The world's eight billion people on Saturday prepared to usher in 2023 and farewell a turbulent 12 months marked by war in Europe, stinging price rises and Lionel Messi's world cup glory.

Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, in and maybe out again. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

One would have to go back hundreds of years to find a monarch who reigned longer than Queen Elizabeth II.

In her 70 years on the throne, she helped modernize the monarchy across decades of enormous social change, royal marriages and births, and family scandals. For most Britons, she was the only monarch they had ever known.

The season's triple-virus threat notwithstanding, parties are back, and they've brought with them the potential for some dress code chaos.

White tie, black tie, black tie creative/festive, semiformal: It might take some extra re-entry energy to figure out these pre-pandemic guidelines in an exhausted world more used to sweats and sneakers.

Blockbusters like "Top Gun: Maverick,""Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and "Avatar: The Way of Water" and pop stars like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Rihanna just got one step closer to getting Oscar nominations.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 95th Oscars, including documentary feature, international film, makeup and hairstyling, score, original song, sound, visual effects and shorts.

After being arrested for creating antigovernment propaganda in 2010, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years. Since then, he's made five widely acclaimed features.

His latest, "No Bears," opens soon in U.S. theaters while Panahi is in prison.

A winsome young woman marries into the top echelon of royalty, becomes lonely in a passionless marriage, and suffers eating disorders and depression even as she fascinates the outside world. Decades after her untimely death, they're still making movies and TV shows about her.

P.S. Guess what? Her name isn't Diana.

" Avatar: The Way of Water " didn't make quite as big of a splash as many assumed it would, but James Cameron's big budget spectacle still helped breathe life into the box office this weekend. The sequel earned $134 million from North American theaters and $300.5 million internationally for a $434.5 million global debut, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Iranian authorities arrested one of the country's most renowned actresses Saturday on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said.

The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie "The Salesman," was detained a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.

Four people were hospitalized in critical condition on Friday after hundreds of people forced their way into a London concert venue during a performance by Nigerian Afrobeats star Asake.

Police said eight people were taken to hospitals after being caught in a crowd of people trying to get into the O2 Brixton Academy. Two other injured people were treated at the scene.