British pop star George Michael is doing well in hospital in Vienna but whether he will be able to spend Christmas back in Britain was still uncertain, one of his Austrian doctors said Tuesday.

"We know that he is doing well. And we are generally optimistic," Christoph Zielinski of Vienna's General Hospital (AKH) told ORF radio.

Outlandish pannier skirts with layers of frilly lace; teenage girls with larger-than-life make-up; a dash of sexuality and lashings of Victoriana are the order of the day for Japan's Lolita girls.

What began as a street fashion two decades ago as youngsters aped the doll-like European styles of baroque and rococo has morphed into a near mainstream movement, with dozens of offshoots.

On the occasion of Christmas and New Year holidays, Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday sponsored a concert in the Serail at the invitation of the Culture Minister Gaby Layoun.

The concert was held by the Lebanese Philharmonic’s orchestra led by Harout Fazilian, with the participation of the soprano Tania Kassis, the tenor Elia Francis, and the baritone Raymond Ghattas, as well as the National Conservatory Choir and Antonine University .

The Berlin film festival unveiled its first selections Monday including a 9/11 drama starring Tom Hanks and new pictures from China's Zhang Yimou and Filipino art house star Brillante Mendoza.

The 62nd annual event, running February 9 to 19, will include the hotly awaited "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by British director Stephen Daldry ("The Hours").

Former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall, whose struggle with breast cancer was closely followed by Venezuelans, has died at age 28.

Her family said Ekvall died Saturday at a hospital in Houston.

A new adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the famous detective's loyal sidekick Watson landed on top of North American box office charts over the weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The British-American action mystery film directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law grossed $40 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

Iconic 1960s Californian band The Beach Boys are reuniting to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a new album and a 50-date world tour next year, the group announced.

The original members of the band whose hits include "Good Vibrations" and "Surfin' USA" -- who fueled reunion talk when they recently re-recorded "Do it Again" -- had already been in the studio working on songs for the new album.

Honeyed vocals, a cinematic pout and a haunting, David Lynch-inspired video clip posted on YouTube was all it took to propel Lana Del Rey to global stardom, hailed as the musical revelation of 2011.

But a just-as-swift backlash has threatened to bring down the New York singer before her first album even hits the shelves next month, after bloggers attacked the 25-year-old as an industry-backed "fake", posing as self-made artist.

Wrapped in a maroon robe, her head shaven, Ani Choying Dolmatreads gingerly into a Kathmandu hotel, exuding the composure and serenity one might expect from a Buddhist nun.

But this 40-year-old is no ordinary devotee, for Dolma -- better known by her moniker "The Singing Nun" -- is the most unlikely of music stars, touring the world to change the lives of thousands of poverty-hit Nepali girls.

A bedroom mirror on which Michael Jackson scrawled a self-motivating message in the last months of his life sold for some $19,000, as the contents of his last home went under the hammer.

Fans of the King of Pop joined serious collectors at the Beverly Hills auction, which saw a shower bench on which Jackson drew a series of stick figures apparently dancing go for $4,480.