Alec Baldwin Named SAG Foundation Ambassador Award-Winning Actor to Raise Awareness, Funding for Actors’ Charity

TrendPK.com:The Screen Actors Guild Foundation is proud to announce
Alec Baldwin as its first Ambassador, a new position designed to draw attention to the national non-profit organization and its ongoing work as a vital, humanitarian support system within the acting community. The announcement was made today by SAG Foundation President, JoBeth Williams.

Baldwin’s role as Ambassador will raise awareness within the acting community to highlight the Foundation’s philanthropic programs while encouraging the greater public to provide much-needed contributions. A new public service announcement featuring Baldwin will premiere at the Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremony taking place January 29, continuing the show’s history as a champion of the SAG Foundation’s mission to assist, educate, and inspire.

The SAG Awards® and its sponsors have long supported the SAG Foundation’s efforts, among them the children’s literacy core program BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools), which engages 2000 actors nationwide in
reading to over 100,000 children each month. The SAG Foundation also administers the Catastrophic Health Fund and Emergency Assistance Programs, which provide financial aid to professional actors who are suffering from work-prohibitive illness or injury or are struggling to maintain the basic necessities of life. In addition, the SAG Foundation’s Actor Center and Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab are unique educational facilities.

“The SAG Foundation is extremely fortunate to have Alec Baldwin on board as our first SAG Ambassador,” says SAG Foundation President JoBeth Williams. “His talent, intelligence, and compassion will greatly benefit the countless working actors we serve on a daily basis. By accepting this position, Alec is already speaking on behalf of his fellow actor, and his involvement will do much to strengthen and protect the artistic community.”

The announcement also coincides with Baldwin’s two current SAG Award® nominations for his work in the series “30 Rock”, for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series as well as his role in the show’s ensemble.

“It is personally important to me that SAG members support the SAG Foundation,” says Baldwin. “Through my involvement, I hope to bring greater recognition to its philanthropic and educational efforts.”

ABOUT SAG FOUNDATION
Founded in 1985, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation is an educational, humanitarian and philanthropic national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The mission of the SAG Foundation is to assist, educate and inspire actors toward their fullest potential in career, life, and community. Our programs reflect the
concerns and interests of actors as well as their desire to “give back” to their communities. Programs include the Catastrophic Health Fund and assistance programs, Life Raft, Conversations, Casting Access Project, which all offer career knowledge and inspiration, as well as the award winning children’s literacy programs, BookPALS and Storyline Online. In addition, the SAG Foundation Actors Center and the Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab are unprecedented resource and educational facilities located in Los Angeles. The Foundation is independent from SAG and relies solely on the support from grants, corporate sponsorships, bequests, and individual contributions to maintain our programs and create new ones. Visit www.sagfoundation.org

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Clinton tells Pakistan to deal with Haqqani threat

The Obama administration is pressing Pakistan to help the US fight the Haqqani insurgent network after last week s attacks on the American embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.

US officials say Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told her Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, that the Taliban-affiliated militants must be dealt with. They say Khar agreed with Clinton that the Haqqani network was a threat to Americans and Pakistanis alike.

The officials spoke about the private meeting on condition of anonymity.

Clinton met Khar in New York, a day after the US ambassador to Islamabad cited evidence linking the network to the Pakistani government. The charge risked raising tensions in the anti-terror alliance.

The officials said Clinton and Khar s three-and-a-half-hour meeting started and ended with counterterrorism.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, Pakistan ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman and US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter also attended the meeting.

Syria recalls envoys from Saudi Arabia, Behrain, Kuwait

Syrian Foreign Ministry said the envoys have been recalled for consultations.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain earlier recalled their envoys to Damascus after the Arab League condemned the brutal crackdown on civilian protesters in Syria amid growing criticism for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

“We decided to summon our ambassador to Syria for consultation and we stress the importance of acting wisely,” Bahrain’s Sheikh Khaled Al Khalifa had said in a message on Twitter.

US ignored Bhutto’s request for security: WikiLeaks

ISLAMABAD: Just two months before she was killed in a terror attack, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had approached then US Ambassador in Islamabad asking for help to evaluate her personal security but it was ignored, latest WikiLeaks cables have revealed.

Bhutto handed over a written request to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson two months before she was killed asking her to carry out an evaluation of the security because she feared for her life, say the WikiLeaks cables.

The cables reveal that the US chose to look the other way, suggesting that Benazir should work constructively with General Pervez Musharraf’s government,

Emma Watson is the New Ambassador for Lancome

Emma Watson has been busy making a new name for herself since completing the Harry Potter series. Although she’s currently busy promoting the final Harry Potter film, Emma Watson has just been made the new face of Lancome. It was only last week that Emma announced that she’s taking a break from her studies at Brown University.

Emma actually made the announcement herself via Twitter. Soon after the news was made official by Lancome when they released a statement saying;

“Thanks to her charm, romanticism and her incredible modernity, Emma Watson has become the icon of her generation. We are delighted by the new collaboration with Emma, who brings a fresh spirit to Lancome.”

It won’t be Emma’s first modeling job, she has done some fashion modeling for Burberry. Lancome is well known for hiring actresses for their campaigns; Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts, Penelope Cruz and Uma Thurman have also been the faces for Lancome. Emma Watson will be one of the youngest celebrities to represent the brand.

Washington: Richard Holbrooke hospitalised

US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was hospitalised in Washington after collapsing during a meeting at the State Department, officials said.
Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, collapsed in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office and was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he was being treated for a blood clot. Sources told that Holbrooke was able to walk out of Clinton’s office under his own power and he was doing OK.

