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Jackman and Crowe to star at Oscars

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 20 Februari 2013 | 23.48

RUSSELL Crowe didn't earn many rave reviews for his singing in Les Miserables, but that hasn't stopped the Academy from inviting him to appear on stage for a musical extravaganza during Monday's (AEDT) Oscar ceremony.

Crowe, Hugh Jackman and their fellow Les Miserables cast members, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks and Helena Bonham Carter, will be involved in a celebration honouring movie musicals of the last decade.

Dreamgirls' Jennifer Hudson and Chicago's Catherine Zeta-Jones, both Oscar winners for their singing-acting roles, will also be involved.

The Academy did not say if Jackman, Crowe and the others will be singing during the extravaganza.

"We are pleased to have been able to amass so much talent to create the celebration of musicals of the last decade that we envisioned," Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, producers of the Academy Awards ceremony TV telecast, said in a statement.

"We are thrilled that so many talented actors have agreed to bring our vision to life."

Zadan and Meron have already hired some of the biggest guns in show business to perform at Hollywood's night of nights, with Barbra Streisand, Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey and Norah Jones taking to the stage.

The Oscar ceremony, held at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, will be aired in more than 225 countries, with comedian Seth MacFarlane hosting.

Australia's nominees are Jackman, Naomi Watts, Jacki Weaver and hairstylist-makeup artist on The Hobbit, Rick Findlater.


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US housing starts slow in January

CONSTRUCTION of new US homes slowed in January while building permits edged up, according to government data released on Wednesday that pointed to continued recovery in the housing sector.

Housing starts fell 8.5 per cent from December to an annual rate of 890,000, the Commerce Department said.

The slowdown in starts in January, although expected, was worse than the average analyst estimate of 914,000 but starts still were well above the 780,000 average rate in 2012.

The December surge in starts - upwardly revised to 973,000 - was largely due to milder-than-normal winter weather, analysts said.

The January decline in housing starts was led by multi-unit construction, while starts rose 0.8 per cent in the more significant single-family home sector.

On a 12-month basis, January housing starts were up 23.6 per cent.

"The sharp drop in starts in January reversed only some of the larger rise in December, consistent with a continued uptrend," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.

Building permits, a sign of future construction activity, came in stronger than expected.

Building permits rose 1.8 per cent from December to an annual rate of 925,000.

The report pointed to continuing recovery in the housing sector after a price bubble collapsed in 2006.

Sales of new homes in the United States in 2012 were up nearly 20 per cent from the prior year.


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Dreamliner battery improperly wired: Japan

JAPANESE officials probing the emergency landing of a Boeing Dreamliner say the plane's battery pack was improperly wired, but added this was unlikely to have caused it to overheat.

A series of problems with Boeing's next-generation aircraft sparked multiple probes around the world and the grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet last month after the domestic All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to land.

Japanese investigators have focused on the ANA Dreamliner's main lithium-ion battery, which was severely damaged by what they believe to have been a build up of heat that resulted in uncontrollably high temperatures.

Japan's Transport Safety Board said on Wednesday it had discovered that the circuit wiring of the burned battery and another one were connected, even though this is not typical in airplanes.

However, investigators added that the battery system has a system to block a reverse current and it had remained intact so the "unusual" wiring was an unlikely culprit for the overheating.

Investigators said they would now expand the scope of their search to include the aircraft's circuit wiring.

"We have been investigating what happened, but as we haven't got to a point where we can say why it happened yet, we can't say we've made progress," Norihiro Goto, chairman of the Japan Transport Safety Board, told a press briefing.

The unusual circuit wiring may have affected the digital flight data recorder's measuring of voltage in the burned battery, investigators added.

ANA and Japan Airlines (JAL), major customers of the aircraft with more than 100 combined orders, have been hit hard by the grounding, slashing hundreds of flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.


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Belgian prince injured in skiing accident

BELGIUM'S Prince Laurent, injured during a skiing holiday in Austria, remains under observation in a local hospital to monitor internal bruising.

The royal palace said on Wednesday that doctors want to make sure that there is no risk of bleeding from his injury, which is close to the liver. The palace said the accident happened on Tuesday afternoon in near Innsbruck in western Austria.

The 49-year-old prince is the third child of King Albert.

A year ago, Dutch Prince Friso, was left in a coma after being engulfed by an avalanche while skiing in Austria.


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UK neighbourhood wants its Banksy back

A LONDON neighbourhood wants its Banksy back.

A stencil by the famed, secretive graffiti artist of a young boy sewing Union Jack bunting on an antique sewing machine appeared on the side of a bargain store last May.

Interpreted as an ironic comment on Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations - 60 years on the British throne - and it drew art-lovers to the gritty Turnpike Lane area.

Last week it vanished, leaving nothing but a rectangle of exposed brick - only to reappear on the website of a Miami auction house.

Listed as "Slave Labor (Bunting Boy)," it is due to be sold on Saturday with an estimated price of between $US500,000 ($A485,340) and $US700,000 ($A679,480).

The MP representing Turnpike Lane, Lynne Featherstone, says she has asked the building's owner for an explanation but has yet to receive a reply. Poundland, the store that occupies the building, said it had nothing to do with the removal.

"(It's) totally unethical that something so valued should be torn without warning from its community context," Featherstone said.

Local authorities have asked Britain's Arts Council for help in getting the artwork back.

Alan Strickland, a councilor with local Haringey Council, said the mural had become "a real symbol of local pride" in an area badly hit in England's August 2011 riots.

