Brad Pitt to adopt Angelina Jolie’s kids

LOS ANGELES – Brad Pitt is seeking to become the adoptive father of Angelina Jolie’s children, the actor’s publicist announced.

A legal petition seeking to change the names of the children to Zahara Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt was filed Friday in Los Angeles, publicist Cindy Guagenti said in a written statement to The Associated Press.

“We are confirming that Brad Pitt is in the process of becoming the adoptive father of both children,” the statement said. “No further comment is being made.”

The couple has been romantically linked since the filming of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

For months, rumors have been circulating about the extent of Jolie’s off-screen relationship with Pitt. Photos published in the July 11 issue of People show Jolie standing near her England estate while Pitt rides a dirt bike with Maddox, 4. Other photos show Pitt, Jolie and Maddox at Luton Airport outside London.

Both children were adopted by Jolie. Zahara is just under a year old.

Pitt and Jennifer Aniston announced their separation in January, and Aniston filed for divorce in March, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final in October.

Pitt, 41, has denied Jolie, 30, was the reason for the split.

‘Diddy’ shows up announced at event

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Sean “Diddy” Combs made a surprise visit to Chris Evert’s charity tennis tournament to meet a teenage cancer patient.

For Chalon Keen, 17, of Sunrise, who has been fighting for two years a cancer that creates tumors in her muscle cells, Saturday’s visit was a dream come true.

Chalon, a patient at the Chris Evert Children’s Hospital at Broward General Medical Center, met Combs through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Ava Keen, Chalon’s mother, said her daughter cried the whole time. The meeting lifted the teen’s spirits as she and her family prepared to travel to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to undergo tests for a possible bone marrow transplant.

“I was just so choked up, she was so excited,” Ava Keen said.

Evert’s annual event has raised more than $13 million to fight drug abuse and help neglected and abused children in south Florida.

Movie recreates 11 deaths at ’72 Games

NEW YORK – Steven Spielberg is taking on terror. His latest film, “Munich,” centers on the aftermath of the killings of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

“I don’t think any movie or any book or any work of art can solve the stalemate in the Middle East today,” Spielberg tells Time magazine in its Dec. 12 issue. “But it’s certainly worth a try.”

Eric Bana (“Troy”) stars as a Mossad agent who leads a secret Israeli squad assigned to assassinate 11 Palestinians suspected of planning the killings.

“We don’t demonize our targets,” Spielberg says. “They’re individuals. They have families. Although what happened in Munich, I condemn.”

Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner would not reveal the identity of the man Bana portrays, whom they interviewed at length.

“There is something about killing people at close range that is excruciating,” Spielberg tells the magazine. “It’s bound to try a man’s soul.”

“Munich” co-stars Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig and Mathieu Kassovitz. It is due out Dec. 23.

Activists demand to keep exhibit open

LOS ANGELES – Former “Golden Girls” actress Betty White joined more than 100 people rallying in front of the Los Angeles Zoo to try to keep the pachyderm exhibit from being closed.

The demonstration Saturday came in response to a study ordered by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to determine whether the exhibit should be shut down. Animal rights activists called for the study, saying the elephants need more acreage.