LOS ANGELES: Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in the 82-year history of the Academy Awards to take the prize as her gritty Iraq War movie “The Hurt Locker” outshone “Avatar” after a nail-biting campaign season.

“The Hurt Locker” also took home the top prize, best picture, and four awards in other categories. “Avatar,” the 3D smash directed by Bigelow’s ex-husband, James Cameron, ended up with three awards, all in technical categories.

The acting races finished as expected and all four honorees took home the first statuettes of their careers.

Jeff Bridges won for his lead role as a drunken country singer who gets a shot at redemption in “Crazy Heart.” Sandra Bullock got the gold for playing a suburban mom who guides a homeless black teen to football stardom in “The Blind Side.”

In the supporting field, the prizes went to Austrian actor Christoph Waltz for the Nazi revenge fantasy “Inglourious Basterds,” and stand-up comic Mo’Nique for the dark urban drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

The biggest shocks were in the adapted screenplay and foreign-language film categories. Geoffrey Fletcher became the first African-American to win the writing prize, for his work on “Precious.” The prize had been expected to go to “Up in the Air,” a six-time nominee that was snubbed.

The Argentine crime drama “The Secret in their Eyes” (El secreto de sus ojos) beat Germany’s “The White Ribbon” (Das weisse Band) and France’s “A Prophet” (Un prophete) to claim the country’s second prize in the field.

BITTERSWEET VICTORY

In voting for “The Hurt Locker,” Hollywood insiders clearly showed a preference for a relatively obscure movie that suffered a similar commercial fate as other films revolving around the Iraq War.

With North American ticket sales of about $15 million — about half of what “Avatar” earned in its first day — “The Hurt Locker” is one of the least-commercial best-picture Oscar winners ever.

The film, based on a story by journalist Mark Boal, follows an American bomb-disposal squad in Iraq. Boal won an Oscar for his original screenplay, and was also a producer, along with Bigelow, Greg Shapiro and French financier Nicolas Chartier.

The best-picture win was a bittersweet moment for Chartier, who was banned from the ceremony last week after breaking Oscar campaign rules by sending out an e-mail to voters.

Bigelow, 58, shot the film in the Jordanian desert in the middle of summer almost three years ago on a shoestring budget of $15 million. It marked her first movie since the costly 2002 submarine flop “K19: The Widowmaker.”

Only three other women had ever been nominated for the directing Oscar, most recently Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” in 2004.

As Bigelow left the stage clutching her statuette, the orchestra played Helen Reddy’s feminist anthem “I Am Woman.” But the shy horse-lover has bristled at the “female filmmaker” tag, and her works are often showcases for strong male roles.

Even Cameron had predicted he would lose the directing race to Bigelow, with whom he has remained on good terms after the couple split in the early 1990s. But he had hoped to repeat the best-picture success he had 12 years ago with “Titanic.”

The race for the top Oscar thus pitted two ex-lovers against each other, with each claiming their film was the underdog: “The Hurt Locker” for obvious commercial reasons, and “Avatar” because sentiment largely seemed stacked against it.

Even though “Avatar” has made history with $2.6 billion in worldwide ticket sales and showcased Cameron’s bold moviemaking skills, Oscar voters traditionally ignore science-fiction. “Avatar” also lost some major races to “The Hurt Locker.”

Another new consideration this time saw organizers double the best picture field to 10 for the first time since 1943. The move was designed to bring more crowd-pleasing blockbusters and thereby arrest the event’s steadily declining ratings.

The voting rules accordingly changed for best picture, with a preferential system that favored consensus choices over more-divisive contenders.

All the acting winners were first-time nominees, except for Bridges. The 60-year-old scion of a Hollywood acting family had been nominated four times previously, dating back to 1972. “Crazy Heart” also won the Oscar for best song.

Bullock, 45, ran a close race with Meryl Streep for “Julie & Julia.” It’s now been 27 years since 16-time nominee Streep won her second Oscar.

Waltz, 53, who played a Nazi with a twinkle in his eye, becomes the first actor to win an Oscar for a film directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Mo’Nique’s role as a abusive mother was a departure for the 42-year-old comedienne. But she has said she got into character after recalling the sexual abuse she suffered as a youngster.

