A restraining order against the man who’s been at Britney Spears’ side during her downward spiral portrays him as a Svengali figure who held her a virtual hostage in her home, drugged her, took over her finances and controlled the ravenous paparazzi “like a general.”The order against 33-year-old Sam Lutfi was based on a lengthy declaration from Spears’ mother, Lynne, who says they met in October 2007, when he “essentially moved into Britney’s home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances.”Lynne Spears’ account of a long, chaotic night at Britney’s home depicted a drugged and confused pop star being led around by Lutfi, who was setting up pictures for the paparazzi even as she was spinning out of control.The documents released by the court Tuesday ordered Lutfi to stay away from Spears, her homes, her parents and siblings’ homes and the hospital where she is confined for psychiatric evaluation.On Monday, Lutfi told The Associated Press in a text message: “I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is.” He has not responded to further inquiry.Lynne Spears said in the order that Lutfi “drugged Britney, he has cut Britney’s home phone lines and removed her cell phone chargers. He yells at her. He claims to control everything - Britney’s business manager, her attorneys and the security guards at the gate.”Much of the 6-page declaration centers on the night of Jan. 28, just a few days before Spears was whisked by police and ambulance to a hospital psychiatric ward, where she remained Tuesday night. Her mother outlined increasingly bizarre behavior through the night, and said her daughter asked at one point, “When do I get to see my babies?” to which Lutfi answered, “Wednesday.”Spears has been in court with ex-husband Kevin Federline over custody of their two small children, 1-year-old Jayden James and 2-year-old Sean Preston. She lost visitation rights last month after refusing to hand them back over to their father.Lynne Spears described a harrowing night that stretched into the wee hours when she, her husband and a friend went to Britney’s home because they’d heard Britney was crying after a fight with Lutfi. Once inside, Lynne Spears said she was told by Lutfi that her daughter was afraid to see her father, and only wanted her mother in the house.Lynne Spears also said there were several photoggraphers present, who deferred to Lutfi. “The paparazzi reported to Sam and addressed him with great respect,” she said. “They treated him like a general.”She said during the evening, “Sam had told Britney she was an unfit mother, a piece of trash and a whore, that she cares more about Adnan (Ghalib), her current boyfriend, than she cares about her kids and that she does not deserve her kids.”It was unclear how Lynne Spears knew details of the fight.She said at one point, Lutfi told her, “You’d better learn that I control everything,” and said he was the one giving Britney her medications and, “he told me if he weren’t in the house to give Britney her medicine, she would kill herself.”She also alleged that Lutfi threatened her. “Then he said to me, ‘If you try to get rid of me, she’ll be dead and I’ll piss on her grave.’”Throughout the night, she said Britney continued to ask to see her children.”What do I have to do to see them?” her mother quoted her as saying. “Sam responded, ‘Take the pills I tell you to take.’ Britney said, ‘I don’t like the pills and I don’t like the psychiatrist. Can’t I see another psychiatrist so I can see my babies?’”At that point, Lynne Spears said, “Sam responded, ‘If I told you to take 10 pills a day, you should do what I tell you to see your babies.”She said one time Lutfi raised his voice and said “Why don’t you get back with Kevin (Federline).” Britney then said, “I’ll do anything to get them back.”Lynne Spears described various medications in the house and said Lutfi told her he ground them up and put them in Britney’s food to keep her quiet. “He told us that the doctor who is treating her now is trying to get her into a sleep-induced coma so that they could then give her drugs to heal her brain.”Late that same evening, she said Britney decided she needed to go to the drug store for lipsticks. Before they left the house, Lutfi took Britney upstairs and said he gave her something “to make her more lighthearted, happy and fun.”At the store, she said chaos ensued when Britney’s credit card did not work and she started speaking with a British accent. The manager offered to let them leave by a side entrance to elude the photographers, but she said Lutfi insisted they leave through the front door, then put his arms around Britney and Lynne so the paparazzi could take pictures.A judge has put Britney Spears’ father in control of her personal and financial affairs until Feb. 14 while she is evaluated. The singer’s child custody case, meanwhile, has been continued until Feb. 19.

