Jolie hugged and played with adopted son
Actress Angelina Jolie hugged and spoke a few words in Vietnamese to comfort the crying boy she is adopting to live with her family in America, newspapers reported yesterday.
Reports said the almost three-and-a-half-year-old boy, renamed Pax Thien Jolie, cried when he first saw his adoptive mother at the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage where he has lived since infancy.
Ms Jolie was quick to hug him and told him in Vietnamese "Khong sao dau, khong sao dau" (No problem, no problem) and immediately started playing with him, Lao Dong newspaper reported.
Oscar-winning actress Ms Jolie kept out of public view after receiving the Vietnamese boy, but her photograph was on front pages of several of yesterday's newspapers, which are all state-run in communist-ruled Vietnam.
The boy's caregiver said his favourite dishes included fried noodle and yoghurt and that he can count from one to 10 in English, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
Ms Jolie fetched the boy from the orphanage on Thursday and signed adoption papers with authorities in the southern city, which is Vietnam's largest urban area with eight million people.
The adoption will be final once US embassy officials in Hanoi approve the paperwork for the child to travel to the United States, Vietnamese officials said.
Reporters, photographers and TV crews outside the hotel where Ms Jolie was staying have not seen her since a car took her from the government building where she signed adoption papers on Thursday.
Ms Jolie, 31, has two adopted children and a biological daughter with partner actor Brad Pitt.
She flew into Ho Chi Minh City by chartered plane on Wednesday night from Japan. Her son Maddox and daughters Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel accompanied her.
Ms Jolie visited Vietnam in November and filed papers in early March through an unidentified US adoption agency without Mr Pitt because under the law in Vietnam an unmarried couple cannot adopt a child, while a single person can.
Adoptive parents of Vietnamese look beyond celebrity
When Vietnam speeded Angelina Jolie's adoption of a three-year-old boy, many less privileged parents who've been through the same process rejoiced for the child.
Competition to adopt Vietnamese children is fierce with adoption agencies of 60 nationalities represented in the poor, communist-run Southeast Asian country of 84 million people.
While some people complained at the preferential treatment given to Ms Jolie, several parents said the boy's welfare was the most important issue.
"The real concern should be the future of the child, not who the parents are," said one French single mother who adopted her son from Vietnam in 1994.
"Is it a crime to give money to an orphanage? Could we forget the fame and just think of the child?" she asked.
Senior officials said the adoption was put on a fast track, partly due to Ms Jolie's celebrity status and the age of the child, who was abandoned at birth.
Some Vietnamese involved in adoption said Ms Jolie made a donation to the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage where she adopted the boy on Thursday, although no one is saying how much. Less wealthy people have also done the same.
Many adoptive parents are moved to donate toward humanitarian causes such as the care of people disabled by chemicals or unexploded ordnance from the US war in Vietnam that ended 32 years ago when the communists unified the country.
The actress adopted the boy, her fourth child, just over than a year after the first licences were issued to US agencies under a new adoption agreement signed in July 2005.
Ms Jolie and pop star Madonna, who is in the process of adopting a baby boy from Malawi who currently lives with her in London, have been criticised for using their celebrity status to bypass laws. But this puzzles many parents.
"Whatever is going on in the Jolie-Pitt family is none of your business," one blogger, identified as Sandra Hanks Benoiton wrote on http://international.adoptionblogs.com
Psychotherapist Beth Dobrish and her husband Jeremy of Maplewood, New Jersey, in the United States adopted a baby girl from Vietnam last year and found the process complex.
Ms Dobrish said that international adoption is "very problematic in many ways, with a lot of people doing their best.
"I like to believe Angelina and Madonna are doing the same. I don't find their actions any greater or worse than any average person adopting," she said.
Others say the state-run system is corrupt because of a multi-layered process that involves agencies, central government, provincial government, police and orphanages.
Most Vietnamese adoptions are by French citizens, but the number of US citizens adopting is expected to increase.
There were 1,200 international adoptions in 2005 and 1,500 last year, according to government figures. The government said it wants to increase the number to about 1,800 this year.
Outside the justice department building where Ms Jolie signed adoption papers on Thursday, a Vietnamese mother, Nguyen Thi Thuong, 39, had high hopes for the boy's future.
"It is lucky for him. It's wonderful to be adopted by someone really famous. You can have a good life," she said.
Tarantino, Rodriguez receive ShoWest honour
Film-makers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were honoured with the Directors of the Year title at annual ShoWest film industry convention in Las Vegas onThursday night.
The duo, who each directed half of upcoming horror Grindhouse, were presented with the award at the closing ceremony of the five-day festival.
Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst also received the accolade for Female Star of the Year at the Las Vegas convention.
Blanchett on crusade to Indy 4
Cate Blanchett is in negotiations to star in the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones adventures.
Harrison Ford already has boarded the project, which will be produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Steven Spielberg.
With David Koepp's screenplay shrouded in secrecy, it is unclear what character Ms Blanchett will play. However, sources said the Oscar-winning actress has landed a starring role.
Shooting will begin in June in Los Angeles and at undisclosed locations around the world. Paramount Pictures will release "Indy 4" in most of the world on May 22, 2008.
Ms Blanchett, who is filming David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, next will lend her voice to Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr Fox. In addition to her Academy Award win for The Aviator, she received a supporting nomination this year for her role in Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal.
Aguilera blows them away
Dressed from head to toe in a smart white suit and fedora, Christina Aguilera brought a sense of elegance to the Calgary Saddledome on Thursday night.
