At least 49 killed in South Africa floods
12/06/2025
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82
12/06/2025
Air India plane headed for London crashes at India's Ahmedabad airport
12/06/2025
Trump says US personnel moved as Iran nuclear talks stall
12/06/2025
Spotlight on female animation directors at Annecy festival
12/06/2025
Carbon storage in spotlight at UN Ocean Summit
12/06/2025
Israeli fire kills 60 in Gaza, many near aid site, medics say
12/06/2025
Police 'becoming much more forceful' as more than 400 arrested at LA protests
12/06/2025
How would Iran retaliate in event of Israeli strikes?
12/06/2025
NATO chief in Rome for key Ukraine talks
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Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Tom Cruise turns down Donald Trump's invite for Kennedy Center Honor
US President Donald Trump has unveiled the slate of stars who will be honoured at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors later this year. They include rockers Kiss, Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone and 'I Will Survive' singer Gloria Gaynor. As the new chairman of the Kennedy Center, Trump announced the honorees himself during a Wednesday press conference at the site. Unlike in his first term, when he didn't even attend the honours ceremony, he announced that he would be hosting it later this year and that he had been deeply involved with the selection process. However, there is one star who will not be making an appearance: Tom Cruise. According to The Washington Post, the film star declined the lifetime achievement award, citing 'scheduling conflicts.' The claim was reportedly confirmed by 'several' former and current Kennedy Center employees. Cruise is fresh off the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and the actor has several projects coming, which may make it difficult for him to attend the December ceremony. That, or it is speculated that he refusal may have other motivations, considering he will reportedly be present to receive his honourary Oscar in November. The actor has not publicly commented on President Trump's politics and recently declined to answer a Trump question while promoting the latest Mission: Impossible film in South Korea. Cruise was speaking at a Q&A panel when a reporter asked a question about the possible tariffs imposed by Trump on movie productions. "I watched this film and I saw that it was filmed in many different locations around the world, including Africa,' began the reporter. 'Of course, we all are aware of the tariffs that President Donald Trump has been imposing on overseas productions and films. So, is this particular movie under that tariff? And how much of the film was shot overseas?" Cruise told the moderator: "We'd rather answer questions about the movie. Thank you." During the announcement of this year's Kennedy Center honourees, Trump claimed he 'waited and waited' to receive the award himself but 'was never able to get one.' He then suggested he might choose himself for a future award. 'I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honour,'' he said. 'Next year, we'll honour Trump, okay?' He also stated that he 'turned down plenty' of candidates for the honours list because of their politics. 'They were too woke. I had a couple of wokesters,' Trump said. Stallone has a history of backing Trump, while founding Kiss member Ace Frehley endorsed Trump in 2020, so that tracks. However, Gloria Gaynor doesn't fit the bill as much. American chat show host Ana Navarro, who hosts The View, has publicly shared that she hopes Gaynor would turn down the award because of Trump's involvement. 'A few years ago, I got to briefly meet @gloriagaynor at a concert in Miami. She gifted me a keychain that belted out 'I Will Survive,' when you pressed it. Let's just say, during first Trump term, I pressed it til it ran out of batteries,' Navarro began in her Instagram post. 'Yesterday, Trump announced he picked her to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, which he plans to host. Look, the woman is a goddess and deserves all the flowers that come her way. But I wish she wouldn't accept an award from the hands of a man who has attacked the rights and history of women, people of color and LGBTQ. The gay community in particular, helped turn her signature song into an anthem.' She added: 'Trump is a stain on the prestige and significance of the KCH. Don't do it, Gloria!' Une publication partagée par Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarrofl) Trump took over as chairman of the Kennedy Center this year after he fired and replaced several members of the board with his own political supporters. He has vowed to steer the organsiation in a different direction, saying that it was 'not going to be woke.' His revamp of the Kennedy Center fits in with his ongoing push to overhaul cultural institutions like the Smithsonian museums. This week, the White House sent a letter to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, laying out in detail the steps it expects the organization to take as part of an announced review ordering cultural institutions to align their content with Trump's interpretation of American history. The probe will look at all public-facing content, such as social media, exhibition text and educational materials, to 'assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals,' according to the letter. 'This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.' The 48th Kennedy Center Honors will take place in Washington D.C. on 7 December.
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
Who's going to lie down on the couch? 'The Sopranos,' the first TV series to tackle mental health
A man suffers a panic attack. On the advice of his general practitioner, he consults a psychiatrist. She diagnoses him with clinical depression, and he begins therapy. Over the course of their sessions, he talks (a lot) about his mother, with whom he has a complicated relationship. He discusses his wife, his son and daughter, his own childhood, the memory of his deceased father and his work. Nothing particularly remarkable. Except that the protagonist of The Sopranos – whose first episode aired on January 10, 1999, on the American network HBO – is not an ordinary patient. Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is a mafia boss, head of a New Jersey "family." This man, who has a string of misdeeds to his name, falls apart when the wild ducks he loved to watch paddling in his pool fly away. From today's perspective, following an individual's mental health struggles seems unremarkable. Mental health is now everywhere in TV series, with a wide range of patient profiles. En thérapie (In Therapy), created by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache and adapted from the Israeli series BeTipul, with two seasons broadcast on Arte in 2021 and 2022, put a surgeon, a police officer from the search and intervention brigade, a business executive and a student on the couch. 13 Reasons Why (2017) unfolds as an investigation into the suicide of a teenage girl. Atypical (2017) follows a young man on the autism spectrum, while the animated series BoJack Horseman (2014) centers on a washed-up actor dependent on sex, alcohol and drugs.
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
White House to host cage fight on July 4: UFC boss
President Donald Trump has been a regular guest at the often-bloody contests, where fighters punch, kick and grapple with their opponent in a no-holds-barred battle to submission or knockout. Bringing the brutal combat sport to the center of US political power will mark a historic first. "It is definitely going to happen," White, a high-profile supporter of the US president, told CBS television. "I talked to him last night -- 'him' being the president -- and I'm flying out there at the end of this month, and I'm going to sit down and walk him through all the plans and the renderings, and we're going to start deciding what he wants and doesn't want." Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest and most successful organization in the burgeoning world of MMA, a blend of martial arts disciplines like jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, boxing and wrestling. Bouts take place in an eight-sided ring -- dubbed "The Octagon" -- bounded by a chainlink fence. With few exceptions -- like eye-gouging -- male and female fighters are allowed to employ almost any technique to attack their opponent. Fights often end with a prone fighter being pummeled in the face as they lie on the bloodied floor, before the referee steps in to stop the action. The shaven-headed White, who has regularly spoken warmly of Trump as both a friend and a political leader, said the president's daughter would be involved in organizing the Independence Day spectacle at the White House. "When (Trump) called me and asked me to do it, he said: 'I want Ivanka in the middle of this,'" White told CBS, whose parent company Paramount has just signed a $7.7 billion streaming deal with UFC. White took over the UFC in 2001 when it was a small, loss-making organization, shepherding it into one of the fastest-growing sports promotion companies in the world. The sport's popularity with young men -- a key demographic in the 2024 US election -- and Trump's long association with the UFC, have made the president a regular fixture at some of its more high-profile events, where he is greeted like a rock star. Its brutal nature and high injury rate mean the sport is controversial, with doctors decrying the potential for brain damage amongst fighters who are repeatedly hit in the head, though it has gained increasing mainstream acceptance in recent years.
