VIP Chain

Angelina Jolie saw firsthand the plight of conflict refugees stranded in the blazing desert near the Syrian-Iraqi border in a visit this week to highlight their ordeal.

The American actress, who is a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, traveled to Syria and Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, the agency said in a statement. Jolie also separately visited U.S. troops in the area.

“I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw attention to this humanitarian crisis and to urge governments to increase their support for UNHCR and its partners,” Jolie was quoted as saying by the Geneva-based agency on Tuesday.

She headed home from Syria on Wednesday according to UNHCR officials, after a visit wrapped in secrecy and with no media coverage.

The 32-year-old star of the movie traveled to the al-Waleed refugee camp on the Iraqi side of the border and spoke to some of the 1,200 refugees stranded there, prevented from entering Syria, UNCHR said.

“It is absolutely essential that the ongoing debate about Iraq’s future includes plans for addressing the enormous humanitarian consequences these people face,” she said.

The camp is in a no man’s land between the two countries, one mile from the Iraqi border post and 4.5 miles from the Syrian border.

Jolie, who wore a blue flak jacket and a helmet when she arrived unannounced at the camp, was not immediately recognized by many of the refugees, a large number of whom are Palestinians who have been stranded in the desert encampment since December.

Unlike Iraqis, who are allowed to enter and settle in Syria, Palestinian residents of Iraq are mostly prevented from entering the country, leaving them stranded at the border.

Jolie spent two hours there talking with the refugees through a translator, taking notes, all the while surrounded by bodyguards, according to Qusai Mohammed Saleh, 33, a Palestinian refugee.

“I didn’t recognize her right away, but after she was introduced as Angelina Jolie, I remembered a little, from some of her movies,” he told The Associated Press by phone from the camp.

“She did not like the tragic situation,” Saleh said, adding that she inspected the camp’s medical and hygiene facilities.

Fellow refugee Awad Talha Awad, 48, said he had hopes the visit would make a difference. “Our situation is so difficult,” he said, adding that Jolie was “moved” by some of the conditions she witnessed.

“She felt the sun,” he said of the raging midday summer temperatures. “She did not make any promises but she said, ‘we will make an effort to resolve your situation.’”

UNHCR estimates that more than 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and of these, about two million have fled to neighboring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, placing a heavy strain on their resources.

Samuel L. Jackson was among the well-wishers who visited Owen Wilson in the hospital on Monday. Jackson was in no mood to chat to the press gathered outside Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center when he arrived to spend a little time with his ailing pal. Some sources claim he cut his wrists and took a number of pills. I’m waiting for them to say he was hospitalized for “exhaustion.” Just wait for a couple days till when Owen’s reps come out with a planned conference or speech about the health of the actor, and then will be the time to see all the innocuous and funny excuses they will come up with. Well this really not the time to gag about his health and things. Let us leave him alone and recover coz once he’s out the barrage of question and counter gossips that would make headlines would drive him crazy, spare a thought for the poor guy.

A tear ran down the cheek of Prince William as his younger brother, Harry, spoke of their late mother, Diana, during Friday’s noontime service to the late princess at the Guards’ Chapel near Buckingham Palace in London.

The solemn gathering marked the 10th anniversary of Diana’s death and had been organized by her two sons with Prince Charles. Included on the guest list were Queen Elizabeth, Charles and Diana’s friend, Elton John.

Outside the chapel, as has been the case every year on the date Diana died, her admirers gathered. Others, carrying and leaving floral bouquets, poems and photos, congregated outside the gates of Diana’s former home, Kensington Palace.

A prayer written for the memorial service by Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, gave thanks “for all the memories of her that we treasure still.”

“Her vulnerability and her willingness to reach out to the excluded and forgotten touched us all; her generosity gave hope and joy to many. May she rest in peace where sorrow and pain are banished,” Williams wrote, the Associated Press reports.

Besides readings by William and Harry, who had been only 15 and 12 when their mother died, the service also featured a remembrance from Diana’s sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale.

“It should be a good occasion and lots of loud hymns. It should be a very sort of simple and nice service,” Prince Harry said in a recent interview as the service approached.

