Billy Haley and His Comets reached the top of the pop music charts with Rock Around the Clock. The smash hit stayed there for eight straight weeks. The song was featured in the film Blackboard Jungle.  

It's considered to be the first "rock" song to reach number 1.

Haley would re-record "Rock Around the Clock" many times over the years (even scoring a substantial hit with a version recorded for Sonet Records in 1968), but never recaptured the magic. 

In 1974, the original version of the song returned to the American charts when it was used as the theme for the movie American Graffiti and a re-recorded version by Haley was used as the opening theme for the TV series Happy Days. The original version was also featured in the 1978 film Superman; it is heard playing on a car radio just prior to Glenn Ford's final scene in the film; Ford, as noted earlier, had starred in Blackboard Jungle. (However, when ABC broadcast the film on TV for the first time, they were unable to obtain the rights to "Rock Around the Clock" and it was replaced by another piece of music; the song remains in all subsequent VHS, DVD and television versions of the film.)

During the 1970s Haley shortened his performances of "Rock Around the Clock", dropping one verse and the second instrumental break from most performances. However, his last known recorded performance of the song, at a November 1979 command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, was a complete version.

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Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China. 

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Aldrin revealed that he intends to lobby Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, in an effort to ensure they find sufficient funds for Nasa's goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon and then send a manned mission to Mars.

Nasa celebrates its 50th anniversary this year but faces grave embarrassment. The ill-fated Shuttle is due to make its last flight in 2010 but it will be a further five years before its replacement, the Ares rocket and Orion crew capsule - also intended for trips to the moon - are ready.

In that time American astronauts will have to hitch lifts on Russian Soyuz flights merely to visit the International Space Station.

Mr Aldrin, 78, said: "To me it's abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can't get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians."

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A European Vogue cover model fell to her death from her Manhattan apartment building Saturday in an apparent suicide, published reports said.

Ruslana Korshunova, 20, died around 2:30 p.m. in a fall from a building on Water Street, in Manhattan's Financial District, The New York Post, the Daily News and Newsday reported. The newspapers cited unnamed officials and police.

Police said the fall was under investigation. Korushnova's New York agency and a spokeswoman for medical examiners did not immediately return telephone messages.

Originally from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, the almond-eyed, flowing-haired Korshunova appeared in advertisements and on runways for such designers as Marc Jacobs, Nina Ricci and DKNY. British Vogue hailed her as "a face to be excited about" in 2005.

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Late last year, Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, The New Yorker magazine reported.

An article published online Sunday by the magazine cites current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources and said the operations were described in a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership.

Even though some legislators, including top Democrats, were troubled by the Finding, the $400 million funding for the escalation, which includes gathering intelligence about Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, was approved.

While clandestine operations against Iran are not new, the article by reporter Seymour Hersh cites officials as saying the scale and scope of the operations in Iran have been significantly expanded.

Some of the operations that have taken place within the past year include seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, for interrogation purposes and the pursuit of 'high-value targets.'

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CBS' "The Late Show With David Letterman" tied its lowest-ever adults 18-49 rating last week.

"Late Show" averaged a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49, Nielsen Media Research said. That is its lowest ever for an original since the program premiered in 1993, though not the lowest for the show: It has hit 0.9 several times, most recently in late December when it was in reruns because of the WGA strike.

Meanwhile, "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" averaged a 1.3 rating in the demo, its biggest margin of victory against "Late Show" in four months. "Late Show" tied for second place in the demo rating with ABC's "Nightline," though "Nightline" had more viewers in the demo. Both "Tonight" and "Late Show" showed drops in viewers and the demo.

NOTE:  Maybe Letterman should quit phoning it in, and get off his left-wing perch.  

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A teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, authorities said.

Six Flags officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, S.C. scaled two six-foot fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was both off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said in a news release.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce. Police have declined to release the teenager's name until an autopsy is completed.

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A 74-year-old Florida woman was mauled to death by her two dogs this week, according to Titusville police.

Loraine May's golden lab mix and an Australian shepherd mix attacked her Thursday morning, according to authorities.

May's son found her body.

Brevard County Animal Services and Enforcement have taken the dogs, which will be destroyed.

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It has been called one of the most brilliant student pranks of all time, and in a country with as much history — and pesky college students — as Britain has, that's saying something.

The object: An ordinary car. The feat: landing the car on the roof of the Senate House.

The Cambridge engineering students who pulled it off were never publicly identified, but now 50 years later, the Daily Mail reports, the secret of their June 1958 stunt has been revealed.

