808 Pureview, the 41-megapixel Nokia smartphone using Symbian, was among the new technology on show during the opening day of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Nokia 808 Pureview offers enhanced low-light performance as well as sophisticated image compression designed to help users share pictures.
Nokia hopes to regain ground lost to Google and Apple in the mobile market.
However, some have criticized Nokia’s decision to use its own operating system, Symbian, on the device.
Nokia’s other smartphones typically run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.
Symbian, which first appeared on Nokia phones in the 90’s, is widely regarded as inferior to the app and social media-driven Windows Phone system.
“The Pureview 808’s Symbian Belle operating system might detract from its appeal to a broader market, where it deserves recognition,” said Tony Cripps, a principal analyst with Ovum.
“It’s a pity that Nokia was unable to combine the photographic prowess of the PureView 808 with the style of the Lumia 900.
“Such a device may well have been the first smartphone to truly deserve the title of <<superphone>>.”
Nokia claims the 808 Pureview sets a “new industry standard” in mobile imaging devices.
“People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice-president of Nokia smart devices.
“But the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breathtaking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell.”
Nokia 808 Pureview offers enhanced low light performance as well as sophisticated image compression designed to help users share pictures
Also on show were new models in the company’s Lumia range – including the 610, a cheaper device aimed at a “younger audience”.
Nokia also announced it plans to make the Lumia available in China “in the coming months”.
Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop said that introducing the cameraphone and entry-level smartphone were “the actions necessary to improve the fortunes of Nokia”.
Once the mobile world’s dominant player, Nokia has struggled to compete as sales of Google and Apple devices have soared in recent years.
Last month Nokia announced it was to stop manufacturing mobile phones in Europe, instead relocating to Asia at a cost of 4,000 jobs.
Jessica Simpson stepped out in Beverly Hills, California, wearing a long dress with a pair of very high heels and showed no signs of slowing down despite preparing for the birth of her first child.
Heavily pregnant Jessica Simpson, 31, needed her assistant to carry their bags as she shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue for a few items before heading home.
Dressed in a long red dress Jessica Simpson wore a pair of brown peep-toe platform shoes as she strutted down the street.
The mother-to-be said last year that she has no intention of taking the weight off her feet and vowed to continue wearing high heeled shoes whenever she could.
Jessica Simpson stepped out in Beverly Hills with a pair of very high heels and showed no signs of slowing down despite preparing for the birth of her first child
Jessica Simpson joked to Us Weekly: “I’m probably going to deliver my baby in these [4-inch YSL heels].”
However, even with the dangerously high footwear, Jessica Simpson seemed comfortable as she continued handing her assistant her shopping bags.
Jessica Simpson is engaged to NFL player Eric Johnson and the pair is due to tie the knot later this year.
They are excited about welcoming their first child into the world, and are no doubt wondering when that exact day will be.
Costa Allegra, an Italian cruise ship owned by Costa Cruises, with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire.
The Costa Allegra is adrift in the dark more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles, near Alphonse Island.
The ship is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the Italian coast in January, killing 32.
Costa Cruises said in a statement that the fire broke out in the electric generators’ room. It did not spread and there were no injuries or casualties.
Inspections of the state of the engine room are on-going, the company says.
Tugs and “other naval and aerial units” will reach the ship, which has sent out a distress signal, Costa Cruises says.
Commander Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian coast guard said that it took the crew a few hours to extinguish the fire.
Costa Allegra, an Italian cruise ship owned by Costa Cruises, with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire
Although the ship is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there are “no problems for the passengers”.
However the ship probably needs to be towed to a Seychelles port, Cosimo Nicastro said.
There are no electric lights on board the ship as the batteries are being used to keep essential machinery going.
The Italian authorities have directed three merchant ships and two fishing vessels towards the stricken liner.
The authorities in the Seychelles say they have sent two tug boats, a coastguard ship and an aircraft to the scene.
The closest vessel to the ship is likely to reach the Costa Allegra at around 2300 GMT, according to AFP.
The first tug boat will not reach the location until 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, the agency reports.
There are 636 passengers and 413 crew on board the Costa Allegra, which left Madagascar on Saturday.
It was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday.
Further destinations on its itinerary include Alexandria and Naples in the Mediterranean.
Somali pirates are known to operate in the rough area where the ship is adrift, though they have never seized a cruise liner.
A facility on Costa Cruises’ website allowing people to track the Costa Allegra’s position says that “data transmission is temporarily suspended”.
Sean Young spent four hours in a police station after allegedly fighting with a security guard at the Governor’s Ball, the official Oscar party, last night.
Sean Young, 52, who hasn’t been in a major film since 2008, is said to have argued with a guard at the Governor’s Ball in Los Angeles.
The actress was placed under citizens’ arrest by another member of the security team then taken away by police and booked for battery.
And the divorced mother-of-two still appeared to be recovering from the partying as she gave a rambling interview after her release from custody.
Sean Young spent four hours in a police station after allegedly fighting with a security guard at the Governor’s Ball
Sean Young, who shot to fame in Blade Runner playing opposite Harrison Ford, has seen her career fade of late – to such an extent that she recently agreed to appear in the reality show Skating With The Stars.
Sadly her comeback did not last long as she was eliminated in the second show of the ABC series in November after falling onto the ice twice.
Sean Young was seen leaving a police station in Los Angeles at 1:45 a.m. on Monday and said the incident began as she was waiting to enter the party.
“I’m OK,” Sean Young told TMZ on being released from the police station.
“The Academy’s lawyer recommended that a private person’s arrest be made.
“I was standing outside the cord, waiting and seeing friends that were going up to the Governor’s Ball,” the actress told TMZ.
Sean Young said she was “carted off to spend four hours at the Hollywood police”, adding “shame on you (the Academy) for that”.
Los Angeles Police Sergeant Enrique Mendoza confirmed the arrest but wouldn’t give details about the incident or the alleged victim.
The Governor’s Ball is the official Oscar party and is held above the film award show’s venue, the Hollywood & Highland Theatre.
Sean Young posted bail of $20,000 early on Monday morning. An Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences spokesman did not immediately comment.
The incident is not her first issue at an Oscars after party. Sean Young tried to get into a Vanity Fair party by sneaking in behind Jennifer Aniston in 2006.
But she was escorted out by four guards when spotted by security.
Sean Young said of the incident in a recent interview: “It was degrading. But when you have nothing to lose, it’s really not that big of a deal.”
The actress shot to fame in 1982 in the sci-fi thriller Blade Runner. She then starred in hit films including No Way Out and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Sean Young, of Louisville, Kentucky, also had roles in TV shows including One Tree Hill and more recently daytime show The Young and the Restless.
She married Robert Lujan in 1990 before divorcing him 12 years later in 2002 – but they had two boys together, named Quinn and Rio.
One famous incident was in 1992 when Sean Young arrived at the Batman Returns set in a homemade Catwoman suit after she lost out on playing the part.
SeanYoung voluntarily went into rehab for treatment of an alcohol problem in January 2008, after she had struggled against addiction for many years.
Whitney Houston’s life and turmoil have been in the headlines since the singer was found dead on February 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Many looked back on her years of drugs use and blamed ex-husband Bobby Brown for her notorious downward spiral.
However, rumors are now surfacing that Whitney Houston’s break-up with lesbian partner Robyn Crawford caused her emotional descent.
In a 1987 interview with Time magazine, Whitney Houston, then 23, said that Robyn Crawford was the “sister [she] never had.”
Both Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford denied being romantically involved.
“My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don’t fight it. I’m not with any man. I’m not in love. People see Robyn with me, and they draw their own conclusions. Anyway, whose business is it if you’re gay or like dogs? What others do shouldn’t matter. Let people talk. It doesn’t bother me because I know I’m not gay. I don’t care,” said Whitney Houston.
Robyn Crawford told Time magazine: “I tell my family, <<You can hear anything on the streets, but if you don’t hear it from me, it’s not true.>>”
Robyn Crawford (right) and Whitney Houston had denied a gay relationship since 1987
However, British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell reports it differently. He described meeting Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford, whom he refers to as the singer’s female partner, at the Reach Out & Touch HIV vigil in London in 1991. Whitney Houston attended the event to advocate the welfare and human rights of those living with HIV.
