ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

Bono Calls for ‘Historic Act’: U2 frontman Bono on Monday urged the world’s rich nations and top financial institutions to deliver a “historic act” this year and wipe out the debt of the world’s poorest countries. Bono said that an estimated 19,000 children die each day in poor countries for want of basic health care, and described as an “obscenity” that for every dollar flowing as aid to poor countries each year, $8 are sent back in debt payments. “We want to end the year with a far more historic act than we began it with,” he told a forum at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Prague. “The idea of cutting the debts of the poor countries to the rich countries, at a time of unimaginable prosperity in the world, is the only idea that people will remember 2000 for.”

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Houston Charged: Hawaiian prosecutors will finally charge Whitney Houston with a misdemeanor drug charge stemming from a January incident at the Keahole-Kona International Airport. Houston’s bag, which was seized by an airport employee, allegedly contained 15.2 grams of marijuana. Deputy prosecutor Mel Fujino said the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office will charge Houston with third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, which is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. If she’s a no-show, Houston will have a warrant out for her arrest. Hawaii does not extradite for petty misdemeanors. Meanwhile, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that Court TV has already applied for permission to cover Houston’s case.

TELEVISION

The Nightly News . . . En Espanol: ABC’s “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings” will become the first major national broadcast news program available in Spanish when it begins providing simultaneous Spanish interpretation of the broadcast on the Secondary Audio Program (SAP) channel, on Oct. 2. “This is something we have wanted to do for a long time,” anchor Jennings said. “We hope that those who speak primarily Spanish will get a broader view of the world by having access to our broadcast.” NBC’s “Nightly News” and the “CBS Evening News” are considering doing the same thing, said representatives for each broadcast. CBS announced Monday that the network will provide Spanish translations of the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates.

ART

First Sculpture Believed to Be Identified: Archeologists have found what they believe is the world’s first sculpture, chiseled from a small lump of volcanic rock more than 220,000 years ago. If they are correct, the discovery places known representations of human life some 170,000 years earlier than previously thought. The rock was found in 1986 in the Golan Heights, near Israel’s Syrian border, but most academics discounted the claim of professor Nama Goren of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, who discovered it, that the stone was crudely carved to suggest a female figure. Using powerful microscopes to examine the rock, scientists in France and Canada now say Goren was right.

ENTERTAINMENT

Head of the Class: Christine Lahti, Allison Janney, Gil Bellows, Hector Elizondo, Tom Arnold and Daniel Stern are among 16 entertainers set to speak in classrooms at five L.A. Unified schools today as part of the nationwide “Stand Up for Class” initiative sponsored by Court TV and the Creative Coalition. The event will feature actors, directors and others speaking to kids about how they got where they are and the importance of staying in school and making good choices in life. Others scheduled to speak at the L.A. schools (Bancroft, Belvedere and Pacoima middle schools; Hamilton and Locke high schools) include director Wes Craven, “Later” host Cynthia Garrett and screenwriter Barry Blaustein.

QUICK TAKES

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky will cover American culture for Britain’s Channel 5 television network. Lewinsky will host six four-minute segments titled “Postcards From Monica.” . . . After appearances on “Oprah” and “The Tonight Show,” Vice President Al Gore next appears on “Choose or Lose: Al Gore Town Hall Forum” airing at 8 tonight on MTV. . . . Colburn School of Performing Arts President Toby E. Mayman will retire after 20 years with the institution. The board plans a search for a new president. . . . Erin Dilly has been replaced by her understudy, Sutton Foster, in the title role of the new stage version of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” opening at La Jolla Playhouse on Oct. 15. In a written statement, director Michael Mayer said, “We all love Erin and think she is a special talent. We are very sad that we could not continue together.”