Jenjie

The large James Bond stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire has been destroyed by fire. At least eight fire engines tackled the blaze at the set, where filming for the new movie Casino Royale had finished. Eyewitness Jen McVean, who owns a firm at the studios in Iver Heath, said the stage had been "completely on fire". The stage had been transformed into a replica Venice where the film, with a reported budget of £39m ($72m), is partly based. The roof covering the stage caved in through fire damage and firefighters used special equipment to reach it. Still alight Brian Dugdale, the firefighter in charge of controlling the blaze, said: "Luckily the stage was just being disassembled after a shoot and there weren't any of the hazards that you would normally associate with filming - there weren't any pyrotechnics or anything like that. "There were a number of welding kits on the stage that were being used by some engineers and one of the elements of the welding kit is an acetylene cylinder and that is still alight and so we're dealing with that. "It will probably take us 24 hours to resolve that problem." A spokeswoman for the Buckinghamshire Fire Brigade said it had been alerted at 1118 BST on Sunday. A spokesman for Pinewood Shepperton said: "We do not know the extent of the damage to the 007 stage, although it is believed to be significant. "Filming was not taking place. A production had completed filming and its film sets were in the process of being removed." Submarine tank Pinewood - which began life in 1935 - has a long association with the Bond films, starting with the first movie Dr No in 1962. It merged with Shepperton Studios in 2001 and attracts a range of films of varying budgets. Together with Ealing, the three studios have formed the backbone of the British film industry for 70 years. It took more than a year for a replacement stage to be rebuilt at Pinewood following a fire in 1984. It reopened in January 1985 as the Albert Broccoli 007 Stage, in honour of the producer of many Bond movies. The original stage was first created in the late 1970s during the filming of The Spy Who Loved Me and was created when the script called for filming of two submarines inside an oil tanker. The stage was built complete with an enormous water tank. Other Bond scenes filmed around the studio include a car chase in Goldfinger's factory, and Spectre island in From Russia With Love. Pinewood was hit again in 1997, when a fire broke out in the roof of a sound building where The Avengers was being filmed. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Hurrah!! the world finally catches on!

Hurrah for E4's second chance!! Claire's flashbacks are a little scary, but hugely intriguing

Just finished Danse Macabre by Laurell K Hamilton

Doctors have warned teenagers about the dangers of sniffing mothballs after two teenagers fell ill through the habit. An 18-year-old French girl had to be hospitalised when she developed scaly skin on her legs and hands, unsteadiness and mental sluggishness. Medics were initially puzzled, especially as her twin sister displayed similar, but milder, symptoms. But the New England Journal of Medicine reports that days later, it was found the mothballs were to blame. It was discovered that the girls had been using the mothballs as a recreational drug when doctors found a bag of mothballs stashed in her room while she was being treated at the Hospital of Timone in Marseille. Both girls had been "bagging" - inhaling mothball fumes - after encouragement from classmates. The twin who was sickest had also been chewing half a mothball a day for two months. She continued her habit in hospital because she did not think her symptoms were linked to the mothballs. 'Underestimated' The balls, used to prevent moths getting into clothes, contain paradichlorobenzene (PDB), a substance also found in air fresheners and insect repellents but which can cause liver and kidney failure, and severe anaemia. The doctors who treated the girls said the habit was "dangerous" and most likely under-reported in medical literature. The sickest teenager took six months to recover fully. Her twin, who had only been "bagging" for a few weeks, recovered after three months. Writing in the journal, Dr Lionel Feuillet said: "Substance abuse by youths is a major public health concern. "PDB is derived from aromatic hydrocarbons, which form one of the families of volatile substances that are commonly abused." He said only three cases of getting high using mothballs. But he added: "Since young people usually deny practicing self-intoxication, the incidence of this type of recreational activity is probably underestimated." He said clinicians should be aware of the symptoms. A spokesman for the UK organisation Drugscope said: "We are not aware that sniffing or eating mothballs is an issue in the UK. "However, any form of volatile substance abuse (VSA) is incredibly dangerous. "About a third of the young people who die from VSA die the first time they try it." http://www.bbc.co.uk