“When I met them, it was obvious they were madly in love. Their intimacy and affection was so sweet and romantic,” said Peter Tatchell.
“They held hands in the back of the car like teenage sweethearts. Clearly more than just friends, they were a gorgeous couple and so happy together. To see their love was infectious and uplifting.
“Whitney was happiest and at the peak of her career when she was with Robyn. Sadly, she suffered family and church pressure to end her greatest love of all.”
According to Peter Tatchell, Whitney Houston was afraid of the backlash she would face from her family – who raised her in the church -and fans if she made her relationship with Robyn Crawford public.
Whitney Houston then married Bobby Brown in 1992, just one year after the HIV vigil.
Whitney Houston met Robyn Crawford when she was 16-years-old at a summer job in East Orange, N.J. The two soon became inseparable. Robyn Crawford dropped out of Monmouth College to work for Whitney Houston.
An internet hoax about the death of the Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson, which was sparked by a user from Philippines, became the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter today.
Rumors about the apparent death of Rowan Atkinson spread around the globe within hours of a “joke” tweet from a so called “internet troll” on the microblogging site.
The hoax even briefly fooled internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, which displayed Rowan Atkinson’s date of death as 26 February, 2012, on his entry page.
Tens of thousands of people latched onto the #RIP Rowan Atkinson hash-tag to express their condolences.
An internet hoax about the death of the Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson became the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter
The top worldwide trending subject was apparently sparked by a single post from a twitter user based in the Philippines.
Michael Robert Meras posted the message to his 753 followers: “Fresh news from Britain, Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (A.K.A. Mr. Bean) passed away this evening.”
Within a few hours the rumors had spread around world and ignited an internet frenzy.
Just two hours later, Michael Robert Meras posted another comment saying: “OMG! I started the tween RIP Rowan Atkinson, it was just a joke…”
An hour later Michael Robert meras added: “Shutting down now. Sorry guys, RIP Rowan Atkins was just a joke. Sorry for the matter, I never thought it would be that viral.”
Mr. Bean star’s death hoax even briefly fooled Wikipedia, which displayed Rowan Atkinson’s date of death as 26 February, 2012, on his entry page
Rowan Atkinson is not the first global star to be the subject of a death hoax.
Owen Wilson, Charlie Sheen, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy are among a growing list of stars to have been killed off in cyberspace.
They were all said to have been tragically killed in snowboarding accidents, according to rumors which have circulated around the internet in recent years.
Morgan Freeman and former popstar Aaron Carter have also been the subject of online death rumors.
Hollywood actor Owen Wilson, 42, was reported to have died in a skiing accident in a dubiously posted article titled “Global Associated News”.
The report claimed Owen Wilson had snowboarded into a tree and died in Zermatt, Switzerland.
High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been cleared by Supreme Court for violating a 1977 amnesty law with his investigation of Franco-era crimes.
Baltasar Garzon had been accused by two right-wing groups of overstepping his powers by trying to prosecute crimes committed between 1936 and 1975.
He said crimes against humanity should not be subject to an amnesty.
Earlier this month, Baltasar Garzon was suspended from the bench for 11 years after being found guilty of illegal phone tapping.
Baltasar Garzon, 56, has vowed to fight that conviction. He faces a third trial, brought by private parties, which involves allegations that he took bribes.
The judge is best known worldwide for helping to secure the arrest of the former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998.
But he is a controversial figure who divides opinion in Spain, say observers.
High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been cleared by Supreme Court for violating a 1977 amnesty law with his investigation of Franco-era crimes
Baltasar Garzon’s supporters on the left view him as a champion of human rights and justice, but his detractors believe he is a politically-motivated publicity-seeker.
Seven Supreme Court judges cleared Baltasar Garzon on the basis that his investigations into Franco-era crimes were defensible in legal terms.
But although it is a significant decision in a significant case, Baltasar Garzon’s suspension from the bar in the earlier case means he will not be able to continue with the investigation.
Baltasar Garzon decided in 2008 to investigate the disappearance of tens of thousands of people during the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, including ordering the excavation of mass graves.
The move provoked fierce criticism and anger from those on the right who argued that the point of the 1977 amnesty was to allow Spain to forget the alleged crimes of that era, and move on.
Two groups – Clean Hands, and Liberty and Identity – who brought the case against him said they did so because Baltasar Garzon had “reopened wounds which we Spaniards – whatever our political beliefs – had totally recovered from”.
But some of Baltasar Garzon’s greatest supporters during his court hearing have been the relatives of those who disappeared, who had pinned their hopes for justice on his investigations.
US scientists have made a breakthrough discovery finding stem cells in human ovaries from which it may one day be possible to produce an “unlimited” supply of eggs.
The discovery could revolutionize fertility treatment, according to experts.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital were able to isolate the cells in a laboratory where they “spontaneously generated” eggs which they say are capable of being fertilized.
Experts say the discovery challenges the prevailing view that women only have a certain number of eggs and can never produce any more, unlike men who go on producing sperm.
In this sense it “re-writes the rule book” and could help infertile couples and also potentially allow women to remain fertile for longer, they added.
The scientists managed to locate egg-producing stem cells in the ovaries of reproductive age women and grow immature eggs, known as oocytes.
US scientists have made a breakthrough discovery finding stem cells in human ovaries from which it may one day be possible to produce an “unlimited” supply of eggs
These appeared normal and when implanted in living human ovarian tissue – which was grafted inside mice – grew normally for two weeks.
Dr. Jonathan Tilly, who led the study, said it “opens the door for development of unprecedented technologies to overcome infertility in women and perhaps even delay the timing of ovarian failure”.
He added: “These cells, when maintained outside of the body, are more than happy to make cells on their own and if we can guide that process I think it opens up the chance that sometime in the future we might get to the point of having an unlimited source of human eggs.”
Dr. Jonathan Tilly’s team found the stem cells by searching for a protein called DDX4, unique to the surface of egg cells.
For legal reasons, scientists cannot use these egg cells to create an embryo. But the same stem cells taken from mice were fertilized and produced embryos, according to the study published in the Nature Medicine journal.
The latest advance could, if it works in further trials, change all that.
Although using the technique in humans is probably some years away, Dr. Jonathan Tilly’s team is looking at putting the cells in a bank so they can be tested further and possibly used to improve IVF treatment and for women undergoing cancer treatment.
A woman has the most oocytes as a foetus, about 7 million, dropping to about one million by birth, and 300,000 by puberty. By menopause, she has none left.
Since the 50’s, scientists thought that ovarian stem cells capable of producing new eggs were only active during in the womb as a baby develops.
Dr. Jonathan Tilly said this belief “was not actually based on data proving it was impossible, it was simply an assumption made because there was no evidence indicating otherwise”.
Ukraine’ security services have thwarted a plot to kill Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to Russian officials.
Two suspects were detained in the Ukrainian port of Odessa, Russia’s state-owned Channel One TV reports.
The two men were both shown on TV admitting their involvement in the plot, after an explosion at a flat in January in which one suspect died.
The attack was to happen after next Sunday’s presidential vote.
Vladimir Putin is expected to win the election and get a third term as president.
The two men were both shown on Russian TV, one being interrogated and the other giving an interview.
Ukraine’ security services have thwarted a plot to kill Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
In the footage, both admit plotting to attack Vladimir Putin. One, identified by Ria Novosti as Ilya Pyanzin, said he had been hired by Chechen militant leader Doku Umarov to carry out the killing and also by Ruslan Madayev, the suspect who died in the Odessa explosion.
The other suspect was named by Channel One as Adam Osmayev, said to have been on an international wanted list since 2007.
The plotters were planning to plant mines on Kutuzovsky Avenue in Moscow, used by Vladimir Putin on a daily basis, the report said.
The Russian prime minister’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed the report, without making any further comment.
Russian media report that Dmitry Pyanzin was arrested in the Odessa flat where the explosion happened. He told police that he and Madayev had flown to Ukraine from the United Arab Emirates via Turkey, with precise instructions from representatives of Doku Umarov.
