Author Rowling wouldn’t part with final ‘Potter’ manuscript

London – J.K. Rowling says she won an argument with airport security officials in New York to carry the manuscript of the final “Harry Potter” book as carry-on baggage.

Had security agents not relented, the British author said on her Web site, she might not have flown.

“I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t – sailed home probably,” she wrote. The posting was dated Wednesday.

The 41-year-old author had participated in an Aug. 1 book reading for charity with fellow writers Stephen King and John Irving. Security was drastically tightened after Aug. 10 when British police said they had intercepted a plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.

“The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven.

“A large part of it is handwritten and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the U.S.”

Eventually, she added, “They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands.”

Nintendo to challenge Sony with release of Wii console

New York – Has Mario met his match?

Nintendo Co. is taking on Sony and Microsoft with the release of its Wii game console, hoping that like its video hero Mario it will be able to defeat the gorillas in the video game industry.

Nintendo said Thursday the new game console would go on sale in the U.S. on Nov. 19 for $250.

The Wii (pronounced “wee”) is cheaper and smaller than Sony Corp.’s much-awaited PlayStation 3, which launches just two days earlier with $500 and $600 models.

The Wii is the follow-up to Nintendo’s GameCube.

The Wii breaks the mold of console controllers: It’s a slim wand that communicates the user’s movements wirelessly to the main machine.

Brinkley files for divorce

New York – Christie Brinkley has filed for divorce from Peter Cook, two months after reports surfaced about his alleged affair with an 18-year-old employee, Cook’s lawyer has confirmed.

The divorce papers were filed in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

The 52-year-old supermodel announced in July that she and Cook, 47, her fourth husband, had separated. They were married in 1996 and have an 8-year-old daughter, Sailor. Cook adopted Brinkley’s son, Jack, now 11, from her marriage to developer Richard Taubman.

Brinkley previously was married to Frenchman Jean-Francois Allaux and singer Billy Joel.

Anna Nicole Smith supports probe of adult son’s death

Nassau, Bahamas – Anna Nicole Smith supports a formal inquest to determine how her 20-year-old son died while visiting her in the hospital, an attorney for the former Playboy playmate and reality TV star said Thursday.

Her son Daniel Wayne Smith died Sunday, three days after she gave birth to a daughter in the Bahamas.

A jury inquest is scheduled to begin Oct. 23. Witnesses including Smith, hospital staff and others who saw her son the night of his death were expected to be summoned.