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Elon Musk is asking Vladimir Putin to put his dukes up -- and not just that, but he's posing the challenge in the dictator's native language ... with the ultimate stakes at play.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief dared VP to a battle of brawn Monday morning, doing so over Twitter of course ... where he wrote, "I hereby challenge Владимир Путин  to single combat." EM followed up by saying ... "Stakes are Україна."

The translation is pretty simple, he's just asking Putin to rumble -- noting that the winner takes Ukraine. As you know ... Elon has directly involved himself with the conflict (in a good way) by offering Internet support and other tech resources to help Ukrainians/deter Russia.

Just make sure Vlad and co. got the message, Elon asked ... "Вы согласны на этот бой? @KremlinRussia_E." That simply means, "Do you agree to this fight?"

Obviously, Elon seems to be kidding -- we don't think he expects Russia's President to take him on ... but just for the sake of argument, ya gotta wonder who might take the W  -- because they each have some fighting experience.

Perhaps more famous in throwing down would be Putin ... we've seen photos of the guy laying dudes out on the mat while dressed head to toe in martial arts gear, and he even has an honorary taekwondo black belt (which he was stripped of in the wake of him invading).

Less known is Elon's training ... he once told Joe Rogan that he trained in karate as a kid. On top of that, he said he's also dabbled in taekwondo, judo and a little jiu-jitsu.

A pregnant woman and her baby were killed when Russian forces bombed a maternity ward in Ukraine last week -- and the images of the destruction are shocking.

The expecting mother -- who has gone unidentified -- lost her life last Wednesday shortly after her child was delivered via emergency C-section following an airstrike that rained down on a hospital in Mariupol, which treated some soon-to-be moms.

Unfortunately, shortly after the newborn was delivered, it was declared dead. While everything was going on, the expectant mother realized she might lose her baby and reportedly cried out ... "Kill me now!"

After the baby died, medics attempted to save the woman, but after 30 minutes she succumbed to her injuries.

It's just a snapshot of the horror being inflicted in Ukraine right now -- highlighting that the most vulnerable of people are being targeted and killed in this ongoing war.

BTW, the moment this woman was being rushed out of the destroyed hospital on a stretcher was captured on video by AP reporters ... and it's incredibly difficult to watch.

The woman appears pale as volunteers run to try to get her to safety. She's bleeding from the waist down and seems completely out of it as she stares off into space. Unclear how many months along she was, but she appeared to be in at least the 2nd trimester.

As far as what Russia is saying about this ... they're claiming they bombed this hospital because it was being used as a hideout for Ukrainian extremists -- also insisting that no patients or medics were left inside. Clearly, that's BS.

With Pete Davidson taunting Kanye West with a photo of himself in bed -- apparently next to Kim Kardashian -- some folks simply couldn't help but think of one person ... Mac Miller.

Here's the deal ... after PD's stunt this weekend -- in which his text messages to Ye surfaced, including a pic of him lying shirtless where he said he was "in bed with your wife" -- the late rapper started to trend on Twitter ... and the reason is because folks began to remember an old rumor about him, Ariana Grande and Pete from years ago.

You might recall ... Kanye himself actually invoked this unsubstantiated rumor a month ago when he was lashing out, writing "NO COMMENT" at the time. The rumor is that Pete allegedly sent Mac intimate photos of himself and Ari before Mac died -- and that, upon learning this and in the wake of Mac's death, AG broke things off with her then-fiancé.

Like we said, that rumor bubbled up online upon Pete and Ariana splitting -- and no media outlet reported it as true. Ariana's brother Frankie, also shot it down to our camera. And yet ... people felt that Pete doing something very similar here to Ye actually lent credence to the idea that maybe it happened.

Others felt it was a totally different situation, and more importantly ... completely inappropriate to bring up Mac with this new mess, with many calling on such talk to simmer down.

And yet, some couldn't help themselves with speculation -- arguing that if Pete was willing to do this with high-profile people like Kim and Kanye ... perhaps he could pull something similar with other love triangles he may have been involved in, including possibly Ari and Mac.

Lady Gaga is one confident woman, but she barely held it together Sunday night at the Critics Choice Awards.

Gaga was nominated for Best Actress for her role in "House of Gucci" ... so it stands to reason she wore a black and gold Gucci dress. The deep cut had eyes popping.

