LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After winning a Best Actor Oscar for playing a stuttering British royal in 2010 film "The King's Speech," Colin Firth is back on screen as a character who appears ordinary to the point of boring in indie drama "Arthur Newman."

Opening in select U.S. movie theaters on Friday, Firth plays an American man who is dissatisfied with his life and hits the road with a new identity. Things get derailed when he meets Mike (Emily Blunt) a troubled young woman fleeing from her own issues.

Firth, 52, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film and life after his first Oscar win, and the (dimming) prospects of a third "Bridget Jones' Diary" movie.

Q: What made you follow up an Academy Award win with a little indie like "Arthur Newman?"

A: At the time, the title of the film was "Arthur Newman Golf Pro" and I found it so off-putting, it perversely made me more intrigued. I thought by putting 'golf' in the title, the film wouldn't be exactly marketable.

Q: How's that?

A: If you don't like golf, you won't go to see the film. And if you like golf, you're going to be disappointed because it's not about golf. It was almost provocative in how willfully unmarketable it was, so I wanted to see what was inside.

Q: And what did you find?

A: A man who seemed steeped in ordinariness. In fact, he's pronounced to be boring by several characters in the movie. So yes, he really is incredibly boring and that intrigued me. It always has. What is actually going on? What are the dynamics behind somebody languishing in a disappointing suburban life? What heroism is possible?

Q: How do you play someone like that? Where do you look to find a common thread?

A: We trap ourselves in all sorts of ways, however unusual or extraordinary our existence might seem from the outside. There are all kinds of ways in which we find ourselves on a treadmill.

If people dare to test the boundaries and step outside, it's often characterized as running away from problems. But you can't look at it that way. In Arthur Newman's case, in some ways he was probably running in to something that was more awake and more authentic.

Q: You can't possibly have any hint of dissatisfaction after winning an Oscar, can you?

A: That's not true, because you've got the rest of your tasks ahead of you. Of course there's immense reassurance (in having an Oscar) and it does give you a license for a certain freedom to do what you want and not have to prove something.

Q: Did you find that things changed for you after you won?

A: Not quickly. In some ways it's happening now....An Oscar doesn't suddenly work the miracle that manufactures a plethora of great writers who are suddenly ready to come to you with fully financed films, with the right director attached, landing on your table, saying: Take your pick. It's not as coherent as that.

Q: Have you been able to use the Oscar to your advantage?

A: Yes. It definitely opens doors. There are ways in. If you want to reach somebody to get the collaboration on something, they'll talk to you. That's a very powerful difference I've noticed.

Q: Do you like that?

A: Yeah, I do. It's useful. I think that's probably the healthiest way to look at it, rather than have something that gets preserved on a shelf. Take it and use it as a tool. Then it has meaning rather than just something to look back on. You can't live on one moment. And you can't allow either a crisis or a triumph to be the only thing that defines you.

Q: You have a lot of films on your plate due this year and next: Atom Egoyan's "Devil's Knot" and two back-to-back films with Nicole Kidman. What's the status on the sequel to "Bridget Jones' Diary?"

A: We've been teasing people a little bit because there have been plans but they're on ice now.

Q: Are you disappointed?

A: Not in the abstract. I don't spend my life thinking, "I hope there's another 'Bridget Jones.'" I like the character and I like the story. I think (author-screenwriter) Helen Fielding is a wonderful writer. Where she began to take it in this next stage now that we're all older is actually more interesting than it was in some ways back then. So if there's a good story and a good script, I'll think about it on that basis.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

Financial details of the acquisition by the British drugmaker's MedImmune unit were not disclosed.

AstraZeneca's new CEO Pascal Soriot said last month he planned to build up the company's sparse drug pipeline by striking more deals, with cardiovascular and metabolic disease a particular priority.

Cardiovascular and metabolic disease is one of three core therapy areas for AstraZeneca - along with oncology and respiratory/inflammation - but the company currently has few experimental compounds for such conditions.

AlphaCore will help plug the gap, although it will not deliver any marketable products for many years. Its leading drug candidate ACP-501, a genetically engineered liver-derived enzyme called LCAT, only completed Phase I clinical tests last year.

Drugs need to go through three phases of lengthy tests before being approved for sale.

The hope is that ACP-501 will help in the management of cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. It could also play a role in a rare, hereditary disorder called familial LCAT deficiency in which the LCAT enzyme is absent.

