Hollywood star George Clooney has put pressure on an Olympic sponsor to speak out over China's foreign policy in Sudan.

Clooney promotes Omega Watches — one of the worldwide Olympic partners for the Beijing games.

“I have talked with Omega (about China) for over a year and will continue to talk to Omega,” Clooney was quoted as saying on the BBC Web site on Tuesday. “I have and will go to the places I and China do business and ask for help.”

Clooney has publicly spoken several times about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million people displaced in three years of fighting between African rebels and government troops allied with Arab militia known as janjaweed.

China is a major trading partner with Sudan, and Beijing has resisted United Nations attempts to force Sudan to accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.

The push to link the Beijing Games to the Darfur crisis gained wide attention last month when Hollywood director Steven Spielberg said he could not in good conscience serve as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies.

“I have and will continue to ask China to use its considerable leverage with the government of Sudan.”

Omega has been the official timekeeper for the Olympics since 1932 — including the boycotted games in 1980 and 1984. Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek, whose company owns Omega, said executives had discussed the issue with Clooney.

“We have full respect for his strong engagement in the fight for the good cause and share his opinion, especially concerning Darfur, and we are proud to work with a person who has such high ethical views,” Hayek was quoted as telling the BBC.

“It is our policy not to get involved in politics,” he was quoted as saying, because it would not serve the cause of sport, which he called one of the noblest human endeavors “for creating understanding and peace all over the world.”

Hayek said Omega would speak out on China's association with Sudan, but directly with high-level contacts rather than publicly.

“Of course, it is a continuous process but we do it the Swiss way of 'little strokes fell great oaks,”' Hayek said.

The winner of Country Music Television's “Gone Country” reality show was born in Madrid, Spain, and raised in Miami, but these days Julio Iglesias Jr. is spending a lot of time in Nashville.

Iglesias, the son of the well-known Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, lived with six other contestants — R&B singers Bobby Brown and Sisqo, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, “American Idol” finalist Diana DeGarmo, Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame and “The Brady Bunch” star Maureen McCormick — as they competed for a record deal.

The series, taped over 10 days in October at country star Barbara Mandrell's former home, concluded Friday on CMT with Iglesias proclaimed the winner.

“The whole experience was amazing, especially trying to lasso horses and clean out horse stalls at Gretchen Wilson's house,” Iglesias said of the show, which was hosted by John Rich of the duo Big & Rich.

His debut country single, “The Way I Want You,” is produced by Rich and expected to begin airing this week. Iglesias co-wrote the tune with Tammy Hyler and James Slater.

“I'm not sure where all of this will take me, but I really hope country radio likes this single as much as we enjoyed writing and recording it,” he said.

Iglesias, 35, has recorded two albums during his career, one in English and one in Spanish. He's also worked as a model and an actor and hosted a series on The Travel Channel.

“The thing I saw in Julio was passion,” Rich said. “Here's a guy who's had an incredibly diverse career in the public eye, but everything always comes back to music for him — it's who he is.”

Iglesias says he will continue writing with some of Nashville's top songwriters and will appear at upcoming country music events.

First-season “American Idol” finalist Nikki McKibbin says she was upfront with “Idol” producers about her stripping past seven years ago.

McKibbin, who came in third during the first season of the Fox singing competition, says she stripped for “five or six months” in Fort Worth, Texas. When asked on an “Idol” application if she had any professional dance experience, McKibbin says she wrote: “Yes — exotic.”

Current finalist David Hernandez made headlines last week when it was revealed he steadily worked as a stripper for three years, dancing nude for the “mostly male” clientele at Dick's Cabaret in Phoenix.

McKibbin's advice to Hernandez: Have “no regrets” about his past.

“He did what he did for a reason, whether he loved what he was doing or he needed the money,” said McKibbin.

The now-married mother of two is rebutting a report that she had a suicidal breakdown on Feb. 21 over her mother's death last August. McKibbin said the incident has been “blown out of proportion.”

“I broke my foot and had a bad reaction to pain medication,” McKibbin told The Associated Press on Monday.

McKibbin insists she was never suicidal.

Remy Ma went on trial for assault Monday, with a prosecutor claiming the rapper shot and almost killed a friend because she thought the woman had stolen money from her.

But a lawyer for the singer, whose real name is Remy Smith, said the July 14 shooting after a party was “a tragic accident.”

Smith, 26, is charged in Manhattan's state Supreme Court with first-degree assault and related charges in the shooting of Makeda Barnes Joseph, who was critically wounded.

Prosecutor Jason Berland said Smith, who accused Joseph of taking $2,000 from her purse, fired two .45-caliber slugs into Joseph's abdomen, then fled in a Cadillac Escalade and slammed into a parked car a few blocks away.

According to the prosecution, Smith abandoned her SUV and went to a friend's house without ever calling police or for medical help.

Defense lawyer Ivan Fisher said the victim's story about the shooting had changed since she testified before a grand jury. He said the two women had struggled over the gun and it went off accidentally. Fisher said Joseph's story changed when her lawyer was preparing to file a $20 million lawsuit against the rapper. The lawsuit has since been withdrawn.

Smith, who was nominated for a Grammy as part of the Terror Squad for the 2004 smash “Lean Back,” has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on $250,000 bail. The rapper, who also has appeared on recordings with Busta Rhymes and Eminem, could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Lisa Marie Presley has sued a British newspaper for alleging that she was piling on the pounds because of her unhealthy appetite, her lawyer said Monday.

Presley, who is pregnant, alleges in a suit filed at London's High Court on Friday that the story in Britain's Daily Mail was slanderous and degrading. The newspaper has since reported on the 40-year-old singer's pregnancy.

“Once they got a glimpse of my expanding physique a few days ago, they have been like a pack of coyotes circling their prey whilst eerily howling with delight,” she said on her blog.

The daughter of the late singer Elvis Presley claims the pictures taken at a Hollywood restaurant last week forced her to go public about the baby she is having with her fourth husband, music producer Michael Lockwood.

“It really upset her,” Presley's attorney Jo Paton told The Associated Press. “She was about to announce her pregnancy and was shocked and hurt by the unkind article about her appearance.”

Paton said Presley was seeking an apology and damages.

The Daily Mail said the first indication they had of Presley's complaint was when they were served with court documents.

“We are investigating the matter,” the newspaper said in a statement.

The child will be Presley's third.

She has an 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son from her first marriage to musician Danny Keough, which ended in 1994. She was briefly married to Michael Jackson and to actor Nicholas Cage.

She married Lockwood in January 2006.

Matt Damon's personal life is getting as action-packed as his movie roles.

The “Bourne” trilogy actor and wife Luciana, 32, are expecting their second child, Damon's representative, Jennifer Allen, said Monday.

“The couple is very excited,” Allen told the Associated Press.

She said she did not have further details, including a due date for the baby.

Damon, 37, met Luciana — who debuted her baby bump at Sunday's Empire Film Awards in London — while she was working as a bartender in Florida. They tied the knot in December 2005 in New York during a private ceremony attended by the bride's daughter, Alexa, then 7, from a previous marriage.

They later welcomed a daughter, Isabella, who was born in June 2006.

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