In Paris, where the “People’s Princess,” as Diana had been nicknamed, died in a high-speed car crash alongside her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, several mourners gathered and left bouquets at the tunnel where the fatal incident occurred,.

A note, scrawled on a portrait of Diana in a jeweled crown, read: “10 years already, Oh how I miss you.” It was signed “Monique de Luxembourg.”

The owners of top Los Angeles restaurant Cafe Pino have hit back at claims they forced staff to take a week off so movie star Will Smith could shoot his new film at the trendy eatery. Diner bosses claim they used the Hancock film shoot to allow select waiters, waitresses, chefs and managers to take long-overdue vacations, and never planned to use the week as a salary-cutting perk. Not long ago Will Smith was a struggling actor and did TV Shows and sang to earn a decent living, Today when he has become so successful can’t he feel those days when a dime would count as a dollar and a dollar as a 100 bucks. Just imagine just because his film was being shot there at that location others had to suffer with losses in wage. I bet if someone from the staff asked Will to pay for their losses he and Jada would not be willing to do so. Money matters Will and I thought you’d understand that.

You would think that things wouldn’t get more weird when it comes to Amy Winehouse but don’t be fooled. Wino got into a bloody fight wither her husband after he found her ‘cutting’ herself. 24 hours later, she claimed that the man she’d just ‘lost it’ on saved her life.

According to the Daily Mail, the singer who left rehab for the nth time was spotted around London early Thursday morning with cuts and blood on her face, legs and feet. Her hubby Blake had cuts on his face as well.

Scotland Yard said that no charges would be filed in connection with the incident.

By Friday, the couple was seen strolling the streets of London. Wino spoke of plans to go on a holiday. It should be good to get away from all the drama for a while.

Although it’s pretty much established that Britney Spears is sick and crazy, she’s being called those two things by several music industry insiders for a different reason. Britney has reportedly ditched the chance to do a duet single with former boyfriend Justin Timberlake.

Page Six reported that Justin wrote the song specifically for his former love and that her label was counting on the song to be the launch pad for her comeback. But before she could even fly out to record the song, Britney abruptly canceled the session.

Jive is still backing Britney up but execs are worried about her bombing.

Oh come on! Admit it, you’re expecting it.

John Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston has opened a new Scientology rehab center on her native Hawaii. The new drug rehabilitation clinic, which follows the principals of Preston’s religion, will use tried and tested alternative methods to ween addicts off painkillers and hard drugs. Why can’t celebs just stay out of rehab? Either creating one or going thru them. Nobody in h’wood succeeds in rehab because they go to country club facilities that cater to their every whim. They’re a slap in the face for people who go thru serious rehab, go to AA meetings and really WANT to turn their lives around. a rehab in Hawaii? I don’t drink, snort, pop or shoot, but sign me up! It sounds like a great vacation…even if it does subscribe to the whacked out “religion” of Scientology.

Scarlett Johansson feels guilty about how easily she secured a record contract for her upcoming album of Tom Waits covers because she has musician friends who dream about releasing an album. Johansson was offered a deal after Warner Brothers talent scouts heard her sing on compilation album “Unexpected Dreams.” And the 22-year-old worries her struggling pals will hold her good fortune against her. You can’t feel bad for them and out can’t go out and tell them, hey look no big deal you can have my contract I’ll look for another one. It’s not a piece of your favorite cake and munchies that you could buy another one, this is serious business and the least you can do is introduce them to a producer but beyond that it’s fate and talent. You do your job and they will do theirs. Let’s see that how good you come with the opportunities that you have girl!

It’s a boy for Bridget Moynahan and New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady. The actress gave birth to the baby in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Moynahan’s publicist Christina Papadapoulos said in a statement. “Both mother and baby are doing well,” she said.
Other details were not immediately released.

Brady’s whereabouts weren’t known. He wasn’t on the field or sidelines for the first 15 minutes of practice on Wednesday and Patriots spokesman Stacey James said he didn’t know when Brady would rejoin the team.