According to the reports, details of the plot were found on laptops in the flat, along with a video showing Vladimir Putin’s motorcade.
Adam Osmayev was reported to be the local fixer in Odessa and the instructor for the plotters, and had lived for a long time in London.
British comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen was escorted off the Oscars red carpet after a publicity stunt for his new film, The Dictator.
Sacha Baron Cohen arrived in character as a middle eastern leader and claimed to be carrying the ashes of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
In an interview with US TV host Ryan Seacrest, Sacha Baron Cohen said it was Kim Jong-Il’s dying wish “to be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry’s chest”.
He then tipped the urn over the host, covering his tuxedo in white dust.
Sacha Baron Cohen, who is known for outrageous publicity stunts in films like Borat and Bruno, was bundled off the red carpet by security guards.
Turning to the camera, Ryan Seacrest said: “Anything can happen and it most certainly did, all over my lapel.”
Sacha Baron Cohen stopped by security to pour the ashes on the red carpet at Oscars 2012
Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, The Dictator, is expected to be released in March. He was invited to the Oscars as a cast member of Martin Scorsese’s multiple award nominee Hugo.
There had been reports during the week that he had been forbidden to attend the ceremony after asking to arrive in character as Admiral General Aladeen – which the Academy denied.
In response, Sacha Baron Cohen posted a statement to General Aladeen’s Twitter account.
“VICTORY IS OURS! Today the Mighty Nation of Wadiya triumphed over the Zionist snakes of Hollywood.
“Evil and all those who made Satan their protector were vanquished and driven into the Pacific Sea. What I am trying to say here is that the Academy have surrendered and sent over two tickets and a parking pass! TODAY OSCAR, TOMORROW OBAMA!”
After the red carpet stunt, Moneyball actor Jonah Hill, who was up for best supporting actor, said: “I guess the Oscars isn’t the best place to sell your movie. I think he’s a funny guy, though.”
“Ryan’s mouth dropped open on live TV,” laughed Jackie Collins.
“But that’s what makes live TV good.
“I don’t think Ryan was very pleased, but I don’t think I’d be very pleased.”
Piers Morgan commented it was “just another day in Hollywood”.
30 Rock actress Tina Fey saw the funny side, and crossed herself over the ashes as she walked past.
Speaking to BBC 5 live, Jay Leno said: “Only in Hollywood does that dictator override Libya” as a major news story.
“And somehow that’s more shocking.
“It’s certainly worse than anything Gadaffi or Assad could possibly have done.”
Comedian Steve Martin said: “I love Sacha Baron Cohen”, and joked that the red carpet shouldn’t be sacred ground.
“It should be 12% respect, 23% levity and 13% joy.”
It is not the first time Sacha Baron Cohen has used industry events to promote his movies.
In 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen arrived at the Toronto International Film Festival dressed as Borat, the main character from the hit comedy.
In 2009, Sacha Baron Cohen went to the MTV Video Music Awards as flamboyant fashion critic Bruno, to promote his movie of the same name.
During the show Sacha Baron Cohen was launched into the air wearing a harness and landed in the lap of US rap star Eminem, who stormed out – although it was later reported that the musician had been in on the joke.
Black and white film The Artist has triumphed at the Oscars, winning five awards including best picture, best director and best actor for Jean Dujardin.
Michel Hazanavicius , The Artist director- winning on his first ever nomination – thanked the dog, Uggie, who appears in the film but added: “I don’t think he cares.”
Jean Dujardin said of his character: “If George Valentin could speak, he would say <<Wow! Victorie! Genial! Merci!>>”
The Artist also won the Oscars for best original score and best costumes.
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo also won five Oscars, mainly in technical categories.
Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady – her 17th Oscar nomination and third Oscar win.
The actress thanked the Academy “for this inexplicably wonderful career”.
“When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going: <<Aww no. Not her again>>. But, you know, whatever.
“I look out here and I see my life before my eyes. My old friends, my new friends. This is such a great honor but the thing that counts the most for me is the friendships… Thank you. All of you, departed and here.”
Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady - her 17th Oscar nomination and third Oscar win
Jean Dujardin broke into his native French language in celebration shouting: “Wow, victory!”
“Thank you to the Academy. It’s funny because in 1929, it wasn’t Billy Crystal but Douglas Fairbanks who hosted the first Oscars ceremony. Tickets cost $5 and it lasted 15 minutes. Times have changed.”
1929 was the last year that a silent movie won an Oscar.
Canadian actor Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner at 82 by taking the best supporting actor prize.
He was widely tipped to win for his portrayal of a father who comes out as a gay man after his wife dies in Beginners.
Christopher Plummer thanked his real-life wife who, he said, deserved “the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day”.
The Help‘s Octavia Spencer won the best supporting actress Oscar and gave an emotional acceptance speech, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
“Thank you Steven Spielberg for changing my life…oh my God, thank you… I’m freaking out,” Octavia Spencer told the audience, after struggling up to the stage in a floor-length gown.
Best adapted screenplay went to Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for The Descendants, starring George Clooney.
Veteran screenwriter and director Woody Allen won best original screenplay for Midnight in Paris but was not there to collect the award.
The first two awards of the night went to Hugo for cinematography and art direction.
Robert Richardson was cinematographer on Martin Scorsese’s 3D film and Francesca Lo Schiavo was art director.
And later, the film about an orphan who lives in a train station picked up a further three Oscars, all in technical categories.
Best sound editing was won by Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty.
Hugo’s Tom Fleishman and John Midgley won the Oscar for sound mixing and the film also picked up the award for best visual effects.
Rango won best animation, a first Academy award and nomination for director Gore Verbinski, who said it was “made by grown-ups acting like a bunch of children”.
The film features the voice of Johnny Depp, who plays a chameleon.
Best animated short film was The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
The Oscar for costume design went to Mark Bridges for The Artist, who thanked the Academy “for making a lifelong dream come true”.
The best make-up prize went to J Roy Helland and British artist Mark Coulier for The Iron Lady.
Iran’s A Separation became the first Iranian film to win an Oscar when Sandra Bullock presented director Asghar Farhadi with best foreign language film.
Set in contemporary Iran, it tells the story of a marriage break-down.
Best film editing went to Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the pair also won last year for The Social Network. Both films were directed by David Fincher.
The Oscar for best original song was won by Bret Mackenzie for Man or Muppet from the soundtrack to The Muppets.
Best documentary went to Undefeated, a film about an inner city American football team whose fortunes are turned around by a new coach.
The executive producer of the film was rapper Sean “P Diddy” Combs.
Northern Ireland film The Shore won the best live action short film.
Saving Face, about a British-Pakastani doctor who helps women who have been injured in acid attacks, won best documentary short.
Earlier, Morgan Freeman introduced the evening before a comic video was shown of George Clooney waking up host Billy Crystal with a kiss – in a parody of his nominated film The Descendants.
Freeman said: “All of us are mesmerized by the magic of the movies. This magnificent event allows us to celebrate the present and look back at its magnificent past”.
Billy Crystal hosted the 84th Oscars ceremony at the Kodak theatre in Los Angeles.
He joked: “This is my ninth time – just call me War Horse.”
On the red carpet, British comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen turned up dressed in a white military uniform and sporting a beard and sunglasses, promoting his upcoming film The Dictator.
Sacha Baron Cohen arrived holding an urn he jokingly claimed contained the ashes of Kim Jong Il, the late leader of North Korea.
He then tipped the container on to American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.
A-list Oscar nominees get thousands of dollars in gifts from companies hoping to associate their products with their celebrity, while D-listers get bags of swag valued in the hundreds of dollars.
“It’s something they anticipate from year to year,” said Lisa Gal of Hollywood Baskets, who puts together a high-end gift bag that goes to 30 Oscar nominees and presenters who stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Stars checking into the Four Seasons will find a KitchenAid mixer set up in their room, customized with 22K gold paint and Swarovski crystal by Nicole Dinardo and valued at $1,500, Lisa Gal said.
