Star Trek's' Spock Leonard Nimoy Dead At 83

William Shatner paid an emotional tribute to former Star Trek co-star and friend Leonard Nimoy, saying he 'loved him like a brother' after hearing news of his tragic death.

The 83-year-old legendary actor, who played Mr Spock in the sci-fi franchise for 47 years, passed away at his Bel Air, Los Angeles home on Friday, following a long battle with lung disease.

Shatner, who starred as Captain Kirk in the original series, became close with Nimoy during filming and asked him to be the best man at his wedding in 2000.

He released a statement saying: 'I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love.' 

Nimoy, who was first cast in the role in 1966, suffered from COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - and was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center after a 911 call on February 19.

The star sent a final tweet on Monday which read: 'A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP'

Actor Zachary Quinto, who took over as Mr. Spock in the reboot and its sequel, posted a photo of the actor on Instagram on Friday after hearing news of his death alongside the message: 'My heart is broken. i love you profoundly my dear friend. and i will miss you everyday. may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.'

Nimoy, who was part of the franchise for almost 60 years, played Spock one last time in the reboot of Star Trek: Into Darkness in 2013. It was Nimoy's final film role. 

George Takei, who played the helmsman of the USS Enterprise during the original series, wrote on Facebook: 'Today, the world lost a great man, and I lost a great friend. We return you now to the stars, Leonard. 

'You taught us to 'Live Long And Prosper,' and you indeed did, friend. I shall miss you in so many, many ways.' 

Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker in the Next Generation series, said: 'RIP to the best first officer.'

Other celebrity fans including Larry King, former Star Trek star Will Wheaton, singer Boy George and Broke Girls actress Kat Denning also posted tribute messages.

On Friday, after his passing was announced, NASA also paid their respects to the late star, saying many staff at the space agency had been 'inspired' by Spock. 

President Obama said the actor who made the sign for 'Live long and prosper' famous around the world, achieved that goal during his 83 years on planet Earth.

'I loved Spock,' Obama said in a statement.

'Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy. Leonard was a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his talent and his time. 

'And of course, Leonard was Spock,' Obama said. 'Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the center of Star Trek's optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity's future.

Outspoken Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead In Moscow

Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in a 'politically motivated' attack in front of his 23-year-old Ukrainian model girlfriend, according to reports.

The former deputy Prime Minister, 55, and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin was 'under surveillance' by his killers before he was shot in the shadow of the Kremlin the day before an anti-Putin protest.

He had been out for dinner with Anna  

Duritskaya, 23, at a restaurant inside GUM, a department store in Moscow's Red Square in the hours before his death, and the pair then went for a walk.

The married father-of-four was shot four times by assailants in a white car as the couple walked across a bridge over the Moskva River at midnight on Friday but the 23-year-old model was unhurt.

'The murderers knew Nemtsov's route, he was spied on,' said a police source. 

He had been working on a report presenting evidence he believed proved Russia's direct involvement in the separatist rebellion that erupted in eastern Ukraine last year. 

Just hours before his death, Nemtsov told Ekho Moskvy radio that Putin had pushed Russia into an economic crisis through his 'mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine.'

President Putin has condemned the murder and assumed 'personal control' of the investigation into the killing, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov. 

Mr Peskov, said the shooting could also be a 'provocation' as the opposition has planned a big protest in Moscow on Sunday.  

The Russian leader has asked the heads of Russia's Investigative Committee, Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service to investigative and put the case under their personal supervision.

David Cameron has said he is 'shocked and sickened by the callous murder' and called for a transparent investigation. 

 Nemtsov was one of the organisers of the Spring March opposition protest set for Sunday, which comes amid an economic downturn in Russia caused by low oil prices and Western sanctions.

The liberal reformer, who has four children, is believed to have been dating was Ms Duritskaya for several years, despite his marriage to Raisa Akhmetovna and four-children.

The Ukrainian model spoke to police and helped them to establish the sequence of events.

Opposition activist Ilya Yashin told Ekho Moskvy radio he had no doubt that Mr Nemtsov's murder was politically motivated. 

