ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

FILM/ "KING'S SPEECH" TOPS BAFTA NOMS: With 14 nominations, Tom Hooper's "The King’s Speech" is in pole position to be crowned the big winner at this year’s Orange British Academy Film Awards. Hooper secured a best director nomination and the picture a best film nod. Golden Globe winner Colin Firth continues to build momentum in the awards season with a best actor nomination slot while the film’s Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush secured a best supporting actress and supporting actor bid each. Firth goes head to head with Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network," Jeff Bridges in "True Grit," Javier Bardem in "Biutiful" and James Franco in "127 Hours". Darren Aronofsky’s "Black Swan" is the second most nominated title, with 12, including best film. "Swan" also earned nominations for Natalie Portman for leading actress and Barbara Hershey in the supporting actress category. Portman will be up against Hailee Steinfeld’s turn in "True Grit," Noomi Rapace in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, both nominated for the same film, "The Kids Are Alright". "The Social Network," named best film drama at Sunday's Golden Globes, earned 6 nominations. It will compete with "Speech," "Swan," "Inception" and the Coen brothers' western remake "True Grit" for best film. The Orange British Academy Film Awards take place February 13 at the Royal Opera House, London. Full details on all nominations can be found on the BAFTA website.

TV/ "SPARTACUS" REPLACEMENT NAMED: Liam McIntyre will replace Andy Whitfield, who is battling cancer, on "Spartacus," Starz network announced yesterday. McIntyre, pictured left, will play the Thracian warrior sold into slavery in the Roman Republic city of Capua. Whitfield gave his blessing to the casting, the networks said in a statement. "Since no one can really replace Andy, we realized that we should instead find an actor who can truly lead ‘Spartacus’ forward,” Starz said. “It was important to us to have Andy endorse the idea of recasting this part, which he did in the same heroic manner that he’s dealt with his whole ordeal. And that, coupled with our fortune in finding a young actor with the gladiator credentials and the acting ability of Liam, makes it easier for us to keep this hit franchise going".  McIntyre appeared in HBO's "The Pacific". He's also appeared in "Neighbours" and "Rush" in his native Australia. He's currently training for the role in New Zealand. Production on the series is slated to resume in spring 2011. The show debuted January 2010 as the most-watched premiere in Starz' history.

TV/ REGIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Regis Philbin announced today that he is retiring from his show. Philbin delivered the news at the start of Tuesday morning's "Live With Regis and Kelly," which he has hosted for more than a quarter-century, most recently sharing hosting duties with Kelly Ripa. He said he would be stepping down from the show around the end of the summer, though he didn't specify a departure date. "I don't want to alarm anybody," he began, then said, "This will be my last year on the show". The show's distributors, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, said in a statement the "Live" franchise will continue, adding that a new co-host will be named to join Ripa, who marks 10 years with the show next month. But Philbin, referring to his time left on the show, assured viewers, "We'll have a lot of fun between now and then".

MUSIC/ CHER SETS BILLBOARD RECORD: Cher has taken her latest single, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" to the top. On Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs chart to be released this Thursday, the song reaches #1, making Cher the only act to have notched a #1 single on a Billboard chart in each of the last 6 decades. In response, Cher told Billboard:  "How can it be six decades when I'm only four decades?". "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" is lifted from Cher's film "Burlesque" and won a Golden Globe Award for best original song this past Sunday.  Cher collected her 1st #1 on a Billboard list August 14, 1965, when Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" began its 1st of 3 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In the '70s, she racked up a trio of Hot 100 #1s on her own with the story songs "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971), "Half-Breed" (1973) and "Dark Lady" (1974). She notched another '70s #1 with Sonny, "All I Ever Need Is You," on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart in 1971. Moving into the '80s, the AC chart continued to be a friend to Cher, as she locked up #1s in 1989 with "After All," with Peter Cetera, and her iconic "If I Could Turn Back Time." In the '90s, Cher stormed back to the Hot 100, where she reigned for 4 weeks at #1 in 1999 with the title track from her album "Believe." The song would go on to finish 1999 has the year's top Hot 100 single. It also hit #1 on our Dance/Club Songs chart in 1999, as did 2 more singles from "Believe": "Strong Enough" and "All or Nothing." In the '00s, Cher landed a further pair of  #1s on Dance/Club Play Songs: "A Different Kind of Love Song" in 2002 and "When the Money's Gone" in 2003, both from her album "Living Proof."

