Britney Spears has slammed reports she verbally abused a 13-year-old girl on the set of her younger sister Jamie Lynn's TV show, insisting she merely gave the child a "sisterly talking to." The pregnant "Toxic" singer was enraged to hear about tensions brewing between her beloved sibling and co-star Alexa Nikolas, and rushed to the Zoey 101 set last week to defend Jamie Lynn. But although a source tells website PageSix.com she "proceeded to scream that Alexa was an 'evil little girl,' and that she had better watch herself or she 'will never work in this town again,'" Spears insists she was acting as any big sister would. A spokeswoman for Spears says, "Jamie Lynn and another girl on set were having problems, as 13-year-olds do. "Britney did have words with the girl, but felt she was sticking up for her sister. She did not yell by any means, she just gave the girl a sisterly talking to and wondered why they just couldn't all get along." But the on-set source says, "Alexa was in tears. She was sobbing and totally upset - it was totally uncalled for. "While Jamie Lynn is the star, Alexa still works there. And the fight was a petty, 13-year-old thing between Alexa and Jamie Lynn, who is becoming a real pest. Britney should have stayed out of it."

Curvy singer Mariah Carey has been romantically linked to newly single star Eddie Murphy, after the pair were spotted together at a top Miami, Florida nightclub. The singer was in Miami to attend Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards and was dining with friends at the Raleigh Hotel's penthouse, when she received a phone call from Murphy, requesting her company, the New York Daily News reports. After arriving at the Prive nightspot at 2:30 a.m., onlookers claim the pair began whispering and huddling together, before they sat at a table, where Murphy "held hands with her under the table." Murphy's estranged wife Nicole filed for divorce earlier this month, citing "irreconcilable differences".

Diddy (a.k.a. Sean 'Puffy' Combs) has been slapped with a $5 million breach of contract and copyright infringement lawsuit by model Tyson Beckford. Beckford, formerly the face of Combs's Sean John clothing line, alleges that once his contract ran out, the star failed to renew it, but continued to use his image and likeness to advertize the line without permission. Beckford's attorney, Kenneth Montgomery, tells AllHipHop.com, "What we have here is a blatant case of wrong doing on behalf of Mr. Combs and Sean John. They willfully continued to use Mr. Beckford's image without permission because he become known as the face of Sean John." According to Montgomery, Beckford made several attempts to settle the matter before he pursued legal action. Montgomery adds, "My client reached out to Mr. Combs several times before coming to my firm. His manager Beth Ann Hardison also contacted him to seek a resolution. They were not heard." A trial date is set for February 6th at the Southern District Court of New York.

Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless is still recovering from a nightmare escape from New Orleans, Louisiana, to avoid Hurricane Katrina. The New Zealander fled the city, where she's shooting new movie Vampire Bats, when officials issued a mandatory evacuation alert over the weekend, as the category five storm threatened. But Lawless wasn't the only person heeding the evacuation advice and leaving the city. She says, "The traffic was going one-mile-per hour sometimes, then it was two-miles-per hour, then five. It took nine hours for what should have taken 50-55 minutes." But the actress isn't complaining - she's concerned for those who couldn't get out of the city in time. She adds, "I just realized all those people in incredibly low-lying areas are in such threat. I just worry about them. "I love this town, I love the heat. I was afraid of coming, working in sweltering heat and swamps, but it's just been pure joy. I would move here if I could work here all of the time." Oscar winner Hilary Swank was another star who managed to get out of the path of the hurricane just in time - work on her new unnamed thriller was halted over the weekend. Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell were given a few days off last week when shooting on their Miami Vice movie was stopped in Florida as the hurricane - then a category one storm - hit beach communities in Miami.

George Clooney promises his new Las Vegas hotel will add a touch of class to the gambling mecca when its doors are opened. Clooney has teamed up with Cindy Crawford's husband Rande Gerber and two Las Vegas real estate companies for the anticipated Spanish-themed $3 billion project Las Ramblas, which will boast a boutique hotel, a casino and residential units. And the 44-year-old Hollywood actor is keen to point out that the new development will bring some old glamour back to the city. He says, "We have this romantic notion of a place where you put on a jacket or a dress to go to dinner. We will have some sort of dress code so that it will feel like you are walking into a more formal Las Vegas of a different age or a classic Monte Carlo casino. I may be the novice of this group (of investors), but I have a good idea of what I like in Las Vegas, and it is all about class." The Ocean's Eleven star, who is pumping much of his own cash into the project, adds, "I don't know that I will make a dime on any of this. I could lose my shirt. But it will be a big adventure."

