It’s anybody’s guess what stars will wear to oscars

HOLLYWOOD, Mar 20: Never before have so many tried to dress so few so fabulously: more designers have set up more mini-boutiques in more posh hotel suites to court stars to wear their original creations at this year’s oscars than ever before in the history of hollywood’s highest honors.

Some designers have even skipped showing fall collections in Paris and New York city to set up shop in Hollywood and Beverly Hills mansions in recent weeks where they are enticing stars to come by, try on and hopefully wear their original creations. Oh and by the way, take home a bag full of Gratis beauty products, and we know someone who can do your eyebrows.

But with all the hype and the hard sell, this town that loves to gossip is keeping its secrets with Sunday’s oscars just days away. What this year’s "it" girl, Julia Roberts, nominated for best actress in "Erin Brockovich," will wear to the 73rd academy awards is as big an oscar mystery as who will win best picture.

While every top designer in town has created a gown with her in mind, the pressure is on for Roberts to find one that expresses her style in a way that appeals to the whole world: because the whole world will be watching what she is wearing.

The academy awards — which began as a small year-end fete to celebrate the local industry’s best work — has grown into a major fashion showcase. "The one thing that everybody remembers the next morning is how fabulous or how hideous or how boring everybody looked," fashion king Bob Mackie says in "star style at the academy awards" a book by stylist patty fox.

Unlike past years when actresses relied on stylists to pull together a look for them, Roberts — like several of her fellow oscar hopefuls — has chosen to deal directly with designers, avoiding the middlemen lest they steer her wrong or leak the information to the press.

In the past few weeks, couture creators like Versace, Armani, Calvin Klein, Prada, Pamela Denis, Carolina Herrera flew into town along with jewelers, seamstresses, hairdressers to aggressively court the stars with the promise of gratis outfits costing 100,000 dollars or more including microscopic 80,000 dollars gowns, 300 dollars haircuts, 500,000 dollars diamond bracelets and solid gold aviator frame sunglasses.

Meanwhile, many of the world’s top hair, make-up and accessory designers have hit town as well, and, like the fashionistas, have holed up in posh hotels to offer free samples, products, styling and fashion tips.

Despite all the hype, it is expected that Roberts, who normally sticks to tailored, classic, pared down looks by the likes of Vivienne Tam and Calvin Klein, will probably stay true to form in a simple dark gown with little embellishment.

As for general style trends, observers say 2001 may be the last year of over-the-top oscar style for several years due to the sluggish economy.

The signs are already there: ornamentation in the form of crystal beads and embroidery are less prominent in gowns this year, which themselves are in elegant, but pared-down shapes with emphasis on a bare shoulders and backs.

Oscar hair will be polished and groomed but in a whimsical style and make-up-wise, women’s eyes will likely be smoky with glossy or bright red lips. Must-have accessories this year will include aviator sunglass frames, artisanal evening bags, and, of all things, breath mints which are being handed out to all the stars from the likes of victoria’s secret, hint mints, and handbag designer Kate Spade. (REUTERS)

Army secures Pak during local Govt elections

ISLAMABAD, Mar 20: Pakistan’s army will guard polling stations in 20 districts tomorrow as the country embarks on round two of local Government elections set to usher in "real democracy," officials said.

More than 10 million voters will elect 1,459 local councils for which 61,900 candidates are in the running.

Election Commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said the electoral contest involved 30,639 seats in the country’s four provinces.

A record number of 13,300 women are contesting the elections as military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf has reserved an unprecedented one-third of seats for women, he said.

Separately some 2,105 non-Muslim candidates are in the field for 1,459 seats allocated for the country’s minority communities, Dilshad said.

"The elections are being held under the supervision of the judiciary to ensure free, fair and impartial polls," he told AFP.

Police and army soldiers would be deployed to maintain law and order, he said.

Elections on a non-party basis are being held under an ambitious devolution of power plan announced by Musharraf after toppling Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup in October 1999.

The general who sent Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia in December, has vowed to bring power to the "grassroots." (AFP)

Russia’s Mir streaks across pacific on way to demise

NADI, FIJI, Mar 20: Russia’s Mir space station streaked across the pacific sky today on one its final orbits before its fiery demise, which has prompted a warning by Fijian authorities for residents to stay indoors.

While locals including Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase clapped and cheered at the man-made shooting star, the splashdown later this week of the 140-tonne station weighed sadly on a group of Russian cosmonauts visiting Fiji to record Mir’s final minutes.

