AUSTRALIA
Indigenous heads lament loss
Indigenous leaders yesterday called for a week of silence and reflection after a referendum to recognize First Peoples in the constitution was decisively rejected. More than 60 percent on Saturday voted “no” in the landmark referendum that asked whether to alter the constitution to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people with an indigenous advisory body that would have advised parliament on matters concerning the community. “This is a bitter irony,” indigenous leaders said in a statement. “That people who have only been on this continent for 235 years would refuse to recognise those whose home this land has been for 60,000 and more years is beyond reason.” They said they would lower the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flag to half-mast for the week and urged others to do the same.
UNITED KINGDOM
Michael Caine retires at 90
Veteran British actor Michael Caine, a Hollywood icon with a decades-spanning career littered with awards and acclaim, on Saturday said that he has retired from acting at the age of 90. The Oscar-winner bowed out following another widely praised performance in his final film, The Great Escaper, which was released on Oct. 6. “I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now,” Caine told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85. They’re not going to be the lead. You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this.” A prolific actor known for his amiable Cockney persona and deadpan acting style, Caine has appeared in more than 160 films during his seven-decade career.
FRANCE
Louvre, Versailles evacuated
The Louvre Museum in Paris and Versailles Palace on Saturday evacuated visitors and staff after receiving bomb threats, police said. The evacuations of two of the world’s most-visited tourist sites came amid heightened vigilance around the country following a fatal school stabbing by a suspected Islamic extremist. Alarms rang out through the Louvre when the evacuation was announced, and in the underground shopping center beneath its signature pyramid. Paris police said officers searched the museum after it received written bomb threats. The Louvre communication service said no one was hurt and no bomb was found. The former royal palace at Versailles also received bomb threats, and the palace and its gardens were evacuated while police examined the area.
UNITED STATES
Piper Laurie dies aged 91
Piper Laurie, the strong-willed, Oscar-nominated actor who performed in acclaimed roles despite at one point abandoning acting altogether in search of a “more meaningful” life, died early on Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91. Laurie died of old age, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, said via e-mail, adding that she was “a superb talent and a wonderful human being.” Laurie arrived in Hollywood in 1949 as Rosetta Jacobs and was quickly given a contract with Universal-International, a new name that she hated and a string of starring roles with Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis, among others. She went on to receive Academy Award nominations for three distinct films: The 1961 poolroom drama The Hustler, the 1976 film version of Stephen King’s horror classic Carrie and the 1986 romantic drama Children of a Lesser God.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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