It also wasn’t clear whether Brady would play in the Patriots’ third exhibition game Friday against the Carolina Panthers. A call to his agent, Donald Yee, wasn’t immediately returned.

Brady, 30, had said earlier this week that he would like a few days off for the birth of his first child, calling the event “a very joyous, happy situation.”

Moynahan and Brady split up late last year after a three-year relationship. Brady, who has been dating supermodel Gisele Bundchen, wasn’t on the field or sidelines for the first 15 minutes of Patriots practice Wednesday.

The quarterback had said he wanted a few days off to attend the birth of his first child. It was unknown if he arrived before the baby was born.

Moynahan, 36, is a former model who has starred in such films as “Coyote Ugly,” “I, Robot” and “The Sum of All Fears.” Her television credits include “Sex and the City” and the ABC series “Six Degrees.”

Bette Midler cut down more than 230 trees around one of her properties on the island of Kauai without a permit, and the state has recommended she be fined.

The staff of the Board of Land and Natural Resources recommended $6,500 in fines for having the trees felled and for building a graded road without permits required for the land zoned for conservation use.

The singer and actress will pay the fines and will follow a replanting program, her attorney Max W. J. Graham said.

The actress and movie star, who was born in Honolulu, didn’t realize permits were needed to remove the trees on a vacant 58,000-square-foot parcel of land on Kauai’s North Shore, Graham said.

“The whole idea with cutting the trees down was with the idea of improving the lot with native species” instead of the nonnative, invasive species that had grown there, Graham said. “It’s unfortunate that a mistake was made.”

The National Tropical Botanical Garden, which maintains three gardens on Kauai, will design a replanting plan that consists of appropriate native plants, Graham said.

A botanist hired by Midler after the fact said 120 Java plum trees, 100 octopus trees and 10 to 20 Madagascar olive trees that were cut down were all nonnative species. Some native trees also were removed from the property, the botanist said.

Midler, known for her longtime commitment to the environment, was once known as the Compost Queen and appeared on billboards in Los Angeles advocating green recycling containers are for yard trimmings.

Midler is set to replace Celine Dion as a headline performer at Las Vegas’s renovated Caesars Palace next year.

Rapper Kanye West has no regrets about speaking out against homophobia in hip-hop music, even though some people now assume he’s gay. But West, who in 2005 called for an end to homophobia in the rap community, admits he still wouldn’t feel comfortable socializing in a gay club, an attitude he attributes to his upbringing in Chicago, Illinois. Kanye is NOT gay. He is simply an advocate and somewhat of an activist on…hell whatever HE believes in, right, wrong or indifferent Kanye speaks his mind/heart and people seem to listen. Maybe not change their views BUT they do listen to the headlines he makes! Yeah the other thing is that most of these rappers and rockers mostly make the news for all the wrong reason with the loads of shit they speak. If there is some guy who can speak the truth and the right things then he is definitely a person whose views that could be cared about.

I think she just not made for marriage and if she does not want to get married then she shouldn’t coz then she will not be committed to the marriage and soon it could get as ugly as the one of Britney and Kevin and if that’s going to be the case then they are better off staying as couple but yet single. I think, she says right. That’s not her fault; she did not want to marry with Justin. Maybe they would remain a hot unluckily couple. However, I hope Jessica and Justin will be happy together. I don’t think Jessica and Justin will ever work out. She has a great career ahead of her and so is the case with Justin, they both can reach great heights, it’s a case where both are career oriented and they could in a matter of time be seriously jealous of each others success and the things that are written both celebs and their affairs it could make survival of the two a difficult proposition all together.

She’s in, she’s out and she’s back in again.

After a short time outside of rehab as first reported by The Sun, it looks like Amy Winehouse is back in to get some dire help. It seems that Wino was merely tying up some loose ends. Her publicist just released a statement regarding it “Amy Winehouse is putting all her touring commitments for this month on hold until further notice in order to address her health issues. Amy will now not be performing at this weekend’s V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire. Her family has requested that the media respect Amy’s privacy at this time.”

Try to make her go to rehab she said ‘yes, no, yes’.