"It’s like losing a part of me," said Leonid Gorshkov, one of the chief architects of Mir.

The station is due to end 15 years of service in space, probably on Friday Fiji time, when it enters the earth’s atmosphere and breaks up into burning fragments.

Russia’s space agency said today that Friday had been set as the last day in space for mir. "It will be March 23 and March 24 as a reserve day in the case of emergency situations," said a spokesman for the agency.

Re-entry is likely to take place somewhere between New Zealand and Chile, over a vast unpopulated stretch of ocean.

Nevertheless, tiny nations throughout the south pacific are on alert for car-size chunks of space station that may survive re-entry and crash down with the power to drill two metres into concrete.

The authorities in Fiji told the nation’s 800,000 people today not to go out after Thursday night, to stay off boats and to avoid touching any "foreign objects".

Japan has issued a similar warning, and authorities in Australia and New Zealand are on standby for any emergency.

Moscow has taken out 200 million in insurance in case its plans to dump what is left of Mir harmlessly in the ocean go awry.

A spokeswoman for Australia’s Qantas Airlines told Reuters the airline had one flight that could be affected — a Friday morning flight to Buenos Aires from Sydney.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and we have contingency plans in place," she said.

But the Russian space experts, part of a scientific observation team which has set up camp in Fiji, insisted there was little chance of the re-entry going wrong.

"There’s absolutely no danger," said Sergey Zaletin, the cosmonaut commander of the last manned mission to Mir.

Elena Kondakova, who served on Mir as a flight engineer in 1994-95, said the observation team totalled 48 people, including scientists, space journalists, camera crews and some fee-paying passengers. Russia’s space agency is also taking part.

The group will fly two aircraft chartered from air Fiji to a point south-east of Tonga, where they hope to be within a few hundred km (miles) of mir’s red-hot re-entry into the atmosphere. Debris would be 100 km (62 miles) above the small planes.

Film of Mir’s final moments would be broadcast a few hours later on the internet at www.Mirreentry.Com.

It was Kondakova who pointed Mir out to others at the Plush Sheraton Resort in Fiji on Tuesday night as the craft drew a bright line across the sky.

"It’s like a shooting star but brighter," said Prime Minister Qarase, who had turned up for a media briefing held by the cosmonauts and expedition coordinators. (REUTERS)

Studies see no increased heart risk with viagra

ORLANDO, (FLA.), Mar 20: Men using the drug viagra to treat impotence do not experience an increased risk of heart attack or death from heart disease and may in fact boost their heart performance and exercise capacity, researchers said here.

Previously researchers had expressed concern about a possible association between the use of viagra and heart attacks. But three studies released yesterday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida, found no heart risks from Pfizer Inc.’s blockbuster little blue pill.

A study of more than 5,600 British men found that the rates of heart attack and other related heart problems were no higher among viagra users than the general population.

The research, which was first released last week in the British Medical Journal, also found there were no cases of heart attack, stroke or death reported during the first month after treatment with viagra was prescribed.

Two other studies unveiled at the Orlando meeting found that one of the ways viagra improves sexual function may be by enhancing the response of the heart and blood vessels to exercise.

Dr. Charalambos Vlachopoulos, the lead researcher in one of those studies, said in a telephone interview that past research had focused on how well viagra helped to maintain penile erection.

"Now we’re moving to another part of sexual intercourse because sexual intercourse has other components as well. We think that viagra helps other aspects of intercourse such as performance of the heart, exercise capacity and so on," he said.

Researchers from Vlachopoulos’ study in Australia found that viagra made arteries less stiff and reduced blood pressure, which could be expected to help the heart pump the additional blood needed to meet the physical demands of sexual intercourse.

The final study, conducted by researchers in Brazil, evaluated 18 patients with erectile dysfunction and moderate congestive heart failure.

Researchers said study participants walked for six minutes and, later, exercised as vigorously as possible on a treadmill. Those who were randomly assigned to receive viagra had a lower blood pressure and heart rate and were able to exercise longer and harder than those who received a placebo, the study found.

Viagra also appeared to reduce the activity of a protein that can be harmful to heart failure patients when produced in excessive amounts, the study added.

"More than 10 million men have taken viagra since its approval and this study provides additional confirmation that viagra has an excellent safety profile and is well tolerated in the wide variety of men who suffer from ed (erectile dysfunction)," Joe Feczko, senior vice president for medical and regulatory operations for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group, said in a statement about the British study. (REUTERS)

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