The three-and-a-half-hour ceremony, hosted at the Kodak Theater by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, drew real-time brickbats from bloggers. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “I don’t remember when I’ve seen a less exciting Oscarcast.”

Dubai’s police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel’s spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate.
Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that he would ask the Dubai prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the head of Mossad, a news channel reported. Tamim has said he is almost certain that Israeli agents were involved in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel in January, calling for Mossad’s boss, Meir Dagan, to be arrested if it is proved responsible. Tamim said that Mossad had “insulted” Dubai and Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by suspects in the assassination. Dubai has asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into prepaid cards issued by the Meta Financial Group’s MetaBank which the suspects used, a United Arab Emirates newspaper said. Citing an FBI source, The National newspaper said the investigation would look into any Israeli involvement in the killing. Thirteen of the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms, the newspaper said, quoting Dubai police. The UAE, a US-allied Arab state that backs the Palestinian drive for an independent state and an end to Israeli occupation, has no diplomatic relations with Israel. But it has established low-level political and trade links in recent years, with some Israeli officials attending events in the Gulf Arab state. Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer competed in the Dubai Championships last month. Members of the hit squad used fraudulent passports from Britain, Ireland, Germany, France and Australia. Residents of Israel with the same names as the suspects, holding dual nationalities, have said their identities appear to have been stolen. The passport abuse has drawn criticism from the European Union, and some of the governments involved have summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries to protest.

French media, politicians and nationalists strongly criticized the restaurants offering halal burgers. The termed the halal burgers as an Islamic tax on France and called to stop it forthwith. The reaction came in wake of a move by a French fast-food chain to offer halal menus at a handful of restaurants. The Quick chain has taken pork off its menu in eateries in Roubaix, northern France, as well as in Marseille and in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil to try to tap into the growing market of Muslim customers.
But politicians from the left and right have complained that the switch to no-bacon hamburgers, launched three months ago in November, is depriving non-Muslims of their right to the standard menu.

LONDON: Indians 8th Most Attractive People in World, Indians figure in the list of 10 most attractive people in the world with Americans topping the chart, a survey has found.

Brazil comes second in the poll of more than 5,000 globe-trotting Britons.

Spain is third while Australia — with its blonde, tanned surfers — was voted into fourth place. Italy is fifth, Sweden sixth and England seventh in the poll.

India — home to Bollywood beauties Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, and heartthrob Salman Khan — is eighth. France follows at nine and Canada finishes off the top 10.

“America has got a lot on offer and boasts of some of the sexiest people on the planet,” a spokeswoman for www.OnePoll.com — which carried out the survey — was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.

“The likes of Jessica Alba, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt (all Hollywood actors) help America’s image as a hot bed of good looking people. But with a population of more than 300 million, they do have an unfair advantage.”

“But in fairness, when you think of good looking countries, Sweden, Italy, France and Brazil all spring to mind before us lazy, pale Brits,” the spokeswoman said. “If you’re looking for some fun in the sun, you now know where to head.”

Iran was considering a new offer from Russia, the United States and France on nuclear fuel enrichment, an Iranian news agency reported.
“Different countries have contacted Iran, and we are reviewing their offers,” Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told ILNA, referring to the three members of the six world powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme. However, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero denied that any new proposal had been made, at least on the part of France. “Mr Salehi should know that the only proposal was that presented last October by the IAEA, which has not so far received any satisfactory response,” a foreign news agency quoted Valero as saying.
Under a plan drawn up last October by the UN nuclear watchdog and approved by the Iran Six, the Islamic Republic was to ship out its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment and subsequently send it to France where it would be made into fuel rods. Tehran stalled and then rejected the plan, suggesting it could consider a simultaneous swap of its low-enriched uranium for 20%-enriched uranium, but that the exchange should be simultaneous and would have to take place on its own territory. Iran started the production of 20% enriched uranium last Tuesday in the presence of the head of Iran’s nuclear agency and IAEA officials.

