Gossip/Celebrity News

[Rasputin]

Courteney Cox & David Arquette: Baby No. 2?

Courteney Cox and her husband, David Arquette, are "hoping" for a second child, the actress tells PEOPLE.

"We're hoping it will happen," Cox, who stars as a tabloid editor in the upcoming F/X series Dirt, told PEOPLE last week.

A few days later, at the premiere of her animated flick Barnyard, the actress (who's usually not one for personal chit-chat on the red carpet) added, "We're thinking about it."

This isn't the first time Cox, mother to 2-year-old Coco, has talked about expanding her family. "I'm not really ready right this second," she tells Marie Claire in its August issue. "But I'll probably do it one more time."

Cox, 41, who went through in-vitro fertilization to have Coco, said she plans to do IVF again, even though, she says, "It drives you crazy with the hormones."

Cox calls motherhood "really hard," but worth it. "I am so nuts about my child," she tells Marie Claire.

As for her parenting skills, Cox says, "I'm a good mom because I'm consistent and I set boundaries, because schedules are really important for kids, but we spoil Coco. We sing and we have fun."

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Country Star Freddy Fender Has Cancer

Country music star Freddy Fender has inoperable cancer and is "hoping for a miracle," according to his wife and manager, Vangie Huerta.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported Wednesday that Fender, a three-time Grammy winner, was told by doctors in June that he had multiple tumors on his lungs.

"I feel very comfortable in my life," the Texas-based singer told the paper. "I'm one year away from 70 and I've had a good run."

He added, "I really believe I'm okay. In my mind and in my heart, I feel okay. I cannot complain that I haven't lived long enough, but I'd like to live longer."

Fender started his career in the late 1950s and had hits with his songs "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "You'll Lose A Good Thing." He won his most recent Grammy in 2002, a best Latin pop award for his album La Musica de Baldemar Huerta.

He was first diagnosed with lung cancer in January when doctors were preparing to remove the upper left lobe of his lung because of a fungal infection. Instead, they found two tumors and left the lobe intact while proceeding with chemotherapy, Huerta told the Caller-Times.

That treatment started in late January, but Fender later decided to stop due to its severe side effects. A scan later revealed nine more tumors.

Fender is now resting at his home in Corpus Christi and has resumed chemotherapy at a lower dosage. "We can prolong his life with medication or chemo, but it's not a cure," Huerta said.

[Rasputin]

Penelope Cruz: I've Met Suri

Tom Cruise's ex-girlfriend, Penelope Cruz, is the latest celeb to say she's seen Suri Cruise.

"I met Suri. She is really beautiful. She is really special," the 32-year-old actress told reporters Thursday at the U.K. premiere of her new film, Volver. "One of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. And I am extremely happy for them. They are really happy and doing great."

Cruz, who dated Cruise from 2001 to 2004, declined to offer other details of the meeting.

Suri, the daughter of Cruise, 44, and Katie Holmes, 27, hasn't been seen in public since she was born on April 18.

But this month, Jada Pinkett Smith told PEOPLE that she also has seen the baby. "She's one of the sweetest babies I've ever met in my life," she said. "She's an absolute beauty and she's Daddy's little girl."

Cruise's pal and fellow Scientologist, Leah Remini, has also met Suri. The King of Queens star told PEOPLE Suri "looks like Tom and Katie. She's just beautiful."

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Madonna's Rome Concert Outrages Vatican

Madonna staged a mock-crucifixion in the Italian capital on Sunday, ignoring a storm of protest and accusations of blasphemy from the Roman Catholic Church.

In a sold-out stadium just a mile from Vatican City, the lapsed-Catholic diva wore a fake crown of thorns as she was raised on a glittery cross during the Rome stop of her worldwide "Confessions Tour."

The Vatican had accused her of blasphemy and provocation for even considering staging the sham crucifixion on its doorstep, anger Madonna further enflamed prior to the show by inviting Pope Benedict to come and watch.

The self-styled "Queen of Pop" went on to pepper her two-and-a-half hour show with more controversial imagery, at one point showing photographs of the pope after those of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

"Did you know two miracles have taken place in Rome?" the star, dressed in skin-skimming black, later joked with the crowd. "Italy won the World Cup and the rain stopped before my show."

The 70,000 fans, crammed into the Olympic Stadium, shrugged off the scandal by dancing, singing and jumping as she performed songs from her latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, and classics such as "Like a Virgin."

Yet the cheering lulled when she was raised on the cross and some fans from predominantly Roman Catholic Italy confessed their disappointment.

"The crucifixion was unnecessary and provocative. Because this is Rome, I wish she'd cut it out. But it's Madonna, she's an icon, and that balances out her need to provoke," said 39-year old Roman Tonia Valerio.

It is not the first time Madonna, whose father is a Catholic Italian American, has caused religious anger for her controversial religious and sexual imagery.

Catholic leaders condemned as blasphemous her 1989 video for the hit song "Like a Prayer," featuring burning crosses, statues crying blood and Madonna seducing a black Jesus.

In 2004, a Vatican group warned that her latest religious belief, Kabbalah, a mystical from of Judaism, was a potential threat to the Roman Catholic faithful.

And she looks likely to face another storm when the tour reaches Moscow in September, where the Russian Orthodox Church has advised its followers to boycott the show because of the crucifixion stunt, agency Interfax reported on Saturday.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]