Comic-Con Kicks off with Marvel’s Return

A Marvel logo in the exhibition hall during the opening day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, US, July 23, 2026. (Reuters)

08:03-24 July 2026 AD ـ 09 Safar 1448 AH

A Marvel logo in the exhibition hall during the opening day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, US, July 23, 2026. (Reuters)

Comic book fans returned to San Diego, California on Thursday for the latest Comic-Con, with convention-goers buzzing about this year's return of Marvel.

The studio skipped last year's event, but will be back at the coveted Hall H on Saturday to promote "Avengers: Doomsday," which is slated to premiere in December.

Under the Russo brothers' direction, the latest superhero flick will pick up where 2019's "Endgame" left off, bringing together heroes and villains from X-Men, the Avengers, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four to duke it out once more.

But surprises are often a major draw for the 130,000 fans who flock to the annual event, expecting to be wowed by movie previews and actor announcements.

Actor Johnny Depp stunned passersby Thursday when he appeared on a street near the convention center, decked out in full costume for the miserly Scrooge character of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to promote "Ebenezer," due in theaters in November.

Later, the famed "Pirates of the Caribbean" swashbuckler burst into a panel, asking the audience, "Have you no lives? No responsibilities?" before sharing a preview for his new holiday movie.

- 'Barbarian' prequel -

"Barbarian" director Zach Cregger confirmed a script is in the works for a prequel to the hit film that's "got a lot of twists and turns and mysteries and crazy things" to tell the origin story of the terrifying Aunt Gladys character.

The filmmaker also offered a first look at "Resident Evil," his adaptation of the video game that is expected to hit the big screen in September.

"About five or six minutes in, he hits that woman in his car, and I wanted to see if I could just put my foot all the way down on the gas pedal and not let up until the end of the movie. That was the challenge," Cregger said.

"Game Night" directing duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley shared teasers of Apple TV's Cold War comedy "Mayday," starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh.

- Calling all vampires -

Fans began lining up around noon on Wednesday for Thursday's events in coveted Hall H, with sisters Adelaide and Delaney Hall heading up the queue.

"I'm gonna be camping out tonight so that I'm in there first thing tomorrow, I'm really excited," said 21-year-old Adelaide.

Her sister had tried to line up near dawn but "there was no line, and so she was like, okay. She came home, she rode her bike, and then she grabbed me, and we came down around noon, and then we got in line."

The San Diego native is eager to see the panel for "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," a fantasy TV series with its third season due out November 20.

Fans shrieked over another Thursday morning panel titled "Bite Me: Calling All Vampires," which brought together K-pop sensation ENHYPEN and some cast members from 2008's teen vampire blockbuster film "Twilight."

Since the pop culture festival began in 1970, it has grown into a major event, with thousands of sometimes-costumed fans gathering in San Diego to buy memorabilia, see their idols and celebrate beloved stories.

On Friday, DC Studios will also grace Hall H to preview its HBO series "Lanterns," starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as small-town Nebraska detectives, which debuts August 16.

The flesh-and-blood narrative offers a new take on 2011's "Green Lantern," a Ryan Reynolds-led space adventure movie.

On Friday, fans will see the hotly anticipated preview for "Spaceballs: The New One," a long-awaited sequel to Mel Brooks's legendary space comedy.

Weeks before its opening in Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum will be on hand to share new details about its exhibits.

Comic-Con runs through Sunday, July 26.

Odyssey Effect: Stars Sell Greece to a New Wave of US Tourists

Legend has it that this is where Odysseus landed when he finally returned home to Ithaca. Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

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07:10-22 August 2026 AD ـ 09 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

07:10-22 August 2026 AD ـ 09 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Odyssey Effect: Stars Sell Greece to a New Wave of US Tourists

Legend has it that this is where Odysseus landed when he finally returned home to Ithaca. Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

The idyllic beaches of the Greek islands have long been a draw for European holidaymakers, but now a new wave of US tourists is waking up to their charms, driven by stars like Madonna, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber.

