Entertainment News Roundup: Taylor Swift concert fiasco leads to U.S. Senate grilling for Ticketmaster; Ireland toasts record Oscar success with 14 nominations and more

The Greek, who enjoys great support in Melbourne, surprised fans during his on-court interview after beating Czech Jiri Lehecka by admitting he was a big fan of Robbie, who most recently starred in the film "Babylon". 'Avatar' director James Cameron, 'Top Gun' star Tom Cruise snubbed by Oscars “Avatar: The Way of Water" director James Cameron’s box office blockbuster failed to translate to industry acclaim, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' members declined to nominate him on Tuesday for best director – one of the most notable Oscar snubs.

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Factbox-Oscar nominations 2023: nominees for 95th Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced nominations on Tuesday for the 95th Academy Awards. Winners will be revealed in Hollywood on March 12 in Los Angeles. The following is a list of nominees in leading categories.

Dior dazzles with Josephine Baker-inspired haute couture show in Paris

Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri paid homage to Josephine Baker with her spring haute couture show on Monday, sending out a dazzling lineup featuring golden jacquards, crushed velvet and beaded fringes that swayed and sparkled down the runway. "She immediately understood the power of fashion," Chiuri said of Baker, the famed French-American jazz singer and dancer.

Post-nuclear Moscow subway novels strike chord as Doomsday Clock nears midnight

Best-selling novelist Dmitry Glukhovsky says sales of his books depicting life in the Moscow Metro after a nuclear apocalypse have been booming since Russia put him on a "wanted" list for opposing the war in Ukraine and he was forced to flee abroad. Glukhovsky, 43, is known mainly for his dystopian novel "Metro 2033" and its sequels, along with their spin-off video games, about how Muscovites survive in the city's famed metro system - "the world's biggest nuclear shelter" - after a war.

Taylor Swift concert fiasco leads to U.S. Senate grilling for Ticketmaster

U.S. senators slammed Live Nation Entertainment's lack of transparency and inability to block bot purchases of tickets on Tuesday, in a hearing called after a major fiasco involving ticket sales for Taylor Swift's upcoming concert tour. Live Nation Entertainment Inc subsidiary Ticketmaster, which has been unpopular with fans for years, has drawn fresh heat from U.S. lawmakers over how it handled ticket sales last fall for Swift's "Eras" tour, her first in five years. Experts say Ticketmaster commands more than 70% market share of primary ticket services for major U.S. concert venues.

Ireland toasts record Oscar success with 14 nominations

Ireland celebrated a record 14 Oscar nominations on Tuesday, scooping five of the 20 acting spots up for grabs and for the first time earning a nod for a feature film made in the native Irish language. The haul - which included nine nominations for "The Banshees of Inisherin", the dark comedy filmed on a remote island off the western Irish coast - was the top item on Ireland's flagship evening news programme, relegating politics to second place.

Twitter account of Indian actress Ranaut restored after two-year ban

The Twitter account of leading Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has been restored two years after she was banned following a tweet urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to subdue one of his political opponents. Ranaut sent a screen-shot of her Twitter handle @KanganaTeam from her Instagram account on Tuesday and said she was "glad to be back on Twitter".

Water spoils archaeological quest for 'queen' of Roman roads

Italian archaeologists on Tuesday said they may never find the remains of the opening stretch of ancient Rome's first highway, the Appian Way, because underground water makes it impossible to dig deep enough to reach it. Appius Claudius Caecus, a magistrate, started the Appian Way in the 4th century BC. It was known in ancient times as the "regina viarum", or queen of the roads, due to its importance connecting Rome to Brindisi, a port on the south-eastern tip of Italy with sea access to Greece and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages, it was the pilgrims' route to the Holy Land.

Box office hits 'Everything Everywhere,' 'Elvis' and 'Avatar' land Oscar nominations

Dimension-hopping adventure "Everything Everywhere All at Once" topped the list of movies nominated on Tuesday for this year's Oscars as Hollywood's film academy chose several crowd-pleasing hits to compete for the best picture prize. "Everything Everywhere," a science-fiction flick about an exasperated Chinese immigrant struggling to finish her taxes, landed 11 nominations, including best picture and four acting nods.

Tennis-Tsitsipas sends cheeky invite to actress Margot Robbie after reaching semis

Stefanos Tsitsipas produced a blockbuster performance to reach the Australian Open semi-final on Tuesday then sent out an invitation to actress Margot Robbie to come and support him. The Greek, who enjoys great support in Melbourne, surprised fans during his on-court interview after beating Czech Jiri Lehecka by admitting he was a big fan of Robbie, who most recently starred in the film "Babylon".

'Avatar' director James Cameron, 'Top Gun' star Tom Cruise snubbed by Oscars

“Avatar: The Way of Water" director James Cameron’s box office blockbuster failed to translate to industry acclaim, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' members declined to nominate him on Tuesday for best director – one of the most notable Oscar snubs. Cameron was joined - in omission - by another box-office standout, actor Tom Cruise, whose starring role in “Top Gun: Maverick” wowed audiences but was overlooked in the best actor category.

(With inputs from agencies.)