TWICE, the nine-member K-pop band with over 9 million Twitter followers, says they feel their growing popularity overseas.

"People didn't know as much about us as they do now," band member Jihyo told The Associated Press ahead of last week's release of the band's third full-length album "Formula Of Love: O+T=3," adding that the growing popularity of K-pop around the world has allowed the band to release more English tracks.

What's in a name? Well, for Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of "Sesame Street," her name is a sign she was meant to live there.

"So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong," Ji-Young explained during a recent interview. "But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame."

A new rocket designed to launch humans to the moon, Mars and beyond will launch next year from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board, will be a familiar fuzzy figure — Snoopy.

A 5-ounce plush toy version of the daydreaming beagle — wearing a space suit designed according to NASA's strict specifications — has an important job for the Artemis I unmanned mission.

A Danish artist who is seeking to retrieve his sculpture in Hong Kong commemorating the victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown said Friday he wants safe passage guaranteed for himself and his employees when they dismantle and remove the artwork called "Pillar of Shame," which is at the center of a controversy.

In an open letter, Jens Galschioet said that his presence in Hong Kong is "necessary" because the 8-meter-tall (26.25 feet), two-ton sculpture is "very difficult to move ... without causing significant and irreparable damage."

Hong Kong's swanky new M+ museum — Asia's largest gallery with a billion-dollar collection — is set to open on Friday amid controversy over politics and censorship.

M+ boasts 183,000 square feet (17,000 square meters) of exhibition space, 33 galleries and over 6,400 works in its collection that range from modern and contemporary art to architecture and moving images. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, M+ aims to put Asia on the global map for art and was built to rival London's Modern Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The cool 1960s-style lines of the Ariana Cinema's marquee stand out over a traffic-clogged roundabout in downtown Kabul. For decades, the historic cinema has entertained Afghans and borne witness to Afghanistan's wars, hopes and cultural shifts.

Now the marquee is stripped of the posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks that used to adorn it. The gates are closed.

Paul Rudd has been crowned as 2021's Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.

Rudd, known for his starring roles in Marvel's "Ant-Man" films, "This is 40" and "Clueless," was revealed as this year's winner Tuesday night on CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Marvel's new film "Eternals" broke the mold in an area the studio has conspicuously avoided for years: Sex between superheroes.

It's the first time in 26 Marvel cinematic universe films that an intimate conjugal moment was visibly shown between two characters. The scene — depicted by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao — already captured headlines before the film's theatrical release Friday.

At least eight people died and several were wounded in a crush at the Astroworld music festival in the southern U.S. state of Texas on Friday night, authorities said.

"Thank You," by Diana Ross (Decca Records/Universal Music Group)

Diana Ross' first album in 15 years cuts through our present cynicism and slices past the despair. "Thank You" is a warm hug of music, less a tightly constructed pop vehicle, than a mood.