Gaga's plus one was BF Michael Polansky, and dare we say ... one lucky guy!

She did double duty Sunday  ... she appeared at the BAFTA Awards in London earlier in the day, then did an outfit swap to appear at the Critics Choice Awards -- being held in both Los Angeles and London -- making an entrance at The Savoy Hotel.

There's a new crime that's a sign of the times ... and the sign is plastered on gas stations across America.

Gas has become such a pricey commodity, thieves are pilfering petrol right from the gas tank. Yep, shimmying under the chassis and drilling holes into the tanks ... catching the fuel before it hits the ground.

It's no big surprise ... with gas prices in some areas of the country soaring above $7 a gallon.

As for why these crooks aren't doing it the OG way -- siphoning gas by just removing the gas cap -- newer models have rollover valves that make it impossible.

There is, of course, a big element of danger. If the gas tank explodes it could be catastrophic. BTW, God forbid, if a bystander dies in such an explosion, the thieves could be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. It doesn't seem worth the risk for 70 bucks.

This is the latest version of car theft. As you may know, there's a crime wave across the country ... criminals have been stealing catalytic converters left and right.

BTW ... it's a pricey repair, often costing $2,000 to make things right.

Rebel Wilson took a big shot at Harry and Meghan ... calling at least a portion of their interview with Oprah "fantasy."

Rebel hosted the BAFTA Awards in London Sunday, and as she announced the winner of Outstanding British Film, she mused, "From drama, to horror, to fantasy ... Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah had it all!"

It's an interesting move by Rebel ... the Brits are divided over H&M's exit from the Royal Fam, and you get a sense of that from the audience's reaction.

Prince William often attends the event but he was MIA Sunday night ... clearing the path for the joke.

Rebel also spent some time talking about her 70-lb weight loss, talking about her "transformation" and then zeroing in on J.K. Rowling.

And then, she talks about what motivated her to lose the weight ... and Robert Pattinson is central.

Pete Davidson is officially taking off, not just in his celebrity status -- but in space too ... 'cause he's now got a launch date for the next manned flight that Jeff Bezos sends up in the air ... and he's learned who his fellow passengers will be as well.

The announcement was made Monday ... Pete's going to be joining 5 others on the forthcoming mission, which is scheduled to hit the skies and beyond on March 23 (next Wednesday) in West Texas. It'll be Blue Origin's fourth human flight.

As far as who else he's going with -- all of whom are paying customers BTW -- Pete will be joined by Party America CEO Marty Allen, hubby and wife duo Sharon and Marc Hagle, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies Prez Dr. George Nield.

And, of course ... there's Pete, whom we're told continued talks with Bezos about potentially going up back in January, when he had dinner with the guy in L.A.

Another cool thing about this flight, specifically, is that it'll be incorporating a kids element -- namely, through a program called Postcards to Space ... which is being deployed by Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future. It's actually kinda neat.

Essentially, students write up postcards that they'd like to see in the stars, and Blue Origin provides the vehicle to get their dreams into orbit ... carried by all the different passengers. The whole idea is to encourage young people to join STEM fields as they pursue their education.

Pete will join a growing list of celebs that have already gone up, including Michael Strahan and William Shatner. Bezos himself also went up during the initial manned-flight.

Drake's YOLO Estate is drawing the attention of real estate developers who don't really give a crap about its legacy as a celeb party palace -- instead, they wanna tear it all down.

TMZ has learned ... in addition to celebs like Britney Spears and Caitlyn Jenner, multiple real estate developers have visited Drake's 3 side-by-side properties in the past few days, and they're all licking their chops to convert them into one mega estate.

We broke the story ... Drake put the Hidden Hills properties on the market, asking $22.2 million for the full compound, or a mere $14.8 mil for his main residence alone. We're told the developers don't think the mansion itself needs to be razed, but homes on the 2 adjacent properties would likely be demolished.

Drake did a lot of renovations on the main property. Our sources say the potential buyers like his interior remodeling, but the exterior grounds could get a makeover.

As it was explained to us ... some developers are looking at this property similar to the Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian massive neighboring properties, which are also in Hidden Hills.

We're told several offers have already been made for Drake's estate in less than a week.

"The Challenge" star Jordan Wiseley is finding more ways to make an impact on the ground in Ukraine ... distributing much-needed supplies brought over the border from Poland.