 He said: 'Boris Nemtsov was a stark opposition leader who criticised the most important state officials in our country, including President Vladimir Putin.

'As we have seen, such criticism in Russia is dangerous for one's life. He got lots of threats, mostly via social networks, anonymously.

'I have no doubt this was a political killing. The only threat to his life came from his political activity. He had no foes other than political ones.'

Nemtsov's death came one year after the Russian annexation of Crimea in a special operation by Russian special forces. The politician was a strong and outspoken critic of Putin's policy on Ukraine.

Just hours earlier, Putin had declared 27 February a new 'professional holiday' for special operation soldiers in his armed forces and secret services. 

Political analyst Sergey Parkhomenko alluding to this new holiday said that Nemtsov's killing was carefully planned and a 'present' for someone.

'There is a war going on here. If someone thinks otherwise... we're now living in a country that is fully-fledged in a war.'

'Nemtsov's murder is a terrible tragedy for Russia,' said ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, a Putin ally. 

Britain has said it will follow closely investigations into the killing.

Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: 'I am shocked and sickened by the callous murder of Boris Nemtsov as he walked in the heart Moscow last night. 

'This despicable act must be fully, rapidly and transparently investigated, and those responsible brought to justice.

'Boris Nemtsov was a man of courage and conviction. His life was dedicated to speaking up tirelessly for the Russian people, to demanding their right to democracy and liberty under the rule of law, and to an end to corruption. 

'He did so without fear, and never gave in to intimidation. He was greatly admired in Britain, not least by his friend Lady Thatcher, who visited him in Russia and who would have been appalled by today's news. The courage of Nemtsov's life contrasts with the utter cowardice of his murder.

'I extend my condolences to Boris Nemtsov's family and friends. The Russian people have been deprived of a champion of their rights. Boris Nemtsov is dead. But the values he stood for will never die.'

US President Barack Obama has also condemned the 'brutal murder', the White House National Security Council said tonight on Twitter.

The White House called on the Russian government to conduct a 'prompt, impartial and transparent investigation' and to 'ensure those responsible are brought to justice.'  

Obama said he met Nemtsov in Moscow in 2009 when the Russian was willing to 'share his candid views with me'.

'We offer our sincere condolences to his family and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights,' he said. 

Police cars blocked the street where Nemtsov was shot, and an ambulance was also nearby. 

'Nemtsov B.E. died at 2340 hours as a result of four shots in the back,' an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. 

Nemtsov, 55, first gained an international profile after being spotted by former British premier Margaret Thatcher as a future leader of Russia, and she praised his market reforms after visiting Nizhny Novgorod where as governor in the early 1990s he led spearheaded reforms.

Later he rose to become deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin, but he was always opposed as too Western and liberal by hardliners.

He had angered the government two years ago when he charged that billions of dollars had been stolen from funds designated for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, his home town. 

He blamed 'Putin's friends' for the alleged embezzlement, which he described as 'a real threat to Russia's national security.' 

Putin's former premier Mikhail Kasyanov, now an opposition leader, said: 'The comments are very easy: the bastards.

'They killed my friend in Moscow city centre, near the Kremlin wall.' 

He warned: 'This is a demonstration for all of us, for all open-minded people of Russia. How freedom of speech is finished in today's Russia.

'Could we have imagined an opposition leader killed by the Kremlin wall yesterday? We couldn't. The country is rolling to the abyss. It is terrible.'

His death was 'payback for the fact that Boris consistently, for many, many years fought for Russia to be a free democratic country.'

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned against jumping to conclusions.

'Certain forces will try to use the killing to their own advantage. They are thinking how to get rid of Putin,' he said.

Another key opposition figure Vladimir Ryzhkov said: 'I'm absolutely shocked. It's the first case of political murder in many years, a slaying of a politician of federal level.'

The killing was an 'extraordinary, shocking event.'

He said that 'political responsibility for what happened is with the authorities.'

Nemtsov had publicly expressed concerns for his life earlier this month and was outspoken in his opposition to Putin.

He was highly critical of the government's inefficiency, rampant corruption and the Kremlin's policy on Ukraine, which has strained Russia-West ties to a degree unseen since Cold War times.

