American superstars Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy has been named an honorary citizen of the Croatian town of Hvar, after reports the couple named her for a local tree, media said Monday.

"The story of the origin of your girl's name, Blue Ivy, has brought huge media attention and great tourism promotion to the town of Hvar," said Mayor Pjerino Bebic in a letter sent to the couple, according to local news portal Dalmacija News.

A cluster of tiny Louisiana towns being slowly swallowed by the encroaching sea has been given new life in a fantastical film that has won top honors at Cannes and Sundance.

Days before the wide release of "Beasts of the Southern Wild," the crew returned to Montegut to show it to the people who fed them and housed them, built their sets and filled their supporting roles.

On a mock-up stage in a Philippine music studio, single-mum Joanna Talibong is singing for her life.

The former church-choir girl is nervous and struggling to stay in key as she battles through more than a dozen takes of the syrupy Olivia Newton-John ballad "Suddenly".

Midway through the four-day menswear preview showings, it was clear that Italian designers are looking ahead to a bright summer in 2013.

Bold shades of blue, red, yellow and green, plus pink, orange, turquoise and lime, light up the current runway, bursting into color like fireworks on the 4th of July. Monochromatic, two-tone, fluorescent or metallic, they give extra pep to a classic suit, a blazer or a pair of cotton slacks.

The crypt in which Elvis Presley was first buried has been withdrawn from a huge auction of sports and music memorabilia in Los Angeles following virulent protests from the King's fans.

The crypt -- in which Presley was buried in 1997 before being moved to his final resting place at his Graceland mansion in Memphis -- was to be one of nearly 1,000 items belonging to sports and music icons on offer at the weekend.

"Brave," Pixar's 3-D fairytale about a Scottish princess trying to rescue her mother from an evil witch, kept audiences spellbound Sunday as it soared to the top of the North American box office in its opening week.

With $66.7 million in ticket sales, according to industry estimates, it easily knocked another animated hit, "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," which had only $20.2 million in sales, into second place.

Belly dancing Colombian pop star Shakira is not pregnant, her father said Friday in an effort to quell rumors that have gone viral in Latin America.

"I've heard certain media announce the confirmation of my daughter's pregnancy," William Mebarak said in a statement. "That's absolutely false."

Woody Allen says he can't stand watching any of his own films -- but the 76-year-old U.S. filmmaker insists he has no plans to retire.

Speaking in Hollywood -- the home of an industry the New York veteran famously scorns -- he also joked about his latest movie, "To Rome with Love" in typically self-deprecating style.

British actress Helen Mirren, Spain's Javier Bardem and 1970s rock icon Janis Joplin are among celebrities set to get their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year, organizers said Friday.

Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Jane Lynch are also among the 24 honorees for 2013, while music stars include The Backstreet Boys, Usher and Luther Vandross, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced.

Like many Chinese girls her age, Qi Ji enjoys singing and dancing and dreams of becoming a star. But rather than trying to make a start in vast and crowded China, she is pinning her hopes on Taiwan.

The 18-year-old is the first of many Chinese contestants expected to enter a Taiwanese reality show aimed at creating a girl band that producers hope can rival super groups such as Japan's AKB48 or South Korea's Girls' Generation.