With teleprompters emptied by the writers strike, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have been transformed into a bloodthirsty, if well-dressed mob.The trio appeared on each other’s late-night TV shows Monday in a mock feud over who “made” Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.The fight began weeks ago, when O’Brien claimed responsibility for any success of Huckabee’s campaign after the former Arkansas governor appeared on his “Late Night” show. Colbert took offense, having frequently touted the effect of the “Colbert bump” in the polls.Debating - as Colbert called it - the “transitive property of Huckabee,” Stewart was eventually roped in, having hosted O’Brien on his MTV program “The Jon Stewart Show” in 1994.And after too many slights (O’Brien called Colbert the “temporary host” of “The Colbert Report”), the trio congregated Monday, roaming across three shows and two networks.Eventually, blowtorches, bricks, stunt doubles and even a little dancing were employed.”My favorite comedy is comedy where nothing is achieved and there is no point,” O’Brien said in a phone interview Tuesday. “That this whole Huckabee fight turned into an insane Marx brothers dance was fitting somehow.”Pooling the hosts’ combined talents had the intended upshot of filling time. NBC’s “Late Night” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are working without writers because of the strike.”Nonsense! That was never, ever the point!” contradicted O’Brien before relenting. “Certainly it was a source of inspiration. The fight itself is three people with a box full of props playing for about an hour.”First, they got together on “The Daily Show,” which airs earliest at 11 p.m. (EST), followed by “Colbert” 30 minutes later and “Late Night” at 12:35 a.m.”You want to tangle, Red?” Colbert snarled at O’Brien.Arranging it so they could make guest appearances and still host their own shows took some slight fiddling, O’Brien said. All the shows tape around the same time in various locations in Manhattan - though on Monday night’s shows, the studios were shown as being down a single hallway.The trio put off the tussle until Stewart finished his show, only to reunite on “Colbert.” Again, the fight needed to be postponed while interviews were attended to by the TV hosts.Later, across town at “Late Night,” the feud culminated in an elaborate fight that ended only when the trio appeared to simultaneously knock each other out - the image frozen in a LeRoy Neiman-like painting.”Conan’s claims on Mike Huckabee could not go unanswered,” Stewart and Colbert said in a joint statement Tuesday. “We just hope the kids out there learned that sometimes the best way to resolve a conflict is with violence.”For anyone watching, it was clear the three hosts share a certain comedic sensibility. Such playfulness would seem impossible with other late-night talk-show hosts; CBS’ David Letterman and NBC’s Jay Leno, for instance, have long had icy relations.”The three of us have come along in the same comedic environment,” said O’Brien. “Our shows all probably have their distinct flavor, but this happened because the three of us knew we would like doing this with each other.”While the rubble settled, Huckabee appeared by satellite to have the last word.”Let’s be clear: None of these guys made me. This great nation made me,” declared Huckabee. “So vote for me. God bless America and forget these three idiots.”—NBC is owned by the General Electric Co. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom Inc. CBS is a division of CBS Corp.

