SCHWARZENEGGER ON UGLY BETTY MOVE

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger is offering his support to the angry crew members on the television series Ugly Betty, who will lose their jobs when the show moves from Los Angeles California to New York City. Hollywood producers made the decision last week to relocate the set to make the most of new tax incentives offered in New York. But the move will leave 300 people out of work, including dry cleaners, caterers and construction firms. The disgruntled employees grouped together to take out an ad in Hollywood trade paper Variety, appealing to Schwarzenegger to help stop the loss of more jobs. Addressing the letter, the governor insists tax incentives have been drawn up - but have yet to be approved by the California state legislature. He insists they are a necessity, if the state wants to keep its status as the home of movies and television. He says, "What happened was productions that shifted to other states, didn’t come back to California; they went to Louisiana, they went to Florida, they went to New Mexico because they give great tax incentives."

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S RIDE PIMPED ON 'PIMP MY RIDE'

Arnold Schwarzenegger had his 1965 Chevy installed with an environmentally friendly 800 horsepower engine that runs on bio-diesel fuel, on MTV's 'Pimp My Ride'. The episode - which aired in the US yesterday to coincide with Earth Day - shows mechanics converting the 1965 Chevrolet Impala, by installing a new engine which cuts the car's emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 per cent. Schwarzenegger said: "We take this cool show and they did something, and added something that was environmentally hip." Although bio-diesel is considered cleaner than gasoline, most scientists and environmentalists still favor more fuel-efficient vehicles. Patricia Monahan, deputy director of the clean vehicles program with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: "At the end of the day, if we're going to switch from guzzling gasoline to guzzling alcohol, we're not going to solve our climate problems." Schwarzenegger was criticised when he ran for California governor in 2003 for popularising Hummer vehicles - which guzzle copious amounts of regular fuel. The 'Terminator' actor has since reduced his Hummer fleet to four, two of which he says have since been converted to run on alternative fuels. One runs on hydrogen and the other on biofuel.