Actress and global spokesperson for the ‘One Pack = One Vaccine’ campaign, Salma Hayek, visited moms and babies during a trip to the African nation of Sierra Leone with Pampers and UNICEF. There, she witnessed firsthand the impact of the effects of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus.

“When I traveled to Sierra Leone, I was faced with the devastation of tetanus. Witnessing the death of a newborn was unbearable. No mother should have to endure the loss of a child. No one should die of tetanus when prevention is so easy. With the purchase of specially-marked packages of Pampers diapers and wipes, we can help make a difference in saving lives. I witnessed, firsthand, how Pampers and UNICEF are working together to eliminate tetanus.” – Salma Hayek

At a press conference today in New York, Pampers was joined by actress, mother and “One Pack = One Vaccine” international spokesperson, Salma Hayek, to announce the continued success of the North American campaign, which provided funding for more than 45 million tetanus vaccines in 2008, and aims to raise funds for an additional 30 million tetanus vaccines this year. According to UNICEF estimates, 386 million vaccines are needed to wipe out tetanus in the 46 countries that have yet to eliminate the disease, and Pampers’ global goal over the next three years is to provide funding for more than half of the needed tetanus vaccines (200 million).

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Michael Urie (Marc St. James on the show) has cleared up all the confusion surrounding the benching of Ugly Bettyon his blog. Read a part of the entry below, and check it out in full on his official blog!

We are going to finish shooting our original 3rd season order – 24 episodes (currently on 16).

At the end of March, we’re going off the air for a while, at a time when we would normally be on for a few weeks, off for a few, confusing and angering fans with repeats.

In June, we come back, and finish the last 6 episodes of the season without interruption!

This has been done with lots of ABC shows over time, like Lost and Desperate Housewives. We’ve got great real estate on Thursday nights at 8pm, and the network wants to share it with other shows! It makes sense.

Doesn’t mean the end of Betty.

Salma Hayek forced Penélope Cruz to watch the Oscar nominations announcement. How sweet! I really hope Salma will attend the Oscars in support of Pe, wouldn’t it be awesome if she was even her date!

Here is the dish:

Penélope, who was staying at the close friend Salma’s Los Angeles home for a sleepover, had planned to sleep through the nominations, having only flown into the city a few hours before. Her hostess, however, had other plans.

“I had just arrived to Los Angeles very, very late at night, and I had went to sleep. Four hours later, I was at the house of some of my girlfriends, and they woke me up. Actually, it was Salma Hayek. She woke me up and said, ‘We have to watch it live!’ I said, ‘That’s such a big risk!’” – Penélope Cruz

Salma Hayek has thrown a star-studded party to celebrate Penelope Cruz’s Oscar nomination.

The lavish bash was held at Salma’s Hollywood Hills home on Monday evening (26.01.09) and boasted a guest list crammed with Hollywood’s hottest stars.

Penelope, 34 – who is in the running for the Best Supporting Actress accolade for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona – was joined by famous friends including her co-star Scarlett Johansson and her husband Ryan Reynolds, Ashton Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore, Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and his wife Melanie Griffith and Charlize Theron and her partner Stuart Townsend.

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Things are looking pretty gloomy for Ugly Betty. TV Guide’s Auisello reports:

In a just-announced Thursday night scheduling tweak, ABC is benching Betty beginning March 26 and replacing it with episodes of Samantha Who? and the new Megan Mullally-Cheryl Hines comedy In the Motherhood. The network’s release concludes by saying, “Ugly Betty will return to Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. following the run of In the Motherhood and Samantha Who?”

After crunching the numbers, that puts Betty’s return (provided Sam Who/Motherhood don’t tank) sometime around (gulp) June — a.k.a. outside the regular season. Now, granted, Betty hasn’t exactly been killing it in the ratings this season, but it’s still one of ABC’s signature shows. At least I thought it was.

“The Thursday night block is a good opportunity to launch these comedies,” counters an ABC spokesperson. “That said, Betty is a solid performer and there is no question that it will definitely be back to complete its season, just without repeats.”

But when will it be back? The net’s not saying, and that’s the part that has me worried.

Salma Hayek serves as Executive Producer of the show currently in it’s third season.