A Traveler’s Choice luggage bag sits nearby, filled with 20 other gifts valued at $7,000, ranging from a $25 pack of Sunny Sleevz — to protect their arms at the beach — to $500 worth of Intelligent Nutrients, a line of certified organic beauty products.
Some products come from established companies – such as the high-end Norman Love chocolates – while younger, smaller ones get into Lisa Gal’s bag – including Symone Prince Beauty.
“They can be in there with the big guys,” Lisa Gal said.
“The key to being selected for the bag is quality,” she added.
“We have to make sure this is up to par on the celebrity’s level, so it’s very exclusive.”
A-list Oscar nominees get thousands of dollars in gifts from companies hoping to associate their products with their celebrity, while D-listers get bags of swag valued in the hundreds of dollars
Getting in the Oscar bag can be a big boost for a product, said Asha Blake, whose Goldenheart Media partners with Lisa Gal.
“It’s great exposure for the companies in media press releases, not just about being in front of celebrities,” Asha Blake said.
“It’s a different way of doing advertising in this day and age.”
Lisa Gal can’t reveal which stars get her bags until they check out of the hotel Monday, but her SAG Award and Golden Globe gift list included Glenn Close, Colin Firth, Michelle Williams, Morgan Freeman and Ryan Seacrest.
“Only the most recognizable, important people staying at the hotel” get her gift bag, but sometimes there are more big stars than bags.
Lisa Gal scrambled to put together an extra bag one year when “Avatar” director James Cameron was left out.
One gift bag is set aside for donation to a charity, which can then auction it off, Lisa Gal said.
Publicist Roger Neal pioneered the practice of connecting the gifting with charities with his beauty and couture suite at the L’Ermitage Hotel before the Oscars 16 years ago.
“Just to give celebs free stuff is meaningless, but when there’s a purpose with it, then I feel good about gifting them,” Roger Neal said.
The 200 celebrities, including 10 Oscar nominees, who attended his four-day suite event this week autographed items that will help an organ transplant foundation and a foster children’s charity.
Two teens who live in foster homes were pampered with facials, massages and other beauty treatments, Roger Neal said. They also left with suits, he said.
A-listers visting Roger Neal’s suite included “The Artist” actress Penelope Ann Miller, “Bridesmaids” actress Wendi McLendon-Covey, Annie Mumolo, nominated for writing “Bridesmaids,” and actors Joe Mantegna, Eric Roberts and Quintin Aaron.
Richard Middleton, executive producer of “The Artist,” brought his wife with him Tuesday, Roger Neal said. She was given a Shekhar Rahate designed gown to wear on the red carpet. Seamstresses worked overnight to resize it for her, he said.
Eimear O’Kane, whose “Pentecost” is nominated for best live action short film, was gifted a handbag and jewels by designer Timmy Woods of Beverly Hills to carry on the red carpet Sunday.
Kari Feinstein’s Oscar Style Lounge in West Hollywood’s Mondrian Hotel offers something for everyone, with companies handing out gifts “based on the caliber of celebrities,” Kari Feinstein said.
Best supporting actress nominee Octavia Spencer would likely be offered a $1,000 piece of jewelry from Devora Libin Jewels and a week at the Capella Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
But some reality TV stars, who show up may have to settle for a year supply of popcorn from Popcorn Indiana.
“We try and make sure that everyone that comes is someone who is recognizable with a lead part in a movie or TV show,” Kari Feinstein said.
But this year’s D-lister could be next year’s A-lister.
Images of babies as young as two weeks old being flung around a wacky Russian therapist’s head have shocked millions around the world.
The therapist Lena Fokina filmed spinning and somersaulting the babies by their wrists and ankles has confirmed she hopes to bring the craze to the UK.
Lena Fokina, 51, can be seen flipping a baby over her head in her bizarre “baby yoga” routine which has been banned from a number of websites for fear that it glorifies child abuse.
Many viewers believed the moves must have been performed on dolls but Lena Fokina says they are definitely real babies and she has been practicing the techniques for the past 30 years.
The Russian therapist was tracked down at a seminar called “Parenting the Deliberate Way” in Dahab, Egypt, where parents from across Europe were paying her to perform the same moves on their infants, some just months old.
And while most of the babies were left screaming in tears or vomited during or after their session of “baby dynamics”, Lena Fokina insists it is for their benefit.
She said: “It’s very good for babies and not dangerous at all. Some babies cry at first, but they begin to enjoy it.
“Most people think young babies can only lie on a bed, eat, and cry. But babies are born with natural reflexes, which we can use to help them develop physically and intellectually.
“I work with parents from across Europe. I hope soon I will be working with a family in England. I think there are a number of open-minded parents there whose babies could benefit from my work.”
Lena Fokina can be seen flipping a baby over her head in her bizarre “baby yoga” routine which has been banned from a number of websites for fear that it glorifies child abuse
According to Lena Fokina, baby yoga was first practiced by ancient African tribes – but the modern incarnation was developed by fellow Russian Dr. Igor Charkovsky, who was also present at the seminar.
Lena Fokina, a mother-of-five and grandmother, does sessions that can last up to five minutes, during which babies are spun, swung and flipped, often by a single limb.
The actions are performed on babies from a few weeks old up to around age two.
Lena Fokina added: “The method was originally developed to cure and correct the health of children having muscular or skeletal problems but it is also suitable for healthy children.
“The movements are designed to improve their muscular abilities and development.
“And the children often turn out to be early readers, singers, talkers, swimmers. It also makes their hands stronger. We are humanists and we don’t do anything wrong.”
At the camp, the parents, hailing mainly from Russia and the Ukraine, also seemed entirely satisfied as they stood by and watched Lena Fokina treat their babies, usually above a gravel floor.
Each day at 8:00 a.m., parents would bring their tots to the Mirage Village Hotel in Dahab. Around 20 parents had signed up for Lena Fokina’s latest 12-day seminar, which costs $400 per family.
Parents smiled and chatted as the infants were left dangling for long periods by their arms or legs. But in almost every case the babies began crying just seconds into the bizarre routine.
And another vomited mid-air after undergoing several minutes of swinging. Yet Lena Fokina refused to acknowledge any dangers.
The therapist said: “From the moment of its birth a child can grasp, step, support itself and swim.
“The Charkovsky method uses these natural reflexes for child training. The amount of time it takes to train an adult to do it on a child depends on the sensibility of the child’s parent. Sometimes it only takes one training session.”
For years, doctors around the world have warned that “dramatic and unnatural movements” inflicted on a young baby can lead to brain bleeding, retinal hemorrhaging and brain swelling – commonly known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
And some researchers have suggested that SBS can occur at much lower levels of head movement than had been previously thought.
But Lena Fokina, who has been practicing baby yoga for more than 30 years, tells clients it is harmless even for newborn babies, as long as a child is eased into the movements gradually.
She is also not worried about any strain on the babies’ joints and limbs.
Lena Fokina said: “Even a tiny baby’s body can adapt to the process easily if you take it gradually.
“As long as the parent or instructor has practiced and studied the teachings of Dr. Charkovsky the child will be fine.
“People tend to get upset when they see it because they are not aware of children’s real abilities – but these abilities are much wider than it is traditionally thought.”
The Dahab seminar offered participants the opportunity to “learn the method of Igor Charkovsky and techniques for working with pregnant women, newborns and children”.
As well as morning seminars in “baby dynamics” parents were also instructed in “water rebirthing”, which involves repeatedly dunking children’s heads underwater.
The practice is designed to address “repressed trauma from birth”.
According to literature about the practice on Lena Fokina’s website, rebirthing “allows the mind and body to gently restructure itself so as to increase the feeling of happiness, efficiency, be healthy and to feel the inner harmony of the individual”.
However, there seemed to be little of this on display in the children being forced under the water by Dr. Igor Charkovsky, a Russian midwife whose research includes the effect dolphins can have on a mother’s calm during childbirth.
Again, many ended up in tears.
Also on offer at the seminar were more traditional pursuits such as baby massage, swimming lessons and gymnastics.
Lena Fokina has also conducted workshops in Thailand and India where she has worked on children from all over the world.
