Los Angeles  - Chris Weitz, director of About a Boy and The Golden Compass, was named Monday as the director of New Moon, the sequel to the hit movie Twilight.

The movie is scheduled for release in November 2009, according to a statement by the film's producer Summit Entertainment.

The director of Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke, left the production last week, apparently because she felt unable to complete the sequel on the strict timetable needed to meet the November 2009 release date.

Washington  - Siemens subsidiaries in Argentina and Venezuela have agreed to each pay 500,000-dollar criminal fines to the United States to help settle a massive global bribery case, US officials said Monday.

The fines are a small part of the 1.3 billion dollars that the German-based Siemens parent firm agreed to pay to the US and German governments. That sum includes 800 million dollars to the United States in civil and criminal fines, according to documents filed in US District Court in Washington.

Siemens pleaded guilty to violating the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, where the German company has been listed since 2001, and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition, some of the illegal payments were made from US banks.

Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama's choices to lead his climate and energy team were met with outright glee by an environmental community that has long lamented United States footdragging on climate change.

Though lacking the high profile of some of his other cabinet picks, the announcement Monday was viewed as a signal that Obama is serious about revamping the US response to global warming.

Obama named Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and leading voice on alternative energy, to head the Department of Energy.

Los Angeles  - Though the NBA season is less than seven weeks old, it appears to be open season on head coaches after a sixth one was was given the ax.

The struggling Sacramento Kings fired Reggie Theus on Monday after a 6-18 start, naming assistant Kenny Natt as his interim replacement.

"Another coaching change is not a pleasant situation for anybody, certainly not for myself and not for the players," said Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie.

Los Angeles  - The world's largest toymaker, Mattel, has agreed to pay 12 million dollars to settle lawsuits that it sold toys containing lead paint, the company said Monday.

As part of the accord with 39 US states, Mattel agreed to implement new guidelines reducing the maximum lead content in paint from 600 parts per million to 90 parts per million.

Washington  - Siemens Bangladesh, a subsidiary of German corporate giant Siemens AG, has agreed to pay a 500,000-dollar criminal fine to the United States to help settle a global bribery case, US officials said Monday.

The fine is a small part of the 1.3 billion dollars that the Siemens parent firm has agreed to pay to the US and German governments. That sum includes 800 million dollars to be paid in the United States, according to documents filed in US District Court in Washington.

US officials said that Siemens had violated the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, where the German company has been listed since 2001, and its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition, some of the illegal payments were made from US banks.