ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok has been chosen as the 2013 “World Book Capital” by a selection committee including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it was announced after a meeting held at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters.

The author of a new book on Thailand's famed spirit tattoos discusses everything from women with superpowers to Culture Ministry crackdowns

Prominent Burmese composer Maung Thit Min, 58, died of colon cancer in Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday morning.

SIMON Cowell has sensationally gone to cops over internet allegations that Britain's Got Talent has been RIGGED for angelic Ronan Parke to win.

The culture ministry has put its foot down, saying too many foreigners are abusing the privilege of getting inked with holy images.

Thailand's capable crews, post-production facilities and eye-popping locations have made it a venue of choice over the years for filmmakers as diverse as Oliver Stone, Werner Herzog and, most recently, Todd Phillips, who shot the ribald "The Hangover Part II" here.

Grease star Jeff Conaway died today after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. The actor was taken off life support yesterday and passed away this morning at Encino Tarzana Medical Center.

I'm told that Sony Pictures is negotiating to acquire U.S. distribution rights to the untitled Kathryn Bigelow-directed drama about Navy SEAL Team 6's hunt for Osama bin Laden. Mark Boal, Bigelow's partner on the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, is finalizing a script that changes the film from a drama about an unsuccessful attempt to hunt the Al Qaeda leader into a methodical hunt that culminates in his death. The film is being fully financed by Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures. Production will start in the early fall and the pic will be ready for release in 2012.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's latest thriller, "The Skin I Live In," had filmgoers fleeing the theater Thursday night at its gala premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, due to some aggressively violent and disturbing content.

To fans, he was movie star tough guy the Terminator. Then he turned to politics and was affectionately dubbed the Governator. But after acknowledging that he fathered a child out of wedlock, Arnold Schwarzenegger was swiftly given a new name -- the Sperminator.