Hundreds gathered Thursday for the first concert in the Saudi capital since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to watch performances by Syrian diva Assala Nasri and Kuwaiti crooner Nabeel Shuail.

Before stiff rules were brought in a year ago to stem the spread of coronavirus, the ultra-conservative kingdom had started to ease decades-long restrictions on entertainment, as part of efforts to improve its image and attract tourists.

Lebanese composer and singer Samir Sfeir has said he is holding no grudge against the authorities in Saudi Arabia after he was detained for around 50 days in the kingdom.

Sfeir, who had residency in the kingdom for five years, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Lebanon that he is now banned from returning after being deported.

Prominent Lebanese music composer Samir Sfeir arrived in Lebanon Thursday after he was detained for more than a month in Saudi Arabia.

The National News Agency said he was welcomed at the airport by MP Salim Aoun of the Strong Lebanon bloc, prominent lyricist Nizar Francis, and several members of his family.

Lebanese International Soprano Tania Kassis released Monday an English song entitled “Land For All” in collaboration with the U.N. Information Center in Beirut.

This song, which is the English version of her Arabic song “Al Ardou Lil Jami3”, is a blend of both western and eastern tunes and was written by Tania Kassis herself and composed and arranged by Michel Fadel with an adaptation of a small part of the famous "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

French actors, stage technicians and other members of the performing arts ended a more-than-two-month occupation of the famous Odeon theatre in Paris on Sunday, allowing the show to go on after this week's easing of Covid-19 curbs.

It's been four decades since Bob Marley's death, a period longer than the reggae icon's brief but potent life that skin cancer ended when he was 36. 

Billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have announced they are divorcing after 27 years of marriage, raising questions over how they will split their fortune and the direction of one of the world's most powerful charity organizations.

"Game of Thrones" actor Esme Bianco filed a lawsuit against US goth rocker Marilyn Manson on Friday setting out graphic allegations of rape, sexual abuse and violence.

Fans wearing Mickey Mouse ears lined up as Disneyland in California finally reopened Friday, more than 400 days after the pandemic forced an unprecedented closure for the self-styled "Happiest Place on Earth."

Prince William and his wife Kate marked a decade of marriage Thursday, with the popular couple increasingly seen as the British monarchy's future as other senior royals age or recede from view.