Former Rob Ford chief of staff Earl Provost lands job with Ontario Liberals - Toronto Sun

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford talks with Earl Provost during city council meeting at City Hall Wednesday, November 13, 2013. (Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun)

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TORONTO - 

A one-time key aide to Rob Ford's mayor's office is now working for the Ontario Liberals.

Earl Provost was named the executive director of the Ontario Liberal Part on Friday.

Provost began working in the mayor's office when Ford swept into office in 2010. He served as chief of staff for several months in 2013 during the height of Ford's crack cocaine scandal — he was the fourth of five chiefs of staff during Ford's term. When council stripped the mayor of his powers in late 2013, Provost went to work as chief of staff for then-deputy mayor Norm Kelly — a position he held until Mayor John Tory's term began on Dec. 1, 2014.

The Liberals heralded Provost as an active member of the party since he was 14-years-old.

"Earl is a strong, life-long Liberal and veteran of countless campaigns," party president Siloni Waraich said in a press release. "Our party will be well-placed to build on our success with the benefit of Earl's considerable knowledge and experience, allowing us to continue to advance our agenda for progress."

Provost will be the senior staff member in the Liberal party and "will be deeply involved in all aspects of the party's strategic planning and operations," the party announced.

Provost's experience working for Ford was mentioned only briefly.

"He also has experience working with the Premier's office gained during his time serving as Chief of Staff for the former Mayor of Toronto and, more particularly, as Chief of Staff to the former Deputy Mayor," the party noted in the last line of the press release.

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Home»News»Business»OSC bans Conrad Black from holding company director ... - 680 News

Former media baron Conrad Black has been permanently banned from acting as a corporate director or officer of a public company in Ontario. Black is shown at the University Club in Toronto on Tuesday, November 11, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

TORONTO – Former media baron Conrad Black has been permanently banned from acting as a corporate director or officer of a public or private company in Ontario.

In a long-awaited decision Friday, the Ontario Securities Commission ruled that it's in the public's interest to prohibit Black and his ex-colleague, former Hollinger International Inc. chief financial officer John Boultbee, from roles that would enable the pair to direct or influence the management of a company's business.

The ban would "properly limit their ability to undertake conduct in the future that would be detrimental to the integrity of Ontario's capital markets," according to the 45-page ruling.

"We have also concluded that, in the circumstances described in these reasons, such prohibitions should be permanent as there is no basis in these specific circumstances in our view for considering that the risk of future misconduct is somehow circumscribed by the passage of time."

Black, who is out of the country, dismissed the impact of the OSC's decision saying, as he did in testimony at the regulator's hearings last year, that he did not have plans to hold a position as a corporate director or officer within Ontario.

"It was never a material issue, since, as I testified, no one could pay me enough to be a director or officer of a public company in that jurisdiction," he wrote in a statement Friday, forwarded by his spokesman.

"The decision is at least welcome as the comparatively inoffensive end of more than 11 years of persecution," Black added.

The commission also ruled Friday that a proposal to personally ban Black and Boultbee from trading securities in the province was too far-reaching, concluding that their U.S. convictions were not related to these activities.

"The role of the commission is to prevent future conduct, having looked at past conduct as a guide, and not to mete out punishment for such past conduct," it said.

Black was convicted of wire fraud in the United States in 2007 while head of Toronto-based Hollinger Inc. in a case that, among other things, involved allegations that he and Boultbee took $600,000 from Hollinger in the form of non-compete payments.

A U.S. jury found Black, Boultbee and former business partner Peter Atkinson, guilty of three counts of fraud each. Black was also convicted of one count of obstruction of justice.

Later, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed two of the three fraud convictions against the men after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that one of the laws used to convict had been too broadly applied.

As a result of the initial verdict, Black was sentenced to 42 months and fined $125,000, serving 37 months in a Florida prison. Boultbee was sentenced to time served, fined $500 and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to the Sun-Times Media Group. Atkinson was given time served and fined $3,000.

Another former colleague, David Radler, reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors in return for testimony against the men. He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud at U.S. District Court, and was sentenced to 29 months in jail and ordered to pay a fine of $250,000.

Friday's decision by the Ontario provincial regulator follows years of litigation surrounding Black's activities while he was head of the Hollinger group, which owned several major newspapers around the world.

Last October, he testified in front of the OSC that he had "no alternative" but to fight regulatory prohibitions on his activities and seek to clear his name of allegations and convictions that he considered illegitimate.

Black has previously been a director of several major companies, including CIBC (TSX:CM), and was both an officer and director of several of the companies within the Hollinger newspaper group that he also controlled as a major shareholder.

Despite the convictions in the U.S., Black has always insisted that he didn't break the law.

In contrast, staff with the commission argued that Black had the potential to commit further acts of fraud because he didn't show remorse for his actions.

Follow @LindaNguyenTO on Twitter

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Ontario woman who injected decades-old silicone into buttocks 'preyed on ... - National Post

TORONTO • A woman who injected industrial silicone oil into the buttocks of women as an illegal cosmetic procedure preyed on the vulnerable for profit and deserves a stiff prison term, the prosecution said Friday.

In calling for a 10- to 12-year sentence, Crown lawyer Allison MacPherson described Marilyn Reid as a predator who was in the "business of poisoning people."

"She preyed on the lambs like a wolf — this was a money-making operation and she made a lot of money," Ms. MacPherson said. "She wounded them, she maimed them, she endangered their lives and she continues to endanger their lives."

Reid, 50, from Newmarket, Ont. pleaded guilty to eight counts of aggravated assault last month.

She preyed on the lambs like a wolf — this was a money-making operation and she made a lot of money

She used syringes attached to a caulking gun to inject silicone — which dated in at least one case from the 1990s — into women's buttocks in unsterile hotel rooms or at their homes between April 2011 and May 2012. She promised one woman a "nice plump butt."

All but one victim suffered serious health consequences — four almost fatal. Some had to undergo repeated medical procedures and long periods in hospital in a case that initially had doctors stymied.

"She assured them that everything was going to be OK, (that) she knew what she was doing," Ms. MacPherson said. "She was harming people to make money."

Defence lawyer Calvin Barry called for a sentence of about 2 1/2 years — roughly equal to the time Reid has already spent in custody.

In his submissions, Mr. Barry played up the fact that Reid had no prior record and that her guilty plea eliminated the need for an expensive trial that would have retraumatized the victims.

Reid, who came to Canada from the U.K. in 2008 and will face deportation, had led a troubled life and was in an abusive relationship, her lawyer said. The money she made was going to the abusive partner and the victims must bear some responsibility for what happened, he said.

At the same time, he noted she had done a three-year nursing program in the U.K. and had worked in reputable clinics abroad.

"In her mind, she wasn't going to hurt anyone. She wanted to make people happy," he said. "Time served is more than adequate. She's broken. Her life is ruined."

Reid briefly addressed the court to apologize, saying she didn't realize the consequences of what she was doing. "I never meant to harm anyone," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly said she would pass sentence March 26.

Toronto police Sgt. Louise Farrugia said the case should serve as a caution. She also said there may be other victims, and urged them to contact police.

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Today's dialectic: Is that dress white or is it blue? - Reuters

Fri Feb 27, 2015 4:44pm IST

(Reuters) - Cyberspace was being consumed by an acute philosophical debate on Friday over a picture of a dress many claim is obviously white and gold but others argue just as trenchantly is black and blue.

The hashtag #TheDress led trends on Twitter worldwide, boosted by a stream of tweets from celebrities voicing support for either of the opposing camps.

"From this day on, the world will be divided into two people. Blue & black, or white & gold," U.S. comedian Ellen DeGeneres tweeted.

The picture of the dress was uploaded on image-sharing website Tumblr by a user named "swiked" on Wednesday. But it wasn't until Internet news company Buzzfeed asked for reader opinions on Thursday that the dialectic got going.

Musician Taylor Swift was gripped by ontological uncertainty.

"I don't understand this odd dress debate and I feel like it's a trick somehow. I'm confused and scared. PS it's OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK," she tweeted.

Swift was supported by others, including Justin Bieber.

Comedian Mindy Kaling found it an affront to rationalism. She tweeted, "I think I'm getting so mad about the dress because it's an assault on what I believe is objective truth."

The white and gold camp was supported by the likes of actress Kat Dennings, New York Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, and reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.

"What color is that dress? I see white & gold," West tweeted, adding that her husband, rapper Kanye West, saw black and blue.

Buzzfeed's post had been viewed nearly 22 million times on the website as of early Friday. A poll alongside found 72 percent of respondents believed the dress to be white and gold.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

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Boris Nemtsov murder: the man who might have been king - Telegraph.co.uk

A physicist by education, Nemtsov – who worked in a research institute during the last years of the Soviet Union – had been among the generation of academics and scientists swept up by the political upheaval of the perestroika reform movement.

He began his political life as a young reformer working in the industrial centre of Nizhny Novgorod, where he became regional governor at the age of just 32. After serving in the post for six years, he moved up the career ladder during Yeltsin's presidency, coming to Moscow to serve as first deputy prime minister in 1997-98.

While Nemtsov initially backed Putin's presidential run, calling him "responsible and honest", he quickly changed his mind and became one of his most bitter enemies.

He was one of the founders of Russia's Union of Right Forces liberal party, and its leader in the early 2000s, serving as an opposition MPs in parliament, where he was a vocal opponent of Putin's early attempts to curb political freedoms.

Along with other opposition leaders, Nemtsov unsuccessfully sued Putin after he said Nemtsov and others "wreaked havoc" in Russia during the 1990s, pillaging it of billions of dollars.

His activities earned him the hatred of pro-Kremlin groups, who routinely put him on their lists of "traitors". He had been a victim of hacking and wiretapping, and pro-Kremlin websites had written reports about his personal life and alleged affairs.

Perma-tanned and rarely without a smile on his face in public, Nemtsov had the image of a rock star and was known for his colourful love life.

In recent years he compiled a series of pamphlets exposing corruption under Putin, focusing on the gas behemoth Gazprom, the residences allegedly owned by Putin, and the corruption around the reparations for Russia's Olympic Games in Sochi last year.

Nemtsov was shot four times in the back as he crossed a bridge in view of the Kremlin, police say. Like most in the opposition, Nemtsov was a prolific user of social networks, and he died just hours after using his most recent blog entry to call on Muscovites to attend an opposition rally, on Sunday, against the war in Ukraine.

Ironically, although he continued to be a key figure in opposition events in the Russian capital, Nemtsov had gradually withdrawn over the past decade as a younger generation of opposition leaders stepped forward to take the helm.

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Adultery is no longer a punishable offence in South Korea - Times LIVE

"It has become difficult to say that there is a consensus on whether adultery should be punished as a criminal offense," five of the court's nine justices said in a joint opinion. "It should be left to the free will and love of people to decide whether to maintain marriage, and the matter should not be externally forced through a criminal code."

In their opinion, the five justices also said they doubted that the law was still useful in preventing adultery. Instead, they said, it has often been used by spouses to force a divorce or by those outside the marriage to blackmail married women who have cheated on their husbands. (The stigma of adultery is greater for women, making it harder to blackmail men who have committed adultery.)

An estimated 53,000 South Koreans have been indicted under the law since the authorities began keeping count in 1985. But in recent years, it has been increasingly rare for defendants to go to prison, in part because courts have demanded stronger proof that sexual intercourse occurred. Additionally, more plaintiffs have been dropping charges after reaching financial settlements with their spouses.

The law had been challenged four times before at the Constitutional Court since 1990, always unsuccessfully. In the last attempt, in 2008 - in a case brought by a popular actress, Ok So-Ri, whose husband had pressed a criminal complaint against her - the justices came within one vote of striking the law down.

The adultery law was adopted in 1953, with the stated purpose of protecting women who had little recourse against cheating husbands in a male-dominated society. But divorce rates and women's economic and legal standing have soared in the decades since, leaving many to argue that the law had outlived its usefulness.

Others, however, considered the ability to open an adultery case a necessary option for wronged wives in a society that, despite its rapid change, is still largely male-centered.

Under the law, cases could be brought against people only by their spouses, and if a spouse chose to drop the complaint, the prosecutors could not continue.

Anh Il-Hwan, an official with the Ministry of Gender Equality, said Thursday that the ministry respected the court's ruling.

"However, we need to prepare measures to protect the women victimized by adultery and will deliberate with relevant bodies to do so," he said.

On Thursday, two other justices voted to declare the law unconstitutional for other reasons; one suggested that adultery should be punished, but not with a prison term. A two-thirds majority was required to strike down the law.

The remaining two justices voted to uphold the law, warning that abolishing it could lead to "disorder in sexual morality," encourage extramarital affairs and undermine family life.

Three major women's groups in South Korea supported the court's decision to abolish what they called "an ineffectual law." But its abolishment "doesn't remove moral and ethical responsibility," they said in a joint statement.

