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Hargitay to stay in hospital until Friday

NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- TV actress Mariska Hargitay is recovering from surgery at NYU Medical Center in Manhattan after her lung collapsed a second time, OK! reported.

Sources told the magazine that the 44-year-old "Law & Order: SVU" star is expected to remain in the hospital for observation until at least Friday.

"Mariska is feeling better. We are looking forward to her quick recovery and return to set," an NBC representative told OK!

TMZ said the actress suffered a partially collapsed lung during the Christmas holiday and then again Monday.

Hudson to sing at the Super Bowl

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Jennifer Hudson has agreed to sing the national anthem at next month's Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., the NFL and NBC announced Wednesday.

Among the artists who have sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl are Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Whitney Houston, Harry Connick Jr., Garth Brooks, Natalie Cole, Vanessa Williams, Luther Vandross, Jewel, Cher, Faith Hill, the Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey, Dixie Chicks and Beyonce Knowles.

It was previously announced that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform in the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIII Halftime Show Feb. 1.

The Super Bowl performance will mark the first time Hudson will sing in public since her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death in Chicago in October, allegedly by her brother-in-law.

"She certainly can nail it," a source commented to E! News about Hudson's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." "She proved it at the Democratic National Convention."

Hudson won an Oscar for her work in the movie musical "Dreamgirls." She also has appeared in the films "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Sex and the City."

Spears moving in to $8.9M Calabasas home

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Pop star Britney Spears is moving into an $8.9 million house in Calabasas, Calif., Usmagazine.com reported.

"I just took my babies to our new home, and they loved it!" the magazine quoted the 27-year-old mother of two young sons as writing on her Twitter account. "I can't wait to move in."

The celebrity Web site X-17 said Spears was seen unloading items like her children's electric cars onto the property in The Oaks community.

A real estate source told Usmagazine.com the $8.9 million price tag had been reduced, but didn't say what the original cost was.

Spears is selling her six-bedroom, six-bathroom Studio City, Calif., home for $7.2 million.

Trio to perform Irish Obama song in parade

NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The Corrigan Brothers wrote their song "There's No One As Irish As Barack Obama" in 20 minutes after learning he had roots in Ireland, the trio's label said.

The Irish rock group's tribute to President-elect Barack Obama's Irish heritage has gotten more than 710,000 hits on YouTube as of Wednesday. The single is available at all Internet outlets, including iTunes and Amazon.

The group, which also performs under the name Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, is slated to perform "There's No One As Irish As Barack Obama" at next week's Inauguration Day Parade in Washington on the Irish-American float and then again at the Irish-American Democrats Dinner that evening.

"After discovering that Obama's great, great, great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, resided in Moneygall -- before emigrating to the United States in 1850 -- Donncha, Gerard and Brian Corrigan penned 'There's No One As Irish As Barack Obama' in less than 20 minutes," Decca Label Group said in a news release.

"On a whim the brothers from Limerick posted a homemade music video on YouTube, capturing the hearts and imaginations of nearly 700,000 viewers," the label added. "Within weeks of inception, the band knew they had a hit as the track caught on like wildfire, garnering a slew of press from both sides of the Atlantic."

"We woke up and there were articles in the New York Post, the New Zealand Herald, and papers in South Africa and Asia," Gerard Corrigan said in a statement Monday.