"The Banksy created a huge amount of excitement when it first appeared, and residents are understandably shocked and angry that it has been removed for private sale," Strickland said.

"The community feels that this artwork was given to it for free, and that it should be kept in Haringey where it belongs, not sold for a fast buck."

Fine Art Auctions Miami could not immediately be reached for comment and Banksy's publicist did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The anonymous street artist, who refuses to reveal his real name, began his career spray-painting buildings and bridges in his home city of Bristol in southwest England.

His often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words "Laugh now, but one day I'll be in charge."

Original Banksy works now sell for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and the artist has become an international celebrity. He has created sequences for The Simpsons and directed an Academy Award-nominated documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

But his works are still sometimes obliterated by zealous local officials, street cleaners or - as in this case - taken off buildings along with a chunk of wall for private sale.


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Jury dismissed for wife of disgraced UK MP

A BRITISH jury has been dismissed after failing to reach a verdict in the trial of Vicky Pryce, the ex-wife of a former UK cabinet minister who resigned after lying for years about a speeding ticket.

Pryce had pleaded not guilty to obstructing justice for taking the fall for a speeding penalty for her then-husband, Chris Huhne, in 2003. She claims she was coerced by her husband into taking the license penalty points for his speeding offence.

Huhne - who had repeatedly denied wrongdoing - entered a last-minute guilty plea to the same charge just before his trial was due to start earlier this month. The case shattered his political career: he resigned as a UK politician the same day he pleaded guilty.

The judge in Pryce's trial at London's Southwark Crown Court discharged the jury on Wednesday after jurors said it was "highly unlikely" they could reach even a majority verdict.

Pryce, an economist who has worked as a senior adviser in both the private sector and in government, will now face a retrial.

The details of her case riveted Britain, as deeply personal and embarrassing revelations about the powerful couple's 25-year marriage emerged.

Pryce and Huhne split in 2010 after it was revealed that he was having an affair with his public relations adviser.


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Fresh unrest erupts at Greek protests

POLICE in Athens have fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters as thousands of Greeks walked off the job to join the debt-ridden country's first general strike this year and oppose austerity measures.

About 15,000 striking workers took part in a Communist-organised demonstration in Athens on Wednesday and 20,000 more joined protests organised by other unions, according to police figures.

Another 15,000 people marched in Greece's northern metropolis Thessaloniki, local authorities said.

Protesters tried to firebomb a car in Athens and threw rocks at police, who fired back tear gas, while in the city of Iraklio on the island of Crete, demonstrators overturned a squad car, police said.

"Unpaid bills, slashed wages and pensions, boarded-up shops. Greek people cannot wait for saviours. Only by taking their fortunes into their own hands can they exit the stalemate," main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, head of the radical leftist Syriza party, told reporters.

The nationwide strike - the first general work stoppage in Greece this year - forced airport authorities to scrap or reschedule dozens of flights while hospitals operated on reduced staffing.

Ships were to remain docked throughout the day, disrupting ferry services to the islands. And although most public transport was to run, buses and train services expected disruptions.

Doctors, lawyers and teachers took part in the protest action organised by private sector union GSEE and the public sector ADEDY.

"No to modern sweat-shops, hands off collective labour agreements," read the main banner carried by Communist demonstrators in Athens.

"Everybody I know is unemployed," said Alexandra Papadatou, a 28-year-old jobless economist.

"I am fighting on the streets for this government, which passes all these measures, to fall," she told AFP.

"I am considered lucky because at least I have a salary, about 600 euros ($A782)," said Panayiotis Kolovos, a 25-year-old novice lawyer.

"This amount is probably a privilege for the majority of youth near my age. We truly marginally survive," Kolovos said.

Greece's three-party government insists there is no alternative to the harsh austerity program demanded by the country's creditors in return for vital loans to stave of bankruptcy.

Successive cuts to salaries and pensions over the past three years have angered Greeks who have frequently taken to the streets to demonstrate their frustration.

The government has pledged to remedy some of the cuts when the economy limps back into growth next year - a prospect that had been originally forecast for this year.

Facing a sixth year of continuous recession, the heavily indebted country has been relying on international rescue packages to avoid bankruptcy and get its economy back on track.

Since 2010 the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have committed 240 billion euros overall in rescue loans to Greece.

Auditors representing Greece's EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund creditors are expected in Athens next week to assess the progress of its program.

Their report will determine whether Athens will receive a scheduled slice of 2.8 billion euros from its international creditors due in February.

Among its obligations to its creditors, Greece must eliminate 25,000 civil service jobs this year, a measure set to cause further union trouble.

The government has seen its parliamentary majority erode after adopting in November a new 18.5 billion euro round of spending cuts and other reforms by 2016.

The coalition now has 163 deputies in the 300-seat chamber.


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Grenada's opposition wins election

A FORMER prime minister of Grenada is returning to power on the eastern Caribbean island after his party won all 15 constituencies in parliamentary elections.

Keith Mitchell's New National Party defeated the National Democratic Congress of outgoing leader Tillman Thomas in Tuesday's vote. Thomas had served as prime minister since 2008.

Elections supervisor Judy Benoit says preliminary results show the NNP received more than 31,000 votes and the NDC more than 20,000.

Grenada has nearly 110,000 inhabitants.

The 13 seats in the island's Senate are indirectly determined by the election. The new government appoints 10 of the seats while the opposition names three.


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