Sungkyunkwan, an organization of Korean Confucianists that had championed the law, called the ruling "deplorable" and said people should be ashamed of adultery.

Share prices for a leading condom manufacturer, Unidus, rose by nearly 15 percent on Thursday. Shares of Hyundai Pharmaceutical, which markets morning-after birth control pills, rose by 9.7 percent.

According to South Korean news media, analysts linked the rise of those share prices to the ruling because they began climbing as soon as the news was reported. Analysts said investors acted on the belief that the ruling might encourage extramarital affairs and use of condoms. -2015 New York Times News Service

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Canadian judge tells woman to remove hijab or leave courtroom - Digital Journal

Judge Eliana Marengo was speaking to Rania El-Alloul, whose car was impounded after her son was caught driving it with a suspended licence. It is common to take a vehicle being used by someone with a suspended licence in Quebec and keep it for a thirty day period but the owner can appeal to get it back earlier. That is what Ms. El-Alloul was in court to do. "Hats and sunglasses for example, are not allowed," the CBC said that Judge Marengo can be heard saying on the tape. "And I don't see why scarves on the head would be either. "The same rules need to be applied to everyone," Judge Marengo added. "I will therefore not hear you if you are wearing a scarf on your head, just as I would not allow a person to appear before me wearing a hat or sunglasses on his or her head, or any other garment not suitable for a court proceeding." Ms. El-Alloul told media she has no intention of taking off the hijab, something many Muslim women will not do except at home in the presence of family. She said she became a citizen of the country wearing her hijab and that being asked to take it off in court is disturbing to her. The CBC quoted Ms. El-Alloul: "When I came the first day when I made landing in Canada, I was wearing my hijab," she said. "When I swore by God to be a good Canadian citizen I was wearing my hijab, and the judge, I shook hands with him the same day I became Canadian. I was really very happy. But what happened in court made me feel afraid. I felt that I'm not Canadian anymore." The previous Quebec government, the Parti Quebecois, crafted a bill designed to prevent the wearing of religious head coverings, such as the hijab or the Jewish skull cap, by public servants in the province. The PQ was defeated in last year's provincial election and the bill died. Her case was adjourned indefinitely by Judge Marengo and it seems she will not be getting her car back until the thirty days are up.

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No more evidence to be called in Via Rail terror trial - CANOE

Sam Pazzano, QMI Agency

Feb 27, 2015

, Last Updated: 1:31 AM ET

The wheels of justice have spun faster than expected at the trial of alleged Via Rail terrorists Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier.

The prosecution closed its case late Thursday afternoon — two weeks ahead of schedule.

Esseghaier, 37, a Tunisian who was studying in Montreal for his PhD, and Jaser, 31, of Scarborough, are facing several terror-related charges, including a conspiracy to derail a New York-to-Toronto train.

Their aim was to drive Western troops off Islamic lands by terrorist acts in Canada, the prosecution says.

Jaser's lawyer John Norris announced he wouldn't be calling any evidence.

Then, Justice Michael Code asked co-accused Esseghaier if he wanted to call any evidence. Esseghaier remained silent as he has throughout this trial since its beginning Feb. 1, so the evidence is completed.

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Woman asks about dress color, Internet loses collective mind - Fox News

What colors do you see? (Tumblr/user swiked)

Sometime Thursday afternoon, the denizens of the Internet (that's all of us, if you didn't know) turned on each other like hyenas fighting over an antelope carcass. The reason can be found in one young Scottish woman's Tumblr account. 

Wednesday, Tumblr user "swiked" posted this photo with the simple question, "Guys please help me - is this dress white and gold, or blue and black?" When pressed for details, the user, who identified herself to Business Insider as 21-year-old Caitlin McNeill from the Scottish Hebredian island of Colonsay, said, "It was the mother of the brides [sic] dress at my friend's wedding! She posted it on Facebook and everyone started freaking out."

Cue the celebrity tweets.

And we shall, Mia. It turns out McNeill already gave the answer if you were diligent enough to stay with her Tumbler. Later Thursday, in response to a user who claimed the dress was gold and white, she wrote, "[I]n real life the dress was blue and black. But in that photo and that photo only ... some people see white and gold."

So there you have it. If you're interested in a scientific explanation, here's one from WIRED.

"Light enters the eye through the lens—different wavelengths corresponding to different colors. The light hits the retina in the back of the eye where pigments fire up neural connections to the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes those signals into an image ... Without you having to worry about it, your brain figures out what color light is bouncing off the thing your eyes are looking at ... This image, though, hits some kind of perceptual boundary."

So take a bow, black and blue people. You won this round. 

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IS murderer Mohammed Emwazi on MI5's radar since 2009 - Irish Times

The British man named as the extremist glorying in the beheading of journalists and aid workers had been known to intelligence agencies for five years before he publicly emerged in a series of grisly Islamic State (Isis) propaganda videos.

It has been confirmed that Mohammad Emwazi, a 26-year-old Londoner and computer studies graduate, is the militant labelled "Jihadi John" who has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of at least seven US, British and other hostages.

Emails and other documents that emerged on Thursday also showed that security services had been tracking Mr Emwazi since 2009, starting when he was refused entry to Tanzania, until the middle of 2013 when they informed his family that he had crossed over to Syria.

During that period Emwazi complained on occasion that he had been harassed by MI5, but the Kuwaiti-born Briton eventually disappeared before arriving on the world stage as the murderous public face of Isis in August 2014.

Sir Menzies Campbell, an outgoing member of the intelligence and security committee, said he expected MPs to seek a report from the intelligence agencies about agency contacts with Emwazi after the election.

Mr Campbell said the case appeared to have echoes of the 2013 murder of Lee Rigby, one of whose killers, Michael Adebolajo, later turned out to be known to security agencies.

"One of the difficulties here is you can't keep an eye on everyone all the time, and as the committee found in the case of Lee Rigby, there's no doubt that from time to time the security services have got to prioritise those upon whom they are conducting surveillance," he said.

Asim Qureshi, the research director of Cage, an advocacy group working with victims of the "war on terror", said Mr Emwazi's repeated detention and interrogation by the security services would have ended up making him susceptible to radicalisation.

Cage had previously advised Mr Emwazi when he was complaining about his treatment five years ago.

Mr Emwazi was refused permission to enter Tanzania in August 2009, and he told Cage that he was put on a plane to the Netherlands where he was questioned by MI5. In a subsequent series of emails sent to Cage, Mr Emwazi said the British officer knew "everything about me; where I lived, what I did, and the people I hanged around with".

He said that he was asked to become an informant but refused – and the MI5 officer was alleged to have said that "life would be harder".

Mr Emwazi's name was first published by the Washington Post on Thursday morning. Strenuous efforts appear to have been made to cover his tracks on the internet.

The Briton guarded western hostages and handled negotiations with their families. By all accounts he is a ruthless killer who has shown little compunction when it came to the on-screen murders.

Mr Emwazi was born in Kuwait and arrived in Britain aged six. He grew up in west London and was known as a polite, mild-mannered young man. His family were said last night to be "in shock and cannot believe it is him".

Mr Emwazi graduated in 2009 in information technology and is also fluent in Arabic. However, instead of building a computing career, Mr Emwazi ended up on MI5's radar.

Over the course of a year he claimed to have been harassed and intimidated by the security services. In 2010, he went as far as to file a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission over his alleged treatment.

A US government official confirmed Mr Emwazi's identity to the Guardian, after the British security services declined to confirm or deny that he was the masked figure in the videos. Downing Street also declined to comment.

David Cameron's deputy spokeswoman said: "We cannot confirm or deny anything in relation to intelligence. The point the prime minister would make, which we have said since we have seen the awful actions of these Isil [IS]terrorists, is that we are absolutely determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. The police and security agencies have been working hard to do that."

As Isis's public face, Mr Emwazi has been the centre of a global manhunt, with reports last November that he had been injured in US air strikes on militant positions.

As early as September last year, MI5 and the FBI had identified Mr Emwazi as the masked killer – just a few weeks after US senators passed legislation to authorise a $10m reward for information that would aid the arrest and conviction of the masked militant.

However security agencies did not make his name public mainly because of fears about the impact his identification might have on hostages being held by Islamic State. A secondary reason was concern over the safety of Mr Emwazi's family in the UK, in case of retaliation.

According to people who have moved in jihadi circles in west London, Mr Emwazi began to be noticed about five or six years ago. "That's when he emerged, so to speak," said one.

Cage said that it spent two years communicating with Mr Emwazi, in which he highlighted interference by the UK security agencies as he sought to find redress within the system.

Mr Qureshi said there were parallels with the killer of Lee Rigby, Michael Adebolajo. "Suffocating domestic policies aimed at turning a person into an informant but which prevent a person from fulfilling their basic life needs would have left a lasting impression on Mr Emwazi. He desperately wanted to use the system to change his situation, but the system ultimately rejected him."

But a leading researcher into counter-terrorism and intelligence, Shashank Joshi of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said it was MI5's job to recruit informers.

He rejected the Cage narrative of radicalisation by the British state as simplistic. "It seems to me MI5 did a reasonable job," Mr Joshi said. MI5 had enough evidence to show Mr Emwazi was associated with radical elements early on and had good reason to watch him, he said.

Mr Emwazi made it to Syria in 2013 – the final straw appeared to be when he changed his name by deed poll and was still banned from going to Kuwait.

Guardian

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Crown outlines case against Mark Moore, accused in 2010 murders - Toronto Star

Mark Moore was a one-man hit squad.

At least that is how he is being portrayed in court by the prosecution.

Shot and killed Jahmeel Spence.

Shot and killed Courtney Facey.

Shot and killed Mike James.

Shot and killed Carl Cole.

Shot up a townhouse in which resided a prostitute who purportedly owed him money and refused to pay.

Shot into the ceiling of an Entertainment District nightclub.

Shot up a portion of a schoolhouse wall.

These are the allegations that were made by the Crown against Moore in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday. Allegations they will remain until the jury returns a verdict many weeks down the road.

The 30-year-old has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.

But guns and bullets and shell casings appear to litter Moore's trail.

He sits on the edge of his seat in the dock, chest pressed forward, listening intently to what's being said about him. Only when swivelling his neck to look backwards does the defendant reveal his disfigured face: the result of a bullet that hit him flush more than a dozen years ago. No alleged about that.

The jury has heard about this injury only peripherally and there's been no indication that shooting had anything to do with the charges the 30-year-old is on trial for now.

It does speak to a theme in his life.

What Moore aspired to be was a hard-ass gangsta rapper. Even made a CD at one point, with the assistance of a rapper of some note, Kevin Williams, who once appeared on mixed tapes with Juno Award-winning rapper/hip hop artist Drake. Williams goes by the stage name "Mayhem Moriarty." Moore, who grew up known as "Sparky" — hardly the stuff of tough dude-ism — later adopted the handle "Presidenteh" or "Prezi."

Moore and Williams bonded over their mutual love of music. Moore emphasized to Williams that he was no mere poseur but someone who "speaks what he lives … one of the 'realest out there,' one whose 'name shakes the streets.' "

In his opening address Wednesday, Crown attorney Sean Hickey told the jury that on a day in September, 2010, Williams was sitting in the back seat of a black BMW X5 with Moore at the wheel. He drove the car down a laneway behind an apartment building in Scarborough. This laneway was just across the street from the highrise where Moore had been shot in the face in 2001.

They were headed for the LCBO. But in that laneway, Moore turned the vehicle around, rolled down the window, allegedly shooting Facey and James point-blank as they sat in a parked car listening to music.

"Kevin Williams can't tell us why Mark Moore shot the two men," Hickey said. "All he can say is that (the victims) did nothing at all to provoke or call down upon themselves the hail of bullets that killed them.''

Williams will appear as a witness for the prosecution at this trial.

Moore didn't know either Facey or James, court heard. Neither victim had a criminal history or any gang associations. They were killed Sept. 29.

Jahmeel Spence was a 27-year-old married father of two young children. He'd never met Moore.

On Sept. 10, Spence and his family had gathered for dinner at the Greenbrae Circuit home of his mother-in-law to celebrate his son's first day of school. Around 9 p.m. Spence walked down the street to buy a can of iced tea at a nearby convenience store. At 9:26 he texted his wife, Shivonne Clarke, to ask if the kids would be spending the night at their grandmother's.

Christine Walters, first witness called to the stand Wednesday, recalled just starting to serve out the food when she "heard BANG-BANG-BANG."

First thing she did was lock the kitchen door, which opened out onto the alley behind her townhouse. "I made sure everybody was there. I was calling out names."

Walters, his mother-in-law, looked briefly out the window. "I saw somebody run by the house. That person had a gun … a handgun. He was holding the gun at his side."