"As the science in this area continues to evolve, we are committed to exploring unique pathways that could lead to new combination or standalone therapies for patients living with chronic and acute cardiovascular diseases," said MedImmune head Bahija Jallal.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Backers of independent political candidate Haji Usman Ghani took to the water Friday on a flotilla of fishing boats. He is contesting May 11 elections for the Sindh provincial assembly from a constituency near the southern port of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and many of his prospective voters work in the fishing industry on the nearby coast.

Dozens of boats filled with his supporters left the harbor and went into the Arabian Sea with flags flying.

Supporters did not let their cumbersome life jackets get in the way of the festive atmosphere, and danced and chanted slogans to show their support for Ghani.

But the candidate had a serious message. Ghani, who's been a social activist in the area for years, promised to improve the education system and provide clean drinking water to his constituency if elected.

"Our children don't get an education. We were forced to use contaminated water...There are no teachers in schools and colleges of the area. That is why I had to come forward and contest elections to get our problems solved. We supported and followed others for long, but no more. We will solve our problems ourselves," Ghani said.

Many people who took one of the roughly 50 boats taking part in the flotilla complained that the government has done little to help the fishing community.

Fishermen are often caught up in a tit-for-tat war on the water with Indian authorities who arrest Pakistanis after they allegedly cross into Indian territory. Pakistan does the same. The fishermen in both countries often languish in jail for months. According to members of the fishing community around 170 Pakistani fishermen are currently being held in India.

"The government has done nothing for the industry and the fishermen," Ali Mohammad, a supporter of Ghani.

It's unclear whether Ghani has much of a chance of winning the seat, which is currently held by a member of the Pakistan People's Party. The PPP is one of Pakistan's strongest political parties. It was the largest party in the ruling coalition of the previous national government and controls the provincial assembly as well.

The May 11 vote will mark the first time that a democratically elected civilian government has finished a full term and handed over power to another such government in Pakistan.

That stance, and others, are part of the response that was signed by Jonathan F. Duncan, the NCAA's Interim Vice President of Enforcement, in response to a motion Miami filed with the association's Committee on Infractions to have the case brought to an end.

"Overall, the enforcement staff believes that the institution is again grasping at straws in an attempt to disqualify members of the enforcement team with the most knowledge about the case," Duncan wrote in the response, a copy of which was obtained Sunday by The Associated Press.

In late March, citing impropriety by the NCAA throughout the investigation, the Hurricanes asked the Committee on Infractions a group separate from the association's investigative arm to throw out the case. Four former Miami coaches, including current Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith, filed similar motions.

Miami's motion to dismiss included allegations that the NCAA used "impermissible and unethical" tactics when interviewing Haith and former men's basketball assistant coach Jake Morton, that the association misled the school on other issues, and other claims of wrongdoing.

One of Miami's biggest questions about the investigation has revolved around why the NCAA did not interview former Hurricanes athletic director Paul Dee, who died in May 2012.

Dee was Miami's AD for much of the time that the former booster at the center of the scandal, convicted Ponzi scheme architect Nevin Shapiro, was providing impermissible benefits to athletes, coaches and recruits.

Duncan's motion suggested that the NCAA was targeting June 2012 as the right time to interview Dee, who had battled health issues for many years.

"Because Dee's death was unexpected, the enforcement staff could not have predicted that he would not be available for an interview in June 2012," Duncan wrote. "Had the institution or enforcement staff known of Dee's condition or impending death, the enforcement staff would have exhausted all reasonable efforts to preserve Dee's testimony."

Duncan's response also strongly defended investigators Brynna Barnhart and Stephanie Hannah.

Miami alleged that Barnhart misled the school about the circumstances surrounding a February 2012 interview the NCAA conducted with former Hurricanes quarterback Kyle Wright, and that Hannah should have been disqualified from the case because the extent of her relationship with Shapiro attorney Maria Elena Perez was not revealed to the school.

"Not only are these personal attacks based on no evidence that would support the removal of Barnhart and Hannah from the case, they are also not a basis for dismissal of the case in its entirety," Duncan wrote.

Also, Duncan said that Miami was incorrect in its assertion that the NCAA was "incompetent, unprofessional, and uncooperative" in the timing of how basketball guard Durand Scott was declared ineligible on the very day the Hurricanes began play in the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Duncan's response included emails suggesting that the NCAA tried to rectify the Scott matter as fast as it could.

"While the enforcement staff acknowledges that the timing was unfortunate, nothing in the record indicates the enforcement staff intentionally orchestrated the timing to coincide with the ACC tournament," Duncan wrote.

There has already been one victory for Miami with regard to the motion to dismiss.

