"Twerking", the raunchy dance that set tongues wagging when enthusiastically performed by Miley Cyrus at the MTV awards, is one of the new terms to make the latest Oxford dictionary update.

The former Disney child star, now 20, left audience members gobsmacked when she bent over and gyrated provocatively with singer Robin Thicke on his song "Blurred Lines".

The Venice film festival kicks off Wednesday with the arrival of movie stars on water taxis for a dark line-up flush with fiendish tales of abuse, betrayal and survival.

The world's oldest film festival opens with "Gravity", a 3-D sci-fi thriller starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts who are flung into deep space when a debris shower destroys their shuttle.

Indian Kashmiri separatists are demanding the cancellation of a concert by celebrated conductor Zubin Mehta to be staged in the disputed territory next month, saying it would legitimise Indian "state repression".

The concert by the Mumbai-born Mehta on September 7 is being organised by the Indian Kashmir state tourism department and the German embassy in New Delhi.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has recorded a musical spoof on his Australian political party for cult web series Rap News, satirising rock star John Farnham in a wig and denim shirt.

Assange, who started the WikiLeaks Party to run for office in next month's Australian election, modified the words to Farnham's 1986 hit "You're the Voice" in a video for the online program, which raps about current affairs.

Victoria Beckham, the one-time pop star who is now one of the most courted designers at the upcoming New York Fashion Week, says she has even bigger plans for her eponymous brand.

"I want to get bigger and bigger," the former Spice Girl told the New York Times ahead of the unveiling of her spring-summer 2014 collection during fashion week, which begins on September 5.

Hundreds of thousands of revelers hit the streets Monday for the Notting Hill Carnival, the celebration of Caribbean culture that filled west London with dancers in shimmering feathers.

The two-day extravaganza draws up to a million people to the west London neighborhood to watch troupes in exotic costumes perform on floats as the music pumps out.

Rumors are circulating that enduring Hollywood couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones’ 13-year marriage is over.

The couple, who have not been photographed together for four months, are said to be living apart.

Actors Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, one of the film industry's most famous couples, announced Monday they had separated after 14 years of marriage.

"Vincent Cassel confirms that he is separating from his wife Monica Bellucci by mutual agreement," said a statement released by Cassel's spokeswoman, without revealing further details.

Written by Anthony Sargon

As far as I'm concerned, the summer movie season ends with "The World's End", and that is in no way a bad thing. Serving as the third chapter in director Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, the movie is a blast from start to finish, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a more imaginative movie this summer.

Justin Timberlake stole the show late Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, singing several of his top hits and surprising fans with reunion of his old band N Sync.

Timberlake, wildly cheered and applauded by the crowd packed into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, received the night's most important prize -- the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award for career achievements. He also won the Video of the Year award for the song "Mirrors."