By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) – After more than a week of haggling over costs, Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures have reached a deal that will allow “Mission: Impossible 3” to move ahead with filming in Italy next month.

Paramount Pictures chairman and chief executive officer Brad Grey announced the agreement in a statement Tuesday. Filming will start July 18 on the third installment in the action-adventure series, which is a remake of a popular 1960s TV show.

The film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who joined the project last August, and will be produced by Cruise and his partner, Paula Wagner.

“Tom’s history with Paramount has made for one of Hollywood’s most successful relationships; the opportunity to continue our collaboration with him on “Mission: Impossible 3′ is everything anyone in show business could hope for,” Grey said.

The deal fell into place after Cruise agreed to adjust his lucrative profit participation deal and shave a budget that had swelled to as much as $185 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The movie will feature Cruise and co-stars Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michelle Monaghan and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is set for release on May 5, 2006.

Abrams is one of the creators of ABC’s “Lost” and “Alias.”

The first “Mission: Impossible” movie came out in 1996 and was directed by Brian De Palma. John Woo directed “Mission: Impossible II,” which was released in 2000.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Former child star Macaulay Culkin pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of possession of medication without a prescription and marijuana and was given a deferred sentence.

Culkin, star of the 1990 movie “Home Alone,” was arrested Sept. 17 after Oklahoma City police stopped a car in which he was a passenger. Officers found over a half-ounce of marijuana and several tablets of Xanax, a prescription medication used to treat depression and panic disorders, court records show.

Culkin, wearing a gray suit and a white open-collared shirt, entered the pleas during a brief hearing before Special Judge Russell Hall, who gave him a 1-year deferred sentence on each of the charges and assessed a total of $940 in fees.

The 24-year-old actor spoke softly during the hearing in Oklahoma County District Court and his words were inaudible in the crowded courtroom. He made no comments to a group of reporters as he left.

Debra Forshee, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office, said Culkin was required to appear before Hall to resolve the charges.

“We treated him as we would treat any other defendant,” Forshee said.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Mashburn said Culkin completed all requirements of his probation before he came to court, including a drug and alcohol assessment. Mashburn said the assessment revealed Culkin does not have a drug problem.

Culkin recently testified in the Michael Jackson child molestation case, saying he spent time with Jackson as a boy but was never molested.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) – Popular on the tennis court, Andre Agassi is hoping to be a big draw on a casino floor.

Agassi’s name and image are emblazoned on slot machines rolled out Tuesday at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, with a percentage of proceeds and licensing fees to go to his Las Vegas-based charitable foundation.

“I was a little hesitant, being a professional athlete, about the association with gaming and wagering,” Agassi told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But my connection to this city is so clear and I’m so tied in with the city, that I found myself in a unique situation. Seeing myself on a slot machine seemed like a perfect fit for a boy from Las Vegas.”

The Agassi slot machine is a penny-based game with a tennis theme and graphics to complement bonuses and progressive jackpots. Eventually, the slot machines will be installed at casinos across Nevada.

“I think people will be glad to know that if they’re losing money playing the game, at least a portion will go toward helping to make a difference in the community,” Agassi said. “My goal in establishing the relationship was to make sure some of the money makes it to kids here.”

His foundation has raised more than $50 million through its annual “Grand Slam for Children” events.

The 35-year-old Agassi and his wife, former tennis star Steffi Graf, have two children and live in Las Vegas.

The game was developed by Aristocrat Technologies, a subsidiary of Australia-based Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.

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On the Net:

http://www.agassifoundation.org/

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NEW YORK (AP) – “Lotsa de Casha,” the fifth and final installment in a series of children’s books by Madonna, has been released. It tells the story of the richest man in the world, who loses everything but gains a friend.

Written for readers ages 6 and up, “Lotsa de Casha” is described as “a whimsical updating of the age-old truth that money can’t buy happiness.” Nicholas Callaway, founder and chief executive officer of Callaway Arts & Entertainment, announced the book’s publication Tuesday.

Madonna was doing several promotional events for the book this week, including an appearance Tuesday at a Manhattan bookstore.

The July issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands June 14, features a 15-page cover story on the 46-year-old pop star, who says she’s written a sequel to her first children’s book, “The English Roses.”

