MORNING REPORT - News from Aug. 10, 2000

PEOPLE

Baby Boy: Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and fiance Michael Douglas welcomed their first child, a son, on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The actress gave birth to Dylan Michael Douglas at 5:52 p.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Allen Burry, a spokesman for Douglas’ Furthur Films production company. The baby weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. “They’re ecstatic,” Burry told Reuters. The baby is Zeta-Jones’ first child and the second for Douglas, who has a son, Cameron, from a previous marriage. The couple became engaged New Year’s Eve.

Streisand Plans Fund-Raiser: Barbra Streisand has scheduled a benefit at her home during next week’s Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles to raise money for the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. Skip Rutherford, Clinton’s chief library fund-raiser, said Monday that tickets for the benefit are by invitation only. The library, with an estimated cost of about $125 million, is being paid for with private donations, Rutherford said. He declined to say how much the Clinton presidential library foundation has raised.

Rita Rudner Wins Web Name: A United Nations arbitrator has awarded Rita Rudner the right to the Internet domain name ritarudner.com. The comedian won the case against Internetco Corp., of Lehighton, Penn., which had registered the domain name. The World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday ordered the Web address transferred to her. Previous cases involving celebrity names have brought mixed results. Julia Roberts and the family of Jimi Hendrix have won domain names, but British rock star Sting lost his bid to take control of sting.com.

TELEVISION

“Castaway 2000”: “Castaway 2000,” a BBC series cut from the same cloth as CBS’ “Survivor,” will begin running on BBC America starting Sept. 11. The show, which has stranded 36 people on a remote Scottish island for one year, has been popular in Britain but has been plagued by problems, including bad weather, outbreaks of illness and complaints from the participants about the substandard conditions. Meanwhile, USA Today reports that the Japanese version of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” has been a ratings bust--apparently because Japanese culture has traditionally discouraged individuals from flaunting wealth.

QUICK TAKES

The prime-time quiz show “Since You’ve Been Gone” will premiere Sept. 11 on Fox. The show, from LMNO Productions, plans to isolate contestants for a week and then bring them back to answer questions about current events and their personal lives. . . . Alan Rickman and Richard Harris are in talks to star as professors Snape and Dumbledore, respectively, in Warner Bros.’ film adaptation of the J.K. Rowling bestseller “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. . . . “The Ultimate Scream Collection,” a DVD boxed set featuring all three suspense films, arrives in stores Sept. 26 from Dimension Home Video.