Here are the 65 foreign-language contenders for the 83rd Academy Awards, along with the names of directors and countries of origin:
Central Europeans are known for their persistent pessimism. An old Hungarian joke sums it up well: "We know that next year is going to be an average year - because it's going to be worse than this year, but better than the year after that." That glass-half-empty mentality was on public display in July 2009, when several senior Central Europeans wrote an open letter to President Obama decrying the lack of engagement from the new U.S. administration. While the tactics of publishing such a letter were ill-considered, the feelings behind it were genuine.
Lothar Matthaeus, the 1991 FIFA player of the year, has been hired as Bulgaria's national team coach,
For two seasons, it was Manchester United's $45 million question: What does Alex Ferguson see in Dimitar Berbatov that caused the financially cautious Scotsman to part with such a ludicrous sum?
On Friday evening, a tall, bespectacled 30-ish Englishman, Matthew Elliott, escorted Lady Margaret Thatcher into a reception at London's 800-year-old Guild Hall. Despite the fact that England is going through its worst economic crisis since Mrs. Thatcher became prime minister more than three decades ago, she was of good cheer as she conversed with those of us who had come to pay our respects. Perhaps a reason for her upbeat manner was that the ideas she (and Ronald Reagan in the United States) championed are once again gaining currency.
A Romanian Gypsy leader on Wednesday compared French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Romania's pro-Nazi wartime leader, following the expulsion of hundreds of Gypsies from France.
Manufacturing conglomerate 3M Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to pay $230 million in cash for an Israeli company that makes technology used to keep track of people.
No sutures and other basics; a dire shortage of staff; catastrophic hygiene; then this _ a hospital blaze that killed five premature babies. Romania's hospital system is on the ropes.
Venus Williams withdrew from next week's WTA tournament in Montreal on Friday, citing an injured left knee that is hampering her preparation for the U.S. Open.
