UNITED STATES
Chinese film to dwarf US
Taiwanese-born filmmaker Ang Lee (李安) predicted on Friday that the Chinese film market was about to explode, not only overtaking but dwarfing the US box office in a matter of years. The two-time Oscar winner said executives in the world’s second economy used to rely on him as a bridge to Hollywood, but the newly-confident Chinese film industry no longer finds it necessary. “It’s huge, it’s going to be bigger in a few years,” the 62-year-old told reporters on the red carpet at the glitzy BAFTA Britannia Awards in Beverly Hills. “In a few years it’s probably going to be bigger [than the US] and then in the years to come a lot bigger. They’ve got many people and, most importantly, film has been lacking in the past in the culture, so it’s still fresh.”
GERMANY
EU chief pokes fun at Chinese
EU Commissioner for Digital Affairs Gunther Oettinger has used a speech to poke fun at Chinese, gay marriage and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder’s separation from his fourth wife. Speaking to invited guests of the Hamburg company AGA, Oettinger triggered both nervous laughter and applause with his remarks. Oettinger, who is known for his gaffes, described a recent contingent of Chinese businessmen who came to Brussels to meet EU officials as “nine men, [with] one party and no democracy,” who all wore “single-breasted dark-blue jackets, all with their hair brushed from left to right with black shoe polish.” Criticizing the German welfare system as overly generous, he went on to have a dig at the liberal policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition government, saying he would not be surprised if it introduced “obligatory homosexual marriage.” Oettinger, who is responsible for the EU’s IT developments, said he took pride in being the only person in his vicinity who read a newspaper instead of reading news on a tablet or smartphone.
AUSTRALIA
Bus driver burnt alive
A passenger doused a bus driver with inflammable liquid and burned him to death in front of horrified passengers in Brisbane on Friday, police said. There was no apparent motive for the killing of the 29-year-old man named by local media as Manmeet Alisher, a well-known singer in the Indian Punjabi community. Police superintendent Jim Keogh told reporters “it’s a horrific incident here in the quiet suburb of Moorooka. This is a rare one where it appears to be no apparent motive.” A 48-year-old suspect was arrested at the bus stop and placed in custody. Bystanders kicked down the back doors of the municipal bus to rescue passengers, who were “traumatized” by the incident, Keogh said. Around half a dozen passengers were aboard the vehicle and some were treated for smoke inhalation.
France
Jungle migrants relocated
Most of the migrants left wandering the Calais “Jungle” were relocated on Friday following the camp’s demolition. After being left to fend for themselves for two days in the deserted burnt-out shantytown, about 100 refugees boarded buses for shelters around France as part of a government operation to shut down the notorious slum. About 50 minors, mostly Sudanese, were taken to a center for refugee children, with another bus of 34 older youths leaving shortly afterward. Only about two dozen people who had spent the night in a disused part of the camp were still unaccounted for.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of