Model Heidi Klum gives birth to daughter

Berlin — German-born model Heidi Klum has given birth to a daughter, Lou Sulola Samuel — her fourth child.

Klum, who is married to Grammy-winning singer Seal, says on her Web site that the baby was born on Friday.

In the message posted Tuesday, Klum says: “She is beautiful beyond words and we are happy that she chose us to watch her grow over the coming years.”

Klum already has two young sons with Seal, whom she married in 2005. The 36-year-old also has another daughter from a previous relationship.

Madonna shoes offered to Gypsy charity

Bucharest, Romania — Madonna is putting her shoes where her mouth is.

The Queen of Pop has offered one of her favorite pairs of Christian Dior shoes to a charity supporting Gypsy child education. Organizers said Tuesday the skyscraper gold heels, which are autographed by Madonna, will be sold at the Ovidiu Rom annual ball later this month.

Madonna drew international attention by saying during an August concert in Bucharest on her “Sticky & Sweet” tour that widespread discrimination against East Europe’s Gypsies, also known as Roma, should end.

Thousands of fans responded by booing her.

“Madonna’s very mild comment regarding equality shone a spotlight on a common European attitude toward Gypsies,” Leslie Hawke, president of Ovidiu Rom, told The Associated Press. “We’re thrilled to have her donation because she is such an icon of innovation and vigor and ‘can do’ spirit.”

Hawke’s son, actor Ethan Hawke, will attend the ball and speak to guests.

Carrie Underwood to host variety special

New York — The Fox network says Carrie Underwood will host a two-hour variety special tentatively titled, “Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special,” to air Dec. 7.

The network says Underwood will perform new music from her upcoming album, previous hits and holiday classics. Musical guests will include Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley and David Cook.

Underwood won season four of “American Idol.” The 26-year-old country singer is a four-time Grammy winner.

Her new album will be released Nov. 3.

Barry Manilow donates violins to grade schools

Everett, Wash. — Forty-five elementary school students will learn to play the violin thanks to Barry Manilow.

He donated the violins through his Manilow Music Project to students at Hawthorne Elementary in Everett and Tulalip Elementary on the Tulalip Reservation in Washington state.

The $36,000 donation last week means the Everett School District will have a strings program for the first time in 25 years and the tribal school will have its first strings program ever.

The Everett Herald reports Everett symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Ron Friesen is volunteering to teach students at both schools twice a week.

Manilow decided to donate the violins following a March concert in Everett.

Accused Shawn Johnson stalker can be tried

Los Angeles — A judge says there’s enough evidence against a man accused of stalking Shawn Johnson for the case to go to trial.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Carter made the ruling after concluding a preliminary hearing for Robert O’Ryan, who has been jailed since his arrest in March. Authorities say he trespassed on the lot where “Dancing With the Stars” is taped and tried to contact Johnson.

The 17-year-old Olympic gold-medal gymnast won the dancing competition earlier this year.

Johnson and her parents have obtained a civil restraining order against the 34-year-old Florida man.

Authorities said they found a pair of loaded guns in O’Ryan’s car and that he drove from Florida to Los Angeles to try to meet Johnson.

Testimony depicts Smith’s final days

Los Angeles — Anna Nicole Smith was ill, confused and isolated in a hotel room with a cornucopia of prescription drugs in the days before her death, an investigator testified Tuesday in a criminal case stemming from the celebrity model’s overdose death.

California Department of Justice investigator Danny Santiago testified that witnesses said Smith was unable to walk unassisted into the Florida hotel, and she was so weak she could not sit up to drink liquids.

The testimony was presented in a preliminary hearing involving charges that Smith’s former lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two California doctors conspired to illegally provide Smith with controlled substances before her drug-overdose death at age 39.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry, who will decide if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial, noted the defendants have not been accused of killing Smith and questioned the relevance when prosecutor Renee Rose asked Santiago about Smith’s cause of death.

“There is not a murder charge,” Perry said. “The cause of death is not an issue.”