A judge has ruled singer Courtney Love can leave rehab and enroll in an outpatient program. Love has been at a live-in drug treatment facility since September. Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin cut short Love's sentence for violating probation in three criminal cases, including two drug-related charges. The judge ordered Love, the former lead singer of the band Hole and widow of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, to submit to random checks twice a week for drugs and alcohol. She also must continue therapy and avoid any business that primarily sells alcohol. Although Love will be now have more freedom to finish up her sentence for violating probation in three different criminal cases, she will still be under watchful eyes. The judge extended her probation to March 2007 and set her curfew at 10 p. m.

Nearly half of Americans questioned in a new opinion poll mistakenly believe they can contract bird flu by eating chicken. Forty-seven percent of respondents including nearly half of college graduates agreed with the false statement that eating an infected chicken can result in bird-flu transmission. The survey sampled 1,007 Americans and was commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation.

The Chinese government is implementing new Internet rules that directly challenge freedom of speech by imposing regulations on the content of news Web sites. According to the new rules, news Web sites may only post "healthy and civilized" news.

The art world is furiously debating the ethics of displaying a sculpture made with the pickled head of a dead fetus attached to a seagull's body that was exhibited at a Swiss art museum. Berne's Museum of Fine Arts removed the piece from a Chinese art exhibition earlier this month after a complaint that it was disrespectful to the dead, and following concerns its grisly appearance might traumatize visiting schoolchildren, Reuters reports.

Stephen King and John Grisham are among 16 authors selling the right to have a character in a book named for the highest bidder in an effort to raise money for the First Amendment Project, a California-based nonprofit group that promotes freedom of information and expression. Details of exactly what each author is offering have been posted on Internet auction site eBay and the auctions will be held between September 1 and September 25, the group says, according to Reuters.