• Lovebirds Uma Thurman and Arpad "Arki" Busson are engaged. The Swiss financier gave her an enormous ring (so big that Uma "can't fit it through the sleeve of her coat"), which Uma promptly showed off to friends at a party Thursday night and they're now planning the wedding. [NYDN]

Vera Wang turns 59 today. Fashion designer Norma Kamali is 63, Broadway producer Roger Berlind is 78, book editor Cindy Spiegel is 48, and Tobey Maguire is 33. On Saturday, scenester and rock star scion Alexandra Richards will turn 23. Editor Harry Evans will celebrate his 80th. Other people celebrating birthdays this weekend: Michael Cardozo, Wendy Kopp and Scott Heiferman.

• InBev may need to raise its offer for Anheuser-Busch by $7 billion to win over the company's board. [Bloomberg]

• Florent is getting a last-minute reprieve, kinda sorta: Its namesake, Florent Morellet, is still leaving and the name in the window is going to revert back to R&L, but the restaurant's landlord has decided to keep the place open with the same menu and staff. [Eater]

In case you're keeping tabs on the cabal of super Jews raising money for Obama, word today about another crop of former Hillary supporters who are gathering next week to bring in the bacon for Barack. (Or, you know, Kosher imitation bacon.) Edgar Bronfman Sr., Merryl Tisch (wife of Jim), Howard Milstein, and Bush crony Tom Bernstein will gather on July 2 as part of the Obama Jewish Leadership Council. [Politico]

"New York City Council members are considering a proposal to outlaw climbing or jumping off buildings in the wake of several skyscraper stunts. The proposal's sponsors say such stunts are a distraction for police." And, it seems, city council members, too. [AP]

Hotel moguls Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode will unveil their latest spot, the Jane Hotel (located on—yes, you guessed it—Jane Street) beginning next week. What will the duo behind the Bowery and Maritime be serving up this time? Rooms that resemble ship cabins, are 50-square-feet, have no private baths, and will cost "under $100 a night." And as a part of a special bonus to make the whole experience extra-super-gritty, hotel visitors will get to share the property with "long-term residents" of the former welfare hotel. (Unfortunately, MacPherson and Goode were unsuccessful in their efforts to evict them.) Good news, though, for the grizzled old-timers who have hung around: They'll have free WiFi and a concierge now, plus plenty of naive Danish tourists to squeeze free drinks out of at Socialista downstairs.

The Sopranos memorabilia auction at Christie's last night raked in a total of $227,000, of which $100,000 will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit that provides assistance to injured soldiers. (What happened to the other $127,000?) A bloody outfit worn by Tony (James Gandolfini) when he was shot by Uncle Junior pulled in the top bid, $35,000. [NYDN]

Stock up on the dollar bills and head over to Scores: Lady-loving shortstop Derek Jeter turns 34 today. Also celebrating: Hip hop execs Irv Gotti and Steve Stoute are both turning 38. Daily News gossip Joanna Molloy turns 53. Legendary ad man George Lois is 77. And Jets quarterback Chad Pennington is 32.

Poor DMX. The drug-loving, dog-abusing, gravel-voiced rapper was arrested this week for the third time since April, this time for driving with a suspended license. To make matters worse, he's also now losing possession of the Harlem townhouse he purchased for $725,000 in 2001. It seems DMX—or Earl Simmons if you prefer real names—didn't follow through on a contract to promote a line of dog products (perhaps because he was busy killing them?) and now the owner of the doggie supply company has obtained a court order to auction off the house to pay off the $281,000 DMX owes for breach of contract. The home, which has been unoccupied for a couple of years, is located at 2007 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 124th Street. It will be auctioned off by the county sheriff's office on August 13. A tour of the property after the jump.

