On track for a record
On track for a record
CANNES, France -- Tom Hanks and other stars of "The Da Vinci Code" arrived at the Cannes Film Festival on board a train that broke the world record for the longest nonstop international rail trip.
The high-speed Eurostar train, named "The Da Vinci Code" for the trip, was part of a promotional blitz leading up to the movie's world premiere today in Cannes. The London-Cannes train went 883 miles in 7 hours, 25 minutes, passing through the tunnel under the English Channel on Tuesday.
Eurostar said an official from Guinness World Records was on board and certified the record.
Before starting the trip, Hanks posed for pictures at Waterloo station in London with co-stars Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Jean Reno and Alfred Molina, director Ron Howard and author Dan Brown.
In Cannes, the stars were whisked into a black Mercedes driven by men in black suits and sunglasses, and a crowd cheered their names.
Bono takes role as editor
LONDON -- Bono was a guest editor of The Independent newspaper, filling its pages with stories on HIV/AIDS in Africa, poverty and global warming.
The 46-year-old Irish rocker, who has long complained that Africa's problems get little attention in the news, was invited to sit in the editor's chair to highlight his latest venture, Project RED, which enlists corporations to donate the proceeds of products made under the "RED" brand to humanitarian efforts in Africa.
Half the revenue from the sale of Tuesday's Independent will go to aid groups in Africa, the newspaper said.
In an editorial, Bono, the frontman for U2, asked readers to support his Project RED initiative, which includes corporate sponsors such as American Express, the Gap and Converse footwear.
Named to transition team
NEWARK, N.J. -- Besides the job he won with Donald Trump, "Apprentice" winner Randal Pinkett will now be doing some work for the mayor-elect of New Jersey's largest city.
Pinkett was among 12 people named by Mayor-elect Cory Booker as leaders of his transition team. Pinkett, 35, will co-chair the economic development section, Booker spokeswoman Sakina Cole said.
Pinkett, CEO of a management consulting firm in Newark, was the latest winner on "The Apprentice," Trump's NBC reality show. He chose a job working on casino expansions in Atlantic City. Like Booker, he is a Rhodes scholar.
Notable deaths
George Crile III, the CBS producer who wrote the best-selling book "Charlie Wilson's War" and produced a contested documentary that said Gen. William Westmoreland deliberately under-reported enemy troop strength in Vietnam, has died. He was 61.
Stanley Kunitz, a former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner whose expressive verse, social commitment and generosity to young writers spanned three-quarters of a century, died Sunday in his sleep at his home in Manhattan, said his publisher, W.W. Norton. He was 100.
Today's birthdays
Actor-director Dennis Hopper is 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Pervis Jackson (The Spinners) is 68. Actor Peter Gerety is 66. Singer Taj Mahal is 64. TV personality Kathleen Sullivan is 53. Actor Bill Paxton is 51. Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard is 50. Actor-comedian Bob Saget is 50. Singer Enya is 45. Talk-show host-actor Craig Ferguson is 44. Singer-musician Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) is 41. TV personality/interior designer Thom Filicia is 37. Singer Jordan Knight is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Darnell Van Rensalier (Shai) is 36. Singer Kandi Burruss is 30. Actor Tahj Mowry is 20. Actress Samantha Browne-Walters is 15.