He’s been seen squiring around a dazed looking Britney Spears, at times acting as her spokesman, referring to himself as her manager and friend, and insisting all the while that her best interest is his only concern.All the same, Sam Lutfi, the 33-year-old man in the baseball cap who’s been behind the scenes throughout Britney’s public downfall, has not been easy to define.Then on Tuesday, accusations in a restraining order cutting him off from the troubled pop star would seem to support at least one theory: that he was a Svengali figure in her life, a shady hanger-on who controlled everything - from doling out her pills to holding the paparazzi’s leash.The day before the court documents were released, Lutfi told The Associated Press in a text message: “I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is.” Lutfi did not immediately respond to further inquiry.The restraining order, based on a statement from Spears’ mother Lynne, was not the first against Lutfi, who is listed in legal documents as Osama Lutfi. Accusations in at least three prior orders range from obscene messages following a business deal to a neighbor who said he was hounded incessantly and threatened with bodily harm.Spears remained hospitalized Monday for psychiatric evaluation after being committed last week. The order, which bars Lutfi from contacting her in any way, was granted the same day a court turned control of her affairs over to her father and a lawyer.Though Lutfi had recently reached out to various magazines and media personalities with information on Spears’ condition and state of mind, details on him have proved elusive.Public records show he was born August 16, 1974 in Los Angeles. Music magazine Blender, in a March cover story on Spears, states that Lutfi grew up in Woodland Hills, where his mother reportedly owns several gas stations.According to the movie database IMDb.com, Lutfi served as associate producer of 1998 film “Circles” (also known as “Crossing Paths”) and 2001’s “Crossing Cords.” And a profile titled “Sam Lutfi” on the networking Web site LinkedIn lists him as an “Independent Media Production Professional” with education from the University of Southern California. The school’s alumni Web site does not list Lutfi as a past student.How Lutfi connected with Spears in the first place isn’t clear.Brandy Navarre, co-owner of celebrity photo agency and Web site X17, told the AP that Lutfi contacted the agency about nine or 10 months ago - after her head-shaving incident and others - about telling Spears’ side of the story.Since then, X17 photographers have cultivated a close relationship with both Spears and Lutfi, whom they have photographed together numerous times. Lutfi communicates with X17 by text messages, instant messages and e-mail regularly, and has had long conversations with Navarre, she said.Navarre said she never asked him how he and Spears met. Still, “I think I’ve always had a positive feeling of him,” Navarre said. “He seems to have Britney’s best interest in mind.”In the order against Lutfi, Lynne Spears says her daughter met him in October 2007, and that he “essentially moved into Britney’s home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances.” She describes witnessing a situation of tight control and manipulation, with Lutfi calling the shots on her medications, cutting her phone lines, and deciding who’s let in to see the pop star.A court commissioner on Monday extended temporary conservatorship of Spears to her father, from whom she’s been estranged, through Feb 14. Adam Streisand, an attorney who said he believed he had been authorized to represent Spears, argued Monday that James Spears should be removed because his role “is causing her more agitation and more distress.”"Her family hasn’t been around,” Navarre said. “(Lutfi) has kind of been filling that void. … He’s done everything from being a default manager and publicist to being a brother, a dad.”Navarre denied rumors that the agency was paying Lutfi for access.”We have paid people for information, for pictures, but we’ve never paid Sam Lutfi and have never paid Britney Spears,” Navarre said. “And he’s never asked us for any money.”Last month, Barbara Walters said on ABC’s “The View” that Lutfi had contacted her, telling her Spears “is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable.” She also said Lutfi “seems to be enormously supportive” of Spears.Court documents from previous cohorts of Lutfi present a darker picture.In October 2005, businesswoman Jumana Issa filed a complaint in Los Angeles against Lutfi; it was dismissed in March 2006 because she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing. When contacted by phone, Issa refused to comment.In court papers, the Westside Escrow Corporation owner claimed Lutfi started harassing her from the day of closing an escrow account for him after he demanded canceling an escrow check which she said she was unable to stop payment on.Issa said Lutfi antagonized her repeatedly with obscene e-mails, offensive faxes and late-night voice mails, hanging up on her around 15-20 times a day, according to court documents. Issa described the ordeal as “an overwhelming nightmare.”Lutfi allegedly wrote in one fax provided by Issa, “Come on big lady, I know you are capable of responding. Put down the donuts and call me.”In October 2004, a restraining order was issued demanding Lutfi stay at least 100 yards away from Mark Douglas Snoland, a neighbor in Lutfi’s condominium building, for three years. Snoland’s attorney Ronald Ziff referred questions to Snoland, who did not immediately return calls seeking comment.According to Snoland’s petition for a restraining order, Lutfi began “pounding” on Snoland’s front door on the night of Sept. 6, 2004 and tried to kick the door in while also pounding on a kitchen window and “yelling verbal threats of bodily harm” against Snoland and his mother, who lived in the unit.Snoland claimed Lutfi returned 15 minutes later to continue to kick the door and yell threats. Snoland also alleged Lutfi buzzed him on an intercom “non stop” and, hours later, called his home phone number and hung up every few minutes.Lutfi claimed in a response to the petition that Snoland only “knocked” on the door, and that Snoland “was never threatened,” but actually “angry he was removed from the board of the condo complex.”In April 2007, an Orange County Superior Court granted a restraining order against Lutfi for 29-year-old Danny Haines, who told Blender he had been a close friend of Lutfi for two years and that Lutfi once told him he should kill himself. Attempts by the AP to reach Haines for comment were unsuccessful.According to Blender, Haines said he and Lutfi met on Myspace.com in 2005 when Haines was struggling with relationships with his relatives and friends. The two became tight pals, Haines told the magazine, and Lutfi emphasized that he could be a mediator between Haines and his family.Haines claims Lutfi showed a jealous side, leaving voicemails calling Haines “worthless,” and then divulging, “I love you, man. I love you to death.” Haines alleges Lutfi later suggested Haines take sleeping pills, “lots of them,” following a dispute over money Lutfi allegedly borrowed from Haines, according to the magazine.Haines claims when he stopped communicating with Lutfi, Lutfi retaliated by e-mailing naked photographs of Haines to his family, friends, colleagues and employer, and text messaged and called repeatedly.

