Election not so funny

Taipei, Taiwan — Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan said Sunday that Taiwan’s recent presidential election was “the biggest joke in the world.”

President Chen Shui-bian narrowly won the March 20 vote. The opposition wants to nullify the results after Lien Chan lost the election and claimed the vote was marred by irregularities. Thousands protested in the streets for a week after the vote.

“People will talk about it for 100 years,” Chan said at a news conference in Shanghai. “It was a shame. Not so good to look at. I was very upset and couldn’t fall asleep.”

Chan’s comments were aired on Taiwanese television.

‘Scooby-Doo 2’ makes No. 1 debut

Los Angeles — The Mystery Inc. ghostbusters might have to cut their budget for Scooby snacks.

“Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” took in $30.7 million in its opening weekend, good enough for an easy No. 1 finish but 43 percent below the $54.2 million debut the first “Scooby-Doo” managed in June 2002.

The Coen brothers’ “The Ladykillers,” starring Tom Hanks in a remake of the 1955 heist black comedy, premiered in second place with $13 million.

Other estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:

3. “The Passion of the Christ,” $12.5 million.

4. “Dawn of the Dead,” $10.3 million.

5. “Jersey Girl,” $8.3 million.

6. “Taking Lives,” $6.5 million.

7. “Starsky & Hutch,” $6.3 million.

8. “Hidalgo,” $5.43 million.

9. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” $5.42 million.

10. “Secret Window,” $5.4 million.

Singer Howie Day arrested

Madison, Wis. — Singer Howie Day was arrested for apparently locking a woman in a bathroom and breaking another woman’s cell phone after one of the women allegedly refused his sexual advances.

Day, 23, who opened for the band Barenaked Ladies at a concert Wednesday, was charged Friday with misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct in connection with the postconcert incident on his tour bus.

Day was released from jail after posting $850 bail Thursday. He is scheduled for a court appearance Thursday.

The singer-songwriter has received critical acclaim with his 2003 album “Stop All the World Now.” He performed March 3 at The Granada in Lawrence, Kan.

Sharon Stone’s divorce final

Sharon Stone is a single woman again — her divorce from newspaper editor Phil Bronstein has been finalized, IMDB.com reports.

The “Basic Instinct” actress, 46, and the San Francisco Chronicle editor split in July 2003 with Bronstein citing “irreconcilable differences.”

Stone and Bronstein married on Valentine’s Day 1998 and adopted a baby boy, Roan Joseph, in 2000. Their five-year marriage was full of drama: Bronstein was bitten on the foot by a Komodo dragon in 2001, only months before Stone had a health scare after suffering from a brain hemorrhage.