A call of support

Nearly a dozen major writers, four of them Nobel laureates, issued a call of support yesterday for author Milan Kundera and denounced claims published by a Czech weekly that he once informed on a Western spy. "The honor of one of the greatest living novelists has been tarnished on dubious grounds, to say the least," said a statement accompanying the 11 signatures, which include Nobel laureates J.M. Coetzee, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nadine Gordimer, and Orhan Pamuk. On Oct. 13, the Respekt weekly published an article reporting that a team of historians had found a Czech communist police document identifying Kundera as having informed in 1950 on Miroslav Dvoracek, who served 14 years in prison after being uncovered as a spy. Czech-born Kundera, now 79, denied the charge. He joined the communist party as a student but was expelled after criticizing its totalitarian nature. Kundera, author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," has lived in France since 1975 in virtual seclusion, only traveling to his former homeland incognito. (AP)

A jury ruled yesterday that Keanu Reeves (above) doesn't owe anything to the photographer who claimed the actor struck him with his Porsche last year. After deliberating for less than three hours, jurors unanimously rejected the civil lawsuit, ruling that Reeves is not responsible for the photographer's alleged injuries. Alison Silva had asked the jury to award him $711,974 for medical bills, lost wages, and punitive damages. (AP)

Testimony opened yesterday in the retrial of record producer Phil Spector on charges of murdering actress Lana Clarkson. The first witness was Vincent Tannazzo, a retired New York City police detective who became a bodyguard for TV personality Joan Rivers. Tannazzo, who worked security at parties where Spector was a guest, said he heard Spector use foul language about women and say that they should be shot. (AP)

"I was fat. I didn't know any fat famous actresses. I just did not see myself in that world at all." Kate Winslet, telling Vanity Fair she never had a desire to be famous when she was a child.