The AP first reported Friday that the enforcement staff made one concession that Miami wanted, that being the NCAA's decision to throw Wright's testimony out of the notice of allegations.

Miami argued that some things Wright was asked about by investigators in February 2012 stemmed from information the NCAA collected through depositions that Perez conducted under subpoena in Shapiro's bankruptcy proceeding. The NCAA does not have subpoena power.

Perez was paid by the NCAA after doing that work, though she contends that she never actually was employed by the association and that it was simply paying her for work that she conducted on Shapiro's behalf.

After the NCAA hired a firm to look into investigators' relationship with Perez, NCAA President Mark Emmert said that all the information that came in any way from clues or answers gleaned from those depositions was removed from the notice of allegations that Miami received in February. Wright was listed in that document with relation to claims of a half-dozen rules that the association said the Hurricanes violated.

The Committee on Infractions is scheduled to bring the case to a hearing June 14. Any sanctions against Miami would likely be decided weeks after that, unless the Hurricanes and the NCAA somehow resolve things beforehand.

Miami believes the Committee on Infractions has authority to dismiss the case, a stance the enforcement arm disagrees with.

The Tour de France winner powered Sky to victory Sunday in the Italian classic's second stage, a team time trial, and moved into second place overall. The only person in front of him is Italian teammate Salvatore Puccio, who is regarded mainly as a support rider but took the leader's pink jersey because of his better result in Saturday's opening stage.

''It's a bit unexpected but I'm happy to have it,'' Puccio said.

Sky finished in 22 minutes, 5 seconds along the picturesque 10.8-mile route on the island of Ischia. Movistar was second, 9 seconds behind, and Astana - with Wiggins' expected rival for the title, Vincenzo Nibali of Italy - was third, 14 seconds back.

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step team featuring stage 1 winner Mark Cavendish finished 17th, 48 seconds behind Sky. Omega sorely missed time trial specialist Tony Martin, who is not riding the Giro.

Wiggins, the Briton who followed his Tour title with a gold medal in the time trial at last year's London Olympics, has the same time as Puccio in the overall standings. Another Sky rider, Sergio Henao Montoya of Colombia, is third overall, also with the same time.

The nine Sky riders took part in a wild podium celebration, dousing each other with the provided bottles of champagne.

''Today went well, but this is just the start,'' said Sky team director Marcus Ljungqvist.

Wiggins gained 14 seconds on Nibali and 25 seconds on defending champion Ryder Hesjedal of Canada.

''It was a good performance for our team,'' Nibali said. ''We're not time trial specialists - most of us are climbers - so this is OK.''

Other contenders such as 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans of BMC and 2008 Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel lost even more time with their teams.

The stage was held in perfect conditions on a technical course featuring two difficult climbs in the second half of the stage.

Cyclists arrived on the island off Naples by ferry Sunday morning and were returning to the mainland by boat immediately after the stage.

The Giro remains in the Naples region for Monday's third stage, a hilly and lengthy 138-mile leg from Sorrento to Marina di Ascea that follows the breathtaking Amalfi coast.

Incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak has voiced confidence that the National Front coalition will remain Malaysia's dominant political force despite facing its most unified opposition challenge since independence from Britain in 1957.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance hopes widespread grievances over how the National Front has struggled with accusations of arrogance, abuse of public funds and racial discrimination will translate into a surge of votes to propel the opposition into power.

Nearly 8 million people cast ballots in the first four hours of voting, comprising almost 60 percent of the 13.3 million registered voters, the Election Commission said. Some lined up for more than an hour at schools and other voting centers, showing off fingers marked with ink to prevent multiple voting after they had finished. Polls were scheduled to close after nine hours of voting, and results were expected late Sunday.

The National Front held 135 seats in the 222-member Parliament that was dissolved last month. It is anxious to secure a stronger five-year mandate and regain a longtime two-thirds legislative majority that it lost in 2008.

"The government has made some mistakes but the prime minister has made changes and I believe they (the National Front) will do their best to take care of the people's welfare," said Mohamed Rafiq Idris, a car business owner who waited in a long line at a central Selangor state voting center with his wife and son.

Others disagreed, saying they hope enough Malaysians will back an untested opposition that pledges to form a cleaner, fairer government.

"I grew up recognizing that my parents voted for the present coalition at almost every general election. This time, they voted for the opposition. People do change," said banker Bernie Lim, who was voting for the first time.

Najib says only the National Front can maintain stability in Malaysia, which has long been one of Southeast Asia's most peaceful and relatively wealthier countries.