She said: “Baby dynamics is quite well known in Russia but up to now all the literature about it has only been in Russian.
“However, it is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world and we want to teach parents by bringing our methods to where they live.
“Although I don’t know anybody practicing in the UK yet I will be very proud when I see my methods applied there.”
Lena Fokina studied physical education at the University of Physical Culture in Moscow, achieving a Master’s degree.
She later went on to study under Dr. Igor Charkovsky.
Now, divorced Lena Fokina has five children, Alexandra, 30, Tatyana, 27, Timur, 23, Maria, 16 and 13-year-old Pavel.
Lena Fokina is also grandmother to Christian, 3, and Petrik, 4, and it was on her own children that she started refining the worrying methods.
The therapist said: “I first tried baby dynamics 30 years ago after my oldest daughter Alexandra was born. At first I was worried, but then I realized how my children enjoyed it and it inspired me.
“People criticize our methods out of ignorance – if only they tried to understand what we were doing, they would change their attitudes. If by doing it I give children an advantage, why wouldn’t I?
“I was aware of the practices but it was only later when I was introduced to Dr. Charkovsky that I became a teacher in it. It’s something I am very proud of and have believed in for a very long time.”
Lena Fokina lives in Russia but frequently visits Dahab where her two eldest daughters live. She works full-time giving seminars all over the world, but insists her work is not done for profit.
She said: “What I do is not a commercial project. I earn enough money just to live here and work with children. What I do is not part of my life, it is my life.”
Despite being relatively common in Russia, Lena Fokina says she prefers to hold her seminars in Egypt.
Lena Fokina said: “I love Egypt for many reasons. The climate is favorable with lots of sun and warm sea.
“There are also good conditions for free diving, yoga and sports and the people here have a good attitude to what I am doing.
“All my children have grown up according to the Charkovsky method and they have all gone on to achieve outstanding results in life – they are Russian champions in parachuting, free diving and horse riding.
“Now my children are practicing those same methods on their own children. It’s the best proof.”
At least three people have been killed in a suicide car attack at a church in the troubled central Nigerian city of Jos, sparking reprisals by Christian youths.
Witnesses said the suicide bomber drove his car into the prominent Church of Christ during morning prayers.
No group has claimed responsibility, but suspicion will fall on the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.
The attack sparked a riot by Christian youths, with reports that at least two Muslims were killed in the violence.
The two men were dragged off their bikes after being stopped at a roadblock set up by the rioters, police said.
A row of Muslim-owned shops was also burned, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Earlier, the suicide bomber smashed his car through unmanned gates towards the packed church, killing a woman in the process, witnesses said.
The explosives detonated close to where members of the congregation were attending a Sunday service, killing a father and his child.
At least 38 people had to be taken to hospital for treatment, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
The attack sparked immediate anger among Christian youths in the city.
They “were very angry and mobilized… and I overheard them saying they were going to avenge the attack,” one witness was quoted by the APF as saying.
Ethnic and religious tensions run high in Jos, the capital of Plateau state. Hundreds of people have died in bouts of sectarian clashes over the last few years.
But Christian human rights activists suspect Boko Haram of carrying out Sunday’s attack, which they say is the deadliest on a church in Jos.
The group has carried out a number of bloody attacks across Nigeria in its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Boko Haram has admitted attacking several churches across the country on Christmas Day 2011, killing nearly 40 people at one church outside the capital, Abuja, alone.
It has also claimed responsibility for a string of bomb blasts around Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 that killed at least 80 people.
The men behind the Meryl Streep’s transformation into Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady are about to find out if they have won an Oscar tonight.
Mark Coulier is one half of the team that transformed one of the world’s most recognisable actresses into one of the most famous faces in British political history.
“You can never tell how the Academy is going to vote,” says Mark Coulier, when we meet at a reception for British nominees in Los Angeles two days ahead of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony.
“Somebody said to me before we started on The Iron Lady that it’s a career maker or a career breaker. Hopefully it’ll make mine.”
Mark Coulier and American J Roy Helland are both up for an Oscar for their work on the film. J Roy Helland has been doing Meryl Streep’s hair and make-up for more than 35 years.
During the course of The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep’s Thatcher is seen both in her political prime and as a woman in her mid 80’s, struggling with dementia.
For the younger version, Mark Coulier used a small nose piece to alter the bridge of Meryl Streep’s nose.
“We tried to keep it as subtle as we could,” he says.
But some things had to be toned down. “Meryl’s got great cheekbones and Thatcher’s got a fuller face.”
The men behind the Meryl Streep's transformation into Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady are about to find out if they have won an Oscar tonight
The biggest challenge came when the team had to turn Meryl Streep into a woman in her mid 80’s.
That was a job for prosthetics and paint work. But the team wanted to avoid using a full face mask.
“We started off with a plaster cast of Meryl’s head,” explains Mark Coulier.
“We also did computer designs and took Margaret Thatcher’s picture and Meryl’s picture and fused them together.”
Mark Coulier then crafted latex strips from the head that were then applied to Meryl Streep’s face.
Damian Jones, producer of The Iron Lady, recalls the moment he first saw Meryl Streep in full make-up.
“It was haunting, I was speechless. It was pretty eerie because there was the old lady of Margaret Thatcher in front of us – and it was Meryl Streep.”
The film’s director Phyllida Lloyd says that getting the makeup right was one of the most crucial elements of the film.
“We worked so hard in the preparation and the planning of that. We didn’t want the makeup to be <<eggy>> and a barrier for the audience.
“It comes down to Roy, Mark and Meryl’s painstaking attention to detail.”
And what of the distinctive Margaret Thatcher hairstyle?
“Those wigs were personalities themselves, and there were many of them. And the teeth!”
Phyllida Lloyd adds: “Roy’s worked with Meryl for over 35 years – it’s an amazing relationship and an important part of her preparation and process. It would be very moving if he gets the Oscar.”
A preliminary toxicology report indicates Whitney Houston died due to a mix of prescription drugs, Valium and Xanax, and alcohol.
Final toxicology results will pinpoint the exact cause of death but the coroner confirms that the sedatives and alcohol combined is most likely the cause of death, not drowning.
The combination of Valium, Xanax and alcohol is said to have most likely caused Whitney Houston’s heart to stop beating due to the substances in her system inhibiting her breathing.
Thus, Whitney Houston’s death was not from drowning, although she was discovered submerged in a bathtub.
A preliminary toxicology report indicates Whitney Houston died due to a mix of prescription drugs, Valium and Xanax, and alcohol
Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bathtub in her suite at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, just hours before she was to perform for Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party.
The final report will definitively determine exactly what amounts of substances and which drugs killed her.
Whitney Houston, 48, was found in the bathtub of her guest room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on the eve of the 54th Grammy Awards, February 11, 2012. She was pronounced dead at about 4:00 p.m. that afternoon.
Just few days after Whitney Houston’s funeral it was emerged that some of Hollywood’s biggest female names are scrambling to win the role of the legendary star in a life story movie.
It appears that Rihanna, 24, is among the shortlist of talent who are being considered for a biopic of the late singer.
Whitney Houston’s record label boss and close friend Clive Davis is at the helm of the project and he reportedly wants to get a script finalized as soon as possible so filming can begin.
Rihanna is in the running for the lead role as is Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson, 30.
Rihanna is shortlisted to star as Whitney Houston in a movie biopic of the late singer
Actress Vivica Fox, 47, and American Idol singer Jordin Sparks, 22, are also being considered for the movie and Will Smith’s 11-year-old daughter Willow is thought to be portraying the actress as a child.
Although movie executives are hoping Rihanna will sign up for the film, it was reported that she already turned down the chance to remake Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard last year.
Rihanna told OK! magazine: “I hate it when singers do singing movies all the time, because you can never look at them as anybody else. I want to play a character. My whole life is playing Rihanna; being a singer won’t be a stretch for me.”
Whitney Houston’s life story had been discussed before her death and she was excited about the project.
A source told the People newspaper: “Whitney knew about the project and was excited to see where it would lead.
“It’s hoped the biopic will be as successful as Tina Turner movie What’s Love Got To Do With It, which landed two Oscar nominations for Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne who played Tina and Ike Turner.”