If you thought rapper 50 Cent couldn’t get any cockier, think again. Both 50 Cent and Kanye West have new albums due out on September 11th. In the past 50 has outsold West but there has recently been speculation that may not be the case this time around. Because of this 50 has made an outstanding wager. He says that if West’s album sells better than his he will stop writing and recording as a solo artist and will from then on only collaborate with others. 50 Cent has made statements in the past that West would not be successful if he had not been first. I think he’s giving himself too much credit. Kanye West’s music is greatly different from 50 Cent’s style. Though they are both rap they are nothing alike in sound. I personally think Kanye has much more groove and real musical feeling while 50 is all about the lipping off in rhyme. It almost makes me want to buy a cope of Kanye’s disc for every person I know. Why don’t you all do the same and we may be rid of 50 Cent after all?

Surveying the current Hollywood landscape – and the mounting number of youthful casualties of late – former child star Brooke Shields says she has no particular advice to offer young stars.

“I think a lot of these girls are young, and it’s all so tempting,” Shields, 42, tells Redbook in its September issue. “For some reason I wasn’t tempted. I don’t know why.”

Looking back, she says, “Sometimes I wish I was a little more tempted to have a little more fun. But then I see them” – Shields mentions no one by name – “and someone will ask, ‘Well, what do you want to say to so-and-so?’ I don’t want to say anything to them. I want to talk to their mothers.”

Shields’s own mother, Teri Shields, who originally managed her daughter, came under a firestorm of criticism for her treatment (some said exploitation) of her budding star. The two eventually separated professionally.

“People used to say my mom used me as a commodity,” the actress now says. “But you know what? She did her own version dysfunctional behavior, sure, but nothing like you see these days.”

When it comes to the sort of mother she is with her own daughters, Rowan, 4, and Grier, born in May 2006 (their dad is Shields’s husband of six years, TV writer-producer Chris Henchy), Shields says: “I always feel like the odd mom out, because trust me when I tell you I’m on my girls. And every time I am, I know from the outside it looks like I’m an overbearing, controlling parents. But I don’t think we have any responsibility to anybody else but our kids and ourselves.”

Not that Shields apologizes for being strict. “The worst part about it is when I look at my daughter [Rowan], and she’ll be fighting with some other kid, and I have to be careful not to always make it her fault. But I can only tell her what to do – I can’t tell the other kid. I’ll tell her, ‘Hey, you suck it up; you give him the toy, and we’ll talk about it later.’ ”

Admits Shields, “So she’s the one who always has to take the high road, which is hard for a 4-year-old.”

Matt Damon has dismissed comparisons between his spy character Jason Bourne and English agent James Bond, declaring 007 is stuck in the past. Damon made the outburst at the British premiere of his third Bourne movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, in London on Wednesday night. I think this absolutely ‘ruubbish’ as in a heavy English accent, leaving the funny thing apart I think that James Bond is the most fantastic spy movie ever to hit the screen and the international success on the Daniel Craig starrer Casino Royale certainly justifies what I have to say. The gadgets and the style the romance and the aura is unbelievable and something though old but coming our way in the most refined and remolded it is far worth its wait and iconic to say the least. Matt is simply trying hard to promote his movie and want the Bond fans to turn their back to the James Bond series and get hooked to his movie that will become are regular sequel now. Bad attempt Matt, better luck next time.

This is a sign. If anyone ever tells you that Kevin Federline would make a better parent to your children than you would, you know you’re a horrible parent. And then when not only your mother but your little sister, who knows nothing about parenting, agrees that your children should e raised by Kevin Federline, thats also a sign that you’re a partying drug-addict. Bull shit, she should keep her mouth shut or else Kevin will have her pregnant with his child. Right Britney made the decision to have kids but none of us know that what kind ordeal it can be taking care of kids, they are cute and adorable but babies need a lot of attention and caring in their first few year which is something that parents have to experience first hand it is not something like a tailor made story line that we’ve read umpteen times and know what’s going to happen next. Jamie just mind your own business and care for your gonna have babies and let the former husband and wife settle their stuff themselves.

