David Bowie's music has returned to stage after his death, with stars including Madonna and Elton John dedicating emotional tributes to the legend -- by singing his songs.

The British rock legend's death on Sunday at age 69 after an undisclosed battle with cancer has triggered an outpouring of grief from fans and leading artists, many of whom cite him as a towering influence.

Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Britain's Ridley Scott on Tuesday topped the list of nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) award -- a strong indicator of Oscar hopes.

Inarritu was nominated for revenge thriller "The Revenant" and Scott for space hit "The Martian," about an astronaut stranded on Mars -- two films seen as top contenders for Academy Awards glory on February 28.

David Bowie's death has plunged fans around the world into grief, but his music lives on -- not only on Earth but in space.

For astronauts and ordinary people who gaze into the mystery of the sky, Bowie was one of their own, fascinated by the possibilities of the universe.

Music legend David Bowie was famously private during his lifetime but also in his death, with a string of questions about the circumstances of his passing still unanswered Tuesday.

News of his death at the age of 69 was announced in a brief posting early Monday on his official Facebook and Twitter accounts, with a request for privacy for his grieving family.  

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will marry actress and former supermodel Jerry Hall, the couple announced in British newspaper The Times on Tuesday, after a four-month romance.

The couple got engaged over the weekend in Los Angeles, where they attended the 73rd Golden Globes awards gala -- although Hall was not pictured sporting a ring on the red carpet.

Leonardo DiCaprio has taken a leap forward in his quest for his first Oscar, with a Golden Globes win for his intense performance as a 19th century fur trapper in "The Revenant."

All eyes in Hollywood are now on the Oscar nominations, to be announced on Thursday, to see if the "Titanic" star scores his fifth nomination for an acting role as widely expected.

From his birthplace in London to his adopted home in New York, David Bowie fans around the world gathered Monday to mourn a star who many said had shaped their lives.

A crowd of more than 2,000 people spent the evening to the colorful south London district of Brixton where he was born -- some clutching beers, others wearing Bowie t-shirts -- to lay flowers beneath a giant mural of his face.

David Bowie's impact on the pop and rock world was immense, with the singer cited as a key influence on artists as diverse as Madonna, Nirvana, the rapper Kanye West and even Lady Gaga.

It was from his restless, experimenting spirit -- still present in his final album released only two days before his death -- that so many other artists drew their inspiration. 

Qatar has banned "The Danish Girl" movie -- about an artist who undergoes one of the world's first sex changes and which stars Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne -- from cinemas, officials announced Monday.

The move follows protests online about the "depravity" of the film, which had begun screening at some cinemas in Doha this month.

His groundbreaking career was as much about style as it was about music -- David Bowie plundered a wild array of influences to redraw the boundaries of fashion and blur the lines between masculine, feminine and other-worldly.

Throughout his heyday in the 1970s and beyond, each new album and sound was matched by a radically new look, bringing a dimension of performance art and daring experimentation to the world of pop music.