Smoking marijuana is tied to less motivation at work, a new study finding suggests.
The author of the study said it can’t prove whether that’s due to the drug’s effects, the social environment in which it’s used or whether pot smokers are just more likely to be laid-back from the get-go.
Christer Hyggen, researcher at the Oslo-based social research institute NOVA, suspects pot is the culprit, another possible explanation is that people who aren’t so happy with their work situation or motivated on the job are more likely turn to drugs.
“There’s a popular belief that people who smoke cannabis are slackers and that they don’t want to work,” Christer Hyggen told Reuters Health.
To see how well that perception held up, Christer Hyggen analyzed data from a 25-year-long study of close to 1,500 Norwegians. Starting in 1987, when they were in their late teens and early 20’s, participants filled out surveys that included questions on their recent pot use on five different occasions, into their 40’s.
They also rated their attitudes on statements that reflected work commitment, such as “It is very important for me to have a job” and “I feel restless when I have no work to do”, ranked on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 reflecting the most commitment.
Smoking marijuana is tied to less motivation at work, a new study finding suggests
People who reported smoking in the past year generally reported less dedication to work than abstainers, according to findings published in the journal Addiction.
The pattern held after Christer Hyggen took into account their mental health, satisfaction with their work environment, their economic background and how much alcohol they drank.
Christer Hyggen also found that those who only reported recent smoking on one survey – “the experimenters” – tended to be as committed as abstainers as they got older. That wasn’t the case for participants who repeatedly acknowledged marijuana use: their work commitment continued to decline into adulthood, and remained significantly below that of never-smokers.
By the last survey, in 2010, the 63 repeat users had an average score of 3.9 on questions of work commitment. That compared to scores between 4.2 and 4.3 in participants who had only experimented with marijuana or never tried it, including those who said their friends used the drug but they didn’t.
The findings suggested that over time “people who quit smoking cannabis increase their work commitment and people who take up smoking cannabis reduce their work commitment”.
While the results can’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship, “we were able to at least close in on this association”.
Such a link fits logically, according to another researcher not involved in the study.
“For adolescents who are engaged in marijuana use and substance use, to the extent that that decreases or limits the academic achievement they would have achieved otherwise, that would limit their employment opportunities,” said Kimberly Henry, from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, who has studied marijuana and truancy in adolescents.
“I think like many of these kinds of behaviors, there is kind of a spiral cycle where one reinforces the other,” she said.
Christer Hyggen said that it’s not a bad idea to stay away from drugs including marijuana.
“At the same time I don’t think we should be overly afraid of people experimenting with drugs in youth,” he said, as young people with that type of marijuana use didn’t end up with a diminished work ethic as adults.
Kimberly Henry agreed that heavier marijuana use is what’s worrisome when it comes to school and work performance.
“This idea that makes sense from theory and just conventional wisdom is that it’s the higher-level use that’s probably causing the most problems,” she said.
A banker dining at True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California, left only $1.33 on a $133.54 tab, enforcing his position as the “one per cent”.
In addition, the arrogant banker gave the server, Breanna, another tip: “Get a real job.”
His belligerent behavior at the restaurant was documented by his dining companion, who posted a photo of the receipt to Twitter, alerting Eater’s Receiprocity blog.
The post – and corresponding blog – was later deleted.
FutureExBanker wrote in a now-deleted post: “I work in the corporate office of a major bank for a boss who represents everything wrong with the financial industry.”
He said that his boss will tip exactly one per cent of the bill “every time he feels the server doesn’t sufficiently bow down to his Holiness.”
The disgruntled employee continued: “[My boss] has blatant disregard and outright contempt for everyone and everything he deems beneath him.
“On top of that, he’s a complete and utter tool.”
A banker dining at True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California, left only $1.33 on a $133.54 tab, enforcing his position as the “one per cent”.
While servers often receive the brunt of a diner’s anger in form of a low or non-existent tip, it is customary to tip a minimum of 15% for good service.
A hostess for True Food Kitchen told LAList.com that she had heard about the receipt but could neither confirm nor deny if it was real, nor if she remembered the customer.
“We have no statement on the issue,” the hostess said.
Vice President of operations for True Food Kitchen told the Huffington Post that the receipt in question is real, but they’re in the process of tracking him down.
He added the restaurant will do “everything they can to make it up to (Breanna) somehow.”
“We are the 99 per cent” was runner up to “occupy” for 2011’s word of the year. The phrase is closely tied to the Occupy Wall Street movement, and states that one per cent of Americans have a disproportionate amount of wealth.
The Wall Street Journal states that someone must be making at least $506,000 before joining the elite one per cent of top American earners.
The A-listers are currently sweeping into Hollywood as the biggest event in the movie industry calendar looms tonight, Oscars 2012.
For all the star quality brought to the red carpet by the likes of Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Rooney Mara and Halle Berry, it is the enduring icons of the golden age that still show the A-listers how it should be done.
The golden generations’ pictures capture the sophistication and allure of stars on awards nights more than half a century ago.
In one, Audrey Hepburn grins and sports an elfin haircut while clutching her Oscar in 1953, for her breakout role in Roman Holiday alongside Gregory Peck.
Frank Sinatra’s career was on the wane when he won the Best Supporting Actor award in the same year for the wartime drama From Here To Eternity.
Audrey Hepburn grins and sports an elfin haircut while clutching her Oscar in 1953, for her breakout role in Roman Holiday alongside Gregory Peck
After Marlon Brando won the Academy Award for On The Waterfront it was stolen, finally turning up in a London auction house who contacted the actor and informed him that they had it. Before that the two-time Best Actor winner had been using it to help hold his front door open.
A teenage Natalie Wood glances excitedly in the mirror as she is primped and preened in preparation for the Oscars in a Warner Brothers studio dressing room – the night she won a Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause.
Kirk Douglas is seen charming the crowd in 1954 as he enters the Academy Awards ceremony. He was nominated three times for Best Actor but never won. Kirk Douglas received a Honorary award in 1996 for “50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community”.
In other pictures, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly wait with apparent nerves backstage to present an award. They are both dressed in full-skirted gowns with evening gloves and hair in elegant chignons.
A dashing Clark Gable arrives with Kelly, wrapped in a fur stole, at another ceremony while one of Tinseltown’s greatest romances – Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart radiate glamour.
Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly wait with apparent nerves backstage to present an award
The first awards were handed out to a select 15 in front of a crowd of 270 on May 16, 1929, at a private brunch in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The root of where the name Oscar comes has become a highly contested Hollywood legend. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband – band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson.
Another claimed origin is that the Academy’s secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette reminding her of her “Uncle Oscar”. The trophy was officially dubbed the Oscar in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
The 84th Academy Awards will be hosted by Billy Crystal at the Kodak theatre tonight. It is televised live across the U.S. and is watched by around 40 million Americans.
The silent black and white French film The Artist is the clear favorite to take the coveted best picture prize as the final countdown to the 2012 Oscars has begun.
The Artist has won most of the major pre-Oscar honors during awards season.
The film has 10 nominations in total, while Martin Scorsese’s 3D family film Hugo leads the race with 11, including best film and director.
The 84th Academy Awards takes place on Sunday and will be hosted by Billy Crystal.
Billy Crystal is back for his ninth stint as host, with Oscar-watchers predicting lots of silent film gags and jibes about the recent legal wrangle over the Kodak-branded theatre where the Oscars is held.
Billy Crystal himself is giving nothing away, but tweeted this week: “First rehearsal: They said keep it <<fresh and new>>. This from an industry that just brought us Fast & Furious 5 and Harry Potter 7, part 2.”
The final round of voting by the Academy’s 5,783 members ended on Tuesday. Outside the venue, a section of Hollywood Boulevard has been sealed off and the red carpet is in place.
Industry newspaper The Hollywood Reporter says The Artist’s predicted win for best picture follows its victory in the two strongest “Oscar bellwethers”, the Producers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America awards.
“This French-financed, Hollywood-shot, Harvey Weinstein-distributed love letter to the movies has gone on to seduce Hollywood since being unveiled at Cannes in May.
