Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been granted the first UN award in memory of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Hariri's widow said on Tuesday. Erdogan landed the award "for his wise leadership and statesmanship . . . especially as mayor of Istanbul" in the 1990s, Nazek Hariri, who heads her slain husband's foundation, said in a statement.

Thousands of people brought Sydney's downtown to a standstill as the flamboyant annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade marched, danced and sashayed through the city streets. Balmy weather meant crowds were bigger than last year, with media reports suggesting as many as 300,000 turned out to watch the Saturday night parade, which featured drag queens and scores of George Michael look-alikes.

Each year, Nepalese youth in two villages in the south of the Himalayan country save up their choicest insults for a 10-day "cursing festival" that reaches its climax Sunday. The youngsters in the neighbouring villages of Parsawa and Laxmipur hurl insults at each other, their neighbours, villagers and passers-by -- and then laugh.

Almost 10,000 people shimmied, strutted and strode through the ages on Saturday as Sydney celebrated its 32nd gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade. More than 100 floats with 9,500 performers filled the city's streets, with Osama bin Laden and Michael Jackson among figures to feature in the "History of the World" themed event.

Six drag queens broke out of the barriers and charged up the course in their dresses on Friday as Sydney hosted what was billed as the world's first gay race day. Bright frocks, high heels and large wigs were on show for the Royal Randwick Racecourse's Pink Stiletto Race Day, a fund-raiser for this weekend's renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.

A US comedy starring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a lesbian couple whose kids seek out their sperm donor won the Teddy prize for best gay movie at the Berlin Film Festival, organisers said Saturday. Awarded ahead of the festival's Golden Bear prize for best picture Saturday night, the Teddy Bear went to "The Kids Are All Right", chosen by a jury of eight organisers of gay and lesbian film events around the world.

Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" is among the front-runners for the top prize at the 60th Berlin Film Festival this week, despite his glaring absence at the event due to his ongoing house arrest. As the 11-day festival, the first major world cinema showcase of the year, hit the halfway mark Tuesday, critics had shortlisted Polanski's political thriller based on the British bestseller "The Ghost" for the Golden Bear award.

Madonna has enthusiastically embraced Brazil's spectacular Carnival in Rio and even wanted to try some samba moves herself during parades overnight, Brazilian media reported Monday. The US entertainer attended the spectacular shows with her Brazilian toyboy boyfriend, model Jesus Luz, her two children and a coterie of US friends.

A 37-year-old Dutch tourist was in hospital in Rio de Janeiro Saturday after being shot twice by muggers who attacked his wife during Carnival festivities, the newspaper O Globo reported. The man, identified as Alexander Kors Johannes, was shot in the stomach and arm during the assault late Friday. His wife, Ella Ferwrda, also 37, was beaten about the head with a pistol.

"Metropolis" triumphantly came home to Berlin on Friday as the silent classic was shown in full for the first time since 1927 following the sensational 2008 discovery of key scenes thought lost for ever. Fritz Lang's vision of a futuristic urban society -- fully restored, except for a few minutes, to its original state -- was beamed onto a huge screen at the historic Brandenburg Gate.