BRESCIA, Italy (Reuters) - John Elkann, the media-shy chairman of one of the world's biggest car companies, got behind the wheel and demonstrated his driving skills on Thursday in Italy's legendary four-day Mille Miglia rally race. The 36-year-old head of Fiat, which now control Chrysler and was founded by his great-great grandfather Giovanni Agnelli in 1899, will take turns driving a custom-made 1952 eight-cylinder Fiat 8V with his wife, Lavinia Borromeo, who also has a passion for iconic cars. ...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday named Rafael Reif, an electrical engineer born in Venezuela who has been the university's provost since 2005, as its 17th president. Reif, 61, replaces Susan Hockfield, the first female president of MIT, who announced in mid-February that she was stepping down after almost eight years leading one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Reif will take up his post at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university on July 2, the first MIT president not to be a native English speaker. ...

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Angelina Jolie's engagement ring reportedly set Brad Pitt back a cool $500,000, and it could end up costing Perez Hilton the same. Gossip blogger Hilton (real name: Mario Armando Lavandeira) has been slapped with a lawsuit after reporting that the man who designed Jolie's ring had previously been found guilty of fraud. Hilton's report, published April 17 on his Coco Perez offshoot site, claimed that jeweler Robert Procop, who designed the ring with Pitt, had previously been successfully sued for fraud by a customer named Roy Allenstein. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "Prison Break" star Lane Garrison was charged on Thursday with misdemeanor battery against his ex-girlfriend, which could violate his parole over a conviction for vehicular manslaughter. Since his arrest on Sunday, Garrison, 31, has been held in jail without bail. His probation for the 2007 manslaughter conviction was set to expire in one week, his attorney said. Security cameras at his ex-girlfriend's Beverly Hills apartment show a dispute on Saturday between Garrison and Ashley Mattingly in the lobby of the building. ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Rock musician and conservative activist Ted Nugent pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal wildlife violation after he failed to track down and kill a black bear he wounded with bow and arrow in Alaska during filming for his reality television show three years ago. Nugent, 63, pleaded guilty by telephone in U.S. District Court in Ketchikan, Alaska to a single misdemeanor count of violating an environmental protection law, his attorney Wayne Anthony Ross said. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - British fashion designer Victoria Beckham had her soccer-superstar husband "David in mind" when helping create a new special edition of Range Rover's off-road vehicle, the "Evoque". "I've stayed very true to myself. I've designed a car that I want to drive, a car that I think David wants to drive," the former Spice Girl told Reuters in an interview in Beijing, where she was promoting the vehicle, late on Sunday. "I think that though women will drive this car, it has a masculine edge. I think it's very cool," she added. ...

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jake Gyllenhaal will make his American stage debut in "If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet," the Roundabout Theatre Company said Thursday. The Oscar-nominated star of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Prince of Persia" will star in the story of a girl who is bullied at school and finds herself suspended after head-butting a tormentor. Gyllenhaal will play the girl's foul-mouthed uncle, who forms a bond with his struggling niece. The piece was written by up-and-coming British playwright Nick Payne, who also wrote the critically adored "Constellations. ...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Film star Angelina Jolie will use her powerful box office fame to draw wider attention to some of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday. Jolie, who has already served more than 10 years as goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is taking on a new role as special envoy for large-scale crises that cause huge numbers of civilians to flee their homelands. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California coroner is due to conduct an autopsy of Thomas Kinkade on Monday, three days after the famed American painter died unexpectedly, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday. Kinkade, whose luminescent, homespun scenes captivated millions even as critics scoffed, died alone at his home in Los Gatos in northern California of apparently natural causes, according to family spokesman David Satterfield. Kinkade was 54. The Santa Clara County coroner will perform the autopsy. Officials have offered no further details on the case. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Supermodel and TV host Heidi Klum on Friday filed for divorce from her husband, the singer Seal, following the pair's separation earlier this year, representatives for the couple said. Klum's spokeswoman declined to give further details and said the "Project Runway" television star would not be making a statement. Seal's spokeswoman also confirmed the divorce filing but offered no further comment. Celebrity website TMZ.com said divorce papers had been filed in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. ...

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Moments before Earl Scruggs' silver-colored casket was escorted from the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry Sunday, a video of Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys performing the old gospel tune "Precious Memories" played on a screen above the stage. The last song of a video montage saluting Scruggs, who died Wednesday at age 88, "Precious Memories" showed him singing without a banjo in his hands, unusual for a man who revolutionized the way that instrument was played. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Mad Men" returned to television with bumper ratings, an unusually happy Don Draper and a new star, courtesy of Draper's sexy young wife, Megan. And it's all because of a sultry performance in Sunday's 5th season premiere of a 1960s French pop song, "Zou Bisou Bisou" (Oh you, Kiss, Kiss). Megan, played by Canadian actress Jessica Pare, was the talk of the town on Monday for her rendition, in French, of the song during a surprise birthday party for Draper and for a racy bra and panties sex scene in Sunday's new season premiere. ...

Cleveland (Reuters) - Wacky 1980s comedian Gallagher, famous for using a variety of props and smashing things during his act, said he does not plan to return to the stage after he was placed in a medically-induced coma for four days earlier this month. Gallagher, 65, born as Leo Anthony Gallagher, was best known for his signature "Sledge-O-Matic" routine that involved smashing things on stage, most famously watermelons. The comedian spoke to Marion, Ohio WDCM radio host Scott Spears on his show "Over Breakfast with Scott Spears" Thursday morning. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The creator of stylish Emmy-winning drama "Mad Men" is full of anticipation. And also a teeny bit worried. The 1960s advertising series returns to U.S. television screens on Sunday after a 17 month-absence stemming from a contract dispute between Weiner and cable channel AMC. That's a lifetime in an era of the 24-hour news cycle, and no-one is more aware of it than its creator Matthew Weiner, who told Reuters he decided to do a two-hour premiere because "I have been worried about it (the long gap) the whole time. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The estranged daughter of ailing screen legend Zsa Zsa Gabor is set to ask a Los Angeles court on Tuesday to appoint a conservator to oversee her 95 year-old mother's affairs, her attorney said on Tuesday. In the latest round of a bitter dispute between Francesca Hilton and Gabor's 9th husband, Frederick Von Anhalt, Hilton says she fears that Gabor is being isolated from her family and that her financial affairs may be exploited. Gabor is bedridden in her Bel Air home and is fed by a tube after suffering a stroke, breaking her hip and having a leg amputated. ...

LOS ANGELES, March 16 (TheWrap.com) - Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful termination trial against her former "Desperate Housewives" bosses ended Friday just as it began the day -- completely up in the air. Sheridan's legal team and attorneys for ABC and "Housewives" creator Marc Cherry failed to reach a settlement late in the day, after meeting with Judge Helen Bendix about the possibility of resolving the case. ...