 

Lupita Nyong'o's $150,000 Oscars Dress Stolen

Lupita Nyong'o’s $150,000 custom-made Calvin Klein dress she wore to the Academy Awards on Sunday has been stolen in Hollywood.

Studded with 6,000 natural white Akoya pearls hand-sewn by 25 people over 10 weeks, it was lifted from the London Hotel in West Hollywood while the actress was out of the room.
The hotel has since issued a statement saying management were “working with law enforcement” to locate the missing item.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant William Nash confirmed that officers were examining CCTV footage for evidence.
“Ms Nyong'o was not in the room at the time of the theft,” Deputy John Mitchell told Reuters.
No arrests have been made.
Speaking about her fashion choice during a typically banal grilling on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday, the 12 Years A Slave star, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress last year, she said she was “just wearing my diamonds and pearls. My homage to (musician) Prince”.
“We talked about it being fluid and liquid. I wanted it to be an homage to the sea.”

President Goodlook Jonathan Visits Massacre Site, As 35 Killed In Nigeria

 

 Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday visited the scene of what is feared to be Boko Haram's worst massacre and vowed that the insurgency would soon be over.

But the Islamists gave a fresh indication of the scale of the task, with three separate bombings in the country's religiously tense central region and restive northeast that left at least 35 people dead.

The bombings raised fears of a renewed wave of attacks against vulnerable targets in urban centres, as troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon make gains against the militants in rural areas.

Jonathan's visit to Baga, where hundreds of people, if not more, are feared to have been killed, came after his main election opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, accused him of a lack of leadership in the crisis.

The head of state, accompanied by military top brass and his national security advisor, told reporters in the Borno state capital Maiduguri after the trip that he wanted to see the devastation first hand.

"I went... to visit communities devastated by the excesses of Boko Haram," he said. "I just went to see things for myself."

A screen grab made on January 20, 2015 from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram  …

Jonathan and his administration have been widely criticised for failing to stop the violence, which has seen Boko Haram seize territory in the northeast and attack neighbouring countries.

 

Death Row Woman Makes Huge Last Meal Request

A woman who will become the first female inmate in Georgia to be executed in 70 years has put in an extraordinary request for her last meal.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, who is currently the US state's only woman on death row, has asked for two Burger King whoppers, two large portions of fries, cornbread with a side of buttermilk and salad with boiled eggs, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, cheese and buttermilk dressing.
She has also requested cherry vanilla ice cream, popcorn and lemonade.
Gissendaner, who is due to be executed by lethal injection will eat the epic portions in the hours before her death at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.
She is currently being held at Arrendale State Prison, where she faces the death penalty for having her husband killed in 1997 by her boyfriend, Gregory Bruce Owen. She is the only woman out of 84 inmates facing capital punishment.
She was having an affair with Owen at the time - and instructed him to kill Douglas Gissendaner because she "did not expect him to leave her alone after they were separated", Mail Online reported.
Mr Gissendaner was kidnapped, driven to a remote area and stabbed repeatedly in the back and neck. He was also beaten with a stick, before his car was set alight using kerosene.
Owen, Gissendaner's co-defendant, stole his watch and wedding ring to make the murder look like a robbery, according to 11Alive.
He was sentenced to life in prison after testifying against her.
The last woman to be executed in Georgia was Lena Baker, who was electrocuted in 1945.

Snoop Dogg Avoided Very Lengthy Prison Sentences.

