Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 18, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba winnipeg.ca/foodwaste Reduce your food waste. Save money. Combat climate change. March 18 to 24 is Food Waste Action Week! Space provided through a partnership between industry and Manitoba communities to support waste diversion programs. CHO Venevongsa couldn’t help but feel starstruck when an Oscar winner and star of a beloved movie from his child- hood walked through the door of his Winnipeg restaurant Saturday night. Ke Huy Quan — who recently won the Academy Award for best support- ing actor for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once — was a surprise guest at Venevongsa’s Wasabi sushi restaurant on Taylor Avenue. “Our staff was just on fire, but I was like, ‘Guys, keep your cool. Let’s be professional,’” Venevongsa said, laughing as he recounted the moment a waitress recognized the Asian-Ameri- can actor. “He’s an Oscar winner, right, come on, I mean, how could you not be excited?” Staff at the restaurant seated Quan, who is also known for playing Indiana Jones’ kid sidekick “Short Round” in the 1984 blockbuster hit Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, at a private table reserved for special guests. The actor and a friend dined on an assortment of sushi rolls, sashimi and chef’s special dishes, Venevongsa said. “He finished everything and he was very polite,” he said. “He told our server he would be back… That made us feel very good.” Venevongsa intercepted Quan as he was preparing to leave, introducing himself and asking to snap a quick photo. It was a thrilling moment for the restaurateur, who said he remembers watching Indiana Jones as a teenager. “We all loved that movie. It’s classic, just classic. Myself, my staff, we all wanted to stay professional, but we wanted him to know that we did recog- nize him as well,” Venevongsa said. “It was pretty cool to have him in our establishment and in our city. I don’t know what he is doing (in Winnipeg), but as Winnipeggers, we should be re- ally proud to attract this type of talent in our city.” It is possible Quan’s presence in Manitoba is related to his role in With Love, an upcoming action movie in which he stars as a Realtor whose se- cret past comes back to haunt him with the reappearance of an old lover. The shoot is scheduled to take place in Winnipeg, beginning in April and continuing through mid-May. The film is slated for release in February 2025. Born in Vietnam, Quan, 52, immi- grated to California in the late 1970s with his family. After starring in Indiana Jones and The Goonies (1985), he largely disap- peared from Hollywood for more than two decades until winning the Oscar in 2023. He acknowledged his difficult road to stardom during his acceptance speech at the award ceremony. “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow I ended up here on Holly- wood’s biggest stage,” he said. “They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I can’t believe this is hap- pening to me. This is the American dream.” He now joins the ranks of other celebrities — including Richard Gere, Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Lopez — who have enjoyed a meal at one of Venevongsa’s restaurants. tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2024 TODAY’S WEATHER PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH 8 — LOW -5 CITY WINNIPEG NURSING STUDENT GIVING BACK / B1 JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS END OF AN ERA Glen Fuhl, owner of Video King, is closing up shop early next month. The Winnipeg video rental store opened its doors in the mid-1980s as the industry was starting to expand across Canada. Video King has been able to outlast chain stores but now it, too, will say goodbye / A3 Oscar winner a surprise diner at Winnipeg restaurant TYLER SEARLE Netanyahu snaps back against U.S. criticism TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.” In recent days, U.S. Senate Ma- jority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurt- ing Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza. Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and denounced Schumer’s com- ments as inappropriate. “We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.” TIA GOLDENBERG AND RAVI NESSMAN SUBMITTED Ke Huy Quan (left) with restaurant owner Cho Venevongsa Russians quietly protest as election commission announces overwhelming lead for longtime leader Putin basks in electoral victory R USSIAN President Vladimir Putin basked in a victory early Monday that was never in doubt, as par- tial election results showed him easily securing a fifth term after facing only token challengers and harshly sup- pressing opposition voices. With little margin for protest, Rus- sians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday, on the last day of the election, apparently heeding an op- position call to express their displea- sure with Putin. Still, the impending landslide underlined that Russia’s leader would accept nothing less than full control of the country’s political system as he extends his nearly quar- ter-century rule for six more years. Putin hailed the early results as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him — while critics saw them as another reflection of the preordained nature of the election. “Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to fright- en us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” Putin said at a meeting with volunteers after polls closed. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring. This is not what free and fair elections look like.” Any public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled. Inde- pendent media have been crippled. His fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent mon- itoring of the election was extremely limited. According to Russia’s Central Elec- tion Commission, Putin had some 87 per cent of the vote with about 90 per cent of precincts counted. In that tightly controlled environ- ment, Navalny’s associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war in Ukraine to go to the polls at noon on Sunday — and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time. Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, who joined a long line in Berlin as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name. She spent more than five hours in the line and told reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband’s name on the ballot. EMMA BURROWS, DASHA LITVINOVA AND JIM HEINTZ ● NETANYAHU, CONTINUED ON A2 ● PUTIN, CONTINUED ON A2 ;