When Joan Monfort took photos of Lionel Messi with a baby for a charity calendar almost 17 years ago, he knew the long-haired young man would make it big in soccer.

He could not have imagined the little boy would as well.

Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, will be an Olympic torchbearer at the Paris games after recently completing his mandatory military service.

The 31-year-old singer is expected to represent South Korea in the torch relay in hopes of spreading the message of "harmony" and "peace," according to a statement. He finished his 18-month military service last month.

Millions of people in the U.S. celebrated and suffered under heat warnings Thursday as they flocked to beaches and traveled in droves to toast their nation's birth with July Fourth parades, cookouts and the always anticipated fiery splashes of color in the evening sky.

In Washington, neon bursts of light illuminated the night above the National Mall. The Boston Pops performed a musical fireworks spectacular at that city's Hatch Memorial Shell. And at parades all across the country, from Brattleboro, Vermont, to Waco, Texas, to Alameda, California, revelers dressed up in red, white and blue and waved the Stars and Stripes in commemoration of Independence Day.

Hunter Biden accused Fox News in a lawsuit of unlawfully publishing explicit images of him as part of a streaming series.

Judge Reinhold is in a truck barreling down the highway chased by angry cops when he turns to Eddie Murphy at the wheel and says something we're all feeling, "God, I missed you, Axel."

We all really did, but we get the sarcastic and sweet Axel Foley once again in Netflix's "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," exactly 30 years since "1994's Beverly Hills Cop III." Is the new movie any good? Who cares?

Elie Saab again transported his VIP guests, including Avril Lavigne and Ellie Goulding at Paris' Musee des Arts Decoratifs, to a realm of magic and splendor. With silks and velvet, the Lebanese couturier once again conjured a fantastical, almost fairytale world of bridal queens, gleaming foliage and midnight shadows. This season, the fashion world also had another peek at couture for men, which is a slowly growing phenomenon.

Here are some highlights of Wednesday's fall-winter 2024 couture collection.

Taylor Swift had a surprise for fans attending her Eras Tour at London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday: her boyfriend and tight end for the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce.

Dressed in a tuxedo with a tailcoat and top hat, Kelce joined Swift on stage for a transitional sketch that leads into the song "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart." In fan videos, he's seen carrying Swift, urging her into a costume change. He fanned and powdered her face as part of the act.

Weekend number two was just as joyous for "Inside Out 2."

The Pixar sequel collected $100 million in ticket sales in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, setting a new record for an animated movie in its follow-up frame in theaters. The previous best second weekend for an animated title was the $92 million for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." Only six movies ever have had better second weekends.

A new kind of tourism has emerged in Israel in the months since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. For celebrities, politicians, influencers and others, no trip is complete without a somber visit to the devastated south that absorbed the brunt of the assault near the border with Gaza.

Jerry Seinfeld, Elon Musk, Michael Douglas, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are a few who have visited, at times posing for photos in front of burned-out homes. Many Israelis, including soldiers and security officials, are also visiting on organized trips.

Taylor Swift fans enjoy parsing the singer-songwriter's lyrics for references to her romantic life and insights into her state of her mind.

But the pop superstar's fans in the U.K. didn't have to listen closely to her latest album, "The Tortured Poets Department," to get the sense that Swift had soured on the country's capital city after long making it a regular hangout and then her second home. The record's fifth track is titled "So Long, London."