International stars Isabelle Huppert and Benicio del Toro will be guests at the Kuestendorf film and music festival hosted by Serbian director Emir Kusturica in January, local media said Wednesday.

The French screen legend and the Hollywood actor will be in Drvengard, the wooden village Kusturica built as a set for one of his movies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south-west of Belgrade, where the fifth edition of the quirky festival will be held from January 17 to 23.

Music fans may remember 2011 mainly as the year Amy Winehouse died, but the last 12 months have seen several other divas dominate the international music press for happier reasons.

Veteran British songwriter PJ Harvey, soul singer Adele and American newcomer Lana del Rey all produced songs or albums that won wide critical praise.

Van Halen will tour in 2012.

The rock band has posted a video on its website announcing that the first tickets will go on sale Jan. 10.

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has admitted that her fourth marriage has ended after just 16 days, with the star blaming pressure put on her husband by those close to him.

O'Connor, 45, met therapist Barry Herridge, 38, earlier this year when he responded to an online appeal posted by the singer, and they married in a Las Vegas chapel on December 8.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday sent out Oscar ballots to its members, who will select the nominees for Hollywood's top film honors.

The academy's 5,783 voting members must cast their ballots by January 13 to determine the Oscar nominations, which will be announced on January 24.

When told that his unborn son had only half a heart and little chance to survive, the lead singer of the Christian rock band Sanctus Real began pouring his fears and doubts into music.

The songs were meant to comfort his family while they searched for answers and sought to understand God's role during the months before and after the baby's birth that were filled with surgeries and life-threatening complications.

Detroit's Queen of Soul knows how to throw a Christmas party, and she welcomed in the holiday with glitter, a jazzy musical backdrop and a finale of "Silent Night" with the Four Tops.

Aretha Franklin held her annual Christmas party on Friday at the Detroit Athletic Club, greeting guests in a teal blue gown accented with a silver sequined bodice.

Actor Matthew McConaughey took advantage of the Christmas holidays to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Brazilian model Camila Alves, the Hollywood heartthrob told his Internet followers.

"Just asked Camila to marry me. Merry Christmas," McConaughey, 42, said in a message posted on Twitter and WhoSay late Sunday. The messages were accompanied by a photograph of the couple kissing in front of a Christmas tree.

American pop diva Lady Gaga will appear via video link on a popular Japanese music competition on New Year's Eve, public broadcaster NHK says.

The eccentric star's appearance on "Kohaku Uta Gassen", an annual singing competition between male and female entertainers, will including her singing and delivering encouraging messages over Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the broadcaster said on Saturday.

Wrapped in a maroon robe, her head shaven, Ani Choying Dolma treads gingerly into a Kathmandu hotel, exuding the composure and serenity one might expect from a Buddhist nun.

But this 40-year-old is no ordinary devotee, for Dolma -- better known by her moniker "The Singing Nun" -- is the most unlikely of music stars, touring the world to change the lives of thousands of poverty-hit Nepali girls.