Shivonne Clarke tried calling and texting her husband but received no response. Together, the women stepped into the alley, one turning left and the other right. When Walters went back towards her daughter, she saw Clarke running. "When I got closer, I saw Jahmeel.''

He was lying in a pool of blood, surrounded by 15 ejected shell cases. "By the time we reached him, police were already there. They pulled my daughter back. She was hysterical, screaming."

Spence had been shot eight times, including two fatal wounds to the head and one to the chest.

With the same gun that, three weeks later, killed Facey and James.

Hickey told the court that on the morning of the Spence murder Moore sent a text to Williams, bragging he was "terrorizing the burroughs" and urging Williams to watch City Pulse news.

Those bullets, as forensics testing would show, were fired from a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol.

Moore was the owner of that 9-mm, Hickey told the jury in his opening, a chilling preview of evidence that he said they will hear in coming weeks from 75 to 100 witnesses. As the jury seemed to hang on every word, Hickey outlined a narrative of appalling and apparently mostly random violence that occurred over a span of 2½ months in 2010.

"To anyone who even glances at the headlines in this city, that may seem remarkable," said Hickey, referring to four murders committed between Sept. 10 and Nov. 24. "Gun violence and the tragedy and sadness that goes with it seem to be all too commonplace. What makes this case unique is that these four murders were all committed with the same gun over a period of 75 days. The Crown alleges that that gun belonged to Mark Moore."

Three weeks after the murders of Facey and James, that same 9-mm semi-automatic, as determined by forensic analysis, left bullet holes in the back door, balcony railing and patio furniture of an apartment building on the Danforth, where Andrea Furlong — a prostitute and friend of Kevin Williams — lived. Hickey told court that both men were involved in Furlong's "activities," driving her to hotels in Brampton.

Hickey said Furlong objected to paying Moore the amount he insisted she owed him and that threats were made to the woman on Oct. 18 and 19. On Oct. 20, the apartment was riddled with gunfire.

Earlier that month, a man working in his yard in Scarborough noticed what he thought was the pop of firecrackers coming from St. Edmund Campion, a Catholic school on Highcastle Rd. He noticed the glare from the bright headlights of a black SUV lighting up part of the school wall. He called police.

A police constable who responded noticed fresh spit on the ground by the wall. Hickey told court that forensic analysis from a swab of that spit determined a DNA match to Moore. Nine .45-calibre shell casings were also found.

On Nov. 24, Carl Cole was seen standing in the parking lot of an apartment building on Greenbrae Circuit. A silver Chrysler 300 drove up to Cole. According to two witnesses, said Hickey, the driver began firing at Cole from inside the car, then got out and continued firing at the body where it lay on the pavement.

There were 29 gunshot wounds in Cole, fired by the 9-mm pistol that killed the Spence, Facey and James and the same .45-calibre that had sprayed the school wall. Hickey told the jury that cellphone records will show that a phone linked to Moore had called Cole nine times on the day he was killed.

Three days after the shooting, said Hickey, Moore sent a text to Williams saying he'd "got him (Cole) in the cedar that dude dat robb us." The Cedar is believed to be shorthand for Cedarbrae, a school not far from Greenbrae Circuit.

Moore, said Hickey, was also the man who shot into the ceiling following a minor altercation at the XS nightclub months later, on March 10, 2011, with the .45 used in Cole's killing. Moore was arrested for the nightclub incident on March 15.

Four murders. Two guns. One accused.

Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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Prentice visits Chestermere, promises to maintain social capital - Rocky View Weekly

Premier Jim Prentice visited Chestermere's Lakeside Golf Course on Feb. 14, in an effort to meet with Albertans and find out how they feel about the upcoming budget announcement.

"We've been riding a roller-coaster here in Alberta, and people are tired of it," Prentice said. "All over the province, people are saying they want a plan, so we've put together a long-term financial plan to try and protect our core services."

According to Prentice, public services in Alberta, including education and health care, have historically been the best in the country – and the most expensive. Combined with Alberta's low tax rates, said Prentice, the current financial model is "broken."

With that in mind, Prentice made dramatic changes to the entire budget process two weeks after being elected. A new Cabinet committee of six ministers, chaired by Prentice with the Minister of Finance at his side, was instructed to prepare a brand new ten-year plan for the province, broken up into two five-year sections.

"Nothing has been made public yet, as we are still working through the specifics," Prentice said. "This is the time for people to speak up, because once we put this plan in place, things will be tied down and we will all have to live with the consequences."

Prentice has been outspoken about not favouring a provincial sales tax, and said the majority of Albertans have expressed their agreement. However, according to Prentice, unless changes are made to the budget, the Province could burn through our savings and start running up debt within the next three years.

The recent drop in oil prices will have a long-standing impact on the province, as Prentice said he doesn't anticipate rates rising again anytime soon. Since the province has become very dependent on these revenues to balance the budget, Alberta is looking at a $7.5 billion deficit next year – if no changes are made.

"That's not going to happen as long as I am the Premier," Prentice said. "I think this will be the most difficult time we've had in Alberta in a generation, in terms of our public finances, but I think our economy is more resilient and diversified than people give us credit for."

Prentice said he has divided that deficit into thirds – one third will still be run as a deficit, but one third will be balanced with revenue increases and the other third will be accommodated by "reducing the size of the government."

He added that the province will not, however, stop building social capital. Schools scheduled for construction throughout the county, including two new kindergarten to Grade 8 schools in Cochrane's Sunset Ridge and Fireside neighbourhoods, will proceed as planned, and roads will be maintained.

According to Prentice, money that was allocated to communities through the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) will still be made available – although he admitted that the province has been collectively "living beyond our means."

"We are mindful that commitments were made to municipalities about the level of funding, and we have to deal with those," he said. "In the case of many municipalities, they've already spent the money, and we understand that. But we are all going to have to start doing more with less, and my office is not an exception."

Legislature is scheduled for March 10, and according to Prentice, the Minister of Finance will be tabling the multi-year financial plan. However, he said residents are encouraged to continue to make their voices heard throughout the process.

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ISIS has abducted 220 from Christian villages: activists - The Daily Star

BEIRUT: ISIS militants have abducted at least 220 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria during a three day offensive, a monitor that tracks violence in Syria said on Thursday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the abductions took place when ISIS took 10 villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority near the city of Hassakeh, a city mainly held by the Kurds.

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Weed The People: What You Need to Know About Pot Legalization in ... - ABC News

The citizens of the District of Columbia in November voted to pass Initiative 71, which legalized the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the cultivation of up to three marijuana plants for individuals over the age of 21. That measure is scheduled to take effect at midnight Thursday.

However, the initiative did not create funding for the regulation of the substance, which would be required to legalize sales. The measure was put on the ballot through citizen initiative, and in D.C., citizen initiatives cannot mandate spending.

Here's are some key points you need to know:

What Congress Has to Say About It:

Congress attempted to block the implementation of the law by attaching language to a continuing resolution that passed in December that blocks funding of any sort from being appropriated to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, sent a letter to Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser saying that Initiative 71 cannot go into effect under the law.

Congress had a 30-day layover period to review the initiative after it was transmitted to Congress in January. During that time, Congress could have rejected the measure using a joint resolution of disapproval. Congress has not passed such a measure, but Chaffetz said the language in the continuing resolution prevents the law from moving forward without a joint resolution of disapproval.

What Happens Thursday:

Regardless of the legality, the Metropolitan Police Department takes orders from the city. So unless the city changes its mind, marijuana will be legal in D.C. Thursday.

Here is a cheat sheet to help you better understand what is allowed and not allowed.

In D.C., you can ...

... possess up to two ounces of marijuana on your person. Any amount more than two ounces is still illegal and will amount to a misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000, or as much as to six months in jail.

... give up to one ounce as a gift. Though selling is prohibited, individuals may exchange as much as to once ounce as a gift.

... grow up to six marijuana plants. However, the law says you may only possess three "mature, flowering plants" at any given time -- with the provision intended to make it more difficult to grow enough marijuana to sell.

In D.C., you cannot ...

... grow marijuana outside of your residence. The law allows for growing, but it must be "within the interior of a house, building or rental unit that constitutes such a person's principal residence."

... consume marijuana in public. You can have it on your person, but you cannot legally consume it publicly in any fashion.

... sell the substance in any quantity. Purchasing or selling the drug is illegal. However, you may transfer up to one ounce to another individual for free as a gift.

... drive while under the influence of marijuana. Unlike alcohol, there's no "legal limit," per se. It's illegal to drive while under the influence of any amount of marijuana.

... have marijuana in your possession on any federal land. Legalization is only in local D.C. territory. Some examples of places you cannot have the substance in your possession include the National Mall and the Capitol.

In D.C., it's not a good idea to ...

... have pot in your possession anywhere you might be stopped by U.S. Park Police or Capitol Police. The Capitol Police and Park Police enforce federal law around the Capitol. According to the U.S. Capitol Police's website, this includes about a 47-square block radius around the Capitol. So even if you are not going anywhere you can actually see the Capitol building, you might want to think twice before putting that weed in your pocket.

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Islamic State militants abduct at least 90 Christians in Syria - The Indian Express

Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday.

The extremist fighters swept through the villages nestled along the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province around dawn on Monday. The area is predominantly inhabited by Assyrians, an indigenous Christian people who trace their roots back to the ancient Mesopotamians.

In the assault, the militants took between 70 and 100 Assyrians captive, said Nuri Kino, the head of the activist group A Demand For Action, which focuses on religious minorities in the Middle East. He said some 3,000 people managed to flee the onslaught and have sought refuge in the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli.

Kino said his organization based its information on conversations with villagers who fled the onslaught and their relatives.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the abductions, but put the number of Assyrians held by the Islamic State group at 90. The Observatory relies on a network of activists inside Syria.

Both activist groups said that most of the captives come from the village of Tal Shamiram, located some 85 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the provincial capital of Qamishli.

An Assyrian woman from Tal Shamiram who now lives in Beirut said she has been scrambling to find out what has become of her parents as well as her brother and his wife and kids.

"Land lines have been cut, their mobiles are closed," she told The Associated Press. "Have they been slaughtered? Are they still alive? We're searching for any news."

She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of endangering relatives believed to be held by the militants.

"My family visited me last month and returned to Syria. There were clashes but it was normal, nothing exceptional. I feel so helpless, I cannot do anything for them but pray," she said by telephone, her voice breaking.

The Islamic State group's online radio station, al-Bayan, said in a report Tuesday that IS fighters had detained "tens of crusaders" and seized 10 villages around Tal Tamr after clashes with Kurdish militiamen. IS frequently refers to Christians as "crusaders."

It was not immediately clear what the Islamic State group planned to do with the Assyrians.

The militants have a long history of killing captives, including foreign journalists, Syrian soldiers and Kurdish militiamen. Most recently, militants in Libya affiliated with the Islamic State group released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

But the Islamic State group also could use its Assyrian captives to try to arrange a prisoner swap with the Kurdish and Christian militias it is battling in northeastern Syria. There is a precedent: the extremists have released Kurdish school children as well as continued…

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Toronto's mystery tunnel: What's it for? - CBC.ca

The Toronto Mystery Tunnel of Secrecy has just about everyone stumped. Even after the police news conference this morning, people have more questions than answers. 

Who dug this tunnel? Or is it more a trench? When did all of said digging happen? What purpose does this structure serve? 

Just… why? 

Toronto Police took to Twitter to seek information on the case.

Could it be that the Mystery Tunnel was the beginnings of a trendy Toronto after-hours?

Perhaps the trench is some kind of scheme to claim a stake in Toronto's racing real estate market.

There were many theories circulating as to who is behind the trench, spanning the generations of pop culture.

Could the #TorontoTunnel be the work of mole people?

Or is it more likely that just one Mole Man is to blame?

Or perhaps someone even more sinister? (We kid, we kid.)

Could the explanation be something wonderful, a passage to a place where you can dance your cares away?

But enough with the '80s nostalgia. Clearly, all this digging took place more recently than that.

Just don't dig too far, Steve.

RELATED GALLERY: Inside Toronto's mystery tunnel

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New Brunswick group upset only two cities to offer publicly funded abortions - Courier Islander

FREDERICTON - A decision by New Brunswick's largest health authority to only provide abortions in Moncton drew criticism Tuesday from an abortion rights group as a barrier to the procedure.

Jessi Taylor, a spokeswoman for Reproductive Justice New Brunswick, said publicly funded abortions were previously only provided in Moncton and Bathurst by the Vitalite Health Network, so it would have made sense for the Horizon Health Network to look at other locations in the province.

"Providing services in only those two locations was always a huge barrier," Taylor said in an interview.

The decision means some women will have to travel up to 3 1/2 hours to get an abortion in a hospital, Taylor added.

"We're such a rural and huge province, so centralizing services in Moncton is a waste of resources," she said.

Originally, the Horizon Health Network said it would provide abortion services, but it would keep secret where they would be provided.

