As around-the-clock protests enter their eighth week camping at a tent embassy on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), traditional owners have stepped up their campaign to stop construction of a whale skeleton tourist attraction, urging the funds be spent on local health services instead. In January, dozens of people pitched tents at a Mulumba (Point Lookout) headland to protest a planned multi-million dollar complex that would house the bones of a 15-metre eastern humpback whale that washed up on a nearby beach in 2011.    Locals have blamed the Queensland government for pi ..read more

SYDNEY - Australia has no plans to halt the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, authorities said on Tuesday, even though several European countries paused administering the vaccine after reports of possible serious side-effects. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus joined several other European nations on Monday in temporarily suspending vaccinations with AstraZeneca shots after reports of isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet count in some of the nations. “While the European Medicines Agency is investigating these events, it has reinforced its ..read more

Steven Yeun made history Monday by becoming the first Asian American actor to be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Yeun’s performance in “Minari,” director Lee Isaac Chung’s semiautobiographical drama about a Korean American family cobbling together a life in rural Arkansas in the 1980s, has earned him widespread critical acclaim. It marks long overdue recognition for both Yeun, who has had a long career in TV and film, and for Asian American actors, who have been historically underrepresented in film and at the Oscars. Just a handful of actors of Asian descent have ever bee ..read more

Riz Ahmed is making history once again.  The actor, who was raised in England and is of Pakistani heritage, on Monday became the first Muslim to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Along with “Minari” star Steven Yeun, he’s one of the first two Asians to be nominated in the same catgory. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is recognising Ahmed for his performance in “Sound of Metal,” released last fall. He stars as Ruben Stone, a punk drummer and recovering addict who abruptly loses his hearing. The role ..read more

Fox News’ Juan Williams veered from the network’s usual pro-Donald Trump stance to deliver a punishing blow to the former president’s wobbly legacy. Williams, a political analyst and co-host of “The Five,” asserted in an opinion piece Monday that Trump will be remembered for his fits of envy and catastrophic missteps in the COVID-19 pandemic.   “The bottom line is that he produced the greatest failure of presidential leadership in history,” Williams wrote in The Hill. The Fox News personality laid out his case for Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic and wro ..read more

Even at its best, awards season can feel like a long, albeit worthy, slog. But for the films released in 2020, the journey to the 93rd annual Academy Awards has never been as circuitous and strange, with the ceremony ― which would’ve already come and gone in any other year ― being pushed back to late April due to the coronavirus pandemic.  So, instead of enjoying the much-needed lull before summer blockbusters storm back into theatres, Hollywood woke up bright and early on Monday to hear Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas unveil names of the films competing for this year’s O ..read more

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked yet another controversy, this time by running a front-page cartoon of an evil-looking Queen Elizabeth kneeling on the neck of a battered Meghan Markle. “Why Meghan Quit Buckingham,” reads the headline of the issue out Saturday. The figure meant to depict Meghan responds, “Because I couldn’t breathe anymore!” The scene is pointedly evocative of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed last summer by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck. “I can’t breathe,” Floyd said repeatedly, a ..read more

Thousands of protesters gathered outside parliament house in Canberra and across the country on Monday to demand equality and justice for women in the workplace and beyond. The 43 March4Justice demonstrations came a month after former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins’ allegations she was raped by a male colleague in 2019, which have been followed by further accusations from women that Australia’s parliament has a toxic workplace culture.  March4Justice organiser Janine Hendry said she declined an invitation from Prime Minister Scott Morrison for organisers to meet with him pr ..read more

The Grammy Awards are back and the red carpet is as wild as ever.   At the 2021 awards show, hosted by Trevor Noah, things looked a little different, because the only people attending were those up for awards themselves. But that didn’t stop celebrities from going all out. DaBaby showed up and showed out in a slick Dolce and Gabbana suit, paired with velvet loafers, a green and red hat, and jewels galore. Meanwhile, stylist and E! red carpet host Brad Goreski gave viewers a lesson in colour blocking, pairing a bright pink shirt with a teal suit, all by ..read more

A dog rescue charity with links to Lara Trump has spent as much as $1.9 million at former President Donald Trump’s properties over the last seven years and will drop an additional quarter-million at his Mar-a-Lago country club this weekend. According to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, Florida, Big Dog Ranch Rescue estimates it will spend $225,000 at the club where Donald Trump has taken up full-time residence since leaving the White House. All the profit from that spending winds up in his pocket. Internal Revenue Service filings show that the group has spe ..read more