James Brown’s friends, family hold private service

North Augusta, S.C. – One day after thousands bade farewell to singer James Brown at the Apollo Theater in New York, friends and relatives gathered Friday for a more humble memorial service near the place Brown called home.

The gold casket bearing Brown’s body was brought into the Carpentersville Baptist Church about 2:30 p.m. Boxing promoter Don King, wearing a red, white and blue tie, was right behind. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who had accompanied Brown’s body to New York and back, was also on hand, as was comedian Dick Gregory.

As the hour of the ceremony neared, several hundred friends, relatives and onlookers waited outside the small, red brick church in a neighborhood of dilapidated homes on a street just inside the South Carolina line.

Friday’s ceremony marked the second day of farewell services for Brown.

On Thursday, thousands of people danced and sang in the streets outside New York’s Apollo Theater in celebration of the music legend’s life as his body was displayed on the stage where he made his 1956 debut.

Brown, who died of heart failure Christmas morning at 73, lay in repose in the Harlem theater that helped catapult him to fame and was the setting for a thrilling live album in 1962.

Julia Roberts, husband expecting third child

New York – Julia Roberts is expecting her third child with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, her spokeswoman confirmed to People magazine Friday.

The baby is due this summer, Roberts’ publicist, Marcy Engelman, said in a story posted on the magazine’s Web site. News of the pregnancy first appeared in the New York Post’s Page Six column.

Roberts, 39, and Moder, 37, have 2-year-old twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus, who were born in November 2004. The couple were married in July 2002 at Roberts’ home in Taos, N.M.

Jolie, Pitt visit construction site of new Panama museum

Panama City, Panama – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt surprised fans in Panama City on Friday, visiting a souvenir shop, a colonial neighborhood and the Panama Canal.

Besides touring the capital, where they shopped for souvenirs and walked around a colonial neighborhood, Pitt and Jolie on Thursday visited a former U.S. military base and the construction site of Panama’s new Biodiversity Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, at the entrance of the canal in the Amador district.

The newspaper said Pitt, who has a love of architecture, and Jolie were considering investing in the $56 million project and buying land in Panama.

Supermodel Taylor marries NASCAR driver Lamar

San Diego – Supermodel Niki Taylor and NASCAR driver Burney Lamar have tied the knot, Taylor’s spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

The couple were married Wednesday before 60 guests at the Grande Colonial Hotel in the La Jolla area of San Diego, publicist Lesley Burbridge-Bates told The Associated Press.

Taylor lives in Nashville, Tenn., where she owns a clothing boutique.

Taylor, 31, and Lamar, 26, met at a charity event in January, Burbridge-Bates said.

Seacrest hopes to kiss Aguilera on New Year’s Eve

Los Angeles – Pucker up, Christina Aguilera. Ryan Seacrest hopes to plant a New Year’s kiss on you.

Aguilera will be performing on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2007,” hosted by Clark and Seacrest from Times Square in New York on Sunday night.

Clark, 77, missed the show two years ago when he suffered a stroke, but returned to the holiday staple last New Year’s Eve. Seacrest took over much of the broadcast for Clark, who has reported on the madness in Times Square for viewers nearly every year since 1972.

McCartney’s estranged wife calls police over paintings

London – Police were called to the country estate of former Beatle Paul McCartney after his estranged wife reported the theft of paintings – including a Picasso and a Renoir – from the lodge they once shared, police said Friday.

“We checked the premises, and spoke to Heather Mills (McCartney), and as a result it was found to be a civil matter between her and her husband,” Sussex Police spokesman Paddy Rea said. “There’s been no theft.”

Mills called police Thursday night after discovering that paintings valued at an estimated $19.5 million had gone missing, The Sun newspaper reported Friday.