Hollywood has no shortage of celebs and where there are stars there is often trouble. From gang-bangers, to rock stars, to hall-of-fame athletes, to models these celebrities were all involved in incidents where someones life was taken. Thanks to very deep pockets and the top notch attorneys in Southern California these stars avoided very lengthy prison sentences.
Born Calvin Broadus, Snoop Dogg is a legend in hip hop and pop culture. Snoop’s hip hop career exploded when he was signed with Death Row records alongside mentor and mega producer Dr. Dre. Snoop’s first album ‘Doggystyle’ is certified 4x platinum according to soundscan. The album has multiple singles that still get radio airplay including ‘Gin & Juice’, ‘Lodi Dodi’ and ‘Murder was the Case’.
In 1995 Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus) and bodyguard McKinley Lee were charged in the murder of Los Angeles crip Philip Woldemariam.. Mr. Woldemariam fellow crip Snoop and his bodyguard in Snoop’s 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee. During the confrontation Woldemariam was shot at least 2 times killing him. In January 2006 Snoop and his bodyguard McKinley Lee were found not guilty on the murder charges but the jury remained deadlocked on the manslaughter charge. Snoop would deal with this legal matters for almost 3 years after the initial not guilty verdict. Snoop and McKinley Lee were represented by Johnnie Cochran, Morrissey, David Kenner of the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. law firm.

Islamic State Smashes Iraqi History With Sledgehammer

ARBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Ultra-radical Islamist militants in northern Iraq have destroyed a priceless collection of statues and sculptures from the ancient Assyrian era, inflicting what an archaeologist described as incalculable damage to a piece of shared human history.

A video published by Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking the artifacts, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry.

"The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him," an unidentified man said in the video.

The smashed articles appeared to come from an antiquities museum in Mosul, the northern city which was overrun by Islamic State last June, a former employee at the museum told Reuters.

The militants shoved stone statues off their plinths, shattering them on the floor, and one man applied an electric drill to a large winged bull. The video showed a large exhibition room strewn with dismembered statues, and Islamic songs played in the background.

Lamia al-Gailani, an Iraqi archaeologist and associate fellow at the London-based Institute of Archaeology, said the militants had wreaked untold damage. "It’s not only Iraq’s heritage: it’s the whole world’s," she said.

"They are priceless, unique. It's unbelievable. I don’t want to be Iraqi any more," she said, comparing the episode to the dynamiting of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Afghan Taliban in 2001.

As well as Assyrian statues of winged bulls from the Mesopotamian cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, Gailani said the Islamic State hardliners appeared to have destroyed statues from Hatra, a Hellenistic-Parthian city in northern Iraq dating back around 2,000 years.

Eleanor Robson, professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London, also said on Twitter that statues from Hatra and Nineveh had been wrecked, though she added that some objects shown in the video were modern replicas.

The Village Under The Sea

Residents of the remote Alaskan village of a Kivalina say they may be forced to relocate from their homes because of the effects of climate change.

The thinning of sea ice has meant it is not possible for the Iñupiat people of the region to hunt the bowhead whales, while the US government has warned that with less and less sea ice every year to protect the island, it could be washed away by powerful waves. Some have predicted Kivalina could be under water just 10 years from now.
“Global warming has caused us so much problems,” Joseph Swan, a Kivalina elder, told the Washington Post. “The ice does not freeze like it used to. It used to be like ten to eight feet thick, way out in the ocean.”
The issue has taken on the shape of an existential proportions, not just for the 400 or so residents Kivalina but for other similar communities in Alaska. And in the years ahead more and more coastal locations are likely to face the threat.
The cost of relocating the village, located 80 miles from the Arctic Circle, could be be as high as $100m.
Over the last 20 years or so, Alaska has emerged one of the places where the effects of climate change have been the most obvious and clearly on display. These include a reduction in sea ice, permafrost melting, roads buckling and forests being destroyed infestations of beetles because of a rise in temperatures.
Ten years ago, Hilary Clinton and John McCain went on a joint fact-finding tour of the region to look at the evidence of climate change and were shocked by what they saw.
“The question is how much damage will be done before we start taking concrete action,” Mr McCain said at a press conference in Anchorage. “Go up to places like we just came from. It's a little scary.”
Mrs Clinton added: “I don't think there’s any doubt left for anybody who actually looks at the science. There are still some holdouts, but they’re fighting a losing battle. The science is overwhelming.”
The report in the Washington Post said the plight of Kivalina had reached the ears of the US government. Last week, Sally Jewell became the first Secretary of State of the Interior to visit the town in its history.
“Your story will help the world understand what’s happening right here,” she said at a town meeting at Kivalina’s only school.
She added: “It will help us make the case for climate change in the US Congress. It will help us bring the kind of resources that we have to bring to bear for people like you, and for people in other parts of the world that live in coastal communities that are at high risk.”

