Jessica Biel Weeps at Mt. Kilimanjaro Summit

Reaching the top of 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro proved to be an emotional experience for Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch, who climbed
 Africa's tallest peak to raise awareness of the global water crisis.

"I
 walked over to Jessie and gave her a big hug," UN Foundation executive
 Elizabeth Gore, who also made the hike, tells PEOPLE via satellite phone. "The two of us embraced and
 we just cried. Every single one of us was in absolute tears."

"The temperature was zero degrees and so many people were struggling," she adds. "People had hurt limbs, people had altitude sickness."

After six days of climbing, the final stretch of the mountain Tuesday proved to be
 the most arduous. "We had a complete whiteout," says Gore. "There was so much
 snow, we could only see two or three feet in front of us. So we had to line
 up like a chain to make it to the final point. I'm so proud that every single one of us 12 climbers made it."

Once the group of climbers – which included Ethiopian-born Kenna and 
environmentalist Kick Kennedy, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy – reached
 the summit, they quickly had to begin their descent.

The
 way down is so steep," says Gore. "And we had ice, so you're stepping
 sideways, trying not to slip. And we hit big boulders, so we had to
 hop-skip. We had major knee issues."

PHOTOS: Jessica & Emile's Star-Studded Mountain Expedition

After eight days of hiking, the group finally reached the town of Arusha,
 Tanzania at the base of the mountain on late Wednesday. They planned to
 celebrate with a hot meal at a local restaurant and to toss back a few 
bottles of the local Tanzanian beer.

On Thursday, Jessica Biel, Kenna and rapper Santigold will join Gore on a
 trip to a United Nations camp in Ethiopia to see some of the 
world's most significant water problems. "We are all so tired, dirty and 
bruised," says Gore, "but we re trying to give a voice to people who don't
 have any."

For complete coverage of the expedition visit www.summitonthesummit.com


'Heroes' actor contacts parents in Haiti

On Thursday, Jimmy Jean-Louis finally received the phone call he had longed for: He spoke with his mother in Haiti.

"I got a phone call from my sister who said she was able to reach home," the Haitian native and "Heroes" cast member said. " So I picked up the phone and my mom answered. The first reaction from both of us was simply to cry."

The actor had been searching for his elderly parents in Haiti after a powerful earthquake struck his homeland. Adding to his desperation to find them was the knowledge that the house he had grown up in had collapsed during the disaster, killing several of his relatives.

Now he knows that his parents are safe physically, although they are sleeping outdoors for fear that their damaged home is not safe. While they are whole in body, emotionally and mentally his parents are in rough shape, Jean-Louis said.

"They don't understand what's going on," Jean-Louis said. "It's almost like saying 'Why [are we] living?' Shock is an understatement."

"Apparently they have not stopped crying ever since the earthquake happened," he said, his voice breaking.
Jean-Louis was born in Petionville, Haiti , where he grew up without electricity or running water before moving to Paris, France, when he was 12 to pursue a modeling career. He has supported his parents by sending money home since he started acting nearly 20 years ago.

The actor, who is best known as "The Haitian" on the NBC series "Heroes," returned from Haiti only a couple of weeks ago after spending the holidays with his parents. He was planning to return this month but will now be traveling much sooner to provide relief aid.

Jean-Louis said there is still no word on the many relatives and friends he has in Haiti. And while he is anxious not only to reunite with his family, he also wants to lend his support to his fellow Haitians.

He is the founder of Hollywood Unites for Haiti, a nonprofit organization whose original mission was to provide sports and cultural education to underprivileged youth on the island. Now he says their mission is to mobilize and offer whatever aid they can for earthquake survival.

He expressed gratitude for the many people of all nations who have come together to support his country in its desperate hour of need.

"I am very, very happy that there is unity," he said. "Only through unity will we be able to overcome the catastrophe."

Hollywood rushes to aid Haiti

Hollywood is sending its thoughts, hopes, tweets, prayers and money to the people of Haiti.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis ("Crash") was at the forefront of mobilizing Hollywood's elite to lend their support for Haiti even before Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

Since starting the organization Artists for Peace and Justice in 2009 (http://www.artistsforpeaceandjustice.com/), Haggis has brought awareness of the island nation's plight to stars like Charlize Theron, Diane Lane, Josh Brolin, Maria Bello, Olivia Wilde, Oliver Stone and James Franco.

