Martin Scorsese to be honoured with Humanitarian award

Legendary director Martin Scorsese will be honored with the ‘Humanitarian’ award by the Multicultural Motion Picture Association (MPAA).


The Oscar-winner will become the second recipient of the prestigious award, as Clint Eastwood was the first person to be honoured with it last year, reports the Daily express.

According to MPAA, the ‘Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award’ is given to an “individual working in the motion picture industry whose contributions and commitment to service exemplify compassion, humanitarianism and dedication to community embodied in the award’s namesake.”

The ‘The Departed’ director will be honoured with the award during a daylong conference at Washington, D.C.’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture on April 21.

Martin is a well-known humanitarian in Hollywood. Since 1990, his Film Foundation has been committed to fostering greater awareness of the urgent need to preserve motion picture history.
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Miley Cyrus tells fans celebrity ‘photoshoots are not real’

Miley Cyrus has asked young girls not to compare themselves with picture-perfect images of celebrities, insisting that “photo-shoots are not real”.

The ‘Hannah Montana’ star wanted to take her fans behind the scenes of one of her photoshoots, so that they could have a first-hand look of how much effort was made to give her glamorous looks for glossy magazine covers.

The 16-year-old starlet has admitted how she used to feel insecure and unhappy about her own looks in the past, and doesn’t want young girls to try and look like flawless celebrity pictures.

In fact, the Disney star wants the little girls, who idolise her, to understand how many hours it takes for hair, make-up and photoshoot technicians to make her face cover-ready for fashion magazines.

“I wish I could tell every little girl who looks in the mirror and says, ‘I’m not beautiful,’ and take them in to the process to (see) what it takes to look like that. They would feel so much better about themselves,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

She added: “It takes an hour-and-a-half before you’re even there and they’re (already) working on the lighting… it’s not real.”
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Eleven percent Americans still think Obama is a Muslim

Washington, April 3  One in 10 Americans still believe US President Barack Obama is a Muslim, a poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre found.
The number is only slightly lower than the results of a poll conducted by Pew last October.
Nineteen percent of white evangelical Protestants and 17 percent Republicans are among the most likely to view Obama as a Muslim, according to the poll. While just seven percent of the Democrats say Obama is a Muslim, Pew said on its website Friday.

In spite of Obama being on record about his Christian faith and his well known association with a Chicago United Church, opponents raised questions about Obama’s religion during the contentious 2008 US Presidential campaign, the Nationalpost.com said.

Conservapedia, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to Wikipedia, has a subsection called ‘Obama is likely the first Muslim President’ in its entry on Obama. The section lists what it sees as evidence of Obama’s Muslim faith.

The debate over Obama’s religion also took to the Internet where Obama’s campaign started its own website to address the religion issue and other ’smears’.
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Flirty florals

Blue halter neck maxi dress, £920, Maxmara
  Black floral print dress, £40, Marisota

Add a swathe of flower power into your wardrobe with a floral dress and offset the dramatic print with bold accessories of chunky bangles and belts.

Cream maxi dres with pink, red and green floral print, £160, Coast
Black, orange and white print dress, £16, Bonmarch
  Blue print halter neck dress, £35, Matalan
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Azarenka outlasts Kuznetsova in hard-fought Miami semi-final

Azarenka outlasts Kuznetsova in hard-fought Miami semi-final Miami - Teenager Victoria Azarenka reinforced this week’s first-ever move into the Top 10 as she reached her first major final with a marathon 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat of former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Miami Masters on Thursday.The 19-year-old, Arizona-based Azarenka spent nearly three hours and needed four match points to finally book her spot. She awaits the result of the clash later between sisters Serena and Venus Williams, who between them hold eight titles at their “home” event.
Azarenka also re-wrote a painful episode in her recent history after holding a match point but losing to 2006 champion Kuznetsova in the 2008 round of 32 at Crandon Park.

On a steaming hot afternoon, the youngster from Belarus was unable to serve out victory with a 5-4 lead in the final set as Kuznetsova saved a match point from an error and then profited as the nervous Azarenka double-faulted for 5-all.

But the Russian’s serve let her down in the next game, with the Belarus youngster breaking for 6-5. Azarenka finally clinched the win a game later after Kuznetsova salvaged another two match points but fired a backhand into the net to end the encounter.

Azarenka triumphed in a hard slog with 26 winners and 42 unforced errors, breaking on six of her dozen chances.

Kuznetsova had won all three of the pair’s previous meetings, losing only one set in the process.

But the experienced Russian who won the 2004 US Open was unable to nose over the line against the talented number 10, winner of events in Brisbane and Memphis this season.

The Williams pair will be playing for Serena’s number 1 ranking with a loss to her sister Venus automatically shifting Russian Dinara Safina into the top spot from Monday.
READ MORE - Azarenka outlasts Kuznetsova in hard-fought Miami semi-final