Kevin Spacey to get charity award at Cannes
The Better World Fund told AFP on Sunday that the actor - who was acquitted of nine cases of alleged sex offences in Britain last yea r- will be recognised "for his decades of artistic brilliance" at a charity gala in the French Riviera resort.
A New York court dismissed a $40 million civil sexual misconduct lawsuit against the Usual Suspects star in 2022.
But earlier this month new claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour against men emerged in a British television documentary, Spacey Unmasked.
In it, 10 men not involved in the UK court case involving Spacey accuse him of behaving inappropriately towards them.
The 65-year-old, whose stellar career was derailed by the earlier claims, denied any wrongdoing.
Spacey was last on the red carpet at Cannes in 2016.
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France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Tens of thousands join anti-government protest in Madrid
Protesters, many waving red and yellow Spanish flags, massed in the Plaza de Espana, a large square in the centre of the Spanish capital, and chanted "Pedro Sanchez, resign!". "The expiry date on this government passed a long time ago. It's getting tiring," Blanca Requejo, a 46-year-old store manager who wore a Spanish flag drapped over her back, told AFP at the demonstration. The Popular Party (PP) called the rally after leaked audio recordings allegedly documented a member of the Socialist party, Leire Diez, waging a smear campaign against a police unit that investigated graft allegations against Sanchez's wife, brother and his former right-hand man. Diez has denied the allegations, telling reporters on Wednesday that she was conducting research for a book and was not working on behalf of the party or Sanchez. She also resigned from Sanchez's Socialist party. PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo has accused the government of "mafia practices" over the affair, and said Sanchez is "at the centre" of multiple corruption scandals. "This government has stained everything -- politics, state institutions, the separation of powers," he told the rally, going on to urge Sanchez to call early elections. The PP estimated that more than 100,000 people attended the rally, held under the slogan "Mafia or Democracy." The central government's representative in Madrid put the turnout between 45,000 and 50,000. 'Go away' The government's spokeswoman, Pilar Alegria, mocked the turnout, writing on X that veteran Spanish rock duo Estopa drew a larger crowd to their recent concert at Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano stadium than "the apocalyptic Feijoo at the Plaza de Espana." Sanchez has dismissed the probes against members of his inner circle as part of a "smear campaign" carried out by the right wing to undermine his government. He came to power in June 2018 after ousting his PP predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, in a no-confidence vote over a corruption scandals affecting involving the conservative party. Rafael Redondo, a 73-year-old real estate agent, said the corruption cases that have affected the PP were "completely different". "The corruption that may have existed in the PP involved individuals acting on their own. But the Socialist Party is a criminal organisation which has committed crimes from A to Z," he told AFP at the rally. Maria del Mar Tome, a 59-year-old businesswoman, said she had turned up because "we want Pedro Sanchez to go away once and for all, because this man is corrupt, he's a liar." Poll lead This is the sixth protest which the PP has organised against the government since Feijoo took the helm of the party in April 2022 The demonstration comes as the PP is gearing up for an extraordinary party congress set for July. Originally set for 2026, Feijoo moved the event forward, citing the need for the party to "be prepared" in case of early national elections in what was seen as an effort to consolidate his power. Rajoy and another former PP prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, attended Sunday's rally, along with several heads of regional governments. Recent polls show the PP holding only a slim lead over the Socialists. although Sanchez remains the most highly rated party leader among voters. One in four voters, 24.6 percent, said Sanchez is their favourite party leader to lead the country, ahead of the leader of far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, who was picked by 17.1 percent, according to a poll published Monday in daily newspaper El Pais. Feijoo was the third most popular option, with 16.6 percent. The next general election is expected in 2027. © 2025 AFP
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
Pussy Riot co-founder back in prison cell -- at LA museum
At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Russian activist is staging "Police State" -- a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression. Tolokonnikova -- who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for performing a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012 -- knows a bit about the topic. Through the installation, which opened Thursday and runs through June 14, she says she hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control -- technology. While she is in the mock cell, during all museum opening hours, she will eat, use the toilet, sew clothes as she once did in her real cell and create "soundscapes." Visitors can observe her through holes in the cell or on security camera footage. "People don't treat authoritarianism seriously," Tolokonnikova told AFP. Seated in a makeshift Russian prison cell, wearing a green tracksuit, the 35-year-old activist says in several countries, the concept of a "police state" is expanding. "As someone who lived under authoritarian rule for over 25 years, I know how real it is and how it starts, step by step, on the arrest of one person. You think, 'Well, it's not about me'," she explained. "And then next thing we know, the entire country is under the military boot." 