Police drama wins best picture at Chinese-language 'Oscars'

ILAN, Taiwan: A Chinese police drama featuring a cast of amateur actors on Saturday became the surprise best picture winner at Taiwan's annual Golden Horse Awards, dubbed the Chinese-language "Oscars."

"Beijing Blues," directed by Gao Qunshu and about plain cloth police hunting down thieves and con artists in Beijing, also bagged best cinematography and best film editing awards.

"This is really unexpected... I am only an amateur director who shot a few films. I didn't expect that I'd have anything to do with the Golden Horse," said Gao at the ceremony in Ilan county in northeastern Taiwan.

Acclaimed Hong Kong director Johnnie To's financial drama "Life Without Principle" also fared well, collecting best director for To, best leading actor for Lau Ching-wan and best original screenplay.

Lau played a simple and honest gangster in the movie that centers on the characters' struggles between money and principles in the midst of a financial crisis in Hong Kong.

To was absent from Saturday's ceremony while Lau, a first-time Golden Horse winner, dedicated the award to his family in a brief speech.

Taiwan's Gwei Lun-mei was crowned best leading actress for her role as a wilful and frustrating woman in the love story "Gf*Bf", also released as "Girlfriend Boyfriend".

"This award is a major encouragement for me. I love making films very much and I will continue to work hard," said Gwei, her voice cracking with emotion. Gwei became the first Taiwanese to take the title in six years.

Hong Kong singer-actor Ronald Cheng won best supporting actor for his role in "Vulgaria" while Liang Jing from China took best supporting actress for playing a mid-wife in the black comedy "Design of Death".

Chinese social satire "Mystery," directed by Lou Ye, only collected best new performer for actress Qi Xi and best original film score despite leading the race with seven nominations.

"Mystery" marked Lou's first film after he was banned from film-making for five years for showing his politically-charged love story "Summer Palace" at the Cannes Film Festival without government approval in 2006.

More than 30 films from Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong were nominated in the 49th edition of the Golden Horse Awards, styled after the US Academy Awards but decided by a jury along the lines of the Cannes festival.

Winners of Taiwan's 49th annual Golden Horse Film Awards

Best Picture: Beijing Blues

Best Director: Johnnie To (Life Without Principle)

Best Leading Actor: Lau Ching-wan (Life Without Principle)

Best Leading Actress: Gwei Lun-mei (Gf*Bf)

Best Supporting Actor: Ronald Cheng (Vulgaria)

Best Supporting Actress: Liang Jing (Design of Death)

Best New Director: Chang Jung-chi (Touch of the Light)

Best New Performer: Qi Xi (Mystery)

Best Original Screenplay: Milkyway Creative Team, Au Kin Yee, Wong King Fai (Life Without Principle)

Best Screenplay Adaptation: Bao Jingjing (Love Is Not Blind)

Best Cinematography: Wu Di (Beijing Blues)

Best Visual Effects: Wook Kim, Frankie Chung, Josh Cole (Flying Swords of Dragon Gate)

Best Art Direction: Lin Mu (Design of Death)

Best Make-up/Costume Design: Stanley Cheung (The Bullet Vanishes)

Best Action Choreography: Chin Ka Lok (Motorway)

Best Film Editing: Yang Hongyu (Beijing Blues)

Best Original Film Score: Peyman Yazdanian, Johann Johannsson (Mystery)

Best Original Film Song: Do Re Mi (Romancing in Thin Air)

Best Sound Effects: Kinson Tsang, Lai Chi Hung (Nightfall)

Best Documentary: China Heavyweight

Best Short Film: The Home Gleaners

Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year: Huang Yu-siang (Touch of the Light)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Shih Chun

-AFP/ac

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Missile launch centre to come up in coastal Andhra

HYDERABAD: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to set up a missile launch site in the coastal town of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs.1,000 crore.

DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat, who is also the scientific advisor to the defence minister, told reporters here Friday that they had asked the state government to allot 260 acres of land to set up the long-range missile testing centre.

