Michelle Obama will debut as a podcaster later this month on Spotify, hosting a show aimed at helping listeners open new and "hard conversations" with their loved ones.

A French appeals court on Wednesday overturned a child sex assault conviction for Franco-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, annulling a suspended prison sentence handed down in November 2018.

Lebanon on Sunday hosted its annual music festival in the ancient northeastern city of Baalbek without an audience for the first time, a move organizers dubbed "an act of cultural resilience" to the coronavirus pandemic as well as the country's unprecedented economic meltdown.

Held amid soaring Roman columns, the Baalbek International Festival was founded in 1956. This year, it's being broadcast on local and regional TV stations and livestreamed on social media in an effort to spread "unity and hope."

Famed Egyptian actress Ragaa al-Geddawy died on Sunday after contracting the COVID-19 disease, the actors union said. She was 81. 

"Ragaa al-Geddawy passed away this morning due to COVID-19," union head Ashraf Zaki told AFP. 

Kanye West, the entertainment mogul who urges listeners in one song to "reach for the stars, so if you fall, you land on a cloud," claimed Saturday he is challenging Donald Trump for the US presidency in 2020.

"We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION," the born-again billionaire rapper tweeted as Americans marked Independence Day.

The Duchess of Sussex has claimed she was left "unprotected" by the royal family from "false and damaging" media articles when she was pregnant, according to leaked documents published on Thursday.

Legendary US folk singer Bob Dylan releases his first album of original songs in eight years Friday with the ten-track "Rough and Rowdy Ways."

Egypt's president has pardoned thousands of prisoners including a former policeman jailed over killing a Lebanese pop diva more than a decade ago, according to the official gazette.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted clemency to a total of 3,157 people jailed on different cases on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Pop royalty Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber have teamed up for a duet to raise funds for the children of frontline workers fighting coronavirus.

Madonna said Thursday she has had the coronavirus and that it was why she had to cancel a concert in Paris in February, though she is not currently sick.

The "Queen of Pop" said she had tested positive for antibodies which may mean she had has COVID-19.