Danny Puff

VIENNA (AP) Mira Sorvino's list of awards includes an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a host of nominations reserved for the world's best actors and actresses. She's had meaningful roles in more than 50 films and TV productions in a career that began two decades ago and is still going strong.

So why is she contemplating ending her acting career a few years down the line?

"I love acting, and that is my job right now," Sorvino told The Associated Press on Friday. At the same time, she describes her advocacy against human trafficking and modern-day slavery as "my calling," and so important that "in a decade or so, I wouldn't mind just switching to a career in humanitarian causes."

Sorvino's Oscar-winning role as a prostitute with a golden heart in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite" might have cast the world's oldest profession in comic light. These days, though, her fight against the sex trade and modern-day slavery has become a serious crusade off screen and on. She has served as U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to Combat Human Trafficking since 2009, and in her 2012 film "Trade of Innocents" described as a "powerful, important movie" by Movieguide she plays a woman chosen to extricate a little Cambodian girl from the grip of a prostitution ring.

While firm figures are not available, the U.S. State Department estimated in 2010 that 12.3 million people are enslaved worldwide. Of those, millions are children forced into the sex trade, and Sorvino said she was drawn to the role both as a mother and as an activist anguished by the plight of girls driven into prostitution at childhood.

"It's unthinkable, it's unspeakable, and yet it's all over," she said, tearing up as she recalled one such victim she met in Mexico who had been held in a brothel from the age of 4 until her rescue three years later.

The 45-year old actress spoke to the AP in the offices of the Vienna-based U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime after being extended in her goodwill ambassador's role by the U.N. agency's head, Yury Fedotov.

"She gave voice to the speechless," Fedotov said of Sorvino's efforts on behalf of victims.

Sorvino's social commitments sit deep. The actress recalls a "long history of activism and idealism in our family" of discussions with her father about the anti-apartheid crusades of South African churchman Desmond Tutu and her mother marching in Washington with Martin Luther King.

With an education that focused on human rights, including research in racial conflict in China and anti-Semitism in Russia, she says her early life "was all about social justice and trying to be on the side of the angels in bettering the world in some idealistic fashion."

"Then the acting career became my career and I have passion for that as an artist," she said. But, she adds, human rights advocacy "answers something else in me that I have had since I was a little girl reading Anne Frank."

Sorvino has been affiliated with Amnesty International since 2004 and received that organization's "Artist of Conscience Award" for philanthropic and humanist activities. In a more unusual honor, a compound excreted by the sunburst diving beetle as a defensive mechanism is now called "mirasorvone," in recognition of her role as entomologist Susan Tyler probing deadly insect mutations in the film "Mimic."

Along the way, she has turned from being aware of causes to someone working to drive change.

She cites pending legislation in Wyoming that will make it the last U.S. state to make human trafficking a crime as partially a result of her push, declaring: "I called them out very publicly."

She dismisses suggestions that Hollywood and human rights don't mix and that as such she is out of step with the industry.

"Every person in the world is an individual no one can be defined by the label "Hollywood," Sorvino said.

Depending on the day and time, the actress-activist says she morphs into a mother of four with "a crazy maelstrom of activity, runny noses and homework and bedtimes."

"So, I don't know where I fit in," she said. As for activism, "I love this part of my life."

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NEW YORK (AP) Mother Nature is clearly not a fashionista.

An impending blizzard forced Michael Kors to arrive at New York Fashion Week's Project Runway show on Friday in gasp Uggs.

"I came in looking like Pam Anderson," he joked backstage, where the offending boots had been traded for tasteful black leather.

Marc Jacobs postponed his Monday night show until Thursday, citing delivery problems, but for the most part Fashion Week went on with the show. IMG Fashion said organizers remained in contact with city officials including the Mayor's office about potential weather problems, but that they had planned for an extra layer of tenting for the venue and more heat at Lincoln Center along with crews to help with snow and ice.

