NEWS LITE : NO SONG ROYALTIES FOR FORMER POP STARS.

London's High Court rejected a claim Friday by three former members of the pop group Spandau Ballet for hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from the band's former songwriter.

Judge Sir Hugh Park said he found it ``unconscionable'' for singer Tony Hadley, drummer John Keeble and sax player Steve Norman to claim large sums in royalties from Gary Kemp for songs he had written.

The three argued they were entitled to a share of Kemp's earnings from the publishing rights to the band's string of 1980s hits, including ``True'' and ``Gold.''

They said they had a verbal agreement with Kemp that they would each receive one-twelfth of all the royalties from the songs.

All three have struggled to build successful careers since the band folded, while Kemp and his brother, Martin, the group's bass player, have become successful actors.

Calista's restrictions scotch `Today' talk

Actress Calista Flockhart doesn't want to talk about weighty topics, so the ``Today'' show doesn't want to talk to her at all.

The star of Fox's ``Ally McBeal'' backed out of a long-scheduled interview with the NBC morning show when its producers refused a request not to talk about her weight. The ultra-thin actress has denied rumors that she has an eating disorder.

``We never agree to restrictions on interviews,'' Allison Gollust, a ``Today'' spokeswoman, said Thursday.

Flockhart had been booked on ``Today'' to promote her new movie. She also has appearances planned for next week on CBS' ``Late Show'' with David Letterman and on ``The Rosie O'Donnell Show.''

Flockhart has answered questions several times about her weight ``and it always comes out the same,'' said Pat Kingsley, her publicist.

``We just said, `enough is enough,' '' she said. ``We're fed up with it, and we don't want to put her out there anymore.''

The Letterman and O'Donnell shows are different because they are entertainment, not news, shows, she said. Both shows readily agreed not to talk about her weight, even volunteering to stay away from the topic, Kingsley said.

``The `Rosie O'Donnell Show' is a talent-friendly show,'' spokeswoman Laura Mandel said, ``and if guests don't want to discuss something, it's OK with us.''

Doc quits Buffalo orchestra

Doc Severinsen quit as pops conductor of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Philharmonic Orchestra in a dispute with management over marketing.

Severinsen said Thursday he's unhappy with a plan by the orchestra's new executive director, Lawrence Ribits, to replace two outside marketing consultants with an in-house marketing director.

``I made it known with no punches held that I was very comfortable working with those women, and that it would probably not work well for me another way. In other words, if it's working, don't fix it.

``From then on, it was a contentious situation between him and me. All I wanted was to do the job and have it be a success,'' Severinsen said in a statement.

The former leader of the band on ``The Tonight Show'' is in his seventh year with the orchestra.

Philharmonic executives said they were blindsided by Severinsen's decision.

Students likely will sink final

Richard Archer is going down with his ships this weekend.

The Southern Illinois University design professor will for the last time stand watch on Saturday over the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta, a motley outpouring of imagination and spectacular sinkings that he created 26 years ago as a final exam.

Archer, 54, still revels in his creation. But after all these years, the man known as ``Arch'' says it's time to retire.

As Regatta Day approaches, a steady stream of students enters his office to get the wall-size sheets of brown cardboard that will soon be transformed into sparkly purple sea monsters and about 120 other contraptions destined for the campus lake.

Some will make it around the 200-yard course, powered only by muscles or the wind. Others, many others, will sink.

``I know that for every boat that makes it, a person has solved a thousand individual problems,'' he said.

Picasso's daughter marries

Paloma Picasso married her French boyfriend on Friday in a low-key service.

The 49-year-old daughter of Pablo Picasso wed gynecologist Eric Thevennet at St. Ethelreda's Catholic Church in London, just three months after she divorced her husband of 26 years, Argentinian playwright Rafael Lopez-Cambil.

In 1978, Picasso won a lengthy legal battle in France to be recognized as an heir to her father's estate. Her mother, Francois Gilot, never married the painter during their 10-year affair.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Former members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, from left, Steve Norman, John Keeble and Tony Hadley, stand outside court.

Tim Vickers/Associated Press

(2) Paloma Picasso poses with her husband, Dr. Eric Thevennet.

Michael Stephens/Associated Press

(3) GEESE IN PEACE

A Canada goose directs her newly hatched goslings downstream Friday at the Laurel golf course in Laurel, Mont.

David Grubbs/Billings Gazette