Lebanese-French trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf is reaching beyond his classical and jazz roots to a more mainstream audience seduced by his unique musical style blending Arabic and Western influences.

The 34-year-old, who has worked with Sting in the past, also told Agence France Presse on a tour stop in London that he is finally fulfilling his "dream" of composing film scores -- and has three more in the pipeline.

Eminem is provoking more outrage on a new album in which he threatens female stars, but this time the self-styled Rap God also waxes philosophical on the reasons for his aggression.

The top-selling artist in hip-hop history readily courts controversy on "Shady XV," released Friday for the holiday shopping season.

Mexico's iconic television comedian Roberto Gomez Bolanos, who enchanted generations of Latin American children by playing an orphan who lived in a barrel and a goofy superhero, died Friday aged 85.

Gomez Bolanos died in the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun, where he retired years ago due to respiratory illnesses, said the Televisa network, where the actor spent his entire career.

Author Jacqueline Woodson addressed Daniel Handler's (aka "Lemony Snicket") racist joke, Friday, with an unflinching response in The New York Times.

Handler previously made offhanded comments about Woodson being allergic to watermelon while hosting the National Book Awards. Woodson was accepting an award in the young adult category for her latest book "Brown Girl Dreaming."

Five presidential staff are being transferred after photos appeared of French President Francois Hollande with actress Julie Gayet inside the Elysee Palace, officials confirmed Friday.

Hollande's affair with the actress made headlines worldwide in January, but photos of the pair on a private terrace of the palace which appeared last week were even more worrying for the embattled leader because they appeared to have been taken from within the Elysee itself.

P.D. James took the classic British detective story into tough modern terrain, complete with troubled relationships and brutal violence, and never accepted that crime writing was second-class literature.

James, who has died aged 94, is best known as the creator of sensitive Scotland Yard sleuth Adam Dalgliesh. But her wickedly acute imagination ranged widely, inserting a murder into the mannered world of Jane Austen in "Death Comes to Pemberley" and creating a bleak dystopian future in "The Children of Men."

Kensington Palace officials say Prince William will make an official visit to China and Japan early next year.

Officials said Thursday that William will spend roughly three days in each country. He is expected to travel in late February.

Madonna is in the African country of Malawi for the first time since she had a falling out with the former president last year.

Madonna on Thursday launched a 50-bed pediatrics ward at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in the commercial capital Blantyre. Sarah Ezzy, director of the charity Raising Malawi, said the new facility is the first dedicated pediatric intensive care unit in the country.

The traditionalists don't like it, but the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy is as much a part of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States as turkey and pumpkin pie.

And it's only Thursday.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Badr al-Din Zayed extended his condolences on Thursday to the Lebanese and Egyptian people on the death of famed Lebanese singer Sabah who “was a cultural and artistic bridge between the two countries,” the National News Agency NNA said.

“She had great contributions that influenced artistic life in Egypt and the Arab world,” said Zayed noting “Sabah was an important and prominent connection in the artistic and cultural life between Egypt and Lebanon.”