Release of Britney Spears album moved up

New York – Britney Spears’ “Blackout” is coming sooner than expected.

The pop star’s eagerly anticipated new album will be released Oct. 30, Jive Records announced Wednesday, citing Internet leaks as the reason the date was moved up from Nov. 13.

Jive said it “is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs,” including the leaking of “unfinished material and demos represented as completed legitimate songs” to the Internet.

Spears’ new song, “Gimme More,” is the first single from “Blackout.” It is rising on the music charts – jumping from No. 68 to No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 last week – despite the pop star’s personal woes.

Spears, 25, was ordered last week to temporarily surrender custody of her sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federline. Another custody hearing is set for Oct. 26.

Bobby Brown recovering from mild heart attack

Los Angeles – Bobby Brown spent a night in the hospital after suffering a mild heart attack, his attorney said Wednesday.

Brown had severe chest pains Tuesday night and was taken to two hospitals. He was admitted to Tarzana Regional Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley.

“This morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack. … They attributed (it) to stress and diet,” said his attorney, Phaedra Parks, in Atlanta.

His father and brother stayed with Brown and he was released Wednesday morning in good condition, Parks said.

“He is in great spirits, he’s doing very well,” she said. “He’s speaking with family members.”

Dozens suspended for peek at Clooney info

Newark, N.J. – More than two dozen hospital staffers have been suspended for four weeks after allegedly peeking at George Clooney’s confidential medical information after he was hurt in a motorcycle accident last month.

Clooney, 46, suffered a broken rib and scrapes in the Sept. 21 crash, while his passenger, Sarah Larson, 28, injured her foot. Both were treated at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen.

No physicians employed by the hospital were among the 27 employees suspended, said Eurice Rojas, the hospital’s vice president of external affairs, Wednesday.

The investigation was initiated after an audit revealed that employees had looked at the records without authorization, Rojas said.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Clooney said in a statement Tuesday. “And while I very much believe in a patient’s right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers.”

Esquire names 2007 ‘Sexiest Woman Alive’

Los Angeles – Charlize Theron has an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award. Now she’s Esquire magazine’s “sexiest woman alive.”

Past winners of the title include Jessica Biel, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson. The issue featuring Theron hits newsstands Oct. 16.

Theron talked with the magazine about growing up on a farm, her political interests and her work, including her latest movie, “In the Valley of Elah,” a murder mystery set among U.S. troops newly returned from Iraq.

“I wanted to make the movie precisely because it evades formulas about guilt,” the 32-year-old actress said. “I’m drawn to ambiguity.”

Chan’s son wants his own identity in movies

Hong Kong – Jackie Chan’s son doesn’t want to be an action star like his father.

While “Rush Hour 3” was another box-office hit for Chan this summer, his 24-year-old son, Jaycee, was mixing with the arty crowd at the Venice Film Festival.

With a major role in “The Sun Also Rises,” a Chinese-language movie that competed for the top Golden Lion prize in Venice, Chan was considered for acting honors alongside the likes of Adrien Brody and Michael Caine.

Neither Chan nor the film won any prizes, but his appearance highlighted his desire to chart a course distinct from his father’s.

“I’m starting to carve my own path,” he told The Associated Press. “I’ve made an art-house movie. … My range is greater. I’m not just making action movies. I’m trying many different things.”

Queen Elizabeths chat about smelly old England

Los Angeles – When Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench co-starred in last year’s drama “Notes on a Scandal,” their off-camera conversations naturally turned to Queen Elizabeth I, a role each has played.

They didn’t chat about the grand legacy of the long-reigning monarch, though. According to Blanchett, they spoke of stench and halitosis.

“I think we talked sort of generally about how smelly Elizabethan England would have been,” Blanchett told The Associated Press in an interview. “We did talk about the smell and how bad everyone’s breath would have been.”

Blanchett, 38, shot to stardom in 1998’s “Elizabeth.” She reprises the role in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” which opens Friday and centers on the queen’s dalliance with the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) amid a holy war Catholic Spain wages on Protestant England in the late 16th century.

Dench won the supporting-actress Oscar for playing the queen in “Shakespeare in Love,” released the same year “Elizabeth” came out.