Jackman to host Tony Awards

    Actor Hugh Jackman will return to host the 68th annual Tony Awards, which honors the best of Broadway, organizers said on February 11.

    It will be the fourth time Jackman will emcee* the ceremony on June 8 from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where it will be broadcast live on the CBS television network.

    ‘Grandmaster’ leads AFA

    nominations

    Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” received the most nominations once again, and this time it’s for the Eighth Asian Film Awards.

    As reported on Mingpao, according to the nominations that were announced on February 11, the martial arts movie was revealed to have been nominated for 11 out of the 14 categories, including best film, best director, best actor and best actress.

    Chinese film triumphs at Berlin

    China’s stylish film noir “Black Coal, Thin Ice” by Diao Yinan, about a washed up ex-cop investigating a series of murders, won the Berlin film festival’s Golden Bear top prize on Saturday.

    In a remarkably strong showing for Asian cinema, the picture, whose Chinese title is “Bairiyanhuo,” also captured the Silver Bear best actor award for star Liao Fan.

    Cowell welcomes a boy

    British TV and music mogul* Simon Cowell, who had long said fatherhood was not in his plans, welcomed a son on February 14, his representative Ann Marie Thomson said.

    The former “American Idol” judge’s girlfriend, Lauren Silverman, gave birth to the 2.9-kilogram boy in New York. It is her second child and Cowell’s first.

    Cowell, 54, who gained fame as harshly-critical judge on television singing contests in the United States and his native Britain, has never married.(SD-Agencies)