Madonna Falls At Brit Awards

You're a backup dancer. This awards show is a big deal for you. You've been the one chosen to snatch a cape dramatically off Madonna during a musical number.

It's going to be a moment you'll remember for all time.

And now that it's happened, you'll remember it for a much different reason. 

Madonna was sent tumbling Wednesday night when the show didn't go as planned and she was yanked down a small flight of stairs.

The 56-year-old singer says she's fine. The darn cape was just tied too tight. 

Here's what happened: Madonna was belting out "Living for Love" at the Brit Awards in London. It's a song that coincidentally includes the lyrics "lifted me up and watched me stumble, after the heartache I'm gonna carry on."

The plan was for the dancer to pull off the cape, but it was still tied around Madonna's neck. And down goes Madonna!

If she was in pain, she didn't show it, getting back to her feet and finishing the number. Carry on, indeed.

Of course, the socialsphere has gone nutso, mocking Madonna or the dancer, although some did send support.

Muslims Predict Jesus Will Defeat ISIS, Beginning in 2015

 
Dr. David Liepert 
 Canadian Muslim Leader, Spokesperson, Author and Educator

All right, it might not start until 2016, these things can be awfully hard to predict exactly. However, surprising as it may seem, one way or another the end of ISIS is in sight, and it's all resting securely in the hands of Jesus, peace be upon him.
There has been a great deal of mainstream media attention lately, both video and print, regarding the fact that ISIS is recruiting based on the promise that their fighters are actually participating in the rapidly approaching end of the world.

At the same time, mainstream orthodox Muslim websites are already predicting Jesus' return as early as 2022, starting an Islamic prophetic clock set to run over the next 7 years, in the purportedly rapidly approaching run-up to Armageddon.
The good news is that even if they're wrong, those claims ISIS is making about their own role in Islamic end-time prophecy spell their own certain end. Because even though ISIS claims they're fighting on the side of the angels, it's obvious they're not, and it should become progressively clearer to even the most misguided Jihadi that either ISIS is wrong about Armageddon or that they're on the wrong side, because of all the things Muslims know are supposed to happen.
And if it turns out they're right, then we can all rest assured that by the time the dust has finally settled there will be no question left about who's side they are really on, because it's all going to be about Jesus.
Frankly, although I'd like to believe the orthodox predictions are correct, I think they're premature, and that ISIS is crazy-stupid. We had a very informative event up here in Calgary last month hosted by the US State Department, where Dr. Michael Ryan of the Middle East Institute shared his valuable insights into ISIS' recruiting strategy. We learned that ISIS actually complains in their internal communiqués about their difficulty recruiting informed Muslims, because "Islam makes them tend towards life and their community". They find more success attracting Muslims they call "losers" -- ignorant about their Islamic faith and marginalized by drugs, alcoholism, crime, mental illness or recent life-changing events. That's not the sort of Muslim you would expect to know much about the religion, or to make good life -- or end-of-life -- choices either. Given that, I think we can discount their validity of their "good-guy" claims, even despite their despicable and deplorable actions which should in themselves be sufficient.
But even if we considered that they might be right about the impending apocalypse, what sort of events should the next few years bring according to confirmed Islamic eschatology?

• First, the Euphrates River should soon be uncovering a mountain of gold, with the Arabian Peninsula becoming filled with meadows and rivers.
• Then, some Muslims throughout the world will be inexplicably transformed into apes and pigs because of their attempts to make lawful some rather significant major sins. Personally, I think that one's aimed squarely at al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabab and ISIS and their associates, and their rather liberal views regarding murder, tumult, oppression and slavery.
• Then shortly thereafter you can expect the coming of the Mahdi, his uncovering of the Ark of the Covenant and his evangelism of a significant proportion of the world's Jews, who will wake up and realize that they shouldn't be ignoring and allowing Israel's oppressing Muslims and Christians in Palestine.
• Then, you will see the coming of al-Masih ad-Dajjal --the false Messiah or anti-Christ-- the descent of 'Isa ibn Maryam ['alayhis-salam] --that's Jesus-- and his defeat of the anti-Christ followed by the coming of Ya'juj and Ma'juj --Gog and Magog--,followed by:
• The rising of the sun from the west
• The appearance of the Beast of the Earth
• The wind that will take the souls of the believers
• The ruin of al-Madinah --Medina--
• The destruction of the Ka'bah --Mecca-- by the Abyssinians
• And the fire that will come from the Yemen to gather the people in Sham before the coming of Judgement Day.

