July 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 19, 1429

LONDON, July 22: Hollywood actor Christian Bale, the star of the new Batman film “The Dark Knight”, was arrested over allegations he attacked his mother and sister, police said on Tuesday.

After being questioned at a London police station a day after appearing at the film’s West End premiere, he was bailed to appear again in September pending further enquiries, Scotland Yard said.

Police sources quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said the actor was detained over an alleged assault in his suite at London’s plush Dorchester Hotel on Sunday.

The force confirmed they had received a formal complaint after the two women, who live in the county of Dorset, southwest England, made statements to Hampshire Police in southeast England. Welsh-born Bale, who starred in “American Psycho”, “Empire Of The Sun” and “Batman Begins”, attended the British premiere of “The Dark Knight” in London’s Leicester Square Monday evening.

The Batman sequel rewrote the box-office record books stateside last weekend as audiences flocked to see late actor Heath Ledger in his last completed film role. The film raked in $158.4 million, crushing the previous North American box-office opening record of 151.1 million held by “Spider-Man 3”, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

Some have suggested the new Batman film was cursed following the death of Ledger, who played psychotic villain The Joker, of an accidental drugs overdose in January. During filming a special effects technician, Conway Wickliffe, died in an accident on a racetrack in Surrey, south of London.—AFP