Bellucci to star as Gandhi

Bellucci to star as Gandhi
NEW DELHI -- Monica Bellucci will star in a film about Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who married into India's most powerful political dynasty and now heads the country's ruling party, the Times of India reported Tuesday.
The Italian actress agreed to take on the role after reading the script, producer Sunanda Murli Manohar was quoted as saying.
Jagmohan Mundhra, a well-known Indian filmmaker, will direct the movie. Shooting is expected to begin in September.
Neither the filmmakers nor Bellucci were immediately available to comment. Bellucci, 37, starred in 2004's "The Passion of the Christ."
Gisele backs campaign
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- A campaign to protect the Amazon's Xingu River from deforestation and pollution has a fashionable new defender: supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
Bundchen has endorsed a campaign by the Socioenvironmental Institute to protect the endangered headwaters and the rain forest along the Xingu River in the southern Amazon, she said on her Web site.
The campaign is called "Y Ikatu Xingu," which means "clean and good Xingu water," in the native Kamaiura language.
Bundchen will "tell the world that the Amazon's waters are in danger," the Kaxi Amazon News Agency said Monday.
The Xingu River extends about 1,700 miles through the southern Amazon, including Brazil's first Indian reservation, the 6.92 million-acre Xingu National Park.
Shatner aims for peace
JERUSALEM -- The captain who dared to "boldly go where no man has gone before" has targeted a new destination: William Shatner, right, thinks he can aid Middle East peace by helping children who are disabled through horseback riding.
The former "Star Trek" star was in Israel on Monday to promote "therapeutic riding." He hopes to raise $10 million for nearly 30 riding programs in the country.
Shatner said that placing injured people on horseback has been shown to improve their conditions.
"We know that the use of a horse in their therapy takes them beyond their handicapped body, their injured body, and into another area of health," he said.
Shatner has long been involved with Ahead With Horses, a California charity that works with children who are physically and mentally disabled through horseback riding.
He hopes his new fund, launched with the nonprofit Jewish National Fund, will contribute to Mideast peace.
Today's birthdays
Actress Elaine Stewart is 77. Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 76. Actress Sharon Gless is 63. Football Hall-of-Famer Joe Namath is 63. Actor Tom Berenger is 56. Comedian Chris Elliott is 46. Actress Lea Thompson is 45. Singer Corey Hart is 44. Rapper DMC is 42. Rapper Kid Frost is 42. Actress Brooke Shields is 41. Actor Colin Farrell is 30. Rock musician Scott Klopfenstein (Reel Big Fish) is 29. Actor Eric Christian Olsen is 29. Actor Curtis Williams Jr. is 19.