“I’m going to keep writing sequels and start an “English Roses’ thing – my ultimate goal is to have a TV series, in episodes, each one having to do with girls finding themselves in challenging situations,” she tells the magazine.

She also talks about how studying Kabbalah has changed her.

“I can assure you, five years ago – and I’ve been studying for nine years – there’s no way I would’ve said, “I’m going to write kids’ books and give all the money away to charity.”‘

Madonna donates all her profits from the books to the Spirituality for Kids Foundation, an education and outreach arm of the Kabbalah Centre.

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On the Net:

http://home.madonna.com/

http://www.callaway.com

http://ww5.lhj.com/lhj/

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LONDON (AP) – Organizers of the Live 8 concerts aimed at promoting awareness of poverty in Africa have announced a lineup of artists to play at a sixth concert in Scotland next month.

Unlike the concerts in London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris and Rome on July 2, the Edinburgh concert will be staged July 6 as leaders of the G8 group of wealthy nations meet in nearby Gleneagles.

The “Long Walk to Justice” concert will feature Travis, Snow Patrol and Dido.

Midge Ure, who along with Bob Geldof helped organize the original Live Aid concerts in 1985, said the Edinburgh concert will be a celebration, with a serious message behind it.

Geldof has called for a million people to gather in Edinburgh for an anti-poverty rally ahead of the G8 meeting in Scotland, prompting police concerns over safety in the city.

But Ure said the gathering would be peaceful.

“I wouldn’t bring my family to something that I thought could be a dreadful situation,” he said Tuesday.

The 60,000 free tickets for the concert will be distributed through a text message lottery.

Also performing at the Edinburgh event will be Embrace, The Thrills, McFly, Ronan Keating, Natasha and Daniel Bedingfield and Scottish artists Texas, Wet Wet Wet, Annie Lennox and the Proclaimers.

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LONDON (AP) – Queen guitarist Brian May has closed the British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal, which he supported for more than 15 years.

The British charity, which kept a register of potential bone marrow donors for leukemia patients, is winding up after its function was taken over by Britain’s public health service, the NHS.

May said the charity, which on Tuesday donated leftover funds of $1.8 million to blood services across Britain, should be proud of what it had achieved.

He became involved in the late 1980s after a leukemia patient requested that “Who Wants to Live Forever” be played at her funeral. May re-recorded his hit song to raise money for the organization.

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On the Net:

http://www.brianmay.com/

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NEW YORK (AP) – Kimora Lee Simmons, creator of the Baby Phat clothing line, has signed a two-book deal with Regan Books that includes a children’s book and a how-to lifestyle guide.

The lifestyle guide, set for publication in February, will include “inspiring and personal stories” from the former model, who is married to hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and is the mother of two daughters.

“If you think she got there just by being beautiful and marrying well, wait till you read the real story behind this remarkable woman,” Judith Regan, publisher and founder of Regan Books, said in a statement Monday

Simmons is among 44 celebrities, including Paris and Nicky Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Rebecca Romijn, Elle Macpherson and Heidi Klum, who bared all for a new coffee-table book titled, “4 Inches,” published by London-based Scriptum Editions.

The celebrities, wearing only Cartier jewels and 4-inch Jimmy Choo heels, were shot by renowned female photographers for the project to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation to benefit women and children suffering from AIDS in Africa, Cartier said in a statement Monday.

“4 Inches” will be launched in the United States on June 16, when select images from the book will be auctioned by Christie’s at the Cartier Mansion in New York City.

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On the Net:

http://www.ejaf.org/

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) – Rick Schroder has put his western Colorado ranch on the market for $29 million, in part because of a legal squabble with a neighbor.

“All this unpleasantness has left, unfortunately, a bad taste in my mouth,” the 35-year-old actor told The Daily Sentinel newspaper on Monday.

Schroder, who co-starred on television’s “NYPD Blue” and appeared in movies including “The Champ” and “Crimson Tide,” said he anticipated going through with court-ordered mediation before taking his dispute over access issues to trial.

“I’m still going to defend myself in court and see that through,” he said.

Schroder said he also was putting the ranch up for sale because he is unable to visit frequently. He said he has some potential buyers in mind.

“If I don’t get my price, then it won’t sell,” he said.

Schroder stars as Dr. Dylan West on Lifetime cable channel’s “Strong Medicine.”

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On the Net:

http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/strongmed/