"Your support is paramount if we are to keep to our path of development, if we are to continue our journey toward complete transformation," Najib said in a statement to voters. "This election is about fulfilling promises, bringing hope and upholding trustworthiness."

Many political observers believe the race will be tight, with the National Front potentially edging out Anwar's alliance partly because of its entrenched support in predominantly rural districts.

The opposition is likely to retain control of at least two of Malaysia's 13 state legislatures and should perform well in urban constituencies where middle-class voters have clamored for change.

If the opposition wins, it would mark a remarkable comeback for Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who was fired in 1998 and subsequently jailed on corruption and sodomy charges that he says were fabricated by his political enemies. He was released from jail in 2004 and now leads the biggest threat to the National Front.

"We stand today on the brink of history," Anwar said in a statement. "Sunday's election will mark the decisive step in an amazing, peaceful, democratic revolution that will take Malaysia into a new era."

The opposition is worried about electoral fraud, saying the National Front hopes to use foreign migrants from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia to vote unlawfully. Government and electoral authorities have rejected the allegations.

The National Front's aura of invincibility has been under threat since three of Malaysia's main opposition parties combined forces five years ago. Its 2008 winning margin was down sharply from the 2004 vote when the National Front won 90 percent of Parliament's seats, and in recent years it has since been increasingly accused of complacency and heavy-handed rule.

Najib, who took office in 2009, embarked on a major campaign to restore his coalition's luster. In recent months, authorities have provided cash handouts to low-income families and used government-linked newspapers and TV stations to criticize the opposition's capability to rule.

Not of Moss' two-run homer in the 19th inning that gave the Oakland Athletics a 10-8 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in a game that took 6 hours, 32 minutes and concluded at 1:41 a.m. PDT.

Nope, young Jayden Moss preferred to watch his father throwing a cream pie in his own face and made Brandon replay it 18 times.

"He's into all the baseball stuff but he didn't want to watch the home run," Moss said Tuesday. "He just wanted to watch the pie. That was his favorite."

Only a handful of the 11,688 fans remained when Moss hit his second home run of the night, ending the longest game by time in Oakland and the longest in Angels history.

A day later, both teams were still feeling the effects.

A's manager Bob Melvin had to scrap his normal postgame routine just to get home in time to catch a few hours of sleep before returning to the ballpark.

Before watching television with his son, Moss first had to explain to his wife and sister why he was so late. The two women, along with Moss' two children, had arrived in the players' parking lot at 9:45 p.m. Monday, ostensibly to pick up Moss. They spent the next 4 hours waiting as the innings piled up.

"She almost left in the 11th but then she thought, 'As soon as I drive away, they'll win,'" Moss said.

At least they got home before 3 a.m.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia had to meet with his staff until the wee hours of the morning trying to formulate a plan after losing leadoff hitter Peter Bourjos to a hamstring injury.

"You know how many moves we had to run through at 3 o'clock in the morning just trying to get an idea of what the needs of the team are going to be right now and what we need moving forward?" Scioscia said.

Moss had to pelt himself with the pie because Josh Reddick, who usually gets the honor after a game-ending hit by the A's, was initially too tired.

Reddick did come back with a second pie, and Josh Donaldson emptied a water jug on Moss' head.

Angels catcher Chris Iannetta probably deserved something, too. He played the entire game and became the first AL player since 2006 to catch more than 18 innings in a game.

Iannetta was not in Los Angeles' starting lineup Tuesday night.

"There's no doubt Chris feels it today," Scioscia said. "There's no doubt everybody's feeling some things a bit more. When you have something that you're dealing with, standing out there for 18 innings, like cold weather, is going to bring it out."

Angels closer Ernesto Frieri, who gave up a tying hit to Yoenis Cespedes with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, said the A's didn't deserve to win.

Los Angeles had a 7-2 lead in the eighth but let it slip away on a night when Albert Pujols homered twice and drove in four runs. Mark Trumbo also homered and knocked in three.

The Angels lost more than just the game Monday night.

Bourjos was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. The center fielder was hitting .313 before getting hurt legging out a sacrifice attempt in the 11th inning.

The injury to Bourjos was somewhat offset by the return of shortstop Erick Aybar, who was activated from the disabled list before Tuesday's game. The Angels also selected the contract of outfielder Scott Cousins from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Oakland also had to scramble for help after using eight pitchers.

Dan Straily, who threw the first 4 2-3 innings of the marathon game, was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento and right-hander Evan Scribner was called up.

"I don't think either team's particularly fresh," Melvin said. "We'll be a little bit limited, as will they."

