Riding the wave of the Arab Spring, Egyptian film star Khaled Abol Naga and his international backers have launched a revolutionary bid to bring quality Arab cinema to the global market.

Kicking off at the Cannes film festival, Pacha Pictures aims to be the place to go for Arab "auteur" cinema, for which Abol Naga and his French and Lebanese partners say there is huge demand and little supply. Until now.

Whether you think it was wonderful or wacky, the flamboyant hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the British royal wedding last month could now be yours after she put it up for sale Thursday on eBay.

The princess, the oldest daughter of Prince Andrew and a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, has put the Philip Treacy creation on the online auction site with a starting price of £5,000 ($8,000, 5,700 euros).

Troubled American starlet Lindsay Lohan pleaded no contest Wednesday to stealing a $2,500 necklace, in a deal expected to allow her to serve a jail term at home.

The 24-year-old was sentenced last month to 120 days in jail for violating probation and ordered to complete community service at the Los Angeles County morgue and a women's center.

Online social game star Zynga on Tuesday said pop queen Lady Gaga will be hitting "Farmville."

Cuts from Gaga's upcoming "Born This Way" album will make their world debuts at her in-game "GagaVille" farm beginning May 17.

The 64th edition of the Cannes film festival gets underway on Wednesday with up-and-coming directors and Hollywood A-listers rubbing shoulders at the world's biggest cinema gathering.

Woody Allen's latest romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" opens the 11-day event on the French Riviera at a black-tie evening screening that already has tongues wagging.

Italian fashion brand Roberto Cavalli said it will open 85 new stores in China within the next five years under a deal signed on Tuesday with Shanghai-based retail giant UCCAL Group.

The company will open its first stores under the new deal in Beijing and Shanghai between late 2011 and early 2012, it said in a statement.

Crooning of love, Iraq's most famous singer returned to Baghdad on Monday after 14 years abroad to be named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations children's fund, UNICEF.

Kadim al-Sahir said as a Goodwill Ambassador, he would inspect villages and schools.

The sultry South American tango is winning a big following in South Korea, and Seoul's third festival celebrating the passionate dance drew an international cast of enthusiasts.

Dancers from Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Canada and Argentina got into the swing with scores of Koreans for the Seoul Tango Festival from May 5-9.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced Monday that they are separating.

The statement, issued by a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the two were working on the future of their relationship while living apart and they would continue to parent their four children together.

Two dresses worn by the late princess Diana were sold at an auction house in Beverly Hills Sunday for a total of $276,000, the seller announced.

According to Julien's auction house, the first dress -- a black crepe evening gown with diamante paste embroidery on the short-sleeved top inspired by Indian motifs -- went for $144,000.