Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi had been thinking about the concept behind " A Hero " long before he started making movies.

In fact, the spark came before he even knew that he'd ever make a film. As a theater student, he saw the Bertolt Brecht play "Galileo" and it triggered an idea about a person who does a good deed, has a quick ascent and even quicker descent. It's been rattling in his brain since.

On a chillingly quiet weekend at movie theaters, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" again topped the box office in its seventh week of release.

January is traditionally a slow month for moviegoing and that's been especially true this year, in part because the omicron variant of the coronavirus prompted some postponements. But even before the omicron surge or a blizzard that forced some theaters closed Saturday in the Northeast, the weekend was set to be especially muted.

The African soccer confederation lifted a temporary suspension on games at the main stadium at the African Cup of Nations tournament on Sunday, and it will allow the stadium to host a semifinal and the Feb. 6 final after a crush that left eight fans dead and 38 injured, seven of them seriously.

The Confederation of African Football made the move after receiving a report into the deadly stampede last Monday at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde during the last-16 game between tournament host Cameroon and Comoros.

The Tunisian Football Federation fired national team coach Mondher Kebaier on Sunday following a quarterfinal exit at the African Cup of Nations.

He was replaced by his assistant, Jalel Kadri, the federation said.

Union Berlin's star player Max Kruse stunned the high-flying club by asking for a transfer to his former team Wolfsburg at the other end of the Bundesliga, with the forward set to rejoin Wolfsburg on the last day of the winter transfer window.

The former Germany striker asked Union fans on Sunday for their "understanding for my decision to accept an offer that is long-term and highly paid."

The biggest stars of African soccer are on course to meet in their continent's biggest game.

Mohamed Salah's Egypt and Sadio Mané's Senegal reached the African Cup of Nations semifinals on Sunday. One more win for both teams will see the Liverpool pair meet in the final.

Global stocks rose Monday following a big Wall Street gain at the start of a week when China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets will close for the Lunar New Year holiday.

London and Frankfurt opened higher. Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced while Sydney declined. Markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were due to close later in the week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the "immediate release" of a French-Iranian researcher imprisoned in Iran, officials said.

Macron made the plea in a "long" phone call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, according to a statement from the French presidency.

India's economy is projected to grow 8% to 8.5% in the financial year beginning April 1, signaling a strong recovery after it was slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government's annual economic survey, released Monday, comes a day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is due to present the national budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

A leading rights group on Monday urged the European Union to reverse its migration policy on Libya, saying the approach helps return migrants to "hellish" conditions in the North African country.

Amnesty International said in a statement more than 82,000 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in the past five years since the EU began its cooperation with Libyan authorities to block migrants from reaching European shores.