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/ 19 August 2004

Famous film composer dies

Elmer Bernstein, the versatile, Academy Award-winning composer who scored such movie classics as The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Escape and True Grit, died on Wednesday. He was 82 and had been in failing health for some time.

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/ 18 August 2004

$5 000 for Tinkerbell

It’s been a rough month for hotel heiress Paris Hilton. First, her Hollywood Hills home was burglarised and now her pet chihuahua, Tinkerbell, has disappeared. Hilton, star of the Fox television network’s reality show The Simple Life II: Road Trip, is offering a  000 reward for her dog, missing since last Wednesday.

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/ 11 August 2004

Who can play the Man of Steel?

A powerful father from beyond the heavens sends his son on a fateful journey to Earth to become a saviour for humanity. James Caviezel starred in the Biblical version of that story in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Could he play out that premise again under different circumstances? Say, the comic-book version, with blue tights and a cape?

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/ 10 August 2004

Donald Duck finally gets his due

Cantankerous cartoon character Donald Duck was joined by his rival Mickey Mouse on Monday as the fiery fowl received his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ”Mickey isn’t even jealous,” Walt Disney chief Michael Eisner said. ”And all of our characters, particularly Daisy [Duck], want to thank you very much.”

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/ 26 July 2004

Dollars roll in for Michael Moore

What do Shrek, Spider-Man, Michael Moore and Harry Potter have in common? They have all produced -million movie hits this summer. Moore’s condemnation of United States President George Bush’s actions regarding the September 11 attacks in the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has earned ,35-million since opening in late June.

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/ 22 July 2004

$75bn headed for Microsoft shareholders

He’s been branded a corporate bully and hailed as technological visionary, but Microsoft’s plans for a record pay-out to shareholders has thrown the spotlight on to Bill Gates, the ultra-generous philanthropist. Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a plan to deliver an estimated -billion to its shareholders over the next four years.

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/ 17 July 2004

US battles wildfires

Armies of firefighters were on Friday battling fast-spreading wildfires across the western United States, including one menacing more than 1 000 homes in Nevada’s state capital, officials said. The towering flames in the Carson City blaze, the worst in history of the city of 50 000 people, have already charred 14 homes.

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/ 16 July 2004

Suspected thief claims $25m after police beating

A suspected car thief in the United States has filed a -million claim with the city of Los Angeles after allegedly being assaulted during his arrest. Stanley Miller claims that the beating caused severe injuries and left him with brain damage. City police dispute Miller’s claims, saying that his injuries were minor scrapes and bruises.

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/ 3 July 2004

‘Marlon has become immortal’

Marlon Brando, whose brooding, tongue-tied characters in The Wild One, On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire uttered some of the most famous lines in movie history, has died at the age of 80. The two-time Oscar winner died in a Los Angeles hospital late on Thursday, media reported on Friday.

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/ 23 June 2004

Another 482 people sued for swapping music

The music industry filed copyright infringement lawsuits against 482 computer users on Tuesday, the latest round of litigation by recording companies against suspected online music file-swappers. As in previous complaints brought by the industry this year, the lawsuits were filed against unnamed ”John Doe” defendants, identified only by their computers’ internet protocol addresses.

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/ 23 June 2004

LA Times cuts 190 jobs

The Los Angeles Times is eliminating about 190 jobs at its newspaper and community publications as part of a cost-cutting plan ordered by its corporate parent, Chicago-based Tribune. The Times said on Tuesday that 42 editorial employees accepted voluntary buyouts offered by the paper while another 20 newsroom staffers were laid off.

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/ 3 June 2004

Comic strip targets Iraq war

For much of middle America, as well as middle England and middle France and very possibly Middle Earth, the war in Iraq really hit home on April 19 this year. Opening their newspaper comic supplements or turning to the editorial page where some newspapers place the Doonesbury strip, readers were shocked by yet another piece of grisly news from Iraq. And this was news about someone they knew, some for more than 30 years.

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/ 18 May 2004

Ronnie rides again

Bedridden former US president Ronald Reagan, once known for his snappy soundbites, will soon be speaking publicly again — via a talking doll made in his likeness, manufacturers said on Monday. Reagan, now an ailing 93-year-old, is the latest political figure to get his own ”mini-me,” part of a line-up of dolls that includes President George Bush.

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/ 12 May 2004

Sony, Nintendo locked in hand-to-hand combat

Sony showed off a new portable video game device on Tuesday that promises very high-quality graphics, a challenge to market leader Nintendo. Nintendo’s GameBoy Advance has essentially cornered the handheld market since its debut in 2001. The company has faced down other portable-game rivals without ceding much of its base — but it has never gone against a competitor as formidable as Sony.

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/ 27 April 2004

Michael Jackson fires his lawyers

Act two of the Michael Jackson child molestation case gets under way this week with a new cast of lawyers taking centre stage. ”It is imperative that I have the full attention of those who are representing me. My life is at stake,” the pop star said as he announced firing his two high-profile lawyers, Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman.

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/ 17 March 2004

Standing near shoplifters can get you 25 years

Brian A Smith didn’t know the two women who were shoplifting. They were caught on security cameras stealing sheets at the Los Cerritos mall in Los Angeles and received a two-year sentence. But Smith was seen standing near the shoplifters as they committed their crime. Despite having no stolen goods, he was convicted of aiding and abetting them.

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/ 18 February 2004

Disney to buy the Muppets

Walt Disney said on Tuesday it will buy the Muppets characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and others, as well as the Bear in the Big Blue House franchise from The Jim Henson Company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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/ 14 January 2004

Another Oscar movie turns up on internet

A second movie sent to Academy Award voters has turned up on the internet. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the discovery of an unauthorised internet copy of the film The Last Samurai on Tuesday, a day after announcing a probe into an unauthorised copy of Something’s Gotta Give.

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/ 26 December 2003

Mudslide buries California youth camp

A mudslide swept over a Greek Orthodox youth camp in California, trapping 24 people as heavy rains triggered flooding in areas ravaged by deadly wildfires last month, authorities said. Fourteen people were rescued on Thursday, but 10 remained missing. Continuing rainfall hampered rescue efforts.

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/ 9 December 2003

So Hef, how does it feel to have won?

It all started on a kitchen table in Chicago 50 years ago when Hugh Hefner, a former scribe at Esquire magazine decided that the men of America deserved better. With of his own money and 000 more in loans he put together the first issue of the men’s magazine Playboy in December 1953.