Stella McCartney used a flash mob, Issa relied on colorful floral prints, and Alice Temperley turned to 18th Century paintings for inspiration as London Fashion Week moved into high gear Saturday.

It was a day of elegant, sexy dresses, raucous performances, and beautiful detailing as London designers showed what makes their fashion approach unique.

Silent movie "The Artist" won the Best European Film prize at theSpanish cinema awards, the Goyas, while Spanish police flick "No habra paz para los malvados" ('No rest for the wicked') collected six gongs.

The Goya adds to a growing trophy haul for the "The Artist" which has 10 Oscar nominations, including best actor for French star Jean Dujardin and best director for Michel Hazanavicius.

Hollywood Boulevard is still open to traffic, but not for long: sometime this week, the Oscars mega-circus will start to pitch its tent, for the climax of Tinseltown's annual awards season.

With only seven days to go before next Sunday's extravaganza, everyone knows the frontrunners: Martin Scorsese's visually lavish adventure "Hugo" and French-directed silent movie "The Artist," starring a cute canine called Uggie.

Argentinians are flocking to see "The Iron Lady", intrigued not just by the tale of the nation's arch-nemesis Margaret Thatcher but also her uncanny incarnation as played by Meryl Streep.

It was Thatcher, the then British prime minister, who ordered troops into war after the Argentine junta invaded the Falklands Islands in 1982, sparking a brief but bloody war over the remote South Atlantic archipelago.

Rio's riotous Carnival was in full swing Monday as top samba schools paraded sumptuous allegorical floats and hundreds of exquisitely costumed performers to a thumping drum beat.

The night parades in Rio's hallowed Sambadrome marked the high point of the pre-Lent bacchanalian Carnival festival, which is bringing this racially diverse country of 191 million people, virtually to a stop.

Pop diva Whitney Houston was expected to be buried Sunday after an emotional farewell during which Hollywood stars, music greats and loved ones praised the "sweet miracle" of her talent.

She will be buried in suburban Westfield, New Jersey, next to her father, John Russell Houston, who died in 2003.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said Saturday the world should intervene to stop the violent crackdown in Syria and condemned powers that have vetoed a U.N. resolution against the regime.

"I think Syria has got to a point, sadly, where certainly some form of intervention is absolutely necessary," Jolie told al-Jazeera Balkans in an interview shown on the channel's Internet site.

"War Witch", a Canadian film about a child soldier played by a girl who until recently lived on the streets of Kinshasa, broke out as a strong contender at the Berlin film festival Friday.

The last of 18 pictures in competition, "War Witch" by Kim Nguyen drew an enthusiastic reception ahead of a gala prize ceremony Saturday where the jury president, British director Mike Leigh, will present the Golden Bear top prize.

"Twilight" heart-throb Robert Pattinson stars as a 19th century Parisian social climber who sleeps his way to the top in "Bel Ami", a role he told the Berlin film festival reminded him of today's reality TV stars.

Trading in his brooding vampire for the role of an ambitious bon vivant, Pattinson's character Georges Duroy seduces the most powerful women in the French capital, played by Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Shimmering like a sea creature, a model wearing glittering green paint, a full-length skirt and a few strategically-placed feathers took to the catwalk Friday on the first day of London Fashion Week.

Lacking the big names of rivals New York, Paris and Milan, LFW sells itself as the place to see the cutting edge of fashion, and the show by Fyodor Golan, winners of last year's prestigious Fashion Fringe award, was a classic example.