Celebrity Philanthropy

Angelina Jolie traveled to London to attend the G8 summit today. She held a Salvatore Ferragamo handbag as she met with Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague on the steps of Lancaster House before heading to the conference. Angie and William are hardly strangers — the two teamed up for a philanthropic trip to Africa to raise awareness about sexual violence in war zones back in March.

Angelina continued her campaign against rape at the G8 summit, where she addressed a crowd of world leaders about wartime sexual assault victims. She said, "I have heard survivors of rape from Bosnia to [the Congo] s ay that the world simply does not care about them. But today I believe that their voices have been heard, and that we finally have some hope to offer them." Angelina has been keeping busy over the past few weeks with a host of charitable events. She attended the Women in the World Summit last week to introduce a video made by Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai. She also pledged to donate $200,000 to the Malala Fund, a new charity that aims to encourage girls' education.

Angelina Jolie showed her support for Malala Yousafzai at the Women in the World Summit, organized by Newsweek/The Daily Beast, in NYC last night. She wore a Saint Laurent maxi dress and coat as she introduced a video message from the Pakistani schoolgirl who got international attention after she was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education. Angie said, "Here's what the gunman and the Taliban accomplished on that day. They shot her at point-blank range in the head — and made her stronger." Angelina has also donated $200,000 to the Malala Fund, a new charity set up by Vital Voices to encourage girls' education. Other stars who attended the Women in the World Summit included America Ferrera, Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, and Meryl Streep.

Angelina has been busy with philanthropic work over the past few weeks. She recently traveled to Africa with Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise awareness about rape in war zones.

Ian Somerhalder lent his name to a charitable cause last night at the Natural Resources Defense Council's Game Changer Awards in NYC. Ian, who showed up in a suit to walk the red carpet at the ceremony, has long been involved with environmental causes. In fact, before attending the event at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Ian stopped by POPSUGAR's NYC offices to talk about his latest efforts. Ian's partnered with LED company Cree, which is developing lightbulbs that he says use 84 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs. We also chatted with Ian about the future of The Vampire Diaries — stay tuned for our full interview!

While Ian tended to a packed schedule on the East Coast, his girlfriend, Nina Dobrev, stayed busy on the West Coast. On Wednesday, she attended a luncheon celebrating The Hollywood Reporter's list of top 25 stylists, which included her own stylist, Ilaria Urbinati.

Salma Hayek was in Long Beach, CA, yesterday to officially launch Chime For Change, a new charity initiative devised by Salma, Beyoncé Knowles, and Gucci, at a TEDxWomen event. Salma's husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, is the CEO of French luxury company PPR, which owns Gucci, and as such, is the driving force behind the project, which aims to raise funds and awareness to support projects by women around the world. Beyoncé was not able to attend yesterday, but Salma nonetheless posed for photos with other guests, including Jada Pinkett Smith.

Salma took the stage to speak about the project and introduce a short film that featured Beyoncé. In a press release announcing the endeavor, Beyoncé spoke about what Chime For Change means to her. She said, "I have always felt strongly about equal opportunity for women. Girls have to be taught from early on that they are strong and capable of being anything they want to be. It's up to us to change the statistics for women around the world. I'm honored to be in the company of women who live fearlessly and set an example for the next generation of young ladies."

Prince Harry got in the charitable spirit when he traveled to Lesotho in Africa to do work for his Sentebale charity today. He visited the Kananelo Center for the Deaf, where the prince attempted to learn sign language from students. After struggling with a few phrases, Harry reportedly quipped to Lesotho's Prince Seeiso, "I'm never going to get this right." Later, the two princes — who both founded the Sentebale charity in honor of their late mothers — visited St. Bernadette's School for the Blind, where Harry was greeted with a song sung in the Sesotho language. Harry will also visit South Africa during his humanitarian trip, where he will be the guest of honor at a fundraising dinner for his AIDS charity.

