Britney Spears Circus european tour

Singer Britney Spears has extended her "Circus" concert tour to include a dozen European shows taking her from London to Russia, the pop star's representatives said on her Web site on Wednesday.

Spears kicks off the European leg of her tour with a June 19 show in Dublin, Ireland, with later stops in France, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland and a final European stop July 26 in Berlin.

She began her "Circus" tour March 3 in her home state of Louisiana, and the tour features 39 North American dates.

Britney Spears is animated superhero

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears releases a music video on Wednesday that features the troubled singer as an animated superhero in a futuristic world.

The music video will premiere on Wednesday on dedicated Web site (www.BlackoutBall.com) at 6:30 p.m. EDT and accompanies her latest single "Break The Ice" -- the third from her 2007 album "Blackout."

The release of the video, along with an upcoming acting role on U.S. television comedy "How I Met Your Mother," marks something of a comeback for Spears, 26, whose career has been sidelined by psychiatric problems and months of bitter child custody battles.

Spears' Jive record company said the video was made in South Korea in Japanese anime style. Spears last year released two singles from the "Blackout" album which has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide but whose commercial success pales in comparison to the singer's heyday six years ago.

In the past year, Spears has been in rehab, lost custody of her sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline and been hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation.

Management of her personal and business affairs have now been handed over by court order to her father.

Television executives said on Monday that Spears had been cast in an episode of "How I Met Your Mother." The episode is expected to air on March 24 and according to insiders Spears will play a receptionist in a doctor's office.

Spears got her first role in a prime-time U.S. television series in March 2006 when she played a Christian conservative talk show host in a guest appearance on "Will & Grace."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and David Wiessler)

Britney Spears to return to prime-time TV

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears, embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband and legal battle for control of her assets, plans to take time out from her personal troubles to return to prime-time television.

Spears, 26, will appear as a guest star on an upcoming episode of the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," a network spokeswoman said on Monday. No details of her role or an air date were immediately disclosed by CBS.

A source close to the show said the episode would be taped this week and likely air on March 24, adding that Spears took part in a "table read" rehearsal for the segment on Monday.

According to the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the production, Spears will share scenes with the show's lead character, Ted, played by Josh Radnor, as a somewhat ditsy woman who works in his doctor's office and becomes smitten with him.

The show would mark Spears' first role in a prime-time TV series since a March 2006 guest spot on the NBC comedy "Will & Grace," in which she played a Christian conservative talk show host opposite series regular Sean Hayes.

That appearance marked her first public performance after giving birth to the older of her two sons, now 2.

News of Spears' latest TV turn coincided with a hearing in Los Angeles family court where she was again denied a bid to regain custody of her children from her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, or an expansion of her visitation rights.

Spears' career as a performer has been mostly on the skids since her personal life plunged into turmoil following her breakup with Federline in November 2006.

She has been in and out of rehab, and her highly publicized comeback performance on the MTV Video Music Awards in September last year was widely panned as an embarrassing flop.

Spears was hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation in January, and a Los Angeles judge has since granted her father control over the singer's personal and business affairs.

On Monday, a judge in the conservatorship case granted Spears an allowance of $1,500 (750 pounds) a week for spending money.

"How I Met Your Mother," a comedy that tells the retrospective tale of how Ted found true love, has been in reruns since mid-December because of the recently settled Hollywood writers strike. It returns with fresh episodes starting next Monday.

Reuters/Nielsen