Sorvino starts anti-violence drive

Los Angeles — Mira Sorvino is helping Amnesty International launch a two-year campaign to end violence against women.

The actress said Tuesday the campaign was intended to put pressure on governments around the world to create policies that would discourage violence against women.

“Even in the United States, violence against women is the number one threat to women’s safety in terms of their health,” she said. “Women are more likely to be injured or killed by violence than by any other threat.”

Filmmakers seek dog thespians

Bethel, Maine — Producers have almost all the dogs they need for a movie scheduled to begin filming in western Maine later this month — though they still need human extras.

“The 12 Dogs of Christmas” will tell the story of a boy who uses dogs to teach people about the meaning of Christmas during the Depression era. The movie will be directed by Kieth Merrill.

Filmmakers want 84 dogs, including golden and Labrador retrievers, boxers, cocker spaniels and mongrels, to parody the English folksong, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

“The only thing we’re still looking for is a couple of boxers,” said casting director Bonnie Marshall.

Auditions for humans continue this week.

Couple hope to limit separations

Vancouver, British Columbia — Newlywed singers Diana Krall and Elvis Costello still plan to go their separate ways on tour, but with some limits.

In a talk-show interview that aired Tuesday on CTV, Costello said he and Krall hoped to avoid separations longer than three weeks.

“We have actually a date in Madeira in a couple of weeks’ time, and it is going to be like that, on and off,” he said.

“The good thing about it is that we know what the job is and we’re lucky that we have the resources to make the journey, and beyond that you just need the will — and love gives you a lot of will.”

Krall and Costello were married three months ago in England.

Ross ordered back to jail

Tucson, Ariz. — Diana Ross was ordered to return to Tucson to serve a two-day jail sentence in her drunken-driving case.

The singer, who pleaded no contest to DUI last month, had arranged to serve her sentence in Greenwich, Conn., where she lives. But during her stay, she left and returned multiple times, said City Court Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw.

Greenwich Police Chief James Walters originally wrote Cranshaw to say that Ross, 59, had completed her sentence, spending 48 hours in custody over three days, including two overnight stays.

Arizona law requires DUI defendants to spend at least 24 consecutive hours in custody. A hearing is scheduled April 1 to schedule her new jail stay.