People talk 5/29/02

Gates Foundation funds childrens center in China

RENTON, Wash. -- A $2.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will enable a suburban Seattle group to open a center for physically disabled children in China.

The center is set to open Saturday in Luoyang in Henan Province, 450 miles south of Beijing, said Janice Neilson, executive director of the World Association for Children and Parents.

Operating in partnership with the Chinese government, the Children's Center of Luoyang is intended to help disabled children living in an adjacent orphanage as well as those who remain with their families. The disabilities range from heart disease and cleft palates to poor motor skills,

"The children who will come to the center are ... oftentimes kids who have been really hidden in Chinese society," Neilson said. "We believe we are preventing the abandonment of children and, hopefully, allowing kids to stay with families when that is possible."

The association has been helping to arrange adoptions in China since 1990, and Neilson said the center also should make it easier for disabled orphans to find adoptive homes. Full funding for the program from the Chinese government is expected when the three-year Gates grant runs out, she added.

The foundation is endowed by Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda.

Stallones announce birth of third child

LOS ANGELES -- Sylvester Stallone's wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, has given birth to the couple's third child.

Scarlet Rose was born at 1:39 p.m. Saturday at a Los Angeles hospital, publicist Paul Bloch said Tuesday. She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and was 22 inches long.

Stallone and his 33-year-old wife have two daughters, 5-year-old Sophia and 3-year-old Sistine.

"Mom and baby are doing fantastic, she is home already, and Sylvester Stallone is ecstatic with his third daughter," Bloch said.

The 55-year-old actor also has two sons from a previous marriage, Sergio and Sage.

Celebrity ambassador status suits Armani

GENEVA -- Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani will become the United Nations' latest celebrity ambassador at a ceremony in his home country, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

Ruud Lubbers, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said he was proud to appoint Armani as a goodwill ambassador for the agency, which cares for some 20 million people worldwide.

The UNHCR said the designer was chosen for his "significant contribution during the Afghan refugee emergency."

"I was impressed by Giorgio Armani's rapid and effective mobilization of his company's resources" to help Afghan refugees, Lubbers said in a statement. "He was active on several fronts, including fund raising and drawing public attention to the crisis."

The Giorgio Armani Christmas campaign for Afghan refugees included a "substantial donation" to UNHCR. The Armani group also sponsored advertisements, sold specially designed sweatshirts for UNHCR, and asked its clients to make donations to the agency.

Since 1954, when the late comedian Danny Kaye became the first goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Children's Fund, celebrities from the arts, sports and public life have traveled around the world promoting the work of the United Nations.

Current ambassadors include boxing great Muhammad Ali, actors Angelina Jolie and Michael Douglas, and French soccer star Zinedine Zidane.

Benefit golf tourney to include Clinton

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Bill Clinton will play in a celebrity golf tournament outside Stockholm in July, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The former president will join Swedish ice hockey star Peter Forsberg, ski legends Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, Alberto Tomba of Italy and Franz Klammer of Austria, and other celebrities on July 7 at the Lindoe Park course north of the capital.

Proceeds from the tournament will go to the international aid organization SOS Kinderdorf, which cares for orphans in more than 100 countries, said Bjoern Hallden, a spokesman for the organizer World Celebrity Golf. Clinton also planned to speak at a business seminar on July 6. Hallden did not give more details.

"I can only confirm that the president will arrive in Sweden on July 6 to speak at a seminar and take part in the tournament the next day," Hallden said.

-- From wire reports

Clinton, who never traveled to Sweden as president, visited this Scandinavian country of some 9 million people last year to discuss foreign policy issues with Prime Minister Goeran Persson.

Director receives honorary degree

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Steven Spielberg received an honorary degree from Yale University for a career that has included films such as "Jaws" and "Schindler's List."

The Yale band broke into the theme music from the "Indiana Jones" movies to herald the honorary doctorate for Spielberg on Monday.

"Your movies entertain, engage and enlighten," said university President Richard Levin. "For your artistry and imagination, we honor you with this degree of doctor of humane letters."

The director was honored for his many films as well as his work to preserve memories of the Holocaust with "Schindler's List" and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

The university also gave an honorary degree to Robert L. Carter, a federal judge and civil rights leader.

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NEW CONCORD, Ohio -- After being restored into an authentic Depression-era homestead, the boyhood home of John Glenn was opened as a museum on Memorial Day.

Glenn, who became a Marine fighter pilot, then an astronaut and U.S. senator, waved to and chatted with visitors Monday from the porch of the two-story white frame house that his father built in the 1920s.

"It's fitting this is being dedicated on Memorial Day when we look back," Glenn said. "I think of how proud my dad and mother would be with what their home is being used for."

The John and Annie Glenn Historic Site opened to the public after nearly a decade's worth of work. The home is furnished with many pieces from the original Glenn home. Model airplanes like those Glenn built as a child hang in his bedroom.

"It looks just like it did when I was growing up ... It's like visiting home 70 years ago," said Glenn, while watching a parade of children riding bicycles decorated with red, white and blue ribbons.

Glenn and his wife, Annie, donated the house to Muskingum College in 1999. About $1.1 million was raised for the restoration.

Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962. In 1998, at age 77, he became the oldest space traveler when he returned on the shuttle Discovery.

Later that year, the Democrat retired from the U.S. Senate after representing Ohio for 24 years.

Glenn returned to this city of about 2,100 located 70 miles east of Columbus for many of the milestones in his career.

He announced his campaigns for the Senate and his unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1984 from New Concord. He also chose it to announce his retirement.

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On the Net:

http://www.johnglennhome.org

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SEOUL, South Korea -- British actor Roger Moore urged the world to think about the plight of children during the World Cup, saying many children suffer and die unnecessarily in the time takes to play a soccer game.

"Children do not stop dying while we celebrate and enjoy the World Cup games," Moore said Monday after arriving in Seoul.

Best known for his movie role as agent James Bond, or "007," Moore will attend the World Cup's opening ceremony as Seoul's goodwill ambassador.

The 74-year-old actor, who's a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Children's Fund, will go on a boat ride on the city's Han River with children from 50 countries on Thursday to celebrate the soccer tournament which kicks off Friday, said the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

South Korea and Japan are co-hosting the 2002 World Cup soccer finals. Seoul hosts the opening match.

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McLEAN, Va. -- Christopher Nolan likes to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

He took viewers on a roller-coaster ride last year in "Memento," which won him an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.

His latest release is "Insomnia," a murder thriller set in Alaska that stars Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

"I think audiences get too comfortable and familiar in today's movies," Nolan, 31, told USA Today in its weekend editions. "They believe everything they're hearing and seeing. I like to shake that up."

"Too many studio movies don't make us think," he says. "The characters don't wrestle with moral issues, particularly in cop movies. They don't throw up any ambiguities."

"Insomnia" debuted at No. 3 in its opening weekend with $26.2 million, according to early box office estimates.