Haggis created the group after meeting the Rev. Rick Frechette, an American doctor, priest and community organizer who has worked in the slums of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, for over two decades. The director was so inspired by Frechette's work that he began organizing field trips to Haiti with his celebrity friends and raising funds to funnel directly to Frechette's efforts to build hospitals, schools and orphanages.

"After coming back from my trip I realized I had to do something to help, so I grabbed a bunch of my friends and created Artists for Peace and Justice. We have managed to sponsor three of their schools and part of a hospital," Haggis said.

n his years of service in Haiti, Frechette has built a children's hospital, 18 street schools and street clinics in addition to providing clean drinking water and food daily to the inhabitants of the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince. Frechette's hospital in Petionville was at the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake and has collapsed. His St. Damien Pediatric Hospital, the Francisville Trade School and Kay Saint Germaine Rehabilitation Center have all been horribly damaged.

Since the quake struck, Haggis has managed to reach Frechette only on e-mail.

"He is in the Dominican Republic trying to reach Haiti and as soon as he gets on the ground there he is going to contact me with an assessment," Haggis said.

One of the friends that Haggis brought on board with Artists for Peace and Justice is actress Maria Bello, who traveled to Haiti a year ago and was able to reach Frechette for a brief phone call on Wednesday morning.

"He said he was on his way to go dig his people out," Bello said. "A lot of his volunteers have been buried. He said to get some equipment and put on some gloves and help him dig people out. Haiti was so devastated a year ago when we went down there that I cannot imagine what it is like now."

When Bello visited the country she helped Frechette build a graveyard and bury local children who didn't survive the various illnesses that caused them to visit his pediatric hospital.

"We are trying to mobilize right now and figure out if it is the best thing to mobilize a special rescue team here to go there," Bello said.

"House" cast-member and Artists for Peace and Justice co-founder Olivia Wilde traveled with the group right before the holidays.

"Having been there so recently I can tell you it was already a pretty desperate situation but Father Rick's programs were working effectively and what we need is to make sure things get up and running again," Wilde said.

During her trip the actress visited an orphanage founded by Frechette as well as a general hospital that served as one of the few alternatives to the priest's pediatric hospital. "I can tell you the general hospital was a very desperate place before this earthquake with sometimes three kids to a bed and carts in a hallway with dead children."

Artists for Peace and Justice is in the process of organizing a fundraiser in Los Angeles, California, next Saturday night to raise relief funds. All the funds raised by the organization will go directly to Frechette to help aid the people of Haiti.

"The Office" cast-member Rainn Wilson traveled to Haiti in October with his wife. They worked with the organizations Planting Peace (http://www.plantingpeace.org/) and The Mona Foundation (http://www.monafoundation.org/).

"We met beautiful, vital students in many schools, street children trying to educate themselves and many selfless Haitian teachers and doctors working to be of service to their country. I don't know if they are all alive or dead right now and it's breaking my heart," Wilson said via e-mail. "The hotel we stayed at and most of the places we visited now lie in rubble. I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in the power of service. Even if you can only give 20 bucks, that will go a long, long way in a country as devastatingly poor as Haiti. Please also send prayers and hope that the world takes drastic action to remedy this horrific disaster."

Haitian-American actress Garcelle Beauvais spent Tuesday night trying to contact family members who were still in the country.

"We found out that almost everybody is safe but we have a couple of cousins who are missing right now and my sisters-in-law slept in their cars last night. My brother-in-law was in his car when the earthquake started happening and he thought they were being bombed," said Beauvais, who is working with the Edeyo Foundation (http://www.edeyo.org/) to raise money and awareness. "We are trying to organize now. Since it is such short notice we are trying to see how the airport is there and see what we can to do to go there and help."

Ben Stiller, Adam Lambert and Lindsay Lohan all took to Twitter to urge people to lend their help and attention to the devastated nation.

"People in Haiti need our help and attention right now," Stiller posted to the social media Web site on Tuesday.
"Please, everyone donate even the smallest of what you can. We are so fortunate. Let us give where truly needed," Lambert tweeted.

Oprah Winfrey began her talk show on Wednesday by asking viewers to donate to the Red Cross. "This is a time where we, as a global nation, should come together and support those who are in need," Winfrey said.

Global recording artist Usher has been working to mobilize youth worldwide to help Haiti through his nonprofit, Usher's New Look (http://www.ushersnewlook.org/).

"With Haiti in a state of emergency right now, young people do have the power to save lives. I am asking young people of all ages to mobilize by organizing local fundraisers with the proceeds going to their peers in Haiti. This is one way we all can make a difference," Usher said via e-mail.