"As soon as the government clearance comes for land, we will start creating infrastructure. It will take three years to set up the centre," he said.

The DRDO currently has launch facilities at the Chandipur-on-Sea and Wheeler Island at Balasore in Odisha and they are used to test fire the long-range Agni series, Prithvi and other shorter range missiles.

Saraswat said the proposed facility at Machilipatnam would complement the test range in Balasore.

It would be used for launching long-range missiles and also in carrying out tests for the Ballistic Missile Defence Shield wherein multiple missiles need to be launched for trials.

As the proposed site in Rajhamundry falls under the Krishna-Godavari basin, the ministry of petroleum had raised energy and security issues in view of oil and gas exploration activity in the area.

The scientific advisor, however, said the DRDO had resolved issues with the petroleum ministry. "We have amicably sorted out the issue with them," he said.

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling.

Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group of dwarf planets in 2006. (Related: "Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule.")

Just like the slightly larger Pluto, this icy world circles our sun beyond Neptune. Researchers expected Makemake to also have a global atmosphere—but new evidence reveals that isn't the case.

Staring at a Star

An international team of astronomers was able for the first time to probe Makemake's physical characteristics using the European Southern Observatory's three most powerful telescopes in Chile. The researchers observed the change in light given off by a distant star as the dwarf planet passed in front of it. (Learn how scientists found Makemake.)

"These events are extremely difficult to predict and observe, but they are the only means of obtaining accurate knowledge of important properties of dwarf planets," said Jose Luis Ortiz, lead author of this new study and an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, in Spain.

It's like trying to study a coin from a distance of 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more, Ortiz added.

Ortiz and his team knew Makemake didn't have an atmosphere when light from the background star abruptly dimmed and brightened as the chilly world drifted across its face.

"The light went off very abruptly from all the sites we observed the event so this means this world cannot have a substantial and global atmosphere like that of its sibling Pluto," Ortiz said.

If Makemake had an atmosphere, light from the star would gradually decrease and increase as the dwarf planet passed in front.

Coming Into Focus

The team's new observations add much more detail to our view of Makemake—not only limiting the possibility of an atmosphere but also determining the planet's size and surface more accurately.

"We think Makemake is a sphere flattened slightly at both poles and mostly covered with very white ices—mainly of methane," said Ortiz.

"But there are also indications for some organic material at least at some places; this material is usually very red and we think in a small percentage of the surface, the terrain is quite dark," he added.

Why Makemake lacks a global atmosphere remains a big mystery, but Ortiz does have a theory. Pluto is covered in nitrogen ice. When the sun heats this volatile material, it turns straight into a gas, creating Pluto's atmosphere.

Makemake lacks nitrogen ice on its surface, so there is nothing for the sun to heat into a gas to provide an atmosphere.

The dwarf planet has less mass, and a weaker gravitational field, than Pluto, said Ortiz. This means that over eons of time, Makemake may not have been able to hang on to its nitrogen.

Methane ice will also transform into a gas when heated. But since the dwarf planet is nearly at its furthest distance from the sun, Ortiz believes that Makemake's surface methane is still frozen. (Learn about orbital planes.)

And even if the methane were to transform into a gas, any resulting atmosphere would cover, at most, only ten percent of the planet, said Ortiz.

The new results are detailed today in the journal Nature.

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'Honey Trap' Professor Convicted of Drug Smuggling

A court in Argentina has convicted an Oxford educated University of North Carolina professor of attempting to smuggle four pounds of cocaine into the United States.

Paul Frampton, a 68-year-old esteemed professor of physics and astronomy, says he thought he was flying to South America to meet with a bikini model but ended up getting caught in what they call a "honey trap."

Frampton flew to Bolivia from North Carolina earlier this year after communicating with someone who claimed to be Denise Milani, winner of Miss Bikini World 2007. She never showed up.

Instead, Frampton says he was met by a man who gave him a suitcase, identifying himself as an intermediary for Milani, and instructing him to take it to her in Argentina.

