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Miss World 2025 crowned amid new exploitation claims

Miss World 2025 crowned amid new exploitation claims

Euronews3 days ago

The 72nd Miss World beauty pageant was held this weekend in India and Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand was crowned Miss World.
Chuangsri topped a field of 108 contestants in the contest held in India's southern Hyderabad city on Saturday.
Hasset Dereje Admassu of Ethiopia was the first runner-up in the competition.
Chuangsri received her crown from last year's winner Krystyna Pyszková.
Speaking to ANI, Chuangsri said she would love to work in Bollywood if there is an opportunity.
Chuangsri said: 'I feel very happy and proud. It is an honour to take the first Miss World crown to Thailand… I hope I have made them proud…If I get the opportunity, I would love to (act in Bollywood films).'
Despite the celebrations, controversy has been brewing as Milla Magee, the reigning Miss England, has accused the organisers of the Miss World pageant of using her as window dressing.
According to the Guardian, Magee said she agreed to take part in the 2025 Miss World pageant to promote her campaign to have CPR included in the school curriculum. However, she left before the grand final on Saturday, saying she felt she was being exploited, feeling like she and other women had been provided as entertainment for investors.
Miss World organisers responded with a statement in which they referred to 'false and defamatory statements' that they said were 'completely unfounded and inconsistent with the reality of her time with us'.
Julia Morley, the organisation's chief executive, gavean interview with the Hindu newspaper in which she accused Magee of leaving because she 'believed she didn't stand a chance in the competition'.
Magee responded by saying that Morley's comments were 'vindictive and very bitter' and that she left because she 'wanted to stand for what I believe in and it didn't align with my values.'
She said: 'I felt like I've been fed a false narrative of this system that promotes 'beauty with a purpose', that's supposed to be about advocacy and what you champion for. And I thought, right, this is a real good opportunity for me on a global stage to be able to talk about Go Far with CPR. This isn't about me standing on the stage, this isn't about what I wear. It's not about what I look like.'
Magee claims she and other contestants were there more to entertain guests, with limited opportunity given to promote their causes.

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Miss World 2025 crowned amid new exploitation claims
Miss World 2025 crowned amid new exploitation claims

Euronews

time3 days ago

  • Euronews

Miss World 2025 crowned amid new exploitation claims

The 72nd Miss World beauty pageant was held this weekend in India and Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand was crowned Miss World. Chuangsri topped a field of 108 contestants in the contest held in India's southern Hyderabad city on Saturday. Hasset Dereje Admassu of Ethiopia was the first runner-up in the competition. Chuangsri received her crown from last year's winner Krystyna Pyszková. Speaking to ANI, Chuangsri said she would love to work in Bollywood if there is an opportunity. Chuangsri said: 'I feel very happy and proud. It is an honour to take the first Miss World crown to Thailand… I hope I have made them proud…If I get the opportunity, I would love to (act in Bollywood films).' Despite the celebrations, controversy has been brewing as Milla Magee, the reigning Miss England, has accused the organisers of the Miss World pageant of using her as window dressing. According to the Guardian, Magee said she agreed to take part in the 2025 Miss World pageant to promote her campaign to have CPR included in the school curriculum. However, she left before the grand final on Saturday, saying she felt she was being exploited, feeling like she and other women had been provided as entertainment for investors. Miss World organisers responded with a statement in which they referred to 'false and defamatory statements' that they said were 'completely unfounded and inconsistent with the reality of her time with us'. Julia Morley, the organisation's chief executive, gavean interview with the Hindu newspaper in which she accused Magee of leaving because she 'believed she didn't stand a chance in the competition'. Magee responded by saying that Morley's comments were 'vindictive and very bitter' and that she left because she 'wanted to stand for what I believe in and it didn't align with my values.' She said: 'I felt like I've been fed a false narrative of this system that promotes 'beauty with a purpose', that's supposed to be about advocacy and what you champion for. And I thought, right, this is a real good opportunity for me on a global stage to be able to talk about Go Far with CPR. This isn't about me standing on the stage, this isn't about what I wear. It's not about what I look like.' Magee claims she and other contestants were there more to entertain guests, with limited opportunity given to promote their causes.

Celebrated Kenyan author and dissident Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o dies aged 87
Celebrated Kenyan author and dissident Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o dies aged 87

Euronews

time7 days ago

  • Euronews

Celebrated Kenyan author and dissident Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o dies aged 87

