- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- MedMira receives Health Canada approval for its Multiplo(R) Rapid (TP/HIV) Test for Syphilis and HIV
- The Glimpse Group Regains Compliance with NASDAQ
- Sokoman Minerals Completes Phase 1 Diamond Drilling Program Fleur de Lys Gold Project, NW Newfoundland
- Canadian Government Provides C$100 Million Financing LOI to Green Technology Metals in Support of Electric Royalties' Flagship Lithium Royalty Asset in Ontario
- Sendero Resources Announces First Tranche Closing of Its Non-Brokered Private Placement
- EVSX Completes Installation of Multi Chemistry Line
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 24
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
As Ukraine's war bites, comedy offers light relief
On stage in war-torn Ukraine, 32-year-old comedian Sergii Gromov says the army has called him up and he might have to fight the Russians.
But his wife's chief concern does not seem to be that he could soon be on the frontline, he says.
Rather, she is extremely worried that he will be told to shave off the beard she likes so much.
Gentle laughter ripples through the comedy club in the western city of Lviv, at an event raising donations for the Ukrainian army.
More than six weeks after Russia invaded the country, men and women huddled at the bar and tables, many still in their jackets, hoping for a joke to lighten the mood.
"Humour is our shield and our defensive mechanism to live through this moment," said the stand-up comic, exiting the stage.
Gromov, who is also a cinematographer, was forced to flee his home city of Kharkiv near the Russian border in the early days of the conflict.
He, his wife, and a friend travelled more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) west to seek safety at the other end of the country in Lviv.
The comedian thinks carefully about what kind of joke is acceptable, or even relatable, and was unsure about returning to the floorboards earlier this week.
"It was a little bit scary to perform, but after the first performance I understood that it's necessary," he said.
"It's better to go on some comedy performance and to laugh one day a month or a week than to sit in your kitchen and drink alcohol."
Laughing and crying provide the same degree of relief, he says, though preparing jokes is now much harder than before the invasion.
- 'Sold out' -
President Volodymyr Zelensky is likely the country's most famous comedian, voted into office in 2019 after a wildly popular television series in which he played a teacher turned head of state.
But after weeks of killing and destruction, his oratory skills are firmly focused on rallying worldwide support to end the Russian onslaught.
After the war broke out on February 24, the Cult Comedy Hall in Lviv closed down for several weeks.
Comedians were busy volunteering as hundreds of thousands of displaced people flooded into the city, and nobody was in the mood to make jokes, says manager Bogdan Sepokura.
But the club reopened last month, because he felt people needed it.
Come, the advertisement said, you don't need to worry about air raid sirens because the club is a bunker.
"In two hours, we sold out," Sepokura said.
In the corridor, some of the evening's performers scrolled through notes on their phones, waiting for their turn at the microphone.
Members of the audience smoked shisha or sipped beer, eyes riveted towards the latest act in front of the red curtain, convulsing every so often with chuckles.
As the start of night-time curfew approached, waiters moved around the tables with wireless payment machines, and patrons held their smartphones over them to settle their bills.
Veronika Azarova, 25, had come to see the show with her sister and a friend.
She too had been forced to abandon Kharkiv, arriving in the city just five days earlier, after witnessing Russian missiles rain down on her city.
They wanted a happy night out to forget.
"We need to look for ways to lift our spirits, because it's really tough to go through such stress," she said.
B.Finley--AMWN