Italian maestro Riccardo Muti will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on tours of Mexico and Asia in the upcoming season, the orchestra said Tuesday.

The award-winning orchestra is widely regarded as one of the best in the world and received critical acclaim for its tour of Russia earlier this year.

Acclaimed Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma and "world-class songwriter" Paul Simon, also of the United States, have won this year's Polar Music prize, organizers said in Stockholm Tuesday.

Born in Paris to Chinese parents and having grown up in the United States, "Yo-Yo Ma has dedicated his virtuosity and his heart to journeys of musical exploration and discovery around the world," the jury said in its citation.

Former supermodel Linda Evangelista's five-year-old son Augustin is unlikely to lack pocket money after his billionaire father made an out-of-court settlement for child support Monday.

There was no word on how much Francois-Henri Pinault, 49, agreed to pay his ex to end the court case in New York, which had been due to go into its third day of testimony.

John Travolta dismissed as a "baseless lie" Monday a lawsuit seeking $2 million for alleged assault and sexual battery of a masseur, during a massage session at a Beverly Hills hotel.

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles claims Travolta tried to have sex with the male masseur, whom he had allegedly hired for a $200-an-hour massage in January. Travolta's statement said the actor was not even in Los Angeles.

Britain's Prince Harry accepted a humanitarian prize from a major Washington think-tank Monday for his work supporting charities that help injured British and U.S. military personnel.

Harry, 27, on his first-ever visit to the U.S. capital, arrived at the Atlantic Council fund-raiser to a small bevy of young female admirers, who he neglected to acknowledge as he stepped inside the luxury Ritz-Carlton Hotel for the gala.

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan has been lauded for addressing some of India's darkest social problems after his new television show tackled the taboo subject of female feticide.

Khan's show, which had been massively promoted before its debut on Sunday, received near-universal praise from the press and the public for his interviews with women about their harrowing experiences.

French singer-songwriter Charles Dumont, who wrote the music to one of Edith Piaf's top hits, appealed Sunday for the return of precious mementos that were stolen from his Paris apartment.

"They took a lot of money but especially my souvenirs of Edith," Dumont, who wrote the music to the 1960 hit "Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" (No, I Have No Regrets), told the Paris daily Le Parisien.

Fans of Lady Gaga bidding on a teacup and saucer used only once by the pop diva had offered more than six million yen ($75,000) for the item by the time the hammer fell, a Japanese auction site said Monday.

With more than 1,300 bids, the week-long auction finished at 1400 GMT Sunday, with a top offer of 6,011,000 yen, Yahoo! Japan, which managed the charity event, said.

Earth's mightiest comic book heroes smashed North American box office records as "The Avengers" pummeled the competition to haul in $200.3 million on its opening weekend, industry analysts said Sunday.

Directed by cult favorite Joss Whedon, the Walt Disney high-thrills action adventure made in collaboration with Marvel Comics looked set to become the highest grossing U.S debut of all time.

Kim Kardashian's attorney told a judge Friday that the reality star wants her divorce from Kris Humphries to move forward but that the case has been slowed by the NBA player's hurt feelings and his desire for an annulment.

The couple was married last summer in a lavish, star-studded and televised ceremony, but Kardashian filed for divorce on Oct. 31. Humphries responded a month later asking for an annulment, claiming the couple's nuptials were based on a fraud, but not laying out specific evidence.