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the celebrated Kenyan author and champion of African expression, died on Wednesday aged 87. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong'o this Wednesday morning," wrote his daughter Wanjiku Wa Ngug on Facebook. "He lived a full life, fought a good fight." Further details were not immediately available, though Ngũgĩ was receiving kidney dialysis treatments. Widely regarded as east Africa's most influential writer, Ngũgĩ's fiction and nonfiction books traced his country's history from British imperialism to home-ruled tyranny and challenged not only the stories told but the language used to tell them. "I believe so much in equality of languages. I am completely horrified by the hierarchy of languages," he told AFP in an interview in 2022 from California, where he lived in self-imposed exile. Best known for his novels such as 'The River Between', 'The Wizard of the Crow' and 'Petals of Blood,' memoirs such as 'Birth of a Dream Weaver' or the landmark critique 'Decolonizing the Mind' - a collection of essays about the role of language in forging culture, identity and history - Ngũgĩ was admired worldwide by authors ranging from John Updike to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. He was also admired by former President Barack Obama, who once praised Ngũgĩ's ability to tell 'a compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.' His decision in the 1970s to abandon English in favour of his native Kikuyu, as well as Kenya's national language Swahili, was met with widespread incomprehension at first. "We all thought he was mad... and brave at the same time," said Kenyan writer David Maillu. "We asked ourselves who would buy the books." Yet the bold choice built his reputation and turned him into an African literary landmark. Indeed, Ngũgĩ and fellow writer Ngugi wa Mirii were jailed without charge in 1977 after the staging of their play "Ngaahika Ndeenda" ("I Will Marry When I Want"). It was then that he decided to write his first novel in Kikuyu, "Devil on the Cross", which was published in 1980. Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience, before a global campaign secured his release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in December 1978. 'Resistance is the best way of keeping alive,' he told the Guardian in 2018. 'It can take even the smallest form of saying no to injustice. If you really think you're right, you stick to your beliefs, and they help you to survive.' Five protesters have been arrested after reportedly targeting the central London set of Gal Gadot's upcoming film The Runner. Metropolitan Police responded to the Westminster set on Wednesday, where three people were arrested for harassment, as well as unlawfully obstructing access to a workplace. Another two were arrested over previous protests. All five individuals remain in custody. Police said the set was hit with demonstrations 'solely because an actress involved in the production is Israeli.' 'While we absolutely acknowledge the importance of peaceful protest, we have a duty to intervene where it crosses the line into serious disruption or criminality,' said Superintendent Neil Holyoak in a statement. "I hope today's operation shows we will not tolerate the harassment of or unlawful interference with those trying to go about their legitimate professional work in London." Gadot, who was born in Israel and served in the IDF, has previously expressed her support for Israel, sparking pro-Palestine protests at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in March. Her and Snow White co-star Rachel Zegler's opposing stances also hit headlines this year and plagued the released of the Disney live-action movie. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi) has previously said Gadot films should be boycotted, claiming she has shown support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Cannes 2025: How Scorsese helped push Indian drama ‘Homebound' over the line
Cannes 2025: How Scorsese helped push Indian drama ‘Homebound' over the line

France 24

time23-05-2025

  • France 24

Cannes 2025: How Scorsese helped push Indian drama ‘Homebound' over the line

The frantic scramble for a coveted government job kicks off on a crowded train platform in Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Homebound', a deeply moving tale of two young men striving to escape a life of poverty and discrimination on India 's fringes. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, who helped push the project over the line, the harrowing social drama is Ghaywan's first film in a decade after his 2015 Cannes breakout 'Masaan'. It drew a lengthy standing ovation at this year's festival, where it premiered in the Un Certain Regard segment dedicated to emerging cinema. The stage is set when childhood friends Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) and Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) elbow their way onto a packed train coach bound for the city, where they hope to sit an exam for aspiring civil servants. 'Are we going to an exam or to war?' they ask after climbing on board, in the film's breathless opening scene. The two friends hail from a poor village in northern India and dream of becoming policemen, hoping to land the job they believe will grant them protection and dignity. Ghaywan says theirs is an everyday story in a country where more than 40% of young graduates are unemployed and young people crave the security of government employment. 'Civil service jobs are for life, so they are particularly sought after, especially for people from marginalised backgrounds,' he explains. 'Most youths in our country aim for this kind of job, it's a real obsession.' The director adds: 'The train scene at the beginning is not an invention. It was inspired by videos where young people storm goods trains, fighting to get on the roof in the hope of making it to the exam. It happens in real life.' Outcasts Shoaib and Chandan, however, are pushed back at every turn, because one is Muslim and the other is from the lowest rung in the rigid Hindu caste system. Caste and religion are highly sensitive subjects in India, where the Hindu nationalist government is routinely accused of stoking hatred of Muslims. 'In our country, the scrutiny begins with your name, from which people determine which caste you belong to,' says Ghaywan. 'The characters in the film believe that getting a job in the police will offer them a form of dignity, a form of protection from the hate and shaming that comes their way.' 'Homebound' is the second feature by Ghaywan, whose first film 'Masaan' drew rave reviews and picked up two awards in Cannes in 2015. Instead of jump-starting the director's career, however, the unexpected success clipped his wings – and it has taken him a decade to finish his second film. 'I suffered from impostor syndrome because of my origins,' explains the filmmaker, pointing to his own low-caste background. 'The feeling peaked in Cannes, where I felt undeserving of the praise and attention.' 11:22 Ghaywan has described himself as the 'first acknowledged Dalit behind a camera' in the history of Indian cinema. 'I harbour a lot of shame, but at the same time, I'm driven by this quest to do something, to talk about those left behind,' he says. 'Our cinema should tell more stories about them. We only talk about urban stories when 60% of people live in villages.' 'Shaped' by Scorsese As he laboured to write the rich and complex screenplay for his second feature, Ghaywan made a decisive encounter that helped break the deadlock. His co-producer Mélita Toscan du Plantier, who had already backed his first film, decided to put him in touch with her longtime friend Scorsese, knowing that the legendary director of 'Goodfellas' and 'Taxi Driver' had spoken in glowing terms of 'Masaan' when it came out a decade ago. 'We decided to send the screenplay to Martin Scorsese. He read it and sent me some comments by email, making suggestions about the narrative arc, the structure,' Ghaywan recalls. 'The feedback was so good, I modified the script accordingly.' Scorsese again helped out during the editing process, watching three different cuts of the film and providing 'detailed and pertinent' feedback, adds Ghaywan, who says he drew on Scorsese's remarks while ensuring his film retained a distinctive cultural identity. 'In India, we have our own way of expressing emotions, including the way we speak,' he says. 'Our films can be perceived as excessively emotional or melodramatic, but it is very important for me to retain this component because it is our cinematic language.' Ghaywan revealed Scorsese's role as the film's executive producer in late April, two weeks before heading to Cannes. He highlights the 'selflessness' of the iconic director who played a 'crucial role' in the movie's making. 'I'm extremely lucky to have had a legend like him spend all this time to help shape my film,' he says. 'I've experienced what every independent filmmaker dreams of.'

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