Mostly Mozart strike to be resolved

Members of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra are expected to approve an agreement with New York's Lincoln Center on Monday that will end their current strike.

A spokeswoman said orchestra leaders were "recommending ratification" of their contract, following a disagreement over job security.

The 42-member troupe went on strike on 29 July for the first time in 30 years.

It has led to the cancellation of a number of Mostly Mozart concerts, which have been a highlight of the Lincoln Center's summer season since the 60s.

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Martin honoured for Hispanic roots

Latin singer Ricky Martin is set to be presented with an award for improving the international profile of the Hispanic community who live in the US.

The star - best known for his worldwide hit Livin' La Vida Loca - will collect the Hispanic Heritage honour in September.

"Ricky serves the needs of America's disenfranchised beyond the talents for which he is commonly known," said the chairman of the awards committee.

Four other prominent Hispanics from a variety of fields will also be honoured

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Osbourne 'set for Freaky Friday'

Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly is in negotiations to star in a new version of Walt Disney's film Freaky Friday, according to reports.

She is being lined up to play the musically inclined best friend to the film's teenage heroine, Daily Variety reports.

The 1976 original starred Jodie Foster as the tomboy who exchanges bodies with her mother, who was played by Barbara Harris.

Lindsay Lohan and Annette Bening are lined up to play the daughter and mother roles this time around.

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O'Neal set for new role

Hollywood star Ryan O'Neal is in talks to star in a new Hollywood film even as he undergoes treatment for leukaemia, according to reports.

Warner Bros want the Love Story actor to play a wealthy father whose ambitions to run for state governor are undermined by the behaviour of his rapper son.

The movie, Malibu's Most Wanted, is based on characters from US hidden camera TV series JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

The 61-year-old was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukaemia, in which the white blood cells multiply out of control, last April.

He said at the time he would spend "every waking hour fighting this curse".

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'No Matrix regrets' from Yeoh

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh has said she has no regrets about turning down a major role in the sequels to The Matrix in favour of her new film.

The Touch sees the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon star playing a trapeze artist who is caught up in the search for a hidden Buddhist artefact.

However, she has denied any comparison between the new film and Crouching Tiger. "The film language, the action is very modern," she said. "There's no flying around."

The Touch received its world première in Malaysia early this week.

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Shrek man for Narnia film

Shrek director Andrew Adamson is to direct the first live action feature film version of the CS Lewis novel The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Adamson has also worked on True Lies, Batman and Robin and Batman Forever. The film is being made by Walden Media, which purchased the film rights to Lewis's seven-part Chronicles of Narnia series last year.

"Narnia was such a vivid and real world to me as a child, as it is to millions of other fans," said Adamson, who said he wanted to give fans "an epic theatrical experience worthy of their imaginations".

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was published in 1950, and is the second part of the Chronicles of Narnia series, which has sold over 60 million copies worldwide.

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Disney film given Japanese boost

A major publicity drive for the new Disney cartoon Lilo and Stitch has been launched in Hawaii, aimed at Japanese tourists visiting the island.

The marketing drive, which will run for the seven months leading up to the film's Japanese release, will include special screenings for tourists and themed merchandise.

Over 100,000 Japanese tourists are expected to visit Hawaii in the next seven months.

Lilo And Stitch, about a young Hawaiian girl who befriends an alien after he crash-lands on earth, has made nearly $135m (£86m) in the US since its release in June.