PHOTOS: Sex, Spies and Scandal

Once there, he says he could not find her and decided to board a plane home, with that suitcase in hand. Police opened it up at the airport and found more than four pounds of cocaine inside.

"He has a high IQ, is well-known and very distinguished in the field of physics and other scientific areas, but when it comes to common sense he scored a zero," said former DC homicide investigator Rod Wheeler.

The Argentinean court sentenced Frampton to serve four years and eight months in custody after prosecutors there presented evidence of text messages they say Frampton sent to the person he thought was the model, saying, "I'm worried about the sniffer dogs," and "I'm looking after your special little suitcase."

READ: UNC Professor Held in Argentina on Drug Charges Wants Raise From University

The University of North Carolina has cut off Frampton's salary in a move that prompted dozens of his colleagues at the university to sign a letter of protest to administrators.

"As more information about his case becomes available ... it becomes more and more obvious that Paul was the innocent, although very gullible, victim of a scam," the joint letter said.

Many wrote separate letters of reference on a website they created to support the embattled professor, who is hoping to serve his time under house arrest in Argentina at a friend's apartment.

From prison Frampton has said, "It does seem unfair that an innocent scam victim is treated as a professional drug smuggler."

Frampton's Argentinean lawyer told ABC News she would have no comment until having a chance to review the judge's complete ruling, which she expects to be released early next week.

However, it appears this is not the first time Frampton has been in hot water over a woman.

The Telegraph, a London based paper that serves Great Britain , reported that friends say he once met another woman online and flew to China to marry her. This time, the woman was real, but after seeing Frampton, she reportedly canceled the wedding.

If you have a story you would like told you can email correspondent Mark Greenblatt at mark.p.greenblatt@abc.com.

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Israel firms up security as Gaza truce takes hold

JERUSALEM: Israel restricted Palestinian access to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday and kept a tight grip on security as a first death tested a hard-won truce ending fighting in and around Gaza.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party prepared for a primary on Sunday amid signs its popularity was slipping among Israelis who would have preferred a ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled strip.

Tensions on the streets of annexed Arab east Jerusalem remained high a day after angry demonstrators stormed an Israeli police station in a bid to secure the release of a Palestinian woman who tried to stab a border guard.

The army reported arresting 28 suspected West Bank militants -- including five members of Hamas -- in the wake of a security sweep on Thursday in which 55 "terror operatives" were detained.

Israel decided on further precaution by barring Palestinians under the age of 40 from accessing the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem -- Islam's third holiest site -- which is also revered by Jews.

"An extensive police force and border guards will also be deployed in sensitive areas around the Old City of Jerusalem," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

The mosque compound has been the focus of past clashes, and Israel sought to prevent any repetition that could jeopardise the truce ending eight days of fighting in which 166 Palestinians and six Israelis died.

The ceasefire was holding firmly despite a dozen rockets being fired at Israel from Gaza in the first post-truce hours and a warning from Netanyahu that he would resume the offensive if need be.

The Palestinians also reported their first post-conflict casualty at the hands of Israeli soldiers who reportedly opened fire on a group of farmers near the Gaza border on Friday.

"This is the first Israeli violation of the truce," Sami Abu Zuhri of the Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza told AFP.

Hamas "will raise this violation with Egyptian mediators to make sure that it does not happen again," the spokesman added.

An Israeli army representative said the troops were forced to take action after hundreds of Palestinians attacked a border fence in an apparent attempt to take it down.

"The soldiers proceeded to fire warning shots in the air, but the Palestinians continued to close in, and the soldiers then fired at their feet," the spokeswoman said.

The Palestinian emergency services identified the victim as 21-year-old Abdelhadi Qdeih Anwar. They added that 19 other Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds in the village of Khuzaa.

No rockets were fired in reprisal by Hamas.

The first opinion polls assessing the government's handling of the Gaza conflict in the run-up to a snap general election called for January showed a general sense of disappointment that Israel had accepted the ceasefire terms.