BRUSSELS : At least 25 Dead in Belgian Train Collision, Two commuter trains collided head-on at rush hour in a Brussels suburb Monday, killing as many as 25 people, Belgian rail officials said. Other officials said the death toll was lower.

Belgian National Railways told the VRT radio network that 25 people had died. The suburb’s mayor said the death toll was 20. Lodewijk De Witte, governor of the province of Flemish Brabant, told VRT that 10 people were killed.

The trains collided in light snow just outside of the station at Buizingen around 8:30 a.m. (0730GMT).

Television reports showed that the force of the collision pushed the first car of each train up off the tracks. The cars ended up resting against each other. Photos from the scene showed another car that appeared to have tipped onto its side. Rescuers rushed victims on stretchers along the tracks.

“The most recent information we have is that 20 people died,” town Mayor Dirk Pieters told. “I base this on what the police and firefighters tell me.”

There was no immediate word on the number of injured.

Pieters said the seriously hurt were taken to hospitals and the lightly injured were moved to a Buizingen sports complex.

The crash caused massive damage to overhead power lines. Eurostar reported on its Web site that its high-speed trains had suspended service in and out of Brussels and could remain shut down all day.

The international high-speed network Thalys, which links major cities in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, temporarily halted all traffic because its trains use the same rails as commuter lines near Hal, said Patricia Baars, a company spokeswoman.

At least four Thalys trains were stopped en route, and the railway operator deployed staffers to stations where they were rerouted to provide assistance to travelers on board, she said.

“No (Thalys) train is moving for the moment … it’s very hard to know today when services will resume,” she said. “It appears this was a very severe accident.”

Thalys has at least 25 round-trip trains operating between Paris and Brussels each day, plus seven linking Brussels and Amsterdam and six from Belgium to Cologne, Germany.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

It was the most serious Belgian train crash since March 28, 2001, when eight people died when a crowded train plowed into an empty train driving on the wrong tracks.

French Minister to Convert to Marry Muslim lover, The architect of France’s burka ban was about to convert to Islam to marry his secret Muslim girlfriend.
Eric Besson, the country’s 51-year-old immigration minister, has admitted the relationship with Yasmine Tordjman, a Paris art student less than half his age. The French media has aired the likelihood Mr Besson, the hardline conservative, to convert to Islam to marry his girlfriend. The revelation comes as – tipped as a future prime minister – spearheads a campaign against non-Christian religions and cultures swamping France. He has called for Islamic head coverings such as the burka to be outlawed and wants potential immigrants to take French tests and swear allegiance to the Republic. His policies apply particularly to those arriving from Muslim countries, who do not share the same values as France’s predominantly Roman Catholic population. Miss Tordjman, who is in her early 20s, comes from a prominent family of Tunisian Muslims connected to the country’s former president, Habib Bourguiba. Before Christmas, divorced father-of-three Mr Besson travelled to the North African country to meet her mother, prompting speculation he would marry in June.

Richard Holbrooke has said that he has no plans of helping India and Pakistan at the moment. Pakistan is justified to look into matters of security due to its Geographical and Defense condition.
Holbrooke says he would welcome easing of tensions and improving relations between Pakistan and India, however both countries need to work out their own ways to improve their relations. Holbrooke says that during his trips to India he is always asked to play a role to improve relations however Holbrooke said that he is not playing any roles to ease tensions between the two countries.
It is important to have good relations between the two countries to solve the problems of Afghanistan.

An Iraqi court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussein henchman widely known as “Chemical Ali”, on Sunday to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 Kurds, a court official said.
Many women and children were killed in gas attack. Kurdish people in Arbil city for their part expressed their satisfaction with this verdict.

Germany has advised its internet users to avoid using Microsoft Internet Explorer and opt for other browsing software due to security risks to Internet Explorer. The advice was issued by Federal Office of Information Security at a time when Microsoft has admitted that one of the reasons for the recent attacks on Google system was due to the flaws in security of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft’s German representative has rejected the advice saying that the people who attacked Google’s system had a specific agenda. Microsoft has said that steps have been taken to enhance the browser’s security. German officials still believe that Internet Explorer is not completely safe.