Judge delays hearing for custody of Smith’s baby

Nassau, Bahamas – A judge delayed a hearing Friday on custody of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby daughter to give the late Playboy Playmate’s mother and ex-boyfriend more time to negotiate a private visitation arrangement.

Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, and the baby’s father, Larry Birkhead, were to meet privately today to discuss access to 7-month-old Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune from her mother’s estate.

“No lawyers, no press, nothing,” said John O’Quinn, an attorney for Arthur. “They are going to figure out what they believe is in the best interests of the child and try to get it done.”

A DNA expert revealed Tuesday that Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer, was Dannielynn’s father. Smith’s companion, Howard K. Stern, then said he would not fight to retain custody of the baby.

The judge agreed Friday to postpone the hearing to determine who should get custody until April 20.

‘Stray Shopping Carts’ wins oddest book title

London – When it comes to wacky titles, a book on rogue shopping carts goes straight to the express lane for winners.

“The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification” was named the winner Friday of the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for oddest book title.

The book, written by Buffalo, N.Y.-based artist Julian Montague and published by Harry N. Abrams, offers a mock-scientific taxonomy of the varieties of lost shopping carts, from the simply discarded to the elaborately vandalized.

“Stray Shopping Carts” received a third of the more than 5,500 votes cast by members of the public on the Web site of trade magazine The Bookseller.

Runner-up was “Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan,” by Robert Chenciner, Gabib Ismailov, Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov and Alex Binnie.

Other finalists were “How Green Were the Nazis?” by Franz-Josef Bruggemeier, Mark Cioc and Thomas Zeller, a study of the environmental policies of the Third Reich; “Di Mascio’s Delicious Ice Cream: Di Mascio of Coventry: an Ice Cream Company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of Ice Cream Vans,” by Roger De Boer, Harvey Francis Pitcher, and Alan Wilkinson; “Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium”; and “Better Never To Have Been: the Harm of Coming Into Existence,” by David Benatar.

LaBeouf to co-star in next ‘Indiana Jones’ movie

Los Angeles – After months of building Internet buzz, this can finally be reported as fact: Shia LaBeouf has been cast in the upcoming “Indiana Jones” movie.

Producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg announced Friday that LaBeouf will appear alongside Harrison Ford in the fourth installment of the adventure franchise, scheduled for release May 22, 2008. Production is set to begin in June.

Paramount, a division of Viacom Inc., declined Friday to say what role LaBeouf would be playing.

It’s a busy weekend for the up-and-coming actor. He stars in “Disturbia,” a high-tech, teen version of “Rear Window,” which opened Friday; then he’s hosting NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” tonight.

Streisand home fundraiser raises $1.3M for Democrats

Malibu, Calif. – Barbra Streisand welcomed Nancy Pelosi to her Malibu estate for a fundraising dinner that took in $1.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The 120 invited guests paid up to $50,000 a couple to attend Thursday night’s dinner party inside a large white tent erected on the Point Dume property.

It was the first fundraiser at Streisand’s home since a 1986 concert that raised $1.2 million for Democrats, he said.

Pelosi arrived after appearing on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” where she apologized for being late. She’d had to cast a critical vote, she explained to the late-night talk show host.

Leno said he understood democracy takes precedence, but Pelosi said it wasn’t that – she had to cast a vote for “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar.