Woody Allen says he can't stand watching any of his own films -- but the 76-year-old U.S. filmmaker insists he has no plans to retire.

Speaking in Hollywood -- the home of an industry the New York veteran famously scorns -- he also joked about his latest movie, "To Rome with Love" in typically self-deprecating style.

British actress Helen Mirren, Spain's Javier Bardem and 1970s rock icon Janis Joplin are among celebrities set to get their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year, organizers said Friday.

Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Jane Lynch are also among the 24 honorees for 2013, while music stars include The Backstreet Boys, Usher and Luther Vandross, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced.

Like many Chinese girls her age, Qi Ji enjoys singing and dancing and dreams of becoming a star. But rather than trying to make a start in vast and crowded China, she is pinning her hopes on Taiwan.

The 18-year-old is the first of many Chinese contestants expected to enter a Taiwanese reality show aimed at creating a girl band that producers hope can rival super groups such as Japan's AKB48 or South Korea's Girls' Generation.

South Korea and the United States on Saturday launched a massive naval exercise in the tense Yellow Sea, ahead of the 62nd anniversary Monday of the outbreak of the Korean War, a spokesman said.

The three-day drill will involve 10 South Korean warships plus the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, 8,000 personnel and hundreds of combat aircraft, the Defense Ministry said.

European Union finance ministers buried a bid to impose an EU-wide financial transactions tax on Friday, but the levy might be still be launched by a group of nations led by France and Germany.

Danish Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager, who chaired the debate in Luxembourg, concluded that the proposal to tax financial transactions across the 27-state EU "does not as required have unanimous support."

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit the north of Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.

The quake struck at 11:34 am (0434 GMT), 66 kilometers (41 miles) west-southwest of Kabanjahe at a depth of 97 kilometers, the USGS said.

Paraguayan lawmakers impeached President Fernando Lugo on Friday over his handling of a deadly land dispute, prompting an angry din across Latin America and refusals to recognize his successor.

In a 39-to-4 vote, senators found Lugo, a 61-year-old former Catholic priest with a string of outstanding paternity cases, guilty of performing his duties badly during a land dispute last week that left 17 people dead.

World stock markets mostly fell on Friday after the economic outlook in Germany soured sharply, with bank shares in focus after Moody's downgraded some of the biggest names including HSBC.

Europe's main stock markets closed lower, mirroring losses in Asia in the wake of weak manufacturing data from China, but U.S. stocks rebounded.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged Friday to stand together to battle "imperialism," with Chavez criticizing tough sanctions on Tehran.

Upon his arrival in Caracas from Brazil, where he attended the U.N.-sponsored Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, Ahmadinejad said: "We will build our countries, and we will get away from all the pressures of imperialism."

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan fired his national security adviser and defense minister on Friday, his spokesman said, as fears mounted over spiraling unrest in the country's north.

Nigeria has faced a deadly insurgency from Islamist group Boko Haram, who have launched a bloody series of bomb and gun attacks.