Increasing numbers of Americans are becoming too fat to fit into X-ray machines, US researchers report. The nation's rising obesity problems mean many citizens are not only too large for scanners but they have too much fat for the rays to penetrate. Over the past 15 years, the number of failed scans linked to patient obesity has doubled, Radiology journal reports. The problem is not confined to scanners. UK hospitals have had to make their beds stronger for obese patients. And airlines are designing aircraft to carry heavier loads because passengers are becoming plumper. Dr Raul Uppot and colleagues, who work in radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, had noticed that they were seeing more and more patients whose weight prevented them from having medical scans. He and his team decided to look back at radiology reports between 1989 and 2003 to see the extent of the problem. Missed diagnoses Year on year they saw a small but significant increase in the number of scans that had to be abandoned because the patient was too fat. Ultrasound images were affected the most because the sound waves need to penetrate the skin and fatty tissue before reaching the organs being examined. The study authors warned that important diagnoses could be missed if people could not be scanned. The US government says 64% of the population are overweight. Dr Colin Wayne of the UK's National Obesity Forum said the UK was showing a similar trend. "The obesity rates in the US have been going up relentlessly. Sadly, in the UK we are following in their wake. "The UK is now the fastest growing country in Europe for rising obesity. "It's worrying if people can't get the necessary investigations. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. It is the epidemic of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases that will follow in the wake of obesity that is even more worrying." Professor Adrian Dixon of the Royal College of Radiologists said: "It is a real problem and it is getting worse. People are getting fatter." "One may not be able to offer the obese patient the best possible imaging test because of their weight," he added. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Fantasy novelist David Gemmell, best known for stories such as Legend and Waylander, has died at the age of 57. Gemmell had heart bypass surgery two weeks ago and appeared to be making a good recovery, according to his publisher Transworld. His career began in 1984 with Legend, a tale of a fortress under siege. He wrote 30 novels in total. Transworld managing director Larry Finlay said Gemmell was "writing at the peak of his powers". "He was a true pleasure to work with," he said. "We will surely miss him, as will his thousands of devoted fans around the world. Our thoughts are with his wife Stella and his two children." A statement from the publisher said he died on Friday morning. 'Sense of adventure' It added: "His themes of heroic adventure, leadership, personal heroism and the possibility of redemption for every one of us ring as true today as they did when he first published the novel that was to become a classic of heroic fantasy, Legend." SFX magazine editor Dave Bradley said: "Gemmell wrote heroic fantasy novels - he had a real sense of adventure about him, wrote stories about great battles. "At the heart, they're cracking fantasy yarns but he also had a good eye for character and how people develop, like how a young soldier deals with war. "He had masterful plotting and a real sense of how excitement builds in a story. His books were real page-turners." The second part of a planned trilogy of historical novels, Troy: The Shield of Thunder No 2, is due to be published in September. Born in west London in 1948, Gemmell was expelled from school for gambling and went on to work as a labourer, driver's assistant and bouncer. One rejection letter he received in the early 1960s read: "You mention in your resume that you are working as a lorry driver's mate for Pepsi Cola. This is an occupation not without merit. Good luck with it." He went on to become a journalist and editor of newspapers in Sussex, but his career ended after the publication of his third novel, Waylander, in 1986, after he used his colleagues' names for characters in the story. "The managing director regarded it as a poisonous attack on his integrity," he later recalled. http://www.bbc.co.uk

The Break-Up 6.5/10 mainly because i missed the first 45 mins whilst fuming at the girls along the row from us. Will have to watch again, probably a late night showing when the kids are in bed. Zoolander 7/10 Pretty funny, if a little weird. Very disappointed to find out that you can't get orange mocha frappachino's in the Uk, because orange is an american syrup!!

Book and music retailer Borders UK is to make around 50 managerial redundancies following a comprehensive review of the business. Most of the job cuts will be in stores, affecting departmental managers and supervisors rather than general managers. The review, carried out by the company’s directors, found that the retailer needed to put more emphasis on customer service. A spokeswoman said: “There will be more frontline booksellers on the shopfloors and fewer managers. Stores will be more lightly managed.” The retailer will create 100 additional bookseller posts, most of which will be part-time, resulting in a more flexible workforce. It is expected that, overall, the same number of hours will be worked in-store. Four or five new shops are set to open in the near future and it is thought that some of those affected will choose to move to these. Borders chief executive David Roche said: “The changes we are making will permit us to be more flexible in reacting to changing trading conditions.” Around half a dozen jobs are expected to go at the group’s head office, but three or four new positions will also be created. A planning manager, sidelines buyer and assistant periodicals buyer are expected to be recruited. Retail week

come on guys! lets leave the personal insults out of this. I know you're all capable of debating this without calling each other names.

and there was me thinking the members of this board were grown up enough to hold a debate without resorting to personal insults. they usually manage it, so why should this time be any different?

Ladies & gentlemen, a reminder that debating the subject is fine, insulting each other is not.

Oscar-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley will be the first narrator in the revival of the classic children's storytelling series Jackanory. The star of Gandhi and Sexy Beast will read Alan Temperley's oriental adventure The Magician of Samarkand. It will be shown as three 15-minute programmes on CBBC and as a 45-minute special on BBC One later this year. Jackanory originally aired between 1965 and 1996, with stars reading nightly extracts from children's novels. The Magician of Samarkand will be directed by Nick Willing, who previously worked with Sir Ben in an Emmy award-winning TV version of Alice in Wonderland. It will incorporate animation, hand-painted illustrations and acted sequences. "I am so happy to be part of Jackanory and Nick Willing's extraordinary vision," said Sir Ben. "I hope millions of viewers will enjoy this tale." "We are utterly thrilled that Sir Ben Kingsley will be narrating one of the first stories," said BBC children's controller Richard Deverell. "It is a real coup for us. He is an amazing actor." Comedian John Sessions will be the programme's next narrator, reading Lord of the Rings parody Muddle Earth, written by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart. Big names Former Jackanory storytellers include such big names as Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. Prince Charles read from his own book The Old Man of Lochnager. Bernard Cribbins holds the record for the most appearances, notching up 111, while Kenneth Williams was another firm fixture with 69 episodes. In its new incarnation, the programme will only return for special occasions, rather than a full series. http://www.bbc.co.uk

A judge has temporarily overturned a decision by Miami's school board to ban a controversial children's book about Cuba from school libraries. He said the book must stay on the shelves until a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU) against the school board is settled. Last month, the board voted to remove the book after complaints it was too positive about life under Fidel Castro. ACLU says the school board violated the US constitution with its ban. The Miami-Dade school authorities had removed all 24 books in the series, dealing with children living around the world. 'Errors of omission' The Miami-Dade Student Government Association and the ACLU said removing the book violated students' constitutional right of access to information under the First Amendment. "By totally banning the Cuba books and the rest of the series, the school board is in fact prohibiting even the voluntary consideration of the themes contained in the books by students at their leisure," said US District Judge Alan Gold. "This goes to the heart of the First Amendment issue," he said. Judge Gold gave the school until the end of the day to put the books it had removed from the shelves back in the library. Juan Amador Rodriguez, the parent who had complained about the book, said he was surprised and disappointed at the judge's decision. "The book has errors. It has errors of omission, omission about the reality of the country," Mr Amador said. http://www.bbc.co.uk Original thread here

The traditional election night could come to an end because of new voting laws, the elections minister has said. The new laws mean election officials have to check signatures and dates of birth of postal voters - something they say cannot be done in one night. Democracy minister Bridget Prentice said there were good arguments for delaying the counts until the next day. There was "ongoing discussion" about the idea but candidates also had strong reasons for wanting results quickly. New checks Delaying counts would mean the end of the "did you stay up for Portillo" moments. (referring to the surprise defeat of the then high flying Tory MP Michael Portillo in 1997) And the Dimbleby brothers would miss out on the usual all-night televised results marathon. Mrs Prentice said: "The swingometer may have to have a decent night's sleep and be fresh and bright on Friday afternoon." The Electoral Administration Act was passed earlier this month after a protracted battle between the government and the House of Lords. The new checks on postal voting follow cases of fraud in 2004 - when an elections judge said he had heard evidence which would disgrace a banana republic. The new system means people voting by post will have to give their signature and date of birth both when they register to vote and when they send in their ballot. Malcolm Dumper, executive director of the Association of Electoral Administrators, says it will take an "inordinate amount of time" to check the signatures and dates of birth in many constituencies. While some postal votes can be counted ahead of polling day, some people just hand in their postal ballots at traditional polling stations. Mr Dumper says the new checks meant the prospects of a Thursday night election countdown will go "out of the window". In Southampton, there were more than 30,000 postal votes - and in other areas there were many more, he said. Counter arguments In an interview with the BBC News website, the democracy minister said talks were taking place about whether counts should be delayed. Mrs Prentice said there were already areas of the UK where counts did not happen on the Thursday election night. And in European elections counting did not begin until Sunday, to keep in line with the rest of Europe. "I know there is a group amongst the [election] administrators who would be keen for us to move all counting to the Friday," said Mrs Prentice. "They have put up good arguments about people being fresh and having done a 15, 16-hour day at polling stations and so on. "There is an equally strong argument by candidates and the agents saying 'actually we would quite like to get the result'." 2007 test Many signatures could be checked before polling day as the vast majority of postal voters returned their ballots two or three days after receiving them, said Mrs Prentice. "We need to see how it pans out in 2007 when there will be local elections... it's not the size of a general election so we will be able to see if there are problems," said Mrs Prentice. Returning officers would decide on the day when they wanted to do the count - the law says they must do it as soon as is practicable. But Mrs Prentice said she wanted general guidelines on the best way of doing it. The postal votes checks are part of a raft of new measures designed to improve confidence in the security of the voting system. There are two new criminal offences against voting fraud - for supplying false information or failing to supply information to election registration officers. Voters will also have to sign for their ballot papers at the polling stations in a move "to deter fraud". Mrs Prentice said the police were being more proactive: "They never really saw elections as part of their remit and they have now given it a much higher priority." But she stressed there was relatively little in voting fraud in the UK. And new security measures put into place after the 2004 criticisms meant cases of alleged fraud last year had been quickly picked up. Head of household The government has so far decided not to adopt the individual registration system recommended by the Electoral Commission. That would have meant all voters, postal and otherwise, would have their signatures and dates of birth checked. Mrs Prentice said she was in favour of the idea in principle but wanted to see how it worked for postal voting before deciding whether to roll it out for the whole system. Some election officials were worried it could see fewer people registered to vote, particularly in big cities where there was a transient population, she said. Mrs Prentice accepted the current system - where the "head of the household" registers everyone in their home to vote - sounded "a bit old fashioned". But young people said there were less likely to be on the register if they had to apply individually. Loans controversy Mrs Prentice is particularly worried by Electoral Commission research suggesting that 3.5m people are missing from the voting register. "I think that undermines the democratic process in a similar but different way from the possibility of the system being insecure," she said. There were ripple effects - for example constituency boundaries being set on inaccurate data. The new laws would give the Electoral Commission more power to promote voting, she said. But the style of politics was also a factor in people staying at home, she said. Mrs Prentice landed the elections brief after Harriet Harman stepped down from the post when her husband, Labour treasurer Jack Dromey, said he had not known about the party's secret loans. Police continue to investigate claims of "loans for peerages". All involved deny wrong doing. Mrs Prentice said there seemed to be a growing view that there should be less money spent nationally and more spent locally by the parties. "I think the controversy has been damaging right across the board to all political parties," she said. "On the other hand, there is a contradiction. The public don't want more state funding but they equally don't like the idea of large loans being paid to the different political parties." Political parties were "fundamental" to the UK's democracy and had to be financed, she argued. "It's about finding a way that is acceptable and is transparent and that people feel is fair and that no individual rich donor can shower thousands of pounds in one area to the detriment of the other parties in that area," she said. http://www.bbc.co.uk