Madonna celebrated her 68th birthday on Corfu, sharing a whirl of parties and boat trips against the backdrop of the island's landscape with her 20 million Instagram followers -- earning her rapturous thanks from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, AFP said.

And experts say the huge popularity of Christopher Nolan blockbuster "The Odyssey" will only fuel the trend -- though holidaymakers will be hoping for an easier trip home than the one endured by Matt Damon's eponymous hero.

While Madonna partied in Corfu, singer Bieber took his family to the Peloponnese. Perry and her partner, Canada's former prime minister Justin Trudeau, sampled the delights of Mykonos.

All of them chronicled their holidays on social media, giving the Greek tourism industry a massive hit of free advertising.

"Celebrities are voting for the Greek summer!" public broadcaster ERT said on Friday, devoting a report to these stars from across the Atlantic.

The newspaper To Vima hailed this "new wave" which "helps raise the country's international profile". It cited British singer and actress Rita Ora, who shared her holidays with "her millions of followers" on social media.

Paris Tsartas, professor of tourism development at Harokopio University in Athens, told AFP the deluge of celebrity endorsements gave Greece a powerful boost as a summer destination -- particularly with the lucrative American market.

After a decade of financial woes following the debt crisis of 2009, and the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic, Greece has pumped money into the sector, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of GDP, according to the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).

Around 1.55 million Americans visited Greece in 2025. They represent the third-largest source of tourism income, behind Germans and Britons, according to SETE, with an average spend per tourist of 1,120 euros ($1,300).

To answer growing demand, the main US airlines have significantly stepped up services, American Airlines increasing its total available seat capacity by 30 percent compared with summer 2025.

And this year Greece has had its highest-ever number of direct flights, with 103 connections a week between Athens and the United States.

- Set-jetting -

Some of the new enthusiasm is driven by the phenomenon of "set-jetting" -- people travelling to a destination after seeing it in a movie or TV series.

In a study for online travel giant Expedia, 13 percent of American travelers said they had booked a trip after seeing a destination on screen.

Greece is well acquainted with the trend, after hit musical "Mamma Mia", filmed on the island of Skopelos, triggered a jump in American visitors.

Professor Tsartas predicted "The Odyssey" would have a similar impact.

Key parts of Nolan's film, recounting the travails of Damon's Odysseus as he seeks to return home from the Trojan war to his wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, were shot in the Peloponnese region of Greece.

According to EasyJet Holidays, cited by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, bookings to Greece increased by 18 percent in the weeks following the film's international release in mid-July.

And there is more small-screen exposure for Greece's charms to come: Netflix had chosen the country for the sixth season of hit series "Emily in Paris".

Lead actress Lily Collins and the rest of the production team were spotted this spring in Mykonos, Paros and Santorini.

Entertainment

'Baby Shark' Boy Returns to Stage as K-pop Singer

Fans arrive to attend a concert by K-pop boy band Stray Kids, which kicked off the band’s “Run It” world tour, in Seoul on July 25, 2026. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

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08:12-21 August 2026 AD ـ 08 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

08:12-21 August 2026 AD ـ 08 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

'Baby Shark' Boy Returns to Stage as K-pop Singer

Fans arrive to attend a concert by K-pop boy band Stray Kids, which kicked off the band’s “Run It” world tour, in Seoul on July 25, 2026. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

The child star of the "Baby Shark Dance" video, the most-watched video in YouTube history, released his first K-pop digital single on Thursday, a decade after he first found fame.

Park Geonroung, who starred in the video when he was 7 years old, will make his solo K-pop debut under the name "Baby Shark Boy" and is backed by Pinkfong Company which owns the copyright for Baby Shark.

"Baby Shark Dance brought ⁠joy to people ⁠around the world, and I’m very grateful that so many people still remember me from 10 years ago. That made me want to come back and connect with people through music again," Reuters quoted him as saying.

The catchy song, ⁠which is about a family of sharks, was released in 2016 and the video has since surpassed 17.2 billion views. It has been played at the White House and praised by US President Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and celebrities, while prompting parodies and a dance craze.

