German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the illustrious guests who trod the red carpet to the Festspielhaus theater in Bayreuth on Saturday, at the glittering start to this year's month-long opera festival dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner.

Germany's political and social elite drove up Bayreuth's mythical Green Hill in black limousines for the eagerly-awaited premiere of a new production of "Tristan and Isolde" by the composer's great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner.

New York City police have launched an investigation after hip-hop heavyweight Grandmaster Flash's car was given away at a Manhattan parking garage.

A New York Police Department spokesman says Friday that the incident happened July 16 around 7:30 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the guest list Saturday of the gala opening of the Bayreuth Festival, one of the highlights in Germany's cultural calendar.

The legendary month-long summer festival, dedicated exclusively to the works of composer Richard Wagner, was scheduled to begin at 1400 GMT with an eagerly awaited new production of "Tristan and Isolde" by the composer's great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner.

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. has severed ties with Hulk Hogan amid a report that one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history used racial slurs in a conversation caught on a sex tape.

The company deleted most references to Hogan on its website and issued a statement Friday saying it had terminated its contract with him.

A New York City jury has found that rapper 50 Cent must pay an additional $2 million in punitive damages to a woman featured in a sex tape posted to the Internet.

The jurors' decision Friday came two weeks after they ordered the multiplatinum-selling artist to pay $5 million to Lastonia Leviston.

Dinosaur blockbuster "Jurassic World" has stomped its way up the box office rankings to become the third biggest global hit of all time, analysts said Thursday. 

The fourth film in the popular "Jurassic Park" series has earned $1.522 billion worldwide, eclipsing "The Avengers" ($1.520 billion) to take third spot in the global box office. 

Chris Brown left the Philippines late Friday after being stranded for three days due to a fraud complaint against him for a canceled concert last New Year's Eve.

He still had to sit through a three-hour delay at the airport and fly to Hong Kong instead of Macau.

Actress-turned-director Angelina Jolie is to make a film about Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime seen through the eyes of a war-scarred child for Netflix, the streaming giant said Thursday.

The Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister will adapt "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," a harrowing memoir by Cambodian human rights activist Loung Ung about surviving the deadly regime.

The EU's anti-trust regulator on Thursday accused six major Hollywood studios and Britain's Sky TV pay channel of using movie licenses to block access to their content in other EU countries.

Under investigation along with the Britain and Ireland's Sky pay TV network are six Hollywood film studios: Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros.

American hip-hop star Chris Brown, barred from leaving the Philippines over a row with a powerful religious sect, insisted in a foul-mouthed rant on Thursday that he did nothing wrong.

The 26-year-old's private jet remains grounded at Manila airport two days after he performed at a concert in the capital, amid a fraud complaint filed against him by the indigenous Christian group Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ).