Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Kirstie Alley, ‘Cheers’ and ‘Look Who’s Talking’ Star, dies aged 71

Kirstie Alley, the two-time Emmy-winning actress who rose to fame in her role on the hit TV series “Cheers”, died on Monday after a short battle with cancer. She was 71. Alley’s death was confirmed to Reuters by her representative and through a statement from her children posted on her official Twitter account saying that the actress had died at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida.

Kim Kardashian, other celebrities beat EMax crypto investors’ lawsuit

A federal judge in California on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. and others over their role in promoting a cryptocurrency, saying it was not clear that the investors who sued actually saw the promotions. The lawsuit filed in January claims EthereumMax executives schemed with celebrity promoters to induce investors to buy the EMax token, driving up its price and allowing them to sell their own tokens at a profit.

Netflix hit ‘Emily in Paris’ draws cast to French capital for global premiere

The cast of “Emily in Paris” hit the red carpet Tuesday in the city of lights for the global premiere of season three of the popular Netflix series, taking over a theater on Avenue Montaigne. Upcoming shows delve further into the characters, explained creator Darren Star.

Cast members say ‘The Whale’ is a film that can be endlessly dissected

Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” is a psychological thriller that stars actor Brendan Fraser, as well as Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton. Since the film’s world premiere at the Venice film festival in September, Fraser has been predicted to be the best actor winner for the 2023 Oscars.

Oscar-winning comic Roberto Benigni hams it up for Pope Francis

Oscar-winning Italian comic and actor Roberto Benigni brought a bit of his trademark whacky levity to the Vatican on Wednesday, hamming it up for Pope Francis. Benigni had a private meeting with the pope before his weekly general audience and there were laughs all around.

James Cameron on releasing long-awaited ‘Avatar’ sequel: “It’s a relief”

Filmmaker James Cameron is taking audiences back to his visually mesmerizing world of Pandora, releasing the sequel to his 2009 epic “Avatar”, the top-grossing movie of all time. The stakes are high for “Avatar: The Way of Water”, which reportedly cost more than $350 million and comes 13 years after the original which grossed $2.9 billion worldwide, with more “Avatar” movies in the pipeline.

Baaba Maal back with new music, ‘Glastonbury of Africa’ festival hopes

When Baaba Maal released his last album “The Traveller” in 2016, the Senegalese singer and guitarist wasn’t sure he would put out another record. Six years on, he is back with a new single celebrating the fishermen of his local community in northern Senegal, the first track released from the new album coming out in 2023.

Big firms like Ticketmaster can become ‘too big to care,’ – U.S. FTC chair

The chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, on Tuesday said giant companies like Ticketmaster, which faces a tsunami of criticism for problems in selling tickets to a 2023 Taylor Swift tour, can become “too big to care.” Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, Khan said it was the Justice Department that approved the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in 2010 and referenced a report that the department had a probe underway.

‘Avatar’ sequel finally premieres 13 years after original

Thirteen years after James Cameron released the highest-grossing film of all time, “Avatar”, the filmmaker finally premiered its long-awaited sequel in London on Tuesday. “Avatar: The Way of Water” takes audiences back to the enchanting world of Pandora, where in the first film the native blue Na’vi people battled human colonists for the moon’s natural resources.

(With inputs from agencies.)