Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Cinematheque Expanding: The American Cinematheque will step up its programming in May when it begins weekly weekend screenings and other programs at Raleigh Studios’ Charlie Chaplin Theater in Hollywood. The new programming is seen as a transition while the nonprofit film and video exhibition group prepares for its projected summer 1998 move to Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater, where plans call for daily programming year-round. Meanwhile, the Raleigh Studios events kick off May 3 with an ongoing tribute to French film noir master Jean-Pierre Melville, continuing on Friday and Saturday nights through May 24. Other scheduled events include an evening of gay and lesbian films on May 9; the L.A. premiere of Iceland’s “Cold Fever” on May 21; and “The Champagne Safari,” the first program of a new series called “Daring Documentaries/Fearless Filmmakers,” on May 25. Also planned is the first major U.S. retrospective of Japanese director Hideo Gosha, on weekends from June 21 to July 13. Tickets to most events will be $7, a spokeswoman said.

TELEVISION

Fox to Join Sunday News Biz: The Fox network will premiere “Fox News Sunday,” an hourlong show examining the past week’s major stories and events and how they might impact the coming week, on April 28 at 9 a.m. Conservative columnist Tony Snow will host the Washington-based program, which will be executive produced by Marty Ryan, a former executive producer of “Today.”

MUSIC

Tale of Two Tenors: Super tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras made an impassioned plea in Hungary Thursday for an end to injustice in the world. “It is very important how much we can raise our voices against destroying nature, and especially today about corruption and terrorism which . . . blacken every part of the world,” Domingo told a Budapest news conference. “I believe it is something that has to be eradicated absolutely. How much we can do as artists . . . we will do.” The duo, who are scheduled to perform with pop singer Diana Ross but without Three Tenors partner Luciano Pavarotti at the 72,000-seat Budapest stadium on July 30, also asked for lenient treatment when they sing arias with lyrics in tongue-twisting Hungarian. “We are going to try it, but from this moment I apologize for my Hungarian accent,” Carreras said. Tickets for the concert range from $13 to $450 for a VIP seat that includes dinner with the stars. Promoters said that about 30% of tickets have sold so far.

USC vs. Schoenbergs: In the most recent foray in an ongoing battle, USC has counter-sued the heirs of Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg for resolution of a situation in which the school has been forbidden by a Feb. 1 court order to offer most music classes and recitals at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, which houses a collection of Schoenberg’s papers and memorabilia donated by the family 21 years ago. The Schoenberg heirs, who are currently searching for a new home for the collection, wish to limit the on-campus building’s use to classes and events dealing exclusively with Schoenberg’s music, as well as to require the university to maintain the facility--at a cost of $300,000 per year--until a new location is found. USC wishes to gain broader use of the building for its music school, as well as to limit its obligation to maintain the collection to two years if the Schoenbergs insist on moving it.

ART

Getty in Rome: The Getty Grant Program has awarded $186,500 to Rome’s famed Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to support a conservation survey of the church’s important 5th and 13th century mosaics. The church, founded by Pope Sixtus III in the 5th century, is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list because of its artistic and historical significance. The basilica’s 5th century mosaics, depicting scenes from the life of Christ, represent some of the oldest, best-preserved and most outstanding examples of early Christian art in Rome. Later mosaics, completed by Jacopo Torrito in 1295, depict the coronation of the Virgin Mary. The Getty-funded project will enable a team of renowned conservators, scientists and art historians to survey the mosaics’ condition and plan for their conservation.

Wilderness Photos to Meet Technology: Computer software mogul Bill Gates has obtained electronic rights to 2,500 images by acclaimed wilderness photographer Ansel Adams. Gates’ plans include mounting a digital library of Adams works and producing a CD-ROM based on his photography for release in the fall of 1997. Adams died in 1984 at the age of 82.

QUICK TAKES

Singer-songwriter Barry Manilow was named Friday as the first American ambassador of Prince Charles’ key charity, the Prince’s Trust. British celebrity ambassadors of the Prince’s Trust include actor Pierce Brosnan and musician Phil Collins. . . . Walt Bogdanich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who produced ABC News’ “Day One” stories on the tobacco industry, will join “60 Minutes” as a producer, CBS sources said Thursday. . . . Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck, who turns 80 today, told the Associated Press this week that he will retire from show business. “I’ve had a 50-year run, and I don’t want to wear out my welcome,” Peck said from Paris, where he is on vacation with his French-born wife, Veronique. . . . Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve has taped New York radio ads protesting proposed state cutbacks in Medicaid, the government-subsidized health care program for the poor. The ads have already begun airing in the New York City area.