But Horizon CEO John McGarry confirmed the location in an email Tuesday.

"I can confirm that The Moncton Hospital has been selected as the site where Horizon will provide family planning services beginning in April," he wrote.

McGarry did not reply to a request for an interview or provide further details.

Health Minister Victor Boudreau was not available for an interview and a spokeswoman referred questions on how the procedure will be offered to the health authority.

"The regional health authorities have been charged with increasing their capacity to provide this service in a timely and non-judgmental fashion. The regional health authorities are best suited to answer questions on service delivery within their health networks," Sarah Bustard wrote in a statement.

Under changes that took effect Jan. 1, women no longer need the approval of two doctors before getting an abortion in hospital, paid for by medicare. Premier Brian Gallant said the move was part of the effort to improve access to abortions.

A private clinic in Fredericton that opened on the site of the former Morgentaler clinic charges about $700 for the procedure, but the government refuses to pay for abortions in clinics.

The controversy over access to abortions heightened in New Brunswick last summer when the Morgentaler clinic closed. It was doing more than 600 abortions a year, while the Health Department said about 400 were being done at the two hospitals in Moncton and Bathurst.

© Copyright 2015 Campbell River Courier Islander

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Two children remain in critical condition after insecticide contamination - CANOE

Andrew Bates, QMI Agency

Feb 24, 2015

, Last Updated: 11:39 PM ET

EDMONTON -- A Fort McMurray, Alta. family was trying to combat bedbugs with insecticide days before one child died and four more became ill, according to a relative.

All five children and their mother were hospitalized Sunday after a concentration of insecticide contaminated their main-floor apartment. One of them -- an eight-month-old baby -- died on Sunday night.

Shazia Yarkhan, the mother's sister, said two children sent to the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton remained in critical condition on Tuesday.

"I feel very sad, one's expired and two in critical condition," said Yarkhan. "It's very very sad and I pray god help them to keep the two babies. She's already lost one baby."

According to Yarkhan, her sister had used phosphine pellets from Pakistan to attempt to fight a bed bug infestation in her apartment which she had been telling her sister about since June 2014.

"She put them in the carpet and closed the door. She didn't use this room for two days, and then she opened all the doors. But she still didn't use this room for ... four days," she said.

Yarkhan said her sister brought all of the children, who had symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea, to the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort McMurray.

The two children in critical condition were sent to Edmonton.

Yarkhan said the mother and two children in Fort McMurray are in stable condition.

The Pakistani-Canadian community in both cities are raising funds to re-unite the family after the funeral for the baby, she said.

The family has received support from the Muslim community in Fort McMurray. A release from Markaz-ul-Islam said they have been "deeply saddened".

Yarkhan asked the public to keep the family in their prayers.

"Just pass a message," she said. "You need to pray for these two babies in Edmonton, they are in critical condition. Everyone pray for them."

As of Tuesday morning, air quality tests of the apartment read zero parts per million, meaning the apartment is safe to enter, according to Brad Grainger, Regional Emergency Services Deputy Chief of Operations. He said it won't be possible to tell what the concentration was on Sunday.

"We know it was significant, obviously significant enough to cause death," he said. "Probably we'll never be able to really know the exposure and to what level it was at."

andrew.bates@sunmedia.ca

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Palestinian mosque damaged in suspected West Bank arson - Reuters India

JERUSALEM Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:12pm IST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian mosque was set alight in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and graffiti in Hebrew at the scene suggested the attack was carried out by a far-right Israeli group, officials said.

No one was hurt in the overnight attack in Al-Jaba'ah village near Bethlehem, during which the mosque's windows were broken and something burning was thrown inside, Mayor No'man Hamdan said.

"God's mercy and people's alertness when the fire started prevented it from consuming the entire mosque. Part of the carpets burned," he told Reuters.

Hamdan said Hebrew slogans had been scrawled on the walls, including "Revenge for the Land of Zion" and "Price Tag", a phrase used by an ultra-nationalist Jewish group that has carried out scores of attacks on Palestinian targets since 2008.

The group has said "price tag" refers to the price the Israeli government would have to pay if it curbs Jewish settlements in the West Bank or accepts a Palestinian state.

Al-Jaba'ah is close to Gush Etzion, a large area of settlements just outside Bethlehem.

Israeli police said they were investigating the attack.

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Former Marine found guilty in 'American Sniper' trial - Fox News

A former Marine was found guilty late Tuesday of the 2013 shooting deaths of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the author of "American Sniper," and his friend Chad Littlefield.

It took an Erath County, Texas jury less than two hours to convict Eddie Ray Routh of capital murder. State District Judge Jason Cashon sentenced Routh to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty in the case. Routh's defense team said they would appeal the conviction.

"We have waited two years for God to get justice on behalf of our son," Littlefield's mother, Judy, told reporters outside the courthouse. "And as always, God has proven to be faithful, and we're so thrilled that we have the verdict that we have tonight."

Chris Kyle's widow, Taya, was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Earlier in the day, she had stormed out of the courtroom in the middle of the defense's closing arguments, whispering an expletive and slamming her hand on the wall as she walked out the door. At the time, attorneys were discussing how useful it would have been for Routh's mother to have told Chris Kyle about her son's history of violence. 

Routh showed no visible emotion as the verdict was read, while Kyle's brother and parents were among a group of the victims' families and friends who cried and held hands. They did not issue a statement.

Jerry Richardson, Littlefield's half-brother, told Routh that he "took the lives of two heroes, men who tried to be a friend to you, and you became an American disgrace." Routh had no reaction.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted "JUSTICE!" in response to the verdict.

Routh, 27, had admitted to killing Kyle and Littlefield at a gun range on Feb. 2, 2013 but pleaded not guilty. His attorneys and family members asserted that he suffers from psychotic episodes caused by post-traumatic stress disorder and other factors.

But prosecutors said Tuesday that whatever episodes Routh suffers are self-induced through alcohol and marijuana abuse.

In front of a packed courtroom, Erath County assistant District Attorney Jane Starnes and three defense attorneys made their case.

"That is not insanity. That is just cold, calculated capital murder," Starnes said. "(Routh) is guilty of capital murder and he was not by any means insane."

But defense attorneys contended that Routh could not have realized what he was doing.

"He didn't kill those men because of who he wanted to be, he killed those men because he had a delusion," Warren St. John said. "He thought that they were going to kill him."

Kyle and Littlefield took Routh, who had deployed to Iraq and earthquake-ravaged Haiti, to a shooting range after Routh's mother asked Kyle to help her son cope with PTSD and other personal demons. Interest in the trial had been partially driven by the blockbuster Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle's life.

Routh's attorneys also pointed to the gunman's use of Kyle's pickup truck after the shooting to purchase tacos at a drive-through window and run assorted errands as evidence of delusional behavior.

Had Routh been found not guilty by reason of insanity, the state could have moved to have him committed.

Routh's attorneys pointed out that they needed only a preponderance of evidence for jurors to conclude Routh was insane at the time of the shootings and therefore not guilty, a standard of proof well below what would be required to convict him of capital murder.

But prosecutors also noted that Routh had apologized to Kyle's family -- evidence, they said, of a guilty mind.

"This defendant gunned down two men in cold blood, in the back, in our county. Find him guilty," Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash said.

Kyle made more than 300 kills as a sniper for SEAL Team 3, according to his own count. After leaving the military, he volunteered with veterans facing mental health problems, often taking them shooting.

Fox News' Jennifer Girdon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Oscars 2015 LIVE! winners and reaction - Telegraph.co.uk

08.14 The Oscar parties have begun, and singer-songwriter Sia has made an early bid for Look of the Night with this latest attempt to shield her face from the paparazzi's gaze. Ignoring the unusual headgear, fashion observers have been quick to point out that the Australian - who helped write the music for Annie - is very on-trend, with her beige cape and trousers. Full marks to her dashing husband Erik Anders Lang, too, who is clearly still amused by his wife's antics.

_(AFF)

07.45 Nick Allen writes:

"It's been an extremely political Oscars with filmmakers using the opportunity to speak to a billion people to talk passionately about a variety of causes. Patricia Arquette campaigned for equal pay for women, Common and John Legend spoke movingly about civil rights, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu appealed on behalf of Mexican immigrants. The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore, who spoke movingly about gay rights, put it best backstage. He said: "This was my 45 seconds to go on television and say something, so I thought I might as well use it to say something meaningful."

07.30 No matter what you may have read, The Lego Movie did in fact win the Oscars. Let us count the ways:

-During the performance of Everything is Awsome, Will Arnett wore an actual Batman suit (Dark Knight era).

-The Lonely Island were joined onstage by an Awesome Possum, which may or may not have been played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

-It featured the best/worst lurid polyester suits since Harry and Lloyd's get-up in the original Dumb & Dumber.

-And then there's this:

07.06 Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you the Eddie Redmayne GIF to end all Eddie Redmayne GIFs.

06.57 More from Nick Allen back stage:

Quote of the night courtesy of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu:

"Fear is the condom of life. It doesn't allow you to enjoy anything."

06.36 Nick Allen reports that Eddie Redmayne is over the moon backstage.

"Eddie Redmayne cradled his Oscar and rocked it like a baby after getting back stage. He said he would be going to Cambridge to see the Hawkings when he gets back to the UK. He said: 'They've been so kind to us throughout the process. I'm one of those people who when they see a film I believe what I see on the screen. So there was a great responsibility to tell their story truthfully and authentically. Any excuse to go back to Cambridge, it's such a beautiful place.'

He added: "So many things terrified me about this film but when the stakes are that high it makes you work harder."

Talking about his acceptance speech he said: 'I was recovering from the excitement of seeing her (presenter Cate Blanchett) - then trying to deal with a frenzy of nerves and white noise. Then of course you forget everything. It was euphoria, certainly something I won't forget in a hurry.'

Redmayne was self deprecating about what the Oscar will mean for his Hollywood career.

He said: "Where do I go from here? Just keeping employment will keep me very happy. You either win or you lose, I was just delighted to be invited to the party."

06.10 The 2015 Oscars are finally over, a little later than usual - a fact not lost on our Chief Film Critic Robbie Collin:

If you're just catching up with who won what, here's a recap. It wasn't exactly the most surprising night, with most of the main categories going pretty much as expected. Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice, JK Simmons grabbed Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel picked up pretty much every award related to art direction, and Selma got the single award everyone knew it would - Best Song, for Common and John Legend's Glory. And to the delight of the whole world - not just Britain - Eddie Redmayne took home a Best Actor statue for The Theory of Everything.

The biggest upset of the night was the winner of Battle of the Films Beginning with B - Birdman vs Boyhood. Richard Linklater's 12-year labour of love got exactly one award, Patricia Arquette's not entirely unexpected win for Best Supporting Actress (she also won the night with a rabble-rousing speech about gender equality in Hollywood). Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's one-take wonder Birdman, meanwhile, took home Best Director and Best Picture.

05.31

Here's Patrick Smith summing up: "Well, that was a massive upset. As much as I love the unhinged Birdman, which soars above the rest in terms of technical prowess, I was expecting the heartfelt Boyhood, shot in sequence across 12 years, and 39 filming days, to win both Best Picture and Best Director. It would have been a fitting award for Linklater, a philosophical kind of film-maker whose movies always have a lovely, naturalistic feel to them. Dazed and Confused and the Before triptych, which he also directed, in particular, are gems. Thrilled for Grand Budapest Hotel, though, which won four awards. Julianne Moore, who'd been nominated four times in the past, was a welcome winner – her portrayal of a professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease is unflashy and affecting. Slightly disappointed to see Michael Keaton miss out for Birdman. As Riggan Thomson, an actor famous for once wearing a superhero's cape, now trying to reignite his career on Broadway, Keaton flits between bravado and vulnerability with tremendous panache."

05.23 Since we're handing out props, here's a prop for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for a whole load of great speeches (I reckon he wrote one and freestyled the rest); and here's another prop for Benedict Cumberbatch for drinking out of a hip flask; and here's another prop for all of you who stayed up to watch the Oscars. It's only, like, Monday morning anyway, you've got a whole week in the office to recover.

05.18 We've all had (literally) a minute to consider this year's Oscars winners and losers, so props to Tim Robey for this astute insta-assessment.

"A crazy awards trajectory for the crazy, ingenious, naggingly hollow Birdman, which just took four Oscars – more than anyone expected, certainly when it was first unveiled. Will it stand the test of time better than Boyhood, which took one sole award for Best Supporting Actress? Only time can divulge that. At the moment, it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for Richard Linklater, whose long-game ambitions haven't been very generously rewarded tonight."

05.11 Birdman in a nutshell. Key for the water cooler chat tomorrow.

05.05

And the winner of the Oscar for Best Film is BIRDMAN.

