First a golden ladle is laid on its own gleaming stand. The steaming dish is brought out from the kitchen and a dedicated waitress decants it into individual bowls, without spilling so much as a drop of the precious liquid.

For the Chinese diners in a specialist Hong Kong restaurant, smiling with anticipation, it is the highlight and centerpiece of the meal, but for environmentalist critics it is one of the worst foods in the world -- shark's fin soup.

Prince William and new bride Catherine will within the coming months move into Kensington Palace, the London residence once shared by the prince and his late mother Diana, St James's Palace said Sunday.

The newly-titled Duke of Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry lived in the palace after Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996, but the newlywed couple will move into a different property within the grounds.

"X-Men: First Class," a prequel that drops the franchise's mutants into the Cuban Missile Crisis, deputed atop the North American box office with $56 million, estimates showed Sunday.

The well-received fifth installment, starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, shines light on the beginning of the X-Men saga and a "secret history" of the Cold War.

An array of sometimes disconcerting sights and sounds went on public display Saturday on the shores of the Venice lagoon for the Biennale contemporary art festival.

From a picture of Jesus in his underwear to a human skull decorated with pearls, the images at the festival provoke, bemuse or titillate.

Two bottles of the world's oldest champagne are expected to fetch record-breaking bids at an auction in Finland's autonomous island province of Aaland Friday, wine experts said.

Samantha Compono, spokeswoman for the specialty wine auctioneer Acker Merrall & Condit told Agence France Presse that the bids should exceed the previous record set in 2008, when a bottle of 1959 Dom Perignon sold for $40,000 (27,600 Euros).

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and the World Series of Poker announced plans Thursday for a special 2012 tournament that would require a record $1 million entry fee.

Eleven percent of the fee for the contest, which he described as a "very interesting game of millionaires," would be donated to Laliberte's anti-poverty nonprofit foundation One Drop.

Canadian country pop diva Shania Twain was honored with a star on Hollywood's storied Walk of Fame on Thursday, and voiced surprise that she had come so far.

"I mean, why is a girl from Timmins, Ontario, standing here, getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?" the Grammy-winner asked. "I really don't know... it's a small miracle, to be honest, that I am here today."

A black-clad goblin lets out a piercing roar and two lines of fighters pour into a shallow ravine, thrusting spears and waving axes.

It looks violent but take a closer look and the axe-blades are made of carpet and the spears and arrows have soft tips.

Wellington Airport on Wednesday said it had put plans for a giant "Wellywood" sign on hold amid a public backlash against the idea in the New Zealand capital.

The eight-meter-high (26-foot-high) sign across a hillside owned by the airport was designed as a Hollywood-style tribute to Wellington's film industry, which has created blockbusters such as "The Lord of the Rings".

Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, author of the film scores for "Spaghetti Westerns" starring Clint Eastwood in the 1960s, will head up the jury for the Rome film festival, organizers said on Wednesday.

Morricone, 82, who started out as a jazz trumpeter, has also worked with celebrated directors Brian De Palma and Giuseppe Tornatore and has received two Grammy Awards and two Golden Globes in a career spanning half a century.