They have long hedged their bets. However, the conflict between the United States and China affects Southeast Asian countries. Trump’s tariffs also pose a threat to the trade-dependent nations. They must strike a delicate balance between strategic neutrality and economic survival. At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – ASEAN’s recent summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the message was clear. In order to protect their economies, member nations are rebalancing their economic partnerships. That includes efforts to strengthen trade links with Gulf nations and China.
Andrew Lawrence sent out a string of vile and racist tweets after England lost the Euro 2020 tournament, as he comes under fire again for joking about the Liverpool parade crash that left 65 people injured on Monday
Andrew Lawrence has had his upcoming show cancelled as a result of the post
Andrew Lawrence has hit headlines yet again for his jokes that have been branded “disgraceful” – and has now had his show cancelled following social media backlash. Andrew Lawrence, 37, said he would “drive through crowds of people” to get out of Liverpool in a post that has prompted more than 7,000 responses on X.
As a result, the comic has had his show in Caddies, Southend, cancelled as the venue say it did not “condone or support” the comment. He responded by saying he was disappointed the venue had “lost their courage after being bombarded with abuse and threats of violence from online trolls”.
It’s not the first time that the stand-up has shocked people with his views. The comedian sent out a string of “vile and racist” tweets after England lost the Euro 2020 tournament, resulting in more of his shows being cancelled at the time.
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Andrew Lawrence has hit headlines before for his ‘vile’ posts(Image: Andrew Lawrence Comedian)
Despite him admitting that he has “some right-wing views” on a blog post on his website in October 2020, he added that he “just as many that are not” before claiming he doesn’t “subscribe to any political ideology.” He added in the lengthy message: “Because I am critical of left-wing hysteria on the internet, and the left-wing establishment in comedy, does not automatically mean I am right-wing.”
Standing by his jokes, he added: “I have never said at any time that I am a ‘right wing’ comedian and I reject that label” before continuing that he is “just interested in finding new and interesting ways to make people laugh.” Here is a look at Andrew’s controversial views over the years.
Racist slurs to England football stars
In 2021, Andrew’s account targeted the black football players on the England squad after a nail-biting penalty shoot out against Italy. His account took aim at Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho failed to score during the penalty shootout.
“All I’m saying is, the white guys scored,” one of the tweets read, with another post adding: “Equality, diversity, s*** penalties.”
Another post shared read: “I can see that this has offended a lot of people, and I’m sorry that black guys are bad at penalties.” The social media posts were met with a swift backlash from a number of people. It wasn’t long before representatives for the venues Andrew was due to perform at confirmed on social media that they had removed his upcoming shows.
Joking about killing a woman
In 2005 he sang a song at a show where he joked about choking a woman to death after she asked him to perform a sex act on her
During one of his 2005 stand-up routines, Andrew performed a song where he joked about killing a woman after she suggested he performed oral sex on her. In an unearthed clip of the performance, he can be seen strumming a guitar to the crowd and singing the tune he wrote titled “The b**** in the lake.”
In a bid to get a laugh, he sang lyrics about choking the woman he was on a date. Andrew can be heard belting out in the footage: “Her filthy suggestions filled me with hate it was too late.
“I saw the terror in her eyes as I held down her face and watched her blue, blue eyes as she choked in the lake. The very next day they dragged her out with a rake, 18-hours too late. She was dead ‘oh sh*’ for a year and a day she kept me awake she would haunt me and say ‘I am the bitch from the lake you, left me floating there like a chunk of fish bait.”
Mocking suicide
He previously mocked suicide online(Image: Twitter)
In 2015, Andrew caused a stir when he penned a Tweet mocking suicide. He took to the micro-blogging site to write: “Given that about 80% of suicides in the UK last year were committed by men, if feminists truly wanted equality, they’d kill themselves ;)”
After people began condemning him for the message, he hit back with another tweet reading: “Currently being dogpiled by feminazis. I think I like it ;p.” Following this, a petition was launched on the website change.org calling on the BBC – who Andrew has often worked on TV and radio for – to “stop giving airtime to Andrew Lawrence who jokes about women committing suicide.”
An open letter alongside the petition read: “Whilst humour can take many forms and is a matter of subjective taste it is a crossed boundary to incite others to take their own lives.
“Some feminists declare themselves such as retaliation to having experienced male violence. This might sometimes lead to suicidal feelings. That is not a matter of fun. Dead women are not funny. Raped women are not funny.
“Two women a week are killed at the hands of men, some of whom say they love them. Those women may have suffered feelings of suicide as they fought to stay alive.
“78,000 women are raped. Some of them will have suffered suicidal feelings as they fought to survive the trauma.
“The men Lawrence mentions are not a source of humour. Whilst mental health services are being cut as a result of austerity this figure can only rise.
“The BBC has a duty to respect it’s listeners with poor mental health and should refuse to give airtime to Andrew Lawrence.”
Sympathy for Ukip and blasting “ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians”
Andrew posted an essay on Facebook expressing sympathy for Ukip(Image: Twitter)
In 2014, Andrew posted an essay on Facebook expressing sympathy for Ukip – which gained him praise from Nigel Farage. During the post, he also blasted the BBC and claimed the channel has “liberal bias”.
He added that there were too many TV comedians cracking jokes at the party’s expense and then accused them of hypocrisy. Andrew said: “Particularly too much moronic, liberal back-slapping on panel shows like Mock The Week where ageing, balding, fat men, ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians, sit congratulating themselves on how enlightened they are about the fact that Ukip are ridiculous and pathetic.”
He also wrote: “The upshot of all that is that there are still many women coming across incredibly badly on panel shows, which is helping to perpetuate the myth that women aren’t funny.”
