Hollywood stars welcomed Barack Obama's public endorsement of same-sex marriage, as the U.S. president jetted in Thursday for a record-breaking fundraiser in Tinseltown.

Gay celebrities lined up to hail the decision, which risks making the issue a key election year battle issue as likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney immediately opposed Obama's position.

Rima Fakih, the first Arab-American to be crowned Miss USA, avoided jail during sentencing Wednesday in her Michigan drunken driving case, an experience she described as "very humbling."

Judge William McConico put Fakih on six months of probation, ordered the former beauty queen to perform 20 hours of community service and said she must pay $600 in fines and costs. Fakih also must attend an alcohol safety class.

George Clooney, who hosts a star-studded fundraiser for Barack Obama Thursday, is a Hollywood A-lister turned activist for liberal causes like Sudan, Haiti -- and now the U.S. leader's re-election

The movie heartthrob's $40,000-a-plate dinner is being tipped as possibly the biggest presidential fundraiser ever, bolstering Obama's coffers to the tune of $12 million as he gears up for a fierce re-election fight.

Druggy roadtrips, soul-searching drama and stylish gangland flicks go head to head on the French Riviera next week as a galaxy of stars and directors converge for the Cannes film festival.

David Cronenberg, Ken Loach and Michael Haneke headline the pick of 22 international filmmakers vying for the Palme d'Or award at the 65th edition of the world's top cinema showcase from May 16 to 27.

Pioneering British celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon died Wednesday aged 84 after a "long and courageous" battle with leukemia, his family said.

The man credited with creating the modern bob haircut and relieving women from the rigors of old-fashioned perms was surrounded by his loved ones when he passed away at his home in Bel Air, California.

The fate of the man accused of killing Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and young nephew was handed to a jury Wednesday after prosecutors said a "tsunami" of evidence pointed to his guilt.

William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson's sister, is accused of slaughtering his in-laws in October 2008 and then hiding his 7-year-old stepson's body to try to cover his crimes.

Fans in Japan of boy wizard Harry Potter will soon be able to explore the magical world of Hogwarts when Universal Studios Japan expands its theme park with a half-billion dollar investment.

The company is going to boost the footprint of its park in Osaka, western Japan, by one fifth, with an area devoted to the Harry Potter phenomenon that is slated for opening in 2014, a spokesman said Thursday.

A hardline Islamic group warned Wednesday it would not let Lady Gaga set foot in Indonesia, challenging an army of fans awaiting a concert in the nation with the world's largest Muslim population.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) vowed to mobilize 30,000 demonstrators to protest the U.S. artist's June 3 performance in Jakarta and to intercept her at the airport.

New York's Metropolitan Museum opened its latest homage to the ultra-expensive, glamorous world of high fashion Tuesday with an "Impossible Conversations" exhibition of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.

The exhibit follows a star-studded opening gala on Monday that saw Hollywood starlets, top models, sporting champions and the extremely wealthy flock to the Met's Art Costume Institute.

Maurice Sendak, the author who introduced millions of children worldwide to mischievous Max and his monsters in "Where the Wild Things Are," died Tuesday, his publisher said. He was 83.

"He died on Tuesday in Danbury, Connecticut. The cause was complication from a recent stroke," Erin Crum, at HarperCollins in New York, told Agence France Presse.