A hospital is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on reinforced beds and strengthening mortuary slabs due to an increasing number of obese patients. The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital said standard beds are not strong enough to hold some people. It has begun a £200,000 project to refurbish its mortuary including bigger storage spaces needed for obese people. Hospital spokesman Andrew Stronach said the situation highlighted the obesity problem currently affecting the NHS. Cremation facilities He said: "I think this situation highlights a growing public health epidemic over people's weight, particularly in cases of morbid obesity. "It is a considerable issue, not only in terms of people's health but with the cost to the health service." The news comes two months after a Norfolk family was told their dead mother could not be cremated in her home city because she was too large. Penelope Stapleton from Norwich, who weighed 22 stone, died of a heart attack aged 61. Her coffin was too large for the facilities at Norwich's Earlham crematorium and the family was forced to arrange a cremation 120 miles (193km) away in Watford. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Sensors in space have recorded the dramatic increases in land temperatures and air pollution as the UK swelters in record-breaking July heat. The images show major cities like London, Birmingham and Liverpool experiencing the highest levels of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Wisley in Surrey recorded an unprecedented 36.5C (97.3F) on 19 July. The images were generated from data gathered by the European Space Agency's Envisat and Nasa's Aura satellites. John Remedios, head of Earth Observation Science at the University of Leicester, said: "The latest satellite data shows a perspective of the environment in which we live that can only be obtained from space. "The images show temperature increases and increased pollution for every region in the UK." Dr Remedios added: "It is particularly striking to see the extent of temperature and pollution increases in the large cities, which have such a detrimental effect on the quality of life in those locations." The images show the stark differences in land temperatures and nitrogen dioxide between 15 and 18 July when most of the UK experienced heatwave conditions. This period also coincided with the government issuing its second heatwave smog warning of the summer, when air pollution was classified as "high" or "very high". Future forecast? Researchers at the University of Leicester, who released the images, said the data could offer some insight into the future. "These extremes of temperature and of pollution are likely to occur periodically throughout this summer as the prevailing heatwave conditions maintain themselves," Earth Observation Science's Dr Gary Corlett said. "Moreover, current climate change predictions for the UK suggest that the frequency of the these extreme periods of high temperature and pollution will increase." The land temperatures were recorded by the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR), an instrument funded by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on the European Space Agency's Envisat platform. The NO2 readings were taken by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard Nasa's Aura satellite. Scientists hope access to this sort of data will allow more accurate and quicker assessments of nations' compliance with air pollution limits. See more images here http://www.bbc.co.uk

MySpace, the world's most popular networking website, has restarted after being shut down for more than half a day following a power cut. The company blamed the closure on record-breaking heat in Los Angeles where its data servers are held. The high temperatures caused "massive power outages" a spokesman for the company said. MySpace lets users build a personalised home page and has almost three million visitors each month. A MySpace spokesperson said: "Due to the record breaking heat in Los Angeles over the weekend the area where MySpace's servers are stored had massive power outages. "With power resumed, the network is now up and running." The spokesman said backup generators at the data centre had failed. Earlier in the day visitors to the website were greeted with a game of Pacman and a message saying the service hoped to be back up and running within the hour. The website was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for $580m last July after it proved to be a huge success with youth audiences online. The closure of the service, albeit temporarily, will be a blow for News Corp and MySpace in such a competitive environment. Bebo, one of MySpace's keenest rivals, has been catching MySpace in terms of audience numbers in recent months. A number of MySpace users posted comments on other blogging services - such as Live Journal and Wordpress - about the temporary closure of the site. Vanessa Evans, sales and marketing manager at internet infrastructure firm Linx, said companies typically took steps to ensure a power outage would not topple a website. "Data centres usually have the ability to connect to at least two power sources so that they can switch in case one source is lost. "I would be surprised for any large company taking space on a data centre which did not have this option." Yahoo Ms Evans said that while she could not comment on the MySpace problem directly, she said many companies hosted information at more than one data centre. Meanwhile, UK users of Yahoo! were without a number of services, including e-mail and instant messenger, on Sunday due to a power failure. A spokesman told BBC News: "Yahoo! search, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger were quickly restored to normal operation as were many of our content services." "The remaining services are returning to normal now. We apologise to any of our users who may have been inconvenienced." http://www.bbc.co.uk