^{Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu receives the Best Film Oscar for Birdman}

"Maybe next year there'll be some immigration rules to the Academy - two Mexicans in a row is suspicious," director Alejandro G Inarritu quipped as he collected the Best Picture prize, referencing Alfonso Cuaron's best director win last year.

05.04 And it's the biggest award of the lot.

Here are the nominations for BEST FILM

American SniperBoyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

05.00

^{Winner of the Best Actress award Julianne Moore}

Julianne Moore said: "I read somewhere that winning an Oscar can lead to you living five years longer - if that's true, I'd like to thank the Academy as my husband is younger than me!"

04.57

And the winner of the Oscar for Best Actress is JULIANNE MOORE.

"Alright, alright, alright," Matthew McConaughey should have said. Well deserved, Julianne.

04.55 And now for the Best Actress

Here are the nominations for BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

04.53

Eddie Redmayne, on picking up the Best Actor award, said: "I don't think I'm capable of articulating how I feel - I am fully aware I am a lucky, lucky man.

"This Oscar belongs to all those people around the world battling ALS," he said. "It belongs to one exceptional family - Stephen, Jane and the Hawking children - and I will be its custodian and I will look after him; I'll polish him and wait on him hand and foot."

He also described his Oscar as "a new fella coming to join our apartment".

04.52

And the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor is EDDIE REDMAYNE. THE BRITS ARE COMING!

04.48 Big awards now

Here are the nominations for BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell, (Foxcatcher)
Bradley Cooper, (American Sniper)
Benedict Cumberbatch, (The Imitation Game)
Michael Keaton, (Birdman)
Eddie Redmayne, (The Theory of Everything)

04.45 This is a bit of a shock. The winner for Best Director has not gone to Richard Linklater but...

...the winner of the Oscar for Best Director is ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU (Birdman)

Alejandro G Inarritu, a surprise winner for Best Director, revealed that he's he's wearing Michael Keaton's "tighy whities" in his acceptance speech. He also paid tribute to his fellow nominees. "For someone to win, someone has to lose - but true art, true individual expression cannot be compared. Our work, as always will be judged by time."

04.44

Here are the nominations for BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)
Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

04.35 The awards are coming thick and fast now. The Oscar for Best Screenplay is handed to...

And the winner of the Oscar for Best Screenplay is THE IMITATION GAME.

Picking up his award, The Imitation Game's writer Graham Moore said: "Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look at these faces and I do - and that's the most unfair thing I've ever heard.

"So I want to use this moment to say this - when I was 16 I tried to kill himself because I felt like I didn't belong. Now I'm standing here, so I would like this moment to be for that person who feels weird or different. Stay weird and different and when you're up here, pass it along."

Tim Robey: "Imitation Game is a poor Adapted Screenplay choice. Whiplash should have got this. Graham Moore gave a sweet speech saying "Stay weird!", but the big problem with his script is that it's not nearly weird enough – it feels like the product of reading way too many screenwriting manuals. And it backs away from the really painful and private depths of Turing's story."

04.35

Here are the nominations for ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Jason Hall (American Sniper)
Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)
Anthony McCarten (The Theory Of Everything)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)
Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

"I thought Birdman would be too deranged for the Academy's tastes, but it's been rewarded here. The film, which taps into the psyche of a washed-up actor beset by hubris and insecurities, now has a real chance of beating Boyhood to Best Picture."

04.31 And the Oscar for Original Screenplay goes to...

And the winner of the Oscar for Original Screenplay is BIRDMAN.

Accepting the Oscar, Birdman director Alejandro G Inarritu thanked his fellow scriptwriters Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr and Armando Bo as he picked up the award for best original screenplay. "Three years ago, I invited them to follow me in a crazy idea - and because they are crazy, they did it." He also pays his dues to Michael Keaton, who "made this film fly".

04.30

Here are the nominations for ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo (Birdman)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Foxcatcher (E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman and Bennett Miller Screenplay)
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler)

04.24

And the winner of the Oscar for Original Score is THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL.

04.23

Here are the nominations for ORIGINAL SCORE

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything
The Imitation Game

04.19 Is nothing sacred? Am I hallucinating? Lady Gaga, would Julie Andrews wear a dress made of meat?

04.13 Oh Lord, help us. Lady Gaga is about to sing something from The Sound of Music. Standby for despairing commentary.

04.07

And the Oscar for Original Song goes to GLORY (SELMA)

Patrick Smith on Glory: "Glory, written by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn and performed by John Legend, was always a dead cert – it had already won at the Golden Globes and the Critic's Choice Awards. It'll also be considered something of a consolation prize for Selma, which is very, very unlikely to topple either Boyhood or Birdman in the Best Picture category."

04.05 John Travolta being very funny as he presents the Original Song Oscar after the Idina Menzel fiasco last year ("You do it," he says to Idina Menzel, as he opens the envelope).

Here are the nominations for ORIGINAL SONG

Everything is Awesome (The Lego Movie)
Glory (Selma)
Grateful (Beyond the Lights)
I'm not Gonna Miss You (Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me)
Lost Stars (Begin Again)

04.02 One of the Neil Patrick Harris's best jokes tonight, this. "Benedict Cumberbatch is... the name you get when you ask John Travolta to pronounce 'Ben Affleck'", he says, referring to Travolta's shocker last year when he mispronounced Idina Menzel's name.

04.00 John Legend and Common take to the stage now to perform the Oscar-nominated song Glory, which is from Selma.

03.59 Nick Allen reports from back stage:

"More powerful stuff from Patricia Arquette back stage. She said: 'It's time for us, it's time tor women. Equal means equal. The highest percentage of children living in poverty are female headed household.It's incredible. We go round the world and talk about equal rights. But we don't have equal rights. When they wrote the Constitution they didn't intend it for us. So even though we feel we have equal rights in America there are huge issues under the surface.'"

03.57 Why was Joan Rivers, who appeared in dozens of films, snubbed in the In Memoriam section?

03.55 After Edward Snowden film CitizenFour wins, Neil Patrick Harris jokes: "Edward Snowden can't be here tonight for some treason."

03.53 Just poured champagne prosecco in my ear and tried to drink my earphone #oscarsanecdote

03.51 And the Oscar for Documentary Feature goes to...

CitizenFour, Praxis Films

03.50

Here are the nominations for DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

CitizenFour, Praxis Films
Finding Vivian Maier, Ravine Pictures
The Salt of the Earth, Decia Films
Virunga, Grain Media
Last Days in Vietnam

03.50 Just joining us? Firstly, where have you been? And secondly, this is what you've missed, courtesy of Patrick Smith.

"So far, so predictable. JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette were shoo-ins from the moment the nominations were announced last month. Arquette, a richly deserving winner for Boyhood, a film as much a meditation on motherhood as it is a portrait of a young boy growing up, provided the night's first impassioned political speech, calling for equal pay for women. Elsewhere, Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel, going into tonight with nine nominations, is faring well: three awards at this point. Birdman winning for Best Cinematography was always a likely outcome: spectacular to look at, the film is woven together so fastidiously it appears to unfold in one continuous take. It's the second consecutive Oscar for Emmanuel Lubezki, who won the same award for Gravity last year. Two wins for Gravity (for Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing) are well deserved, too."

03.30 Meanwhile, Lego director Chris Miller has tweeted this:

03.45 And the Oscar for Film Editing goes to...

Whiplash

03.44

Here are the nominations for FILM EDITING

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

And a picture of those presenting the award:

03.41 Kat Brown on a moving section of the night. Puts all sorts of things in perspective.

"A quietly emotional introduction from Meryl Streep introduced this year's "old friends": the cast and crew of Hollywood who died in the last year. James Rebhorn, Maya Angelou, James Garner, Anita Ekberg and Robin Williams were among those marked by the montage, which was greeted by sparse applause, with most of the audience keen to remain quiet and think. Watercoloured pictures of key roles showed each person in their prime: not their youth necessarily, but a moment that showed their spark. It was beautifully done. As ever, it is difficult work, and this year the Academy really pulled it off. Notably, it also included Bob Hoskins which the British Academy did not, having already included them in their television awards – although it was widely agreed that they could, and should, have featured him twice. Hoskins was followed by the director Mike Nichols in the final post, with Jennifer Hudson singing a farewell ballad. Given what she has experienced in her own life, she was sadly the perfect person to sing."

03.39

03.31 God, this is going to be tragic. Meryl Streep absolutely the right person to pay tribute to those we lost over the last year.

03.29 Tim Robey doesn't entirely approve of the Cinematography Oscar winner:

"Cinematography a solid category. Great work from all but Deakins, who is the constant Oscar bridesmaid here but couldn't fix Unbroken. I'd have preferred Dick Pope for Mr Turner, especially as Lubezki won last year for Gravity."

03.25 And the Oscar for Cinematography goes to...

Emmanuel Lubezki, (Birdman)

03.24

Here are the nominations for CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki, (Birdman)
Dick Pope, (Mr Turner)
Robert D Yeoman, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal, (Ida)
Roger Deakins, (Unbroken)

03.22 And the Oscar for Production Design goes to...

The Grand Budapest Hotel

03.21

Here are the nominations for PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Mr Turner

03.18 The Sky Movies panel putting the boot into Neil Patrick Harris's performance. I'd say he's been fine but is 'fine' enough for the biggest night in the film calendar? Rhetorical question.

03.15 Enjoy which films advertise during the Oscars ceremony. The Wedding Ringer, for example... I imagine the film poster will read: "Featured on TV at some point during the Oscars ceremony."

03.11 And The Rock (almost) says the Oscar for Animated Feature Film goes to...

Big Hero 6

03.10

Here are the nominations ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Big Hero 6
The Box Trolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

03.08 And the Oscar for Animated Short Film goes to...

Feast

03.07 Stay with me...

Here are the nominations for ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and my Moulten
A Single Life

03.04 And the Oscar for Visual Effects goes to...

Interstellar

03.03 Nom-in-ations (it's a visual effect).

Here are the nominations for VISUAL EFFECTS

Captain America
The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: DOFP

03.00 And what a speech, in which she shouts out for equal rights and wage equality for women: "Every woman who gave birth, paid their taxes... we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality". Arquette and Streep, big up to yourselves. I just know I'll regret writing that when the sun rises. I predict something like this: Update: this article was amended to get rid of Rupert Hawksley's ridiculous comment etc etc.

02.55 Patrick Smith wrote this very quickly about Patricia Arquette.

"Arquette is the standout performer in Boyhood; we watch her age from 33 to 46 right in front of our eyes. Playing a put-upon Mom, she wears little to no make-up, allowing the trials of motherhood to be etched across her face. It's a selfless and gutsy performance. Oh, and that line, 'I thought they would be more' really is something special. You're so cool, Patricia."

02.54 And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress goes to...

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

02.53 It's a biggie.

Here are the nominations for BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
Emma Stone (Birdman)
Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)
Laura Dern (Wild)

02.50 And the Oscar for Sound Editing (very different from Sound Mixing btw) goes to...

American Sniper

Picking up the Oscar for best sound mixing, the Whiplash team thanked director and writer Damien Chazelle: "You showed us the meaning of leadership under which a creative collaboration blossomed."

02.49

Here are the nominations for SOUND EDITING

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

02.47 And the Oscar for Sound Mixing goes to...

Whiplash

Accepting the award for Best Sound Editing, The American Sniper sound team thanked director Clint Eastwood: "It's an honour and a privilege to work you, you are the best."

02.46

Here are the nominations for SOUND MIXING

American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

02.46 *Generic Chris Evans Radio 2 joke*

02.45 Just a thought, but I reckon you'd have a great time with Miles Teller and Margot Robbie in the pub.

02.44 Does anyone remember Alex Zane in Channel 4's Balls of Steel? You know, the one Mark Dolan presented? #talent

02.34 Anyone for more Lego Movie stuff? Yeah, I reckon so. Here's Kat Brown who, brick by brick, has... er... (sorry, my joke ran out). As I was saying, here are the words:

"Well that was just lovely. And crikey, you can see why Tegan and Sara dressed in black because it was the only way for them to stand out. That was the most wonderfully multicoloured sequence I've seen at the Oscars in years - and above all, it was fun! Proper letting-your-hair-down fun tends to get a bit lost at the Academy Awards, so seeing Steve Carell and Oprah being handed Lego Oscar statuettes by brightly-coloured cowboys was a proper treat. My heartbeat may never slow back down. I will now have to consume three tins of Red Bull to even it out."

02.29 And the Oscar goes to...

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

02.28

Here are the nominations for DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth

02.27 So much to say about this film, so little time. On another occasion, I'll totally give you my thoughts on the Live Action Short Film winner.

02.23 And the Oscar for Live Action Short Film goes to...

The Phone Call

02.25 More nominations

Here are the nominations for LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvahneh
The Phone Call

02.24 Everything is awful: our thoughts on the Lego Movie snub.

02.19 "I literally have no idea who that man is but good for him." Kat Brown sums up the Everything is Awesome performance perfectly.