Destruction from the air - Haiti

Jimmy Fallon Finally Weighs in on Late-Night Wars

Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's 'Late Night,' has stayed relatively quiet about the storm brewing at the network over 'The Jay Leno Show' and 'The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.' But now he is speaking out.

Fallon, whose 12:35 time slot is in limbo, took the high road and praised both Leno and O'Brien without bashing the network.

"Here's what I know, Jay Leno is going to go back to 11:30. Conan O'Brien was offered 12:05, and he said he didn't want to do that. He said it wasn't fair to him and he said it wasn't fair to me, which was very nice of him to say," Fallon began.

"I'm happy to have a job. I really am. I have a lot fun doing this show. We all do. But it's kind of weird because these are two of my heroes and two of my friends," he added. Watch It Below



"Leno, I was on his show so many times before I was even at this job and when I got this job he gave me so much advice, as did Conan," Fallon continued. "Conan O'Brien if he didn't kick ass here for 17 years, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have a job."

"I feel like I've met a great woman, I got married and now I'm finally getting to know my in laws and they are crazy," he joked.

Conan O'Brien

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'Jersey Shore' Snooki Slugger Gets the Boot.

NYC gym teacher fired after punching 'Jersey Shore' star. Is it even legal for a school to fire someone over something that they did while not at work? Does anyone know the answer to this question? Please blog in...

Mystery Benefactor Saves Octomom's Firm Ass

Nadya Suleman just got a serious spot from someone at the gym she was recently banned from -- someone committed to saving her body through the power of money.

TMZ reports of an anonymous benefactor rolled through a 24 Hour Fitness location in L.A. Wednesday afternoon and threw down enough cash to pay for a one-year gym membership for Octomom ... since she apparently couldn't afford to pay it herself.

Octo was apparently cut off from the gym after she fell behind on her membership fees three separate times.

No word if the mystery man will spring for a sitter to tend to the 14 kids while Nadya continues to tend to herself.

Idol Flashback: Justin Williams Performs with Kris Allen

Did you recognize him?

Justin Williams, who auditioned in Boston on Tuesday’s season premiere of American Idol, is a Hollywood veteran! (Sort of.) The vocal coach, who sang “Feelin’ Good” and earned a golden ticket, has been down that road before. Last year, he performed a group number during Hollywood week with season 8 winner Kris Allen and judges’ save recipient Matt Giraud. Check him out, singing the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.”

Tell us: Did you remember Justin from season 8? How do you think he’ll do this year?

FIRST LOOK: Adam Lambert Sits Down with Oprah

Adam Lambert and Oprah Winfrey
George Burns/Harpo, Inc.

It's hardly like Adam Lambert to be anything but upfront, so the recent mystery about his possible appearing with Oprah Winfrey on her show was a bit baffling. But baffle no more.

While the American Idol sensation addressed the rumors and Twittered last Thursday, "Oprah: def true," word from the Winfrey camp reached PEOPLE to say that the 27-year-old and the media queen taped their interview Wednesday at the Harpo Studios in Chicago. The show will air Tuesday, Jan. 19.

In the course of their sit-down, Lambert touched upon Simon Cowell's announced departure from Idol and its possible ramifications for the show, what life was like for him both pre-Idol and after, and his controversial performance at the American Music Awards.

The singer also performed "Whataya Want from Me" from his new album For Your Entertainment. Also on the Oprah Winfrey Show with Adam: chart-topper Susan Boyle.

Soul Singer Teddy Pendergrass Dies at 59

The singer's son said his father died at a hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.

eddy Pendergrass, who became R&B's reigning sex symbol in the 1970s and '80s with his forceful, masculine voice and passionate love ballads and later became an inspirational figure after suffering a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, died Wednesday at age 59.

The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at a hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.

"To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music."

Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down in the 1982 car accident. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."

He briefly returned to the stage at the Live Aid concert in 1985, performing from his wheelchair.

Pendergrass later founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, an organization whose mission is to encourage and help people with spinal cord injuries achieve their maximum potential in education, employment, housing, productivity and independence, according to its Web site.

Pendergrass, who was born in Philadelphia on March 26, 1950, gained popularity first as a member of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

In 1971, the group signed a record deal with the legendary writer/producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The group released its first single, "I Miss You," in 1972 and then released "If You Don't Know Me by Now," which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Gamble remembered Pendergrass fondly and lauded him.