A study commissioned by the Maariv newspaper found 49 percent of respondents saying Israel should have continued its operation of air strikes and just 31 percent agreeing with the truce.

The same poll showed support for Netanyahu's Likud party slipping by six percentage points over the past month.

But Likud was still leading the opposition Labour party by a 37-to-22 percent margin and on pace to form a new governing coalition with ultra-nationalist and Jewish Orthodox groups.

Maariv said many Israelis felt the truce spelled a "missed opportunity" for the Jewish state to eradicate Gaza's Hamas leaders.

"The ceasefire agreement was essential in the wake of the global and international circumstances and the heavy pressure placed on Israel" by the United States, Maariv wrote.

But "it seems that most of the public in the country has a hard time accepting these explanations."

Sunday's Likud primary will decide who makes it onto the party list to be put to voters on January 22. Analysts are watching to see if the party tilts further to the right in response to public disaffection over the truce.

-AFP/ac

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India tests missile shield, DRDO says it will be operational by 2014

NEW DELHI: There were some big fireworks over the Bay of Bengal on Friday afternoon when India tested its experimental ballistic missile defence (BMD) system to intercept two "incoming hostile" missiles with interceptor missiles.

Elated with the "bang-on accurate" test, the seventh time the BMD system has been tested successfully over the last six years, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) promptly declared a missile shield could be deployed for New Delhi by 2014.

"We are now ready to convert the BMD system from an experimental to an operational one that can be deployed on demand. I am confident we can deploy the Phase-I of the BMD system by 2014," said DRDO chief V K Saraswat, speaking to TOI from the Wheeler Island test range off Odisha coast.

But the reality check is that even American missile defence systems like Patriot Advanced Capability-3, Aegis BMD-3 and THAAD (terminal high-altitude area defence), as also Russian and Israeli ones, are not fully foolproof as of now.

In Friday's test, only one of the incoming missiles was real: a modified Prithvi missile mimicking M-9/M-11 class of Chinese Dong Feng short-range ballistic missiles. The other was an electronically simulated missile of a longer range of 1,500km.

Both "enemy" missile launches were, however, conducted "in the same window" to test the BMD system's capability to handle "multiple threats" simultaneously. "This has been done only by the two superpowers (US and Russia) till now. The real missile was destroyed at an altitude of 14.7-km by the interceptor missile with a direct hit," said Saraswat.

The electronic missile was intercepted at an altitude of 120km. Both the missiles were picked up and tracked by long-range and multi-function radars, which in turn passed the data to guidance and launch computers of the interceptors to "kill" them. "The entire test was done practically in deployment configuration," he said.

While it remains to be seen whether DRDO can indeed deploy an effective missile shield by 2014, it has also begun work on adding a third tier to the BMD system. The existing two-tier system is designed to track and destroy ballistic missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere.

The third layer is planned to tackle low-flying cruise missiles, artillery projectiles and rockets in the line with the overall aim to achieve "near 100% kill or interception probability".

"Look what is happening in the Middle-East (Hamas firing rockets at Israeli cities before the recent ceasefire)...hence, protection against low-cost, very close range threats is also needed. We have begun some initial work on the third-tier. We will try to integrate it with the BMD system once it fructifies," said Saraswat.

At present, Phase-I of the BMD system, with interceptors flying at 4.5 Mach high-supersonic speeds to intercept enemy missiles, is meant to tackle hostile missiles with a 2,000-km strike range.

As per DRDO's plans, Phase-II will be geared for taking on 5,000-km range missiles, virtually in the class of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), with interceptors at hypersonic speeds of 6-7 Mach.

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Shoppers Descend on Black Friday Deals

Black Friday got off to its earliest start ever as many shoppers cleared the table of Thanksgiving dinner and headed straight to the malls and big-box retailers across the nation to snag goods at bargain prices.

More than 10,000 people were wrapped around Macy's flagship store in New York City before the doors opened at midnight this morning. Across the country, up to 147 million people are expected to shop at some point this weekend.

