Taylor dispute dropped

The US Supreme Court yesterday refused to consider a dispute involving Elizabeth Taylor over ownership of a Vincent van Gogh painting. The painting, "View of the Asylum," is claimed by descendants of a Jewish woman who fled Nazi Germany. The painting, worth millions, may be among the estimated 600,000 works of art that belonged to Jews and wound up in Nazi hands between 1933 and 1945. Relatives of Margarete Mauthner, a noted translator and advocate of the arts, say the painting was among the property she lost to the Nazis. Taylor bought the painting in 1963 for $236,000 at a Sotheby's auction from the estate of a German art collector. Taylor's lawyers say the record shows the painting was sold through two Jewish art dealers to a Jewish art collector, with no evidence of any Nazi coercion or participation in the transactions. (AP)

Robert Culp's lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles Zoo mistreats elephants can go forward. Judge Reginald A. Dunn rejected arguments by the city that the complaint filed by the 77-year-old actor and real estate agent Aaron Leider lacks a legal basis. Culp and Leider want to stop the zoo from building a $40 million elephant exhibit. They accuse zoo authorities of withholding medical care from elephants and keeping them cramped in small places and don't want the zoo to keep any elephants. (AP)

Donovan, famous for '60s pop hits such as "Mellow Yellow," announced plans to open the Invincible Donovan University, where students will adhere to the principles of transcendental meditation. "I know it sounds like an airy-fairy hippie dream to go on about '60s peace and love," said Donovan. "But the world is ready for this now." The university will be located in Glasgow or Edinburgh. (AP)

'I promise, if elected, I will crush the state of Georgia.' Comedian Stephen Colbert, speaking at the University of South Carolina about his fanciful presidential campaign