Usher ready to be a groom

New York – Usher is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, stylist Tameka Foster, the R&B singer’s spokeswoman said Friday.

Publicist Simone Smalls didn’t provide further details.

Usher, a five-time Grammy winner, confirmed the engagement Wednesday to MTV News, ending speculation that he had popped the question.

Foster has been photographed recently with a diamond ring on her finger.

Usher, 28, said he could be walking down the aisle before the end of the year.

CMT drops Miss America

Las Vegas – For the second time in three years, Miss America is without a TV home.

Cable network CMT, which has aired the pageant each of the past two years, has decided not to pick up its option for the 2008 competition. The network had a two-year contract to air Miss America, with options to extend its deal through 2011.

After ratings dropped for the 2007 pageant, though, CMT opted to part ways with the 86-year-old pageant.

The news comes shortly after NBC announced it was renewing its contract to air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants for three more years.

In terms of average audience, the two pageants on CMT were way below even the lowest-rated ABC telecast of Miss America.

The 2006 pageant averaged 3.1 million viewers (the best ever for CMT), and this year’s show dipped to 2.4 million. The last Miss America to air on ABC, in 2004, drew more than 9 million people.

Ricky Martin says stars shouldn’t hide homosexuality

Mexico City – Ricky Martin defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly that he is gay.

“Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say,” said Martin, whose sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation. Christian “has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength.”

Martin, who was named person of the year in 2006 by the Latin Recording Academy, has hits including “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “Shake Your Bon-Bon.”

Martin said it was great that more celebrities are working with charities: “If this is a fashion, then I hope a lot more fashions like this come along.”

He will tour the U.S. in April and May.

Alec Baldwin offers tuition for soldier headed to Iraq

Phoenix – Actor Alec Baldwin was so moved by the story of an 18-year-old Army soldier who is scheduled to serve in Iraq, he’s going to help pay for her college education after she leaves the military.

After reading a March 4 New York Times story about Pvt. Resha Kane’s last day with family and friends before going for training to prepare for serving in Iraq, Baldwin – not his people – tracked down Kane’s mother at a discount store where she works to offer his assistance, his spokesman said.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Kane said. “And then I asked him if he could send me his autograph. I’ve never met a star, let alone talked to one on the phone.”

Kane, a chemical operations specialist in the Army, said she wants to be a biochemist but is not sure what university she wants to attend once she leaves the military in three years.

Britney, K-Fed negotiate divorce settlement

Los Angeles – Britney Spears and Kevin Federline have reached a settlement in their divorce, a spokesman for Federline’s attorney said.

After a five-hour meeting Thursday with their attorneys present, Spears and Federline signed “a global settlement on all issues of their marriage,” said Michael Sands, a spokesman for Federline’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan.

Sands declined to elaborate on terms of the settlement, saying only that it covers child custody and financial matters.

The settlement came more than a week after Spears checked out of a luxurious rehab center. During her nearly one-month stay at Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility, Spears and Federline were under a temporary agreement that gave them joint custody of their two young sons.