“It is now poised to become the first silent film in 83 years and the first black-and-white film in 18 years to win the top Oscar.”
The silent black and white French film The Artist is the clear favorite to take the coveted best picture prize at Oscars 2012
A change in the Academy voting rules means that there are nine films in the best picture race this year.
Alongside The Artist and Hugo, those in the running include War Horse, Moneyball, The Tree Of Life, Midnight In Paris, The Help, The Descendants, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
George Clooney and Brad Pitt are both up for best actor, and Meryl Streep has her 17th Oscar nomination for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Meryl Streep has won two Oscars – best supporting actress for 1979’s Kramer vs Kramer and best actress for 1982’s Sophie’s Choice – but has been overlooked on her last 12 attempts.
Oscar pundits predict a close race between Meryl Streep and Viola Davies, for her performance as maid Aibileen Clark in civil rights drama The Help.
In the supporting actress category, The Help’s Octavia Spencer is the frontrunner, ahead of fellow cast member Jessica Chastain, and Melissa McCarthy and Britain’s Janet McTeer – for Bridesmaids and Albert Nobbs respectively.
Unusually, this year’s race for best supporting actor boasts two octogenarians: Christopher Plummer for Beginners and Max von Sydow for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Both are 82, and if either win they would become the oldest recipient of an acting award. The record is currently held by Jessica Tandy, who won for Driving Miss Daisy, aged 80.
Christopher Plummer is widely predicted to take the statuette for his role as an elderly father who comes out as gay after his wife dies.
The others in the category are Nick Nolte, for Warrior; Kenneth Branagh, for My Week with Marilyn; and 28-year-old Jonah Hill, for Moneyball.
Things are less clear-cut in the race for best actor.
Hollywood heart-throbs George Clooney and Brad Pitt face a stiff challenge from The Artist’s Jean Dujardin, who beat them – and British star Gary Oldman – at the BAFTAs earlier this month.
It’s Oldman’s first Oscar nomination, which recognizes his quietly powerful performance as mole-catcher George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The outsider in this category is Mexican actor Demian Bichir for his role as a Los Angeles gardener, struggling to keep his son out of gang culture, in A Better Life.
Earlier this week, an investigation by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the Academy demographic is much less diverse than the movie-going public.
Oscar voters, it said, are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male. They have a median age of 62, and under 50’s constitute just 14% of the membership. All of which, puts The Artist in pole position.
Mike Goodridge, editor of Screen International, said: “You’re looking at a group that are going to vote for The King’s Speech over The Social Network, for The Hurt Locker over Avatar, and this year it’s going to go for this portrait of days gone by.”
Carolyn Whigham, the owner of the funeral home that handled Whitney Houston’s remains is said to be “devastated” that a photo showing the legendary singer’s body in an open casket was leaked to the National Enquirer.
It is believed the picture was taken inside the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, New Jersey, where Whitney Houston’s family attended a private wake last Friday on the eve of her funeral.
Carolyn Whigham says neither she nor her staff is responsible.
“We did not take that photo. We did not sell the photo. We would never do something like that,” Carolyn Whigham told the New York Daily News.
Carolyn Whigham, who is a second-generation owner of the Whigham Funeral Home said she had a long-standing relationship with Whitney Houston.
“Whitney was a friend,” the business owner said.
“I’m the one who flew to Los Angeles and got Whitney from the coroner’s office. I did everything to protect her.”
Carolyn Whigham, the owner of the funeral home that handled Whitney Houston's remains is said to be “devastated” that a photo showing the legendary singer's body in an open casket was leaked to the National Enquirer
The image shows the singer’s body resting inside her partially open casket.
The National Enquirer has run the snap alongside a bold headline proclaiming: “Whitney: The last photo!”
When the picture of Whitney Houston in open casket hit newstands, Carolyn Whigham said she received a number of distressing emails from irate Houston fans and she now fears for her staff’s safety.
“One email said that if the person owned a dog, and the dog died, they would not come to my funeral home,” Carolyn Whigham said.
“I’m worried about my employees, worried about me. I’ve been in business since 1943. This is my name, my character. Honestly, this is my life’s work. We would never do something like this.”
Whitney Houston’s mother Cissy and daughter Bobbi Kristina are said to be outraged about the photo.
“Their heart broken all over again” sources close to the family told TMZ.
One source said: “The family could tell from the photo that it was taken from inside the funeral home, but they have no idea who would have snapped the pic.”
Whitney Houston, 48, died in a hotel suite in Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on 11 February.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles county coroner said multiple bottles of prescription medication were recovered from Whitney Houston’s room, but the official cause of her death has not been revealed.
The shocking National Enquirer cover photo shows Whitney Houston wearing a deep purple dress, a sparkling brooch and diamond earrings.
Carolyn Whigham disputed the tabloid’s claim that Whitney Houston was buried with $500,000 worth of precious stones.
“That’s crazy. It’s not true,” Carolyn Whigham told The Daily News.
Domnica Cemortan, the Moldovan blonde tour rep who was accused of causing the sinking of the Costa Concordia by romantically distracting Captain Francesco Schettino has given her first full newspaper interview “to set the record straight”.
Domnica Cemortan, 25, had been dining and flirting with Captain Francesco Schettino, 52, before the disaster and was with him on the bridge when the ship struck rocks on January 13.
It was widely reported that Francesco Schettino, now known universally as Captain Coward, may have been trying to impress Domnica Cemortan when his ship sailed off course.
For the past six weeks the Moldovan young woman has been at the centre of worldwide attempts to uncover precisely what happened on the night that up to 32 people lost their lives off the Italian coastline.
Rumors about the nature of her relationship with Francesco Schettino have led to her being called a siren, a woman of loose morals, and everything in between.
Through it all Domnica Cemortan has repeatedly denied any romance between her and the married captain. Even after her luggage and bikinis were discovered in the captain’s submerged cabin, she insisted it was “all lies”.
Last week, after The Mail on Sunday tracked her down in her homeland, where she lives with her mother and 2-year-old daughter, Domnica Cemortan finally revealed her true feelings for the discredited Captain Francesco Schettino.
The Costa Concordia captain is currently under house arrest on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing shipwreck. If convicted, Francesco Schattino faces 15 years in jail.
Domnica Cemortan admits that not only had she been alone with the captain in his cabin earlier during the evening of the tragedy, but that they had shared a passionate kiss, which she suspects was a prelude to them becoming lovers.
The Moldovan woman had previously worked on the ship for three weeks translating for Russian passengers and it was then that she got to know Francesco Schettino. When her contract ended the month before the tragedy, Domnica Cemortan returned as a paying passenger on the ill-fated cruise.
Domnica Cemortan says that although she had a serious “crush” on Francesco Schettino, she was never “in love” with him and their affair never really got started.
She admits that her luggage had been left in the captain’s cabin, but says it was only a temporary arrangement while she waited for a cabin to become available.
Domnica Cemortan has given her own eyewitness account of what happened on the bridge of the vessel in the minutes before it ran aground with more than 4,000 people on board.
Swathed in black fur against the biting cold and with her face devoid of make-up, Domnica Cemortan appears even more youthful than she actually is.
Domnica Cemortan says: “So much rubbish has been written about me that I think I must now defend my reputation. They are acting as if I’m some sort of femme fatale, but I don’t sleep around.
“Yes, I was very attracted to Captain Schettino and he was clearly interested in me. I admit that I had a big crush on him because he was very good-looking and very charming.”
She adds: “He once told me that I had both beauty and brains. What woman would not want to hear such words – especially when there were many women much more beautiful than me on board the ship? I knew he liked me and I was very flattered by his attention.
“When I worked on the ship he had made it clear that he thought me special. I’m a woman and I know these things. I could tell by the way he laughed at my jokes and how he looked at me; there was always a twinkle in his eyes when we spoke.
“I admit that I was attracted to him, but honestly, we did not have sex.
“He was always respectful when I was a member of his staff, but once I was a passenger then it was different. I think we probably would have ended up in bed, eventually, but I never found out because of the crash.
