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Actor Karla Sofia Gascon appeared to step back Friday from the Oscar campaign for her hit Netflix narco-musical “Emilia Perez” after her offensive past social media posts hit its chances of glory.Gascon, the first transgender woman nominated for best actress, plays a Mexican cartel boss in the movie, which won a record number of Oscar nominations for a foreign-language film.The 52-year-old said she hoped “my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference.”Last week’s unearthing of old posts by the Spanish star denigrating Islam and African American George Floyd has unleashed a scandal that has harmed her reputation and the film.Gascon said she made the decision after the movie’s French director Jacques Audiard this week called the posts “inexcusable” and “absolutely hateful”.”I decided, for the film, for Jacques, for the cast, for the incredible crew who deserves it, for the beautiful adventure we all had together, to let the work talk for itself,” Gascon wrote on Instagram.”I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt along the way,” added the Spaniard, who was writing in English.Gascon stars as a drug cartel boss who transitions to life as a woman and turns her back on crime in the highly unusual musical thriller.The mostly Spanish-language movie filmed in France and set in Mexico was nominated for 13 Oscars, 11 BAFTAs — Britain’s equivalent to the Oscars — and 12 Cesars in France.It picked up four Golden Globes in January, including for best comedy or musical, and won multiple prizes at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.Before the scandal broke, Gascon was considered a frontrunner for best actress at the Oscars and pundits viewed the film as a strong contender for the best picture award.Hollywood trade outlets had reported that distributor Netflix, which was banking on “Emilia Perez” for its first best picture Oscar, had dropped her from its campaign and distanced itself from the best actress nominee.

US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the International Criminal Court for probes targeting America and its ally Israel, but the ICC on Friday vowed to continue providing “justice and hope” around the world.Trump signed an executive order Thursday saying the court in The Hague had “abused its power” by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks with the US president on Tuesday.He ordered asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their family members, along with anyone deemed to have helped the court’s investigations.The ICC on Friday condemned the move, which it said sought to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work”.”The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” it said in a statement. The names of the individuals affected by the sanctions were not immediately released, but previous US sanctions under Trump had targeted the court’s prosecutor.Trump’s order said the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza.Israel’s foreign minister applauded Trump on Friday over the sanctions, calling the court’s actions against Israel illegitimate.”I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the so-called ‘international criminal court’,” Gideon Saar wrote on X, adding that the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis”.Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court.The EU warned the move was a threat to its independence.”Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court’s independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole,” Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU’s 27 member states, wrote on X. The sanctions are a show of support after Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, during which Trump unveiled a plan for the United States to “take over” Gaza and move Palestinians to other Middle Eastern countries.The UN and legal experts have said Trump’s plan would be illegal under international law. Forcible displacement is also a crime under the ICC’s governing Rome Statute.- ‘Criminal responsibility’ -Following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, judges issued arrest warrants on November 21 for Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif — whom Israel says is dead.The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare during the Gaza war, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.Netanyahu has accused the court of anti-Semitism.During his first term, Trump imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on the ICC’s then-prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and other senior officials and staff in 2020. Describing it as a “kangaroo court,” his then-administration made the move after Gambian-born Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan.While his order at the time did not name Israel, Trump administration officials said they were also angered by Bensouda’s opening of a probe into the situation in the Palestinian territories in 2019.President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions soon after taking office in 2021.Prosecutor Khan later effectively dropped the United States from the Afghan investigation and focused on the Taliban instead.  Biden strongly condemned the “outrageous” warrant against Netanyahu in November.The US House passed a bill last month to sanction the ICC, but Senate Democrats blocked it last week, saying the bill could backfire on US allies and firms.But Democrats have also expressed anger at the sanctions on Netanyahu.

