"Snow White and the Huntsman" was the fairest of them all at the North American box office over the weekend with a $56.3 million debut, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The film starring Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart of "Twilight" fame, which offers a new twist on the classic fairy tale, knocked the sci-fi comedy sequel "Men in Black 3" off the top of the charts.

Richard Dawson, the British-born actor best known as host of the U.S. game show "Family Feud" and for his role on "Hogan's Heroes," has died at age 79 after a battle with cancer, his son said.

Dawson died late Saturday at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles from complications due to esophageal cancer, his son Gary said in a Facebook post.

Pope Benedict XVI praised the performance of Beethoven's Ninth symphony on Friday evening at Milan's La Scala Theater as "a moment of elevation of the soul."

Benedict's three-day trip to Milan for events focusing on the institution of the family is a welcome pastoral respite from an embarrassing and damaging leaks scandal at the Vatican that has engulfed the pontiff's personal butler.

When country superstars Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw kick off their highly anticipated 22-city stadium tour Saturday in Tampa, it will be the high point of their careers and friendship.

The two men met at a bar in Nashville more than 20 years ago. Chesney had just moved to the city and didn't know anyone. McGraw had a record contract but had yet to put out a single.

Andy Samberg has wrapped his seven-season run on "Saturday Night Live," a spokeswoman for the actor-comedian said Friday.

Samberg won't return as a cast member next season, according to his publicist, Carrie Byalick. Samberg's exit follows that of "SNL" cast member Kristen Wiig.

Oprah Winfrey is back in the book club business, updated for the digital age.

"Oprah's Book Club 2.0," a joint project of Winfrey's OWN network and her O magazine, begins Monday with Cheryl Strayed's popular memoir "Wild." Along with the traditional paper version, featuring the circular Oprah book club logo, special e-editions will be made available that include Winfrey's comments and a reader's guide.

U.N.-Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan on Friday said Lebanese authorities were doing everything possible to prevent arms smuggling across the border with Syria.

“We should deter arms smuggling and the Lebanese government informed me clearly that it prevents smuggling,” Annan said in a press conference at the Grand Serail following talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday named a top Warner Bros executive to head its studio operations, replacing ousted chief Rich Ross who resigned month after the massive box office flop "John Carter."

Alan Horn was named chairman of Walt Disney Studios effective June 11, heading up production, distribution and marketing for films from Disney, Pixar and Marvel, and marketing and distribution for DreamWorks Studios.

Dark Catholic imagery was spliced with blood, guts and guns as Madonna burst onto the stage at Tel Aviv's Ramat Gan stadium late on Thursday to kick off her hotly-anticipated MDNA world tour of some 30 countries.

The portentous tolling of a church bell opens the first set with bare-chested monks in burgundy robes swinging a giant golden censer in front of a giant red cross.

The villain in Lebanon's new hit war movie: a cigar-smoking Israeli army colonel who sports a cowboy hat and a handlebar mustache and repeatedly orders troops to shell Lebanese villages. The heroes: residents of one such village who band together to fight Israeli troops.

The film, 33 Days, tells the story of the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbullah in one front-line village and glorifies "the resistance" — shorthand among many Lebanese for Hizbullah and other groups that fight Israel.