“Of course, I’m very sorry that so many people died or were hurt that night. It was a tragic accident and people are looking to find someone to blame. Maybe there was human error, maybe the captain was in some way responsible; I don’t know. For me, it was more a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
This is the second time that an ocean tragedy has wrecked Domnica Cemortan’s life. She was only eight when her father drowned while swimming in the Black Sea during a family holiday in Ukraine. A relative has suggested that Francesco Schettino’s resemblance to her late father may have been part of his attraction.
Domnica Cemortan grew up with her older brother and their mother Vera, a doctor, in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. She trained as a dancer, winning scholarships to study first in Romania and then France, where she lived from 2006 to 2009. She stopped performing because of injuries.
Domnica Cemortan’s daughter, the result of a long-term relationship with a fellow Moldovan, was born in Paris in January 2010.
By the end of 2010, Domnica Cemortan and her daughter were living back in her home country.
“I was a single mother and I decided it was best to get back out to work,” she says.
“A friend who worked for the cruise company saw a vacancy and told me about it.
“I speak four languages, so I applied and got the job as an international hostess for Russian passengers on the Costa Magica cruise ship, sailing around the Mediterranean.”
Domnica Cemortan’s initial contract was for October to December 2011. Then on December 6 she was asked to cover for a colleague on the Costa Concordia, the Costa Magica’s sister ship. Although she says the Costa Concordia’s dashing captain barely noticed her at first, it is clear from a photograph taken of them in a restaurant on the Cote d’Azur on December 13, which was published in Italian magazine Chi, that she was already smitten.
Although Domnica Cemortan says Francesco Schettino barely noticed her at first, it is clear from a photograph taken of them in a restaurant on the Cote d’Azur on December 13, which was published in Italian magazine Chi, that she was already smitten
The woman says: “Once or twice he bought me a drink in the ship’s bar, but it was always in a group situation. It was the same when we went for a seafood dinner at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Cote d’Azur in December. There was a big party of us and I was not the only one who had a photo taken with him.”
Domnica Cemortan has admitted that by her second week on the ship, colleagues were teasing her about the “spark” they noticed between her and the captain but she denies that they ever “crossed the line”.
Domnica Cemortan says: “He offered me a drink one night when I was in one of the lounges with a friend and on at least another occasion. But the only time we were alone on that trip was once in his office, when I went to give him a report. He told me that I was not only beautiful, but smart as well. It was a nice feeling, but neither of us did anything wrong.”
It is difficult to believe that a man of the world such as Francesco Schettino, who some former colleagues claim has an eye for the ladies, would not have acted on his attraction. It’s also hard to believe Domnica Cemortan’s claim that he knew nothing about her decision to buy a ticket for a cruise on the ship, after her three weeks’ work ended.
Domnica Cemortan was given a 50% discount, even though she had not officially been with the company long enough to qualify for the staff’s cheap rates, and boarded the ship at 5:00 p.m. on the day of the tragedy in the Italian port of Civitavecchia.
She says: “I don’t think he knew I was coming back because I didn’t tell anyone except the entertainment director, who was my immediate boss. Because of the discount I was able to find out which cabin I had only once we had set sail. So the first thing I did was call my boss, who said that he was in the captain’s office and I should come up.
“When I arrived, the captain looked surprised to see me. My boss said I still had to wait for a cabin and the captain said that I could leave my luggage in his cabin. I then went to see my friends on board. When I called my boss later, he suggested I should go to the restaurant at 9:00 p.m. to get a cabin key.”
During the interview Domnica Cemortan produced the card key for the cabin she had been allocated.
She initially denies a passenger’s account that she was dining with Francesco Schettino in the last hours before the crash.
“How does this person know it was me? They have some grainy picture of a woman, but it could have been anyone,” she says.
Then Domnica Cemortan offers a sanitized version of being with Francesco Schettino in his cabin before dinner.
“After saying hello to my friends on the ship I returned to change for dinner at about 8:00 p.m. – that was the practice when I was a part of the crew. The captain was there but he politely left me to change.
“He came back in as I was leaving and said that I looked stunning. He took my hand and kissed it.”
Domnica Cemortan coyly admits that he had grasped her in a passionate embrace and, to her surprise, kissed her hard on the mouth. But she insists the intimacy stopped there.
“I didn’t want people to know this because they might get the wrong idea,” Domnica Cemortan explains, then refuses to say any more about the incident.
As for dining with the captain, she says she joined Francesco Schettino and her (male) boss only for dessert and coffee.
Domnica Cemortan says: “Afterwards, the captain invited me to the bridge, to <<see a beautiful panorama of the island>> and we left the restaurant at about 9:30 p.m.” The island was Giglio, off the Tuscan coast, and tragedy was about to unfold.
It is clear that Francesco Schettino was enthralled by the vivacious young woman and she was equally smitten. Did the excitement affect his judgment? Domnica Cemortan says it did not. She watched the drama from a corner of the bridge.
“I was there for about ten minutes. I could see the lights of the island; I thought it was normal to go so close. The captain issued orders to about a dozen officers on the glass-fronted deck. They were speaking in Italian and marine terms, so I didn’t really understand.
“The crash happened about 15 seconds afterwards. It was all very sudden. There was no bang.
“We didn’t feel the collision because we were at the front and it happened at the back. But the sirens came on and warning lights were flashing on the console and alarms blaring.
“It seemed as if they were in control, but there was a bit of rushing about and shouting. Other hostesses arrived on the bridge to make announcements in the different languages. It was a full-scale emergency, but we had all been well trained in preparation for such a disaster.”
Domnica Cemortan had been dining and flirting with Captain Francesco Schettino before the Costa Concordia disaster and was with him on the bridge when the ship struck rocks on January 13
No one could have expected the huge vessel to sink, in relatively shallow waters, off the island within hours of leaving port.
To compound matters, Francesco Schettino delayed ordering an evacuation of the 4,200 passengers and crew for about an hour. The death toll stands at 25, with seven people still unaccounted for.
Domnica Cemortan has defended Francesco Schettino from the outset and continues to do so. She argues that it would have taken time to ascertain the damage, which is why she didn’t make a dash for the lifeboats.
“The ship very quickly turned 60 degrees on its side and the sirens indicated that it was leaking, so I knew that I needed warm clothes,” Domnica Cemortan says.
The woman went into the captain’s cabin to change back into trousers, a jumper and jacket, grabbing her handbag along the way.
“When I returned to the bridge I saw the captain looking very much in control. I watched as the boat listed to one side. He asked me to stay because I speak four languages, while colleagues were told to get to their muster stations.
“At the end I saw the captain there with just two officers. He was co-ordinating the evacuation. Then he saw me and said I should go to deck three where people were getting into lifeboats. He said, <<Save yourself>>. I thought he looked very calm so it made me feel confident that it would be OK. I checked my watch and it was about 11:50 p.m. when I left him on the bridge.
“People say he’s a coward and that he didn’t act to save people, but it’s not true. He steered the ship into shallow water and made it easier for people to either swim or be rescued. I think he saved a lot of lives that night and was very courageous.”
Domnica Cemortan made her way gingerly down five decks on the listing vessel, in virtual darkness.
“If I didn’t know the ship I might never have made it.
“It was cold and I could hear things falling and people shouting. It was terrible. I think that some passengers got confused and maybe forgot where to go in an emergency.”
She waited about 15 minutes for a place in a lifeboat.
The next time Domnica Cemortan saw Francesco Schettino was about 5:00 a.m., on land.
“He looked absolutely shattered,” the woman says.
“Of course I felt sorry for him. He was always kind to me and I think he’s a good person.”
Domnica Cemortan and Francesco Schettino have not been in contact since the accident, though their names are now intrinsically entwined in a naval disaster that may have been the result of their attraction for each other, but she still seems to harbor deep affection for the captain.
“I would dearly love to speak with him again,” Domnica Cemortan says with a wistful smile.
“I want to know what went wrong and how he’s coping.
“It’s not that I miss him, but he was a nice man and I think they are making him into a kind of monster.
“Everyone is blaming him for what happened, but I don’t think he did anything wrong. It was just a terrible accident.”
