Monitor

BIRTHS
Hit Me (With a) Baby, One More Time! Happily fertile duo Britney Spears, 24, and husband Kevin Federline, 28, reportedly greeted their second child in less than a year. The boy, still unnamed at press time, was born in L.A. on Sept. 12, two days short of son Sean Preston's first birthday.

WEDDINGS
American Idol season 1 finalist Tamyra Gray, 27, tied the knot Sept. 2 in Capri, Italy, with musician Sam Watters, 36. Watters co-produced Jessica Simpson's A Public Affair and bears the distinction of being an ex-Color Me Badd (''I Wanna Sex You Up'') member.

EXPECTING
Desperate Housewife Marcia Cross, 44, and her new husband, businessman Tom Mahoney, 48, will welcome their first child in April.... What's so funny about peace, love, and multiple births? Musicians Diana Krall, 41, and Elvis Costello, 52, are expecting twins this fall.

INVITATIONS
The White House announced Sept. 5 that season 2 Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, 27, has been chosen to serve on the President's Committee for People With Intellectual Disabilities.

ARRESTS
Paris Hilton, 25, was arrested for an alleged DUI on Sept. 7 in L.A., after police said she was driving erratically and then failed a sobriety test. No charges have been filed. Says her publicist: ''It was her first offense, first arrest, and hopefully the last.''

COURTS
On Sept. 7, David Gest, 53, asked a judge to nullify his prenup with ex-wife Liza Minnelli, 60. He claims she was an alcoholic, was violent, and — no, he di'int — had herpes (all of which she allegedly failed to disclose). Minnelli's lawyer has called the accusations ridiculous.... 50 Cent (né Curtis Jackson), 31, is scheduled to appear in an NYC court next month, after being detained on Sept. 8 for allegedly driving an uninsured car with a suspended license and making an unsafe lane change. 50' s rep could not be reached for comment.... Sean Combs, 36, agreed to stop using the name ''Diddy'' in the U.K., as part of a settlement with British producer Richard ''Diddy'' Dearlove. ''It's only fair that since...he used Diddy first, that he be allowed to use it,'' said Combs. ''I am blessed that I have many, many names to choose from.''

PROMOTED
Sony Motion Picture Group chairman Amy Pascal, 48, is now co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which includes both film and TV properties. Pascal has overseen the development of movies like Spider-Man and The Da Vinci Code.

DEATHS
Daniel Smith, 20, son of ex-Playmate Anna Nicole Smith, 38, of unknown causes, Sept. 10, in Nassau, Bahamas. He passed away three days after she gave birth to a girl.... Gordon Manning, 89, an NBC news exec who in 1987 arranged Mikhail Gorbachev's first American TV interview, of heart failure, Sept. 6, in Westport, Conn.... John Conte, 90, an actor on shows like Perry Mason, of natural causes, Sept. 4, in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

AWARDS
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL, Aug. 30-Sept. 9
Ben Affleck, Best Actor nominee? No, this isn't the punchline to some Gigli joke. The 34-year-old Hollywoodland star has a real shot at an Oscar nod after winning the Venice Film Festival's honor for his portrayal of doomed TV Superman George Reeves. ''If I thought there was any chance of me winning, I wouldn't have left [Italy],'' jokes Affleck from Los Angeles. Other award recipients include The Queen's Helen Mirren and the Chinese film Still Life.

CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK
If public criticism from VIPS helped ratings, then ABC's The Path to 9/11, which aired Sept. 10 and 11, would've been a hit. The miniseries (starring Harvey Keitel), which showed fictionalized scenes from the Clinton administration flubbing its chance to kill Osama bin Laden, drew ire from the former president, his ex-national security adviser Sandy Berger, and two FBI agents who consulted on the film. And ex-counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke called Path ''an egregious distortion.'' ABC edited out some problematic scenes and recast it as more dramatization than documentary. The protests didn't boost ratings much: 13 million viewers tuned in Sept. 10, 10 million less than NBC's Sunday Night Football.

(Additional reporting by Stewart Allen, Jennifer Armstrong, and Michelle Kung)