Thousands lined up outside a Target in Chicago ahead of a 9 p.m. start time.

"I'm here because my mom is making me, because she said I couldn't eat any of the Thanksgiving food if I didn't hold her place in line," Alex Horton told ABC News station WLS-TV in Chicago Thursday.

Many critics panned the early start this year, saying it cuts into quality time that should be spent with family and friends.

PHOTOS: Black Friday Shoppers Hit Stores

Chicago resident Claudia Fonseca got creative and took Thanksgiving to go.

"We brought a plate, but that's about it, we've been here since 11 a.m. And that's it," Fonseca told WLS Thursday.

Black Friday makes headlines every year, but not always for the right reason as violence has become linked to the day after Thanksgiving tradition.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Black Friday Holiday Shopping Bargains and Pitfalls Watch Video

Black Friday Shoppers Brave Long Lines, Short Tempers Watch Video

In Los Angeles, police aren't taking any chances with the LAPD deploying dozens of extra officers around the city to make sure things don't get out of hand.

Ontario Mills shopping mall in Los Angeles opened at midnight last year, but decided to give excited shoppers a two-hour head start to get their hands on the cut-rate deals, especially for electronics.

"This is my first year," Gabriela Mendoza told ABC News station KABC-TV Thursday. "I tried to stay away from this but I've heard it's really exciting so, I'm looking forward to it."

Things have been relatively calmer compared to the incident last year when a woman was accused of unleashing pepper spray on other shoppers in a dash for electronics at Walmart in Los Angeles.

The Black Friday madness kicked off Thursday when a south Sacramento, Calif., Kmart opened its doors at 6 a.m. Thursday. A shopper in a line of people that had formed nearly two hours earlier reportedly threatened to stab the people around him.

At two Kmarts in Indianapolis, police officers were called in after fights broke out among shoppers trying to score vouchers for a 32-inch plasma TV going for less than $200, police told ABC News affiliate RTV6. No injuries or arrest were made.

Stores have taken preventive measures in hopes of shoppers and tempers at ease, where safety is the main concern for everyone involved.

Mall of America has tightened its Black Friday policies and will bar unaccompanied minors from the megamall all day today. After a chair-throwing melee last year after Christmas, which was captured on smartphones and posted online, the mall is taking steps to prevent any repeat.

At the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, Calif., security planned to place barricades at the mall entrance to control the crowds and officials planned to double the number of security officers.

ABC News' John Schriffen and Sarah Netter contributed to this report.

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Homeless Arlington veteran finally settles into home after advocates’ year-long efforts

Ernie Maas could not help choking up as he took his first look around his new home Wednesday afternoon, a simple one-bedroom, federally subsidized apartment on North Glebe Road in Arlington County.

Maas, 61, who served in the Navy for seven years during and after the Vietnam War, has been homeless for about two years, living much of that time under a bridge on Four Mile Run in Arlington.

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Motor Racing: I have nothing to lose, says Alonso

SAO PAULO: Fernando Alonso insists he has nothing to lose in this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix title showdown in which he seeks to wreck defending champion Sebastian Vettel's bid for a third title and take the crown himself for a third time.

The 31-year-old Spaniard trails the 25-year-old German Red Bull driver by 13 points ahead of the Interlagos race, but he remains hopeful that he can deliver an unexpected triumph.

"It would be good to be on the podium to score a minimum of 15 points and when we cross the line we will see where Seb is and we will try and do the numbers after that," said the Ferrari driver.

"The first priority is to be on the podium, which gives us a possibility to score more than 13 points and then we need to wait for the result from Red Bull.

"It is not in our hands, we have not much to lose -- the only possibility is to win something. If he wins, fine. We try again next year.

"There is always pressure but we have less than other occasions and less than leading the championship. We have nothing to lose.

"We are arriving in second position and have been qualifying seventh in the last few grands prix so to recover 13 points is quite difficult. If something normal happens we finish second.

"If something special happens then we win. It is not in our hands really so the pressure is much less."