02.17 Few thoughts on the early proceedings from Patrick Smith:

"Two Oscars for Grand Budapest Hotel so far – and well deserved they are too. The costumes in this rollicking caper are as chic as Wes Anderson's vision. Tim Robey is predicting the film will win the overall tally, hands down. At least two or three more. Production design, original screenplay and maybe score."

02.14 Oh, and Neil, Chiwetel Ejiofor is pronounced CHOO-wet-el EDGE-ee-o-for.

02.12 Why, oh why, do they cut people's speeches off? Big up to Paweł Pawlikowski for carrying on. Heartfelt and brilliant speech.

02.10 And the Oscar for Foreign Language Film goes to...

Ida (resounding cheers in the office).

"It was always going to be a close fight between Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida and Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, but the former clinched it. The film, which is shot in gorgeous black and white, offers a bleak but spellbrinding glimpse at Poland's turbulent past. Incidentally, it's the first black-and-white film to win Best Foreign-Language since in 1967 (Closely Watched Trains in case you're wondering)."

02.10

Here are the nominations for FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
Tangerines (Estonia)

02.05 So, what do we think? Neil Patrick Harris seems well up to the job and The Grand Budapest Hotel has got off to a fine start. I, for one, am satisfied.

02.02 And the winner of the Oscar for Make-up and Hairstyling is...

The Grand Budapest Hotel (that's two for Wes Anderson's film).

Nice tribute to Wes Anderson from Frances Hannon: "This [Oscar] is you, this I shall share with you, you've been a great inspiration... you inspire us, all of us... if it wasn't for you there would be no movie."

02.01 Next Oscar, no respite.

Here are the nominations for MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

01.57 The Achievement in Costume Design, presented by Jennifer Lopez and Chris Pine, goes to...

Grand Budapest Hotel (Milena Canonero)

01.55

Here are the nominations for COSTUME DESIGN

Milena Canonero, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Mark Bridges, (Inherent Vice)
Colleen Atwood, (Into The Woods)
Anna B. Sheppard, (Maleficent)
Jacqueline Durran, (Mr Turner)

01.50 Here are our film critic Tim Robey's thoughts on Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Kendrick and Jack Black's performance, as well as Maroon Number 5's Adam Levine.

"When Jack Black is the best thing in your musical number, something may have gone wrong? Magic of Hollywood reduced to cheese of Broadway. Meanwhile, 'Lost Stars' is a great song that Adam Levine both deserves credit for and comes within an inch of destroying every time he sings it."

01.47 Patrick Smith reacts to the first Oscar of the night:

"Lupita Nyong'o, who was nominated for Best Actress last year for 12 Years a Slave, presents the gong for Best Supporting Actor to JK Simmons. No one's surprised; he was the favourite all along. His performance, as the sadistic conductor in the exhilarating jazz drum drama, is brilliant: he seizes and devours his lines with ferocious zeal. 'Thank you to the Academy,' he says. 'I am grateful everyday for the most remarkable person I know: my wife. I'm grateful for your sacrifice and your patience.'"

01.45 Here's our five star review of Whiplash.

01.43 And the actor goes to first Oscar of the night goes to...

JK Simmons (Whiplash)

01.41 Gosh, they don't hang about do they? Here we go, first award. And here are the nominations:

Here are the nominations for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall (The Judge)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Edward Norton (Birdman)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
JK Simmons (Whiplash)

01.36 Good old Benedict, what a cad, right?

01.34 Spontaneous Anna Kendrick-inspired round of applause in the office for her singing.

01.32 I feel nervous for Neil Patrick Harris. Great gag to start with, though: "Tonight we honour film's whitest, I mean brightest..." Just a thought on the matter: AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) members are 94% white, 77% male and 86% over 50. As I said, just a thought.

Here's a bit of info about your host for the night (as if you don't know who he is): How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris, who is tonight's host, has presented many awards shows over the years – the Emmys, the Spike Video Game Awards, the World Magic Awards – but has proven himself truly Oscar-worthy with his expert stewardship of the Tonys. He's performed West Side Story medleys re-written to include winners' names, danced with Mike Tyson, sung with hair metal bands, and expertly walks the line between mickey-taking and affection.

01.28 Patrick Smith saying things about cinema I don't fully understand. Well worth a read none the less.

"It really has been a marvellous year for cinema. From Alejandro González Iñárritu's wickedly subversive showbiz satire Birdman and Richard Linklater's audacious coming-of-age drama Boyhood, to Wes Anderson's meticulously stylish caper Grand Budapest Hotel and Damien Chazelle's electrifying jazz thriller Whiplash, 2015 surely deserves to join the pantheon of truly classic years in Oscars history. Consider the fact that the fiercely topical, viscerally intense Selma, starring a brilliant David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, only managed to pick up two nominations. Yes it certainly deserves more. But, then, it's also testament to how strong the field is this year. Let's just hope American Sniper doesn't win Best Picture"

01.25 FIVE MINUTE WARNING. Go and get your drinks.

01.23 More from Nick Allen on the red carpet.

"British best actress nominee Felicity Jones described the moment she learned she had been nominated. She said: 'I was in bed and I just yelled and just moved out of bed.' Describing the Oscars experience she said: 'It's quite nerve wracking and obviously you're nervous, but if you're too nervous you miss the whole thing. I'm with my family so I'm enjoying it.'"

01.21 Reese Witherspoon has shown her support for #askhermore. Thanks to her over-the-shoulder Tom Ford dress, she has just been voted best dressed on the red carpet by the panel in Sky Movies studio. An emoji would probably express the irony of this well but I don't know how they work.

01.18 Good hugging, this.

01.10 Olivia Bergin expected a bit more razzle dazzle from Cate Blanchett, who so reliably delivers. She has an interesting theory though...

"As last year's winner – and wasn't her acceptance dress an £11 million marvel – she's letting this year's nominees grab all the headlines. Nice work, Cate."

01.05 Nick Allen, our man in LA, is certainly keeping himself busy. He's just spoken to Michael Keaton – nominated for Best Actor for Birdman – who said said he was going to "go to a few parties" if he wins. He urged anyone around the world to see Birdman. "It's a ride, it's a cinematic ride."

01.00 Benedict Cumberbatch, up for an Oscar for The Imitation Game, said on the red carpet: "To be here is a fantastic honour. I'm so proud to play a hero much wronged. To honour [Alan Turing] with a film is a great privilege."

00.58 Right, it's predictions time. Here are the heavyweight opinions to be totally ignored that really matter. Do please send us your thoughts, we could learn a lot (rupert.hawksley@telegraph.co.uk)

Kat Brown

Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress: Julianne Moore
Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette
Best Director: Richard Linklater
Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay: American Sniper
Best Documentary: Finding Vivien Maier
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida

Rupert Hawksley

Best Picture: American Sniper
Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch
Best Actress: Julianne Moore
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette
Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay: Damien Chazelle
Best Documentary: Finding Vivian Maier
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida

Patrick Smith

Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Director: Richard Linklater
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress: Julianne Moore
Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette
Best Original Screenplay: Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay: American Sniper
Best Documentary: CitizenFour
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida

00.48 Nick Allen has been speaking to British best actor nominee Eddie Redmayne on the red carpet. Wait, and he didn't mention the weather once?

"Eddie Redmayne received a long hug from Cate Blanchett. Afterwards he said: 'I'm mildly terrified but this is a great, great privilege.' Redmayne said he had found it unusually difficult to let go of the character of Stephen Hawking. 'Normally I'm quite good at hopping from job to job but this one felt so important to get it right. Afterwards I didn't work, I took a year.'"

00.46 Just in case you thought that working in the office on Oscars night wasn't glamorous.

00.38

00.37 Red carpet round-up from Olivia Bergin:

"So who hit a high note and who made a real boob this evening? As much as people love to mock her lifestyle tips, there's no denying that Gwyneth Paltrow pulled out her best card and breezed through to be one of the best-dressed of the evening – in a London-based label (Ralph & Russo) at that. Cate Blanchett taught us how to style a statement necklace while Scarlett Johansson showed how definitely not to. It's neck-and-neck along with Marion Cotillard. Elsewhere, Keira Knightley could go and trademark this ethereal nymph look she's been rocking of late and Rosamund Pike – welcome back to the fashion fold, how we've missed you! We're off now but not before sending poor Felicity Jones's stylist an email and reminding her that her client is not a giant…"

00.36 Got to hand it to Eddie Redmayne. At the Oscars, on the red carpet, what do you want to talk about? The weather, mostly. Tea, scones and a "God, it's cold, isn't it?" await you on your return to Britain.

00.26 Olivia Bergin is hooked by Pike on the red carpet. Yes, that is an angling joke on Oscars night: "Just let out a sigh of audible relief at seeing this picture of Rosamund Pike; after her unfortunate style boob at the Golden Globes the Best Actress nominee has more than redeemed herself by literally playing on her English Rose qualities in a rose-esque, custom-made gown by Givenchy."

00.21 The award for 'Best answer to worst red carpet question' goes to... Ansel Elgort. "What brings you here tonight?" Elgort was asked. "What brings me here?" the actor replied. "I'm presenting an award."

00.15 Water problems on the red carpet.

Nick Allen explains: "There's a problem on the red carpet. The rain is coming down hard and it's gathering in the overhead tarpaulins. A team of dinner suited men have been sent in to the carpet with long poles. They're pushing up the bulging tarps and trying to push the water out before it bursts on all those very expensive dresses below."

00.10 Turns out that Felicity Jones's dress is not, in fact, everything. Film writer Fashion expert Patrick Smith explains: "Felicity Jones, dressed in an Alexander McQueen gown designed by Sarah Burton, says she's less concerned about winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Theory of Everything than making sure she doesn't "fall over".

00.05 Well, this is a turn up for the books. Patrick Smith (dressed in trainers and jeans) talks fashion. Results as spectacular as the dress.

"Wearing a spectacular white Christian Dior dress, Marion Cotillard has arrived at the ceremony. She's nominated for Best Actress for the Dardenne brothers' humane drama Tow Days, One Night. And rightly so – looking in pain and drained, she's magnificently nuanced as a depressed woman-of-two whose job at a solar panel factory hangs in the balance. She admits that she'd like to do lighter films, though. "I wish I could find myself into more comedies," she tells the reporter on the red carpet."

And our fashion correspondent Olivia Bergin agrees that Cotillard looks spectacular: "If awards were handed out on style alone, then we'd like to present French actress Marion Cotillard with the You Look Absolutely Wonderful statuette. Not everyone can get away with something so directional, but Cotillard and this beautiful Dior confection, with a cinched section at the rear, was a match made in red carpet heaven."

00.01 "Your dress is everything," says the red carpet interviewer to Felicity Jones. It's one minute past midnight and I'm confused.

23.59 Olivia Bergin poses a question none of us will ever have to answer: "You're 20 years old, have found yourself starring in one of the year's most acclaimed films and find yourself invited to your first Oscars ceremony, what on earth do you wear? For Lorelei Linklater, daughter of Boyhood director Richard and star of that film, you wear what you couldn't have gotten away with wearing to prom and leg it out of the door before your father sees you..."

23.52 Just in case you didn't love Steve Carell enough already, it turns out that he's wearing HeForShe cufflinks tonight. Bravo, sir!

23.49 US correspondent Nick Allen with the inside track:

"Security at this year's ceremony is massive. Cars arriving up Highland Avenue south of the Dolby Theater encountered three checkpoints staffed by dozens of armed police officers."

23.45 Patrick Smith hails Richard Linklater, the director of Boyhood, which is nominated for everything tonight.

"Richard Linklater, nominated for his 12-years-in-the-making drama Boyhood, has arrived on the red carpet. Asked what winning an Oscar would mean to him, the director seemed fairly nonchalant. "I haven't really thought about it that much." His film, which chronicles the journey from boyhood to adolescence of Mason Jnr, played by Ellar Coltrane, is an astonishing feat of cinema, embracing the mundanities of life just as much as the milestones. Not going to lie – I'd be pretty upset if he lost out tonight." But no views on his red carpet dinner jacket, Patrick?

23.41 Margot Robbie on her quite amazing necklace: "I keep checking that it's still there."

And here's Olivia Bergin on why Margot Robbie is quite so stressed about losing her necklace tonight: "A bit of trivia on the Australian actress's rather eye-catching necklace... meant to look and function like a zip, it was created by Van Cleef & Arpels in the late 1930s upon a commission by the Duchess of Windsor. We're surprised that Robbie hasn't got a bodyguard glued to her left leg..."

23.36 Andy Samberg, the hilarious star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is attending his first Oscars tonight. And he'll be performing too, along with his Saturday Night Live co-stars Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Asked about his preparations for the night, he joked: "It's like losing your virginity – you've got to goof it."