Zac Posen said he would present his collection as usual on Sunday but he worried that out-of-town editors and retailers might not be able to make it. Other designers were considering plan B perhaps an internet stream in case crowds are snowed out.

Still, plenty of fashion fans wouldn't let a little snow get in the way. Baltimore college student Carmen Green arrived in a red cocktail dress and black high-heel booties.

"In this outfit, the blizzard did not deter me," she said. She did allow that she had only had to cross the street from her hotel and would change into combat boots for the train ride home.

The celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch even offered a blizzard pro tip.

"You either come in warm and comfortable clothes and boots or you come in neon or sequins would be a good one so they see you in the drift," he said.

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LONDON (AP) Everyone who's had a fender bender knows the cost of repairs is going up. But few cars can be as costly to fix as "Mr. Bean" actor Rowan Atkinson's rare McLaren F1.

It took more than a year and more than 900,000 pounds ($1.4 million) to get his supercar up and running after a 2011 crash that left Atkinson with a badly damaged shoulder.

The high-performance car makes extensive use of carbon fiber and needed specialist care it took weeks just to get a proper insurance estimate.

Ben Stagg, specialty insurer with RK Harrison, said the quality components used to make an F1 are one reason the repair costs were so high.

"All modern supercars are predominantly carbon fiber most Lamborghinis, most Ferraris and the smallest ding in carbon fiber is a big repair job," he said. "And part of the engine bay is gold, that's the best heat conductor. It's the materials they used compared to everyday cars that make it so expensive."

He said many owners baby their expensive cars, driving them only a few times a year in perfect weather conditions, but Atkinson actually drives his McLaren extensively.

The unusual repair job, thought to involve one of the largest car insurance settlements in British history, is extensively documented in Classic & Sports Car magazine, with a picture of the burgundy McLaren on the cover.

Atkinson, last seen by many playing piano as Mr. Bean during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, told the magazine he believes supercars should be used, not sequestered in garages.

"It depresses me when great cars are hidden away," he said. "It's a crime not to use it."

Magazine editor Alastair Clements said Atkinson should be applauded.

"He let us do the story because he wanted other enthusiasts to know that he loves it, that he isn't just some celebrity with an expensive car, that he's owned it for 15 years and loved it for 15 years," he said. "He's put it back exactly as it was. He's a bit of a hero. It's much more than the value."

Of course, the value is there Stagg said the last used McLaren F1 sold on the open market went for about 3.5 million pounds.

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BERLIN (AP) Matt Damon hopes "Promised Land," his drama on the divisive practice of fracking, will win over international critics, despite a U.S. reception that disappointed the actor.

The movie on shale gas drilling, directed by Gus Van Sant and with a script written by Damon and co-star John Krasinski, has its international premiere Friday at the Berlin film festival. It is one of 19 films running for the Golden Bear award.

In the United States, where the movie opened last month, "it didn't get the reception that I would have hoped for, but that happens sometimes," Damon told reporters. "Sometimes people find movies later on."

Damon stars as a salesman persuading inhabitants of a small town to sell a big energy firm the right to extract gas from beneath their farmland.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, frees natural gas from shale deep underground by injecting a well with chemically treated water and sand. Supporters say it can be an economic boon to rural areas, but critics say it can pollute groundwater.

The film was shot in western Pennsylvania. Damon said the movie crew heard strong opinions there from both backers and detractors of fracking.

"We didn't want the film to be a judgment on what to do," Damon insisted.

"What we really wanted to do was make a movie about American identity," he said. "The actual issue itself was secondary to wanting to explore where we are right now, how we make big decisions."

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PARIS (Reuters) - France's Louvre-Lens museum shut two galleries on Friday after a woman scribbled with a black marker pen on its star painting, Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People".

Police were questioning a 28-year-old woman who was arrested on Thursday evening after writing "AE911" across a 30 cm section at the bottom of the work, a judicial source said.

