Court suspends arrest warrant against Gere

New Delhi – India’s top court suspended an arrest warrant Friday against Richard Gere, wanted for allegedly breaking public obscenity laws by kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at a public AIDS awareness event last year.

“Gere is allowed to come and leave. He can’t be arrested,” said Anil Grover, an attorney for Shetty, after attending the Supreme Court proceedings.

Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justice R. V. Raveendran indefinitely stayed the arrest warrant issued against the actor last year by a court in the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, Grover told The Associated Press.

Gere embraced and kissed Shetty on her cheek at the public AIDS awareness event in New Delhi on April 15 last year, prompting Hindu hard-liners to allege the pair had offended the sensibilities of India’s traditionally conservative culture.

2 doctors cleared in actor Ritter’s death

Glendale, Calif. – A jury cleared a cardiologist and a radiologist Friday of negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of actor John Ritter, who died of a torn aorta in 2003.

Jurors said the majority believed the cardiologist summoned to the hospital after Ritter was diagnosed with a heart attack had no time to order a chest X-ray that might have found the tear.

They also said the radiologist, who gave Ritter a body scan two years earlier, did advise Ritter of coronary problems and to consult other doctors, but his failure to do so did not cause his death.

Minnie Driver confirms she’s having a baby

Burbank, Calif. – Minnie Driver says she’s got the bump.

The 38-year-old actress and singer confirmed during an appearance Thursday on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that she’s pregnant with her first child.

Leno joked that she appeared to have gained weight.

“Are you calling me fat? You’ve noticed my tummy, haven’t you?” Driver said.

“Are you pregnant?” Leno replied.

“Yes, I am,” she said.

Driver said she loves being pregnant but is frequently sick.

“I don’t know why they call it morning sickness,” she said. “I am sick morning, noon and night, but it’s a fair trade-off.”

Driver didn’t reveal the name of the father.

Driver stars on the FX cable TV series “The Riches,” which premieres Tuesday.

Hilton will choose new BFF on reality show

New York – Paris Hilton is looking for a new best friend.

Hilton will choose from 20 potential confidantes on an MTV reality series, tentatively titled “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” premiering later this year, the network announced Thursday.

Production is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles at the end of May, MTV said. The contestants will live together in a house – drama! – and try to prove themselves worthy in the areas of loyalty, endurance and “girl politics.”

Hilton, an executive producer on the show, will “teach the secrets of celebrity living – how to turn your enchanted life into a multimillion dollar brand, how to manage public feuds and always rise above, how to survive scandal and then make it work for you, all the while wearing 6-inch heels.”

A casting call has kicked off on ParisBFF.com, where visitors can vote for Hilton’s aspiring hangers-on.

Sheryl Crow teaming up with Fleetwood Mac

Los Angeles – Sheryl Crow says she’ll soon be singing with Fleetwood Mac, a move sure to give new life to the classic rock band, which hasn’t toured in several years.

“I don’t want to make any official announcements, but I will say that we definitely have plans for collaborating in the future, and we’ll see what happens,” Crow told the AOL music Web site Spinner.com in a story posted Thursday.

The 46-year-old singer didn’t give a date, but said it could happen next year.

She’s already thinking about what she’d like to perform. “I’d love to do ‘The Chain,’ I’d love to do ‘Second Hand News,”‘ Crow said.

Lynch to give $1M to fund scholarships

Des Moines, Iowa – David Lynch says his nonprofit foundation will donate $1 million to fund scholarships for students who want to learn a meditation technique taught at the Maharishi University of Management.

Lynch, who directed “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Dr.” movies and the “Twin Peaks” TV series, is a longtime practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.

Students practice TM as part of their course of study at Maharishi University, which was founded in Fairfield in 1971.

Lynch, 62, plans to give $1 million in scholarships for students to attend the university and learn TM. The goal is to increase the number of students who meditate on the Fairfield campus to 2,000.