TOKYO – Sting wants to help save dolphins still being brutally slaughtered in Japan, but says the best way is by starting a debate, not by forcing foreign opinion.

The British music star met backstage at a Tokyo concert hall Wednesday with Ric O’Barry, the star of the “The Cove,” the Academy Award-winning documentary that depicts the dolphin hunt in the town of Taiji in southwestern Japan.

The two have been friends since the Sundance Film Festival two years ago, where “The Cove” had its first major showing.

The film, directed by Louie Psihoyos, shows dolphins driven into a cove and stabbed by fishermen on small boats, turning the water red with blood.

“I was blown away by the movie,” Sting said. “We should not be eating dolphins.”

Sting, in Asia for his “Symphonicity” tour, said he’s sympathetic to the save-the-dolphins view in “The Cove” but that the best approach is “through dialogue,” noting that many Japanese are also outraged by dolphin killing.

O’Barry said Sting and his wife were among the first people to express support for “The Cove.” The former Police frontman has spoken out on environmental and humanitarian issues around the world.

O’Barry, 71, is the former dolphin trainer for the 1960s TV show “Flipper.”

Florida judge expects Cassidy won’t contest DUI charge

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – A judge in Florida said former teen idol David Cassidy is expected to enter a plea of guilty or no contest following a drunken driving charge in November.

Cassidy didn’t show up for a status hearing Tuesday, but St. Lucie County Judge Cliff Barnes said he expected the 60-year-old “Partridge Family” star to enter a written plea.

Cassidy was arrested Nov. 3 after authorities said they spotted his car weaving on the turnpike.

The highway patrol’s report said Cassidy failed a field sobriety test. Authorities say breath tests at the jail showed his blood-alcohol content at 0.139 and 0.141, above Florida’s legal limit of 0.08.

Cassidy lives in Fort Lauderdale.

Moore set to receive Hasty Pudding honor

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Oscar-nominated actress Julianne Moore is expected to come to Harvard University to be honored as the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.

The four-time Oscar nominee is set to receive her pudding pot from the nation’s oldest undergraduate drama troupe at a roast Jan. 27.

Hasty Pudding Theatricals said Moore’s talents extend beyond the screen to her role in Broadway productions and success as author of two children’s book series.

In 2002, Moore became the ninth person in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for her performances in “Far From Heaven” and “The Hours.”

This year, Moore has Oscar prospects in “The Kids Are All Right,” the comic drama about lesbian parents whose teen children make contact with their sperm-donor father.

Poe toaster fails to show

BALTIMORE – Telltale hearts beat with anticipation during a rainy, midnight dreary and beyond, hoping the mysterious visitor to Edgar Allan Poe’s grave would return after a one-year absence.

But once again, the unknown person who for decades has left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe’s grave on the anniversary of the writer’s birth failed to appear Wednesday, fueling speculation that he may have died.

About 5 a.m., a dozen fans performed their own tribute, with roses and a cognac toast.