Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean help Haitian storm victims

Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean help Haitian storm victims

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Matt Damon and Wyclef Jean lightened the misery for Haiti’s floods victims Sunday, arriving to hand out food and lend star power to relief efforts.

Damon and Haitian-born singer are encouraging more people to help the United Nations raise more than US$100 million for an estimated 800,000 people left in dire circumstances by four devastating tropical storms and hurricanes.

The two stars arrived at Cabaret, where hundreds of Haitians mobbed their SUV, raised their hands in the air and yelled, “Wyclef!” repeatedly, unsettling security guards.

Cabaret, north of the Haitian capital, had at least 60 residents die in flash floods and hundreds were left homeless as Hurricane Ike grazed Haiti last week.

The two celebrities planned to distribute food to an estimated 600 people sheltered in a school, but a truck carrying food for 300 people got stuck in the mud.

Jean, who leapt to fame with The Fugees before going solo, has often brought his famous friends to draw attention to Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. Damon and Jean took a helicopter Sunday to the even harder-hit city of Gonaives, where tens of thousands are living in shelters with little food and water. The stars distributed supplies and visited the cathedral, where about 500 people have taken refuge in the choir gallery above muddy pews.

Oprah to ask viewers to support Senate bill

CHICAGO — Today’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will be dedicated to a Senate bill targeting child predators, according to a release issued by Chicago-based Harpo Productions.

During the show, which will detail the “extent and pervasiveness of child pornography trafficking in America,” Winfrey will ask viewers to contact their senators about U.S. Senate Bill 1738, the Protect Our Children Act, Harpo said.

“What you are going to see is going to shock you to the core, but I’m asking you to please not turn away because this is happening in our country, to our children, in the United States every day,” Winfrey said in the release.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Jackie Cooper is 86. Actor Forrest Compton (“Gomer Pyle USMC”) is 83. Comedian Norm Crosby is 81. Actor-sportscaster Merlin Olsen is 68. Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 62. Movie director Oliver Stone is 62. Drummer Mitch Dorge of Crash Test Dummies is 48. DJ Kay Gee (Naughty By Nature) is 39. Drummer Allen Shellenberger of Lit is 39. Actor Josh Charles (“Sports Night”) is 37. Actress Amy Davidson (”8 Simple Rules”) is 29.