"AE911Truth" is the name of a website called "Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth" whose backers say they are seeking to establish the truth of the September 11, 2001 suicide airliner attacks on New York's Twin Towers.

Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People", painted in 1830, was chosen by the Louvre-Lens in northern France as its emblem for its official opening last December and is on loan from the main Louvre museum in Paris.

The work, depicting a bare-breasted woman brandishing a tricolour flag and leading her people over the bodies of the fallen, commemorates the 1830 French Revolution.

The museum said an initial examination suggested the damage was superficial and the famous work could be easily restored.

(Reporting By Pierre Savary; Writing by Vicky Buffery; Editing by Brian Love and Paul Casciato)

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LONDON (AP) Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew; British singer-songwriter James Blunt; and Israeli television psychic Uri Geller are among the latest to strike a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. over phone hacking.

The three were among 17 hacking victims who settled Friday with News Corp. subsidiary News Group Newspapers over its campaign of illegal espionage, which set off a massive scandal when it was revealed in July 2011.

Others on the list include actor Hugh Grant whose settlement was first announced in December as well as "Doctor Who" actor Christopher Ecclestone, former government minister Geoffrey Robinson, TV presenter Jeff Brazier and singer Kerry Katona.

Murdoch's News of the World tabloid was at the center of the scandal. Prosecutors say the paper's senior management conspired to hack hundreds of victims' phones, including senior government ministers, sports stars, Hollywood royalty, and even crime victims in a bid to win scoops and boost sales.

The scandal first broke in 2006, when two reporters were arrested for hacking into voicemails belonging to members of the royal family. But the paper engaged in an ambitious coverup effort, arranging secret payoffs and repeatedly lying to the press, the public, and parliament in a bid to bury the scandal.

The implicated executives including Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, former confidants of Prime Minister David Cameron deny any wrongdoing.

A lawyer for Ferguson, whose split from Andrew in 1992 often made her a tabloid target, said the duchess did not believe the settlement resolved all her concerns regarding snooping into her personal affairs.

Paul Tweed said in a statement that his client "remains extremely concerned that questions beyond the scope of these legal proceedings still need to be answered in relation to other instances of inappropriate and extreme intrusion into her private life."

The size of the various settlements was not immediately disclosed, although previous deals have typically ranged from tens of thousands up to hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars). On Thursday News Corp. revealed that costs associated with the settlements, official inquiries, and myriad police investigations spawned by the scandal had taken another $56 million bite out of the New York-based company's bottom line.

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Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) A bipartisan quartet of senators, including two National Rifle Association members and two with "F'' ratings from the potent firearms lobby, are quietly trying to find a compromise on expanding the requirement for gun-sale background checks.

A deal, given a good chance by several participants and lobbyists, could add formidable political momentum to one of the key elements of President Barack Obama's gun control plan. Currently, background checks are required only for sales by the nation's 55,000 federally licensed gun dealers, but not for gun show, person-to-person sales or other private transactions.

The senators' talks have included discussions about ways to encourage states to make more mental health records available to the national system and the types of transactions that might be exempted from background checks, such as sales among relatives or to those who have permits to carry concealed weapons, said people who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to describe the negotiations publicly.

The private discussions involve liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is the No. 3 Senate Democratic leader; West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, an NRA member and one of the chamber's more moderate Democrats; Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., another NRA member and one of the more conservative lawmakers in Congress; and moderate GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

"It will not limit your ability to borrow your Uncle Willie's hunting rifle or share a gun with your friend at a shooting range," Schumer said last week in one of the senators' few public remarks about the package the group is seeking. He said he believed a bipartisan deal could be reached.

Polls show that requiring background checks for nearly all gun purchases has more public support than Obama's proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and it is among those given the best chance of enactment. Even so, it is opposed by the NRA and many congressional Republicans, who consider it intrusive and unworkable for a system they say already has flaws.

"My problem with background checks is you're never going to get criminals to go through background checks," Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, told the Senate Judiciary Committee at its gun control hearing last week.

