Disney/ABC TV Group cuts 400 positions

Los Angeles — The Walt Disney Co.’s television division is cutting 400 jobs, or about 6 percent of the unit’s work force, because of the economy.

The cuts include 200 layoffs, while another 200 vacant positions will not be filled in a division that employs 6,500 to 7,000 people, said a Disney executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the number of job cuts had not been made public.

The job reductions, to be implemented in the coming months, were the latest announced at the family entertainment company, which is grappling with weak consumer sentiment and a declining advertising market.

Anne Sweeney, the president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, informed staff of the layoffs in a memo sent out Thursday.

James Brown survivors await estate settlement

Columbia, S.C. — James Brown’s family could walk out of court today with a brand new deal. If approved by a judge in South Carolina, a settlement over the late soul singer’s estate would end a two-year legal saga.

Attorneys say it would divide Brown’s remaining assets and give his beneficiaries the ability to make money using his music and likeness.

Half of Brown’s assets would go to his charitable trust to educate his grandchildren and needy students in Georgia and South Carolina. The rest would be split among his surviving spouse and some of Brown’s adult children.

It’s a contrast to the instructions spelled out in Brown’s will and trust filed less than a month after his death on Christmas Day 2006, but lawyers said they’re done fighting over what many say is very little remaining cash.

Jennifer Hudson films new video

New York — Jennifer Hudson has finished filming her first video since the slayings of her mother, brother and nephew.

The clip for “If This Isn’t Love” was done in Los Angeles and is set to debut the week of Feb. 9.

The 27-year-old singer/ actress is slowly starting to return back to work following the October slayings of her 57-year-old mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson; 29-year-old brother Jason Hudson; and 7-year-old nephew Julian King. Her estranged brother-in-law has been charged in the killings.

She is scheduled to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday, and also at the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards, where she is nominated for four awards for her self-titled debut CD.

Hasselbeck of ‘The View’ is pregnant again

New York — Elisabeth Hasselbeck of “The View” and her husband, Tim, who played for the Arizona Cardinals, are about to be outnumbered.

Hasselbeck announced Thursday on the ABC daytime chat show that she’s pregnant with her third child, due in August. She said: “We are thankful for such great news and will begin planning our zone defense strategy immediately.”

The couple are the parents of 3-year-old Grace Elisabeth and 15-month-old Taylor Thomas.

Being outnumbered at work is nothing new for Hasselbeck. As the resident conservative on “The View,” she’s often gotten into passionate political arguments with her colleagues.

The hunt goes electric: Clancy books go digital

New York — Tom Clancy is going digital.

The author of such blockbusters as “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” is finally making his work available electronically, starting Feb. 3 with his breakthrough novel, “The Hunt for Red October.”

Publisher Penguin Group (USA) Inc. made the announcement Thursday.

Clancy’s books will be available in all e-formats.

Executives Laura Porco of Amazon.com and Chris Smith of Sony Reader said Thursday that Clancy had been in great demand by customers.

Stuntman injured on Harry Potter movie set

London — British officials are investigating an accident on the set of the latest Harry Potter film that left a stunt man seriously injured.

Studio Warner Bros. says a man was hurt at Leavesden Studios near London, where “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is in preproduction.

The ambulance service says a man in his 20s suffered a significant back injury in the accident Wednesday. His name was not released but British media reported he was stunt double for Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the boy wizard in the hit films.

The Health and Safety Executive said Thursday it was investigating the workplace accident.

Robbers nab jewels from Sarkozy’s ex-wife

Paris — It was a classic burglary in a classy Paris suburb, except that the thieves who made off with jewels and valuables worth $650,000 had robbed the ex-wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy, police said Thursday.

Cecilia Attias, the former Cecilia Sarkozy, was not home in the chic suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine when the robbers broke into her first-floor apartment this month, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

Cecilia’s husband, Richard Attias, a prominent public relations agent, lodged a complaint with police. Neither of them was in France when the theft occurred.

The former French first lady left Sarkozy in May 2005 for Attias, but returned to Sarkozy’s side in the run-up to France’s presidential elections in the spring of 2007. Their divorce was announced in October of that year.