The Ferrari driver conceded his car is unlikely to be closer to the Red Bulls in Brazil than he was in America last weekend.

"There is no magic that you can put in the car in five days. We were seventh in Abu Dhabi (qualifying), ninth in Austin, so those positions should be normal but hopefully we can do a better job."

Alonso, fighting Vettel to become the youngest triple champion in history, is convinced he will have more chances to fight for the title.

"I hope so. I am 31 and I still feel I will have some more possibilities. I am at Ferrari for the next four to five years minimum, so that always gives you the possibility to fight for championships.

"In three years at Ferrari, twice I have arrived in the last race fighting for the championship.

"We were never dominant, but even with problems we were fighting two times, so I am sure in next four or five years there will be other opportunities."

He added that he was proud of his Ferrari team's decision to incur a deliberate penalty for team-mate Felipe Massa during the United States Grand Prix.

The Italian squad decided to break a seal in the gearbox of Massa's car at Austin in order for the Brazilian to get a five-place grid penalty that moved Alonso up to seventh and, more importantly, to the clean side of the track.

Alonso backed that decision which allowed him to jump from seventh to fourth by the first corner.

"I am proud of my team for the strategy decision to start on the clean side with both cars," said Alonso. "It worked quite well and perhaps because it worked well maybe that is why (rivals) are not happy.

"I am proud of my team because they told the truth. Not every team has told the truth when they have made strategic decisions."

He added that he felt the reactions from rival teams to be 'funny'.

"Funny. I think we have seen so many things coming from the teams, not only this year, but also in the past in F1," he said.

"We don't need to go too far with some of the races where we had some doubts, even on Saturday night, about which teams and which position they start depending on some decisions. We saw this many times for many teams."

Vettel, fighting for his third title with Alonso, said he was not bothered by Ferrari's pragmatism in Texas.

"What they do is not in our hands. I didn't follow-up whether Felipe had real trouble with the gearbox or not, but it is not our job to focus on these things," he said.

"It is a different approach compared to our team. That is how life is, everyone handles certain situation in a different way."

-AFP/ac

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Turmoil in Gujarat Congress after first list of candidates for assembly polls

AHMEDABAD: Scuffle, demonstrations and a series of resignations were the order of the day in Gujarat Congress as those left out from the first list of 52 candidates for the assembly polls expressed their disappointment and anger.

As state party leaders camped in New Delhi for finalisation of the full list of nominees for the first phase, four Dalit leaders, who were also office-bearers, tendered thier resignations to protest candidature of Shailesh Parmar from Danilimda (SC) seat in Ahmedabad district.

Girish Parmar, Jayanti Parmar, Gunvant Solanki and Khemchand Solanki resigned from the posts of vice president, Gujarat Congress, spokesperson, general secretary and vice president of Ahmedabad City Congress, respectively.

"We all have submitted our resignations to protest the decision to field Shailesh Parmar," said Jayanti Parmar.

Supporters of Congress ticket aspirants from Kalol constituency, Praful Talsania and Kanti Thakor, were unhappy over the selection of Baldevji Thakor from the seat and demanded that party high command reconsider its decision.

They entered the Gujarat Congress headquarters here and started shouting slogans against Thakor, who they claimed was an "outsider" to the constituency. A minor scuffle broke out between them and other Congress workers when they were asked to go out of the office and protest.

"Candidature of Baldev Thakor, who is an outsider, has been imposed on us by the party. We are opposing this and asking the party high command to change the decision," said Talsania. "Ticket should be given to a local candidate if the party wants to win the Kalol seat."

Election to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 13 and 17 and Congress last night declared 22 candidates for the first phase and 30 for the second.

The main Opposition party had declared another list of 46 candidates, but it was withdrawn after two hours.

Announcement of the partial list of candidates for the first phase of the poll has brought the internal turmoil in Gujarat Congress to the fore. Several party office-bearers have tendered resignation over selection of candidates.

Demonstrations by rival factions were held in Mangrol and Amreli district Congress offices also.

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