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In the news today: Australian federal and state government leaders agree to immediately overhaul already-tough national gun control laws after a mass shooting leaves at least 15 people dead; a former Chinese pro-democracy media mogul is convicted in a landmark national security trial; and how some of the country's most prestigious colleges are enrolling record numbers of low-income students. Also, director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife are found dead in their Los Angeles home. |
A man kneels after laying flowers at a memorial outside the Bondi Pavilion at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) |
Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre
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Australian federal and state government leaders on Monday agreed to immediately overhaul already-tough national gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead. Read more.
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The action would include renegotiating the landmark national firearms agreement that virtually banned rapid-fire rifles after a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, galvanizing the country into action, the nine leaders said in a statement after an emergency meeting.
At least 38 people, including two police officers, were being treated in hospitals after the massacre. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the Bondi massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
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Former Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul convicted in landmark national security trial
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Jimmy Lai was convicted in a landmark national security trial in the city's court on Monday, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life. The trial has been closely monitored by the U.S., Britain, the EU and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Read more.
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Three government-vetted judges found Lai, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Lai was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law that was implemented following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Lai has spent five years in custody, much of it in solitary confinement. He has also been convicted of several lesser offenses related to fraud allegations and his actions in 2019.
The UK and rights groups slammed the outcome, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China expressed firm opposition to the vilification of the city's judiciary by "certain countries," urging them to respect the city's legal system.
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Without affirmative action, elite colleges are prioritizing economic diversity in admissions
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Some of the country's most prestigious colleges are enrolling record numbers of low-income students — a growing admissions priority in the absence of affirmative action. Read more. |
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America's top campuses remain crowded with wealth, but some universities have accelerated efforts to reach a wider swath of the country, recruiting more in urban and rural areas and offering free tuition for students whose families are not among the highest earners. The strategy could lead to friction with the federal government. The Trump administration, which has pulled funding from elite colleges over a range of grievances, has suggested it's illegal to target needier students. College leaders believe they're on solid legal ground.
On many campuses, officials hoped the focus on economic diversity would preserve racial diversity — Black, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans have the country's highest poverty rates. But even as low-income numbers climb, many elite campuses have seen racial diversity decrease.
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Visitors watch the two giant reassembled alabaster statues of Pharoah Amenhotep III, in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt, Sunday. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) |
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