Carter back in Haiti to help build houses
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday urged donors to honor the billion-dollar pledges they made to help Haiti rebuild after its devastating 2010 earthquake.
Carter’s call for greater humanitarian aid to Haiti came on the first day of a weeklong effort to build 100 homes with about 600 Habitat for Humanity volunteers.
It was the second time in the past year that Carter, 88, and his wife, Rosalynn, have come to help house people displaced at the epicenter of the disaster.
Donor nations and institutions promised $4.46 billion to help Haiti after the quake. But only a little more than half of that money has been released, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti.
Comedy actor calls his show ‘filth’
The teenage actor who plays the half in the hit CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men” says in a video posted online by a Christian church that the show is “filth” and that viewers shouldn’t watch it.
Nineteen-year-old Angus T. Jones has been on the show, which used to feature bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen and remains heavy with sexual innuendo, since he was 10 but says he doesn’t want to be on it anymore.
“Please stop watching it,” Jones said. “Please stop filling your head with filth.”
Jones plays Jake, the son of Jon Cryer’s uptight divorced chiropractor character, Alan.
In the video posted by the Forerunner Christian Church in Fremont, Calif., Jones describes a search for a spiritual home. “I’m not OK with what I’m learning, what the Bible says, and being on that television show,” he said.
John dedicates Beijing show to Ai
Pop icon Elton John publicly dedicated his only concert in Beijing to Chinese artist and political critic Ai Weiwei, sending a murmur of shock through an audience accustomed to tight censorship of entertainment.
Minutes into a more than two-hour show Sunday night, John told the audience that the performance was dedicated “to the spirit and talent of Ai Weiwei,” according to several audience members.
An internationally acclaimed sculptor and installation artist, Ai has used his art and his renown to draw attention to social injustice. He was detained for nearly three months last year, and he remains barred from leaving China.
Ai and John met each other briefly on Sunday before the concert. “I super like him,” Ai said on his feed on Twitter, which is banned in China.
The birthday bunch
Actor James Avery (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 64. Director Kathryn Bigelow is 61. TV personality Bill Nye is 57. Actor Michael Vartan is 44. Actor Jaleel White (“Family Matters”) is 36. Actress Alison Pill is 27.