Brave swimmers plunged into freezing waters while other visitors gazed at frozen palaces ahead of the opening ceremony for China's spectacular Harbin Ice and Snow Festival on Tuesday.

The annual festival in the capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang is expected to draw more than one million visitors to admire castles and cathedrals sculpted out of ice and lit up at night in ethereal colours.

For fans of George R.R. Martin, winter is not coming — at least not right away.

The "Game of Thrones" author says he missed a Dec. 31 deadline to finish "The Winds of Winter," the sixth book in his popular fantasy series. That means the next HBO season based on the novel will start airing in April, before the book is published.

Las Vegas police are investigating an allegation of battery against R&B singer Chris Brown.

Authorities received a call shortly before 10:30 a.m. Saturday about the alleged battery at the Palms Casino Resort, Lt. Jeff Goodwin said. A police statement Saturday evening said an altercation took place in a room at the resort when the woman went to take a picture of Brown.

"Boston," the first feature-length documentary film about the Boston Marathon, is in the works. Its creators say the movie will go well beyond the 2013 bombings to retrace the iconic footrace's first steps in 1897.

"Over the years, the Boston Marathon has had so many extraordinary stories of people achieving and accomplishing things," said producer Megan Williams, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker. "It's like looking at cultural and social change over the last century through the lens of this major sporting event."

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" saw its latest box office numbers soften a bit but it remains the unchallenged leader on North American screens as its record earnings continue to mount, industry figures showed Sunday.

The latest "Star Wars" space epic took in $88 million for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday period, down 41 percent from the corresponding week-earlier period, Exhibitor Relations said.

Disgraced TV legend Bill Cosby has tweeted his thanks to his 4.1 million followers, as he braces for more legal battles after being charged this week with felony sex assault. 

"Friends and fans, Thank You," read the New Year's Eve Twitter message posted by the fallen comedy icon -- his first public comments since appearing in a Pennsylvania court on Wednesday to hear the charge, one of dozens of sex abuse claims against him.

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas apologized Thursday for an interview in which he criticized the latest film and referred to Disney, which bought the rights to the blockbuster franchise, as "white slavers."

In the interview with journalist Charlie Rose, part of which aired in November but which was broadcast in full last week, Lucas appears upset at what Disney -- which paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012 -- did with "The Force Awakens."

A celebrity's fall from grace is always ugly, but that of Bill Cosby -- a once-beloved comedian who broke barriers by bringing a black TV family into white living rooms -- is a true gut punch to America.

The very name Cosby evokes so, so much -- a father figure for African-American families, a seemingly model citizen and comic with a gentle, self-deprecating style and playful voice that would go from deep to screeching in search of a laugh.

Guns N' Roses, who became one of the top-selling bands in history despite a brief heyday, will reunite for the Coachella festival in 2016, music magazine Billboard reported.

The concert would be the first time that the famously fractious band would play with its original lineup of singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash since the "Use Your Illusion" tour ended in July 1993 in Buenos Aires.

U.S. comedian Bill Cosby appeared in a Pennsylvania court on Wednesday to face a sexual assault charge over a 2004 incident -- the first criminal charge filed against him after dozens of women claimed abuse.

"Mr Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. This is a felony," Kevin Steele, a county assistant district attorney, told reporters in Norristown, outside Philadelphia.