CURRENT NEWS ITEM: 'RATATOUILLE' COMPOSER TO CONDUCT OSCARS THIS YEAR

TOP - 50 RELEVANT BREAKING NEWS

1. 'Ratatouille' composer to conduct Oscars

   The next time an Academy Award winner's acceptance speech runs long, a new conductor will strike up the band to play them off.

2. 'Ratatouille' composer nabs Oscar gig

   The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has tapped "Ratatouille" composer Michael Giacchino as music director for the upcoming Oscars ceremony.

3. 'Ratatouille' composer to lead Oscar orchestra

   Michael Giacchino's credits include "The Incredibles" and "Lost."

4. Bruins' Brigham Harwell grateful for five-year plan

   Senior defensive tackle received a fifth year of eligibility after missing most of last season because of a knee injury, and he's determined to make the most of it. UCLA's Brigham Harwell had finally received the telephone call he'd waited for all last winter. A fifth year of eligibility to play football had been granted.

5. Building for next year

   Berkshire side Theale & Tilehurst are already laying the foundations for next season after winning a £250 voucher from Build Center.

6. Uzbekistan: Shock at journalist's ten year prison sentence

   Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage at a ten-year prison sentence handed down today by a court in Nukus, in the west of the country, to Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, correspondent for several independent websites. Reporters Without Borders questioned foreign minister, Vladimir Norov

7. Japan Used Vehicle Sales Hit 23-Year Low in 1st Half

   Used automobile sales in Japan fell 4.2 pct in the fiscal first half from a year before to their lowest level in 23 years, an industry group said Friday. The drop was attributed to a decrease in the number of

8. Birthday tears as parents fly Catherine back home to die 'Locked-in' syndrome sufferer Catherine O'Leary with her nine-year-old son Brandon.

   Mother-of-one Catherine O'Leary should be celebrating her 32nd birthday tomorrow, but instead her parents are bringing her home to die.

9. Footsie loses £92bn in fall to 5-year low

   FINANCIAL stocks bore the brunt yesterday as the FTSE 100 suffered its third-biggest one-day percentage drop during a rout of inter-national money markets.

10. A 100-Year-Old Dream: A Road Just for Cars

    The Long Island Motor Parkway, built 100 years ago by William Kissam Vanderbilt II, was one of the first roads built specifically for the automobile.

11. Year of culture brings silverware back to Merseyside

    The biggest trophies in European football go on display at Liverpool's World Museum.

12. Kings give Kopitar 7-year, $48m extension

    The Los Angeles Kings announced on Saturday a seven-year contract extension for young forward Anze Kopitar.

13. Kings reach agreement with Anze Kopitar on seven-year extension

    The deal for the 21-year-old center is worth $47.6 million. General Manager Dean Lombardi often refers to the Kings' youth-fueled rebuilding process as "turning it over to the kids."

14. Kyle Busch cruises to 20th NASCAR win of year

    Read full story for latest details.

15. Rwanda: Striker Mulenda Banned for One Year

    ATRACO and Amavubi Stars marksman Abedi Mulenda has been banned by Ferwafa for one year from participating in the Rwanda football league following a breach of transfer rule.

16. Voting never gets old for 107-year-old N.B. woman

    Although Flora Thibodeau, 107, has lived through dozens of federal elections, the Rogersville, N.B., native says voting should never get old.

17. Kings sign centre Kopitar to seven-year contract extension

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Kings have signed center Anze Kopitar to a seven-year contract extension, the NHL team said on Saturday.

18. Security is first test of school year in Iraq

    As calm settles over more parts of the country, parents must decide if it is safe enough to send their children back to school.

19. Kopitar lands 7-year extension

    Read full story for latest details.

20. Ellen Whitaker keeps it in family as she wins Zinc Management Speed Horse of the Year

    Ellen Whitaker rode her veteran Cortaflex Kanselier to victory in the Zing Management Speed Horse of the Year.

21. Take a sneak peek at this year's luxury wish list

    Sneak a peek at the luxury items in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog.

22. Virginia Ironside's Dilemmas: I've recently learnt that my 11-year-old daughter sent a vile email to a boy at her school.