Hong Kong will file a complaint with the World Trade Organization in response to heightened US tariffs on its goods, a government spokesperson said Friday, days after Beijing announced a similar move.US President Donald Trump over the weekend launched the opening salvo in an escalating trade war with China, imposing a 10 percent tariff hike on goods coming from mainland Chinese and Hong Kong.A spokesperson for the financial hub said Friday the Hong Kong government “will formally launch procedures in accordance with the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism against the US’ unreasonable measures to defend our legitimate rights”.The US tariffs are “grossly inconsistent with the relevant WTO rules and ignore our status as a separate customs territory”, the spokesperson said, adding that the government “strongly opposes” the measures.Mainland China also filed a complaint with the WTO to defend its “legitimate rights and interests”, its commerce ministry said.After reverting to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong has been run as a special administrative region and is classed as a separate customs territory.It has been a WTO member for three decades.Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development Algernon Yau said Thursday that the tariffs “are not expected to have a large impact”.Goods exported from Hong Kong to the United States in 2023 were valued at around HK$6.1 billion ($780 million) and made up only 0.1 percent of the city’s total exports, Yau added.City officials have for years tread a fine line by insisting Hong Kong is a separate entity in international trade, but politically an “inalienable part” of China.The United States removed Hong Kong’s special trading privileges in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony to curb dissent.Trump at the time said in an executive order that Hong Kong was “no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to (China)”.

The crack of a gunshot and the blonde man flinches behind the lectern, clutching his ear.But instead of horrified gasps, the crowd erupts in laughter and applause.”It’s a bullet! It wants to put me in the grave,” Hong Kong actor Loong Koon-tin sings, in the high-pitched falsetto that is the hallmark of traditional Cantonese opera.The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, recreated as part of an absurdist play in Hong Kong, has given fresh inspiration to a centuries-old art form, drawing hundreds to witness the spectacle at a beloved theatre on the verge of shutdown.Older theatre-goers recall a time when operas were mostly about Chinese stories and legends.The Trump show — which debuted in 2019 and has been updated twice — is part of an effort to modernise the genre and connect with younger audiences, for years an uphill battle for the industry.”Audiences want to see how the assassination scene can be done using Cantonese opera,” said playwright and feng shui master Edward Li, citing four techniques — singing, acting, recitation and acrobatics.The sold-out show, which runs for nearly four hours, begins with Richard Nixon meeting Mao Zedong in 1972 then spirals into a tale about Trump searching for his lost Chinese twin.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also makes an appearance.”It’s Cantonese opera with black humour,” Li said. “We are not making fun of the situation, but the audience finds it funny.”The novelty factor is key to the appeal of “Trump, the Twins President” and there are plans to take it on tour, he added.”Trump is someone the whole world wants to know.”- Legacy theatre  -Crowds last week flocked to the 52-year-old Sunbeam Theatre, an ornate venue with a huge neon sign and posters overlooking a busy intersection in Hong Kong’s North Point neighbourhood. Its lobby is adorned with calligraphy, a gong and drum for good luck — as well as 108 signature round lamps suspended from the ceiling. Cantonese opera originated in southern China and became a staple of post-war Hong Kong’s cultural life, with its popularity peaking around the 1960s.But with changing tastes, Sunbeam ran into financial trouble and nearly closed in 2012 before Li, the playwright, took it over.”We live in an era when Cantonese opera is at its lowest and closest to death. We need to give it an adrenaline shot to revive it,” he said.But the revival couldn’t last. Following a sale, the theatre will close its doors for good on March 3 and its new owners plan to convert it into an evangelical church.Hong Kong officials say they have spent HK$200 million ($26 million) in the span of two decades to promote Cantonese opera. A purpose-built theatre was opened in 2019.But Dennis Cheng, a supporting actor, said he was “not positive” about the future of the art, citing the lack of venues and dwindling audience.It will be hard to match how Sunbeam — with its history and communal spaces — felt like home to performers, he added.”(Sunbeam) carries the energy of veteran actors, as well as the emotions and dreams of many people,” said Man Chan, who plays Ivanka Trump.- Bowing out -Since its 2019 premiere, the Trump show has sparked both acclaim and ridicule, becoming the subject of memes.As it wrapped up a three-day run, questions remain as to whether newcomers who bought tickets out of curiosity can be persuaded to stay for more conventional fare.High school student Matthew Tsui told AFP that he was introduced to Cantonese opera by his grandmother and fell in love with the elaborate costumes.But he admitted it was “tough to sit in a theatre for hours to watch patiently” and that his classmates preferred K-pop.Fanny Cheng, a self-described Cantonese opera superfan, said she enjoyed both traditional and modern takes and hoped that Sunbeam Theatre ought to be preserved.”It’ll be a pity to lose Sunbeam,” said Cheng, 60. “But if the landlord wants to sell the property, there’s nothing we can do.