SAO PAULO (AP) — Jennifer Lopez won’t perform the World Cup’s official song alongside fellow artists Pitbull and Claudia Leitte during the tournament’s opening ceremony in Brazil, FIFA officials said yesterday.

Soccer’s governing body said Lopez cannot perform at Thursday’s event as earlier planned because of unspecified “production issues.” The singer’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.

FIFA said in a news release that Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte will sing the official tune We Are One before Brazil takes on Croatia at the Thursday opener in Sao Paulo.

The song has let down many Brazilians who complain that it sounds too generic for the nation’s Bossa Nova-crazed audiences and that it features foreign musicians singing mostly in English and Spanish. Leitte sings only a few seconds at the end of the song in her native Portuguese.

Feds probe truck safety after Tracy Morgan crash

TRENTON, NJ (AP) — Federal investigators yesterday were looking into commercial trucking and other safety issues in the wake of a deadly chain-reaction crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left actor-comedian Tracy Morgan and two others critically injured and another man dead.

A Wal-Mart truck driver from Georgia was charged with death by auto and four counts of assault by auto. Authorities said 35-year-old Kevin Roper, of Jonesboro, apparently failed to slow for traffic ahead early Saturday in Cranbury Township and swerved at the last minute to avoid a crash. Instead, his big rig smashed into the back of Morgan’s chauffeured Mercedes limo bus, killing comedian James “Jimmy Mack” McNair, authorities said.

The 45-year-old Morgan, a former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock cast member, was airlifted to a hospital and remains in critical condition. Also critically injured were Jeffrey Millea, 36, of Shelton, Connecticut, and comedian Ardie Fuqua Jr, 43, of Jersey City, said Zenaida Mendez, a spokeswoman for Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Another passenger, comic Harris Stanton, was treated and released.

Tyrone Gale, who was driving the limo bus, told ABC News that he was disoriented after the vehicle flipped over and could hear Morgan yelling for help.

“I climbed around and heard Tracy screaming for help,” Gale said. “I climbed up on the body of the limo bus … but I couldn’t reach them.”

Roper, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in to state police. He was released on $50,000 bail Saturday night and has been placed on administrative leave, Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said yesterday.

Wal-Mart President Bill Simon said in a statement that the company “will take full responsibility” if authorities determine its truck caused the accident.

Morgan, a New York City native, was returning from a standup performance at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Delaware when the crash occurred. In all, six vehicles were involved in the pileup, but no one from the other cars was injured.

Kevin Hart said he owes much of his success to Morgan, crediting him for paving the way for comics like himself to become successful.

“We just want him to get better and to get back to everyone that loves him and get back to doing what he does best, making people laugh,” Hart said.

Changes for Spain’s queen-to-be

MADRID (AFP) — Like many eight-year-old girls, she eats in the school canteen and goes to ballet class. Her friends know her as Leonor — but soon they will have to call her “Highness”.

Her childhood will not be the same now that her grandfather Juan Carlos is stepping down as king of Spain.

Once her father Felipe is crowned king, she will no longer be “Infanta”, but Princess — and one day Queen. She will be the youngest direct royal heir in Europe.

She will step out for the cameras to zoom in on her blue eyes, blonde hair and toothy smile. Royal-watchers say those may be just the charms the Spanish royal family needs to save its image.

“Until now, her parents have deliberately protected her so that she is not in the papers all the time. Those days are over,” said the prince’s biographer, Jose Apezarena.

“They will still try to minimise the impact on her personal life, but soon she is going to be the heir to the throne. It will change her life,” he added.

“I feel a bit sorry for her because the change is going to take away some of her freedom.”

Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia were already darlings of the celebrity press when Leonor was born on October 31, 2005. Letizia, an ex-newsreader, has made countless front pages.

The births of Leonor and her sister Sofia, who is now seven, turned them into possibly the cutest royal family in the world: a tall prince, glamorous mother and two little girls with long blonde hair.

The couple have kept their daughters largely out of view so their childhoods can be as normal as possible.