ITTY BITTY BITS: Tavis Smiley book tour; Amy Winehouse charged; M.I.A.'s baby; 'Teza.'

    *Tavis Smiley's "Accountable Book Tour" stops in Los Angeles today and in Oakland tomorrow. The book, "Accountable: Making America As Good as its Promise," is book three in the journalist's "The Covenant" series. It poses the question, Smiley challenges readers to set a new standard for those who lead and those who follow. He will appear Tuesday at Barnes & Noble – The Grove in Los Angeles at 7 p.m.; and at the First Congregational Church of Oakland from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He returns to Los Angeles Thursday to visit the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Other stops include Seattle and Houston. See all tour dates: http://www.tavistalks.com/events/special-events/accountable-tour/special-events   

      *Troubled British soul singer Amy Winehouse returned from a two-month Caribbean vacation to an assault charge stemming from an alleged attack on a fan at an end-of-summer ball in London on Sept. 26. Dancer Sherene Flash said she was hit in the eye by the 25-year-old singer after asking to take her picture at the Berkeley Ball, a charity function held in central London's Berkeley Square. Spokesman Chris Goodman said Winehouse went voluntarily to the police station on Thursday, where she was arrested and charged. She's been released and is due to appear in court on March 17, police said.

       *Rapper M.I.A. took to her MySpace page to refute reports that she named her 3-week-old boy Ickitt. She wrote: "MY BABY IS NOT CALLED ICKITT, PICKIT OR LICKIT THANK YOU VERY MUCH. HES A BABY, HE DONT NEED PRESS!" Explaining that she doesn't consider her son's name to be newsworthy information, the 31-year-old says she'll be back with something for her fans soon. "TILL THEN GO PICK ON APPLE, SATCHEL AND MOON UNIT," she suggests.       

       *A film set in Ethiopia about a bloodthirsty regime under which political dissidents and village children alike were ruthlessly killed has won best movie award at Africa's top film festival. "Teza," from "Sankofa" director Haile Gerima, is set during Mengistu Haile Mariam's 1974-1991 rule. It won the top prize Saturday at this year's 40th pan-African FESPACO film festival in Burkina Faso. Judges praised the film, 14 years in the making, for its strength, depth and poetry conveying the dashed hopes of a returning intellectual elite. "The message of the film is peace," Selome Gerima, associate producer of the film and sister of the director, told Reuters while clutching her Etalon d'Or de Yennenga (Golden Stallion of Yennenga), Africa's equivalent of an Oscar.