I think you'll all have to admit, that's a lot to pack into the next seven years and it's going to be hard to miss.
And with that 7 year clock running, if it all doesn't start happening soon, you can expect to see ISIS supporters starting to slip away.
But if it does come true, what sort of a man is the Mahdi supposed to be? Muslim prophecies are actually frighteningly clear, and do seem to predict the current state of affairs in the Levant, hold out hope for the rest of us and promise an end to ISIS.

At the end of time, a severe tribulation will descend upon my Ummah from their ruler. A worse tribulation will not have been heard of before, until the earth's expanse is constricted upon them, and until the earth is filled with tyranny and oppression, so that the mu'min will find no refuge from the oppression.
Then, Allah ['azza wa-jall] will send a man from my descendents who will fill the earth with equity and justice as it had been filled with oppression and tyranny. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth will be pleased with him. The earth will not withhold any of its growth, but will bring it out, neither will the sky withhold a drop, but Allah will pour it out upon them in showers. He will live among them for seven years, or eight, or nine. The living will wish that the dead were brought to life again to witness the great good that Allah brought about for the people of the earth.
There will be at the end of time a trial that will sort out men as gold is sorted out from metal. So do not revile the people of Sham, but revile their evil ones, for among them are the Abdal [great righteous people]. A flood is about to be released upon the people of Sham that will split their unity, so that even if foxes attack them, they would defeat them.
At that time, a man from my household will come out with three banners. The one who estimates highly will say that they are fifteen thousand. And the one who estimates lower will say that they are twelve thousand. Their sign will be: "Amit, amit [kill, kill]." They will meet in battle seven banners, and under each of those banners will be a man seeking the kingdom. Allah will kill all of them, and restore to the Muslims their unity and bounty, and their far ones and near ones.

And what about Jesus? Even though Muslims and Christians disagree about what he is, with Christians claiming he's God and Muslims declaring he's not, everybody agrees about what sort of a person he was, is and will be: a man who fulfilled the Jewish Covenant and taught benevolent compassion to his followers, his example remaining a source of hope and inspiration to all humankind for the rest of time.
Can anyone conceive that that person --or Person-- when he --or He-- descends to lead us, could conceivably countenance the despicable and deplorable acts of ISIS?
God Forbid, it could never happen, not even if the world ends tomorrow or lasts for another thousand years.
Bottom line, I have served God and loved Jesus my entire life, and I followed Jesus into Islam when I realized I became a worse man by worshipping Him and a better man by following him. And my greatest hope for today is that Muslims and Christians are all starting to look forward to his return, because regardless of when that happens his example and his words can guide all of us to a better place together, with the help of God.
Because regardless of what the next years bring or which faith we follow, we are all waking up and realizing that we all need Jesus, peace be upon him.

Praise God/Alhamdulillah, Amen.

Oscars 2015: The Winners List

 

Best supporting actor

WINNER: JK Simmons for WhiplashRobert Duvall for The Judge
Ethan Hawke for Boyhood
Edward Norton for Birdman
Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher

Achievement in costume design

WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood
Maleficent – Anna B Sheppard
Mr Turner – Jacqueline Durran

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon, Mark CoulierFoxcatcher – Bill Corso, Dennis Liddiard
Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White

Best foreign-language film

WINNER: Ida – Paweł PawlikowskiTangerines – Zaza Urushadze
Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev
Wild Tales – Damián Szifrón
Timbuktu – Abderrahmane Sissako

Best live-action short film

WINNER: The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby, James Lucas
Aya – Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp – Wei Hu, Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi, Stefan Eichenberger

