They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service. But both also saw their legacies tarnished by their actions in the long, bloody war in Iraq.

French car manufacturer Citroen withdrew Thursday an advertisement featuring Egyptian singer Amr Diab after it sparked widespread accusations of promoting the harassment of women.

In the ad posted on Egyptian social media in early December, the 60-year-old pop star uses a camera installed in the car's rearview mirror to secretly take a picture of a woman crossing in front of the vehicle.

Peter Parker's good fortune continued over the holiday weekend as Hollywood prepares to close the books on a turbulent 2021. Even with some mighty competition from new Matrix and Sing movies, and rising concerns over the omicron variant, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" stayed in the No. 1 spot and netted a few more milestones too including crossing the $1 billion mark globally.

According to studio estimates Sunday "Spider-Man" added $81.5 million over the three-day weekend, down 69% from its first weekend. The Sony and Marvel film has now grossed $467 million from North American theaters, more than doubling the domestic grosses of 2021's previous No. 1 film, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

With a touch of Barbara Stanwyck, a sumptuous Art Deco office and a deadly shade of crimson lipstick, Cate Blanchett plays a femme fatale in Guillermo del Toro's "Nightmare Alley" with cunning embrace and subversion of the film noir archetype.

If "Nightmare Alley" is del Toro's lushly composed love letter to noir, the movie's pulpy heart is in Blanchett's conniving psychiatrist Lilith Ritter. She doesn't enter the film until halfway through, when Bradley Cooper's carnival huckster, Stan, catches her eye in his nightclub mind-reading act, and the two begin scheming together. But when she does turn up, Blanchett shifts the film's fable-like frequency, conjuring deeper shades of mystery from the movie's rich tapestry of shadow and fate.

Preparing to direct "A Journal for Jordan," a bittersweet love story opening on Christmas Day, Denzel Washington says he took a "master class."

That master class consisted of starring in a movie directed by Joel Coen, "The Tragedy of Macbeth," which opens the same day. "I steal from the best," Washington says with a smile.

YouTube TV began restoring access to Disney content after a dispute between the companies led to an interruption of service over the weekend.

YouTube told viewers Sunday they were restoring service so customers could once again watch networks provided by Disney such as ESPN, FX, National Geographic and local ABC stations.

An Asian American who is one of the biggest pop stars in China apologized to his family and fans on Monday and said he will take a break from performing after a public dispute on social media with his ex-wife, who accused him of infidelity and hiring prostitutes.

The dayslong back-and-forth has riveted fans of Wang Leehom, who is popular across the Chinese-speaking world and has acted in movies including "Lust, Caution" in 2007. The scandal was the top trending topic on the Chinese social media site Weibo, with many blaming and criticizing him.

In the darkest days of the year, in a very dark time, there is a longing for illumination.

And so, all around the world, the holiday lights go on — some of them humble, some of them spectacular, all of them a welcome respite from the dark.

The Foo Fighters rock band has called off its concert at the Formula One race in Abu Dhabi due to "unforeseen medical circumstances," event organizers said.

The organizers offered no further details about the medical issue, other than to say that Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters were "unable to travel" to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Sunday's concert.

Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe in the Israeli city of Eilat early Monday, with several contestants defying pressure to boycott in support of the Palestinians. 

The 70th edition of the annual pageant, held in Israel for the first time, has also faced complications from the coronavirus pandemic.