From: BBC News World



Rock star Courtney Love has pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon after being accused of attacking a woman with a whisky bottle.
The singer, 40, is due to stand trial next year after an incident in April when she found a woman sleeping on her ex-boyfriend's couch in Los Angeles.

Kristin King has said an "angry, vicious and erratic" Ms Love threw a bottle and a lit candle at her.

The star is also awaiting trial on two unrelated drug charges.

The widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and former singer with rock band Hole, Ms Love has faced separate charges in five recent legal cases.

In one, she pleaded guilty to hitting a man with a microphone at a New York nightclub and in another, she admitted being under the influence of cocaine.

Chipped tooth

The charge of assault with a deadly weapon arose on 25 April when Ms Love allegedly poured a bottle of whisky over Ms King before throwing the bottle and a candle at her face.

The singer and actress then sat on Ms King, pulled her hair, dug her nails into her arm and grabbed her left breast in the "worst pinch I ever had", the alleged victim has claimed.

The incident left Ms King with bruises, nail marks, a bump on the back of her head and a chipped tooth, she has said.

Ms Love is free on $150,000 (£80,000) bail and must return to court in Los Angeles on 15 December for a hearing that will decide when her trial will start.

Last month, her lawyer Howard Weitzman said the singer had been "grossly overcharged".