Los Angeles - In her most extensive comments since her breakdown last year, fallen pop princess Britney Spears says that her life has been worse than a jail sentence, but that she's slowly healing, one day at a time.

"I have really good days, and then I have bad days," Spears says in a new minute documentary, Britney: For The Record, that will air in the United States on November 30 on MTV.

Sydney  - Neither masterpiece nor mess, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's new cinematic epic Australia climbs above mediocrity through its cavalcade of local talent and the spectacular scenery of the Outback, critics said Wednesday.

"The film has broad appeal, particularly to the chick-flick market, with its sweeping, over-long melodramatic saga about cattle drives, the stolen generations, the bombing of Darwin and Hugh Jackman's abs," Jim Schembri wrote in the Canberra Times.

Los Angeles  - Mickey Mouse marked his 80th birthday Tuesday, but those expecting a big party were disappointed.

There were no special events planned for the world's favourite rodent at any of Disney's theme parks in the US, though one woman in the Seattle area did hold a party for herself and Mickey because their birthdays fall on the same day.

London, Nov 18 : The word game Scrabble has once again become the country''s best selling board game thanks to the increasing popularity of brain games.

The board game, which is a favourite family pastime, reclaimed its number one spot for the first time in at least 15 years by knocking off Golden Balls, a game based on a television programme.

Sydney - Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman walked the red carpet Tuesday at the Sydney premiere of a film they made together in the red dust of the Outback.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann, Australia has been praised by film critic Claire Sutherland as a love letter to the landscape that "has international blockbuster written all over it."

Others are not so sure. Veteran film reviewer David Stratton said the 100-million-US-dollar extravaganza is "not the masterpiece we were hoping for" and that "while it will be very popular with many people, I think there's a slight air of disappointment after it all."

Washington, Nov 18: George Clooney is all set to reprise his Dr. Doug Ross character for the finale of medical drama E. R., according to former castmate Noah Wyle.

In recent months, the actor made it clear that he will not return to the show, but pal Wyle insists there are secret plans to bring Clooney back to E. R., where he got his big break.

"From what I heard, George said, ''Absolutely, schedule permitting''," Contactmusic quoted Wyle, as saying.