UNITED STATES
Carl Weathers dies at 76
Carl Weathers, the actor who played boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky franchise, going toe-to-toe with Sylvester Stallone in some of cinema’s most memorable — and bloody — boxing moments, has died, his family said on Friday. He was 76. Weathers, who also starred in the 1987 film Predator, opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, was recently seen on the small screen in Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian, a role for which he scored an Emmy nomination. “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers,” his family said, according to Deadline. “Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations.” The statement gave no cause of death, but added that he had died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday. After a brief stint in US football’s NFL, where he played linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, Weathers embarked on a screen career that would span five decades and include more than 75 appearances in movies and TV.
DENMARK
Money launderers sentenced
A court found two people guilty of being part of a scheme to use Danske Bank A/S unit in Estonia to launder as much as 29 billion kroner (US$4.2 billion), the latest development in what was one of Europe’s biggest dirty money scams. The Copenhagen City Court sentenced a woman to nine years of prison and a man to seven years, according to a ruling posted on Friday and linked to a verdict from 2022 in which a Lithuanian national was jailed for eight years. The two were not identified by name. The woman operated as many as 40 companies out of Copenhagen, which all had accounts in Estonia and were owned by foreigners. The man acted as a dummy director in most of the firms. The court said the two were aware that transactions at the companies occurring from 2008 to 2016 possibly were acts of laundering. “It wasn’t proved nor attempted to be proved that the sums the companies received and transferred came from criminal matters,” the court ruling said. “But based on the information about the companies and the transactions on their accounts, the court assumed the transactions had the characteristics of money laundering.” Denmark’s largest lender in late 2022 settled a US$2 billion fine with US and Danish authorities after it was revealed that a large part of 200 billion euros (US$216 billion) of transactions through its Estonian branch were suspicious.
DR CONGO
UN helicopter shot
Members of an armed group fired on a UN helicopter in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo early on Friday, injuring two South African peacekeepers, one seriously, the UN said. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN peacekeeping department assumes the attack was carried out by members of the M23 rebel group in the Karuba region of North Kivu Province. Eastern DR Congo has struggled with armed violence for decades as more than 120 groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources, while others try to defend their communities. The armed groups have long waged campaigns of violence in the mineral-rich region and have been accused of mass killings. Dujarric said the helicopter that was hit was able to land safely in Goma, and the peacekeepers were receiving medical attention.
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
‘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,”
‘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
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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