Names and faces

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ivana Trump is suing an Italian television station for $3 million, alleging that employees of a show on which she appeared dropped a large quantity of water on her as part of a stunt for the program.

Trump says in court papers that the dousing made her sick, ruined her $3,000 dress and made her lose a pair of $25,000 earrings made by jeweler Harry Winston. She said she spent $400 on emergency medical treatment.

''She was not treated with respect on that show,'' said Trump's lawyer, Dan Harrington. He would not elaborate on the incident or the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Manhattan's State Supreme Court.

According to the lawsuit, Trump appeared July 8, 1999, on a program called ''Scherzi A Parte,'' a show similar to ''Candid Camera.''

She contends producers never told her that she would be doused with water, a stunt that caused ''bodily harm, shock, chills, nervousness, high fever, nausea, embarrassment and severe emotional distress.''

Telephone calls to the Italian television company that produces the show, RETI Televisive Italiane (RTI), went unanswered Thursday. A person at RTI's New York office said no one there could comment on the lawsuit.

Fox studio chief forced out

Los Angeles Times

HOLLYWOOD -- Fox Filmed Entertainment chief Bill Mechanic is leaving as head of the studio under intense pressure from Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox parent News Corp., and the mogul's No. 2 executive, Peter Chernin.

Mechanic confirmed in an interview that he is leaving, calling it a resignation. But other sources said Chernin fired Mechanic this week, and informed Murdoch about it.

The move comes amid a prolonged box office slump, culminating in the current animated flop ''Titan A.E.'' A source said Chernin ''lost confidence'' in Mechanic after that and other expensive, high-profile failures such as ''Anna and the King'' and ''Fight Club.''