When Demi's charm failed to work

WASHINGTON: Hearts flutter and fans go hysteric when screen heartthrob Demi Moore is around. But the war-wizened US Navy does not. The US Navy is said to be not overly impressed by the idea of Demi Moore playing G I Jane.

Filmmakers were not allowed to use navy bases, personnel or equipment as backdrops for the story of a woman trying to become the first female seal. ``We felt that the script we reviewed didn't reflect today's military,'' Rear Adm Kendell Pease, the navy's chief of information, said in Wednesday's Washington Times. Our objective, when we give cooperation with a film, is realism,'' Pease said.

Moore was allowed to observe seal exercises in San Diego to prepare for her role as a crew-cut trainee. The elite navy force is all-male, and in the movie Moore's character is frustrated by a military conspiracy to keep her out.

Dolly gets rival

CHICAGO: Dolly the sheep has a American rival. A Wisconsin company said yesterday it had successfully cloned a Holstein calf, born six months ago. ABS Global Inc. said it had developed a ``proprietary, highly advanced genetic technology for cloning dairy cattle and beef cattle''. Researchers in Scotland earlier this year successfully cloned a sheep and a lamb, setting off a frenzied global discussion on the ethics of the new technology. The sheep, named Dolly, was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The cloning process involves use of a DNA-altered cell joined with an egg to create an embryo.

Home wrecker

NORTH CAROLINA: An alleged ``other woman'' was ordered by a jury to pay one million dollars in damages for breaking up a marriage.

``We hope this will send a message to the community and help preserve families,'' said James Walker, Dorothy Hutelmyer's lawyer in her alienation-of-affection lawsuit against Margie B. Cox, now Margie Hutelmyer. A jury in the civil case reached the verdict on Tuesday.

Dorothy Hutelmyer, 40, contended that Margie Cox had an affair with Joseph Hutelmyer, 43, and destroyed the love and affection between the Hutelmyers. Hutelmyer is president of a maritime insurance company and Margie Cox worked as his secretary.

North Carolina is one of a dozen or so states that allow alienation-of-affection lawsuits. Such actions date back to the 1700s, when women were considered property, like a man's horse or his slave.

Diana's visit

LONDON: Princess Diana will travel to Bosnia this week as a guest of the landmine survivors network, the US group said on Tuesday. The organisation said she may go as early as today. Princess Diana confirmed that she planned to go in the near future.

The ex-wife of Prince Charles has campaigned for a worldwide ban on landmines since visiting Angola in January for the Red Cross to publicise the plight of mutilated victims.

Diana will visit Sarajevo, Travnik and Zenica.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.