Rebecca De Mornay must serve three years probation after a no contest plea was entered Tuesday on her behalf to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn also ordered the 48-year-old actress to complete a three-month program for DUI offenders and pay $350 plus unspecified penalties.Defense attorney Blair Berk entered the plea on the behalf of De Mornay, who wasn’t in the courtroom for the brief hearing. A second DUI charge was dismissed as a result of the plea, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.De Mornay was arrested Oct. 30 for a traffic violation in Beverly Hills when officers smelled alcohol on her breath.De Mornay is best known for playing the prostitute who befriends Tom Cruise’s high school student in the 1983 film “Risky Business.” She also starred in the HBO surf drama “John From Cincinnati” and the films “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle,” “Lords of Dogtown” and “American Venus.”

Less than a week after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen, Craig Ferguson learned he’ll be telling jokes to President Bush.The CBS “Late Late Show” host revealed Tuesday that he’s been booked as the entertainer at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, scheduled April 26.Ferguson, a Scotsman, recently passed an American citizenship test and was formally sworn in Friday. For his late-night viewers, he described the correspondents’ dinner as “like the Oscars for politicians.”It’s also potential trouble for comics: Don Imus and Stephen Colbert both provoked some criticism for their pointed political jokes.”There are 2,800 journalists in attendance, there (are) congressman, senators there, military brass, the Cabinet and I sit at the top table with the president and the first lady,” Ferguson said. “And I am thinking, ‘Does he know I can’t be kicked out now?’”"I thought it would be the big thing, have the dinner and ‘as my last act as president, you go home, Ferguson,’” the 45-year-old talk-show host said. “And I’ll say, ‘I am home!’”—CBS is a division of CBS Corp.

Christian Chavez was hospitalized briefly after he fainted onstage during an RBD concert in Jorge Gonzalez Stadium.Chavez collapsed during the Mexican pop group’s second song Sunday night, local media reported. He was admitted to a private hospital that night.A woman who answered the phone at the hospital confirmed Chavez had fainted. She said he was released early Monday but declined to give further details. The woman said she was a nurse but wouldn’t otherwise identify herself.San Salvador’s La Prensa Grafica newspaper reported Chavez had suffered from dehydration. Concert organizers couldn’t be reached for comment.

He left Universal Studios more than a decade ago, but thanks to his protege, Steven Spielberg, he’ll always have a place on the Universal lot.Sheinberg Place, named for veteran studio executive Sid Sheinberg, was dedicated Monday at a ceremony honoring the former studio chief. Among those in attendance were Dreamworks SKG founders David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Spielberg.”I understand it was Steven Spielberg’s idea,” said Sheinberg, who ran Universal when it released the Spielberg blockbusters “Jaws,” “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Jurassic Park.”"Whether I ever thought this would or wouldn’t happen, that was years ago,” Sheinberg, 73, said of having a street named for him. “This came out of nowhere. Which in some ways is nicer.”The former studio chief, who left Universal in 1995, said he stays “modestly involved” in the film business through his production company. But most of his time these days is spent working with Human Rights Watch and other international humanitarian organizations. He said he rarely has time to visit the studio lot he ran for more than 20 years.”I’m going to have to arrange a tour to be brought up to date on all the events and all the things that have gone on there over the last few years,” he joked.

