George Harrison and his wife recover from a stabbing

INJURED An intruder stabbed former Beatle George Harrison one time in the chest in an early Thursday attack at his estate outside London. Harrison, 56, is in stable condition in the hospital after fighting off the assailant in his highly guarded home in Henley-on-Thames. Harrison’s wife of more than 20 years, Olivia, was also wounded in the attack and suffered minor injuries to the head, but she was not admitted to the hospital. The attack has shocked Harrison’s friends and fans around the world, especially when considering the tight security at his 100-room mansion, which is called ”Fort Knox” by the Harrisons’ neighbors. So far, there’s no word about whether the 33-year-old attacker was a crazed fan, but the police have confirmed that he is from Liverpool, hometown of the Beatles.

SETTLED After a months-long battle between boy-band ‘N Sync and its former manager Louis Pearlman and the record company BMG, the multi-platinum group has settled the $175-million feud to keep control of its name. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, Reuters has cited sources who claim that BMG will continue to receive royalties from the band, even though the ‘N Sync boys are now with the Zomba Group’s Jive Records (which is also home to teen sensations Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys). According to Reuters, ‘N Sync won’t have to cough up the $150 million its ex-manager had filed for when the group signed with Jive. Which means they won’t have to change their names to ‘R Broke.

CANCELED As expected, Fox has nixed its half-hour ”Ally” experiment. Airing on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., ”Ally” was a re-edited version of ”Ally McBeal”’s funnier segments, but it wasn’t funny enough to attract more viewers than a regular rerun. In its 10 broadcasts, ”Ally” was seen by a mere 6.2 million viewers, almost half the average audience for ”Ally McBeal” …. A New Year’s Eve celebration featuring Third Eye Blind, Everclear, and several other rock bands in Washington D.C., has been canceled by its organizers, which cited “unforeseen circumstances.” The D.C. bash is the latest high-priced millennium extravaganza that has been called off. Ticketholders (who paid between $249 and $399) are receiving refunds.

BABS WATCH If you can’t afford to shell-out the Benjamins to see Barbra Streisand perform in Las Vegas tomorrow night, you can catch the better-than-buttah Babs singing live on ABC shortly after midnight.

VIDEO WATCH ”The Sixth Sense” and ”Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” the year’s biggest box-office grossers, are scheduled for video/DVD release next spring. The Bruce Willis-thriller “Sixth Sense” debuts on VHS and DVD on March 28, while the George Lucas-epic will land in rental stores April 4 on video.

OBITUARY Famed director Irving Rapper, who directed four of Bette Davis’ classic films, died yesterday in his Los Angeles home at the age of 101. His most famous films included ”Now, Voyager” (1942), ”The Corn is Green” (1945), ”Deception” (1946), and ”Another Man’s Poison” (1952). Actors who worked with the London-born filmmaker included Kirk Douglas, Claude Rains, and Ronald Reagan.

BIRTH Don Johnson and his new wife, Kelley Johnson, have a new 7 lb., 15 oz. baby girl named Atherton Grace, who was born on Tuesday morning. Her first name is in honor of Kelley’s late father, but her parents have announced that she will be called Grace.