MUSIC/ ELTON INTRODUCES HIS NEW SON: Elton John and David Furnish have posed for their 1st pictures with new son Zachary. The baby was born to a surrogate mother on Christmas Day and appears with the couple on the cover of the British OK! magazine. John told the magazine: “He shot out like a rocket. There just aren’t proper words to describe that feeling ever. It’s indescribable. It was just, ‘We have a son!’” He also revealed that he would not spoil the child. “I’m ready to have a child and lavish my love on our son and not spoil him materially,” he said. The couple said that they had not given up hope of caring for an HIV-positive Ukrainian toddler and his 3 year old brother. They met the pair at an orphanage for children whose parents had fallen victim to AIDS last year. John said at the time that Lev, 18 months, had “stolen” his heart. The couple were not allowed to adopt the children because John was deemed too old. He told OK!: “We’re still consulting about finding the best possible home for them".

MUSIC/ DON KIRSHNER DIES AT 77: Don Kirshner, legendary American music publisher, died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida of heart failure. He was 77. A renowned song publisher and rock producer, Kirshner is best known for managing the songwriting talent behind the successful pop music television series The Monkees and later The Archies, and also for his signature television program "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". He achieved his 1st major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with Al Nevin. They had several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building'" under contract including Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield,  Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.  As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was influential in starting the career of artists such as Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond and Tony Orlando as well as discovering rock acts such as Kansas. In September 1973, Kirshner created, produced, and eventually hosted his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". He was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2007. Kirshner is survived by his family.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

WORLD/ HAITI POLICE DETAIN DUVALIER: Police in Haiti today took away Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former dictator who abruptly returned to this country nearly 25 years after being forced from power, leading him out of the high-end hotel where he has been huddled since his arrival. The police did not indicate where Duvalier was being taken, and it remained unclear whether Duvalier would be arrested or simply questioned. One year after the nation was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, the country has been grappling to absorb the potentially destabilizing blow of Duvalier’s surprise return on Sunday, which drew condemnations from around the world and ignited new fears of conflict. Duvalier, known as Baby Doc, returned to Haiti 24 years and 11 months after he was forced to flee the country by a tide of social upheaval driven by severe poverty and his regime’s brutal political repression. He has faced threats of prosecution in the past for the many human rights abuses committed during his rule, and for the hundreds of millions of dollars government officials have said he looted from the country. He is also implicated in the alleged torture and murder of thousands of people. In a brief radio interview, Duvalier said he had returned only to help his country, not to get involved in politics.

WORLD/ LANDMARK GAY RIGHTS COURT VICTORY IN UK: A gay couple have won their case against the owners of a hotel after being refused a double room. Martin Hall and Steven Preddy, who are civil partners, sued devout Christians Peter and Hazelmary Bull for sexual orientation discrimination. Judge Rutherford, at Bristol crown court, ruled that the Bulls had directly discriminated against the gay couple on the ground of their sexual orientation. Hall and Preddy were awarded compensation of £1800 each. They began their case after the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Cornwall, owned by the Bulls, denied them a double room on the basis that they were a gay couple. Mr and Mrs Bull argued that they barred all unmarried couples from sharing rooms but the gay couple claimed that a straight couple could pretend to be married. In the ruling the judge said the right of the defendants to manifest their religion is not absolute and “can be limited to protect the rights and freedoms of the claimants”. It is believed the couple will appeal.

US/ ZENYATTA NAMED HORSE OF THE YEAR: Zenyatta won Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards last night. The award caps a remarkable career for the popular Zenyatta, one of the sport's greatest mares. She was 19-0 before losing her final race to Blame in the Breeders' Cup Classic last November. Zenyatta's 3 year body of work and charismatic personality swayed voters her way. She cost her owners only $60,000 when they purchased her as a yearling in 2005, and she went on to win 13 Grade 1 stakes, including 5 last year. She's now at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky awaiting her first breeding date, with the stallion to be announced soon.

