Feted by Madonna and cheered by thousands, Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot defied President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the Sochi Olympics at a star-studded New York concert.

The performance highlighted soaring tensions between Russia and the United States, which drastically deteriorated when Moscow granted asylum to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden last year.

The results of an autopsy on Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's body were inconclusive, and further tests have been ordered, the New York medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

A spokeswoman told Agence France Presse that pathologists had not yet reached a conclusion on the cause and manner of the death of the 46-year-old, whose body was found in his New York home on Sunday.

U.S. police investigating the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent drugs overdose arrested three men and a woman with a large amount of heroin, police said Wednesday.

The three men aged 22, 48 and 57, and the woman, 22, were all detained on drug-related charges, a police spokesman told Agence France Presse.

Written by Anthony Sargon

You don’t generally expect to see a movie like “The Monuments Men” in theaters at this time of year. Given the film’s pedigree, it seems a lot better suited for an October-December release, which was actually the case until it got delayed to early 2014. Producers are claiming that post-production ran a bit long, but that’s the polite way of saying “it wasn’t good enough to get Oscar nominations.” While “The Monuments Men” certainly doesn’t live up to its full potential, there’s still enough to enjoy in this old-fashioned, quirky picture.

Heroin recovered at Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's apartment after he was found there dead with a syringe in his arm has tested negative for the powerful additive fentanyl, a police official said.

Samples taken from Hoffman's Manhattan apartment didn't contain the potent synthetic morphine, which is added to intensify the high and has been linked to 22 suspected overdose deaths in western Pennsylvania, the official, who wasn't authorized to talk about the evidence and insisted on anonymity, said Tuesday.

When Prince came to London a few years ago, he played more than 20 nights at the vast O2 arena. This time, he played a suburban living room to a dozen people.

The enigmatic star flew into London on Tuesday at the start of a still-evolving string of dates in support of forthcoming album "Plectrum Electrum," recorded with all-female trio 3RDEYEGIRL.

A deaf composer, dubbed Japan's Beethoven, confessed Wednesday to hiring someone to write his most iconic works, leaving duped broadcaster NHK red-faced, and casting a cloud over a figure skater set to dance to his music in Sochi.

Mamoru Samuragoch shot to fame in the mid 1990s with classical compositions that provided the soundtrack to video games including Resident Evil, despite having had a degenerative condition that affected his hearing since childhood.

George Clooney stars both in front of and behind the camera in his latest film, about a little-known group of heroes who risked all to rescue stolen art from the Nazis in World War II.

And he managed to persuade some of his fellow A-listers to take big pay cuts to appear in the "The Monuments Men," which is being released Friday in the United States.

Rock group U2's new single "Invisible" raised more than $3 million for the fight against AIDS during the 36 hours it was available for free on iTunes, it was revealed Tuesday.

It scored more than one million downloads in the hour after it premiered in a Bank of America commercial during Sunday's Super Bowl, then picked up two million more until the free offer ended Monday midnight (0500 GMT Tuesday.)

By Glenn Whipp (LA Times)

Driving to Silver Lake the other day to visit his father, Leonardo DiCaprio passed through the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue, the neighborhood where he spent the first nine years of his life. Back then, DiCaprio says, he'd be in the car, riding to and from school, and see micro-skirted prostitutes on every corner. In the alleyway near his home, he'd occasionally notice people smoking crack and shooting heroin.