In her first blog update since becoming a resident of Los Angeles less than a month ago, Victoria Beckham has already started to talk like a Valley Girl.

“Hi everybody. Hope you are all well,” she writes on her Web site. “Well we have finally unpacked our boxes and I am loving our new house – it is totally major!”

Beckham, 33, her soccer star husband David Beckham, 32, and their three sons opened the door to their $22 million Beverly Hills home on July 13 and, although she blogged upon their arrival, she hasn’t bothered to file a message in the ensuing four weeks.

Filling her days? For one thing, it seems like interior decor has been a top priority for the English émigrés.

“Just adding some of the finishing touches to it actually and then it really will feel like home,” she says of their six-bedroom home. “On top of that the weather here has been amazing too so we are all a happy bunch.”

Showing that kids can display the same demanding nature on both sides of the Atlantic, Beckham explains that Brooklyn, 8, Romeo, 4, and 2-year-old Cruz are already eager consumers.

“The boys are really looking forward to starting their new school so we’ve got to make sure they are all kitted out with new schoolbags and pencil cases,” she says. “You remember what it’s like going back to school, you’ve got to have a new EVERYTHING!”

Still, while her husband cautiously takes to the field because of a lingering ankle injury, the lady of the house has been checking out the California high life.

“I have been busy having a good look around LA, checking out the restaurants and the beauty parlours,” she says. “Well you never know when you might need a facial!”

Aside from easing into their new environment, the Beckhams, who have been playing hosts to extended family from England, have been social-networking for their business ventures, too.

“David and myself attended a launch last week in Bel Air (very swish)” – translation: posh – “for the launch of our latest fragrance Intimately Beckham, we met lots of people there and I thought it went really well,” she writes.

“I’m also just starting work on my new dVb denim collection – I’m really excited about starting the next project – it’s going to be totally major so keep your eyes open for that.”

Since parting ways with the two socialite stars of “The Simple Life” E! Entertainment has tracked down the next socialite that they can throw into a reality series. Kim Kardashian is the daughter of a lawyer who worked on the O.J. Simpson case and the step-daughter of Bruce Jenner, an Olympic gold medalist. Kim recently stirred up some public scandal when a sex tape involving her began making its way through the press. The show will also feature Kim’s sisters and her mother who doubles as a manager. I’m not sure what she thinks she’s managing, a socialite is known only for being known, not because of anything they have managed to contribute to society. Ryan Seacrest reportedly created the show with Eliot Goldberg. I’d have to say it sounds like one of the lamest things he’s ever done. E! is famous for exploiting celebrity children and famous for nothing nobodies. This one won’t have me tuning in either.

It seems as if a day cannot go by without Britney Spears being present at the top of the Hollywood news list. Just days after hitting a parked car there is no escaping trouble for her. An extra from her secretly filmed music video told US Weekly that Britney had a naked pool party after shooting. He said that the pool party turned into a game of Truth or Dare and that Britney was the first to undress followed by others. This behaviour has gotten her into some hot water this time. People magazine reported that Britney’s ex, Kevin Federline has gone to his lawyer to make a request for sole custody of their two children. Papers were filed yesterday asking the Judge for the kids. Ever since their split Britney has been on a downward spiral. It’s not as simple as a drug addiction, its actual mental decline. The girl is literally going crazy. Losing her kids would be terrible but if she can’t take care of herself how will she ever take care of them?

Christina Applegate is now unmarried with no children. The actress and her actor husband, Johnathon Schaech, have officially parted ways a year and a half after he filed for divorce.

The pair’s split was finalized in Superior Court on Friday, according to court documents obtained by CelebTV.com.

Applegate, known for her role as ditzy daughter Kelly Bundy on TV’s “Married … With Children,” and actor Schaech married in October 2001.

They separated in November 2005, citing irreconcilable differences, according to court papers. Schaech filed for divorce Dec. 5, 2006.

Applegate’s publicist, Ame Van Iden, and Schaech’s publicist, Cindy Guagenti, both declined to comment Friday.

