It’s Star Wars Day
Darth Vader and a posse of gun-toting stormtroopers assailed Taiwan’s presidential office on May the Fourth — but the only shots fired were from a barrage of cameras, in a sci-fi makeover for Star Wars Day.
The island's Vice-President Chen Chien-jen and fans dressed as a motley crew of intergalactic characters chanted “May the force be with you” in homage to the George Lucas space drama as part of events held around the world on May the Fourth.
A smiling Mr. Chen was flanked by a menacing Vader and a somewhat dishevelled Chewbacca, toting a blue plastic gun and sporting a rictus grin and aviator goggles.
This handout picture taken and released by the Taiwan Presidential Office on May 4, 2018 shows Star Wars fans posing for photographs at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
The Vice-President thanked participants for travelling from a galaxy far, far away to attend the tongue-in-cheek event.
He also used the occasion to poke fun at Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who was compared to the diminutive jedi master Yoda on Taiwanese social media after a 2015 Time Magazine cover photograph.
“If you all come in peace, I welcome you all as our guests. Today Master Yoda is absent, but I quote one phrase from Yoda — ‘size matters not’. Taiwan is bigger than you think,” Mr. Chen said before posing with lightsabre-waving fans.
China marks Karl Marx’s 200th birthday
Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Karl Marx as “the greatest thinker of modern times,” in a speech on the eve of the bicentennial of the philosopher-economist’s birth in 1818.
Participants stand as The Internationale anthem is played at an event to mark the bicentennial of Karl Marx’s birth at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 4, 2018. During the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Marx as “the greatest thinker of modern times”, calling his theories a tool for China to “win the future”.
Mr. Xi’s address at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 4 was one of a series of events in China to mark the event. “We must win the advantages, win the initiative, and win the future. We must continuously improve the ability to use Marxism to analyze and solve practical problems,” Xi said beneath a massive portrait of the white-bearded Marx on a stage bedecked with scarlet and gold curtains.
“Today, we commemorate Marx in order to pay tribute to the greatest thinker in the history of mankind and also to declare our firm belief in the scientific truth of Marxism,” he said.
Visitors look at a statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels at a public park in Berlin on May 4, 2018.
The German city of Trier, Marx’s birthplace, will hold events on May 5 to mark the 200th anniversary of his birthday.
His theories of class struggle predicted that capitalism breeds inherent tensions that will lead to its self-destruction and make way for socialism. Marx’s writings became a fundamental basis for revolutionary movements across the globe, particularly the Russian Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Revolutionary armed struggles with the goal of creating socialist or communist societies had a powerful influence on the course of the 20th century in nearly every part of the world.
Marx lived and wrote mostly in exile in London, where he collaborated with fellow German thinker Friedrich Engels.
Karnataka BJP manifesto released
B.S. Yeddyurappa, Karnataka State party president, along with other leaders releasing the BJP party manifesto for Karnataka Elections 2018, in Bengaluru on May 04, 2018.
The manifesto, unveiled by BJP state unit president and the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate, B.S. Yeddyurappa said if voted to power, it would bring out a ‘white paper’ on the financial health of the State under the Congress rule.
China - U.S. meet
Chinese and U.S. officials met face-to-face Thursday to try and resolve a dispute over technology that has taken the world's two largest economies the closest they've ever come to a trade war.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross leave their hotel in Beijing, on Friday.
Philippines President Duterte revokes Australian nun's visa for political subversion
Australian Catholic nun Sister Patricia Fox addresses devotees from the pulpit of Baclaran Church, during a mass, in suburban Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines. Fox had her missionary visa in the Philippines revoked after President Rodrigo Duterte complained about her joining opposition rallies. The Immigration Bureau has given her 30 days to leave the Philippines after the president ordered an investigation into the 71-year-old as an "undesirable" foreigner.
92-year-old Mahathir to contest polls in Malaysia
Former Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohamad, center, raises hands with other candidates after his nomination outside the nomination center in Langkawi, Malaysia. Campaigning formally started Saturday for Malaysia's May 9 general elections that will determine if scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak's coalition can extend nearly 61 years of unbroken rule against an unprecedented challenge led by nonagenarian Mahathir.
Octogenarian gunman kills one in California
Law enforcement personnel head to the scene of a shooting in Mill Valley, Califonia, on May 3, 2018. Authorities said they found an 80-year-old suspect dead of a gunshot wound Thursday in a Northern California apartment where he fled after two people were shot, one fatally.
An 80-year-old man shot two people, killing one, at a Northern California apartment complex and later turned the gun on himself.
A woman died and a man remained hospitalized in intensive care after the shooting in Mill Valley, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) north of San Francisco.
Atletico Madrid deny Wenger fairy tale ending
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reacts during the second leg of Europa League semifinals
Atletico Madrid defeated Arsenal 1-0 in the second leg of Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
The defeat means Arsenal's legendary manager Arsene Wenger will leave the club at the end of the season after 22 years that yielded three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups but no European trophy.
Palestinian protesters evacuated on Israel border
Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded youth during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis. The deadly scenes that have been playing out for weeks now along Gaza's border, with thousands of Palestinians marching and threatening to storm the security fence and Israeli troops opening fire, are eerily familiar to Israeli author Mishka Ben-David. They have already taken place in the pages of his best-selling thriller last year, 'The Shark'. And while the novel's doomsday scenario may seem far-fetched to some, Ben-David fears for the region in the absence of an overall peace initiative.