US/ RILEY CELEBRATES HIS BIRTHDAY: Riley, known around the world as the smiling dog, has celebrated his 2nd birthday in San Jose. The Bichon Frise/Poodle mix became known last year when photos from his 1st birthday went viral. Since that time, his owner has captured the dog with many different human like expressions. In the picture, Riley is about to tuck into a cupcake, sprinkled with dog treats.

AVIATION/ BOEING MOVES 787 DELIVERY TO 3RD QUARTER

Boeing announced today that it now expects delivery of the 1st 787 Dreamliner to launch customer ANA to be in the 3rd quarter of this year. The much delayed aircraft was last scheduled to begin delivery next month, however an inflight fire on a test aircraft on November 9, which grounded the test fleet, pushed back the schedule. The new delivery date reflects the impact of the fire and includes the time required to produce, install and test updated software and new electrical power distribution panels in the flight test and production airplanes. "This revised timeline for 1st delivery accommodates the work we believe remains to be done to complete testing and certification of the 787," said a Boeing spokesman. "We've also restored some margin in the schedule to allow for any additional time that may be needed to complete certification activities".

AVIATION/ POLAND BLAMES RUSSIA ATC FOR SMOLENSK CRASH

The Polish commission investigating the April 2010 crash of the POLAND AIR FORCE Tupolev TU154M in Smolensk, Russia, said today that Russian air traffic controllers were under pressure, made a number of errors and failed to warn the Polish Pilots that they were off course. They also revealed that the signal “Horizon,” which basically means “pull the plane up, you won't make it,” was given too late by controllers and that the Polish crew was not informed of the extremely bad weather conditions at Smolensk or of the alternative Airports at which they could have landed safely. It did not say exactly who had exerted pressure on Russian traffic controllers at the time when President Lech Kaczynski's plane crashed, killing the Polish President and 95 others. Poland's Interior Minister Jerzy Miller said he hoped lessons would be learned from the crash."I believe it is not only in Polish but also in Russian interests, in the interest of everyone who will be landing at Severny Airport, to draw conclusions from the tragedy," he said. Russia's MAK  released its report on January 12 citing Pilot Error as the main cause of the April 10, 2010 crash, that occurred when the presidential plane hit trees while landing in thick fog near Smolensk. Miller said, in particular, it was inappropriate to speculate on what Polish Air Force chief Andrzej Blasik was doing onboard and whether his presence might or might not have affected the crew. The MAK report asserted that Gen. Blasik's presence in the cockpit was a strong contributory factor to the crash and that it "had a psychological impact on the crewmembers and influenced their decision to land in any conditions". "We were surprised by the mention of Gen. Blasik's name because it is a passenger's name. In cases like that passengers are not subject to the kind of analysis that was conducted and made public by the Russians," Miller said.

AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

*The Montana Essential Air Service Task Force selected GULFSTREAM INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to serve 7 Eastern Montana cities, rather than renew the contract with GREAT LAKES AIRLINES of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The recommendation now goes to the US DOT, which has always abided by the Task Force decisions, is expected to rule within a week. If approved, beginning on May 1, Gulfstream will fly to Lewistown, Havre, Glendive, Wolf Point, Glasgow, Sidney and Miles City, as Great Lakes did. Gulfstream willl use Billings as a hub, while Great Lakes had been using Denver as its hub. In a statement, Gulfstream said the carrier will have 3 planes to service Montana, plus 1 spare. The federal government heavily subsidizes EAS flights to cities that don’t have enough business to attract commercial air service. BIG SKY AIRLINES, which flew to Eastern Montana for nearly 3 decades, went out of business in March 2008. Commercial air service didn’t resume for nearly a year until Great Lakes started flying the routes in early 2009.

*Brazilian airframer EMBRAER reported yesterday that it delivered 246 jets in 2010, including 92 in the 4th quarter. The full year's deliveries were made up of 100 commercial aircraft, 144 executive jets and 2 defence models. Embraer's firm order backlog at the end of the year was worth US$15.6bn, which is 2% higher than at the end of the 3rd quarter.

*Airbus said they remain confident that Airbus Military's A400M transport will gain certification by the end of the year, despite reports in the German media that the country's parliament may delay a crucial funding decision. The airframer is hoping that the German government will approve the funding, which was agreed to in November, this week. Airbus said that the start of series production "is imminent" and that civil certification will take place before the end of the year.

