Jolie hugs and plays with adopted son

HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie hugged her newly adopted son and spoke a few words in Vietnamese to him as she sought to comfort the child ahead of their planned trip to America together, newspapers reported on Friday.

Reports said the child, almost 3 1/2 years old and renamed Pax Thien Jolie, cried when he saw his adoptive mother on Thursday at the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage where he has lived since infancy.

The Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper said Jolie was quick to embrace the child and told him in Vietnamese, "Khong sao dau, khong sao dau" (No problem, no problem) and immediately started playing with him.

A report in the city's Phap Luat (Law) newspaper said Jolie had apologised for the global media attention focussed on the boy.

"I would also like to say sorry because I have brought this into Pax's life," the paper, published by the city justice department, quoted her as saying.

It also quoted Jolie as saying she was taking a break from acting to help the child adjust to his new life.

The Oscar-winning actress kept out of public view after taking custody of the little boy, but her photograph was on the front pages of several of Friday's newspapers, which are all state-run in communist-ruled Vietnam.

PEACEFUL SKY

Lao Dong's headline read: "A peaceful Vietnam sky in Jolie's family." The name Pax Thien combines the Latin word for peace and the Vietnamese word for sky or heaven.