Actress Angelina Jolie hugged and spoke a few words in Vietnamese to comfort the crying boy she is adopting to live with her family in America, newspapers reported yesterday.Reports said the almost three-and-a-half-year-old boy, renamed Pax Thien Jolie, cried when he first saw his adoptive mother at the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage where he has lived since infancy.
Ms Jolie was quick to hug him and told him in Vietnamese "Khong sao dau, khong sao dau" (No problem, no problem) and immediately started playing with him, Lao Dong newspaper reported.
Oscar-winning actress Ms Jolie kept out of public view after receiving the Vietnamese boy, but her photograph was on front pages of several of yesterday's newspapers, which are all state-run in communist-ruled Vietnam.
The boy's caregiver said his favourite dishes included fried noodle and yoghurt and that he can count from one to 10 in English, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
Ms Jolie fetched the boy from the orphanage on Thursday and signed adoption papers with authorities in the southern city, which is Vietnam's largest urban area with eight million people.
The adoption will be final once US embassy officials in Hanoi approve the paperwork for the child to travel to the United States, Vietnamese officials said.
Reporters, photographers and TV crews outside the hotel where Ms Jolie was staying have not seen her since a car took her from the government building where she signed adoption papers on Thursday.
Ms Jolie, 31, has two adopted children and a biological daughter with partner actor Brad Pitt.
She flew into Ho Chi Minh City by chartered plane on Wednesday night from Japan. Her son Maddox and daughters Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel accompanied her.
Ms Jolie visited Vietnam in November and filed papers in early March through an unidentified US adoption agency without Mr Pitt because under the law in Vietnam an unmarried couple cannot adopt a child, while a single person can.
Adoptive parents of Vietnamese look beyond celebrity
When Vietnam speeded Angelina Jolie's adoption of a three-year-old boy, many less privileged parents who've been through the same process rejoiced for the child.
Competition to adopt Vietnamese children is fierce with adoption agencies of 60 nationalities represented in the poor, communist-run Southeast Asian country of 84 million people.
While some people complained at the preferential treatment given to Ms Jolie, several parents said the boy's welfare was the most important issue.
"The real concern should be the future of the child, not who the parents are," said one French single mother who adopted her son from Vietnam in 1994.
"Is it a crime to give money to an orphanage? Could we forget the fame and just think of the child?" she asked.
Senior officials said the adoption was put on a fast track, partly due to Ms Jolie's celebrity status and the age of the child, who was abandoned at birth.
Some Vietnamese involved in adoption said Ms Jolie made a donation to the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage where she adopted the boy on Thursday, although no one is saying how much. Less wealthy people have also done the same.
Many adoptive parents are moved to donate toward humanitarian causes such as the care of people disabled by chemicals or unexploded ordnance from the US war in Vietnam that ended 32 years ago when the communists unified the country.
The actress adopted the boy, her fourth child, just over than a year after the first licences were issued to US agencies under a new adoption agreement signed in July 2005.
Ms Jolie and pop star Madonna, who is in the process of adopting a baby boy from Malawi who currently lives with her in London, have been criticised for using their celebrity status to bypass laws. But this puzzles many parents.
"Whatever is going on in the Jolie-Pitt family is none of your business," one blogger, identified as Sandra Hanks Benoiton wrote on http://international.adoptionblogs.com
Psychotherapist Beth Dobrish and her husband Jeremy of Maplewood, New Jersey, in the United States adopted a baby girl from Vietnam last year and found the process complex.
Ms Dobrish said that international adoption is "very problematic in many ways, with a lot of people doing their best.
"I like to believe Angelina and Madonna are doing the same. I don't find their actions any greater or worse than any average person adopting," she said.
Others say the state-run system is corrupt because of a multi-layered process that involves agencies, central government, provincial government, police and orphanages.
Most Vietnamese adoptions are by French citizens, but the number of US citizens adopting is expected to increase.
There were 1,200 international adoptions in 2005 and 1,500 last year, according to government figures. The government said it wants to increase the number to about 1,800 this year.
Outside the justice department building where Ms Jolie signed adoption papers on Thursday, a Vietnamese mother, Nguyen Thi Thuong, 39, had high hopes for the boy's future.
"It is lucky for him. It's wonderful to be adopted by someone really famous. You can have a good life," she said.
Tarantino, Rodriguez receive ShoWest honour
Film-makers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were honoured with the Directors of the Year title at annual ShoWest film industry convention in Las Vegas onThursday night.The duo, who each directed half of upcoming horror Grindhouse, were presented with the award at the closing ceremony of the five-day festival.
Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst also received the accolade for Female Star of the Year at the Las Vegas convention.
Blanchett on crusade to Indy 4
Cate Blanchett is in negotiations to star in the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones adventures.
Harrison Ford already has boarded the project, which will be produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Steven Spielberg.
With David Koepp's screenplay shrouded in secrecy, it is unclear what character Ms Blanchett will play. However, sources said the Oscar-winning actress has landed a starring role.
Shooting will begin in June in Los Angeles and at undisclosed locations around the world. Paramount Pictures will release "Indy 4" in most of the world on May 22, 2008.
Ms Blanchett, who is filming David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, next will lend her voice to Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr Fox. In addition to her Academy Award win for The Aviator, she received a supporting nomination this year for her role in Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal.
Aguilera blows them away
Dressed from head to toe in a smart white suit and fedora, Christina Aguilera brought a sense of elegance to the Calgary Saddledome on Thursday night.