def METHOD_NAME(curr_uttr):
    """Extract entities as topics for news request. If no entities found, extract nounphrases.
    Args:
        curr_uttr: current human utterance dictionary
    Returns:
        list of mentioned entities/nounphrases
    """
    entities = get_entities(curr_uttr, only_named=True, with_labels=False)
    entities = [ent.lower() for ent in entities]
    entities = [
        ent
        for ent in entities
        if not (ent == "alexa" and curr_uttr["text"].lower()[:5] == "alexa") and "news" not in ent
    ]
    if len(entities) == 0:
        for ent in get_entities(curr_uttr, only_named=False, with_labels=False):
            if ent.lower() not in BANNED_UNIGRAMS and "news" not in ent.lower():
                if ent in entities:
                    pass
                else:
                    entities.append(ent)
    entities = [ent for ent in entities if len(ent) > 0]
    return entities