In post-Assad Syria, stand-up comedians are re-emerging to challenge taboos, mocking the former president and his regime and even testing the waters with Damascus' new rulers.

A video that circulated online of Lebanese pop star Ragheb Alameh on a phone call with Emirati singer Abdullah Belkheir stirred outrage among Lebanese as Alameh hailed the killing of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah enjoys great popularity among his supporters and even some who do not support Hezbollah. He was killed in September in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Stepping onto the set of "Squid Game" season two, Lee Jong-jae felt like he had never left.

"Including promotion, I'd been living with Gi-hun for about two years," said Lee in a recent interview. "I really felt like I was him," he said in a recent interview.

'Tis the season for spirited and winless debates about what the best Christmas movie is. No one needs us to remind you about the obvious holiday movies playing on repeat on cable, whether it's "It's a Wonderful Life", "Home Alone" or "Love, Actually," or even those holiday adjacent classics like "Eyes Wide Shut" and "The Godfather." But perhaps you are looking to go beyond the obvious this year (sorry, "Christmas Story," "White Christmas" etc, etc).

Associated Press Film Writers Jake Coyle and Lindsey Bahr have you covered with the best Christmas films for every mood.

Amy Allen might not yet be a household name, but her work lives in your brain rent-free. And it's grabbed the attention of the Grammys.

The 32-year-old songwriter has composed enduring hits with Halsey ("Without Me"), Selena Gomez ("Back to You") and Tate McRae ("Greedy"). Her contributions to Harry Styles' "Harry's House" earned her a Grammy for album of the year in 2023. Other credits include songs from Olivia Rodrigo, Charli XCX, Rosé, Reneé Rapp, Shawn Mendes, Leon Bridges and Justin Timberlake.

It was after one particularly emotional premiere of the new biopic about his life that Robbie Williams resolved he couldn't be "the crying guy" at every screening.

"Better Man," which chronicles the life of Williams, the British pop star and former Take That singer, can hit him differently at different times. Jet lag is a factor. So is who's in the building. One screening with his band, he says, was "healing." But he's self-conscious enough about all the emotion that he can be defensive about it.

Elon Musk, clad in tuxedo and black tie, took the stage at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort shortly after the election with all the swagger of the winning candidate himself.

"The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear, the clearest mandate. The people have spoken. The people want change," Musk told the audience of Trump's biggest donors, campaign leaders and appointment seekers. "We are going to shake things up. It's going to be a revolution."

Personal photos of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad have surfaced from his abandoned residences, sparking ridicule among Syrians who until days ago were persecuted for criticizing his carefully crafted public image.

The intimate and candid photos, reportedly discovered in albums from Assad's mansions in the hills of Damascus and Aleppo, offer a stark contrast to the polished, glamorous image that Assad and his father projected as they led Syria for half a century.

The Dutch city of Deventer transformed Saturday into a pocket of 19th-century England, with 950 people in costumes bringing characters from Charles Dickens' books to life.

Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge and Miss Havisham were among the characters at hand, mingling with chimney sweepers, livestock and Christmas carol singers in Deventer's historic center. Onlookers bowed when Queen Victoria passed through.

Taylor Swift has made a surprise stop at a Kansas City children's hospital, shocking parents and patients alike as she laughed with them, posed for photos and exchanged gifts.

All parent Cassie Thomas was told beforehand was that she might want to brush her hair and teeth because there was going to be a special visitor. But she was stunned when Swift, fresh off her Eras Tour and one day before her 35th birthday, walked into her son's room on Thursday at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.