That was the buzz yesterday morning after NBC boss Jeff Zucker was spotted climbing out of his black SUV on a visit to Couric, who left the “Today” show to anchor “CBS Evening News,” at her East Side apartment. But don’t hold your breath. A friend of Couric told Page Six, “Jeff and Katie have been friends for 20 years. He asked her to get a Mother’s Day gift for his wife, Caryn, and picked it up on the way to his daughter’s play.”

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“There’s other things I want to do [be sides acting],” he tells Morley Safer on “60 Minutes” this Sunday. “In a matter of weeks, I’m going to be 50.” Bombastic Baldwin was thinking of running for governor two years ago before he lost his temper and left a voice mail for his daughter Ireland, then 11, calling her “a rude, thoughtless little pig.” Given a chance to apologize for calling Kim Basinger’s lawyer, Judy Bogen, a “300-pound homunculus with a face like a clenched fist,” Baldwin replied, “I was being kind, Morley.”

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Country superstar Eddy Arnold, whose 1965 hit “Make the World Go Away” helped get him elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame the following year, died at a care facility near Nashville Thursday morning, a week shy of his 90th birthday on May 15, the Associated Press reports.

In 1967, the clean-cut country boy with the mellow baritone was the first recipient of the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association, and was renowned for lending his voice to the “countrypolitan” Nashville sound, to which he was considered a pioneer.

His other hits included “Cattle Call,” “The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me,” “Anytime,” “Bouquet of Roses,” “What’s He Doing in My World?” “I Want to Go With You,” “Somebody Like Me,” “Lonely Again” and “Turn the World Around.”

Born on a farm near Henderson, Tenn., the son of a sharecropper, Arnold sang on small radio stations in Tennessee and Missouri before building a devoted national audience. Col. Tom Parker, who later shaped the career of Elvis Presley, managed Arnold early in his career.

“I sing a little country, I sing a little pop and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together,” Arnold said in 1970.

His wife of 66 years, Sally, died this past March, the same month Arnold fell outside his suburban Nashville home and injured his hip.

Survivors listed by the AP include a son, Richard Edward Arnold Jr., and daughter, Jo Ann Pollard, both of Brentwood, Tenn.

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While her little sister’s wedding plans remain shrouded in secrecy, Jessica Simpson revealed one detail: She’s the maid of honor!

“Of course,” the 27-year-old told PEOPLE when asked if she’ll be standing next to Ashlee on her big day.

Performing in front of nearly 35,000 people at Camp Pendleton Thursday night, Jessica was in fine form for the troops, belting out “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ ” at a three-hour concert that also featured Snoop Dogg, Janet Jackson, Ne-Yo, and Pamela Anderson. Taking the stage in a skin-tight red top, jeans and black stiletto heels, Jessica was greeted by howls and hoorahs.

Little sister Ashlee, 23, and fiancé Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy fame) have kept mum on their wedding plans – and her pregnancy.

But she can’t help gushing about her engagement.

While promoting her new album, Bittersweet World, in London, Ashlee proudly showed off her ring on a British chat show saying, “He did a great job.” As for her husband-to-be? “I got a good one.”
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Britney Spears surprised “Rock The Cradle” contestants Thursday night by unexpectedly showing up for the season finale to support her former manager and friend Larry Rudolph.

“Rock The Cradle” pits aspiring pop stars, who have rock and roll in their DNA, against one another. The finale, which was broadcast on MTV, featured Jess Blaze Snider, son of Dee Snider; Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny Loggins; and Chloe Lattanzi, daughter of Olivia Newton John. Rudolph judged the competition.

Spears spent the duration of the show seated backstage surrounded by security. After the show, Rudolph told usmagazine.com, “She was here to support the show. I mentioned to her that I was going to my show. She said, ‘I want to come down.’ She loved it. She really loved it. She didn’t come here for publicity or anything like that. She came here because she wanted to see the show, which I appreciated.”

Spears headed to the show after spending the day with her two sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston. It was the first extended visit since she, along with her parents Lynne and Jamie Spears, appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court Tuesday for a custody hearing, where she was granted extended visitation rights by Commissioner Scott Gordon.

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Eva Mendes has gone topless for a provocative picture shoot in Italy’s Vogue magazine. (Here)

The actress has posed in a semi-dominatrix outfit, complete with sexy black stockings, a lacy basque and a see-through black shirt, open to reveal her breasts.

She topped off her Vogue look with a black beehive hairdo, reports the Daily Telegraph.

This is not the first time Mendes has stripped off - she appeared completely nude as Denzel Washington’s girlfriend in Training Day.

She also posed nude for I’d Rather Go Naked anti-fur campaign poster for People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) last year.

And she wore nothing but lingerie for a scene in the 2007 drama We Own The Night.

Eva Mendes Toples In Italy’s Vogue Magazine

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Formerly a sales assistant at the clothing store Topshop, she was selected on February 14, 2006 (both her birthday and that of Lara Croft) to be the seventh (and current) model for Lara Croft in the popular video game series Tomb Raider. The role involves promoting the game series “in-character” on television and radio, so Adebibe is undergoing training in Lara Croft’s trademark skills, from martial arts to elocution.

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Rapper R. Kelly’s child pornography trial is to start in Chicago, Illinois tomorrow, after a series of delays. Jury selection will begin six years after Kelly was initially charged with having sex with a underage girl.The charges were prompted by a videotape allegedly showing the singer having sex with a young teenager.The trial looks set to be a messy one with both Kelly and his now-23-year-old alleged sexual partner both insisting it isn’t them on the videotape. Kelly, 41, faces up to 15 years in prison if he’s convicted.But his spokesman Allan Mayer insists Kelly is relieved the trial is about to start at last: “Every waking moment, he’s always had this hanging over his head. He’s confident that when all the evidence comes out he’ll be shown not to be guilty of any crime.”

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