People in the news

‘We Are the World’ revived to aid Haiti

Los Angeles — More than 75 mega-stars gathered Monday to re-record the 1985 charity anthem “We Are the World” in the same Hollywood recording studio where the original was cut 25 years ago.

Pink, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, the Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Tony Bennett, Jennifer Hudson, Akon and other musical luminaries stood shoulder to shoulder on risers at Henson Recording studios, singing their hearts out and hoping to help Haiti.

Quincy Jones, who produced the 1985 anthem, announced last week that he planned to redo the song to benefit recovery from the deadly Jan. 12 earthquake in Port-au-Prince.

Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the original “We Are the World” thundered up the charts when it was released on the radio and in record stores in March 1985.

An unprecedented number of top pop musicians gathered at A&M the night of Jan. 28, 1985, following the American Music Awards, to record the tune. The song featured 45 American superstars, including Jackson, Richie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan and Cyndi Lauper.

The record raised more than $30 million for USA for Africa, a nonprofit organization founded by the singers to fund hunger relief in African nations.

Edwards’ aide says he rejected offers for tape

Raleigh, N.C. — A former aide to two-time presidential candidate John Edwards said he’s received and rejected offers of “gigantic amounts of money” to sell what he says is a sex tape showing Edwards with his former mistress.

Andrew Young claimed in a book released last week that he found the tape in a box left in a home he and his wife had shared with Edward’s mistress, videographer Rielle Hunter.

“I could not have told this story without including this sex tape,” Young said in interview that aired Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We’ve been offered gigantic amounts of money, and we’ve said no.”

Young has said he kept the tape along with phone messages from Edwards to back up his account of what he saw as he helped Edwards cover up the affair and a resulting child. Edwards’ lawyers have accused Young of writing “The Politician” for financial gain, which Young denies.

Hunter last week won a temporary restraining order in a North Carolina court demanding Young return a 2006 video “of a very private and personal nature.” She also has filed a lawsuit against Young and his wife, seeking a jury trial and damages for invasion of privacy.

Edwards only last month admitted paternity of Hunter’s daughter, who is nearly 2. He and wife, Elizabeth, are now separated.

Fans search in Hawaii for answers to ‘Lost’

Honolulu — What is that black smoke monster? Will Jack’s plan to rewrite history work? Will Sun be reunited with Jin? Will the real Locke please stand up? What happens to the island? What does it all mean? How will it end?

Thousands of fans traveled from around the world to the home of “Lost” in a quest to get some answers to the questions that have piled up in the first five seasons. And they finally got what they were searching for — sort of.

A crowd of about 12,000 — some wearing bikinis — on Waikiki Beach were treated this weekend to a special screening of the season premiere, which airs tonight on ABC (8 p.m. CST) and kicks off the sixth and final season of the castaway drama.

Stars and directors of “Lost” made an island-style, red-carpet appearance and bid “aloha” to the fans and each other.

Report: Jenny Sanford reacts to affair in book

Charleston, S.C. — South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford writes in her new book that she got short of breath and later felt unwanted and ugly when she found out about her husband’s affair with an Argentine woman.

The New York Daily News reported on its Web site Monday that Sanford also writes that one of her sons exclaimed that it’s “worse than Eliot Spitzer” when she told them about Gov. Mark Sanford’s infidelity.

Spitzer is the former New York governor who resigned after acknowledging he was a client of a call-girl ring.

Jenny Sanford’s memoir “Staying True,” published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House Inc., goes on sale Friday.

She will be interviewed by Barbara Walters on ABC’s 20/20 on Thursday night. A segment of the interview aired last month, a few days before she filed for divorce from her husband of more than 20 years.

The divorce will be final later this month.

Mark Sanford disappeared from the state for five days last summer, and his staff told reporters he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

But he was really in Argentina seeing his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur.

Carrey and McGregor knighted in France

Paris — France has honored actors Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor by naming them knights in the prestigious National Order of Arts and Letters.

The two are in Paris to promote their upcoming gay romance, “I Love You Phillip Morris.”

At Monday’s ceremony, French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand declared, “I love you Jim Carrey! I love you Ewan McGregor!”

He added that French moviegoers feel the same.

The film is based on a true story. Carrey plays a con man who meets the love of his life (McGregor) in prison, then comes up with elaborate escapes and masquerades to free himself and his man.