Stars gather as 'King's Speech' eyes Oscars crown

 HOLLYWOOD: British royal drama "The King's Speech" got another boost on the eve of what supporters hope will be its Oscars coronation Sunday, as stars gather for the climax of Tinsel Town's annual awards season.

The movie, nominated for 12 Academy Awards including best picture and best actor for Colin Firth, won best foreign film at the Spirit independent movie awards, barely 24 hours before the main Hollywood show.

Ballet thriller "Black Swan," nominated for five Oscars, won best film at the Spirits as well as best actress for Natalie Portman -- who is frontrunner in that category on Sunday.

With less than 24 hours to go before the annual awards mega-bash, stars were fine-tuning their acceptance speeches -- fingers crossed -- and

Fox enjoys high life on Britain's tallest tower

 LONDON: A death-defying fox clambered up Britain's tallest skyscraper and lived the high life on the 72nd floor of the tower in central London for nearly two weeks, officials revealed.

The intrepid animal climbed to the top of the Shard, which is more than 288 metres (945 feet) high and still under construction, where it enjoyed panoramic views over the British capital and lived off builders' scraps.

It managed to outfox its captors for almost a fortnight until February 17 when it was finally put into a cage and brought down from the tower, which will be the tallest skyscraper in Europe when it is complete.

It is believed the fox climbed up the building's central stairwell.

The fox, dubbed "Romeo" by his rescuers, was

Tea improves brain power, alertness

 AMSTERDAM: Natural ingredients found in a cup of tea can improve brain power and increase alertness, according to the latest study.

Researchers looked at the effect of key chemicals found in tea on the mental performance of 44 young volunteers.

The effects of these ingredients, an amino acid called L-theanine – which is also found in green tea – and caffeine at levels typically found in a cup of tea, were compared with a dummy treatment.

The active ingredients significantly improved accuracy across a number of switching tasks for those who drank the tea after 20 and 70 minutes, compared with the placebo

Imran wants Younis, Misbah to bat at 3-4 spots

The former Pakistan Captain Imran Khan believed that experienced batting duo of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq should bat at number three and four spots in ongoing Cricket World Cup (CWC) would be more fruitful and benefitting.
“Younis and Misbah are our best Pakistan batsmen and should bat up in the top order instead of batting in a crisis situation down,” he told a private Television Channel in his comments. Younis and Misbah have to bat under pressure situation if wickets fell early,” he said.
“War is always fought from the front and we

BREAKING NEWS: England and India play out an epic tie at Bangalore. India remain top of Group B

India 338 (49.5 ov)

England 338/8 (50.0 ov)

Match tied