She's showing far more leg than would be appropriate for a monarch, but Queen Elizabeth II was still a teenage princess when she was photographed in fancy dress during private royal pantomimes in the 1940s.

The pictures of the young royal and her little sister Margaret dressed up in wigs and costumes for performances of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin have been made public ahead of their auction in Britain on December 11.

Orchid is growing on us: A version of the purple hue is Pantone Inc.'s color of the year for 2014.

It follows this year's pick of emerald green.

British journalist Martin Bashir announced Wednesday he was quitting US news broadcaster MSNBC after he made crude on-air remarks about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Bashir, who took time off from the cable news channel after his comments last month, said in a statement that he had given his resignation after reflection.

"Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker died of "traumatic and thermal injuries" in a fiery car crash, coroners said Wednesday, as the franchise's makers said they were shutting down production at least temporarily.

Walker, 40, was killed Saturday when he was in the passenger seat of a red Porsche sports car driven by his friend Roger Rodas in the Californian city of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.

Pop queen Katy Perry says she is the world's Twitter leader because she does not preach and she is ready to unleash her "terrifying" social media army.

Perry has a record 48 million followers on Twitter -- more than Justin Bieber -- and she told Agence France Presse that she is ready to put her force to good use.

From the royal diadem worn by Kate Middleton at her wedding to an outsized maharaja's necklace, hundreds of glimmering treasures go on show this week in a major Paris exhibit on Cartier.

"Jeweler of Kings and King of Jewelers" was how King Edward VII dubbed the house, half a century after Louis-Francois Cartier founded what would become the world's largest jeweler in 1847.

Production on "Fast & Furious 7" is on hold following the death of star Paul Walker.

Shooting on the film had been scheduled to resume this week in Atlanta but was canceled Monday and Tuesday. A spokesman for Universal Pictures declined to say when shooting will resume.

Fire-breathers, contortionists, snake charmers and hunky dancers welcomed Britney Spears to the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on Tuesday afternoon in a staged event kicking off the pop icon's two-year Las Vegas residency.

One block of the Strip was briefly shut down as the star pulled up to the casino in a convoy of black Cadillac Escalades.

Michael Jackson's mother Katherine is seeking a retrial against tour promoters AEG Live, who were found not liable over the pop icon's 2009 death, court documents show.

The 83-year-old claims the verdict reached in October after a five-month trial in Los Angeles is invalid because of alleged jury misconduct, new evidence and "an error in law," according to a legal filing Monday.

Police in the U.S. city where "Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker died warned fans Monday against "burning rubber" near the spot where he was killed, as they probed the fatal car crash.

They issued the caution after reports of people pulling stunt maneuvers on the stretch of road in Santa Clarita, northwest of Los Angeles, where Walker died in a fiery smash on Saturday.