Kylie Minogue stunned shoppers during a recent clothes buying spree – at her local charity shop.

The “2 Hearts” singer splashed out less than $40 on two dresses, a skirt and a hat from the Melbourne Salvation Army store in her native Australia.

Shop manager Natasha Scott said: “She was hiding under a hat and had the trademark big sunglasses on, but she still looked great.”

“She looked happy as she browsed around before buying a couple of summery dresses, a trendy little hat with a peak and a skirt. All up, she spent under $40.”

This is not the first time Kylie, 40, has been seen picking up a bargain.

In 2006, she was spotted at vintage clothing store Shag in Melbourne, where the thrifty star asked staff to put aside some inexpensive items to pick up later in the week when she had cash.

Kylie is the latest star cutting costs during the current economic crisis.

“Ugly Betty” actress America Ferrera has put her lavish Hollywood home on the market and is hoping to downsize to a smaller New York apartment.

Miley Cyrus was recently spotted browsing sale racks at Kitson boutique, deciding on a $14 T-shirt and a $56 pair of jeans, while Britney Spears has reportedly downgraded her luxury car to a Mitsubishi.

Kate Moss has auctioned a kiss for charity.

The supermodel sold the smooch for $7,300 in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital – a specialist children’s hospital in London – at a fund raiser on Wednesday night (March 18, 2009).

When bidding began to slow down the 35-year-old beauty volunteered to wear a police uniform for the embrace to help increase offers.

Kate – who is currently dating The Kills front man Jamie Hince – was joined by actor Orlando Bloom and fashion designer Sadie Frost at the Mummy Rocks event which raised $73,000 for hospital equipment and research program.

The evening – which was also celebrating motherhood – was held at the Garrard jewelers flagship store near Bond Street, London, and was hosted by the Garrard’s creative director Stephen Webster.

Other lots included an exclusive 18ct white gold, white diamond and ruby “Mummy Rocks” locket, designed for Mothering Sunday (March 22, 2009) and lunch with British TV star Stephen Fry.

Just hours before taking the stage, pop singer Britney Spears made a surprise visit to a group of sick children at Miami Children’s Hospital.

The 27-year-old Spears posed for photos with the children on Saturday.

She’s also donating $100,000 to the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program, which brings clowns to young hospital patients.

Spears played at the American Airlines Arena in Miami as part of her “Circus” tour.

The tour to support her hit album of the same name kicked off last week before a nearly sold-out crowd in New Orleans.

Spears last toured in 2004.

Michael Lohan wants to fight anyone in a charity boxing match.

Michael – father of US actress Lindsay Lohan – has issued an open invitation to all comers when he steps into the ring in April in Philadelphia, US.

Michael, 48, said: “I have had many people critique my life and career and on April 3 I will take all my aggressions out on my opponent.”

“It does not matter their size or experience I will take them down. I have street smarts and that has been my training for life.”

The event is being organized by the Celebrity Boxing Federation and website smokingeverywhere.com, which promotes cigarette substitute the E-cigarette.

Last October, a bout with Michael was auctioned off. Bob Venero paid $30,000 to box the former convict in New York.

Ben Affleck has traded acting for journalism, penning an article on conflict in Congo for Time magazine.

The “He’s Just Not That Into You” star, who took “Nightline” on a trip to the embattled region last year, wrote the article to draw even more light to the troubled African area.

“I’ve been traveling to Congo since 2007 to learn. Time has agreed to publish my amateur journalism on the merits of this urgent crisis,” Affleck wrote.

In his near 1,000-word essay, Affleck shared what he learned about the conflicted area.

“The warring parties in the east can be distilled into three main groups: the Congolese army; a breakaway faction composed mainly of Tutsis, led by a former general, Laurent Nkunda; and an outlaw militia, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), led by the same Interahamwe Hutu extremists who committed the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda.

Of late, most of the world’s focus has been on the fighting between President Laurent Kabila’s army and Nkunda’s forces. When I met Nkunda, he made a compelling case for his rebellion, framing it as opposition to Kinshasa’s cooperation with the génocidaires of the FDLR and offering a moving history of the persecution of the Tutsi. But like many militia leaders, Nkunda and his men have been accused of war crimes. I met a number of child soldiers who served in his militias, and his soldiers have been accused of participating in massacres in the villages of Bukavu and Kiwanga.

For its part, the FDLR has been present in eastern Congo for more than 14 years. Its members have committed many massacres of Tutsi civilians and have exploited the rich mineral resources of the region. The FDLR subjugates people either by rape (often performed in groups—and on people of either gender) or with the AK-47, a weapon so ubiquitous that it has picked up a tragic moniker: the Congolese credit card. Mary, the scarred woman in the center of the photo collage on the next two pages, told me that FDLR men raped her, set her house on fire and left her to die. She survived. Her 2-year-old daughter did not.

In interviews with Congolese civilians living under FDLR control, I consistently heard one thing: they wanted the génocidaires out. But many believe the only lasting solution will be a military one—and no Western nation has shown much interest in shipping troops to central Africa.

It is Africans themselves who are finding a way forward,” Affleck wrote in his piece.

According to Radar Online, Affleck will take part in a Congo fundraiser at the Los Angeles House of Blues on Tuesday. The event will raise money for International Medical Corps, which provides health-care to women and children in Congo and other areas.

Travolta presented a personal check for $15,000 to Lady Lake Mayor Max Pullen before a screening of the biker buddy comedy Friday night that raised an additional $15,000 in donations. A string of tornadoes killed 21 people, many from Lady Lake, and destroyed hundreds of home as they skipped across central Florida on Feb. 2.

“These things happen in Florida and when they happen we all have to do something to help,” said Travolta, who has lived in Ocala for about four years.

“I just felt the time was right,” the 53-year-old actor said. “We’re promoting a movie. I think the best movie openings and promotions are when you can do it for charity and help people. I live here. These are my people.”

Pullen said he was moved by Travolta’s gesture, and Ocala Mayor Randy Ewers presented the actor with a key to the city.

“This means a lot and helps lift the spirit of our people,” Pullen said. “When they know somebody as big a star as John Travolta cares about them, it makes a difference.”

Walt Disney Co.’s “Wild Hogs,” which also stars Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy and Tim Allen, was the weekend box office champ with a $38 million take, according to studio estimates Sunday.

A school in eastern India built with money raised in the auction of Audrey Hepburn’s iconic black dress was inaugurated Wednesday by French author and philanthropist Dominique Lapierre.

Some 200 children will be able to attend the school in Bishnupur, a village nearly 30 miles south of Calcutta, the capital of the West Bengal state (INDIA).

“I am very happy that my efforts are fructifying. Things are changing with more and more children going to school,” Lapierre told cheering students.

The school is one of 15 to be built in the state with $807,000 paid by high bidder Givenchy, now a division of LVMH, at an auction in December at Christie’s in London.

Lapierre had received the dress as a gift from designer Hubert de Givenchy. The company repurchased it to support both the City of Joy Foundation, run by Lapierre to help India’s poor, and the heritage of the brand.

Hepburn wore the elegant sleeveless sheath for her role as eccentric Manhattan socialite Holly Golightly in the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” The movie’s opening scenes show her character wearing the dress as she emerges from a taxi with a brown-bag breakfast to gaze at diamonds and luxury goods in the storefront windows of Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue.

Books by Lapierre include “The City of Joy,” set in Calcutta, and “Freedom at Midnight,” about India’s independence from Britain in 1947.