Each July, the small coastal town of Forde in Western Norway hosts its folk music festival. The tiny village surrounded by fjords and waterfalls makes a beautiful setting for what has become the biggest folk festival in Scandinavia.

Around 800 stars of the famous Hollywood "Walk of Fame" will be polished for the 50th anniversary in 2010 of this symbol of the movie industry. Authorities will have to find $4 million to finance the project.

This Nigerian singer is the youngest son of legendary Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti. For his first album, Seun Kuti is extremely political: almost every track takes on the corruption and irresponsibility of African leaders past and present.

French filmmaker Agnès Varda is re-releasing all her films on DVD. The extras offer real insight into her work and are a wealth of knowledge for cinema buffs.Varda received us for an interview in Paris.

The latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, is getting rave reviews. Christopher Nolan directed a brilliant cast including Christian Bale as Gotham City's millionaire hero. The Joker is played by actor Heath Ledger who died just after filming wrapped.

"Songs for Tibet", an album available to download on iTunes three days before Beijing's Olympics begin, features top pop stars like Sting and Moby.

It's 2009 autumn-winter fashion week in Berlin. This event, which started only two years ago is becoming "the place to be". For this season the entire city is turning into a veritable catwalk; subway or podium, designers are everywhere.

The Muppet Show makes online comeback

Roughly 100 pages of what is thought to be the oldest known Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, will be put online. Leipzig University's aim is to make the whole text visible for web users by summer 2009.

The company are in Paris, performing in a proscenium theater for the first time, a symbolic heralding of the increasingly theatrical aspects of Brown's choreography and the growing public recognition of her work.

Police have arrested a suspect in the theft of two Pablo Picasso prints from a museum in Sao Paulo last month and recovered one of the engravings, "The Painter and His Model", police and a museum official said Saturday.

A remotely controlled Japanese camera has made it possible to see an ancient Egyptian "solar" boat, entombed 4,500 years ago near Giza's Great Pyramid and designed to carry pharaohs to the afterlife.

An Italian Jew aims to find every piece of music written in the Nazi death camps. Since 1991, his quest had led him to discover enough material to make 32 albums he hopes will be ready by 2012.

French first lady Carla Bruni's new album took the third spot on the music charts, behind British rock group Coldplay and French entertainer Laurent Voulzy, after its release in France last week.

One of the emblematic images of French industry and design, the Citroen 2CV is celebrating its 60th birthday this year, in spectacular fashion. The mythical car is the star of an exhibition and enjoys a cure of youthfulness in the streets of Paris.

The Paris National Opera company is embarking on a tour of Japan to mark the 150th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries. Starting Saturday, the venerable Paris company will give nine performances through to July 31.

Lebanese haute couture emerged at the beginning of the XXIst century, in a region of never-ending conflicts. But Lebanon has always been a glittering showcase for the Arab world.

After four years without a movie, the 10th animated film of Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki, "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea", is about to be released. It is an occasion for Japan to show its admiration for the master of animation.

Music royalty societies used to make authors and composers buy an exclusive licence to the national royalty society of their own country. But the Commission ended the restrictive clauses on Wednesday, opening up a European market.