson, 47. Actress Piper Perabo, 32. Actor Eddie Kaye Thomas, 28.

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