In brief: J-Lo to present at Oscars

Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez will present an award at the Oscars in Los Angeles in March.

Lopez joins Denzel Washington and Julianne Moore as presenters at the glittering ceremony in Hollywood.

J-Lo, as she is known, announced in November that she and actor Ben Affleck were engaged and that they would marry after her divorce to dancer Cris Judd is finalised.

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Ali G back on Channel 4

Ali G will return to Channel 4 in the spring, with a new series filmed in the US.

Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof rapper will again host the talk show, and it will feature two of his other characters - Kazakhstani roving reporter Borat and camp Austrian fashion commentator Bruno.

The new series will feature Ali G interviewing US celebrities and the general public.

The show is being produced in co-operation with US cable channel HBO.

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Minnelli gets talk show

Liza Minnelli has been given her own talk show, months after a planned fly-on-the-wall series was axed.

Minnelli told Channel 4 chat show host Graham Norton on Tuesday the show would be "part performance, part backstage".

Minnelli was to have been the subject of an Osbournes-style docusoap series, for cable music channel VH-1, but could not agree with producers over the show's format.

She did not give any details of where or when the new show would be screened, but said there would be an announcement shortly.

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Friends star produces interiors show

Courteney Cox, one of the stars of comedy Friends, is to produce an interiors show similar to the BBC's Changing Rooms.

Mix It Up will feature couples and flatmates whose differing ideas on design have led to stress or arguments.

Cox, 38, says she got the idea when she moved in with her husband, Scream star David Arquette.

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8 Mile continues UK success

The Eminem movie 8 Mile has topped the UK box office chart for the second week running.

Chicago is in second position followed by The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at number three.

Oscar contender About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson, entered the chart in seventh position, taking a total of £756,000.

The Pianist, another Oscar favourite, just scraped into 10th place, taking £195,000 in its first three days of release.

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Superman star makes cloning appeal

Paralysed Superman star Christopher Reeve has urged Australians to support stem cell research and the more contentious practice of therapeutic cloning.

Reeve, who was paralysed from the neck down in a 1995 horse riding accident, made his comments on Monday at a conference investigating ways to improve the treatment of spinal injuries.

The actor said a breakthrough in stem cell research, which could ultimately be used to help find cures for Alzheimer's disease, cancer and other illnesses, was not as far away as people thought.

The Australian government last year allowed limited stem cell research but imposed a three-year ban on all kinds of cloning.

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Comeback for controversial show

The late-night chat show on which the late actor Oliver Reed famously made a drunken lunge for a fellow guest is making a return to TV.

BBC Four is to revive the former Channel 4 show After Dark from next month.

Reed appeared on the discussion programme in 1991, rowing with guests, then kissing feminist Kate Millett and refusing to leave the set.

After Dark is broadcast live and has no scheduled end time, with the discussion continuing until it runs it course.

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Berlin shows serious side

The Berlin Film Festival will have a sombre tone due to the changed political climate after 11 September, the festival's director has said.

More than 300 films will be screened during the 53rd Berlin Film Festival from 6-16 February, with 22 competing for the Golden Bear.

The festival plans to feature three films examining the plight of refugees, including In this World, by renowned British director Michael Winterbottom, which traces the journey of two Afghan refugees across Iran, Turkey, Italy and France to England.

"A film festival of these dimensions has to reflect the political realities," Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick told reporters at the launch of the festival schedule.