An agreement among the four senators could help overcome that opposition by opening the door to support from other conservative Republicans besides Coburn. It also could make it easier to win backing from Democratic senators from GOP-leaning states, many of whom face re-election next year and who have been leery of embracing Obama's proposals.

Schumer and Kirk each have "F'' scores from the NRA, while Coburn and Manchin have "A'' ratings.

Prompted by the December massacre of 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn., the Democratic-led Judiciary Committee plans to write gun control legislation in the next few weeks. The committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has expressed strong support for universal background checks and it is expected to be a cornerstone of his bill, but a version of that language with bipartisan support could give the entire package a boost.

"If the language is meaningful, it would be obviously a huge step," said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which represents child welfare, religious and other groups favoring gun curbs. "To have someone like Coburn, who's voted consistently with the gun lobby, to come out and endorse a meaningful background check would be very helpful."

It is likely that any gun-control bill will need 60 votes to pass the 100-member Senate. Democrats have 55 votes, including two Democratic-leaning independents.

Leaders of the GOP-run House are planning to see what, if anything, the Senate passes before moving on gun legislation. Strategists believe that a measure that passes the Senate with clear bipartisan support could pressure the House to act.

Federal data on gun purchases is gathered by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is run by the FBI.

According to Justice Department estimates, the federal and state governments ran 108 million background checks of firearms sales between 1994 when the requirement became law and 2009. Of those, 1.9 million almost 2 percent were denied, usually because would-be purchasers had criminal records.

People legally judged to be "mentally defective" are among those blocked by federal law from firearms purchases. States are supposed to make mental health records available to the federal background check system and receive more generous Justice Department grants if they do, but many provide little or no such data because of privacy concerns or antiquated record-keeping systems.

Coburn got involved in the background check talks about two weeks ago and says a compromise could make it harder for dangerous people to acquire firearms.

"The whole goal is to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and criminals," he said in a brief interview.

Manchin could be particularly influential with Democrats like Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who face re-election next year in deeply Republican states. Besides being an NRA member, Manchin ran a campaign ad in 2010 in which he promised to defend West Virginian's Second Amendment rights to bear arms and "take on" the Obama administration all while shooting a hole in a copy of a Democratic bill that would have clamped limits on greenhouse gases another sore spot for a coal-mining state like West Virginia.

In an interview, Manchin said that besides hoping for a background check compromise, he wanted inclusion of a commission that would study "how our culture has gotten so desensitized toward violence."

Participating senators declined to provide details of the talks. But people following the discussions say the talks have touched on:

The types of family relatives who would be allowed to give guns to each other without a background check.

Possibly exempting sales in remote areas.

Whether to help some veterans who sought treatment for traumatic stress disorder now often barred from getting firearms become eligible to do so.

An NRA spokesman, Andrew Arulanandam, declined to comment on the senators' discussions.

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HONOLULU (AP) Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler plans to attend a legislative hearing in Hawaii on Friday on a bill that bears his name and would limit people's freedom to take photos and video of celebrities.

Hawaii's Senate Judiciary Committee plans to consider the so-called Steven Tyler Act on Friday morning, the first time lawmakers will discuss the bill publicly.

A publicist for the former "American Idol" judge told The Associated Press on Thursday that Tyler submitted written testimony supporting the proposal, which would allow people to collect damages from someone who photographs them in an offensive way during their personal or family time.

More than a dozen celebrities have submitted testimony supporting the bill, including Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Neil Diamond, Tommy Lee and the Osborne family. The letters all included the same text.

The stars say paparazzi have made simple activities like cooking with family and sunbathing elusive luxuries and the bill would give them peace of mind.

"Providing a remedy to the often-egregious acts of the paparazzi is a very notable incentive to purchase property or vacation on the islands," the stars said. "Not only would this help the local economy, but it would also help ensure the safety of the general public, which can be threatened by crowds of cameramen or dangerous high-speed car chases."