Harry's African journey comes just a week after he was spotted snuggling with new girlfriend Cressida Bonas during a family skiing trip in Verbier, Switzerland. Harry and Cressida joined Sarah, Duchess of York, and his cousin Eugenie for his uncle Prince Albert's birthday in the tony Swiss town. Harry will reportedly stay on in Africa a few days following his charity trip to attend a wedding with Cressida's family. Cressida's half-sister Isabella, who was once Prince William's object of affection, is marrying Sir Richard Branson's son in South Africa in two weeks. Cressida is Harry's first serious girlfriend since he split with longtime love Chelsy Davy back in 2011.

Ben Affleck appeared in Washington DC today to testify in front of the House Armed Services Committee. He later met up with Sen. John Kerry and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Ben's shining his star status on the humanitarian efforts taking place in the Congo and is pushing for increased support from the US in the region. Coincidentally, Ben's name's been swirling in political circles with rumors suggesting he could be among the contenders in the race to fill Senator John Kerry's seat, should it open up in the near future.

Ben's wrapping up a busy year during which he starred in and directed Argo, and we'll soon find out if he can add another Oscar nomination to his résumé when Academy Award nominations are announced Jan. 10. Ben dropped out of Focus with Kristen Stewart, but he's already lining up more projects for the New Year, including the Terrence Malick film To the Wonder — watch the new To the Wonder trailer. First, though, Ben will celebrate a very special holiday season, as he and his family prep to celebrate Samuel's first Christmas.

Celebrities and rock stars joined up to help out with the 12/12/12 concert benefiting Hurricane Sandy victims in NYC last night. Katie Holmes, Kristen Stewart, and Blake Lively appeared at the event, which raised money for the Robin Hood Relief Fund. Blake donned a bright orange Isabel Marant dress, while Katie picked blue Tom Ford and Kristen wore a neon yellow Jonathan Simkhai getup.

Katie joined Jason Sudeikis to present a video called "Red Hook Rising," bringing attention to those affected in Brooklyn. Kristen, meanwhile, praised New Jerseyans and introduced Jon Bon Jovi. Blake spoke about Connecticut and brought out Chris Martin, who performed with Michael Stipe. Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, and many more musicians performed at the 12/12/12 concert. Paul McCartney gave a sensational performance when he joined up with the surviving members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, to perform a new song called "Cut Me Some Slack."

The concert was broadcast both on TV and for free in movie theaters in the tri-state area, so Sandy victims had a place to enjoy the music. Superstorm Sandy left many in New York and New Jersey homeless and without power after it drove through the area in late October.

Angelina Jolie visited Mafraq, Jordan today as part of a UNHCR special envoy. The actress visited a refugee camp in the region in September, and again this month, to shine awareness back on the area during this time of civil unrest. Angelina takes her UNHCR responsibilities extremely seriously, and she could be planning to focus more on her philanthropic duties with rumors that she may give up her big-screen career. Angelina said she's considering retiring from acting, mainly to keep an eye on her kids as they approach their teens. The Jolie-Pitt brood have had another exciting year and they're among our favorite celebrity families of 2012 — who tops your list of famous flocks?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time when women around the globe get together to stand up for the cause. A-listers like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Miley Cyrus have taken the stage too, putting on their sneakers for charity walks or partying in pink.

You can get involved, too, whether it's cooking for the cause or by informing yourself and your loved ones about ways to prevent the disease. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, click through the pics of top celebs showing their support.

Jennifer Garner made an appearance in Washington DC today. She arrived at the Russell Senate Building for a press conference announcing "America's Report Card 2012: Children in the US." This isn't Jen's first time speaking in the capital — she's previously lent her voice to children's organizations like Save the Children and K2KUSA there.

While Jen's off promoting early childhood programs, her husband, Ben Affleck, has been in NYC promoting Argo. Ben's latest directing effort hits theaters Friday, and he's been busy doing press, even talking about family and his admiration for Jen. Ben told The Hollywood Reporter that Jennifer "truly is kind. She means no one any harm. She doesn't have ill will for any person. She's not competitive with other people. She's not spiteful." Jen may not be competitive, but she will have a friendly faceoff at the box office this weekend when Argo goes head to head against her Butter.