Reunions

After Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted and went missing for 18 years, Meghan Dorris, an elementary school classmate, went to college and traveled the world: Egypt, Costa Rica, Spain, Japan, Jordan. Two years ago, Dorris returned home. She remains close to high school friends, attends their weddings and keeps tabs on their growing families. "I just wonder what Jaycee would have done," Dorris, 28, said Sunday as she walked through town, a crisp breeze rustling aspens, sun sparkling on the cerulean lake.

While other children nearby were playing and laughing, 4-year-old Jaden Williams was quietly focused on one thought: "My daddy is coming home today," he said in a calm but resolute voice. Indeed, Marine Cpl. George Williams, 22, was among more than 170 Marines and sailors from the 1st Intelligence Battalion, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force who enjoyed their first day home Sunday after a seven-month deployment to Iraq.

There's "Something So Strong" about New Zealand rock band Crowded House after all: The group that disbanded a decade ago is re-forming for a new album and tour that will begin at this year's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Although most of the headlines regarding the latest Coachella talent lineup announced Monday focused on the one-night-only reunion of rock-rap group Rage Against the Machine, fans have been buzzing worldwide about the resurrection of Crowded House.

Give credit (or blame?) to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: David Lee Roth is back with Van Halen and planning to tour. The mercurial Roth, who officially left Van Halen on April Fool's Day in 1985, will reunite with his old band for a tour that kicks off in North Carolina in early May and includes June stops in L.A., Orange and San Diego counties, according to sources in the concert industry. Joining Roth will be guitar hero Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen.

SPECULATION about the imminent announcement of a reunion tour by the Police escalated Wednesday with word that members Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers will make "a special announcement ... to commemorate the band's 30th anniversary" on Monday at the Whisky in West Hollywood. The trio, which disbanded in 1986, will be fresh off its reunion performance Sunday night, one that's expected to be a musical high point of the Grammy Awards at Staples Center.

A familiar voice was piped into the Whisky on Monday, and the audience that crowded the West Hollywood club laughed out loud when they heard it: It was an excerpt of a dated interview with Sting, and the famously droll rock star was answering a question about the prospects of a reunion of his old band, the Police. "It would be cause for having me certified insane," the Brit said, an edge in his voice.

For Van Halen, the stars seemed aligned for a triumphant 2007. Next month, the group will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the plan was to follow that with a summer reunion tour that would feature David Lee Roth back at the mike for the first time since the Reagan years. But, once again, the backstage soap opera of Van Halen is the story of the day.

North and South Korea agreed today to resume reunions of families separated when the countries split more than 50 years ago. Families will get to speak by video link between the Koreas this month, with face-to-face meetings set for May, a South Korean official said. The North had been expected to agree at this week's talks to restart the reunions.

A mother said she hugged her 8-year-old daughter for the first time after a seven-year fight to get the child back from what was supposed to be temporary foster care. "I hug her very close and hard," Qin Luo He said after a court-ordered meeting in Memphis with daughter Anna Mae, now a second-grader. Qin Luo and husband Shaoqiang He were reunited with Anna Mae under orders from the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The Osmonds are reuniting this summer for a television special celebrating a half-century in the entertainment business. All seven Osmond siblings -- Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy -- are scheduled to be on stage Aug. 13 and 14 for the show being videotaped at the Orleans Hotel Showroom in Las Vegas, said publicist Kevin Sasaki. It will be broadcast on PBS stations in March. Jimmy Osmond said it will be the first time since the 1980s that the family has performed together.