People talk 1/23/04

Young royal headed to Africa on charity trip

LONDON -- Prince Harry will spend two months in Africa working on projects that help young mothers and disadvantaged children, his father's office said Thursday. The office at Clarence House -- London home of Prince Charles, 19-year-old Harry and 21-year-old Prince William -- said the eight-week African trip will take Harry to a number of locations and community projects. He'll see how international agencies and charitable groups aid and support people in difficult circumstances.

Parton's 'Imagination' picked up in Illinois

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. -- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program the country singer started to encourage parents to read to their children, has been adopted statewide in Illinois. Parton launched the program in 1996 for preschool children in Sevier County, a rural community in the Great Smoky Mountains where she grew up. Today, 206 communities in 35 states participate in Imagination Library, but Illinois is the first to promote it statewide. The program provides a new, hardcover book each month to children from birth until age 5.

Outkast to play NBA all-stars intro music

NEW YORK -- When the best players in the NBA are introduced at the start of their annual all-star game next month, there will be no generic synthesizer music blaring in the background. Instead, the players will get to strut onto the floor to the sounds of OutKast. Big Boi and Andre 3000 will perform their hits at the beginning of the Feb. 15 game, the NBA announced this week. Christina Aguilera will sing the national anthem before the game at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and Nelly Furtado will sing the Canadian anthem.

Bennifer calls it quits; Lopez ends engagement

NEW YORK -- The on-again, off-again relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is off. Again. And this time, it looks like it's for good. Jennifer Lopez ended the engagement. Lopez, 34, and Affleck, 31, have been the subject of near-constant media scrutiny for the past year and a half. Their romantic comedy, "Gigli," was considered the cinematic disaster of the year before it even debuted in August. Now the former couple will appear on screen together again in "Jersey Girl," due out March 19. Lopez plays Affleck's wife, but dies 12 minutes into the movie.

-- From wire reports