The judgment awarded Schaech more than $1.5 million in bank accounts dating back to last February, a cement Buddha in Applegate’s possession, and a 2001 Mercedes-Benz S500.

Applegate, 35, was awarded two of the ex-couple’s Los Angeles residences, a 2006 Lexus and more than $7.5 million in bank accounts dating back to late December 2006, according to court documents.

Applegate has starred in movies including “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” and earned a 2005 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway role in “Sweet Charity.”

Schaech’s acting credits include 1996’s “That Thing You Do!” and 2005’s “Sea of Dreams.”

Both waived the right to seek spousal support.The pair did not have children.

It was a money making plan that has has gone horribly wrong for J Lo’s ex Hubby and probably she has profited from the whole episode. Jennifer Lopez has been awarded nearly $545,000 in a lawsuit against her first husband, Ojani Noa, over his plans to publish a tell-all-book claiming she had several affairs. He wanted to make money by revealing a lot many things about her but instead has ended up paying make his bank balance to her. This will be a bumper profit for after the success of her new movie El Chante in which she is starring with her husband of now Marc Anthony. The court ordered arbitrator made the decision in April in Lopez’s breach-of-contract lawsuit against Noa. So these are the benefits of a pre-nuptial agreement there can be no disclosures about personal lives and pre-agreement on money matter if there is a divorce. J Lo has proved she is a master mind in this way and surely there might be a similar agreement with Marc as well.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has decided not to campaign for any of the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates, because none of the politicians in the running “inspire” him. I totally agree there is no one I would waste Vote on. I never get to vote for anyone it’s always against someone. I say we daft Gary Coleman or Larry Flint for President. Anyways who ever wins the race to be the President of USA, he will never be as smart as say Charlie Chaplin or have the sense of humor that Jay Leno has. With all the power to make a difference in our world the US administration spends more money on the war against terrorism and supports countries like Pakistan which is a breeding ground for all of the world’s terrorist activities. America Prez. talk loud on things but the never say on things the matter to the nation, soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan but he sleeps well in the White House that has nuclear attack safety bunkers incase of attack, but what protection did people have on the day of 9/11.

Reality TV has hit a new level of lame. One of the newest shows in celebrity embarrassment has actors riding bulls. No, seriously. Actor Stephen Baldwin may be re-thinking his decision to appear on the show after taking a serious fall from a bull. He broke ribs and shoulder bones and is now considering pulling out of the show. I’m surprised that he’s only considering it and hasn’t made an instant declaration. Other stars stupid enough to appear on the show include Vanilla Ice and Leif Garrett. It’s actually nothing more than sad that these stars are willing to sell themselves out for a low rated reality show. If that doesn’t say you’ve arrived on the B-list then what does? Stephen will be fine but he could have been hurt much worse. It’s just totally stupid to even participate in something like that. Look what happened to Christopher Reeve after a fall from a horse. He wasn’t asking for it. These celebs are. It’s potential suicide to get on a bucking bull just for a pay check and some low ratings.

It’s going to be a hot, dry August for Vivica A. Fox. A Los Angeles judge has ordered the actress to abstain from drinking alcohol until she is arraigned on DUI charges on Sept. 5
Tsk, tsk. At her age she should be setting an example. Not acting like Lindsay, Paris and Nicole. What is it with these celebrities? If you’re drinking, leave the car at home and take a freaking cab. It’s not as if they can’t afford it. Even if they hire a good limo and a big chauffeur driven car it will cost them in the range of under a thousand dollars which they would pay for a designer habd bag or on a flashy fashion accessory anyways so why run the risk of being caught by the police. I think Paris Hilton and others have made it a fashion statement of being caught on DUI and then the next day the media publish your pics and make u a cult figure and many think that this will make them iconic and stuff like that. But they won’t realize that there are losing fame and acceptance amongst a large number so fans. Who cares put yourself in the gutter and stay happy.

Charlie Sheen is heading back to court in a bid to prevent his former wife Denise Richards from phoning him whenever she likes.

The actor, who is newly engaged to actress Brooke Mueller, also hopes to revisit child custody terms he shares with Richards.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Sheen states, “What I m doing is pursuing a relationship with my daughters that is unpolluted.”