Wikileaks continue to leak info about US envoy to Pak

Sensational leaks are continued by Wikileaks. In a recent leakage of information, the website has disclosed that Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif declared alliance with PPP as the biggest service of the country while talking to the former US ambassador to Pakistan N.W. Patterson. On the other hand the then US envoy to Pakistan said that it is very difficult to resolve the then judicial crisis before the 2008 elections in Pakistan.

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif met with the US ambassador on 31st January, 2008 and Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan was also present during the meeting. Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan complained to the ambassador that the USA has forgotten its relations with PML-N while PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif told the ambassador that according to the government he (Mian Nawaz Shairf) tops the hit list of terrorists but he said that he does not trust the government. Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also said that he had no personal issues with Pervez Musharraf and that he had contacted PML-Q. Nawaz Sharif also said that restoration of judiciary was the sole objective of his party but the US envoy replied that restoration of some of the judges is possible except for Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary. Mian Nawaz responded to this statement by saying that restoration of judged without Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary would be meaningless.

PML-N chief added that the masses are aggravated and that if they even get a single clue of any sort of rigging in the elections, their emotions and sentiments would erupt out volcanically. He also told the US ambassador that the next few weeks were important and crcucial fo Pakistan region and Pak-US relations. Mian Nawaz Sharig reminded the USA of his all out support for her during the first Gulf War while PPP was protesting on roads against sending Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia but he sent the troops to Saudia.

US Alarmed at Corrupt, Paranoid Afghans: Wikileaks

The United States is exasperated at the pervasiveness of corruption in Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzais paranoid view of the world, leaked cables said.

The latest batch of US diplomatic correspondence obtained by the WikiLeaks website also said that the United States worried about Irans involvement in Afghanistan, including accounts Tehran is supporting Taliban insurgents. One secret US cable said that more than 190 million dollars left Kabuls airport for Dubai between July and September, the time of Karzais re-election that triggered an international outcry over allegations of fraud.

While much of the cash may come from Afghans worried about stability, one cable said that Ahmad Zia Massoud a first vice president until last year and brother of slain anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud was caught entering the United Arab Emirates carrying 52 million dollars. The New York Times, which reprinted the cable, said Massoud denied any wrongdoing in an interview with the newspaper, which reported however that a Rolls-Royce was recently spotted outside his luxury house in Dubai.

US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry is quoted in cables as voicing concern at the extent of corruption in Afghanistan and the mindset of Karzai, who would ask conspiracy theories about the United States weakening him or dividing Pakistan. Two contrasting portraits emerge. The first is of a paranoid and weak individual unfamiliar with the basics of nation building and overly self-conscious that his time in the spotlight of glowing reviews from the international community has passed, Eikenberry said in a cable shortly before the election. The other is that of an ever-shrewd politician who sees himself as a nationalist hero who can save the country from being divided by the United States and rivals agenda, Eikenberry said. In another cable, Eikenberry rued how difficult it was to fight corruption and connect the people to their government, when the key government officials are themselves corrupt.

He made the remark after meeting with the presidents brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, a power broker in the southern city of Kandahar who was portrayed in other leaked cables as a corrupt drugs baron. President Barack Obamas administration has made no secret of its frustrations with corruption in Afghanistan, where some 100,000 US troops are stationed to battle Taliban insurgents. The cables also raised accounts by Afghans that Iran which like the United States had opposed the Taliban before the US invasion was now working with the insurgents.In a memo from February, Karzais chief of staff Omar Daudzai, who served as ambassador to Tehran, is quoted as saying that the Iranians two years earlier would deny support for the Afghan Taliban.Over the past half year, the Iranians, including their Ambassador in Kabul, no longer deny this assertion now they remain silent, the cable said.But Daudzai also said that ordinary Iranians generally liked the United States and said that Afghanistan may be able to broker reconciliation once Irans firebrand leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leaves.The Obama administration took office offering talks with Iran to end three decades of sour relations since the Islamic revolution.A 2007 cable showed that Eric Edelman a top Pentagon official under then president George W. Bush voiced alarm that Iranian meddling is getting increasingly lethal.Edelman appreciated this was a complicated issue and that Afghanistan wants to avoid a two-front war, but Iranian actions, if not checked, will result in a two-front war in any event, a cable quoted him as saying. We need to work together to put the Iranians back on their heels, it said. The other front is Pakistan. Cables showed Afghan and US officials repeatedly voicing concern about militants safe haven in border areas.

PM Gilani says despite economical hindrances War on Terror will continue

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Despite Pakistan’s economical hindrances the War on Terror will be continued, said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The US Ambassador, Cameron Munter, called on PM Gilani in Islamabad today. During the meeting The PM said that the government’s response on WikiLeaks revelations has been already shown and Pakistan would never compromise on national interests.

Cameron Munter said on the occasion that the WikiLeaks reports can not affect Pak-US ties and Pakistan’s role is very crucial to bring peace in Afghanistan. Trend Pk

Saudi king to get medical treatment in U.S.

KUWAIT/JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s elderly King Abdullah will leave for the United States on Monday for medical checks for a back ailment, and Crown Prince Sultan is returning from holiday abroad, state media said on Sunday.

Western diplomats in Riyadh said the prince’s return indicate that kingdom, which has no political parties or elected parliament, is trying to prevent a power vacuum and reassure Washington and other allies.

A day before his departure, the king reappointed several officials close to him, including Saudi Arabia’s relatively moderate top Islamic scholar and the ambassador to Washington.

Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi said the court’s fourth medical bulletin in little more than a week showed the desert kingdom, known for its secrecy, wanted to dispel any rumours.

“They want to make a point that there is no room for rumours.

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