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will cautiously try to convince Donald Trump to treat Tokyo better than other allies Friday when he becomes the second foreign leader to meet the US president since his return to power.The bookish 68-year-old will gently seek to protect Japan from the tariffs that Trump has threatened elsewhere, and to stress that his country is a key US partner against a rising China and a nuclear-armed North Korea. While the avowed “geek” and model warship fan is unlikely to replicate Trump’s close bond with former premier and golf buddy Shinzo Abe, he will at least try to build a connection with the mercurial US leader. “It would be wonderful if we could affirm that we will work together for the development of this region, and the world, and for peace,” Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo before leaving for the trip.The soft-spoken, cigarette-smoking Ishiba is expected to focus on the fact that Japan is the top foreign investor in the United States, hoping to appeal to Trump’s “America First” policies.Trump and Ishiba are expected to issue a joint statement vowing to build a “golden age” of bilateral relations, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported, echoing the main slogan from the US president’s inaugural speech.He is also set to tell Trump that Japan will increase defense purchases from the United States, the Nikkei report said.Japan is one of the closest allies of the United States in Asia, with around 54,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.But the main goal for Ishiba, who has only been in office since October and heads a minority government, is simple: stay on Trump’s good side.- ‘Personal trust’ -Under Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, Japan was shielded from some of Trump’s more punishing tendencies, such as sudden trade wars and pressure to increase financial contributions towards hosting US soldiers.Days after Trump’s election victory, Abe rushed to deliver to him a gold-plated golf club. In a sign of their close bond, Trump hosted Abe’s widow Akie for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this past December.Ishiba, best known for his plastic model building and fascination with 1970s pop idols, will be hoping his more low-key approach can also work.The Republican has lashed out at a series of allies in the two weeks since he returned to the White House, ordering sanctions against neighbors Canada and Mexico before pausing them at the last minute.He has threatened to seize the Panama Canal and pressured NATO member Denmark to sell Greenland. Trump has also repeatedly in the past called on allies hosting US troops to pay more for their defense.A Japanese foreign ministry official said in Tokyo that “we hope the leaders will be able to build a relationship of personal trust.”They were expected to speak about security, defense and the economy, the official said — but it was not clear if the thorny issue of Nippon Steel’s blocked takeover bid of US Steel would be discussed.Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden angered Tokyo by stopping the deal. Trump has said he also opposed it. Trump has recently been more focused on his first visitor to the White House — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.During Netanyahu’s visit on Tuesday Trump unveiled a shock plan for the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip.

Nick was enjoying his Saturday off work in Pennsylvania when he received an unexpected and alarming message: cryptocurrencies, buoyed since Donald Trump’s November 5 election win, were in freefall. The crash immediately wiped out tens of thousands of dollars from his savings. “I clicked on it and watched it for like a minute just drop straight down,” the 28-year-old American construction worker, who asked for anonymity because of sensitivities around investing in crypto assets, told AFP. “I was like, ‘Well, I guess I should stop looking at it now’,” he added with a laugh.Crypto investors like Nick are being buffeted by Trump’s vow to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” while at the same time upending trade and other policy areas with a raft of executive orders and announcements.Digital currencies are now seeing sudden fluctuations that are impacting legions of both small and large investors. Last weekend, cryptos suffered a meltdown after Trump announced impending trade tariffs on US imports from Canada, China and Mexico, prompting investors to turn to safer assets. The value of Bitcoin, by far the most important crypto which has broken record after record and gained around 50 percent since Trump’s election, dropped six percent at the height of the crash.Ether, another blockchain currency considered credible, fell around a quarter. The falls have been more dramatic for so-called “meme coins” — cheap and highly volatile cryptos with little or no economic use, themed around a celebrity or viral internet phenomenon. In the space of a few hours, Nick lost around $60,000 from the $150,000 he had accumulated over five years in his virtual wallets.Most of his holdings were in Dogecoin — a meme coin backed by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk. But Nick remains undeterred and convinced that these highly volatile assets will rebound, just as they did in 2021 when their popularity surged. “I try to talk about it with my co-workers, but they don’t believe in it like I do,” he confided. – ‘Rollercoaster ride’ -Larisa Yarovaya of the Southampton Business School in southern England said Bitcoin’s record rises were “definitely driven by investment optimism surrounding political endorsements”.She warned that could be “characterised as a bubble”, at risk of bursting and spreading beyond crypto, given they are “increasingly interconnected with traditional assets in today’s financial landscape”.Yarovaya also called the growing influence of “political personalities” on the sector “significant and highly concerning”. “Powerful individuals can easily exploit the trust of their followers for personal gain, leading to serious conflicts of interest,” she warned.The day before his inauguration, Trump launched his own meme coin — the “Trump” — posing serious ethical questions given his administration will undoubtedly exert a big influence on crypto during his four-year term.”When Musk speaks or tweets, immediately the price of crypto can jump, because people are afraid of missing the opportunity,” explained Stan, a 28-year-old Paris-based public affairs consultant and crypto investor. He also asked for anonymity.For Stan, investing in meme coins is like “buying a lottery ticket”.Savva, a 26-year-old research assistant in London, has personal experience of crypto’s rollercoaster ride, recalling how his first foray into meme coin investing made him $700 within minutes.”That’s kind of what hooked me,” he told AFP, also declining to give his last name.The tech enthusiast, who developed his own short-lived meme coin-trading robot, found his experience with crypto highly stressful.”A lot of the times I couldn’t hold conversations because I was worried that my assets were doing poorly or that I was going to lose all my money,” he noted. Although Savva still believes in the philosophy of cryptos, which allow investing outside of traditional financial institutions’ controls, he has retreated after losing the $5,000 he invested. “It took a huge toll on me physically and mentally and I was just like ‘I need to stop’,” he said, adding: “It’s always too late when you realise.”

Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in 2010 hit “The Social Network”, told AFP the Facebook owner had evolved from having “a sense of righteousness” into “somebody obsessed with power”.Eisenberg took a broadly sympathetic view of the Silicon Valley billionaire when playing him in the David Fincher-directed movie, which helped shape Facebook’s public image.”As an actor, your job is to empathise with the character, not only empathise, but justify,” Eisenberg told AFP in an interview to promote his widely acclaimed new movie “A Real Pain”.”I was thinking of the (Zuckerberg) character as somebody who was able to understand certain things so much quicker than other people, and who had a kind of sense of righteousness that was born out of his own brilliance,” he explained.But 15 years later, with Zuckerberg shifting his political views to align with Donald Trump’s new administration and cutting fact-checking on the US platform, Eisenberg has revised his opinions.”You kind of wonder like ‘oh, so this person didn’t evolve into a profile in courage’. This person evolved into somebody obsessed with avarice and power and so that’s kind of interesting for me as an actor who at one point thought about this person a lot,” the 41-year-old New Yorker added.”The Social Network” brought Eisenberg worldwide fame and an Oscar nomination for best actor.He is set to return to the Academy Awards on March 2 with “A Real Pain”, which he wrote, directed and acted in alongside “Succession” star Kieran Culkin.The unlikely comedy about two Jewish cousins who go on a Holocaust tour in Poland picked up two Oscar nominations: Eisenberg for best original screenplay, and Culkin for best supporting actor.- ‘The depths’ -The film has won rave reviews since it was first shown at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and has been released widely in American and European cinemas over the last three months.Many critics have noted the deft dialogue between Eisenberg and Culkin’s characters — David and Benji — with their humour and mental health struggles bringing new twists to two classic Hollywood formats, Holocaust and road movies.For Eisenberg, the script and setting were intensely personal, returning to the land of his Polish grandparents who fled the Nazis and drawing on his experience of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety.”David’s life is very similar to my life… the pills that David takes are the pills that I take to the point where the prop department asked me if they can borrow my pills,” he explained.”But I’ve also been Benji. I’ve been to the depths that Benji has been to emotionally,” he added.The core of the film reflects Eisenberg’s contemplation of existential guilt.”How is it possible that I have self-pity, or that I spend an hour every morning trying to get out of bed when my grandparents’ generation were two inches away from being slaughtered?” said Eisenberg, who applied for and gained Polish nationality after filming.”How is it possible that all of us don’t wake up every morning and kiss the ground that we’re alive?”- ‘Great timing’ -Culkin was cast in the film despite not being Jewish, something Eisenberg said he was initially “hesitant” about.”Once we relieved ourselves of that very specific consideration, he seemed like far and away the only person that could do the part,” he explained.Culkin brought his “unusual energy” and “great sense of timing and intelligence” to filming, which also saw him repeatedly reject instructions from his co-lead and director, who was nominally in charge of the shoot.”I was directing the movie, sure, but Kieran was leading the day. I would set up a shot, and Kieran would make fun of me and say that the shot was stupid,” said Eisenberg.The married father-of-one says he sees himself carrying on in front of and behind the camera, with “A Real Pain” a follow up to 2022’s “When You Finish Saving the World”, which he also directed.But nothing in the movie business compares to the satisfaction he felt doing volunteer work during the Covid pandemic, however.”I was volunteering every day at this domestic violence shelter that was run by my mother-in-law. And I had never been happier in my life,” he said.