"I think Teddy Pendergrass was really one of a kind of an artist, and his music kind of speaks for him," Gamble said in an interview early Thursday. "He had such a powerful voice, and he had a great magnetism."

Pendergrass quit the group in 1975 and embarked on a solo career in 1976. It was his solo hits that brought him his greatest fame. With songs such as "Love T.K.O.," "Close the Door" and "I Don't Love You Anymore," he came to define a new era of black male singers with his powerful, aggressive vocals that spoke to virility, not vulnerability.

His lyrics were never coarse, as those of later male R&B stars would be, but they had a sensual nature that bordered on erotic without being explicit.

"Turn Off the Lights" was a tune that perhaps best represented the many moods of Pendergrass -- tender and coaxing yet strong as the song reached its climax.

Pendergrass, the first black male singer to record five consecutive multi-platinum albums, made women swoon with each note, and his concerts were a testament to that adulation, with infamous stories of women throwing their underwear on stage for his affection.

But his career was derailed by the car accident, Gamble said.

"He had a tremendous career ahead of him, and the accident sort of got in the way of many of those plans," Gamble said.

However, Pendergrass' career did not end. He continued to sing and recorded several albums, receiving Grammy nominations; perhaps his best-known hit after his crash was the inspirational song "Life is a Song Worth Singing."

It was 19 years before Pendergrass resumed performing at his own concerts. He made his return on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, with two sold-out shows in Atlantic City, N.J.

Pendergrass is survived by his son, two daughters, his wife, his mother and nine grandchildren.

Quake Survivors Cry for Help as Aftershocks Rattle Haiti

Hundreds of thousands of earthquake refugees lay sprawled in Haiti's streets Thursday – rich and poor singing hymns or sobbing, survivors sleeping alongside the dead – afraid to take shelter under the odd building left standing as aftershocks rumbled the ground beneath them.

Two days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook apart most of Haiti's infrastructure, the full scale of destruction was only beginning to emerge. The U.N. mission there described damage to the capital Port-au-Prince as "massive and broad," with the national cathedral, presidential palace and hundreds of thousands of homes all destroyed. "Electricity supplies have been interrupted. Water is in short supply," the U.N. said in a statement. "Haitian services are visibly unable to cope."

The country's prime minister has said the death toll could top 100,000. The Red Cross says three million people -- a third of the entire population -- need help.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday she fears "tens of thousands" are dead, and vowed to do everything possible to help Haiti overcome its "cycle of hope and despair." She appeared on several morning news shows after cutting short a trip to Pacific nations to return to Washington and help with relief efforts.

"This is a devastating catastrophe... We have some of the best people in the world from the United States down there and we're just going to do everything we can to be helpful," Clinton said. Some 45,000 Americans in Haiti are among those affected by the quake, she said. President Barack Obama, who a day earlier announced a massive relief effort, planned another public statement from the White House later Thursday.



U.S. military planes carrying the first batch of aid touched down in Haiti overnight, and troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division were expected later Thursday. Emergency stockpiles have already run out.

British rescue workers flew to the Dominican Republic and were heading toward Haiti with sophisticated equipment to detect sounds of life under wreckage. A 60-member Chinese search-and-rescue team with sniffer dogs also arrived Thursday.

Haitian Red Cross spokesman Pericles Jean-Baptiste said his organization -- accustomed to working in a nation blighted by poverty, war and natural disasters -- was overwhelmed and out of medicine. "There are too many people who need help," he told Reuters. "We lack equipment, we lack body bags."

"This is much worse than a hurricane," said doctor's assistant Jimitre Coquillon. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die," he told The Associated Press as he worked at a triage center in a hotel parking lot.


The first airlifts carried food and medical supplies, while later flights would bring heavy machinery to begin clearing debris. But before they arrived, Haitians used trowels and bare hands to sift through cement chunks in hopes of freeing victims whose faint calls were audible under the wreckage.

With phone lines severed, Haitians sent macabre pleas for help from wireless handheld devices, in some cases literally from under the rubble.

"Haiti is still shaking!! HELP!!" read one appeal from Carel Pedre, a popular Port-au-Prince radio DJ, on the micro-blogging site Twitter. "The last aftershock was short but there are thousands of people homeless and helpless on the streets," he wrote.

Pedre used Twitter to contact friends and family. "Any news from the Magik9/Canal11 building? Any news from Gerald and Bernie?" he wrote. "They are safe," came the response in another tweet.