Movie maverick Terry Gilliam is amazed that a planned movie starring Johnny Depp and Robin Williams is still on the shelf - because American investors can't raise $15 million. The former Monty Python member was thrilled when international money men offered him $45 million to make the film Good Omens with Depp as a demon and Williams as an angel. But he was shocked to discover that Americans didn't have the same sort of faith in the project, and they failed to raise the extra cash he needed to start work on the project - an adaptation of fantasy writers Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's book. Gilliam tells US magazine Entertainment Weekly, "I couldn't get 15 with Johnny and Robin... These two guys, who would have been brilliant were not worth $15 million in America. That was the moment where I went, 'I don't understand this game. I don't understand this town (Hollywood). I don't understand any of the rules. All I know is I don't like it.'" Gilliam's last project with Depp, the ill-fated Quixote, became one of the biggest movie-making disasters in history when illness and storm-wrecked sets prompted financiers of the film to pull the plug as costs soared. The film, which was never completed, was turned into hit disaster documentary Lost in La Mancha. Gilliam hopes to complete his Don Quixote epic with Depp next year.

Gwyneth Paltrow has offered some belated, unhelpful advice to divorcing couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, telling the pair they should never have discussed their partnership with the press while they were together. Pitt and Aniston comfortably discussed aspects of their relationship with the media, including the Troy star's controversial admission that he wasn't sure "if it really is in our nature to be with someone for the rest of our lives." Paltrow, who ended her two-year relationship with Pitt in June 1997, was shocked to hear of the golden couple's high-profile split in January. The Shakespeare in Love star, 32, tells Time magazine, "It would be a lot easier on Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston now had they not talked to the press about each other and everything to begin with. "I learned my lesson at 24." After failed relationships with Ben Affleck, Luke Wilson and Chris Heinz, Paltrow is happily married to Coldplay rocker Chris Martin and they have a one-year-old baby, Apple. She explains, "Our marriage is between us. If we decide to continue being together or not, it's our business. "When I presented at the Oscars last year everyone would say 'Where's your husband? Is there trouble in the marriage?' And I was like, 'Why on Earth would I bring my husband?'"

Actor Martin Sheen joined anti-war protesters camped up at US President George W. Bush's Texas ranch last week to voice his opposition to the ongoing battle in Iraq. Sheen spoke to the hundreds of protestors gathered in Crawford and spoke with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a serviceman killed in Iraq and the woman responsible for starting the rally. Folk star Joan Baez was also among those gathered, performing her anthems "Song of Peace" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" for the assembled crowd.

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx is calling for today's rap superstars to stop fighting after incidents over the weekend marred the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in Miami, Florida. The Ray star, who performed at the awards with Kanye West, admits he was distressed by rap mogul Suge Knight's shooting on Saturday night and then again at the VMAs when Fat Joe and 50 Cent's war of words went public. After Fat Joe poked fun at 50's entourage live on stage, the "In Da Club" rapper retaliated by ending his performance with a obscenities-laced rant at Joe. Foxx believes the feuding rappers ruined the evening. Now he fears another Tupac Shakur/Notorious B.I.G. war, which left both rappers dead. He says, "I love all of those guys, man... (but) if Tupac and Biggie taught you anything, let it go, man. I've been in the game for 20 years. I've seen them come and go. You don't want anything tragic to happen."

Actress Scarlett Johansson has sworn off dating dangerous men because she once dated a cocaine addict and recalls it being a nightmare. The pretty star, who is now dating Pearl Harbor actor Josh Harnett, admits her nameless ex could never be trusted and she always felt a distant second to his love for drugs. She tells US style magazine Cosmopolitan, "It was horrible. I won't allow myself to get involved with someone like that again because you're never as important as the drug. "You can't trust them, and you never know where they are. They lie. Every time they blow their nose, you're like, 'Hmmm.'" But The Island star insists not all her past relationships have been disasters - one sweetheart who she fell for when she was just 14 is still a close pal. She adds, "You go through puberty and feel like there's nobody in the world who's ever going to understand you. Then you meet this person and you're connecting with them and exploring things you've never explored before. You never have that again. "(You feel like) 'I'm gonna marry you and have your children.'"