LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Entertainment and sports reporter Chris Connelly has been chosen to welcome nominees, presenters and performers on the red carpet at Sunday's Oscar ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday. Connelly's interviews with celebrity guests attending the 85th Annual Academy Awards - recently rebranded as simply the Oscars - will be heard by those watching the action live in the stands, as well as any viewers watching Backstage Pass on the official Oscar website or the official Oscars App. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The teenage star of the Oscar-nominated Canadian drama "War Witch" will get to travel from her native Congo to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles after she received a last-minute visa, the film's U.S. distributor said on Thursday. Amateur actress Rachel Mwanza, 16, who grew up an orphan on the streets of capital Kinshasa, received her visa to the United States earlier in the week and will arrive in Los Angeles on Friday, two days ahead of Sunday's Oscar ceremony, a spokeswoman for distributor Tribeca Film said. ...

(Reuters) - Hollywood couple Diane Lane and Josh Brolin are divorcing after more than eight years, their representatives said on Thursday. "I can confirm Diane Lane and Josh Brolin have decided to end their marriage," said Lane's spokeswoman, Kelly Bush. A source close to the couple termed the split as "amicable" and said it was a mutual decision. The divorce will be the second for both Lane and Brolin. They have no children together. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar night traditionally comes packed with shocks and upsets for the winners, but on Sunday the biggest surprise could be the host - provocative comedian, actor and singer Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane, 39, the creator of the edgy animated TV series "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "The Cleveland Show," has awards watchers and audiences intrigued as to what he has up his sleeve for the movie industry's biggest night. "We love the expectation of the newness of Seth and we love the fact that people don't quite know what they're going to get with him as a host. ...

(Reuters) - It goes without saying — but we will say it, anyway — that the key to hosting an Oscar party is to make sure that you do not spend too much time in the kitchen and too little time in front of the TV. Oscar night is all about serving everything buffet-style, and with a little planning, you can enjoy the fun. Here's how. DRINKS This is no time to play bartender. Stick with a good white wine and a solid red — there are great inexpensive bottles coming from everywhere these days. There are a lot of good beers and microbrews, too. ...

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Alexei German, a Russian film director best known for his works offering a bitter view of life in the Soviet Union under dictator Josef Stalin, died Thursday, his son said.

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Alexei German, a Russian film director best known for his works offering a bitter view of life in the Soviet Union under dictator Josef Stalin, died Thursday, his son said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar night traditionally comes packed with shocks and upsets for the winners, but on Sunday the biggest surprise could be the host - provocative comedian, actor and singer Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane, 39, the creator of the edgy animated TV series "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "The Cleveland Show," has awards watchers and audiences intrigued as to what he has up his sleeve for the movie industry's biggest night. "We love the expectation of the newness of Seth and we love the fact that people don't quite know what they're going to get with him as a host. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When actresses sashay down the red carpet before the Oscars ceremony on Sunday, they are expected to be wearing gowns exuding glamour and sophistication, not flesh-exposing jaw-droppers. Performers at this month's Grammys were issued a "wardrobe advisory" ahead of the big music awards show, telling them to cover up and keep buttocks, nipples and genitals under wraps. The advisory appeared to work, as no one bared too much skin. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When actresses sashay down the red carpet before the Oscars ceremony on Sunday, they are expected to be wearing gowns exuding glamour and sophistication, not flesh-exposing jaw-droppers. Performers at this month's Grammys were issued a "wardrobe advisory" ahead of the big music awards show, telling them to cover up and keep buttocks, nipples and genitals under wraps. The advisory appeared to work, as no one bared too much skin. ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Oscar-nominated Israeli documentary has brought little joy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the focus of the film's criticism of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians. Featuring searingly confessional interviews with six former chiefs of the shadowy security service Shin Bet, "The Gatekeepers" portrays the 46-year-old West Bank occupation and Jewish ultranationalism as threats to Israel's survival. Its run for Sunday's Academy Awards comes at an awkward time for the conservative Netanyahu. ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Oscar-nominated Israeli documentary has brought little joy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the focus of the film's criticism of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians. Featuring searingly confessional interviews with six former chiefs of the shadowy security service Shin Bet, "The Gatekeepers" portrays the 46-year-old West Bank occupation and Jewish ultranationalism as threats to Israel's survival. Its run for Sunday's Academy Awards comes at an awkward time for the conservative Netanyahu. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The movie studios behind this year's Best Picture nominees already have brought home a treasured prize: big box-office sales that placed the Oscar contenders among the most-watched films of 2012. The nine competitors for Hollywood's top film award sold a combined $2 billion in tickets worldwide heading into Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. Six of them, including frontrunners "Argo" and "Lincoln," hauled in at least $100 million apiece at U.S. and Canadian theaters. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The movie studios behind this year's Best Picture nominees already have brought home a treasured prize: big box-office sales that placed the Oscar contenders among the most-watched films of 2012. The nine competitors for Hollywood's top film award sold a combined $2 billion in tickets worldwide heading into Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. Six of them, including frontrunners "Argo" and "Lincoln," hauled in at least $100 million apiece at U.S. and Canadian theaters. ...

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexei German, a Russian film director best known for his works chronicling the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union, died in Moscow on Thursday. He was 74.

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexei German, a Russian film director best known for his works chronicling the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union, died in Moscow on Thursday. He was 74.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The teenage stars of an Oscar-nominated short film from Afghanistan arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday for the Academy Awards after an Internet campaign raised enough money to pay for their trip. "Buzkashi Boys" actors Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz will walk the red carpet and rub shoulders with Hollywood's biggest stars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The teenage stars of an Oscar-nominated short film from Afghanistan arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday for the Academy Awards after an Internet campaign raised enough money to pay for their trip. "Buzkashi Boys" actors Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz will walk the red carpet and rub shoulders with Hollywood's biggest stars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night. ...

LOSD ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Michael Moore said that Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat's ordeal with immigration officials on Tuesday demonstrates that the United States is overly strict when it comes to greeting foreign visitors, particularly people of color. "If he'd been a white guy he wouldn't have to go through that in our 'post-racial' America," Moore, the Oscar-winning director of "Bowling for Columbine," told TheWrap via email. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — You can simply tune into the Oscars. Or you can watch them with the peanut gallery on Twitter.