'We all have to contribute' For Tolokonnikova, Donald Trump's return to the White House in January has sparked an "erosion of the system of checks and balances," which she deemed "very dangerous." She says the artistic community, and society in general, should do more to counter governmental abuses of power, wherever they may occur, and stop "outsourcing politics and political action." "I feel like it's as if there is someone else who's going to save us from everything. That's not what works really. We all have to contribute." Some who visited the installation said they agreed with Tolokonnikova that society had become too passive. "I feel like Americans don't want to believe that we could be in danger of losing our freedoms," said Jimmie Akin, a graphic designer who said she was worried about the policy changes since Trump took office. "People need to wake up." Sewing machine and Navalny For 29-year-old Hannah Tyler, "Police State" was a bit of a shock to the system. "We're living in a country where we aren't facing the same extreme oppression that she did in Russia, but getting close to it. I felt inspired to take more action than I have been," Tyler said. Tolokonnikova's installation has some symbolic features. She has books and artworks made by Russian, US and Belarusian prisoners, as well as a drawing by late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A sewing machine recalls the manual labor of her incarceration. Words of protest are carved into the walls. For Alex Sloane, the museum's associate curator, the installation shows how "increased surveillance and government overreach" are becoming more and more widespread, and "freedoms are at risk."
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Petals and thorns: India's Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq
Mushtaq, who won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada -- an Indian regional language -- said the author's responsibility is to reflect the truth. "You cannot simply write describing a rose," said the 77-year-old, who is also a lawyer and activist. "You cannot say it has got such a fragrance, such petals, such colour. You have to write about the thorns also. It is your responsibility, and you have to do it." Her book "Heart Lamp", a collection of 12 powerful short stories, is also her first book translated into English, with the prize shared with her translator Deepa Bhasthi. Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humour, and its searing commentary on the patriarchy, caste and religion. Mushtaq has carved an alternative path in life, challenging societal restrictions and perceptions. As a young girl worried about her future, she said she started writing to improve her "chances of marriage". Born into a Muslim family in 1948, she studied in Kannada, which is spoken mostly in India's southern Karnataka state by around 43 million people, rather than Urdu, the language of Islamic texts in India and which most Muslim girls learnt. She attended college, and worked as a journalist and also as a high school teacher. 'Confused' But after marrying for love, Mushtaq found her life constricted. "I was not allowed to have any intellectual activities. I was not allowed to write," she said. "I was in that vacuum. That harmed me." She recounted how as a young mother aged around 27 with possible postpartum depression, and ground down by domestic life, had doused petrol on herself and on the "spur of a moment" readied to set herself on fire. Her husband rushed to her with their three-month-old daughter. "He took the baby and put her on my feet, and he drew my attention to her and he hugged me, and he stopped me," Mushtaq told AFP. The experience is nearly mirrored in her book -- in its case, the protagonist is stopped by her daughter. "People get confused that it might be my life," the writer said. Explaining that while not her exact story, "consciously or subconsciously, something of the author, it reflects in her or his writing". Books line the walls in Mushtaq's home, in the small southern Indian town of Hassan. Her many awards and certificates -- including a replica of the Booker prize she won in London in May -- are also on display. She joked that she was born to write -- at least that is what a Hindu astrological birth chart said about her future. "I don't know how it was there, but I have seen the birth chart," Mushtaq said with a laugh, speaking in English. The award has changed her life "in a positive way", she added, while noting the fame has been a little overwhelming. "I am not against the people, I love people," she said referring to the stream of visitors she gets to her home. "But with this, a lot of prominence is given to me, and I don't have any time for writing. I feel something odd... Writing gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of relief." 'Patriarchy everywhere' Mushtaq's body of work spans six short story collections, an essay collection and poetry. The stories in "Heart Lamp" were chosen from the six short story collections, dating back to 1990. The Booker jury hailed her characters -– from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics –- as "astonishing portraits of survival and resilience". The stories portray Muslim women going through terrible experiences, including domestic violence, the death of children and extramarital affairs. Mushtaq said that while the main characters in her books are all Muslim women, the issues are universal. "They (women) suffer this type of suppression and this type of exploitation, this type of patriarchy everywhere," she said. "A woman is a woman, all over the world." While accepting that even the people for whom she writes may not like her work, Mushtaq said she remained dedicated to providing wider truths. "I have to say what is necessary for the society," she said.
