LONDON – The singer who created a sensation when she hit the music world in pigtails and knee socks is turning 30.
And Britney Spears says she’s looking forward to it.
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The U.S. pop star will be on the South American leg of her “Femme Fatale” world tour as she celebrates the landmark birthday on Dec. 2.
“I hear the older you get, the wiser you get and the more you know what you want — so hopefully it’ll be a good year,” said the woman who was once one of the Internet’s most-searched names.
Spears kicks off a string of European tour dates Thursday in St. Petersburg, but is not scheduled to play on the birthday itself. She has spent the summer performing across North America to generally positive reviews.
“The audiences have been just amazing, they’ve been so great to bounce off of and the energy I get from them, it’s great, it’s really cool,” she said.
Her seventh studio album, “Femme Fatale,” debuted at No. 1 in the U.S. Billboard charts and globally, and Spears targeted it at her female fans.
Haggard, Busey appear on ‘Celebrity Wife Swap’
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard and Hollywood actor Gary Busey are trading partners for a week for an upcoming edition of ABC-TV’s “Celebrity Wife Swap.”
Haggard’s wife, Gayle, will temporarily move in with Busey.
It was unclear if the actor’s longtime girlfriend would be the one to stay with Haggard under the arrangement.
Haggard’s New Life Church in Colorado Springs had about 14,000 followers when he resigned in 2006 after a man said Haggard paid him for sex for more than three years. The reality show isn’t about infidelity, but about wives experiencing daily life in another wife’s home.
Gaga seeks out meeting with Obama on bullying
WASHINGTON – Lady Gaga wants to meet with President Obama about her concerns over bullying.
Gaga expressed sadness over Twitter on Wednesday about the suicide of a 14-year-old New York boy who had complained in an online video about being bullied over his sexuality.
The pop singer tweeted to her followers: “I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end.”
A Democratic official said Gaga plans to attend an Obama fundraiser next week on the West Coast but no private meeting has been scheduled.
Jamey Rodemeyer described in videos being taunted in his school hallways and receiving hateful messages online before his suicide.
MTV couple loses custody
JACKSONVILLE, Ark. – A couple featured on the first season of the MTV reality show “16 and Pregnant” have lost their child to the state and face criminal charges after officers serving a search warrant found their home was filled with feces, flies and maggots, police said Thursday.
Joshua Rendon and Ebony Jackson-Rendon, now both 19, were charged Tuesday after the search of their home at the Little Rock Air Force Base. The Arkansas Department of Human Services took custody of their 2-year-old child.
They face felony charges of maintaining a drug premises and unauthorized use of another’s property to facilitate a crime, and misdemeanor child endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
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