News Brief

TMZ: Former ANOTHER WORLD star Lindsay Lohan distraught over Heath Ledger's death.

Towleroad: In an effort to generate discussion about AIDS prevention and reach gay men online, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is producing 12 "webisodes" focusing on the sex lives of a group of gay men in West Hollywood. Each is five minutes in length and is intended to stimulate discussion, via an online forum where viewers can comment on various issues raised by each episode of the online mini-soap opera. The first "webisode" called "So Many Choices" depicts situations related to hooking up online, heavy drinking, and unsafe sex.

Soap Opera Weekly: Behind the Scenes at ONE LIFE TO LIVE's "Go Red" Ball.

PGP Blog: A preview of this Friday's episode of AS THE WORLD TURNS.

Marlena De LaCroix: Marcie Surrenders Her Son on ONE LIFE TO LIVE: A Rare Soap Opera Grand Slam.

Click 2 Houston: Broadway actress and television star Renee Elise Goldsberry from ONE LIFE TO LIVE, The Color Purple, and All About You joined Marlayna Syms of The Lion King and Smokey Joe's Cafe to promote the importance of mentoring and its impact on their careers in Houston, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Tuesday. Syms and Goldsberry were both mentored and inspired by people who made differences in their lives and impacted their careers. Now, they are returning the favor.

Associated Press: The makers of a racy Thai soap opera about airline crews apologized Tuesday for offending real-life flight attendants, who had complained that its scenes of sexual hijinx sullied their reputations. The Exact Company Ltd., producers of the THE AIR HOSTESS WAR, said at a news conference that they were sorry if they had offended anyone, and would tame some of the show's racier elements. "The Air Hostess War" follows the sexual shenanigans of a dashing married pilot and features love triangles, fights in the plane aisles and trysts on stopovers in exotic locations. I'm sorry that our soap opera has caused such a fuss. I would like to say that we don't have any intention of causing trouble. We just want to entertain our viewers," said the show's director, Nipon Pewnen.

High Tech Lounge: Rajshri Productions plans on launching a 90-episode soap opera on mobile phones with the first episode getting released near the end of January 2008. The concept of watching television on a cell phone isn't exactly new -- the Koreans and Japanese have been taking advantage of that functionality for some time -- but the difference is that this is not being done over 1Seg. The episodes will be streamed and/or downloaded over the cellular network, feeding a need to satisfy short attention spans. Each episode is only three minutes long.

Soap Opera Digest: Playtime with GUIDING LIGHT star Tom Pelphrey.

Press Association: Fans of BBC One flagship soap EASTENDERS were devastated to learn hunky actor Rob Kazinsky was jumping ship. Now there's another blow, with the revelation Mohammed George (Gus Smith) will also wave goodbye to Albert Square at the end of this year. Both he and Kazinsky, who plays bad boy Sean Slater, are popular with the viewing public. Robert said: "If I had done everything I wanted to do as an actor before I joined, I would have wanted to stay forever. "It's such a wonderful place to work and it's become like a second home to me. I'll be sad to go."