While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 27
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Lady Gaga performing during the Olympics opening ceremony on July 26.
PHOTO: X/@OLYMPICS
Follow topic:
River parade, Lady Gaga mark start of 2024 Olympics
Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song near Notre-Dame cathedral, athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine in the pouring rain, and dancers took to the roofs of Paris in the Olympics’ opening ceremony on July 26.
A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6km stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.
It is the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.
A giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine and a winged man played accordion, as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.
Trump slams rivals as he meets Israel’s Netanyahu
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sharply criticised his Democratic political rivals and pledged to work for peace in the Middle East if reelected as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on July 26.
The meeting capped a week in which Mr Netanyahu addressed the US Congress and held talks with President Joe Biden and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the Vice-President, who took the Israeli leader to task over the situation in Gaza in a meeting the previous day.
“We have incompetent people running our country,” Trump said while sitting across from Mr Netanyahu, describing Ms Harris as worse than Mr Biden.
160,000 people join white women for Kamala Zoom call
EPA-EFE
More than 160,000 people joined a Zoom call on the night of July 25 to build support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris among white women, a voter demographic that has supported Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past two elections.
Organised by Ms Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group with about 10 million members, the video call included activists, podcasters, the singer Pink and regular voters, several who said they regretted not doing enough before the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.
A series of video calls supporting Ms Harris’ 2024 election bid has been hastily put together after President Joe Biden’s announcement on July 21 that he would step aside in the race.
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
VIA REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive on July 27 in Laos, where he will meet his Chinese counterpart at a regional conference and work to reinforce Washington’s ties with its allies.
The top US diplomat is due to meet China’s Wang Yi on the sidelines of Association of South-east Asian Nations foreign ministers talks being held in Vientiane.
Mr Blinken has prioritised promoting a “free and open” Indo-Pacific - a thinly veiled criticism of China’s regional economic, strategic and territorial ambitions.
Backlash over new Sinead O’Connor waxwork
Ireland’s National Wax Museum said on July 26 it was withdrawing a newly unveiled figure of music legend Sinead O’Connor after a backlash at its appearance from her family, fans and the wider public.
The Dublin museum – one of the Irish capital’s most popular visitor attractions – admitted it “can do better” after the waxwork, introduced before July 26’s one-year anniversary of O’Connor’s death, drew widespread ridicule.
O’Connor’s brother branded it “hideous” while social media users savaged its non-likeness to the Grammy award-winning singer, best known for her 1990 cover of Nothing Compares 2 U.