But such relief was rare Thursday in Haiti, with most people still not knowing whether loved ones were alive.

A U.N. worker with access to a satellite phone made a distraught call to relatives in New Zealand overnight to say her husband and three young daughters were missing and she was struggling to find help amid the chaos, according to her hometown newspaper in New Zealand, The Nelson Mail. Later the woman, Emily Sanson-Rejouis, called back to say one of her daughters was found alive under the dead body of her father, but the couple's two other children remain missing.

As the sun rose Thursday over Haiti's capital, survivors walked gingerly over bodies covered in blankets on sidewalks. It was difficult to tell the dead from the living. Prayers and chants went up through the crowd. People crafted homemade gurneys out of wheelbarrows and mattresses to transport the injured. But to where? Most of the city's hospitals were damaged, and without electricity or staff.

Laura Bickle, an American working at an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, described the scene before her: "All the parks are filled with people - they either have no home to go to or they are too scared to go home," she told BBC Radio. "They are pulling people out of the rubble, literally, blood running in the gutter like water."

The epicenter of Tuesday's quake was only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, which is home to about four million people. Aftershocks continued Thursday, some as powerful as 5.9-magnitude.

Relief efforts were truly global in scale. China sent 10 tons of tents and medical equipment, the European Commission pledged $4.37 million in aid and Israel is sending an elite army rescue unit of engineers and doctors, AP reported.

The coordinator of U.K. rescue work in Haiti, Mike Thomas, told the BBC his priority was to identify places where people might still be alive under the rubble. "We're hoping we can get our dogs there quickly, they'll be invaluable in helping target those areas," he said.

Another Twitter user, identified as RAMhaiti wrote this message early Thursday from somewhere in the chaos of Port-au-Prince: "St Gerard Church and the school behind it are destroyed. People are alive in the rubble. I look at the sky, see the stars, and it's as if nothing was wrong. The singing, the praying and the sirens bring me back to reality."

Haitian horror hits home for workers at Hancock Park in Quincy

Some of the nursing aides on the overnight shift at Hancock Park were crying when Melanie Brace arrived for work.

“One woman was just sobbing,” said Brace, the assistant director of nursing at the rehabilitation and nursing center in Quincy Center.

The aide’s husband, three daughters and grandchildren were all in Port-au-Prince Haiti, where a powerful earthquake struck. She could not find out any information about them, despite repeated attempts to get through on her cell phone.

Brace had thought of her staff, including the aides and others, when she heard about the earthquake Tuesday evening. About one-third of the facility’s 168 employees are from Haiti or have family there.

All were worried about their families, and most had not been able to get through by phone when Brace arrived for work about 7 a.m. Wednesday.

“Not one of them called in to miss work – every one of them came to work,” Brace said.

As Brace sat to comfort one sobbing aide, she realized she could help by offering her staff a time and a place to pray and be together.

“Virtually every Haitian who works here has some relative there,” Brace said. “It was very evident they were very upset. So I was trying to think what we might do to help them know we were feeling very bad with them and wanted to join hands to share their grief.”

At 7:15 a.m. there was a prayer service in the cafeteria, as employees, including many who were not Haitian, sat together. All 25 people in the room were crying, Brace said.

Then they rose and went about the day’s work, tending to frail elderly, who often tried to comfort them in return. Marie Beaupin, 47, of Randolph, on the day shift, had spent a sleepless night. Her husband was supposed to fly home Wednesday from a three week holiday in Port-au-Prince. She had no way of knowing what had become of him.

As the day went on, staff talked about the latest news, toll-free numbers to call, and especially about who and where their missing family members were.

At lunchtime, while Brace’s pastor husband was holding a prayer service in their church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Braintree, the nursing home brought in pizza and invited staff to share lunch in the cafeteria. Most of the Haitians, however, chose to take lunch elsewhere to try and make cell phone calls.

Her eyes heavy, nursing assistant Dieuna Nomin, 33, of Hyde Park talked about the pain she felt for her mother, 53, three sisters, her brother, aunt and uncle, all unheard from in Haiti.

“I keep calling, calling . . . I don’t know if my family is OK. Today is the bad day, the sad day . . it’s painful,” she said, shaking her head and looking down.

Kechely Isme, 45, of Mattapan had not slept since Tuesday and said, “I am really sad. I am sick. I don’t know what happened to them . . .” and named 26 family members.

Richard Coughlin, Hancock Park administrator, said the Welch Healthcare facility would be hold a fundraiser for the families.