W O R L D

The Artist paints golden picture at Oscars
Los Angeles, February 27
French love story “The Artist” became the first silent film to win the best picture Oscar in 83 years as it scooped five honours at the Academy awards where veteran Meryl Streep was crowned the best actress.

Best Actress in a Leading Role Meryl Streep and Best Actor in a Leading Role Jean Dujardin celebrate their Oscars in the press room at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday. — AFP

7-yr-old Indian-origin boy to scale UK peak
London, February 27
Jay Sharma, a seven-year-old Indian origin boy based in Leicestershire, has hit the headlines by taking on the challenge of scaling a peak in Scotland to raise funds for a charity organisation, in spite of undergoing three major heart surgeries.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa CM escapes in bomb attack
Islamabad, February 27
Chief Minister of Pakistan’s restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Monday escaped a apparent assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off near the venue of a political rally addressed by him, killing seven persons and injuring 24 others.

The Artist paints golden picture at Oscars
l Silent movie bags best film award, four others
l ‘Hugo’ wins five Oscars, too, in technical categories
l ‘Iron Lady’ gives Streep third Academy award of her life

Los Angeles, February 27
French love story “The Artist” became the first silent film to win the best picture Oscar in 83 years as it scooped five honours at the Academy awards where veteran Meryl Streep was crowned the best actress.

The Academy paid tribute to its own roots by awarding the black and white film, which triumphed over the big names like Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, to win the top award. The last silent film to win the best picture Oscar was “Wings” in 1929.

Director Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin walked away with the best director and actor trophies. “I am the happiest director in the world. I want to thank the financier, the crazy person who put money in the movie,” said Hazanavicius, 44.

“The Artist” beat eight rivals for the top prize, including Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo”, Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” and “The Help”.

Scorsese’s “Hugo” tied up with “The Artist” by winning five trophies in technical categories on Sunday night.

Streep, the most nominated actress in the Academy history with 17 nods, looked dazzling as she accepted her third Oscar and her first in the last 30 years for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” The 62-year-old star previously won for 1979 film “Kramer vs Kramer” and 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice”.

Dujardin, who plays silent hero George Valentin who fades as talkies make their presence felt in Hollywood, beat George Clooney and Brad Pitt to win the best actor honour.

In a night where first timers and veterans were recognised, Streep became the fifth actor to win three awards, the previous winners being Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan. She is now only a step away to match Katharine Hepburn’s four Oscar record.

In the best supporting category, 82-year-old Christopher Plummer won his long overdue Oscar for his portrayal of a father who comes out as gay as he fights cancer in “The Beginners”.

“You’re only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life? When I first emerged from my mother’s womb I was already rehearsing my Oscar speech,” said an emotional Plummer as he held his trophy. “but it was so long ago...mercifully I forgot it,” added Plummer, who also became the oldest actor to win the Oscar.

The best actress award went to Octavia Spencer for her role of a sassy house maid in “The Help”. The 39-year-old defeated Berenice Bejo in “The Artist”, Jessica Chastain in “The Help” and Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”.

Woody Allen won the original Screenplay Oscar for “Midnight In Paris”, about a novelist adrift in a romantic re-imagining of 1920s Paris. Allen, 76, has been nominated for an Oscar 23 times and this was his fourth win. The filmmaker was not present at the event to accept the honour like always. The Academy was forced to accept its own trophy on behalf of Allen.

“The Artist”, nominated in 10 categories, also won Oscars for best original score and best costume design.

“Hugo”, with 11 nominations, won five trophies in the technical categories including the Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Cinematography and Art Direction but the film failed to win in the key categories. — PTI

7-yr-old Indian-origin boy to scale UK peak

London, February 27
Jay Sharma, a seven-year-old Indian origin boy based in Leicestershire, has hit the headlines by taking on the challenge of scaling a peak in Scotland to raise funds for a charity organisation, in spite of undergoing three major heart surgeries.

Jay and his father Sanjesh Sharma (39) are planning to climb Ben Nevis, Scotland's biggest mountain, in the spring, and raise £5,000 for the Heart Link charity organisation based in Leicester.

"We both like the outdoors and Jay is incredibly active and so it just seemed to make sense to do something like this. — PTI

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa CM escapes in bomb attack

Islamabad, February 27
Chief Minister of Pakistan’s restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Monday escaped a apparent assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off near the venue of a political rally addressed by him, killing seven persons and injuring 24 others.

The bomb, planted in a motorcycle, was triggered by remote control after the CM had left the venue in a helicopter with senior leaders of the Awami National Party.

No leaders of the Awami National Party were among the casualties, the police said. The explosion occurred near a police check post, about 200 yards from Farooq Stadium in Nowshera city, where the ANP had organised the rally. — PTI

Chechen-linked plot to kill Putin foiled

Moscow, February 27
Days before the presidential elections in which he is the main contender, Russian and Ukranian security agencies have claimed to have foiled a Chechen-linked plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Russian state television said two suspects had been arrested in the Ukranian Black Sea resort of Odessa and who later confessed on air to acting on instructions from the Chechen warlord Doku Umarov to kill Putin after Sunday’s elections. The Chechen suspects were arrested by the Ukranian security agency on February 4. — PTI

Australian PM Gillard wins leadership vote

Melbourne, February 27
Julia Gillard, Australia’s first woman Prime Minister, won an emphatic yes vote from her Labor peers today, convincingly crushing her predecessor Kevin Rudd’s hopes of bouncing back, in a leadership ballot that settles the two-year-old political drama in the ruling party.

Handing a resounding 71 to 31 votes defeat to Rudd, whom she had overthrown in a party coup in 2010, Gillard declared that the row was over and it was time to get on with the job. “I can assure you that this political drama is over,” Gillard told a news conference after the vote. — PTI

Charlotte wins £600,000 hacking damages

London, February 27
Singer Charlotte Church and her parents settled her phone-hacking damages action against the publishers of the now defunct News of the World for £600,000 pounds at the High Court on Monday.

The settlement, one of the highest to be paid out in the phone-hacking scandal, includes £300,000 in legal costs. The singer said afterwards she had been “sickened and disgusted” at what she called the industrial scale of the paper’s illegal activities.

Lawyers for the 26-year-old confirmed last week that terms had been agreed with News Group Newspapers. — Reuters