The Harlem drama Precious took the best picture prize as it dominated the Spirit Awards, winning four other honors that included trophies for stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique.
Jeff Bridges won best actor for the country-music tale Crazy Heart during Friday’s event honoring independent film, and Woody Harrelson won supporting actor for the war-on-terror drama The Messenger. Sidibe won best actress for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, playing an illiterate teen pulling herself out of an abyss of neglect and abuse. Mo’Nique earned the supporting-actress honor as the girl’s loathsome mother.
All four acting winners are up for the same honors at the Academy Awards, where Bridges and Mo’Nique are the front-runners and newcomer Sidibe was nominated for her screen debut.
“Gabby, you are truly a special gift to the universe, baby,’’ Mo’Nique said. “For people to get to know you and be in your presence, they are all honored.’’
Mo’Nique said backstage that she had not prepared a speech for the Oscars, “because I think the universe would say, ‘You have a lot of nerve.’’’ Precious swept every category for which it was nominated, including directing honors for Lee Daniels as well as best screenplay by a first-time writer for Geoffrey Fletcher. He and Daniels also are nominated at the Oscars, where Precious is among the best-picture contenders.
US rapper Snoop Dogg has won the latest round in a long-running battle with British border authorities to be allowed into the country.
The 38-year-old, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was originally denied entry in 2007, forcing him and fellow rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs to cancel the British dates of their European tour.
The ban relates to Snoop Dogg’s arrest at Heathrow airport in 2006 following a fracas involving members of his entourage.
In 2008 the ban was lifted but when the UK Border Agency challenged the decision, it went to an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Earlier this week, the tribunal announced its decision that to deny him entry had been wrong.
“We are disappointed by the tribunal’s decision in this case,” a UK Border Agency spokesperson said on Friday.
“We are studying the determination carefully and will take a decision whether to appeal.”
The performer has had a series of brushes with the law in recent years.
In 2007 he pleaded no contest to gun and drugs charges in the US. The same year he was barred from entering Australia after failing a character test.
British supermodel Naomi Campbell on Thursday declared an end to her war with a limousine driver after he apologized for getting police involved and accusing her of beating him over the head.
On Tuesday, New York police sought the model over an allegation that she hit her driver in the back of the head while he was driving, causing his face to slam against the steering wheel of the Cadillac Escalade.
But two days later the driver issued an apologetic statement and said he had been over-reacting when he accused Campbell of attacking him with a cellphone from the back seat
of the car.
“On March 2nd, I had an argument with Naomi Campbell, I got angry and overreacted. It was a misunderstanding and I regret involving the police,” the statement said.
“This whole thing has been blown out of proportion and I apologize to Ms Campbell for causing that to happen.”
Police did not file charges against Campbell and the hot-tempered catwalk diva said the matter was closed and that she just wanted “to put the last few days behind me and move on.”
“I try to treat everyone with respect and I am pleased the driver has apologized,” Campbell said in a statement. “I would like to put the last few days behind me and move on.”
Campbell has a record of violent tantrums.
In 2008, she pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers in London’s Heathrow Airport. She also pleaded guilty to throwing her cell phone at a maid in New York.
On Tuesday, according to police, the driver said Campbell hit him, then left the scene on foot after he stopped the vehicle and went to talk to a traffic police officer.
Police said the driver suffered a minor injury under his eye.
Campbell said: “I have worked very hard on correcting my previous wrongdoings and I will not be held hostage to my past.”
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
No one saw it coming. Everyone — including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — expected at least some of the recall campaigns against 24 of its lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) to succeed. Underground gamblers reportedly expected between five and eight lawmakers to lose their jobs. All of this analysis made sense, but contained a fatal flaw. The record of the recall campaigns, the collapse of the KMT-led recalls, and polling data all pointed to enthusiastic high turnout in support of the recall campaigns, and that those against the recalls were unenthusiastic and far less likely to vote. That
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