Check out these images from Ukraine, where Jordan and his actor roommate Kevin Pasdon are making a daily trek across the border to aid the humanitarian efforts underway.

Jordan's routine includes loading up vans with boxes full of supplies ... driving the goods in from Poland and handing them out to the Ukrainians, who are having their cities and towns shelled by the Russians.

Remember ... Jordan and Kevin flew to Poland earlier this month with the goal of helping out in Ukraine, but they didn't have a plan ... and they quickly found work transporting supplies, thanks in part to their U.S. passports, which allow them to cross the border with ease.

As you see in the videos, the folks in Ukraine are desperate to get their hands on whatever supplies they can ... and Jordan's working hard to unload the boxes and distribute essential items, like food and blankets.

They have started a fundraising campaign for donations that will go towards Ukrainian aid for both military and humanitarian relief.

Lisa Barlow says Jennie Nguyen should get another opportunity to star alongside her on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" ... despite an unceremonious exit.

We got Lisa this week at LAX and asked her about her former 'RHOSLC' castmate Jennie, who was fired by Bravo after some of her allegedly racist social media posts resurfaced from a couple years back.

Lisa says she hasn't heard much from Jennie besides one text, but she hopes she's all good ... and adds that Nguyen's firing has been "hard" on all of the SLC 'housewives.'

Our photog asked if Jennie should get another crack at reality TV, and Lisa told us she's all for giving folks second chances.

Jennie came under fire for her 2020 Facebook posts and re-shares many viewed as attacking Black Americans because the photos and memes were critical of the BLM movement.

Andy Cohen and several 'housewives' condemned the posts, but it sounds like Lisa is having a tough time turning her back on a former friend.

Lisa might be in a forgiving mood, because she's embroiled in her own controversy -- a hot mic incident from a recent 'RHOSLC' episode where she ranted about castmate Meredith Marks.

Lisa was heard branding her former BFF Meredith a "f**king piece of s*** garbage wh**e" ... with Lisa also alleging Meredith "f***ed half of New York."

"Big Time Rush" star Stephen Kramer Glickman is going crazy over an offer from CeeLo Green, who wants him to be his opener for an upcoming gig ... and it's all thanks to TikTok.

Stephen tells TMZ ... CeeLo invited him to get the crowd warmed up at a charity event next month in Dallas, with the invitation coming his way after the Gnarls Barkley singer heard Stephen's rendition of the group's famous hit.

As Stephen explains, he went viral back in 2020 when he covered "Crazy" and posted it on TikTok -- singing with a green beard, by the way -- and tons of celebs noticed, like Lizzo and Addison Rae, but the biggest rush came when CeeLo shared the post.

Stephen says a charity based in Dallas, Face Forward, hit his line one day and told him CeeLo personally wanted him to be the opener for their upcoming gala. He says the offer blew his mind, and you better believe he's going!

The best part, Stephen says he's going to sing "Crazy" before passing the mic to CeeLo!!!

Before this daring youngster started her personal journey in the world of entertainment, she often watched her father take the spotlight as a country singer.

Her roaring, yellow firefighter ensemble is quite reminiscent of a yellow dress once worn in her movies. You probably saw her bright smile in a Campbell's soup or Cabbage Patch Kids commercial back in the '90s.

Tom Brady's retirement lasted 2 months -- the 7-time Super Bowl champ just announced he will be returning to the NFL for his 23rd season.

"These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands," Brady -- who will be 45 before the 2022 begins -- shockingly said in a tweet on Sunday.

"That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible."

"I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG."

The rumors of Brady's return started pretty much immediately after he confirmed the news on Feb. 1 ... and his comments in the weeks following certainly made it seem as if he wasn't done for good.

In fact, just one week later, Brady flirted with the idea of coming back ... telling Jim Gray "never say never."

The Bucs were clearly in favor of a TB12 return ... with general manager Jason Licht saying the team would "leave the light on" for him.

The Bucs went 13-4 last season before losing to the Los Angeles Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl.

Brady definitely showed no signs of slowing down last season -- he led the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns ... and threw just 12 interceptions.

The timing is important -- free agents can sign with new teams starting Monday afternoon ... and the Bucs have more than 20 players hitting free agency.

William Hurt -- an Oscar-winning actor with a long tenure in Hollywood -- has died.