Best documentary short subject

WINNER: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Dana Perry
Joanna – Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse – Tomasz Sliwinski, Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper – Gabriel Serra
White Earth – Christian Jensen

Achievement in sound mixing

WINNER: Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley
American Sniper – John T Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin
Birdman – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Thomas Varga
Interstellar – Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten
Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, David Lee

Achievement in sound editing

WINNER: American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman – Aaron Glascock, Martín Hernández
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge, Jason Canovas
Interstellar – Richard King
Unbroken – Becky Sullivan, Andrew DeCristofaro

Best supporting actress

WINNER: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
Laura Dern for Wild
Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
Emma Stone for Birdman
Meryl Streep for Into the Woods

Achievement in visual effects

WINNER: Interstellar – Paul J Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R Fisher

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Dan Deleeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill, Daniel Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

Best animated short film

WINNER: Feast – Patrick Osborne, Kristina ReedThe Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs, Chris Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins

Best animated feature film

WINNER: Big Hero 6The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Best production design

WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel: Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game: Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar: Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Into the Woods: Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock
Mr Turner: Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Achievement in cinematography

WINNER: Birdman: Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel: Robert D Yeoman
Ida: Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr Turner: Dick Pope
Unbroken: Roger Deakins

Achievement in film editing

WINNER: Whiplash – Tom Cross
Boyhood – Sandra Adair
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
American Sniper – Joel Cox, Gary Roach

Best documentary feature

WINNER: Citizenfour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier – John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy, Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth – Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, David Rosier
Virunga – Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

Best original song

WINNER: Glory from Selma – Lonnie Lynn (Common), John Stephens (John Legend)
The Lego Movie – Shawn Patterson (Everything Is Awesome)
Beyond the Lights – Diane Warren (Grateful)
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond (I’m Not Gonna Miss You)
Begin Again – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois (Lost Stars)

Best original score

WINNER: Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Jóhann Jóhannsson– The Theory of Everything
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner

Original screenplay

WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
E Max Frye, Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler

Adapted screenplay

WINNER: Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Jason Hall – American Sniper
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash

Best director

WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
Richard Linklater for Boyhood
Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game

Best actor

WINNER: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Bradley Cooper for American Sniper
Michael Keaton for Birdman

Best actress

WINNER: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon for Wild

Best picture

WINNER: Birdman
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Photographer Sheds Light On Beijing's 'Rat Tribe'

Zhang Qiuli is a pedicurist. Zhao Dan has a room barely wider than a single bed. Zhang Hao has left his one-year-old son thousands of miles away to "make it" in China's capital.

Together they are members of what the Chinese press unkindly refer to as the "rat tribe" -- people who live underground in a warren of basements and air raid shelters in Beijing.

Usually migrant workers, they can't afford private housing and, without the official resident permit known as the "hukou" they have no access to low-cost government housing, so they find themselves living underground.

Estimates suggest there may be more than one million people living underneath the Chinese capital.

Photographer Sim Chi Yin has been documenting their lives for the past five years.

"I had a hunch that they were just normal people," she says.

"They are actually pretty funky people, most of them are kind of young and all of them have aspirations to move up the social mobility ladder."

Sim said subterranean living is not as squalid as it might sound. Some use dehumidifiers in summer to take away the damp and in Beijing's freezing winter months it's warmer than above ground homes.

"The living space might seem pretty pathetic to us and maybe I went in with this pitying attitude as well, but what I found was the people make the best of their lives down there."

Annette Kim, a professor at the University of Southern California, has mapped Beijing's underground city by studying more than 7,000 online rental ads.

She found the median size was 9.75 square meters, or 105 square feet, and the mean rent was $70 a month -- although she believes the rentals she studied were at the higher end of what's available.

The orange dots show underground housing in Beijing. The blue dots are affordable housing.

Kim says it's hard to know exactly how many people live in this type of informal housing. Estimates vary from 200,000 to 2 million. She says 1 million is a reasonable estimate.

All buildings constructed in Beijing are required to have basements -- initially a national defense policy that began in the 1950s -- and until 2010 it was perfectly legal to live in these spaces as long as they met building codes.