LONDON – Britain’s Prince Harry is returning to the United States — but this time he’s skipping Las Vegas.

The 28-year-old prince will travel to the East Coast as well as Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo., to support veterans’ charities and get in a bit of polo.

Harry, a longtime supporter of charities that rehabilitate war veterans, will attend several events at the 2013 Warrior Games, a competition in which veteran athletes from both Britain and the United States take part.

“Prince Harry wants to highlight once again the extraordinary commitment and sacrifice of our injured servicemen and women,” said Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Harry’s private secretary.

Harry recently spent 20 weeks in Afghanistan as co-pilot gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.

His May 9-15 visit will include trips to Arlington National Cemetery, Walter Reed National Medical Center and an exhibition on Capitol Hill about land mine clearance, a favorite subject of his late mother, Princess Diana. He will also visit areas in New Jersey hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.

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Harry will also play in the Sentebale Polo Cup in Greenwich, Conn. Sentebale — which means “forget-me-not” — is a charity founded by Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso that helps children struggling with poverty in the tiny southern African country.

On his last U.S. visit, the third-in-line to the British throne stormed into the headlines last year when he was photographed in the nude with a woman after an alleged game of strip billiards in his Las Vegas hotel room.

WWE joins in Superstorm Sandy relief efforts

NEW YORK – WWE is joining with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes to launch Superstars for Sandy Relief.

Fans can bid on hundreds of items in an online auction, including attending a NASCAR race with WWE superstar John Cena, meeting Tyra Banks on the set of “America’s Next Top Model,” or pitching entrepreneurial ideas to Mark Cuban.

The auction begins Monday and closes April 9 on charitybuzz.com.

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Paul Levesque, executive vice president of talent and live events, says he can’t think of a better way to celebrate WWE’s annual WrestleMania event than using the group’s global reach to assist those in need. Wrestlemania will be held April 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“It’s like a homecoming for us, and since there’s still a lot of devastation, we felt the best thing we could do is reach out to not only our own superstars but to our celebrity contacts and our sports contacts. There’s a lot of people that are fans of the WWE in those worlds,” Levesque said.

“Our chairman, Vince McMahon, has a saying that everybody in this company … their job at the end of the day is to put smiles on people’s faces,” he said. “It sounds corny and cliche, but it really is how we operate here.”

The sports entertainment company is based in Stamford, Conn. The storm left millions of people without heat or electricity for weeks in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Legion leader says he accepts CBS apology

NEW YORK – The national commander of the American Legion says he accepts CBS’ apology for a passage on “The Amazing Race” in which contestants visited the wreckage of an American B-52 bomber in Vietnam.

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The segment aired March 17 and angered many veterans, particularly those who served in the Vietnam War. As part of its scavenger hunt game, contestants on the show had to visit the site in Hanoi, which Vietnamese authorities turned into a memorial.

Before Sunday’s edition of “The Amazing Race,” host Phil Keoghan read a statement apologizing to veterans and families who may have been offended.

Jolie meeting women in Congo

GOMA, Congo – Angelina Jolie is meeting with women and girls in eastern Congo, where sexual violence is rampant.

Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, traveled to the Nzulo camp near Goma on Monday.

The International Rescue Committee says it’s provided care to more than 2,500 women and girls who have been raped or abused over the last year alone. Sexual violence is frequently used as a weapon by warring groups that operate in eastern Congo.

— From news service reports

 


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