In brief: Eminem topples the hobbits

8 Mile, starring rapper Eminem, has toppled The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers from its four-week hold at the top of the UK box office.

The story of a Detroit rapper took £4,440,334 at 423 cinemas in the UK and Ireland.

The total includes paid previews of £477,093.

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Jail made Downey Jr 'wiser'

Actor Robert Downey Jr has said his year in jail for cocaine charges has left him "older" and "wiser".

He told reporters at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah: "I'm a little older. I'm mildly wiser."

The Ally McBeal actor spent a year in jail after being arrested on cocaine charges in 1999. On his release he was caught with drugs twice more and had to go into rehabilitation.

He said acting had helped too. "I definitely think it's better to be working," he said.

Downey Jr now appears in the big-screen remake of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective, which also stars Katie Holmes and Mel Gibson.

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Archers hits Spanish airwaves

BBC Radio 4's soap The Archers is to be broadcast in Spain.

The long-running radio drama is to be broadcast on Onda Cero International, a popular station on the Costa Del Sol.

It will allow ex-pats to keep up to speed with the veteran soap.

Station controller Barry Mitchell said: "Many of them will have been regular The Archers listeners back in Britain, so they will be delighted to have the chance to continue to follow the goings on in Ambridge, albeit from sunnier climes."

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Renee agrees to Bridget Jones sequel

Actress Renee Zellweger has agreed to pile on the pounds again to star in the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary.

The news follows months of indecision on the part of the petite star who has agreed to take the lead in Edge of Reason, based on Helen Fielding's second Bridget Jones novel.

Zellweger, who had to put on 20lb for the original role, says she will put the weight back on "with pleasure".

Speaking at a press conference for her latest film, Chicago, she said: "I am ready, willing and able: Bridget's a character I really identify with."

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Shakira cleans up at awards

Colombian pop star Shakira was the big winner at the French NRJ music awards on Saturday.

The star won the best international album award for her international debut Laundry Service, best international song for Whenever, Wherever and best international female artist.

US group The Calling won best international group and Spanish group Las Ketchup won best international newcomer award.

Robbie Williams performed at the awards, but lost out in the best international artist category to American-Filipino artist Billy Crawford.

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Afghans love World Service

The BBC's World Service has emerged as the favourite radio station in Afghanistan.

In the first media survey in the capital Kabul since the Taliban left, over 82% said they listened to the station's broadcasts.

The BBC World Service broadcasts in Persian and Pashto every week.

The survey also showed 15% of the population watched BBC World's television broadcasts.

There is strong media competition in Afghanistan since the end of the Taliban regime.

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Potter breaks record

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has been recognised as the biggest film in the UK in 2002.

It has made more than £50m in the UK since it release in November.

The film has now passed The Full Monty to be the fourth-biggest film in UK history, according to Warner Bros. Films UK.

The first Harry Potter film, The Philosopher's Stone, is at number two having made £66m.

Titanic is number one and Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring number three.

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Rambo actor dies

Richard Crenna, the actor who played Sylvester Stallone's hard-bitten commander in the Rambo films, has died aged 76.

Crenna died of heart failure linked to pancreatic cancer.

The actor had a six-decade career, starting as a squeaky-voiced boy in the radio show Our Miss Brooks in the 1950s.

Crenna won an Emmy in 1985 for his role as a policeman who is raped in the TV movie The Rape of Richard Beck.

But he was best known as Colonel Trautman in First Blood (1983), "Rambo: First Blood II" (1985) and Rambo III (1988).