Sheen suggests he is unhappy with his ex-wife’s choice of nanny for his daughters Sam, three, and Lola, two. But it’s his new attack on Richards which has shocked many.

Sheen explains, “I’d like it that the phone calls to the house would only happen in a medical emergency with one of the children.

“When I’m here with the girls, I don’t need to be answering the phone 20 times a day. If there’s a problem, I’ll call.”

After many many months without any actual guidance to steer her clear of the stupidity, Britney Spears has finally hired a manager. The former pop star had a very public ‘break up’ with her former manager Larry Rudolph. She claimed he forced her into rehab when she felt she didn’t need it. Right.

Britney’s new manager is Jeff Kwatinez, Kelly Clarkson’s former manager. Jeff already knows not to force anything on to a client because that’s what Kelly fired him for. Which makes me question whether it’s a smart move.

But Britney is Britney. Let her do the crazy stuff and bring more people into the mud with her.

I applaud Mr. Anthony for his comments. Although, I have seen bad kids from good parents. Marc Anthony continues to show style and grace in his personal life as he does while performing. In certain cases it is true that with a strong family foundation most children will carry their values into adulthood. I believe in the situations mentioned by Mr. Anthony, it is the fact that wealth and fame built on the backs of their parents which makes them think they are invincible. These girls have been pampered so badly at a young age that they think life is all but being good. For then being good is boozing all night, having drugs in their pockets as if it were a show piece that makes you free entrant at every disc and happening party in Calif so on and so forth. I doubt that even motherhood would change their perception to life and how to lead a dignified life. But accusing these girls won’t change them, if their parents haven’t been able to and the several stints at the high profile rehabs haven’t been effective then what will?

U.S. pop star Madonna’s adoption of a child from the impoverished nation of Malawi hit a snag after the court-appointed official assigned to the case was denied permission to travel to Britain.

One of Malawi’s leading weekly newspapers reported on Sunday that Minister of Women and Child Development Kate Kainja had barred Penstone Kilembe from making his planned trip to assess the suitability of Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, as the boy’s adoptive parents.

The minister was not immediately available for comment, but Kilembe confirmed the minister had stopped him making the trip.

Madonna was given custody of David Banda last October when he was 13 months old after his father, Yohane Banda, had placed him in an orphanage following the death of his wife.

The High Court of Malawi appointed Kilembe to travel to Britain twice and was to have relied on his testimony in ruling whether Madonna’s adoption of the child should be formalized in a hearing next year.

The Malawi News newspaper reported that the minister accused Kilembe of obtaining an air ticket and money from Madonna without government approval.

“We have already contacted Madonna that someone else and not Kilembe will come to asses her, because we feel Mr. Kilembe personalized the whole issue when other people can go,” the Minister told the newspaper.

Kilembe dismissed suggestions that he personally asked Madonna for an air ticket.

“What this means is that the whole adoption process may crumble and David sent back to his village,” he told Reuters.

Justin Dzonzi, a lawyer who led a 65-member human rights group in challenging Madonna’s adoption, also said the minister’s decision could halt the adoption process.

“The Minister cannot change what the court set by having another person to do the assessment. The court will not listen to anyone else apart from the one it appointed,” he said.

Dzonzi filed the case arguing that Malawi laws forbid international adoption and therefore the government broke its own laws by granting Madonna an interim adoption.

Ewan McGregor has finished his 15,000 mile motorcycle journey from Scotland to South Africa. The Trainspotting star and his actor pal Charley Boorman began the road trip at John O’Groats in Scotland in May, and reached their final destination of Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday. The trip would have been exhilarating and great fun, this is a completely man’s domain. Riding on your bike all across the continent with your buddy and having those stop in the night at beautiful country sides and make tire changes when there is a puncture. It should have been a truly enriching experience that the two would never forget for their lives. The journey - which took the friends through Europe, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Rwanda - will be broadcast on BBC2 television series The Long Way Down. This should be a fun series to watch on TV and have a look at where these guys went and what they did.