President Barack Obama Wednesday honored luminaries of the arts, including Star Wars creator George Lucas, praising his special effects for freeing movies from "planes in space" with visible strings.

Obama presented National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals to a group also including musician Herb Alpert, rhythm and blues legend Allen Toussaint, author Joan Didion and sportswriter Frank DeFord.

It's a mainstay on Broadway and now "The Lion King" has proved it's a king on the road, too.

Disney Theatrical Productions said Wednesday that the show's total touring box office gross in North America has reached $1 billion. Producers estimate that more than 15 million theatergoers in over 70 cities across North America have seen the show since 2002.

Kate Middleton was the middle-class girl who made becoming a princess look easy -- but bringing up a royal baby will bring fresh challenges for Britain's glamorous future queen.

Since her fairytale marriage to Prince William in 2011, 31-year-old Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, as she is now formally known, has hardly put a foot wrong.

Spanish opera star Placido Domingo said Wednesday he expected to feel "much better soon" after treatment for a blockage in his lung which forced him to cancel a string of concerts in Madrid.

"I will be feeling much better soon. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart," he told his fans in a message on the social network Facebook.

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday honored fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, the man responsible for a teal, silk pantsuit she wore when she was sworn in as a U.S. senator.

The two shared the stage together last month in New York when Clinton, a self-professed pantsuit aficionado, presented de la Renta with the Council of Fashion Designers of America's highest honor and joked about a fictional "Project Runway" spinoff, "Project Pantsuit."

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is leaving the desk at "The View" for the couch on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends."

The news network said Tuesday that Hasselbeck will join co-anchors Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade on the three-hour morning show "Fox & Friends" in September. Wednesday will be her last day after a decade on "The View."

Elton John has canceled a show in London's Hyde Park due to appendicitis that will require surgery.

A statement issued Tuesday by the musician's publicist said John was suffering from an inflamed appendix and surrounding abscess.

South Korean pop icon Rain was officially released from mandatory military service Wednesday, with hundreds of fans shedding tears of joy over the star's comeback.

About 700 devotees from South Korea and abroad exploded into ecstatic cheers as the 31-year-old K-pop star emerged from the defense ministry building in Seoul, where he had gone to receive his discharge papers.

The ex-boyfriend of global pop star Shakira has failed in a bid to get a slice of tens of millions of dollars in a Swiss bank account, in the latest chapter of the former couple's legal battle, lawyers said Monday.

A Geneva judge rejected attempts by Antonio de la Rua to win control of a $50-million bank account held by the Colombian-born megastar's offshore company.

Mariah Carey is in the hospital for a shoulder injury.

The pop star's representative says the singer went to the hospital in New York late Sunday after injuring herself while filming a music video.