Nicky Hilton

Nicky Hilton prefers a simpler life. While Paris Hilton for President is looking for her new BFF on MTV’s new reality show, younger sister Nicky recently was out on the town in Miami, hosting the second night of the re-launch of nightclub Karu & Y in downtown Miami.

How did you get involved in this event?

“I was invited to come down and host it, and I’m a big fan of Miami. Haven’t been here in a while so it was the perfect opportunity.”

What do you like to do when you’re in Miami?

“I love the restaurants. The nightlife’s great. Shopping’s great, the beaches and the hotels. I love it all.”

Any favorite restaurants?

Famous Nick Nolte’s home

The “Tropic Thunder” star suffered smoke inhalation and minor abrasions in the fire, which was caused by an electrical problem, Inspector Sam Padilla, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said.

The fire caused $3 million in damage to the structure and contents of the house but the home was not destroyed, Inspector James Barnes of the fire department said. The flames were confined to the living room.

“Nick Nolte was there apparently with a water hose trying to extinguish the fire himself and of course we came to help him out,” Barnes said.

Nolte’s spokesman, Arnold Robinson, said in a statement the actor was “grateful” to firefighters and police “for their quick response and assistance.”

Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick returns to Broadway next spring, The Roundabout Theatre Company production,

directed by David Grindley, will open April 26, 2009, at the American Airlines Theatre,

Todd Haimes, the Roundabout’s artistic director, announced Monday. It will begin preview performances April 10.

Broderick, in his first Broadway appearance since the 2005 revival of “The Odd Couple,” portrays Philip, an insular college professor.

Other casting will be announced.

“The Philanthropist” had a 64-performance run on Broadway in 1971 in a production that featured Alec McCowen, Jane Asher and Victor Spinetti.

James Earl Jones to get SAG life achievement award

Actor James Earl Jones

The award, given annually to the actor who fosters the finest ideals of the acting profession, will be presented to Jones in January when the guild honors the year’s top acting achievements on television and film, SAG said on Thursday.

Jones’ voice is known around the world in roles such as Mufasa, the king in Disney’s “The Lion King”, and in numerous commercials.

He also has a long and distinguished career on Broadway in roles such as boxer Jack Johnson in

“The Great White Hope”, on screen in “Patriot Games” and “Cry the Beloved Country”, and on television, where he played Alex Hayley in “Roots:The Next Generation.”

Ironically, Jones, 77, spent his childhood as a virtual mute because of a severe stutter that he overcame only in high school.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg said Jones was an extraordinary actor whose long and quiet work off camera as an advocate for literacy and the arts “deserves our appreciation.”

Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir PutinRussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Thursday of sending weapons and military personnel to help Georgia during its war with Russia.

The accusation came as Russia announced a memorandum of understanding for handling natural gas sales to Ukraine after Putin met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is locked in a political fight with her nation’s pro-Western president, Viktor Yushchenko.

The timing of Russia’s statements underlined Moscow’s drive to increase its leverage in the neighboring former Soviet republic of Ukraine.

Without referring to Ukraine’s president by name, Putin suggested Yushchenko authorized weapons supplies to Georgia before and during Russia’s war there in August. He also alleged that Ukrainian military personnel fought on Georgia’s side during the conflict.

Salma Hayek in campaign to wipe out tetanus

Hayek, spokeswoman for the Pampers/UNICEF campaign against tetanus, went to Sierra Leone last week to take part in an vaccination drive against the disease.

For each specially-marked pack of Pampers diapers sold through year-end, Procter & Gamble has pledged to donate a vaccine. UNICEF hopes to wipe out the scourge, blamed for the deaths of 140,000 babies and 30,000 mothers each year, by 2012.

“I had no idea how much it was going to really personally move me … to actually see it in Sierra Leone,” Hayek told a news conference in Geneva.

Sierra Leone is among 50 countries where newborn babies and mothers die of tetanus, which has been eradicated in industrial countries, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Tetanus bacteria breed in soil and can infect babies at the moment of birth in unsanitary conditions, often through the umbilical cord. Death is swift and painful.

“You cannot protect a child at birth against tetanus unless you immunize the mother during the pregnancy or before,” said UNICEF expert Francois Gasse.