Baftas 2009: Slumdog Millionaire loved everywhere but India

Slumdog Millionaire has failed to win over moviegoers in the country it celebrates - India - despite sweeping the board at the Baftas and being odds-on for victory at the Oscars. While film fans the world over have fallen for the charms of Danny Boyle's rags-to-riches tale, Indian audiences are less enamoured.

The film opened there on January 23 amid much hype and took $2.2 million its opening weekend - a decent enough figure, but barely a third of the takings of the top-grossing film, a mediocre horror movie called Raaz: The Mystery Continues.

By last week, takings were down by 70 per cent, according to industry magazine Variety, which called it "a respectable accomplishment but well below the performances of Bollywood hits."

Distributor Fox Searchlight professed itself happy with figures for the film, which was initially released on just 350 screens.

Industry watchers blame its lacklustre performance on confusion over its title - the term 'slumdog' is not widely used - the mix of Hindi and English dialogue, and the easy availability of pirated copies.

Teenagers 'spend an average of 31 hours online'

Teenagers spend an average of 31 hours a week online and nearly two hours a week looking at pornography, according to a study. They spend some three and a half hours communicating with friends on MSN, and around two hours on YouTube and in chat rooms.

Just over an hour is devoted to looking up cosmetic surgery procedures such as how to enlarge breasts and get collagen implants, an hour and a half is spent on family planning and pregnancy websites and one hour 35 minutes is spent investigating diets and weight loss.

One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless.

One in three admitted trying to hide what they were looking at if a parent entered the room.

But children also use the internet to help them with homework, with at least three hours a week spent searching for such information.

O2 arena put up for sale for £35m

London's O2 entertainment arena has been formally put up for sale by its landlords, sparking a race to control one of the world's most recognisable landmarks. Meridian Delta Dome Limited (MDDL), a joint venture between the property companies Quintain Estates and Development and Lend Lease, has had a £35m price-tag placed on it, which includes the virtual freehold to the arena itself and its surrounding leisure space.

Savills and Michael Elliott, the property agents, have been appointed to market the site. Initial offers are due this week. According to a sale document sent to potential buyers of the O2, the maximum annual rent for the arena is just under £1.6m.

Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) owns the long-term lease on the O2 Arena and surrounding leisure space.

"This is the bargain of the century," said one source close to the sale process.

Since its conversion into a music and sports arena by AEG the O2 has become the world's most popular entertainment venue, attracting some of the most famous acts in the music industry, including Kylie Minogue (left) and Snow Patrol. In 2012 it will host the Olympics gymnastics and basketball finals.

Asian shares rise on optimism for banks

Asian stocks rose, led by banks and technology companies, on optimism government measures worldwide will ease the financial crisis and stem the deterioration in the global economy.

Westpac, Australia’s largest bank by market value, gained 3pc after the central bank slashed its inflation forecast, raising speculation it may cut interest rates.

Mizuho Financial, Japan’s second-largest bank, gained 2.3pc as a US Treasury official said details of a financial-recovery plan will be announced in three days. Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest personal-computer maker, surged 10pc in Hong Kong after a management reshuffle.

“Fiscal and monetary stimulus policies have helped improve sentiment,” said Binay Chandgothia, who oversees about $1.5bn as chief investment officer at Principal Asset Management Co. in Hong Kong. “These measures will benefit the economy although there will be more earnings downgrades.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8 percent to 83.18 at 2:32 p.m. in Tokyo, with three stocks rising for each that fell.

The gauge has fallen 7.1pc in 2009, extending last year’s record 43pc tumble, as the credit crisis dragged the world’s biggest economies into recession.

Britain under attack from 20 foreign spy agencies including France and Germany

Spies from 20 foreign intelligence agencies, including Nato allies such as France and Germany, are attempting to steal Britain's most sensitive secrets.  Russia and China have been identified as having the most active spy networks operating in the UK but it is understood that some European countries are also involved in espionage attacks against Britain.

Details of the spy plots were revealed in a government security document obtained by The Sunday Telegraph which states that Britain is "high priority espionage target" for 20 foreign intelligence agencies.

Security sources have revealed that the list of foreign agencies operating within the UK includes Iran, Syria, North Korea and Serbia, as well as some members of the European Union, such as France and Germany, who have traditionally been regarded as allies.

The document, marked "restricted", warns that foreign spies are trying to steal secrets related to the military, optics, communications, genetics and aviation industries.

The report, which was drawn up by an Army intelligence cell inside Whitehall, warns that it is too easy to "lose sight" of the threat from traditional espionage and become solely focused on attacks by al Qaeda.

Six-year-old dies in ice lake plunge

A six-year-old boy has died after falling through ice on a fishing lake.Police said they believed the youngster, and another boy aged 12, had been playing on the ice when it cracked and they fell into freezing water.

Emergency services were called to the scene at Streethouse, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, yesterday afternoon (SAT) and the older boy was rescued by firefighters.

It came as freezing weather continued to cause problems across the country and followed the death of 16-year-old Francesca Anobile in a sledging accident in South Yorkshire last Tuesday.

After yesterday's tragedy, locals said the privately-owned lake - which is believed to be 10 to 15 feet deep - was fenced off parts of the barrier had been broken and thrown onto the icy surface.

Russia's Recession Squeezes Migrants

Millions of Foreigners, Lured by Oil Boom, Now Face Bias in Ethnic Backlash.

MOSCOW -- A few years ago, Alisher Azizov traveled by train to Moscow from Tajikistan in search of a better life, and he found it.

Working as a security guard and stock boy for a flower shop, the 32-year-old son of peasants earned about $1,000 a month, 15 times the average salary in his impoverished homeland and enough to support the extended family he left behind -- his wife, five sons, parents and seven siblings.

But a few weeks ago, his boss slashed his salary by two-thirds, blaming the global economic crisis that has battered Russia. At those wages, Azizov couldn't afford the rent for the cramped apartment he shares with several other migrant workers. So he found himself at the train station again, contemplating the long journey back to his home village.

84 killed in deadliest-ever Australian wildfires

HEALESVILLE, Australia -- Towering flames razed entire towns in southeastern Australia and burned fleeing residents in their cars as the death toll rose to 84 on Sunday, making it the country's deadliest fire disaster.

At least 700 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno when searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred

Obama's NSC Will Get New Power

James L. Jones said in an interview that he will be the primary conduit of national security advice to President Obama

President Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues.

The result will be a "dramatically different" NSC from that of the Bush administration or any of its predecessors since the forum was established after World War II to advise the president on diplomatic and military matters, according to national security adviser James L. Jones, who described the changes in an interview. "The world that we live in has changed so dramatically in this decade that organizations that were created to meet a certain set of criteria no longer are terribly useful," he said.

Jaden Mack, the baby who was killed by 2 dogs in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales

A three month old baby boy has died after being viciously attacked by two family dogs while in the care of his grandmother.

Police said that the exact cause of death had yet to be confirmed but it is suspected that Jaden Mack was killed during an attack by the grandmother's Staffordshire Bull terrier and Jack Russell.

It is understood that the baby was asleep in a basket on the ground floor of the house when the dogs attacked.

Neighbours reported hearing screams of panic as Denise Wilson, the baby's grandmother ran into the street crying for help.

Friends rushed into the house to help and were forced to drag the dogs off the child who was bleeding severely from the attack.

The tragedy occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday morning in the town of Ystrad Mynach, 12 miles north of Cardiff. The child was taken Prince Charles hospital in Merthyr Tydfil where he was later pronounced dead.

The grandmother was also taken to hospital where she was treated for shock but was later released. Police confirmed that they intend to question the grandmother.