Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, just days before the release of his latest movie "The Hateful Eight."

Tarantino recalled to a crowd that had gathered for the event outside the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard how his parents used to take him to see films at the famed theatre, including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or his first James Bond movie, "Diamonds are Forever."

Yanni, the prolific New Age composer known for extravagant live performances, plans a busy 2016 that includes broadcast of a concert at the Pyramids.

The Greek-born, U.S.-based keyboardist announced that "Yanni: The Dream Concert -- Live from the Great Pyramids of Egypt," will air on U.S. public broadcaster PBS in March.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend at the U.S. and Canadian box office with an estimated $238 million in sales, Walt Disney studios said Sunday.

The figure shatters the previous record set by "Jurassic World" earlier this year when it premiered to $208.8 million. 

Miss Colombia was wrongly named Miss Universe in a dramatic mix-up in front of a global television audience of millions Sunday, before the rightful winner Miss Philippines was finally handed the glittering crown.

The pageant's host, U.S. comedian Steve Harvey, misread his cue card and initially announced Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, had triumphed.

U.S. rapper and songwriter Nicki Minaj ignored international critics Saturday and performed at a concert linked to the family of Angola's long-ruling President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

The 33-year-old hip-hop star entertained several thousand of people at a Christmas concert in the Angolan capital Luanda despite calls from rights groups to cancel the tour, which they saw as an endorsement of the authoritarian rule of dos Santos.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" smashed the opening night record in the United States and Canada and was poised to become one of the biggest grossing movies ever, industry experts said Friday.

The latest installment of the highly anticipated space epic raked in $57 million for its opening night Thursday, easily beating the previous record -- $43.5 million -- held by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" in 2011.

A month after the assault in Paris on a concert by Eagles of Death Metal, prominent music groups are covering one of the band's songs to raise money for the victims.

The California rockers on Friday announced a campaign to encourage other groups to record interpretations of their song "I Love You All the Time."

France's "Mustang" and Hungary's "Son of Saul" are among nine films that have made it onto a shortlist in the contest for the foreign-language Oscar, Academy Awards organizers said late Thursday.

The nine films -- seven of them from Europe, one from Colombia and one from Jordan -- were selected from 81 submissions.

British singer Rita Ora, a onetime protegee of rap mogul Jay Z, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to leave his company, charging that his interests have wandered elsewhere.

The Albanian-born artist remains popular in Britain, where she was a judge on the latest season of "The X Factor" music competition, but has not released an album since her 2012 debut.

Michael Jackson has broken another music record even after his death, with "Thriller" certified Wednesday as the first album to sell more than 30 million copies in the United States.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced that the 1982 work was its first "30 times platinum" album, with platinum defined as selling one million copies -- meaning roughly one out of every 10 Americans has a copy.