People talk 10B

Nobel-winner Carter honored by students

PLAINS, Ga. -- Some 300 students from 15 area schools attended a surprise ceremony to honor former President Carter for winning the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

The students greeted Carter Friday at his old high school, now part of the Jimmy Carter Historic Site.

Ranger Mark Rockwell of the National Park Service said congratulatory cards -- more than 20,000 made by students around the state -- were hung throughout the building, on "almost every vertical surface."

"They look good," he said. "We've got a big banner and a couple of the cards have been blown up."

The banner read, "Congratulations President Carter, 2002 Nobel Peace Prize."

During the ceremony, students from Schley County High School gave a reading and Carter made remarks.

Mandela plans concert to raise funds for AIDS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela announced that he'll host a concert featuring some of the world's leading entertainers to raise funds for Africa's millions of AIDS victims.

U2 star Bono, Macy Gray and Shaggy had already agreed to perform at the Feb. 2 show, to be held on Robben Island, a rocky outcrop off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela spent nearly two decades as a prisoner of the apartheid regime and is now a museum.

Michael Jackson, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Elton John and Janet Jackson have also been approached to play at the event -- "Mandela SOS" -- for an audience of 3,000 invited guests.

Plans for the concert were announced Friday at a banquet staged in a marquee in a botanical garden on the slopes of Cape Town's flat-topped Table Mountain.-- From wire reports

Nicole Kidman is ready to cruise into romance

NEW YORK -- She calls ex-husband Tom Cruise "the love of my life," but Nicole Kidman says she's ready for romance.

"I would love to meet somebody. I'd love to be swept off my feet," Kidman tells Lesley Stahl in a "60 Minutes" profile to air Sunday on CBS.

"I mean, to have those goose bumps and that feeling in your stomach when you just go 'oh.' Please. That would be fun. That would be lovely," the 35-year-old actress said.

Kidman and Cruise divorced last year. The couple have two children, Isabella, 9, and Conor, 7.

"I spent a decade of my life with him and loved him. Still. Will always, you know?" she tells Stahl. "I mean, when you spend that amount of time with someone, they are with you."

When Stahl asked Kidman whether she blames herself for the breakup of her marriage, Kidman replied: "Well of course, there's two people to blame here. I mean, there's a whole story behind everything. And it's not, it's certainly not for public scrutiny."

Kidman also talks about how her mother helped her through the breakup and why she decided to play the role of author Virginia Woolf in the upcoming film "The Hours."

Attenborough gets go-ahead for 'Welsh Hollywood'

LONDON -- Local officials have given the final go-ahead to Richard Attenborough's plans to build a $470 million movie studio complex in a deprived area of south Wales.

The development control committee of the Rhondda Cynon Taff County Council, which has long supported the idea of building a "Welsh Hollywood," formally approved it Thursday.

"I'm thrilled," the 79-year-old Attenborough said Friday. "There are the most wonderful locations in Wales, and we needed major space."

Attenborough is backing a consortium that plans to build the ultramodern complex on 350 acres at Llanilid in south Wales, creating up to 2,000 jobs. It also will include an international film academy and movie-based leisure attractions similar to those at Universal Studios in California.

The Welsh government had blocked the development because of the need for a new junction on the M4 highway between England and Wales, but officials said in October the problem could be overcome.

The complex, to be called Dragon International Studios, will have the latest facilities for making feature films, TV productions and commercials with full editing and post-production facilities.

The aim is to capture a share of the global market in film and TV production, as well as supporting a wide range of small and medium-sized productions.

Attenborough, who directed 1982's "Gandhi" and 1992's "Chaplin," said work on the complex would start next May.

-- From wire reports