newsmakers

newsmakers

Clooney uses star power in Sudan

JUBA, Sudan

How do you get a long-suffering but little-known slice of Africa on the White House agenda and onto American TV screens? George Clooney knows how.

Humble, self-effacing and dressed for safari, the Hollywood star and former Sexiest Man Alive was in the scruffy, straw-hut capital of southern Sudan on Saturday to draw attention to the region’s weeklong independence referendum.

The vote, which begins today, is likely to create the world’s newest nation. Clooney is working to help the region avoid a backslide toward war.

In picking a cause and roughing it in a developing country, Clooney is hardly alone. Celebrities are shining their star power on the poor, the war-weary and the disaster-prone more than ever.

“Our job is trying to keep this on the front burner of the news,” Clooney told The Associated Press. “I’m the son of newsman. I understand how hard it is to keep stories on the front of news, and sometimes entertainment and news can be meshed together if you do it properly.”

Clooney has had two meetings with President Barack Obama on Sudan and has persuaded reporters from outlets such as NBC, CNN and Newsweek to focus on the country.

History network nixes Kennedy miniseries

PASADENA, Calif.

A controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family will not air on the History Channel because the completed multimillion-dollar project does not fit the “History brand,” the network said.

The eight-part series drew criticism during its production from figures such as former Kennedy-administration aide Theodore Sorensen, who attacked the scripts as inaccurate. The role of producer Joel Surnow, a political conservative, also drew suspicion from fans of the Kennedy family.

“We have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand,” the network said in a statement late Friday. The decision first was reported Friday by the Hollywood Reporter.

Hundreds mark Elvis’ 76th birthday

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Hundreds of Elvis Presley fans, including Chilean miner Edison Pena, gathered Saturday at Graceland to sing “Happy Birthday” on the late rock n’ roll icon’s 76th birthday.

Pena, the guest of honor at Elvis’ birthday party, cut into a 4-foot-high cake fashioned to look like stacked television sets as fans cheered both the singer and the miner outside Elvis’ longtime Memphis home.

An avid Elvis fan, Pena has been on a whirlwind tour of Memphis, getting a private tour of Graceland, attending a Memphis Grizzlies NBA game and leading the walking of the ducks at the Peabody Hotel.

Pena and 32 other miners spent 69 days trapped underground after a mine collapse in Chile. Pena sang Elvis songs to lift the morale of his friends before their rescue in October. He speaks little English — except for the words of Elvis tunes — and has been using a translator.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton read a list of musical artists who’ve said they were influenced by Elvis’ music and performance style, from Elton John to John Lennon.

Elvis was born Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Miss. His birthday, though meaningful to Elvis fans around the world, does not attract the throngs of people who make the pilgrimage to Graceland to remember his death. He died Aug. 16, 1977.

Associated Press