Italian designer Stefano Pilati earned a standing ovation on Monday night as he sent out his swansong collection for Yves Saint Laurent before a star-studded gathering at Paris Fashion Week.

French actresses Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert were joined front row by the U.S. pop star Katy Perry -- sporting bright blue hair -- the soul singer Alicia Keys and the actress Rosario Dawson, in cheering the collection.

Inhabited by lonely little monsters, dancing corpses and boggle-eyed creatures from the underworld, Tim Burton's cult universe comes to Paris this week with a show that journeys through his life's work.

Some 500 sketches -- the starting point for all Burton's films -- whisk visitors deep into the U.S. director's surreal inner world, with gothic doodles dating back to his misfit childhood in Burbank, a bland suburb of Los Angeles.

Pop diva Lady Gaga has become the first person with more than 20 million followers on Twitter, cementing her place as the most-followed on the planet.

A 20 millionth "Little Monster," as Lady Gaga calls her fans, signed up to follow her Twitter feed over the weekend.

Canada imposed Monday a fresh round of sanctions on Syria targeting the central bank and seven cabinet ministers in a bid to halt President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown on dissent.

The Canadian embassy in Damascus and a consulate also were shuttered and Canadian diplomats left the country, the foreign affairs ministry said.

Coldplay and Mumford and Sons were among the performers here late Sunday at an Amnesty International concert organized in defense of freedom of expression.

The show marked the first time that the "Secret Policeman's Ball" -- organized by Amnesty International since 1976 -- was held in the United States.

"Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," the animated fable about the hazards of industrialized society, topped the North American box office on its debut weekend, taking in a stunning $70.7 million, industry figures showed Sunday.

The Seuss movie, featuring the voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, and Taylor Swift, set a record for the highest non-sequel animated film debut, ahead of "The Incredibles."

Chinese stars dot the front rows, a new designer from the country joins the runway calendar, and its retailers scout the city for talent: China's love affair with style is on full view at Paris Fashion Week.

Outside the French capital's Rodin Museum on Friday, paparazzi clustered around after the Dior show poring over a hand-out from the company, matching names to the faces of the Chinese celebrities they had just snapped.

Martin Sheen commanded the stage with his impassioned portrayal of an attorney arguing for gay-marriage rights; Jane Lynch inspired instant response as a vehement same-sex marriage opponent; Brad Pitt dazzled as a judge.

It was all part of the star-studded West Coast premiere of "8," a play about the 2010 federal court fight against Proposition 8, the gay-marriage ban that California voters approved in 2008.

Ralph McQuarrie, the cinematic designer known for the famous "Star Wars" characters such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca and R2-D2, has died at age 82, his website announced Sunday.

McQuarrie, who died Saturday, collaborated with George Lucas on the original "Star Wars" trilogy in the 1970s and with Steven Spielberg on films including "E.T," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Fadel Shaker, a Lebanese pop star turned outspoken supporter of Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, on Sunday stressed the “need” for artists to support the beleaguered Syrian people, urging them to “reject the massacres” taking place in Syria.

Speaking at an anti-Syrian regime sit-in organized in Beirut’s Martyrs Square by Salafist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, imam of the Sidon’s Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, Shaker said: “Haven’t they seen the massacres in Homs, Daraa, Deir al-Zour and other regions?”