Buzz Briefs: Brangelina, Richard Wright
Brangelina Gives Back In Daughter's Name
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are giving back to Ethiopia, the country in which their 3-year-old daughter Zahara was born.
The couple have donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in the country. The Global Health Committee announced the donation by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation on Monday.
The organization will use the money to build a center in the capital city of Addis Ababa for children affected by the disease and establish a program to treat tuberculosis in children and adults. The center will be named for Zahara.
The World Health Organization estimates that the African nation has 1.7 million people infected with HIV and 6,000 people infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Pink Floyd's Richard Wright Dies
A Pink Floyd spokesman says founding member Richard Wright has died. He was 65.
Wright died Monday after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. His family did not want to give more details about his death. The spokesman is Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist.
Richard Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason at college and joined their early band Sigma 6.
Sigma 6 eventually became Pink Floyd and Wright wrote and sang some of the band's key songs. He wrote "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them" from Pink Floyd's 1973 "The Dark Side Of The Moon."
He left the group in the early 1980s to form his own band but rejoined Pink Floyd for their 1987 album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason."
Britney's "Circus" To Come Out On Birthday
Britney Spears has announced that her sixth studio album, "Circus," will released on Dec. 2.
The album release date also coincides with Spears' birthday.
Spears' career has had a much needed boost after she was honored with three MTV Video Music Awards this month including "Video of the Year," "Best Female" and "Best Pop Video" for "Piece of Me."
The singer's record label Jive Records is preparing "Circus," as a follow-up to her critically well received fifth album, "Blackout."
Engaging News For Jennifer Hudson
Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson has gotten engaged to her boyfriend David Otunga on Friday, a representative told People.
The couple had been dating for less than a year when Otunga proposed with a Neil Lane diamond ring.
Otunga is best known for being a contestant, nicknamed "Punk", on reality TV show "I Love New York 2."
Hudson became famous as one of the finalists of American Idol. Her performance in "Dreamgirls" earned her an Oscar.
Hudson's debut solo album, "Jennifer Hudson," will be in stores at the end of September, and her next film, "The Secret Life of Bees" opens on Oct. 17.
On "SNL," Tina Fey Takes On Sarah Palin
Tina Fey headed back to her old stomping ground to make the most of her resemblance to GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin.
Fey returned to Saturday Night Live for an opening sketch featuring her and her former "Weekend Update" co-host Amy Poehler, who continues her role as Hillary Clinton.
The NBC comedy show's season premiered with a "nonpartisan message" where the two pleaded for an end to sexism in the presidential campaigns.
Many say Fey looks like Palin, a comparison the comedians alluded to. In the sketch, a frustrated Clinton broke down and complained about Palin's splash onto the national scene and her "Tina Fey glasses."
A few digs were also made about Palin's experience. As Poehler's Clinton bragged about her foreign policy experience, Fey exclaimed
"I can see Russia from my house!"
"Bruce Air" To the Rescue
Bruce Dickinson, better known as the lead singer in legendary rock group Iron Maiden, flew to the rescue of holidaymakers left stranded abroad after Britain's third largest tour operator collapsed, newspapers reported Sunday.
The heavy metal hero is also a Boeing 757 pilot and flew a specially-chartered Monarch Airlines flight from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to London Gatwick Airport.
XL Leisure Group went into administration Friday, leaving some 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad.
Since then almost 12,000 people have been brought back as part of an airlift mission conducted by the aviation regulator.
The Iron Maiden singer has been a captain with a British charter airline for nine years.
Village People Get Hollywood Star
Legendary disco group The Village People was awarded a Walk of Fame star Friday in Hollywood.
In 1977, producer/composer Jacques Morali, with partner Henri Belolo, couldn't help but notice Felipe Rose dancing in his Indian costume before an enthusiastic crowd in New York's Greenwich Village. Rose's performance, and the response he was getting, made a significant impression on Morali and Belolo. Later, they began to contemplate the entertainment impact and potential for success that a group of guys representing the many Village icons might have on a larger, mass audience.
Village People quickly became both a major recording and live concert success. The band's biggest hit records include "YMCA" and "Macho Man." "YMCA" is, to date, its best-selling single, amassing sales of over 12-million units worldwide - three million in the U.S. alone. Village People's combined LP and single sales has topped 100 million worldwide.
Celebrating 30 years as international disco music icons, the group continues to perform to sold-out audiences around the world.