National Entertainment

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek novelist Vassilis Vassilikos, whose political book “Z” inspired the Academy Award-winning film of the same name, died Thursday in Athens at age 89.

NEW YORK (AP) — All things Barbie , going pantless, humungo Stanley Cup bottles and pressure tipping. There's plenty from 2023 to leave behind come the new year. Extreme weather hit historic heights. Fakeness took a huge turn with the rise of AI.

TORONTO — Robert Lepage and Guillaume Cote have reimagined "Hamlet" without one of its most famous features: the script.

LONDON (AP) — Shane MacGowan, the boozy, rabble-rousing singer and chief songwriter of The Pogues, who infused traditional Irish music with the energy and spirit of punk, died Thursday, his family said. He was 65.

NEW YORK (AP) — Something is different on the comics pages this week. In the panels of “Mutts,” there's the long-delayed sight of freedom.

LONDON (AP) — Elton John has urged British lawmakers to do more to fight HIV and AIDS, saying the U.K. can be the first country in the world “to defeat this awful virus.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

TORONTO — A Métis playwright, a pianist who combines baroque and Middle Eastern music and a dance industry veteran are among the winners of this year’s Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes.

NEW YORK (AP) — The irreverent feminist website Jezebel is making a comeback less than a month after it was shut down. Paste Magazine, a digital pop culture publication based in Atlanta, announced Wednesday that it was buying Jezebel.

NEW YORK (AP) — Frances Sternhagen, the veteran character actor who won two Tony Awards and became a familiar maternal face to TV viewers later in life in such shows as “Cheers,” “ER,” “Sex and the City” and “The Closer,” has died. She was 93.