Influential Southern rapper Pimp C died of an accidental overdose of a combination of drugs he had named in his lyrics - codeine and promethazine, the county coroner’s office ruled Monday.The drugs are key ingredients in “syrup,” a narcotic of choice in Southern rap circles that was most famously celebrated by Three 6 Mafia and Pimp C’s group Underground Kingz in the 2000 single “Sippin’ on some Syrup.”The coroner’s office said Pimp C had sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for up to 30 seconds at a time while sleeping. That illness combined with large amounts of prescription-strength cough syrup is what killed the rapper, coroner’s Capt. Ed Winter said.DJ Screw, another influential figure in the Texas hip-hop scene, died of a heart attack in 2000 after a reported overdose of codeine-laced cough syrup.Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was 33 when he was found in his bed Dec. 4 at the upscale Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood. The coroner’s office said his body was decomposing when it was found.With partner-in-rhyme Bun B, Pimp C was half of the pioneering Port Arthur, Texas-based rap duo UGK. The group’s self-titled CD topped the Billboard charts last year. Pimp C had been working on a solo effort before he died.

Teri Hatcher has won a ruling in a feud between rival lip plumpers worthy of Wisteria Lane.A judge ruled Monday that a $2 million lawsuit against the 43-year-old “Desperate Housewives” star should be moved out of court and into arbitration.The lawsuit from cosmetics company Hydroderm, filed late last year in Superior Court, claims that a 2005 endorsement agreement with Hatcher’s production company stipulated that she would not pitch competing products.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Helen I. Bendix ruled that both sides are bound by a prior agreement to arbitrate all of Hydroderm’s claims rather than litigate them in court.The two sides signed the agreement Nov. 30, according to Hatcher’s lawyers, who filed the motion to move to arbitration.According to the lawsuit, the company learned Hatcher was also pushing CityLips, a lip plumper made by City Cosmetics, which competes with Hydroderm’s Volumizing Lip Serum.”Hatcher’s name, image and likeness have been linked to so many competitors’ products,” the lawsuit said, “that it is anyone’s guess as to what product keeps her skin and lips youthful.”Hatcher’s attorney Alan Wertheimer has called the lawsuit an “unjustified and public assault on Teri Hatcher’s good name, reputation and celebrity.”Wertheimer has said that the deal with Hydroderm did not affect Hatcher’s previous deal with CityLips.

Julianne Moore has a loving new way to help struggling kids in America: Send a valentine.Just before Christmas, the 47-year-old actress read to elementary school students and met with parents in White Oak, Tenn., on behalf of Save the Children. The organization aims to improve children’s quality of life through literacy, physical activity and nutrition programs.Afterward, Moore, a mother of two, was inspired to offer Valentine’s Day cards online in return for donations to Save the Children. The cards, featuring children’s artwork, can be printed or e-mailed, and are available through Feb. 14 on the charity’s Web site.In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Moore said she hopes the initiative will catch on in schools where classmates exchange valentines.”I know my kids are very service-oriented, and they’re very into the idea of charity - particularly when it comes to other kids,” she said of son Caleb, 9, and daughter Liv, 5.”It’s just sort of a nice way to acknowledge kids who were struggling in America,” Moore said. “It’s like kids loving kids.”The four-time Oscar nominee has also shown support for striking Hollywood writers. She was photographed picketing with Robin Williams and other stars outside New York’s Time Warner Center the first week scribes walked off the job in November.”Everybody really really wants it to be resolved - but at the end of the day, jobs are much more important than awards,” she said. “So we really want this settled so that everybody can go back to work.”