PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Angelina Jolie has made an unannounced visit to Cambodia, a country where she is funding a nature conservation project.
The 31-year-old actress briefly visited officials in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, said Keut Sothea, a deputy governor for the Pailin municipality.
He said Jolie had a brief discussion about a forest conservation project near Pailin with Ieng Vuth, another municipality deputy governor and the son of former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary.
Kong Duong, head of the Pailin information office, said Jolie and her party arrived on two helicopters.
“They came very briefly before flying out. They seemed not to have much time for us,” he said Wednesday, declining to elaborate.
It wasn’t clear when Jolie arrived in Cambodia or who had accompanied her. She has been filming a movie in India in recent weeks.
Jolie, who adopted her 5-year-old son Maddox from Cambodia, has promised up to $1.3 million over five years for a forest conservation program that was approved by the Cambodian government in 2003.
Stephan Bognar, executive director of the Maddox Jolie Project, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Calls to his phone went unanswered.
Jolie has been involved in a dispute with Mounh Sarath, director of Cambodian Vision in Development, her former Cambodian associate in the conservation project.
Her philanthropic and political adviser, Trevor Neilson, told The Associated Press in New York last month that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” Jolie had provided for the conservation effort were missing.
Mounh Sarath, who has denied the allegation, said Wednesday he knew about Jolie’s visit. Mounh Sarath said he wanted to talk to Jolie and could account for all the money he had received from her.
Scenes for Jolie’s 2001 movie, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” were filmed at Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temple.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – Residents of the Maldives want to say “hello” to newlyweds Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
The Hollywood couple arrived this week in the Indian Ocean island chain after exchanging wedding vows Saturday in a 15th-century castle in Bracciano, Italy, outside Rome.
Cruise, 44, and Holmes, 27, are staying on a yacht near the capital of Male, chief government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday.
“People would really love to meet them, show their culture and say “hello’ at the least,” Shareef said.
It wasn’t immediately known whether the couple had been formally asked to meet with local people.
“People are really curious and they feel they should show some of their culture, especially dancing,” Shareef said.
The Maldives, an archipelago of 1,192 islands, is famed for its beaches and luxury resorts.
“We understand they may be planning to do island hopping,” Shareef said.
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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) – Tawny Kitaen has been charged with felony drug possession after sheriff’s deputies said they found cocaine in her apartment.
The 45-year-old actress, who co-starred in the 1984 comedy “Bachelor Party,” is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 18 at Harbor Justice Center in Laguna Niguel, said Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.
If convicted, sentences could range from a drug diversion program to up to three years in prison, Schroeder said Tuesday.
Deputies responding to a request for a welfare check in May found 15 grams of cocaine in Kitaen’s San Juan Capistrano apartment, authorities said. They said her two children were home at the time, and Kitaen had given deputies permission for the search.
It wasn’t immediately known whether Kitaen had retained a lawyer. An after-hours message left for an attorney who previously represented her wasn’t immediately returned.
In 2002, Kitaen was arrested on charges she abused her then-husband, former Angels pitcher Chuck Finley. Finley was playing for the Cleveland Indians at that time.
She agreed to anger management and conflict resolution counseling in exchange for the dismissal of two misdemeanor counts of spousal abuse.
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