His son, Will, made the sad announcement Sunday -- telling Deadline ... "It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday."

Will adds of his father's passing ... "He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time."

Like we said, Hurt was a bit of a chameleon of an actor ... able to portray several different types of characters in a range of genres -- from comedy to drama to science fiction, and everything in between. He might best be remembered for his Academy Award-winning role in 1985's "Kiss of the Spider Woman."

The guy was on a roll in the '80s when it came to noteworthy parts -- in addition to 'Spider Woman,' he was also nominated for Oscars for his work in 'Children of a Lesser God' and 'Broadcast News.' Other flicks from that era he starred in include 'The Big Chill,' 'Gorky Park,' 'A Time of Destiny,' 'The Accidental Tourist,' 'Body Heat,' and more.

The '90s gave Hurt even more shine ... he acted in a ton of cult classics like 'Mr. Wonderful,' 'Alice,' 'Lost in Space,' 'One True Thing,' 'Jane Eyre,' 'Dark City,' 'The Doctor' and 'The 4th Floor,' among others. Going into the new century, Hurt kept on cranking out great performances -- some standouts that come to mind ... 'A History of Violence,' 'The Incredible Hulk,' 'The Village,' 'The King,' 'Mr. Brooks,' 'Syriana,' 'Vantage Point,' 'Changing Lanes' ... and many, many other huge movies.

Hurt's TV game was quite strong too ... he'd acted in hit shows like 'The King of Queens,' 'Goliath,' 'Condor,' 'Damages,' 'Dune,' 'Beowulf,' and others. He was in the middle of production for a new series called 'Pantheon,' and also starred in the new fantasy movie 'The King's Daughter.'

Hurt had previously been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, but seemed to be on the road to recovery some years ago as he tried new treatments out of Berkeley that were touted as side-effect-free at the time.

He leaves behind four children from different relationships. Hurt was 71.

Barack Obama says he's contracted COVID-19 -- but the good news is that he's doing alright ... attributing that to the fact he's vaccinated.

The former President announced his status Sunday, writing ... "I just tested positive for COVID. I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise. Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative."

He adds, "It’s a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down."

BO is the second living president to have tested positive for the virus -- of course, Donald Trump caught it in 2020 (right in the thick of the pandemic) and seemed to be quite ill for a bit ... as he had to take a pause on campaigning to get treatment and to quarantine.

Luckily, Joe Biden hasn't contracted COVID himself -- neither has Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush or Bill Clinton, FWIW -- even though he was at a high risk of doing so due to Trump attending that September debate, at which point he'd reportedly already tested positive.

While it's pretty shocking to hear Barack is positive, it's not all that surprising or worrisome -- especially at this point in the pandemic ... when lots of people (including politicians) have also caught it, only to come back at 100% shortly thereafter.

We've seen fully-vaccinated senators and representatives announce their COVID breakthrough cases in recent months ... and just about every one of them kicked it quickly, attributing their mild to nonexistent symptoms to the jab.

Kanye West is at it again -- rapid-fire posting multiple videos and screenshots to prove what he claims is a raw deal on how his kids are being raised ... without much say from him. And one thing is for certain, Pete Davidson isn't biting his tongue anymore.

Ye posted several videos with allegations against Kim Kardashian, claiming she's pulling the rug from out under him as it relates to letting their kids come to Sunday Service -- specifically, with North.

Turns out Pete was watching Kanye's Instagram activity, because a string of text messages between the two -- all sent this morning -- popped up on social media.

Pete gives Kim credit for being an awesome mom, telling Kanye he should be thankful she's the one taking care of the kids ... but then he sets his sights on making things work with Kanye. Pete invited Kanye for a one on one chat, at his hotel and without cameras.

Pete tells Ye he's been more than respectful over the last few months as Kanye bashed him, but he's done being nice ... either the two work things out, or it's no more mister nice guy.

As for his posts, Kanye's angry about a new video on Kim and North's TikTok account -- in which North sings along to the lyrics of a song about liking emo girls ... Kanye doesn't think that's okay.

Kanye also claimed Pete had bragged about being in bed with "his wife" -- which the texts prove was legit -- but as we told you, Kim's now legally single.

BTW, during this rant, Ye also seemingly threatened D.L. Hughley with violence and even made allegations of drug use -- but at this point, it seems like he and Pete might come to blows before anything like that happens. 😬