The Queen of pop is to launch her world tour in Tel Aviv.

Madonna, whose devotion to Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) is well known, will perform in Israel on April 29. It will be her first global tour in three years.

She has played in the country twice before, including to a crowd of 50,000 people in Hayarkon Park in September 2009.

Amy Winehouse's parents are exploring their next steps after the coroner in charge of the inquest into the singer's death resigned.

Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict that the Jewish singer had died from "misadventure" and accidental alcohol poisoning last year. But it has now emerged that she left her job a month after the ruling because she did not have the appropriate qualifications.

Britain's oldest television extra celebrated her 100th birthday in the company of a soap opera villain.

Lottie Goodwin, a resident at the Morris Feinmann care home in south Manchester, retired from the screen only last year, having appeared in Coronation Street, Brookside, Hollyoaks and Darling Buds of May among other popular series.

Three Jewish Hollywood heavyweights will go head to head at this year's Academy Awards.

Following in the footsteps of the Golden Globes, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and Aaron Sorkin could all see their films triumph in the Best Picture category.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, a film based on a novel by Jewish author Jonathan Safran Foer, was also nominated in the category.

The life of a Jewish family in Washington DC is to be dramatised by the television network behind The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

HBO has ordered a pilot episode of a series, starring Ben Stiller and written by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. A film adaptation of Mr Safran Foer's post-9/11 novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Clos will be in cinemas later this year.

An Israeli comedy about the rivalry between two bible experts has been shortlisted for an Academy Award.

Footnote, which won the best screenplay award at last year's Cannes film festival, is set at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

Directed by Joseph Cedar, it tells the story of the rivalry between a father and son who both work as Talmudic scholars.

Brett Levene, like any Jewish 15-year-old, is looking forward to going to Israel with FZY this summer on tour.

But Brett has to fit in modelling on catwalks in Paris and Milan.

A Liverpool theatre named in memory of Beatles manager Brian Epstein will open in May, with its new owners pledging it will be a fitting tribute to the musical entrepreneur.

Formerly known as the Neptune, the Grade II-listed city centre theatre has been closed since 2005.

But a £1 million refurbishment by Liverpool City Council has seen it renamed after the "fifth Beatle" as part of a regen

George Clooney is to battle the Nazis in his next film role.

The actor, whose latest film, The Descendants, has been heavily tipped for Academy Awards success, is to play an art historian attempting to restore artworks stolen by the Nazis to their rightful owners.

Mr Clooney will not only star in The Monuments Men, he will also write and direct the film.

The preacher father of pop star Katy Perry attacked Jews in a recent church sermon.

Keith Hudson told church congregants in Ohio that the way "to make the Jew jealous" was to "have some money, honey".

The 63-year-old, whose daughter is famous for hits including "I kissed a girl" and "Teenage Dream", said that in Los Angeles the Jews owned "all the Rolex and diamonds".

Natalie Portman will no longer be eating cheesecake on Shavuot - because reading Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Eating Animals persuaded her to become a vegan.

The Oscar-winning actress is now planning a documentary, based on the book.

Jonathan Safran Foer told a French website: "Natalie Portman is going to make a movie of it. She wants to make a very personal documentary.

Photojournalist Eve Arnold has died at the age of 99.

The photographer, who counted among her subjects Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, was the daughter of a rabbi who immigrated to the US from Odessa.

The creator of the West Wing is to turn his attention to the world of musical theatre.

Jewish screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is planning to make a musical about the Jewish magician Harry Houdini.

The show is set to star Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman and reach Broadway by next year.

According to the industry website Deadline, it will be "the librettist debut of Aaron Sorkin".

A film written by Aaron Sorkin has been nominated for a Golden Globe for the second year in a row.

The Jewish screenwriter triumphed with the Best Screenplay award for The Social Network at last year's awards and could do the same at this January's ceremony.