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Grammy Award-winning singer Adele and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson were among more than 1,000 people recognized by Britain's Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honors List on Friday. Marking the monarch's official 87th birthday, the honors went to 1,180 recipients from all walks of life, from a beekeeper and a whisky maker to diplomats, artists and business leaders. London-born Adele, 25, was awarded an MBE - member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - for services to music. One of Britain's best-selling artists, Adele has won a string of international awards for songs such as "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You" and "Skyfall", a James Bond theme. Comedian Atkinson, known to millions of fans around the world for his bungling creation Mr Bean, was given a CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire.   A knighthood went to actor Tony Robinson, who played Atkinson's long-suffering servant Baldrick in "Blackad

Singer Bob Dylan will embark on a 33-date tour of Europe starting in Oslo on October 10 and ending at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 28, a statement on his website said on Friday. The "Blowin in the Wind" singer - who is scheduled to finish his "AmericanaramA" tour in Mountain View, California on August 4 - said tickets for "Bob Dylan in Europe" would go on sale on Friday.   "Bob Dylan and his band will tour Europe this fall," the statement on his website said of the 10-country tour. The announcement follows the September release of Dylan's latest studio album, "The Tempest", described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of his weirdest albums ever". Dylan was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May this year and awarded the top U.S. civilian honour last year, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Earlier this month, the grand chancellor of the French council which clears no

Rupert Murdoch appears to be seeking a quiet divorce, based on the lawyer he has chosen and the absence of incendiary allegations, people with knowledge of the case and experience of high-profile New York divorces said. Divorce papers filed by the media mogul on Thursday comprised a short document saying the marriage is irretrievably broken, according to a person with knowledge of the filing.   The document, which formally starts a divorce action under New York's no-fault law, contains no details of wrongdoing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. That, his choice of lawyer and a series of pre- and post-nuptial agreements all favor a strategy for ending his 14-year marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch as quickly and quietly as possible, the experts said. "While she might try to get more money somehow, and he might be willing to give it to her because he's got so much money, it seems to me she's bound by all those agreements," said John Vassallo, w

More than a hundred Russian ballet fans rallied in Moscow on Saturday in support of a top dancer who says he is being chased out of the Bolshoi Theatre due to disputes in the wake of an acid attack on its artistic director earlier this year. The attack on Sergei Filin in January stunned Russians and exposed the bitter rivalries and behind-the-scenes power struggles at the theatre, a symbol of Russian culture since the 18th century. Bolshoi dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko has confessed to plotting the attack on Filin, which left him with severe burns to his eyes and face, but both Filin and Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov have said they think others were involved.   Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who has been told to leave at the end of June, had clashed with Iksanov even before the attack, but their relationship soured sharply after Iksanov said the 39-year-old dancer might have acted as an instigator. This month Tsiskaridze said he was being "hounded" out of the theatre. "There

Reality television star Kim Kardashian gave birth to a girl fathered by rapper Kanye West, celebrity magazines People and Us Weekly reported Saturday. _0"> Each magazine posted a story on its website citing an unnamed source in confirming the birth of the daughter to the celebrity couple.   Representatives for Kardashian and West could not immediately be reached for comment. People magazine said Kardashian, 32, gave birth on Saturday ahead of schedule, with the baby reportedly due in early July. Kardashian stars with her sisters in the reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." She has a clothing line and several product endorsements and was the most-searched person on the Yahoo! in 2012. Grammy-winning rap star Kanye West and Kardashian began dating in April 2012. Two months ago Kardashian and her second husband, Kris Humphries of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, announced they had reached a divorce settlement. They had split 72 days after their August 2011

The British rock band Black Sabbath's album "13!" has given them a first British Number One album in nearly 43 years, a record interval between chart-toppers, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday. Black Sabbath were last at the top of the UK chart with their second album, "Paranoid".   "I'm in shock!" Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne told the Official Charts Company. "The success of this album has blown me off my feet. We've never had a record climb the charts so fast." The band saw off competition from Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye, in second place with "BE". In the singles chart, American R&B singer Robin Thicke made it three weeks on top with "Blurred Lines". The song, featuring rapper TI and Pharrell Williams, has sold over 580,000 copies, making it the fifth-best selling single of 2013. "La La La" by the British rapper Naughty Boy, featuring singer Sam Smith, remained in

Voters in Florida were still waiting to cast their ballots more than six hours after polls closed on Election Day, registered voters in Ohio were told they were not on voter rolls and new voter ID laws in Pennsylvania led to confusion at voting places. Election Day problems have become commonplace in the United States in recent general elections. But a comment by President Barack Obama offered a glimmer of hope that problems that have dogged voting for years might finally be addressed.   In his election victory speech, made while some people still waited in line to cast ballots in Florida six hours after polls closed, Obama took a moment to point out that he was aware of problems with the electoral system. "I want to thank every American who participated in this election, whether you voted for the very first time, or waited in line for a very long time," Obama said in Chicago. "By the way, we have to fix that." That heartened supporters of election reform, who