Road comedy Little Miss Sunshine and crime thriller The Departed won top film awards from the Writers Guild of America on Sunday, setting up a showdown between the two movies at the Oscars in two weeks. Little Miss Sunshine, about a dysfunctional family that takes their young daughter across country to compete in a beauty pageant, won best original screenplay for Michael Arndt from the Guild, which represents film and television writers. The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese and telling of corruption among the Massachusetts state police, won the award for best adapted screenplay for its writer William Monahan. The two films now become clear favourites for the best film Oscar.

Thaksin will ‘retire’ Down Under

• SYDNEY: Deposed Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra said he is looking to buy a luxurious house in Sydney, where he wants to relax, having been “finished with politics”, according to an interview broadcast on Monday. Thaksin visited Sydney over the weekend, giving only one interview to Australian Broadcasting Corp television to be aired late Tuesday. Thaksin said he was looking to settle here. “I ask my friend to look for a house in Sydney, especially in the eastern suburbs,” he said, adding that he was finished with politics “not just (for) the next election, but for life.”