1.   EIDOS' SHARE PRICE BALLOONS ON TALK

Video-game publisher Eidos has gained 7p to close at 79p as traders bet that 2005 is likely to be a year of consolidation for the computer games industry. This view seems to have been sparked by last week's news that Electronic Arts had picked up a 20 per cent holding in Ubi Soft, Europe's third-biggest video games developer, and hints that it may try to take control of the company. Should EA pull off such a coup, Eidos, which earlier this year put itself up for sale, could well be the next on the US group's hit list.

2.   NEW LARA CROFT BOOK TO DEBUT IN 2005

Since the game Tomb Raider was first released in 1996, its protagonist Lara Croft has become an international celebrity. The virtual archaeologist-adventuress has been featured in various sequels to the original game, a line of action figures, two Hollywood films starring Angelina Jolie, forty comic books, a series of novels, and a variety of clothing, merchandise, and ephemera. She has appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek, spawned innumerable Internet fan sites and a library of adulatory fan fiction, become a pornographic sex symbol, and even inspired a look-alike beauty pageant.

3.   ANGELINA JOLIE BUYS 20G SUPER-BIKE

Actress Angelina Jolie has bought a new $20,000 superbike. The British-based Tomb Raider star agreed a deal on the handmade Italian 750cc MV Agusta Brutale after giving it a test ride at an airfield in Kent, England. A source at showroom Red Dog Motorcycles says, Everyone was shocked when Angelina came in. But she was really down to earth and knows what she's talking about with bikes. She was thrilled with it.

4.   ANGELINA NOMINATED FOR HER KINDNESS

Twist magazine has named Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow star Angelina Jolie the top Celebrity Do-Gooder for her philanthropic work in helping the world's refugees. Jolie, revered by men everywhere, is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission For Refugees which provides relief to refugees in the form of food, shelter and medical assistance.

5.   JOLIE TOURS REFUGEE CAMPS IN LEBANON

Hollywood actress and UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie and her four-year-old adopted son paid a Christmas visit to Palestinian orphans living in refugee camps in Lebanon. The 29-year-old Academy award winner and star of the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider wanted to meet refugee children and introduce her Cambodian-born son, Maddox, to those less advantaged than himself, an aid official told AFP.