P.D. James took the classic British detective story into tough modern terrain, complete with troubled relationships and brutal violence, and never accepted that crime writing was second-class literature.

James, who has died aged 94, is best known as the creator of sensitive Scotland Yard sleuth Adam Dalgliesh. But her wickedly acute imagination ranged widely, inserting a murder into the mannered world of Jane Austen in "Death Comes to Pemberley" and creating a bleak dystopian future in "The Children of Men."

Kensington Palace officials say Prince William will make an official visit to China and Japan early next year.

Officials said Thursday that William will spend roughly three days in each country. He is expected to travel in late February.

Madonna is in the African country of Malawi for the first time since she had a falling out with the former president last year.

Madonna on Thursday launched a 50-bed pediatrics ward at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in the commercial capital Blantyre. Sarah Ezzy, director of the charity Raising Malawi, said the new facility is the first dedicated pediatric intensive care unit in the country.

The traditionalists don't like it, but the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy is as much a part of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States as turkey and pumpkin pie.

And it's only Thursday.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Badr al-Din Zayed extended his condolences on Thursday to the Lebanese and Egyptian people on the death of famed Lebanese singer Sabah who “was a cultural and artistic bridge between the two countries,” the National News Agency NNA said.

“She had great contributions that influenced artistic life in Egypt and the Arab world,” said Zayed noting “Sabah was an important and prominent connection in the artistic and cultural life between Egypt and Lebanon.”

One Direction has dethroned Taylor Swift to top U.S. album sales charts, but the British boy band's debut was far less spectacular, figures showed Wednesday.

One Direction's fourth album -- called, simply, "Four" -- sold 387,000 copies in the United States in the week through Sunday, ending a three-week run by Taylor Swift's "1989" at the head of the Billboard 200 chart, Nielsen SoundScan said.

U.S. celebrities called for a boycott to take place Friday -- one of the busiest U.S. shopping days -- to protest a grand jury's decision not to prosecute a police officer who fatally shot a black teen.

A number of well-known figures, among them hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, have signed onto the action, under the Twitter hashtags #NotOneDime and #BlackoutBlackFriday.

An Egyptian court has revoked a government ban on a film by Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe that had been deemed sexually provocative, judicial sources said on Wednesday.

In April, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab suspended screening of "Halawet Rooh" (Beauty of Soul), a movie said to have been inspired by Monica Bellucci's 2000 hit, "Malena".

The characters of the modern workplace comedy, like the rest of us, don't know how to make a living anymore.

Having haplessly tried to murder their bosses in the first "Horrible Bosses," Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis return in "Horrible Bosses 2" as hopeful inventors. "Let's bet on ourselves," they tell each other, making a clearly questionable wager. They go into business with a bath product dubbed "Shower Buddy," and with their abysmal guest spot on a morning show promoting it, it's clear they may have backed the wrong horse.

Billie Jean King and Elton John will coach a tennis event at Royal Albert Hall in London, featuring Tim Henman and Andy Roddick.

King's annual World Team Tennis Smash Hits will be held Dec. 7 and benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation. WTT announced the full rosters on Tuesday.