As fog billowed, a giant cloaked figure strode onto the Eurovision Song Contest stage, lightly cradling Ukraine's singer, Zlata Ognevich, who looked tiny and doll-like in his arms.

The stunt awed the audience as Ukraine performed its entry during the contest semi-final on Tuesday. The ballad, called "Gravity", is widely tipped to win third place in Saturday's final in Malmo, Sweden.

Almost 40 years after launching supergroup ABBA, the Eurovision Song Contest returned to Sweden on Saturday for the final of an annual kitsch extravaganza Europeans love to mock.

Fans from around Europe have been descending on Sweden's third-largest city Malmoe to watch 26 countries compete in a glitzy evening spectacle that will be broadcast live to an estimated 125 million viewers.

British pop star George Michael suffered minor injuries in a car crash on a motorway north of London, his publicist said Friday.

The 49-year-old, who shot to fame as a member of the 1980s pop duo Wham!, is "fine" after the car he was travelling in crashed on the M1 route on Thursday evening, Connie Filippello said in a statement.

It doesn't usually take a studio 4 years to make a sequel to a very successful movie; J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" was an awesome reboot that made the property cool again. It appealed to fans and non fans alike, and it re-energized a series many had thought would never have another good cinematic outing. "Star Trek Into Darkness" is a great sequel that builds upon everything that was great about the first film, while remaining faithful to what fans love about the series.

When a secret London installation is violently attacked by an ex-starfleet agent by the name of John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the rest of the crew set out on a manhunt to capture the extremely dangerous Harrison and bring him to justice.

Jewelery worth more than $1 million due to be loaned to stars at the Cannes Film Festival was stolen from a local hotel in a pre-dawn heist on Friday but the coveted Palme d'Or trophy was safe, officials said.

In a scenario itself worthy of a movie, thieves entered the hotel room of an American woman employee of Swiss bijoutier Chopard and ripped out the strongbox in the wardrobe, according to police reports.

German officials say Justin Bieber will have to pay the bill for his monkey's two month stay at a Munich animal shelter.

A spokesman for Munich's customs office says the cost of care, food and vet visits for capuchin monkey Mally is several thousand euros (dollars).

Feminist activists were among several dozen people who demonstrated against the opening on Thursday of Europe's first life-sized Barbie Dreamhouse, slamming it as a sexist cliche.

Just a few steps from Alexanderplatz, the main shopping district of east Berlin, the 2,500-square-meter (26,900-square-foot) attraction transports the young visitor to a pink-hued Barbie universe.

An Australian choreographer alleged Thursday that Michael Jackson sexually abused him for seven years as a child, a claim the late singer's estate described as "outrageous and sad."

Wade Robson -- who testified at Jackson's infamous 2005 molestation trial that the star never touched him -- told a TV interviewer that the self-styled King of Pop was a "pedophile and a child sexual abuser."

Filmmakers in Gaza have finished making what is believed to be the first Palestinian animated feature in 3D in a bid to show a fresh perspective on life through a child's eyes.

Called "The Scarecrow", the 40-minute production tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan named Rima and the scarecrow she was given by her parents who died in a car crash.

A prominent Syrian actress and outspoken activist against the regime of President Bashar Assad was detained on Thursday, a human rights lawyer said.

"At noon (0900 GMT) today, the security forces detained the free actress May Skaf while she was on her way home in the Mashru Dummar neighborhood" of Damascus, Anwar al-Bunni reported on Facebook.