    Dear Virginia, I've recently learnt that my 11-year-old daughter sent a vile email to a boy at her school. The boy's mother says my daughter used foul language and wrote that she'd like to kill him slowly and painfully, after he stopped 'going out' with another girl. My daughter is charming and I know she didn't mean this, but on email, everything can get twisted. She wrote this email with a friend, but doesn't seem to understand how out of order it was. How can I explain? Yours sincerely, Felicity

23. This year’s Christmas TV is … blank: digital blackout warning

    Thousands of Scots face a pre-Christmas TV blackout because they are unprepared for the arrival of digital TV, it has been revealed.

24. Boy charged with murdering 13-year-old

25. One Year Into Retirement, Ballesteros Has Brain Tumor

    Seve Ballesteros said he was preparing for the “hardest challenge” of his life Sunday after announcing he had a brain tumor.

26. Fast-Moving Fire in Brooklyn Kills Man and His 12-Year-Old Nephew

    Flames raced through an apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn, killing a man and the nephew he was raising, fire officials and witnesses said.

27. This year 377 cases of AIDS has been registered in Kharkiv region

    Kharkiv region takes 8th position among other regions of Ukraine according to AIDS prevalence rate, as the head of the main department of health care of the state regional administration Oleksadr Halatsan.

28. World's 10 best paid authors made $563M last year

    While the publishing industry has struggled to come up with a "Happily Ever After" storyline in recent years, there's still plenty of money to be made in the business of books.

29. 106-year-old Obama-supporting nun shocked by fame

    ROME (Reuters) - A 106-year-old American nun who became a minor celebrity after she appeared on television saying she is voting for Barack Obama is "startled and a bit anguished" by all the attention she is getting, her order said on Monday.

30. Poolbeg 'will get go-ahead next year'

    CONSTRUCTION of the controversial Poolbeg incinerator will begin early next year after the Environmen-tal Protection Agency issues Dublin City Council with a licence to operate the plant.

31. Vioxx risk lingers at least 1 year after using drug

    A doubled risk of heart attack, stroke and death persisted at least a year after people stopped taking withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, according to an analysis of long-term data.

32. Tired Federer plans to pace himself for rest of year

    MADRID (Reuters) - A weary Roger Federer will pace himself carefully for the rest of the season, the world number two said on Monday.

33. 76ers pick up third-year options Young, Smith

    The Philadelphia 76ers picked up the third-year options on the contracts of Jason Smith and forward Thaddeus Young on Monday.

34. FB Keasey out for the year

    Fullback Zak Keasey is out for the season after injuring his right arm during the 49ers' loss to Philadelphia. Keasey apparently tore his biceps tendon during special teams play late in the first half. He will be placed on injured reserve soon, coach Mike Nolan said Monday. A fourth-year pro who played linebacker at Princeton, Keasey won the 49ers' fullback job by beating out veteran Moran Norris in training camp. Coordinator Mike Martz's offense doesn't use a fullback extensively, but backup tight end Delanie Walker filled in for Keasey on a few snaps in the second half against the Eagles.

35. Oscars pundits predict a nom for Rourke

    The only consensus picks: Mickey Rourke for best actor and Anne Hathaway for best actress and "Frost/Nixon" for best picture.

36. 12-year-old boy is one of two shot dead near L.A. Convention Center

    The other victim is an 18-year-old man. Police say the Sunday night shooting is believed to be gang-related. A 12-year-old boy was one of two people killed when gunmen opened fire on a group gathered west of the Los Angeles Convention Center, police said Monday.

37. Drink-driving kills 120 every year on roads, expert claims

    Drink-driving is claiming the lives of almost 120 people every year on Irish roads, a public health specialist claimed yesterday.

38. John Walsh: 'You can't mark down a school because there's a lard-arse in Year 13'

    Ofsted is an organisation with an obsession. It exists to inspect and assess every state school in the country and write reports about whether they are "outstanding" or "inadequate" or something in between. But how can it tell? How can you look at the baggy monster of a modern academic hall, with 750 short, noisy and stroppy individuals streaming in and out (and that's just the teachers) and say anything meaningful about its virtues and vices? How can you make any useful judgements when you have only a day or two to inspect classrooms, gyms, science blocks, staffroom, library, assembly hall, bike sheds and correctional facility? Especially when Ofsted always tells its victims that they're coming in a week's time, to check for signs of woodworm/drugs/Creationism.