Austrian musical director Alexander Pereira will take over at Italy's prestigious La Scala opera house in 2014 -- a year earlier than expected, the theater said Wednesday.

Pereira, a former tourism manager who is artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, will replace Frenchman Stephane Lissner.

Shoppers ready to spend lavishly on clothes by elite designers sipped champagne in a discreetly located store that only those in-the-know know exists.

Perhaps it's not an unusual scene in Manhattan or Milan, but in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's largest city, shops like Temple Muse are a novelty. A growing number of boutique owners and fashion designers however are working to change that.

U.S. magazine Rolling Stone was under fire Wednesday for placing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover, which critics said treats the Boston bombing suspect almost like a pop celebrity.

This week's cover of the publication known for its interviews with rock stars shows a goateed Tsarnaev, 19, with a melancholic expression, his tousled brown curls falling gently into his eyes.

Coffee maker Nespresso is to buy coffee from the poverty-wracked fledgling state of South Sudan to expand supplies from sustainable sources, brand frontman George Clooney said on Tuesday.

"There is a real opportunity here," the Hollywood star told a press conference in Paris.

Sorry, ladies, but Adam Levine is off the market.

The Maroon 5 singer's representative confirmed Tuesday that Levine is engaged to model Behati Prinsloo.

Jay-Z's new album has sold more than 500,000 units its first week.

Nielsen SoundScan said late Tuesday that preliminary data shows that "Magna Carta Holy Grail" moved about 527,000 copies. It will debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week.

Cory Monteith, the Canadian star of the hit TV musical series "Glee", died of an apparent overdose of heroin and alcohol, the British Columbia coroner's office said Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Monteith, who had struggled in the past with substance abuse and checked into a rehab facility in April, was found dead Saturday in his Vancouver hotel room

France on Tuesday bestowed its highest cultural honor on U2 singer Bono at a ceremony in Paris.

The Irish singer was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, receiving the medal from French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti.

Tina Turner, the U.S.-born superstar famed for hits such as "Private Dancer", has married her longtime German partner and will reportedly celebrate the union in a Buddhist ceremony in Switzerland Sunday.

The 73-year-old retired singer wed 57-year-old record executive Erwin Bach in a discreet civil ceremony on the banks of Lake Zurich in Kusnacht, northern Switzerland "a few days ago," municipal official Hannes Friess told Agence France Presse.

"Despicable Me 2," a sequel to the 2010 animated blockbuster, led the North American box office for a second consecutive weekend, industry figures showed Monday.

The comedy, with Steve Carell voicing villain-turned-doting-father Gru, earned $43.9 million between Friday and Sunday, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.