Entertainment
East Timor joins ASEAN after 14-year wait, becoming bloc’s 11th member
East Timor joined the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc as its 11th member state on Sunday, after 14 years of campaigning.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country currently chairs ASEAN, said East Timor’s accession “completes the ASEAN family — reaffirming our shared destiny and deep sense of regional kinship”.
“Within this community, Timor-Leste’s development and its strategic autonomy will find firm and lasting support,” Anwar told an ASEAN summit in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
East Timor, also known by its Portuguese name Timor-Leste, is the youngest country in the region, having gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation.
President Jose Ramos-Horta has long campaigned for ASEAN membership, and an application was first submitted in 2011 during his first term.
The signing of a declaration on East Timor’s admission on Sunday is also seen as one of the crowning achievements of Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship.
East Timor was granted observer status to the regional body in 2022 but its full membership was delayed by various challenges.
The country continues to grapple with high levels of inequality, malnutrition and unemployment.
It remains heavily reliant on oil, with little diversification into other sectors, and some concerns remain over its ability to participate meaningfully in ASEAN’s development agenda.
It also faces challenges in infrastructure development and human resource capacity, seen as critical for effective participation in ASEAN’s economic community.
In September, thousands of student-led protesters demonstrated against a multi-million dollar plan to purchase Toyota Prado SUVs for each of the country’s 65 members of parliament and lifetime pensions for former MPs.
Demonstrators and police clashed for two days, before the parliament cancelled the vehicles’ procurement.
The parliament has also bowed to public pressure over MPs’ pensions.
ASEAN began as a five-member bloc in 1967 and has gradually expanded, with Cambodia the most recent addition in 1999.
The Sussexes’ holiday card is officially here as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle implement some major changes.
On Friday, December 19, the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes revealed their Christmas cards; as always, they released one for the public and another meant for close family and friends. But this time, they surprised fans with an additional festive video published on their newly re-named Archewell Philanthropies (previously Archewell Foundation).
“On behalf of the Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Archewell, we wish you a very happy holiday season and a joyful new year,” the accompanying read.
The video featured clips from various Archewell initiatives, but one moment stood out as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet appeared during a Thanksgiving-related community outing in Los Angeles.
The siblings joined their parents as Archewell partnered with Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles to prepare meals for those in need. In the footage, 6-year-old-Archie and 4-year-old Lilibet could be seen helping with food preparation and pushing a trolley alongside Meghan and Harry. Meghan previously shared glimpses of the same outing to her Instagram last month.
Apart from spreading holiday cheer, the video also serves to increase the Sussex children’s involvement in Archewell’s initiatives, which is a major reason for its recent name change.
As Harry and Meghan explained, “This charitable entity allows the couple and their children to expand upon their global philanthropic endeavors as a family.”
Shortly after releasing the video, the couple also shared a separate holiday card featuring a photo of the two of them at the Invictus Games in Vancouver and Whistler. Unlike last year, Archie and Lilibet were not pictured.
The children last appeared on their parents’ holiday card in December 2024, when a candid photo showed them running toward Meghan and Harry.
Simon Cowell answered critics who claimed the new Netflix talent series The Next Act show which introduced boyband December 10 felt scripted.
December 10 which is made up of Cruz, Danny, Hendrick, John, Josh, Nicolas, and Sean released their first music video this week.
It sparked renewed debate about how the group was formed on Cowell’s show.
On The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, host Richard Osman questioned the show’s ‘authenticity’.
“What I thought I was going to watch was something with a bit more authenticity if that makes sense,” said the American Idol judge.
“You’re so brilliant at controlling narrative and understanding what people want and understanding how to give it to them.
“I wondered if you execing that show meant that we missed out on some genuine authenticity, as I felt a number of times where you were saying ‘oh this is a big problem, oh I don’t know what’s gonna happen here’ and I thought ‘I think you do know what’s going to happen here’.”
The 66-year-old pushed back firmly stating, “No, Richard… pinky promise I didn’t. Absolutely didn’t… I promise you it was all genuine, what you see is what happened. And there weren’t any second takes.”
Co‑host Marina Hyde also raised eyebrows over the inclusion of “bad auditions,” likening them to the “theatre of cruelty” seen on The X Factor.
Cowell insisted that showing both strong and weak performers was part of the reality of auditions.
“But that is the reality with auditions, I’ve always gone with about half a percent of the people you see are gonna be good,” share Cowell.
“So there were some not so good people. So I guess it was a decision to show the people that turned up and some of them weren’t very good.”
Kiefer Sutherland was directed by Rob Reiner at the start of his career when he filmed the 1992 legal drama “A Few Good Men.”
Sutherland recalled the day Jack Nicholson, who played Colonel Nathan Jessup, delivered his famous courtroom line, “You can’t handle the truth!” Nicholson did the entire scene from one end to the other in one “breathtaking” take, Sutherland said.
“No one said a word, and Rob went up to Jack Nicholson and whispered in his ear, ‘Do you want to do another one?’ And Jack Nicholson said, ‘Well, we’re here,'” Sutherland told CBS News in the upcoming special “CBS News: Rob Reiner – Scenes from a Life,” airing Sunday. “So they did another one, and it was just as extraordinary.”
The plan was to continue shooting the whole day, Sutherland said, but Reiner was so impressed with Nicholson’s last shot that he sent everyone home early.
“They had planned to shoot the whole day, and Rob looked at everybody and said, ‘I couldn’t ask for anything more, so you guys all have the rest of the day off,” Sutherland said.
Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found fatally stabbed in their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14, authorities said. Their son, Nick, has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths.
You can hear more from Sutherland and others who knew Reiner in the one-hour special “CBS News: Rob Reiner – Scenes from a Life.” It will be broadcast Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on CBS, and will stream on Paramount+.
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