Academy Award winning songwriter Joseph Brooks, who was awaiting trial on rape charges, died from an apparent suicide in his Manhattan home, police said Sunday.

Brooks, 73, wrote "You Light up My Life," which won the Oscar for best song, from the 1977 film of the same name, which he also wrote and directed. He also won a Grammy for the song.

In a remote village in North Africa, women use the only weapon they have — sex — and go on a "love strike" that challenges traditional gender roles.

Director Radu Mihaileanu says he sees the fictional gender revolt depicted in his new movie "The Source" as crucial to the success of popular uprisings that have toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt this year and still smolder across the Arab world.

The flamboyant hat worn by Princess Beatrice at last month's British royal wedding was Sunday sold for the princely sum of £81,100 ($131,652; 93,171 euros) on internet auction site eBay.

Proceeds from the sale of the hat, designed by Irish milliner Philip Treacy, will be split between two charities: the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, and British charity Children in Crisis.

Echo, the mysterious and monumental sculpture of the face of a girl -- the work of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa -- has become the latest New York attraction for tourists and locals alike.

Standing alone on the lawn of Madison Square Park, and surrounded by historic and stately limestone buildings, the long, white sculpture represents the pensive and dreamy face of the 9-year-old daughter of a restaurant owner who lives near Plensa's home in Barcelona.

In the 13th century, Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and his harem sported silk gowns, fur cloaks and jewel-encrusted head ornaments at their home -- the legendary pleasure palace in Xanadu.

Today, latter-day khans are again stepping out in some of the world’s finest luxury fashions as Mongolia’s minerals-fuelled economy boosts disposable income for the country's nouveaux riches.

The 31-year-old king of Bhutan, an Oxford-educated bachelor crowned in the remote Himalayan country in 2008, set up another royal wedding on Friday by announcing his engagement.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who helped usher in democracy in the Buddhist nation, revealed his intention to marry 20-year-old student Jetsun Pema during an address to parliament.

Arnold Schwarzenegger put all his movie projects on hold Thursday to deal with the family crisis sparked by revelations that he fathered a secret love child, a lawyer for the megastar said.

The former California governor told his agents that work on new projects including "The Terminator" franchise would stop "until further notice" as he grapples with a media storm and the breakup of his 25-year marriage.

Music icon Cher, the rare celebrity to have earned both Oscar and Grammy glory, turns 65 this week with undiminished adoration from millions of fans around the world.

Before Madonna or Lady Gaga, there was Cher, a forerunner of the current crop of musical divas, with her fondness for head dresses, sequined gowns and a fearlessness of harnessing her sexuality as part of her carefully crafted public persona.

Good news for those who thought their copies of Playboy were gone forever when their moms found them and threw them away.

Playboy launched a Web-based subscription service Thursday called i.Playboy.com that allows viewers to see every single page of every single magazine — from the first issue nearly 60 years ago that featured Marilyn Monroe to the ones hitting the newsstands today.

Under a cloak of secrecy, the first film adaptation of controversial author Salman Rushdie's celebrated novel "Midnight's Children" has finished shooting in Sri Lanka.

Canadian director Deepa Mehta chose the South Asian island as a location instead of India or Pakistan, where the book is set, to avoid problems with religious fundamentalists.