The book world's flukiest bestselling author, Lauren Weisberger, whose stint picking up Anna Wintour's lattes and dry-cleaning led to the money-making juggernaut The Devil Wears Prada, has started the promotional blitz for her latest novel, Chasing Harry Winston. (We'd describe the plot, except it would make us lose the will to live.) Weisberger took some time out before beginning her publicity tour to chat with the Telegraph and generously provided the lowdown on how she spends her weekends in Tribeca—going to the movies, eating at restaurants, and (gasp) shopping—while simultaneously demonstrating that she's every bit as inane and unoriginal as her fictional creations. Her husband "is totally gorgeous," the shoe department at Saks is "a little bit of heaven on earth," and "it's interesting that of all the friends I went to college with none has children yet." Like, totally! Oh, and she and her husband are big fans of an obscure, little television program you may have heard of called "American Idol." So much fun! "We love Simon Cowell and every single word that comes out of his mouth." Wish we could say the same for you, Lauren.

The Olafur Eliasson's East River waterfall was switched on this morning. And what did the decidedly midrange Buckingham Hotel do? They announced a silly $75,000 "weekend waterfalls getaway," complete with visits to the (free) waterfalls and a side trip to Niagara Falls. How glam! At least glammer than their $169-a-night leap year promotion a couple of months ago. [NYDN]

• Contrary to breathless reports, Barack Obama was not the inspiration for Donatella Versace's latest collection, which he's probably relieved to hear. [FWD]
  

"Barbara Walters is going to Syria on a diplomatic mission—unofficially, of course... [She] says she's been summoned to the Middle Eastern hot spot by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria." [Fox News]

What do you do when the restaurant you opened a couple of weeks ago is getting some of the worst reviews imaginable and you're under fire by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for improperly adding an extra story to the hotel you opened in Tribeca? If you're Robert De Niro, you head off to the peaceful lakes of Northern Italy and pay a visit to your good friend George Clooney. While critics continue to bash De Niro's Ago (it earned one out of six stars in Time Out this week) and while the fate of the penthouse at his Greenwich Hotel remains in doubt, De Niro is about as far from chaos as can be. He's spent the last couple of days with his wife and kids aboard a boat called "Sweet Dream."

Would you be okay with having your boob job or cosmetic dental work videotaped so your doctor can put up the gory film on YouTube as part of an ad? How about if you got a freebie like Botox, tooth-whitening or a Juvederm shot? In that case, many people are perfectly happy to go along with it, so says today's Times. Points to editors of the Styles section for concocting a story that combines two top traffic-drivers: that everyone is having work done these days and the Internet can be scary! [NYT]

• Raffaello Follieri will miss the monster 30th birthday bash he planned for himself in Capri this weekend, which he'd hoped would reunite him with Anne Hathaway. Instead, he'll probably spend the big day in jail unless, that is, he magically comes up with $21 million in bail money in the next 24 hours. [NYDN]

Martha Stewart was denied a visa to travel to England last week, as you may recall. The rebuff hasn't kept her confined to her Connecticut estate. She's in Poland at the moment (reconnecting with her heritage, perhaps?) where she's been eating food, photographing doorknobs, and admiring the occasional hunky Polish man. [Martha's blog]

Russell Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons have finalized the terms of their divorce. Per the agreement, the hip hop mogul will have to hand over $20,000 per kid in child support (they have two children, Ming Lee and Aoki) plus pay Kimora $18,000 a month to cover the costs of their Saddle River, NJ home, which is now on the market for $20 million. There are plenty of other legal stipulations—Russell has to pay to have a bodyguard accompany the kids at all time, he's not allowed to bad-mouth KLS in the presence of their kids, he's obligated to make sure the kids have their seatbelts fastened whenever he gets in a car with them—but you can review all the legal mumbo jumbo yourself after the jump.

LaGuardia is changing security checkpoints at the airport beginning today—there will now be three separate lines in an attempt to isolate the dumbasses who still have yet to realize that you need to take your shoes off: "A green circle for families with small children and strollers, groups, people needing special assistance and those new to flying; a blue square for casual travelers who are familiar with security checkpoint procedures and have multiple carry-on bags; and a black diamond for expert travelers who are well-versed in the procedures." [NYT]