Led Zeppelin guitarist ready for world tour

Tokyo – Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said Monday he was ready to take the iconic band on a world tour after burning up the stage at last month’s reunion concert in London. But it probably won’t be before September.

“The amount of work we put into O2 was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway,” Page, 64, said of the intense rehearsing the band did for the Dec. 10 concert at London’s O2 Arena.

The band’s three surviving members – Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones – were joined at the sold-out benefit show by the late John Bonham’s son Jason on drums.

Page said the band, which formed in 1968, was ready musically to get back together and take it out on a wider run, but it was not clear when it would go on tour as the singer had other plans.

Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krauss will begin their world tour with a run of shows in the southern U.S. this spring. The two released an album in October called “Raising Sand” that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart in the U.S.

Police won’t question Olsen about Ledger

New York – Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says Mary-Kate Olsen will not be questioned by detectives about Heath Ledger’s death.

“There’s absolutely no indication investigators were going to speak to Mary-Kate Olsen,” Kelly said at a news conference Sunday, echoing previous statements by police officials. “They determined that they had all the info needed from witnesses who were on scene: That’s the cleaning woman, the masseuse.”

Ledger’s masseuse, Diana Wolozin, found his body last Tuesday in his Manhattan apartment. She had an appointment with Ledger, who starred in “Brokeback Mountain” and other films.

Police have said Wolozin made three calls to Olsen before dialing 911 for help, then phoned the 21-year-old actress a fourth time after paramedics arrived.

Olsen hasn’t spoken publicly about the calls. She has only said: “Heath was a friend. His death is a tragic loss. My thoughts are with his family during this very difficult time.”

The cause of Ledger’s death will not be known for at least a week, after medical examiners complete toxicology tests.

Wesley Snipes’ defense rests in tax fraud case

Ocala, Fla. – The defense in the tax fraud and conspiracy trial of Wesley Snipes rested Monday.

Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas P. Rosile were named in an eight-count indictment. Snipes and the co-defendants allegedly stopped filing his federal tax returns in 2000, demanded some $11 million in refunds on taxes previously paid and tried to settle other U.S. Treasury debts with fake checks.

All three were charged tax fraud and conspiracy, while Snipes faced six additional charges of willful failure to file a return from 1999 to 2004. The 45-year-old actor, star of the “Blade” films, faces a potential sentence of 16 years in prison, while Kahn and Rosile could get 10.

“We chose not to call witnesses because there was no need to. The government prosecutors have put on a case that simply does not come close to meeting the standard of its burden of proof,” Snipes’ attorney Daniel Meachum said in a statement.

The trial, which had been expected to last a month, opened Jan. 14. The prosecution rested Friday.

Closing arguments were scheduled for today.

Britney Spears’ friend fills Barbara Walters in

New York – Barbara Walters says she has been contacted by Britney Spears’ manager and “very good friend,” Sam Lutfi, who says the pop singer has seen a psychiatrist.

Lutfi told her the 26-year-old pop singer “is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable,” Walters said Monday on ABC’s “The View.”

“He said that she has been to a psychiatrist and that she, I assume, is starting some kind of treatment,” said Walters, a co-host on the ABC talk show.

“She has been having mood swings. She’s been having trouble sleeping, and also she is in touch with her mother – ’cause we had heard she wasn’t – and her mother has been very supportive of whatever it is that Britney is going to do,” Walters said.

Lutfi has been staying with Spears constantly, “and he got in touch with us,” Walters said. “I can’t vouch for this, he seemed to be very knowledgeable and he certainly was very nice.”

Jamie Lynn Spears’ TV show continues

Los Angeles – At least one Jamie Lynn Spears mystery is over.

The younger Spears sister’s popular TV character is back at her fictional California boarding school, although the pregnant 16-year-old star of the children’s show “Zoey 101” is continuing to stay out of the limelight herself.

“Zoey 101” concluded its third season last month, shortly before Spears, younger sister of Britney Spears, announced she was pregnant with her teenage boyfriend’s child. The show has continued to air in repeats since then, with little fanfare from the network, leading to speculation that its fourth season might be shelved.

“The new season is under way. It premiered last night,” Nickelodeon spokeswoman Marianne Romano said Monday.

Filming of the show’s fourth season, which was planned to be its last even before Spears became pregnant, was completed last summer.