Winehouse acquitted of assault in Britain

London — A judge acquitted Amy Winehouse on Friday of assaulting a fan who asked to take her picture.

District Judge Timothy Workman found the 25-year-old singer not guilty of punching dancer Sherene Flash in the eye after the fan asked to take her picture following a charity ball in September.

Prosecutors claimed it was a deliberate assault. But Winehouse said she had felt intimidated by the drunken Flash — and claimed she was too short to have hit the dancer in the face.

The judge said that after hearing the evidence, he could not be sure the blow had been deliberate.

“The charge is dismissed and the defendant discharged,” he said.

Winehouse shrugged as the verdict was announced. She remained in the dock until her lawyer spoke to her, apparently clarifying the verdict.

“I’m relieved. I’m going home,” she said as she left court through a jostling pack of photographers and television cameras.

In a statement read by a spokesman, the singer said she was “very happy to move on with her life and put the episode behind her.”

But Winehouse said she had felt intimidated when Flash “lunged at me and put her arm around me,” and had only meant to push the other woman’s arm away.

“I was scared,” Winehouse said Thursday. “I thought, ‘People are mad these days; people are just rude and mad, or people can’t handle their drink.'”

Nas ordered to make $40K payments to Kelis

Los Angeles — A judge has ordered Nas to pay Kelis nearly $40,000 in monthly support for the near future, a day after the “Milkshake” singer gave birth to the divorcing couple’s baby boy.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Louis Meisinger issued the order at a Thursday hearing. Neither Nas, whose full name is Nasir Jones, nor Kelis, whose full name is Kelis Rogers, attended Thursday’s hearing.

Rogers will receive $30,471 in spousal support per month; the couple’s son will receive $9,027, according to the court records.

Rogers gave birth to the boy, named Knight, at a New York hospital Wednesday. The 29-year-old filed for divorce from the rapper in April. The couple were married in July 2003.

Bono, U2 rock Dublin as world tour hits new high

Dublin — Bono and U2 are rocking 80,000 fans in Dublin as the Irish supergroup’s world tour hits emotional highs on home soil.

A deafening roar welcomed the Dubliners as they launched their three-concert homestand Friday at Croke Park, Ireland’s biggest stadium. The band’s “360” tour switches from Europe to North America in September.

U2 guitarist The Edge said the band always considers its native city the emotional highlight of touring. Bono joked that recent shows in Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam were mere “rehearsals” for Dublin.

The U2 gigs are injecting an estimated $70 million into Ireland’s recession-ravaged economy. Hotels are booked solid. Dublin Criminal Court canceled jury deliberations for the weekend — too many jurors had U2 tickets.

Weapons charges dropped against Williams

New York — Manhattan prosecutors say gun charges against comedian and rapper Katt Williams have been dropped.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney said prosecutors moved Thursday to have the case dismissed because they “can’t prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Williams, who’s 37, was arrested in November when police pulled over a Cadillac Escalade SUV and a Dodge minibus belonging to him. Police said two guns were in one vehicle and one in the other.

Defense lawyer Charles Ross said prosecutors learned the guns were legally registered in other states to two men who were with Williams.

Ross said he was “pleased that the DA’s office did the right thing.”

Williams lives in Woodland Hills, Calif. He has had roles in the movies “Friday After Next” and “Norbit.”

‘Dancing’ duo turns up the heat on Broadway

New York — Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have no time to think about their wedding.

They’re too busy burning up the dance floor.

The professional dancers — best known from ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” — are preparing for their Broadway debuts in the ballroom dance show “Burn The Floor.” It opens Aug. 2 at the Longacre Theatre.

Smirnoff says she and her husband-to-be — engaged since New Year’s Eve — are consumed by dance steps and stage cues. Following their three-week guest appearance, she says, “we’ll definitely start thinking about the wedding.”

Chmerkovskiy calls it “a testament to the relationship” that the passionate pair can rehearse so closely and still stick together.

Author E. Lynn Harris dies at age 54

Los Angeles — A publicist for E. Lynn Harris says the author has died at age 54.

Publicist Laura Gilmore says Harris died Thursday night after being stricken while at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. Gilmore says a cause of death had not yet been determined. A coroners’ official in Los Angeles said only that a man matching Harris’ name and date of birth had died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Harris was a pioneer of gay black fiction and a literary entrepreneur who rose from self-publishing to best-selling status.