Malcom X actress Angela Bassett signs up to star opposite Samuel L Jackson in the Broadway production of the play The Mountaintop.

The gates at the Glastonbury Festival open ahead of the music event at Worthy Farm.

Britain's John Galliano, the former star designer at Dior accused of anti-Semitic abuse, is set to stand trial in Paris.

Rapper 50 Cent is to write an anti-bullying book aimed at teenagers which is due out early 2012.

The BBC's World Service is to receive an extra £2.2m per year over the next three years from the government to secure its Arabic service.

British spy novelist John le Carre is to receive the Goethe Medal for his "outstanding service to the German language".

The story of singer Dame Shirley Bassey's life is being made into a film, the BBC announces.

Hollywood star George Clooney will open this year's Venice Film Festival with a political drama which he has directed, produced, co-written and acted in.