23.34 Controversy!

Kat Brown nails it: "E!'s manicam (camera showing off the talent's nails, for the uninitiated, and yes it was a real thing) isn't on the red carpet this year, perhaps as part of the #AskHerMore social media campaign we mentioned earlier. One person to flag this up was Patricia Arquette, while speaking about her new charity to red carpet host Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest in turn has been doing a good job of focusing on the actresses' roles rather than their dresses. The designer PRs must be livid.

"It's pretty funny, there's this silly mani-cam business going on and I was supposed to get a manicure this morning," Arquette said. "But instead I was working on launching this Chideo site for an experience where you can enter a sweepstakes and go with me on a global mission with one of our projects with GiveLove.org where we do ecological sanitation work in the neediest communities around the world."

23.30 Make no mistake, I've got plenty more dresses up my sleeve but here's an Oscars stat because, well, Faith Hill's on the red carpet at the moment. In 86 previous Oscars ceremonies, 23 per cent of Best Actor winners have been British. Good luck, chaps.

23.20 Spot the difference.

^{TV star Shaun Robinson}

23.15 And here's a more informed view on Anna Kendrick's dress (see below) from Olivia: "Anna Kendrick doesn't look convinced, but we're enjoying her peachy Thakoon gown and co-ordinating bling."

23.11 Our fashion correspondent, Olivia Bergin, is full of compliments for Patricia Arquette's outfit. You know? The one I ignored a minute or so ago in favour of a cameraman's cap.

Olivia says: "Patricia Arquette is one of the first big names on the red carpet and she's opted for a simple, monochrome gown (by Rosetta Getty) that's ever so playful thanks to its asymmetric neckline. We like this – it's hitting the red carpet nail on the head perfectly."

23.03 Anna Kendrick is one of the first to arrive on the red carpet, possibly to give her time to prepare for her performance later in the evening. Or possibly to give all of us time to marvel at her wondrous outfit.

22.58 By the way, if you want to watch all the celebrities arriving (rather than focus on a cameraman's cap), then here's the place to do it.

22.56 A lot of people are talking about Patricia Arquette on the red carpet (she's wearing white, I think) but I prefer the cameraman in the cap (bottom right). Oscars or not, he knows what he likes and he likes what he knows.

22.43 And the red carpet is off! #AskHerMore, the social media campaign started by Amy Poehler's Smart Girls website pushing for red carpet interviews to ask female talent about more than "who she's wearing", has taken on a life of its own, and it seems that people are paying attention.

Speaking to How to Train Your Dragon 2's America Ferrera, Ryan Seacrest made only a passing mention of her outfit while talking about her work - this has gone down unsurprisingly well online. As Lena Dunham tweets: "Ask her about the causes she supports, not her support garments".

22.35 The red carpet is so close I can almost smell it. Wait, no, Patrick's opened the first sandwich of the evening. Cheese, ham and pickle.

If you haven't had the pleasure, Gawker have done a brilliant piece on the nominees' embarrassing early roles, and - rather wonderfully - it turns out that Steven Spielberg has been thanked in Oscars speeches more than God.

22.20

Our film critic Tim Robey has a tenner riding on a shock Bradley Cooper upset tonight (and he'd win £500-odd if it happens, in which case we'll have a bottle of Veuve, thanks in advance.)

"Third nom in a row, film-saving performance, and they will want to give American Sniper something (beyond the likely sound awards). It's been such an enormous commercial success. That said, I think Eddie probably has it in the bag. And he's great."

22.05 Over on Twitter, the official Oscars account is warming everyone up in the time honoured fashion of a̶ ̶l̶a̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶g̶i̶n̶ parlour games.

#6wordacceptancespeech has got some glorious ones: "I am just picturing everyone naked", "I needed a new door stop" and "I'd like to thank my cat".

21.58 The snacks are out chez Telegraph Film. And wow, I didn't know they even still made Go Ahead products. #healthy

I cannot believe that Channing Tatum could possibly top this photograph tonight, but I'm willing to suspend the belief because that photo would be incredible.

21.40 To get us all in the mood for the red carpet, here's Chris Evans in a cardigan.

Please, someone, come wearing a cardigan. Thank you.

21.25 A Birdman action figure! In the words of Amy Poehler, "Yes please."

Sesame Street, the ageless children's TV programme that has carved out an adorable pastiche niche in recent years, has also done a terrific parody video for the Oscars. In Big Birdman, Caroll Spinney (the Muppeteer who has played Big Bird for over 40 years), takes on Keaton's role and is haunted by his character. Almost inevitably delightful.

21.17 If you haven't had the pleasure of magician/social media superstar Zach King's incredible Vines, his 2014 best of video is a wonder.

Unsurprisingly the Academy leapt on his brand of magic and he's done an excellent red carpet Vine. If you, like me, failed to master so much as a Paul Daniels children's magic kit at school, this really does take the breath away.

21.10

Martin Chilton, Online Culture Editor: "So which nominated films are still doing well at the American box office? Only two were in the top 10. Best placed was American Sniper, which was sixth after taking £6.3million in ticket sales over the weekend. American Sniper, which has taken £208m in total, has six Oscars nominations including a best actor nod for Bradley Cooper in the title role. The other Oscars representative was Benedict Cumberbatch's The Imitation Game, which was in ninth place. The film they couldn't beat though, and the top performer, was Fifty Shades of Grey, which took £15m over the weekend."

20.53 Benedict Cumberbatch's Oscar-nominated portrayal of Alan Turing has brought the pioneering scientist's story to a wide audience. Whatever happens with Cumberbatch and his nomination for The Imitation Game, Turing's name will be in the news tomorrow when the family of the codebreaker will visit Downing Street tomorrow to demand the Government pardons 49,000 other men persecuted like him for their homosexuality.

Turing, whose work cracking the German military codes was vital to the British war effort against Nazi Germany, was convicted in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man, was chemically castrated, and two years later died from cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide. He was given a posthumous royal pardon in 2013 and campaigners want the Government to pardon all the men convicted under the outdated law. Turing's great-nephew, Nevil Hunt, his great-niece, Rachel Barnes, and her son, Thomas, will hand over the petition, which attracted almost half-a-million signatures on the website Change.org, to No 10 Downing Street.

20.47 Champagne is an excellent cure for the weather-induced doldrums, but given barely anyone in Hollywood seems to drink anymore, here are 30 great songs about rain. You're welcome, soggy Hollywoodians!

20.40 "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed." This and basically any line from Singin' in the Rain are polar opposite to what the poor, stunned sun daisies of LA are thinking about the fact it's raining. The technical term is "gutted".

"It is all anyone in L.A. can talk about because they don't see a lot of rain," People magazine's Jess Cagle said yesterday. Basically, this rain scenario is equivalent to a damp War of the Worlds, but worse because HG Wells didn't mention an alien invasion happening on Oscars night.

^{An Oscar statuette is covered up. It's not quite as easy to do this to the talent. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)}

20.17 Here's a film that deserves an Oscar, Ida, a brilliant foreign language film set in 1960s Poland. Our own Tim Robey interviewed Ida's Polish-British director Paweł Pawlikowski.

^{Agata Trzebuchowska in 'Ida'}

7.55pm And now for some famous people posing at the pre-Oscars parties:

^{Rosamund Pike, looking floral}

^{Keira Knightley elegantly dressed in a jellyfish + bystander}

7.48pm Can the Oscars be rained off? Looking at this tweet from Kent Brockman's alma mater, Eyewitness News, the Academy have taken preventative measures against the bad weather:

7.30pm Bradley Cooper, somewhat surprisingly in our opinion, is nominated for Best Actor for the third year in row, this time for American Sniper. Robbie Collin has written a rather brilliant profile of Bradley Cooper, revealing why he's fast becoming "America's leading man".

7.02pm One of the joys of this pre-Oscars week has been watching Telegraph Film Critic Robbie Collin completely lose his mind on Twitter over the results of the Hollywood Reporter's Brutally Honest Oscar Ballots.

This anonymous survey of why Academy members vote the way they vote has been revealing, to say the least, and more than a little depressing for those - like Robbie - who take cinema seriously. But it's also been very funny. Here are some highlights:

On the Selma snub: "Yes, most members are white males, but they are not the cast of Deliverance - they had to get into the Academy to begin with, so they're not cretinous, snaggletoothed hillbillies."

On JK Simmons in Whiplash: "The funny thing about Whiplash is that while the rest of the world thinks that the J.K. Simmons character is an overbearing, horrible monster, there are many people in Hollywood who would model themselves on that character."

On Inherent Vice: "I put in the Inherent Vice screener, and it became apparent that it's a terrible, incoherent movie, so I turned it off."

On Whiplash: "Whiplash is offensive - it's a film about abuse and I don't find that entertaining at all. My kid would have told me if he had an abusive teacher. I would have sat in on the class, talked to other kids in the class and then said, "This asshole has to go."'

On Inherent Vice (again): "Inherent Vice I thought was a disaster, an embarrassment almost. I don't know, I was just so disappointed because [writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson] is one of my favorite filmmakers and it just felt lazy, incoherent and a waste of such talent and money."

On The Lego Movie and Everything is Awesome: "I thought The Lego Movie [in which "Everything Is Awesome" is featured] was horrible. It was whack and I just did not like it at all - I mean, I couldn't even get through the film."

On voting for Best Sound Editing: "I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between this and sound mixing. [laughs] I vote for the movie that I like."

On The Imitation Game: "The Imitation Game was powerful. I mean, Cumberbuck [Benedict Cumberbatch] — I don't know how to say his name — like all of these guys, deserves an Oscar. I really liked the movie."

On voting for Leviathan for Best Foreign Language Film: "I didn't get around to seeing any of them. You want the truth? I shouldn't have voted, but I did. This is bad, but here's the power of advertising: everywhere I looked, I saw pictures of this stupid carcass — whatever the f___ that was — and I thought, "That's a cool-looking thing." And I f___ing voted for a movie based on the dead whatever it was in the ad thinking that it looked cool.

And here's that vote-winning whale carcass in all its glory:

6.35pm Remember when Birdman's Michael Keaton turned down Ghostbusters? Our video team are here to refresh your memory:

(He also turned down $15 million to make a third Batman movie because "it sucked".)

6.15pm Preparations are now well underway at the Dolby Theatre. Here's the hair-saving, rain-proof tent in all its glory:

_(Reuters)

6pm William Hill are offering 5/1 odds that Jennifer Lawrence will trip on the red carpet tonight for the third year in a row. But they also have some more sensible Oscar odds, and it's good news for all you Redmayniancs. (Is that a thing? It is now.)

- Best Picture: 8/13 Birdman; 5/4 Boyhood; 25/1 American Sniper; 40/1 The Grand Budapest Hotel; 40/1 The Imitation Game; 50/1 The Theory of Everything; 100/1 Whiplash; 125/1 Selma

- Best Actor: 1/4 Eddie Redmayne; 11/4 Michael Keaton; 16/1 Bradley Cooper; 40/1 Benedict Cumberbatch; 100/1 Steve Carell

- Best Actress: 1/50 Julianne Moore; 16/1 Reese Witherspoon; 25/1 Rosamund Pike; 40/1 Felicity Jones; 50/1 Marion Cotillard

- Best Director: 8/13 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu; 6/5 Richard Linklater; 40/1 Wes Anderson; 40/1 Bennett Miller; 66/1 Morten Tyldum

- Best Supporting Actor: 1/50 JK Simmons; 14/1 Edward Norton; 20/1 Mark Ruffalo; 40/1 Ethan Hawke; 50/1 Robert Duvall

- Best Supporting Actress: 1/66 Patricia Arquette; 25/1 Emma Stone; 33/1 Keira Knightley; 33/1 Laura Dern; 40/1 Meryl Streep

5.50pm Some pre-Oscars facts:

-Supporting Actress favourite Patricia Arquette lost money making Boyhood. She says she spent more on hiring dog walkers and babysitters than she was paid for the entire 12-year shoot.

-The makers of Birdman hired a band of drummers to distract Times Square tourists during filming of Michael Keaton's naked freak-out scene, so he wouldn't get too mobbed. They also had to get permission from each each advertiser seen on billboards around the square.

-Over 100 special effects 'stitches' were used to make Birdman look as if it were shot in one take.

-Director Paul Thomas Anderson still has no idea if author Thomas Pynchon approves of his adaptation of the book Inherent Vice, even though it's nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

-This year's films could be the least-watched Oscars line-up in years. So far, the eight nominated films have taken just $605 million - a far cry from the $1 billion made by 2012's crop. And most of that is thanks to American Sniper and The Imitation Game.

-Miuccia Prada designed the matching sets of luggage used in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, lining them with mauve satin even though the insides aren't seen. The were accompanied at all times on set by their own security guard

-Whiplash has more swearing than any other Best Picture nominee, with 91 F-bombs dropped (thank you, Wall Street Journal). Of course, this pales in comparison to The Wolf of Wall Street, which last year filled the Oscar swear jar with 506 F-bombs (plus much more besides).

