Top celebrity defense attorney Johnnie Cochran has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 67. In a statement, a spokesman for Cochran's family announced the legal eagle, famous for representing stars like OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson and Sean 'P Diddy' Combs, died of a brain tumor yesterday afternoon. The family spokesman said, "The world has lost not only an legendary attorney but an outstanding humanitarian. Certainly, Johnnie's career will be noted as one marked by celebrity cases and clientele, but he and his family were most proud of the work he did on behalf of those in the community." Cochran became famous when he won his court battle to acquit Simpson of the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, coining famous phrases like, "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit." He was born in Louisiana, but became a master legal mind in Los Angeles, where he made a name for himself by highlighting police brutality cases. Cochran's health became an issue last year when he was treated for an undisclosed neurological condition. He was hospitalized for a mystery health problem in September.

Madonna and her film-maker husband Guy Ritchie have infuriated religious chiefs following their decision to attend a party dressed as a nun and the Pope respectively - at a time when Pope John Paul II is becoming increasingly frail. Madonna and Ritchie celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim by dressing up for a Kabbalah bash in London last Thursday - angering Catholic leaders. America's Catholic League president William Donahue says, "It just goes to show you what a moral slug this man (Ritchie) is that he would get dressed up as the Pope at a time like this. We're quite disappointed. We Catholics thought we had finally gotten rid of the witch when she (Madonna) discovered Kabbalah." However, Madonna's publicist says, "No disrespect was intended."

Halle Berry will return to the X-Men franchise for a third movie if her role as Storm is more prominent than it was in the first sequel. Speaking to fans on her website, the Catwoman star has revealed she'll happily return as Storm if the character has a bigger part. She writes, "I have not read the script. All I asked is that, if I come back, Storm needs more to do. If they have, in fact, written her closer to the comic book, then I'm in... If not, then I'm out. I hope I'm in though. I love Storm and really want to be a part of the last film." Also in her latest posting, Berry confirms that a planned James Bond spin-off for her sexy character Jinx has been scrapped. She adds, "I would have loved to (have reprised that character) but that issue has been put to bed. Maybe some day I will do a cameo in a Bond movie as Jinx."

Christina Applegate has successfully begged theatre bosses to put the problem-plagued revival of Sweet Charity on again - just days after bosses decided to pull the plug on it. The show, which received tepid reviews and was called off after Applegate broke her foot, will now open in New York on May 4, two weeks later than originally planned. Producer Barry Weissler says, "Christina came to me and made the most deeply felt emotional plea. She has given up all her movies for the year, plus her home and husband are on the West Coast. This is what she has wanted since she was a little girl and I just couldn't take it away from her." Weissler says he has received assurances from Applegate's doctors that she will be able to perform in the musical, which is a dance-heavy show. Sweet Charity will now begin preview performances on April 11 at the Manhattan's Al Hirschfeld Theatre, with Applegate's standby, Charlotte D'Amboise, playing the role until April 16. Applegate, who broke her right foot during a performance in Chicago on March 11, will take over the role on April 18.

Animal rights charity People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) have accused Jennifer Lopez of bullying Billboard magazine into removing their full-page ad, which lambasted the star for wearing fur. The music magazine had agreed to run PETA's advert, which features a gruesome photo of a skinned animal beside an open letter to Lopez, attacking her for glamorizing fur in her new Sweetface clothing line and encouraging the "sadistic slaughter" of rabbits, minks, foxes and chinchillas. But on Monday Billboard cancelled the $5,000 ad, leading PETA Vice President Lisa Lange to conclude that the magazine "caved to pressure" from Lopez's record label Sony Corp's Epic Records and her publicist Nanci Ryder of Baker-Winokur-Ryder. Ryder admits, "I'm doing my job, which is protecting my client. I don't understand why PETA want to meet with Jennifer. In my opinion, there would be nothing worse than a meeting, unless in the meeting we could commit to not wearing fur and not using fur in fashion. Unless we could do that, I didn't quite understand where the meeting would go." PETA have retaliated by emailing the banned advert to hundreds of radio stations nationwide.

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman has slammed reports she is dating millionaire Steve Bing, insisting she is a "single woman". The Moulin Rouge star has been linked to Bing - father of Elizabeth Hurley's son Damien - for several months, as well as Libyan leader Mohammed Gaddafi's son Al-saadi Gaddafi. As a single mother to Isabella and Connor, Kidman explains, "It is very hard for a single woman in my position." When asked about her relationship with The Polar Express producer Bing, Kidman says, "We are friends." Of her meeting with Al-Saadi earlier this month, Kidman adds, "That was business."

Actor Richard Gere swept Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi off his feet after agreeing to dance with the fun-loving leader yesterday. The hunky star is in Japan promoting his latest movie, a re-make of the Japanese smash hit Shall We Dance and he jumped at the chance to dance with Koizumi, on the condition that he could lead. Gere said, "I'll be the man," before the pair strutted their stuff in Koizumi's office in Tokyo. Koizumi, labeled 'the Japanese Richard Gere' because of his resemblance to the 55-year-old star, says, "He is a great person. Such a great movie star." Gere was equally impressed, saying, "It's a great honor for me to have the moments I've had with the prime minister. He's very generous." The Japanese film buff is no stranger to sharing the limelight with Hollywood's finest: he once sang a duet of Elvis Presley's "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" with Tom Cruise, while the A-lister was promoting The Last Samurai two years ago.

Columbian actress Sofia Vergara has laughed off reports her relationship with Tom Cruise has already turned serious. The Soul Plane beauty has been romantically linked to the Hollywood superstar in recent weeks, but Vergara insists news of their blossoming union has been grossly exaggerated by the gossip-hungry fingers of imaginative journalists. And while the sexy star confesses she has recently struck up a relationship with Cruise, she's downplayed claims the pair have already been intimate, reports website Pagesix.Com. She says, "I've only known Tom for a very short time. It's funny because the media creates what they want to create. And according to them, Tom is in a full-fledged, sexual relationship with the most irresistible woman in the world - me!"

Cameron Diaz showed her squeamish side on the debut of her new MTV travel show Trippin' on Monday night when she quaked as she received vaccinations for her adventure in Nepal. The Charlie's Angels star teamed up with famous pals and visited some of the world's most remote areas for the new show, but admitted having the shots in Los Angeles were the hardest part of the whole experience. As she shuddered in her doctor's office, she said, "This is like seriously the one thing that I cannot..." before admitting, "It wasn't bad at all," after the injection was complete. While Diaz was playing safe with her jabs, Blink-182 star Mark Hoppus and his wife Skye, who joined Diaz, Redman and Eva Mendes on the Nepal trip, had 13 shots. The punk star said, "We're in LA and we get bitten by a mosquito and we think we've got West Nile Virus." Once the celebrity travelers were camped up in a tiger reserve in Nepal, after an exhausting trip, Diaz confessed she was thrilled to be there. She said, "We're in the middle of nowhere. I've taken a lot of trips but never something that's taken so much to get to one place. This is like the furthest away I've been."

Controversial rocker Courtney Love will star as Deep Throat actress Linda Lovelace in a forthcoming biopic of the legendary 1970s porn star. Love, who previously played the wife of pornography mogul Larry Flynt in The People Vs Larry Flynt, has agreed to appear in Lovelace to be written by Merritt Johnson. The late porn actress, real name Linda Boreman, maintained she was never paid for 1972 movie Deep Throat, which was banned in 23 American states, but still went on to earn approximately $600 million. Lovelace became a leading feminist and anti-porn campaigner before dying in April 2002, aged 53, after sustaining injuries in a car crash.