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie says he supports the intent of the bill but says it may need to be refined. He says the state attorney general will testify about legal concerns concerning the bill's language.

Sen. Kalani English, from Maui, says he introduced the bill at the request of Tyler, who owns a multimillion-dollar home in Maui. More than two-thirds of the state's senators have co-sponsored the bill.

English says the bill will spur celebrity tourism to the islands, boosting Hawaii's economy.

Opponents say the bill could be unconstitutional.

Laurie Temple, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Thursday the bill would punish freedoms of expression protected by the First Amendment.

She said lawmakers should support better enforcement of current stalking laws rather than passing new legislation.

The National Press Photographers Association said the bill is "well-meaning but ill-conceived" and tramples on constitutional rights.

The New York-based organization represents numerous national media organizations with its letter, including the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press Media Editors and the American Society of News Editors.

The Motion Picture Association of America also opposes the bill.

Among other objections, the association says the bill could make it harder to police movie piracy, because there's no exemption for law enforcement who might want to take photos or video of people they're investigating.

The bill would open up photographers, videographers and distributors to civil lawsuits if they take, sell or disseminate photos or videos of someone during private or family moments "in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person."

The bill doesn't specify whether public places, like Hawaii's beaches, would be exempt. The bill says it would apply to people who take photos from boats or anywhere else within ocean waters.

English says the bill is not intended to limit beach photos. But he says Tyler has had paparazzi hide in his bushes to take photos of him inside his house.

Photos of vacationing stars in swimsuits have long been a fixture in tabloids and celebrity magazines.

The state's largest newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, published an editorial Thursday that called lawmakers who support the bill "star-struck."

The newspaper said the bill might not affect only journalists.

"It could also make lawbreakers out of anyone taking photographs in public places, be it an ordinary photojournalist or someone with a camera phone," the editorial said.

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Anita Hofschneider can be reached at http://twitter.com/ahofschneider .

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old boy on Thursday with making a false emergency call that sent police swarming to the home of actor Ashton Kutcher in a "swatting" prank.

The name of the boy, who was arrested by Los Angeles police in December, was withheld due to his age. He was scheduled to be arraigned in a juvenile court in Los Angeles on Friday.

The trend toward placing false emergency calls is known as "swatting" because SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers often are sent to the purported crime scenes. Authorities say such situations can be dangerous due to the risk of a misunderstanding between police and occupants of a building.

The boy has been charged with two felony counts each of making false bomb threats and computer intrusion in connection with the October 3 emergency call that drew police to the Hollywood Hills home of Kutcher, star of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men," and a similar call on October 10 that sent police to a Wells Fargo Bank.

Authorities have accused the boy of having reported men armed with guns and explosives in Kutcher's home and that several people had been shot. Dozens of emergency personnel were sent to the house. Kutcher was not home at the time.

Swatting calls in recent months have also sent police to the homes of singers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill Trott)

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an avid hockey fan, has juggled running the Canadian government with 15-minute daily writing sessions to finish a book on the history of ice hockey.

His publisher said Thursday that the book, still untitled, about Canada's most popular sport will appear in bookstores in November. It draws on archives, early hockey histories and old newspapers to paint a picture of hockey at the turn of the 20th century, publisher Simon & Schuster said.

Harper, who worked on the book in 15-minute bursts most evenings and is an avid hockey fan, said he had enjoyed conducting the research on hockey, which is Canada's most popular sport.

"The early days of professional hockey featured outsized personalities who fought pitched battles to shape the game we know and love today," he said in a statement from the publisher.

"Writing this book has taught me a lot about hockey and a great deal more about Canada. I hope all who read the book enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the experience of writing it."

According to media reports, Harper is not using a ghost writer and has been studiously researching his subject. He is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research.

While Harper has had tried not to show favoritism for any one team, he has admitted his first love is the Toronto Maple Leafs, which last won the Stanley Cup in 1967.

Harper's royalties will go to the Military Families Fund, which provides emergency help for military families.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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