The mystery group reunited at an anniversary dinner this month, and Peter Davey identified himself as the mastermind of the prank, according to the Daily Mail.

Thinking the expanse of roof "cried out" for something more, he and 11 others chose an Austin Seven as their car. The team was divided into three groups — one on the ground getting the car into position, a pulling group on the roof to man the scaffolding-poles-and-steel-rope hoist and a third to pass the car over a gap in the roof, the Daily Mail reports.

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Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support. 

Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former president's future campaign role is a "sticking point" in peace talks with Mrs Clinton's aides.

The Telegraph has learned that the former president's rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Mr Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence.

A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support

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Pakistani forces bombarded suspected militant hideouts with mortar shells Saturday as the government launched a major offensive against Taliban fighters threatening the main city in the country's volatile northwest, officials said.

The offensive in the Khyber tribal region marked the first major military action Pakistan's newly elected government has taken against the militants operating in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

The government had said it preferred to try to defuse tension with the groups through negotiations, but with threats by Islamic militants to the city of Peshawar growing in recent weeks, the military decided to take action. Khyber also is a key route for moving U.S. military supplies into neighboring Afghanistan.

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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands —  This city's famed marijuana bars have weathered many challenges over the years and are still smoking. But now they face an unwelcome blast of fresh air: On July 1, the Netherlands will be one of the last European countries to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in compliance with EU law.

The Health Ministry says the ban will apply to cafes that sell marijuana, known as coffee shops. But this being Holland, which for centuries has experimented with social liberalism, there's a loophole: The ban covers tobacco but not marijuana, which is technically illegal anyway.

But that still leaves coffee shops and their customers in a bind. Dutch and other European marijuana users traditionally smoke pot in fat, cone-shaped joints mixed with tobacco.

"It's the world upside down: In other countries they look for the marijuana in the cigarette. Here they look for the cigarette in the marijuana," said Jason den Enting, manager of coffee shop Dampkring.

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SACRAMENTO —  Sacramento police say a 2-year-old boy survived on cat food for up to six days after his mother died.

A social worker heard the toddler crying while making a visit to check on the family Thursday morning. The worker called police after no one answered the door of the brick duplex where the mother and child lived.

Inside, authorities found the body of 36-year-old Lisa Gonzales. It was not immediately known how she died, but a Child Protective Services spokeswoman says the woman suffered from a chronic illness.

Sacramento police officials did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

Neighbors said the woman worked as a waitress and described her as frail and quiet.

The boy, identified only as Noah, is in protective custody while social workers determine whether he can be placed with a family member.

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O.J. Simpson says an ambitious Nevada prosecutor is pressing a kidnapping and armed robbery case against him that he says even the alleged victims don't want to pursue.

"If I was anybody else, I wouldn't be going to court," Simpson told a reporter for Fargo, N.D., radio station KFGO who interviewed him late Tuesday at a Fargo cigar bar. Simpson was vacationing in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

"How many trials have you ever heard of where both of the victims say they don't want this guy to go to jail, they don't want to go to court, and you still go to court?" Simpson asked. "It's only me.

"But unfortunately for me," Simpson said, "I got like a bull's eye on my front, dollar sign on my back, you get involved with people who want to be governor and stuff."

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As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak — or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes.

The widening outbreak — with 810 people confirmed ill — means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health officials warned on Friday.

Tomatoes remain the top suspect and the advice on which ones consumers should avoid hasn't changed, stressed Food and Drug Administration food safety chief Dr. David Acheson.

However, he said it is possible that tomatoes being harvested in states considered safe could be picking up salmonella germs in packing sheds, warehouses or other facilities currently under investigation.

Most worrisome, the latest victim became sick on June 15 — long after the outbreak began on April 10 and weeks after government warnings stripped supermarkets and restaurants of many tomatoes.

"The source of contamination has been ongoing at least through early June. And we don't have any evidence that whatever the source is, it's been removed from the market," said Dr. Patricia Griffin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Redmond O'Neal, the son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal, has pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and methamphetamine.

The 23-year-old O'Neal pleaded guilty Thursday in a Malibu court to the two felony counts and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs. As part of a plea deal, a second DUI charge was dismissed.

He was placed on three years' probation on the misdemeanor charge and fined about $1,700.

The district attorney's office says O'Neal also was ordered to remain in drug treatment until a hearing next month to determine if he can enter a drug-diversion program on the felony charges.

O'Neal was arrested January 26th after he was stopped for speeding on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

VANISH: Letterman 'Late Show' posts poor ratings

What's next for Jay Leno?