By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Friday, April 27, 2007

Here was the challenge for Angelina Jolie in Washington yesterday: trying her darnedest not to make an event be all about her, when it almost can't not be about her, just by virtue of her being there.

The event: a news conference calling for the United States to more than quadruple its foreign aid for orphans and early-childhood education, to an annual $3.2 billion. "We must invest in these children now," said Jennifer Delaney, executive director of Global Action for Children.

But the cameras stayed trained on the Oscar winner, clicking sch-sch-sch every time she shuffled her papers or even glanced at a fellow speaker, which may be why she mostly kept her eyes modestly downcast, not that the sch-sch-sch ever really stopped.

It was billed as a "formal launch" of D.C.-based Global Action, founded back in 2003. What's changed since then is the fact (oddly unmentioned yesterday) that Jolie, the glamorous face of global adoption, gave the nonprofit $1 million last fall and a new level of visibility that attracted other perks, like the pro bono services of lobbying giant Quinn Gillespie and the ability to attract 50 reporters to a news conference about foreign aid.

Jolie flew in Wednesday with 11-month-old Shiloh (presumably back at the hotel), and lunched yesterday at the State Department with Karen Hughes and USAID director Randall Tobias. She wore a gray suit jacket and skirt and a black headband. She flew out after the news conference to dine with foreign-policy types in NYC and attend tonight's premiere of a documentary she directed.

She was the event's last speaker. "I am no policy expert, as you all know, and I'm not going to speak as one," she said. "I am asking you to think of orphan children not as a burden . . . but as investing in a future. . . . Orphaned children are the world's children."

Reporters were told to limit their questions to the topic at hand, i.e., no Hollywood, none of the personal life stuff that so compels. Wiggle room: Would it help if more people adopted Third World orphans as she has? "The best solution for them is to be at home in their home country."

Had she considered she might be more effective getting her issues across if she became even more politically active -- say, by running for office? She broke into a throaty laugh: "I don't think anybody here wants that."

President Bush got a few putting tips from golf great Ben Crenshaw at last night's cozy dinner honoring Japanese Prime Minister (and golf nut) Shinzo Abe. The informal gathering in the White House residence also included Laura Bush, Akie Abe, Julie Crenshaw, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Tom Schieffer and his wife, Susanne, and Japan's ambassador to Washington, Ryozo Kato, and his wife, Hanayo.

Hugh Grant was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly attacked a photographer with . . . a tub of baked beans. Ian Whittaker was snapping pictures near Grant's London home when the 46-year-old actor allegedly kicked the photographer and then hurled the plastic container. He was released on bail; police said no charges have been filed.

A judge in India issued arrest warrants yesterday for Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty after saying their public kissing violated the country's strict public obscenity laws. The two actors were at an AIDS awareness rally in New Delhi last week when Gere swept Shetty into his arms and playfully nuzzled her cheek -- which prompted conservatives in several cities to burn effigies of Gere. His publicist had no comment; the actor, who would face up to three months in prison if convicted, left the country shortly after the incident.

Seller: Ethel Kennedy

Price: $12.5 million

Details: The asking price for Hickory Hill, the historic McLean estate of Robert F. Kennedy, has been slashed in half. Orginally listed in 2003 for $25 million, the property was dropped to $20 million and then $16.5 million with no offers -- despite the fact that previous owners included President John F. Kennedy and Civil War general George McClellan. "Provenance is only worth so much," one local broker told the New York Post. The family purchased the six-acre property (including a 10,500-square-foot house with 13 bedrooms, eight baths and a movie theater, plus pools and tennis courts) for $125,000 in 1957.