NEW YORK (AP) -Christina Aguilera and The All-American Rejects will be among the performers at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

The awards show will be broadcast live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 31 (8 p.m. EDT), with Jack Black as host. Previously announced performers include Beyonce, Panic! at the Disco, T.I., the Killers, Ludacris with Pharrell, the Raconteurs and Justin Timberlake.

The show will include appearances by Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Chris Brown, Fall Out Boy, Rihanna, Jared Leto, Busta Rhymes, Shaun White, Ne-Yo, Missy Elliott, Lil Jon and Nick Lachey, MTV announced Wednesday.

Aguilera is nominated for video of the year for “Ain’t No Other Man.” She’s also up for best female video, best pop video and best choreography in a video.

The All-American Rejects are nominated for best group video and best editing in a video for “Move Along.”

Timberlake, who snagged a best male video award in 2003 for “Cry Me a River,” will perform his new single, “SexyBack.”

Don’t prejudge, says Paris

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Socialite, tabloid fodder, reality star, yes. But Paris Hilton the singer?

As she promotes her new album, “Paris,” Hilton says she understands the confusion. But she urges a look past the stereotypes.

“I can understand people prejudging on that fact,” she said Tuesday outside Specs Music Store on South Beach, “but the music speaks for itself.”

Hilton, 25, will release “Paris” on Tuesday. Her breathy single, “Stars Are Blind,” has already jumped up Billboard’s dance music charts.

It may seem a departure from what has made her famous, including the TV reality show “The Simple Life,” but Hilton says music has always been a passion.

“I’ve been singing and playing the piano and violin since I’m 6 years old,” she said, “so it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life.”

Hilton said she’s confident of the album’s appeal.

“I know music,” she said, “so I know people will love it.”

Hilton said she finds herself in an unusual position for an artist releasing her first album.

“Most artists, you know, they’re unknown before they actually have their album come out,” she said. “And with me, it’s a different situation because people have seen me around for the past couple of years.”

NEW YORK (AP) – Gwyneth Paltrow, on hiatus from acting for more than two years, is ready to get back to work.

“For a long time, I thought, “I’ve done it. I’ve done what I wanted to do. I’m not interested. I just want to be home with my family,”‘ the 33-year-old actress tells Harper’s Bazaar in its September issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

“I had no spark for work, but I feel the feeling back. And I’m excited about the prospect. I want to do something kind of fun. I don’t want to do anything depressing or mad. I want to do a really great, funny, weird character.”

Paltrow, who won a best actress Oscar for 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” stars in “Running With Scissors,” based on Augusten Burroughs’ best-selling memoir. The film opens Oct. 11.

She has a 2-year-old daughter, Apple, and 4-month-old son, Moses, with husband Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay.

For Paltrow, parenting is “a total joy” – and a major time commitment.

“I do not know how single mothers have more than one child with no help,” she tells the magazine. “It requires so much of my life, and I don’t have to change sheets and clean toilets, you know.”

Paltrow doesn’t read celebrity tabloids, and says the family’s home in London helps them avoid the paparazzi. “We have a gate and a car. It’s easier to control it a bit more.”

“I just hope the whole paparazzi thing continues in the way it’s been going, which is with less interest in people like me and more interest in people like Nicole Richie – who I think is an excellent dresser, by the way,” Paltrow says.

“She’s supercute. It’s really fair that the press attention goes to those who want it and court it. I think that’s great.”

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On the Net:

Harper’s Bazaar: http://www.harpersbazaar.com

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DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Troy Lee Gentry, of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, has been accused of killing a tame black bear that federal officials say he tagged as killed in the wild.

Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., and Lee Marvin Greenly, 46, of Sandstone, appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in connection with a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis.

Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly’s property in October 2004.

The government alleges that Gentry and Greenly tagged the bear with a Minnesota hunting license and registered the animal with the state Department of Natural Resources as a wild kill. Falsely tagging an animal as being killed in the wild is a violation of the federal Lacey Act.

Gentry allegedly paid about $4,650 for the bear, named Cubby. The bear’s death was videotaped, and the tape later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the animal in a “fair chase” hunting situation, the government alleges.

If convicted, both Gentry and Greenly face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine.

Gentry’s manager, Johnny Dorris, said Wednesday that Gentry, an outdoorsman and hunter, expects to be exonerated.

Gentry “relied on the knowledge and expertise of a local guide to obtain the proper permit,” Dorris said in a written statement. “Troy felt what he did was legal and in full compliance of the law and was surprised to hear of the indictment.”

Greenly did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Montgomery Gentry, which includes co-singer Eddie Montgomery, are known for hits such as “My Town” and “If You Ever Stop Loving Me.”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rick Fox may have given up basketball, but not the spotlight.

The former Los Angeles Laker has scored a recurring role in the new FX television series “Dirt,” his spokeswoman, Lori Jonas, said Tuesday.

Production begins this month on the hourlong drama, which stars Courteney Cox as the editor-in-chief of two top tabloids. Fox will play Prince Tyrese, Jonas said.

Fox, 37, has collected a handful of acting credits, including “Holes,” “Eddie,” “He Got Game” and “Mini’s First Time.”

He was married to singer-actress Vanessa Williams for five years. The couple split in 2004 – the same year he retired from the NBA.

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