Oscar nominees revealed, and other top stories...

This year's Oscar nominees have been announced, with a strong British presence among the contenders; Colin Firth is up for Best Actor for his role in A Single Man, while Dame Helen Mirren and Carey Mulligan both appear in the Best Actress category. Former married couple James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow compete for Best Director with Avatar and The Hurt Locker, respectively. One is about a planet populated by blue aliens and the other about a bomb disposal unit in Iraq...

Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre is to host a season of Royal Court Theatre productions in one of its unoccupied spaces. Dominic Cook, the Royal Court's artistic director, says the famously dilapidated centre is ‘buzzy, alive, and full of surprises' - a description that's open to a variety interpretations. The season begins on 3rd March with Debbie Tucker's Random, before moving onto Anupama Chandrasekhar's Disconnect, DC Moore's Empire and finally, Anya Reiss's Spur of the Moment. The centre is scheduled for demolition in 2012...