-The first statuette presented tonight will be the 2,952nd presented since the first Oscars in 1929.

-Alan Turing's original Enigma machine, which he called Christopher, cost £100,000. The copy built for The Imitation Game cost just £30,000 - possibly because it doesn't work. "The sum total of its mechanism was that its wheels turned in a sequence similar to the real thing," explained production designer Maria Djurkovic. As for all those red cables, they were weaved together by interns.

-Richard Linklater made star Ethan Hawke promise to take over directing Boyhood if Linklater died before finishing it.

5.19pm For an alternative look at this year's Best Picture nominees, try these Pop Art-inspired posters commissioned by the photo agency Shutterstock.

_{(Odes Roberts)}

_{(Kathy Cho)}

_{(Bryant Nichols)}

See the full collection, plus an explanation of what on earth is going on in that American Sniper poster, at the Shutterstock website.

4.55pm One question seems to crop up in some corner of the internet every Oscar year: why are there no awards for stunt performers? After all, while the leading men are cuddling plastic babies the stunt actors can be found throwing themselves off buildings in order to make them look good. Yet the Academy barely acknowledges their existence.

As usual, Jason Statham hit the nail on the head in a recent interview with Vanity Fair: "These are the unsung heroes," he said. "They're risking their necks. Then you have some guy standing in front of a f_____g green screen screwing his face up pretending like he's doing the stunt... "

Luckily the stunt industry has its own Oscars, the Taurus Awards, where last year A Good Day to Die Hard won the Best Work with a Vehicle award for this sequence:

Highlights of the winning chase, wrote the judges, included "head on driving, multiple crashes, and 90, 180, and 360 degree spins... Chase ends with a Mercedes G Wagon doing a k-rail slide turnover and the MRAP doing a cannon roll, flying off a bridge and t-boning a big rig." You have to admit, it does sound livelier than Best Editing.

4.35pm Never mind what Meryl and co will be wearing this evening - what will they be eating? Chef Wolfgang Puck, who you may know from his role as Chef Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs (also starring Neil Patrick Harris), has created a seemingly endless selection of tapas-style dishes, none of which seem especially personal trainer-friendly. Feast your eyes on the full menu:

Spicy Tuna Tartare, Sesame Miso Cone

Smoked Salmon Oscar Matzo

Assorted Pizzas

Lobster "BLT" with Bacon, Tomato, Chive Aioli, and Brioche

Aged Cheddar Grilled Cheese with Roasted Tomato

_{(Wolfgang Puck Catering)}

Smoked Hominy Toasts, Avocado, Salsa Verde (above)

Crispy Artichokes, Citrus-Chili Gremolata

Beet Latkes, Pastrami Duck, Apple Mustard

Parsnip Chips, Caponata, Capers

Homemade Pretzels, Pimento Cheese

Five-Year Aged Gouda and Parmigiano-Reggiano

Deviled Eggs with Spiced Crab

Roasted Nuts with Rosemary, Cayenne, Sea Salt, and Brown Sugar

Breadsticks and Seeded Lavash

Baked Potato with Caviar

Chicken Pot Pie, Black Truffles

Parsnip Soup with White Chocolate, Pears, Rosemary, and 24k Gold

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

_{(Wolfgang Puck Catering)}

Mini American Wagyu Burgers, Aged Cheddar, Remoulade (above)

Crispy Potato Galette with Smoked Salmon and Caviar

Wagyu Shortrib, Hay-Smoked Kabocha Squash Puree

Celery Root Agnolotti, Black Winter Truffles

Dover Sole, Fennel, Chili, Orange Miso Vinaigrette

Lobster Salad with Artichokes, Asparagus, Fava Beans, Baby Beets, and Citrus Vinaigrette

Chinois Chicken Salad

Chilled Sweet Pea Soup with Black Truffles

Coffee Oscar Lollipops

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Mint Truffles

Strawberry Marshmallow Rocher

Vanilla Caramel

Nougat Gianduja

WP Artisanal Chocolate Truffles and Bon Bons

_{(Wolfgang Puck Catering)}

Peanut Butter Strawberry Jelly Lollipop (above)

Truffle Coconut Macaron

Violet Crème Brûlée, Blackcurrant Jelly

Passion Fruit Pate de Fruits

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta, Raspberry, Cherry

Bittersweet Chocolate Cupcake, Marshmallow Frosting

Assorted Chocolate Barks and Bars

White Chocolate Cream, Wild Strawberry Push Pops

Hollywood Chocolate Mousse, Citrus Crème Brûlée

Assorted Mini Cookies

Dark Chocolate Brownie

Mexican Spiced Chocolate Brownie, Earl Grey Ice Cream, Cocoa Crumbs

Apple Millefeuille with Brown Butter Sauce and Apple Cider Jelly

Tiny Vanilla Bean and Hot Fudge Sundae

Leftover food is donated to Los Angeles food banks, although whether or not they'll want Robert Duvall's old devilled eggs is another matter.

4.05pm Our own Patrick Smith - in common with every other man, woman and child on earth - adores singer, actress and all-round ball of charm Anna Kendrick. So much so that he thinks Kendrick's performance at tonight's Oscars may steal the show.

3.45pm In order to help the public get a better understanding of the emotional rollercoaster that is being nominated for an Oscar, this year the Academy asked nominees to build a Spotify playlist by choosing a song that "describes how it feels to be nominated". A couple - we're looking at you, John Legend and Diane Warren - simply picked their own, two picked Pharrell's Happy, two more went for I Feel Good, while Keira Knightley, bless her, chose The Pointer Sisters' I'm So Excited. So now you know. The full list can be found on the Oscars website.

3.32pm Here's some news sure to cheer up rain-lashed Britain: the Oscar arrivals are going to get soaked too. Forecasts say there is a 60 per cent chance of rain in Los Angeles later this evening, meaning workers are currently installing a tent over the red carpet in order to protect Clint Eastwood's hair. Last year, the ceremony was hit by a freak storm as some guests were arriving. Which could explain this:

3.15pm If you're among the millions who will never get over the death of Robin Williams, tonight's In Memoriam section may well be the end of you. Steel yourself with our gallery of his 50 greatest quotes, and with this clip of him winning an Oscar in 1998 for Good Will Hunting. Generous, funny, moving, and short: it could be the perfect Oscars speech.

2.50pm Commiserations to Nicolas Cage, who just lost out on a Golden Raspberry Award - the anti-Oscar - for his soul-shaking role in the Christian end-of-the-world thriller Left Behind. But congratulations to Razzie "winners" Cameron Diaz, Kirk Cameron and Kelsey Grammer. For a full list of the 2015 Razzies winners, plus Martin Chilton's heartfelt treatise on why Kelsey really doesn't deserve this, see here.

Now enjoy our list of the 20 Oscar winners the Razzies loved - starring Nic Cage! - and this highly entertaining account of the first ever Razzies winner, the dire Laurence Olivier/Moonies collaboration Inchon!.

2.22pm What does tonight's host have planned? Hopefully, by now even non-fans of How I Met Your Mother and Doogie Howser, MD will be aware of host Neil Patrick Harris. But which of his many talents will he be using this evening? Here's what we know so far:

- He'll be singing a brand new song by Robert and Kristen Lopez, who won an Oscar last year for Frozen's Let it Go.

- A few more performers will be joining him onstage, possibly for the new number and possibly for other songs throughout the show. They are: Lady Gaga, Jack Black, Anna Kendrick, and Jennifer Hudson.

- He claims to have prepared "nine or 10" jokes about the appearance of Ben Affleck's penis in Gone Girl.

- He plans to use his skills as a magician at some point.

- He plans to somehow top Ellen DeGeneres's selfie from last year's Oscars, which was retweeted a record breaking 3.4 million times. Harris has 13.7 million Twitter followers, so it could just work.

- He promises to give Fifty Shades of Grey a "spanking", and has even threatened to bring out a riding crop to get the job done.

- Despite the above, he promises that this year's ceremony will be a "respectful, classy, appreciation of the year in film".

- And he's taking no chances:

You can read our 2014 interview with the charming NPH - as he's known to fans of the Harold & Kumar films - right here.

2.00pm Meet the king of the montage. NPR just published an illuminating piece on the Oscars' Montage Master, Chuck Workman, who perfected the art of condensing Best Picture epics into two-minute nuggets. He says making the perfect montage is like making fruit loaf: "You don't want to have too many raisins, too many nuts. But you wanna have plenty of raisins and plenty of nuts." (Shirley MacLaine is in the house this evening, so no worries there.)

Chuck hasn't worked on the Oscars for a couple of years now - not that he's at all bitter about it. "They'd rather have Ellen DeGeneres taking a selfie," he tells NPR. "What does that have to do with movies?"

1.40pm Here's the full list of this year's Oscar presenters:

Ben Affleck

Jennifer Aniston

Jason Bateman

Jessica Chastain

Viola Davis

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Idris Elba

Ansel Elgort

Chris Evans

Kevin Hart

Terrence Howard

Josh Hutcherson

Scarlett Johansson

Dakota Johnson

Felicity Jones

Nicole Kidman

Jennifer Lopez

Shirley MacLaine

Sienna Miller

Chloe Grace Moretz

Eddie Murphy

Liam Neeson

David Oyelowo

Gwyneth Paltrow

Chris Pine

Chris Pratt

Margot Robbie

Zoe Saldana

Octavia Spencer

Channing Tatum

Miles Teller

John Travolta

Kerry Washington

Naomi Watts

Cate Blanchett

Jared Leto

Matthew McConaughey

Lupita Nyong'o

Marion Cotillard

Benedict Cumberbatch

Meryl Streep

Oprah Winfrey

Reese Witherspoon

One name does rather leap out: John Travolta, who has been asked back after spectacularly mangling Idina Menzel's name last year.

An "Adele Dazeem" gag seems inevitable tonight. And since the evening's script is written by Greg Berlanti, whose day job is running the excellent DC Comics TV show Arrow, we may even get a Ra's al Ghul joke too.

1.20pm The stars will start arriving at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, at midnight GMT, with the ceremony proper following 90 minutes later, at 1.30am, and ending around 4am. You can watch the whole thng on Sky Movie Oscars, or through Now TV for non Sky subscribers.

Alternatively, you can keep up with every Jennifer Lawrence pratfall or Benedict Cumberbatch photobomb, not to mention all the winners' speeches and losers' rictus grins, right here. Like this:

But in the meantime, here's a reminder of who's nominated in the major categories:

Best Picture

American Sniper - read the Telegraph review of American Sniper

Birdman - read the Telegraph review of Birdman

Boyhood - read the Telegraph review of Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel - read the Telegraph review of The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game - read the Telegraph review of The Imitation Game

Selma - read the Telegraph review of Selma

The Theory of Everything - read the Telegraph review of The Theory of Everything

Whiplash - read the Telegraph review of Whiplash

Best Actor

Steve Carell, (Foxcatcher) - read the Telegraph interview with Steve Carell

Bradley Cooper, (American Sniper) - read the Telegraph review of American Sniper

Benedict Cumberbatch, (The Imitation Game) - read the Telegraph interview with Benedict Cumberbatch

Michael Keaton, (Birdman) - read the Telegraph interview with Michael Keaton

Eddie Redmayne, (The Theory of Everything) - read the Telegraph interview with Eddie Redmayne here

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) - read the Telegraph interview with Marion Cotillard or our review of Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything) - read the Telegraph interview with Felicity Jones

Julianne Moore (Still Alice) - read the Telegraph interview with Julianne Moore or our review of Still Alice

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) - watch the Telegraph interview with Rosamund Pike or read our review of Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon (Wild) - read the Telegraph interview with Reese Witherspoon

Our own Robbie Collin is predicting - or rather, praying for - a win for Boyhood, but it's not looking good. At Saturday night's Independent Spirit Awards, Birdman won both Best Director and Best Actor - and these awards have correctly predicted the Oscars for the last two years. Sorry, Robbie.

1.00pm THE LIVE BLOG BEGINS!

The popcorn is bought, the wine is in the fridge and the tissue box is on stand-by. But before the red carpet arrivals and awards ceremony later on, you can limber up with some of the coruscating pre-Oscars coverage written, produced and directed by the Telegraph's own firmament of egomaniacal, surgically enhanced stars, our film writers:

Refresh your memories, with our gallery of The Best Picture nominees in pictures

Wondering what has become of previous Oscar winners. They're here: Oscar winners: where are they now?

Never mind who wins, this is tonight's burning question: will Jennifer Lawrence fall over for the third year in a row?

Tonight is the 87th Academy Awards. Tim Robey, who knows too much, remembers the 5 best

The Oscars ceremony starts in

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