Gwinnett Daily Post

Experts see Polanski being extradited

GENEVA -- Roman Polanski's loss of a crucial California court decision sets up his return to the United States more than three decades after he fled a statutory rape charge, Swiss legal experts said Friday.

However, they predicted months of further legal wrangling before extradition.

Caught up in the complexity and political sensitivity of the case, Switzerland has yet to issue a decision on delivering the fugitive Oscar-winning filmmaker to Los Angeles prosecutors nearly seven months after his arrest.

Swiss authorities have cited the voluminous paperwork and said they would wait out a California court's examination of whether Polanski could be sentenced in absentia for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

But the U.S. court rejected Polanski's sentencing request Thursday without an opinion. While his attorneys could still appeal to the California Supreme Court, legal experts saw little basis for Swiss authorities to reject handing over Polanski.

Mel Brooks gets star on Walk of Fame

LOS ANGELES -- Nobody could say people walk all over Mel Brooks. Until now.

The comedian, actor and producer who gave the world ''Blazing Saddles,'' ''Young Frankenstein'' and ''The Producers'' got a star Friday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Brooks received the 2,406th star during a ceremony in front of the Egyptian Theatre. His son, Max, and friend, Carl Reiner, attended.

Brooks, who's 83, has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

'Survivor' star accused of simple battery

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Police in Louisiana said ''Survivor'' contestant Russell Hantz was charged with simple battery after being accused of shoving a woman to the ground.

Lafayette police said Hantz was booked into the parish jail early Friday after the incident in downtown Lafayette. The woman was not seriously hurt.