Doctor Who Has Christmas In July Shoppers in sunglasses were baffled to see Christmas trees and giant snowmen on sun-baked streets in Cardiff. The seasonal time-trick of a frosty festive scene was created by the Doctor Who team to film the BBC show's Christmas special. Guest star Catherine Tate braved 30C temperatures in full white bridal gown. When fans asked David Tennant, who plays the Doctor, how he was coping he shouted back: "It's blinking boiling." Scenes for the special, entitled The Runaway Bride, were shot in Cardiff city centre, which will be transformed into a shopping street in London's West End for the show. Comedy star Tate, known for her catchphrase "Am I bovvered?" in her hit sketch show, might have been a little perturbed as she coped with her role as bride Donna in soaring temperatures. She had to jump out of a black cab and run down the Cardiff street. A Doctor Who insider revealed that audiences will see her morph into a giant bride before exploding across the screen. 'Bumpy ride' She said: "I'm honoured and delighted to be joining David Tennant aboard the Tardis. "As a summer job, this'll do." The show's writer Russell T Davies, has joked that the Tardis would be in for a "bumpy ride" with Catherine Tate on board. An onlooker said: "It's surreal seeing all the Christmas decorations - but it's quite nice to look at them on a hot day like this. "It feels like the Timelord has put us in the Tardis and whisked it off for Christmas." It has also been revealed that Torchwood, a sci-fi spin-off of Doctor Who, will launch on BBC Three in late autumn. The series will focus on a squad of secret agents facing human and alien enemies, with actor John Barrowman reprising his role as time traveller Captain Jack. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Two women killed when a giant, inflatable sculpture blew into the air fell to their deaths from a great height, according to ambulance staff. Another 13 people were hurt when the Dreamspace artwork was lifted into the air at Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, Co Durham on Sunday. Forensic teams examining the artwork's moorings have not ruled out foul play. Claire Furmedge, 38, from Chester-le-Street, and 68-year-old Elizabeth Collings from Seaham, died. Ms Furmedge was a mother-of-two and Ms Collings was a grandmother. Both were on the artwork with young relatives, none of whom were seriously hurt. Girl injured A three-year-old girl - Rosie Wright from Langley Park near Durham - was badly injured after being crushed when the sculpture landed on her, according to ambulance staff. She was apparently spotted in the collapsed structure by a passing anaesthetist, who accompanied her in an air ambulance to Newcastle General Hospital, where she is in a stable condition. Eight people were taken to the University Hospital in Durham, and others to hospitals across the region. Beryl Davison, who works for the North East Ambulance Service, was one of the first emergency personnel on the scene. She said: "There were two fatalities that had fallen from a great height from being thrown out of the inflatable. "The other major casualty was the young girl who I believe had been crushed when it had landed. "Where the inflatable had landed there were people underneath so they had been crushed, and there were other, quite traumatic injuries where people had been thrown out and fallen quite a long distance." Sunday's incident is being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and Durham police. A specialist engineer has been drafted in to examine the structure's design, accident investigators said. A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive said: "The deflated structure, ropes and anchor pins have been taken into possession by the police." Counselling hotline Chief Superintendent Trevor Watson, of Durham Police, said officers were pursuing all lines of inquiry following the deaths on Sunday. He said: "We haven't received reports that is was particularly windy at the time of the incident. "It is too early to speculate on the cause and we are keeping a very open mind." Tony Galloway, director of development services at Chester-le-Street District Council, said a trauma helpline had been set up. "We recognise there will be lots of people who witnessed what happened and may need professional care and counselling," he said. The Dreamspace sculpture, created by artist Maurice Agis, comprises several rooms, made of translucent PVC sheets, which are interconnected and inflated to allow visitors to walk about inside. Dragged into air The artwork has appeared at venues around the world. Mr Agis' girlfriend, Paloma Brotons, told London's Evening Standard newspaper that the 74-year-old was himself dragged into the air while using extra ropes to tie down the inflatable because of the heat. She said: "I saw him flying with it and I thought he was going to be killed. There was a team of us that helped to tie the structure to the ground. We even used more ropes because it was hot." http://www.bbc.co.uk

Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played the engineer Scotty in the original TV series, will now have his remains blasted into space in October. The actor's ashes were supposed to be sent into orbit last year, but the flight was delayed as tests were carried out on the rocket. Doohan died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in July 2005, aged 85. His family will hold a service on the day of the rocket's launch for fans to pay tribute to him. The actor's ashes will be sent into space along with the remains of around 100 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went to space in 1963. After a short flight, the rocket will return to Earth, with a subsequent launch putting Doohan's remains into orbit in December or January. They will remain there for several years, after which they will drop back towards Earth, burning up on re-entry. 'Final wish' In a letter to fans last year, Doohan's widow, Wende, said the actor would have "given almost anything to be able to actually go into space". "He finally gets his wish, I can't think of a more fitting send-off than having some of his fans attend this, his final journey," she said. The flights have been arranged by Texas company Space Services, which previously sent the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s drug guru Timothy Leary into space. Doohan's Star Trek character Scotty manned the Starship Enterprise with Captain James T Kirk, played by Shatner, and Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy. The original crew lasted for three series, starting in 1966, before the show was axed. However, they reunited for seven feature films between 1979 and 1991. Canadian-born Doohan had been a successful character actor on radio and TV before landing the role in the pilot Star Trek episode. He quickly became typecast as the Scottish space engineer, finding it difficult to get other roles, but he learned to embrace his place in sci-fi history. His final public appearance was in October 2004 when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Oasis Hits Album Out In November Rock group Oasis have announced they will release an 18-track greatest hits album in time for Christmas. Stop the Clocks will feature a mixture of chart singles and lesser-known B-sides, all chosen by the band. Wonderwall, Half the World Away and debut hit Supersonic will be on the collection, released on 20 November. Oasis are to take a break from touring and recording but there was "absolutely no truth" in suggestions they were splitting up, a band spokeswoman said. "They've been touring for nearly two years and finished in May, and then they said they were going to take some time out," she told the BBC News website. Britpop icons Fronted by the Gallagher brothers, Oasis have sold 40 million albums around the world since they formed in 1993. Noel, 39, and Liam, 33, have become renowned for their feuding, temper and swearing, as well as being one of the defining bands of the Britpop era. Their first two albums - Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory - were critically acclaimed and earned them global attention. Be Here Now would become the fastest-selling album in chart history when it was released at the height of their fame in 1997. Since then, they have released three further studio albums, plus a live set and a B-sides compilation. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Looks interesting across the next week! Couple of films i'd like to watch Sun: 21:00 Lost in Translation Thurs: 21:00 Road to Perdition

Sportdaq is a sports stock exchange game. As its more fun playing against people you know, i thought I'd set up a league for those who fancy playing. HOme page is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sportdaq/ The aim of the game: to make as much profit as you can by buying and selling 'shares' in listed sports stars. The person with the highest weekly percentage gain is crowned Top Trader. HOW CAN YOU MAKE MONEY? 1) Dividends: Every day we count how much press coverage each celeb gets. Then on Thursday the shares you own will pay out a dividend, depending on how much press coverage those sports stars received. The more press coverage a celeb gets, the more money you make. To get the full pay-out you have to own the celeb from Monday night to Thursday morning. 2) Capital Gains: Just like in the real world, share prices rise and fall as demand for them changes - so as well as receiving dividends, you can make money by day-trading and buying low (when demand for a specific celeb is low) and selling high (as the celeb gets more press coverage and the demand for them increases). Prices are updated every 20 minutes so you can make or lose money on a celeb very quickly. 3) Win Bonuses: Every week we offer a selection of sporting events where you can win extra cash. Find out more about Win Bonuses. WHERE TO START? 1) First, create your membership and sign up 2) Once you're registered, the best place to start is My Shares which is where you can begin buying and selling celebrity shares. 3) Keep one eye on the market and the other on the back pages of the press, and you could soon be raking it in! HOW TO JOIN THE COLDPLAYING LEAGUE? Once you've signed up, post your username and id number here and I'll add you.

Stormbreaker 7/10 - lots of action, some good comedy, pretty interesting plot line Superman 6/10 - it was good, reminded me of being a kid with the proper credits and theme tune thing going on. bit long in places. and they made superman too human