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After the backlash at the time, he did not stop and followed up with more posts online. “Perhaps I’ll spend some time polishing my Nazi memorabilia today, and I really should alphabetise my page 3 cuttings,” was one of his flippant comments.
Others he added read: “Must remember never to say anything remotely critical of any woman at all ever, as it means I’m a ‘misogynist'” and “Just waiting now for the police to come and arrest me for my ‘racism’. Don’t know what’s keeping them.’”
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Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have pulled out of this year’s TRNSMT Festival following calls for the group to be removed from the line-up.
The Belfast-based group were scheduled to perform at Glasgow Green in July, but will no longer appear following news that group member Liam O’Hanna has been charged by the Metropolitan Police.
O’Hanna, 27 – who performs under the stage name Mo Chara – was charged with allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organisation in the UK.
The charge relates to an incident that reportedly took place on November 21, 2023, during a performance at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London.
In the wake of the controversy, Kneecap will instead perform at the O2 Academy on Tuesday, July 8 — the same week they were due to appear at TRNSMT.
In a statement on social media, Kneecap said: “‘Due to concerns expressed by the Police about safety at the event, Kneecap can no longer perform at TRNSMT’. To the thousands of people who bought tickets, flights and hotels to see us play, we are sorry … it is out of our hands.”
They continued: “Glasgow has always been a huge city for us. We’ve played there many many times, with no issues – ever. Make of that what you will. To try and make up for it, we will be at your O2 Academy on Tuesday July 8th. Pre-sale is tomorrow at 10am in our WhatsApp channel. General sale is 10am this coming Saturday.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson told the Scottish Sun: “Any decision on the line up at TRNSMT is for the organisers and there was no prior consultation with Police Scotland before acts were booked. Officers have highlighted the potential reaction of such a large audience to this band would require a significant policing operation in order to support the delivery of a safe event. We have also passed on information from the public around safety concerns to allow organisers to make an informed decision on the running of the festival.”
The news comes just days after it was announced that O’Hanna had been charged over the alleged incident last year. He is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.
In a statement at the time, the Met said: “Liam O’Hanna, 27, (16.10.97) of Belfast has been charged, via postal requisition, with displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed organisation, namely: On 21 November 2024, in a public place, namely the O2 Forum, Kentish Town, London, displayed an article, namely a flag, in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hizballah, contrary to section 13(1)(b) and (3) of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
The force added: “Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on Tuesday, 22 April of an online video from the event. An investigation was carried out, which led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the above charge.”
Taking to Instagram with a statement, the band previously said: “14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again, the British establishment is focused on us.
“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is. As they profit from genocide, they use an ‘anti-terror law’ against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage.
“A charge not serious enough to even warrant their ‘crown court’, instead a court that doesn’t have a jury. What’s the objective? To restrict our travel ability. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare to speak out.
“Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.
“We stand proudly with the people. You stand complicit with the war criminals. We are on the right side of history. You are not. We will fight you in court. We will win. Free Palestine.”
Cassie Ventura, a married singer for Long Way 2 Go, gave birth to her third child. Cassie already has two daughters, Sunny, 4, and Frankie, five, with her husband.
Cassie welcomes baby with husband Alex Fine weeks after testifying at Diddy trial(Image: Getty Images for 1/ST)
Cassie Ventura has welcomed her third child with husband Alex Fine not long after testifying at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ high-profile trial. Cassie shares daughters Frankie, five, and Sunny, four, with her husband Alex, with them announcing they were expecting a son in a post shared in February.
According to sources close to the star, Cassie gave birth on Tuesday in a New York City hospital, and it has since been revealed that she has welcomed her third child. Despite the baby arriving slightly earlier than expected, it is understood that the mother and baby are doing well, according to TMZ.
The Long Way 2 Go singer had shared professional black-and-white shots of her posing with her family while showing off her baby bump. In one snap, her two daughters kissed her bump while another showed Alex’s hands on her belly. She simply captioned the post with a pregnant woman emoji and added the hashtag: “#3”. The likes of Karrueche Tran, Lauren London, Vanderpump Rules’ Kristen Doute, and Ciara shared their excitement in the comment section at the time.
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Cassie and Alex have welcomed their third child(Image: WireImage)
She was admitted to a New York hospital on May 27 after giving birth. According to a source who spoke to TMZ, Cassie was eight months pregnant during her trial testimony and was currently in labor and in the delivery room.
Diddy, her ex-partner, is facing a number of serious charges, including racketeering, conspiracy, forced sex trafficking, fraud, or forced prostitution, and transportation. He refutes any accusations made against him.
Cassie, who was pregnant with her third child while testifying, took to the stand earlier this month, and made some bombshell claims about the disgraced rapper.
Cassie announced her pregnancy in February(Image: Instagram)
Doug Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, released a statement on her behalf after giving testimony in the trial.
According to Cassie, “This week has been incredibly challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me.”
The more I heal, the more I remember, in my opinion. And I never forget, especially as much as I can recall. I’m grateful for all the kindness and encouragement I’ve received, and I want to thank my family and my advocates for their unwavering support.
“I’m glad to put this chapter of my life to rest. As I turn to focus on the conclusion of my pregnancy, I ask for privacy for me and for my growing family.”
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Senator Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has announced that to mark Democracy Day, a joint session of the National Assembly will take place on June 12.
He made the announcement after Wednesday’s resumption of the upper chamber’s plenary session.
The Chairman of the Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi, and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senate minority leader, Senator Abba Moro, as well as Senator Sunday Karimi, the House of Representatives’ leaders, will meet with them to finalize the schedule of activities and coordinate arrangements for the special session, according to Akpabio.
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Additionally, the Senate President made it known that Bola Tinubu had graciously agreed to speak at the joint session in person.