Cruise steps out with new girlfriend

Tom Cruise has a new girlfriend - Dawson's Creek star Katie Holmes.

Cruise, 42, and Holmes, 26, were spotted in Rome, where tomorrow he will receive a lifetime achievement award.

The couple were pictured together holding hands and have been seeing each other for a few weeks, according to their publicists.

Holmes is 16 years younger than the Hollywood heartthrob and has just finished filming Batman Begins.

Cruise - who will next be seen in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster War of the Worlds - split from actress Penelope Cruz last year after a three-year relationship.

Prior to that, he was married to Nicole Kidman for 10 years. They have adopted two children together who they share custody of.