A serial rapist and murderer was put to death by nitrogen gas in Alabama on Thursday, the fourth use of the controversial execution method in the southern US state.Demetrius Frazier, 52, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1991 murder of 40-year-old Pauline Brown, a mother of two, in the Alabama city of Birmingham.Frazier was found guilty of breaking into Brown’s apartment, raping her and shooting her in the head. The jury voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty.According to court documents, Frazier, who is Black, accused the predominantly white jury during his trial of being racist.Frazier was previously convicted of rape and the 1992 murder of a 14-year-old girl, Crystal Kendrick, in the northern state of Michigan.Michigan does not have the death penalty and Frazier was serving a life sentence there for Kendrick’s murder and for two separate rape convictions.He was transferred to Alabama in 2011 and appeals seeking to have him sent back to Michigan to serve his life sentence were rejected.His appeals claiming that the nitrogen gas method of execution amounts to cruel and unusual punishment were also been denied.Frazier was put to death at a prison in Atmore, Alabama, on Thursday. The Alabama Department of Corrections said he was pronounced dead at 6:36 pm Central Time (0036 GMT).Alabama carried out three executions by nitrogen asphyxiation last year and is the only US state currently using the method. Other US states use lethal injection. The execution is performed by pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.United Nations experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have denounced the use of nitrogen gas, saying it “may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or even torture.”There were 25 executions in the United States last year.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the country’s 50 states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.Three states — Arizona, Ohio and Tennessee — that had paused executions have recently announced plans to resume them. President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and on his first day in the White House he called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed Russell Vought as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the entity at the center of a contentious effort to freeze federal funding for aid programs.He was approved by a vote of 53-47 over strong opposition from Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who termed him “one of the most fringe and hard-right individuals the Senate has seen in a very long time.”Vought held the same position during President Donald Trump’s first administration, during which he issued a memo barring the use of taxpayer funds for anti-racism training — a move the US president has doubled down on during his second term.Vought will take office again amid a nationwide uproar over an OMB order issued last week that halted trillions of dollars in federal loans, grants and other assistance.OMB subsequently issued a terse notification saying the freezing of aid order had been “rescinded,” but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced soon afterward that it remained in place — and only the memo from the budget office was taken back.A US district judge blocked the spending freeze last week, then extended that measure on Monday, saying plaintiffs who brought the case had shown they would suffer “irreparable harm” if it takes effect.Democrats have accused Trump of constitutional overreach by seeking to stop government spending already approved by Congress, which has authority over the US budget.

The Justice Department is scaling back policing of foreign interests operating in the United States, ending criminal enforcement of a law used to snare bad actors seeking to influence politics and elections on behalf of foreign governments.In a memo sent to staff Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed she had disbanded the Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit dedicated to investigating violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), requiring such agents to register with US authorities.She said the decision had been made to “free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion.”Bondi did not elaborate, but figures on the Republican Party’s conspiratorial far right have accused the government of abusing FARA to unfairly target political operatives, such as Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager who was indicted in a probe into Russian influence in that year’s US election.Also on Wednesday, the day of her swearing-in, Bondi disbanded the Task Force KleptoCapture, an initiative started in 2022 to enforce sanctions on Russia.Moscow was widely accused of attempting to influence the 2016 vote in favor of Trump, who went on to win.Russia has denied involvement in the scandal, despite findings from US intelligence agencies.As for Manafort, he was charged with a litany of offenses, including acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal and lying in FARA documents. He was ultimately pardoned by Trump.FARA was also used to pursue Mike Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, who lied to the FBI about contacts with Russia, and former Democratic senator Bob Menendez, who was jailed in January for bribery and failing to register as a foreign agent for Egypt.Bondi — who previously registered herself under FARA for work she did with Qatar — said she was limiting criminal enforcement of the law to “alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.”In a flurry of edicts sent out on her first day in the job, Bondi also launched a unit focused on the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, targeted diversity programs for elimination and restarted enforcement of the federal death penalty, which had been halted under then-president Joe Biden.