In the years since the video, Park has starred in Pinkfong's other shows. He ⁠said ⁠his new digital single, titled "WAVE,” opens with the familiar Baby Shark melody before shifting into an electropop sound, to which he contributed lyrics.

Park added that he views the single as the start of a longer musical journey. "WAVE feels more like a new beginning than a one-off project. I hope to keep showing different sides of myself through music as well as other kinds of content,” he said.

Entertainment

Jurors Hear ‘Keffe D’ Say His Nephew Fired Fatal Shots at Tupac Shakur in 1996 Drive-by Shooting

Duane Davis appears in court for his murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, in Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun/Pool)

08:09-21 August 2026 AD ـ 08 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Jurors Hear ‘Keffe D’ Say His Nephew Fired Fatal Shots at Tupac Shakur in 1996 Drive-by Shooting

Jurors on Thursday heard Duane “Keffe D” Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur.

Davis, who said in the interview that he was also in the car with Anderson, is accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the 25-year-old hip-hop superstar in Las Vegas. At the time of the interview, his nephew had been dead for a decade.

Davis said the white Cadillac he and Anderson were riding in with two other men pulled up alongside a car with Shakur inside, along with hip-hop mogul and Death Row Records head Marion “Suge” Knight.

“If we would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis said. Instead, Knight’s car was on the other side, so Davis passed his gun back to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith. But Smith didn’t want it, Davis said.

Anderson, who was also in the back seat, took the weapon and started firing, Davis said.

Jurors watched the screen as the transcript of the audio recording rolled. Some occasionally took notes. At the beginning of the audio interview, Davis and his attorney whispered to each other. Shakur’s family sat still, occasionally looking at the screen or looking down to the floor. The room was quiet as Davis described the shooting.

It was the first time Davis directly discussed his involvement in the killing with authorities. The interview is essential evidence in the state's case against the 63-year-old Davis. Prosecutors told jurors in opening statements that they would lean heavily on Davis' own admissions in interviews with police and on podcasts, as well as the 2019 memoir he co-authored, “Compton Street Legend.”

He also previously told the FBI that his nephew was not involved in the 1996 shooting of Shakur, and speculated that Knight or Sean “Diddy” Combs were involved.

Davis has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has called the prosecution’s narrative “fiction” and said Davis was “full of crap” when he told stories of his involvement, and that authorities knew it. He argued investigators failed to back up the statements his client made with evidence.

The Los Angeles police detectives had actually brought Davis in to talk about the 1997 shooting death of Shakur's archrival, the Notorious B.I.G.

Davis had briefly been one of the suspects in that still unsolved killing, but he was later discounted.

“Everybody was a suspect at that time,” Daryn Dupree, one of the detectives in the interview, said in court testimony Thursday.

The detectives tell Davis that their discussion is confidential.

“Nothing you say today can be used against you,” said Greg Kading, the other detective conducting the interview who described it in a book a few years later.

Some in the audience shook their heads when someone in the audio tells Davis that “nothing leaves this room.”

Dupree adds, “If you don’t say nothing, it’s cool, but if you go out there and start talking ...”

Prosecutors say Davis did in fact “go out there and start talking” a decade later when he told stories about the shooting in interviews and the memoir. They said that nullifies any agreement he had with law enforcement over this and other recorded conversations.

Prosecutors allege Shakur was killed to avenge Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew Anderson a few hours earlier at the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson fight. Davis was at the fight but not the brawl.

Later in the evening, they were in the Cadillac and saw Shakur hanging out of a black BMW with people calling out “Tupac!”

Davis said that after Lane fired the shots, he thought Knight was dead.

Decades after his death, Shakur remains a cultural icon, and one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He died as his popularity was peaking and his film career as an actor was taking off. His legend has only grown in the years since.

Comic-Con Kicks off with Marvel’s Return

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Odyssey Effect: Stars Sell Greece to a New Wave of US Tourists

'Baby Shark' Boy Returns to Stage as K-pop Singer

Jurors Hear ‘Keffe D’ Say His Nephew Fired Fatal Shots at Tupac Shakur in 1996 Drive-by Shooting

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