Full praiseBritain's most successful film ever, The Full Monty, continued its triumph scooping five London Film Critics' Awards. The film, about unemployed Yorkshire steelmen who turn to stripping, was named the year's best British film and its star Robert Carlyle was named best British actor at the ceremony in London. Dame Judi Dench, nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown, was named best British actress.The Full Monty also won awards for best screenwriter for Simon Beaufoy, and best British newcomer for director Peter Cattaneo. Its producer Uberto Pasolini was named best British producer.Also honoured with an award was Michael Caine for his outstanding achievement during a lifetime of cinema work. There were also special lifetime achievement awards for British actor Paul Scofield and for film director Martin Scorsese. The 1950s-style crime thriller L.A. Confidential was named the overallbest movie.Bailing out LiamRock star Liam Gallagher, lead singer of the supergroup Oasis, was freed on bail of $6,700 when he appeared before a magistrate in Brisbane charged with assaulting a fan. No formal plea was sought, but defence barrister Kelly MacGroarty told the court the London-based singer would fight the charge. ``The allegation is denied and it will be defended,'' he said. Gallagher, 25, was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm after allegedly hitting English tourist Benjamin Jones during a scuffle near the hotel in which Oasis members are staying during the Brisbane leg of an Australian tour. Onlookers jeered at Gallagher as the slightly built singer, dressed in a brown striped shirt, brown trousers and well-worn brown sneakers, made his way into court.No fugitiveNew scientific evidence proves that Sam Sheppard, the US physician whose murder trial inspired The Fugitive TV series and movie, did not kill his wife, a lawyer for thefamily said. Lawyer Terry Gilbert told a press conference in Cleveland, Ohio that DNA testing of evidence overlooked in the 1954 murder proves that blood at the crime scene did not come from Sheppard.``We now have in 1998 conclusive evidence that Sheppard did not kill his wife,'' said Gilbert, who represents Sheppard's son, Sam Reese Sheppard. The DNA tests show a consistency with the blood types of Marilyn Sheppard and the man the Sheppard family believed committed the murder, window washer Richard Eberling.My AmosIsraeli writer Amos Oz will get the Israel prize for literature for 1998, the prize organisers said on Thursday. The prize will be bestowed on April 30 on the ocassion of the 50th anniversary of Israel's independence. Oz, 59, is the author of My Michael and other novels that depict life in the Israeli society during the 1960s. He is also an outspoken supporter of Israeli-Palestinian peace.A Viennese trialA Storm is rocking the Vienna art world overwhether a writer-cum-painter, jailed for child sex offences, should be allowed to put on his work in two of the city's top institutions. Politicians and commentators have protested that Otto Muehl, who was released from jail only in December, should not be given an official outlet for his sex-dominated work, in a top Viennese museum and a historic theatre. He was jailed for nearly seven years. From 1972-90 the artist, now 72, headed a community near Vienna which promoted sexual freedom and the abolition of couples, and had sex with a number of girls under 16, albeit with their and their parents' consent. Far-right leader Joerg Haider lodged a parliamentary protest at the government's inaction. In response to the storm, Chancellor Viktor Klima, cited artistic freedom and said he could not influence a decision by an independent theatre director.
