Two contemporary stagings of Puccini's "La Boheme" from 2012 have been released on DVD: director Stefan Herheim's reimagining that opened in January at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo (on Electric), and Damiano Michieletto's staging that premiered in July at the Salzburg Festival in Austria (on DG). Both are equally fascinating and frustrating.

Taking the 1963 sets by Heike Scheele that he grew up watching, Herheim begins the opera with Mimi's death — usually the performance's final moment. And she succumbs to cancer rather than consumption.

Two Australian DJs who made a hoax call to a hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine are unlikely to face prosecution, police said Friday.

Indian-born nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead three days after transferring the call to a colleague this month at a London hospital who divulged details about Kate's recovery from severe morning sickness.

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has married her third husband in a secret ceremony -- tying the knot with Richard Branson's nephew Ned RocknRoll, The Sun tabloid reported on Thursday.

Winslet, 37, was given away by her "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio at an intimate service in New York attended by just a few close friends and family in early December, according to the paper.

Feathers, costumes and jewels sported by French musical legends from Josephine Baker to Maurice Chevalier are up for grabs next month at a rare auction in Paris.

More than 5,000 items from a private collection of star attire from the Casino de Paris -- a venerable city music hall -- will go under the hammer on January 26 and 27, the Arts Talents Encheres auction house said Wednesday.

Taiwan's pop king Jay Chou has played roles as varied as superhero, vampire and cowboy. So his latest album about an influential but corrupt court eunuch may not sound all that odd to his fans.

In "Gong Gong with A Headache" released Thursday, Chou raps about the eunuch who has a secret passion for women but "must not touch them." ''Gong Gong" is a name for court eunuchs in China.

Gerry Anderson, the British director and creator of the cult sci-fi animation series "Thunderbirds", died on Wednesday aged 83, his son announced.

Anderson had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease since 2010 and his health had deteriorated in the past six months, causing him to be moved into a care home in October, Jamie Anderson said.

A silver platform shoe tossed to the audience by Lady Gaga and a felt hat custom-made for Michael Jackson are among celebrity memorabilia up for sale in Paris, an auction house said Wednesday.

The February 11 sale at the Drouot auction house also features a leather ecritoire, or writing case, used by Marilyn Monroe and a pocket knife owned by Napoleon III, France's last monarch and first president.

The ghetto called Aroma reeks of putrefying trash collected by its residents for recycling. Half-naked children with grimy faces play on muddy dirt roads lined by crumbling shanties of tarpaulin walls, cracked tin roofs and communal toilets. 

From this Manila slum of garbage collectors emerged an unlikely Cinderella: ballerina Jessa Balote who at the age of 10 was plucked out of her grubby life by a ballet school to prepare her for a life on stage. 

Ben Affleck is taking his name off the list of possible candidates for U.S. Sen. John Kerry's seat, which would be open if the Democratic senator from Massachusetts is confirmed as secretary of state.

Affleck says in a Monday posting on his Facebook page that while he loves the political process, he will not be running for public office.

U.S. singer Stevie Wonder joined Brazil's Gilberto Gil late Tuesday for a massive free Christmas concert on Rio's Copacabana beach attended by half a million people.

"Tudo bem?" (Everything allright?) Wonder shouted out to the crowd in Portugese after being led on stage by his sons.