RAMALLAH (XINHUA) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday told visiting United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories must end through a political solution. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
HELSINKI (AFP) – Just after 7pm on Sunday, the Allegro express train from St Petersburg pulled into the Finnish capital, marking the closure of the last rail link between Russia and the European Union (EU). More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AP) – Cambodia’s long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen declared on Monday that he would not appoint anyone to be a provincial governor who is not knowledgeable in the use of social media and smartphones. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
SEOUL (AP) – North Korea said on Monday leader Kim Jong-Un has vowed to develop more powerful means of attack, days after the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile launch (ICBM) in more than four years. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
LOS ANGELES (AP) After a movie year often light on crowds, the Academy Awards named an unabashed crowd-pleaser, the deaf family drama CODA, best picture on Sunday, handing Hollywood’s top award to a streaming service for the first time in a ceremony that saw the greatest drama when Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
NEW DELHI (AP) – Millions of workers began a nationwide two-day strike across India on Monday to express their anger at the government’s economic policies and press their demands for improved rights for industrial workers, employees and farmers. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
The Ministry of Health (MoH) does not have a specific target for the vaccination of children in the five to 11 age group as it will be done voluntarily. This was said by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar during the special press conference on Monday. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
Face-to-face learning at public, private and international schools will resume next week, said Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sulaiman at a press conference yesterday. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam arrived in Dubai on Monday to attend the World Government Summit 2022. His Majesty was invited by President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Abu Dhabi His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to attend the summit on Tuesday at the Dubai Exhibition Centre. Accompanying His Majesty was His Royal Highness Prince
‘Abdul Mateen. More details in Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
LOS ANGELES (THE WASHINGTON POST/AP) – The Academy Awards briefly came to a stunning halt on Sunday night when Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, causing Will Smith to come to the stage and hit him in the face.
The moment was not planned, said a person close to the Oscars production.
“Jada, I love you: ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” Rock said while presenting the award for best documentary, an apparent reference to Pinkett Smith’s bald head. (Pinkett Smith spoke out about her alopecia diagnosis several years ago.)
The camera cut to the star couple, as Smith appeared to laugh. Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes and did not look pleased.
Rock then held up his arms in a “who, me?” gesture as some of the audience appeared to groan. “That was a nice one,” Rock laughed, and then looked like he was ready to continue. All of a sudden, the tone changed very abruptly as Smith jumped out of his seat and made his way to the stage.
“Uh oh!” Rock said jovially. He started laughing as Smith kept walking. Then Smith slapped him in the face.
The audience was still cracking up, perhaps thinking this was all a bit – and then abruptly stopped. ABC cut the sound on the broadcast, so there was about 15 seconds of silence. However, a clip from Australian TV making the rounds on Twitter showed the dialogue between the two actors.
Smith later won best actor honors for his portrayal of tennis dad Richard Williams in “King Richard” and apologised afterward to many people — including tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams’ daughters — but did not mention Rock in his apology.
More details on Tuesday’s Borneo Bulletin