*Spanish Airports have returned to the control of AENA, the Spanish Airports Authority, after the State of Alarm was lifted this past weekend. It was introduced following the strike action taken by air traffic controllers on December 4, putting the Airports under military control. It was the 1st time the measure had been used in democratic Spain.

*JAPAN AIR LINES, which hopes to complete bankruptcy proceedings by the end of March, has decided to revive its former crane logo to signal a fresh start. The logo depicting a Japanese red-crowned crane in red and white with its wings forming a circular shape will be slightly updated for its reintroduction, with the "JAL" text element to be rendered in a new typeface. JAL first used the logo in 1954, the year after it began flying on international routes, to add a Japanese touch to marketing materials. The company registered the logo as a trademark in 1959 and officially adopted it as the company emblem, branding JAL aircraft with the crane. The carrier dropped the logo, pictured above in Honolulu, in 2008.

*JETSTAR ASIA announced plans to begin Singapore-Hangzhou services in March. The carrier will begin with a 3x weekly service on March 22 and increase that to 4x weekly by March 27. An Airbus A320 will be used on the route. Hangzhou will become Jetstar's 7th destination in the Greater China region. From Singapore's Changi Airport, Jetstar serves Haikou, Shantou and Guilin in mainland China. It also has flights to Hong Kong, Taipei and Macau.

*AMERICAN AIRLINES Flight 930 was searched upon arrival in Miami, Florida, yesterday, January 17, after a "suspicious item" was identified in its cargo hold. According to media reports, after arriving from Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 8:46am, the aircraft parked at the gate, pictured above, and in the process of unloading the cargo, a suspicious item was identified. The bomb squad was dispatched and the item in question was declared safe at 10:37am. The item was later identified as an empty holder for detonators used in construction or oil drilling. The carrier said it would review how and why the item was shipped from Brazil.

*A laser was flashed into the cockpit of a chartered Boeing 767 carrying the Seattle Seahawks football team as it approached Sea-Tac Airport, on Sunday, January 16. The 767, enroute from Chicago, was about 2 miles from the Sea-Tac Airport when the incident occurred. The Pilots reported no vision problems during the incident and the aircraft landed without incident. An investigation has been opened.

*An ALBERTA AIR AMBULANCE Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, being operated on a medivac flight from Slave Lake by CAN-WEST AIR, slid off the runway upon landing in snowfall in Edmonton, AB, Canada, on Sunday, January 16. The 3 passengers and 2 Pilots onboard were taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital as a precaution, with a report 1 of those onboard suffered minor injuries. The King Air, pictured above, suffered damage to its right propeller and tires. An investigation has been opened.

*A BMI BABY airliner sparked a security alert when it lost contact with air traffic control as it neared Manchester, England, on Sunday, January 16. The aircraft, enroute from Prague, went silent for an unspecified amount of time. RAF Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled, however by the time they arrived at the side of the BMI Baby aircraft, the crew had once again established contact with ATC. The aircraft, type not identified. is undergoing inspection and the incident is under investigation.

*DELTA AIRLINES Flight 173, a Boeing 747, had to make an emergency diversion to Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, January 15. While inflight at 30000 feet, near Churchill, MB, Canada, the crew reported an engine malfunction and requested diversion to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota. While enroute at 27000 feet to MSP, and near Sioux Lookout, ON, Canada, the crew declared an emergency. The 747 was then diverted to Detroit, where it safely landed and was removed from service for repair.

*AMERICAN AIRLINES Flight 694, a MD83, had to make an emergency return to Calgary, AB, Canada, on Saturday, January 1. The incident was just made public yesterday. The crew declared an emergency on their initial climb, when after retracting the landing gear, they noted the right hand hydraulic pressure and quantity indication drop to zero. In a statement, NAV Canada said a trail of hydraulic fluid was found from the gate the MD83 departed from, to taxiway G and F and then on the takeoff runway. Upon return to Calgary, the aircraft became disabled on the runway and had to be towed. The aircraft underwent major repairs and has returned to service.

SNAPSHOTS

THE UNITED STATES HONORS MARTIN LUTHER KING TODAY AS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY. IT IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOLIDAY.

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