___

AP freelance writer Rick Eymer contributed to this report.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was transferred to France for medical tests on Saturday night after suffering a minor stroke, Algeria's official news agency said.

Bouteflika, who has ruled over the North African oil and gas producer for more than a decade, had an "transient ischemic attack" or mini-stroke on Saturday but his condition was not serious, the APS agency said, quoting the prime minister.

The 76-year-old is part of an older generation of leaders who have dominated politics in a country that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas imports and cooperates with the West in combating Islamist militancy.

He has rarely appeared in public in recent months, prompting speculation about his health.

"The president felt unwell and he has been hospitalized but his condition is not serious at all," Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was quoted as saying by APS.

The president was then moved to France, on the recommendation of his doctors.

Bouteflika and other members of Algeria's elite have controlled Algeria since it won independence from France in a 1954-62 war.

In the early 1990s, the military-backed politicians overturned an election which Islamists were poised to win and then fought a conflict with them in which about 200,000 people were killed.

They also saw off the challenge of Arab Spring protests two years ago, with Bouteflika's government defusing unrest through pay rises and free loans for young people.

Bouteflika has served three terms as president of the OPEC member and is thought unlikely to seek a fourth at an election due in 2014.

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked in 2011 said Bouteflika had been suffering from cancer but it was in remission.

More than 70 percent of Algerians are under 30. About 21 percent of young people are unemployed, the International Monetary Fund says, and many are impatient with the gerontocracy ruling a country where jobs, wages and housing are urgent concerns.

A transient ischemic attack is a temporary blockage in a blood vessel to the brain. it typically lasts for less than five minutes and "usually causes no permanent injury to the brain", the American Stroke Association said on its website.

The attacks should be seen as a warning as a third of people who experience them go on to have a full stroke within a year, the organization added.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped in thin volume on Friday, though the market had a strong week overall despite a mixed bag of earnings and weak economic figures.

Shares of online retailer Amazon.com Incposted the largest daily drop in 15 months after the company reported results late on Thursday. It was Friday's biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes.

Gains in shares of Chevron Corpbuoyed the blue-chip Dow industrials.

The market fell early after a negative surprise from the gross domestic product report, but the decline attracted bargain-hunting investors late in the session. Major indexes posted solid gains for the week.

J.C. Penney Cowas the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainer, up 11.5 percent to $17 after CNBC reported Goldman Sachs lined up a $1.75 billion loan for the retailer. The news added to previous gains a day after investor George Soros reported a 7.9 percent passive stake in the company.

"We traded off a decent amount after the GDP number but we didn't break any technical levels or really didn't get much momentum in the selloff past late morning," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management in New York.

"I guess there was some bottom fishing. There was so much fear of poor earnings going into earnings season that this is still somewhat of a positive surprise."

The Dow Jones industrial averagerose 11.75 points or 0.08 percent, to 14,712.55, the S&P 500lost 2.92 points or 0.18 percent, to 1,582.24 and the Nasdaq Compositedropped 10.72 points or 0.33 percent, to 3,279.26.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.1 percent, the S&P added 1.7 percent and the Nasdaq rose 2.3 percent.

Of the 271 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for the first quarter, 69 percent have beaten analyst expectations - above the 63 percent average since 1994 and slightly over the 67 percent beat rate over the past four quarters.

Eastman Chemicaldropped 5.1 percent to $68.97 a day after posting results, to lead percentage declines among S&P materials , which was the worst performing sector of the index with a 1.4 percent drop.

The S&P traded Thursday within a point of its historic closing high set earlier this month and the 1,593 level is expected to be technical resistance in the near future.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 percent rate in the first quarter, below estimates of 3 percent, heightening fears the U.S. economy could struggle to cope with deep government spending cuts and higher taxes that kicked in earlier this year.

Amazon.com shed 7.2 percent to $254.81 after it said revenue growth slowed in the first quarter as the company struggled overseas, but margins jumped on lower shipping expenses.

Chevron rose 1.3 percent to $120.04 after it posted earnings that beat expectations, even as lower oil prices bit into the profits of the second largest U.S. oil company.

The PHLX housing sector indexgained 1 percent, getting a lift from D.R. Horton Incafter the No. 1 U.S. homebuilder reported earnings. D.R. Horton shares closed at their highest in six years after an 8.7 percent jump to $26.60.

About 5.7 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, below the daily average so far this year of about 6.4 billion shares.

On the NYSE, roughly seven issues fell for every five that rose and on Nasdaq about three fell for every two advancing issues.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)