The 12-week festival of cultural events running alongside the London 2012 Olympics gets under way, with fireworks at Lake Windermere and an inflatable Stonehenge.

The London 2012 Olympic Stadium and a house extension in Belfast are named on a list of Britain's best new buildings.

Activists from around the world seeking the return of the British Museum's Parthenon sculptures to Athens meet in London to discuss their campaign as Greece faces troubled times.

Comedian Jimmy Carr says he has made a "terrible error of judgement" over using a tax avoidance scheme and has pulled out of it.

Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Leona Lewis, Kasabian and Example talk about the event which will see more than 100 artists play for 100,000 fans in east London.

US artist LeRoy Neiman, an official painter of five Olympiads famed for his instant renditions of sporting action, dies in New York aged 91.

US actor Richard Lynch, a horror movie staple who employed his scarred face to play villainous characters, dies in California at the age of 76.

The Twilight star is Hollywood's highest-paid actress making £22 million in the last financial year, according to US magazine Forbes.