Latest news with #Citizenship
Time of India
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
The "disgusting" UK royal wedding scandal that forced Lady Frederick Windsor to speak out after 16 years
Lady Frederick Windsor, previously known as Sophie Winkleman and a British actress best known for her work on Peep Show and Two and a Half Men, is used to being in the spotlight. But in a refreshingly honest interview with The Telegraph , Lady Frederick Windsor has let on that not all royal weddings are like fairy tales—just not when it comes to hair. Winkleman, 44, wed Lord Frederick Windsor in 2009. Lord Frederick Windsor, is the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent . Prince Michael is a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, making Lord Frederick a second cousin to King Charles III and is currently 54th in the line of succession to the British throne But, she recounts the rush of wedding bells and future demands didn't leave much time for pre-wedding beauty preparations. 'It was such a blur because we had to move to Los Angeles the day after [the wedding], and I had to start a brand new job the day after that,' she recalled. 'So we got married on Saturday and moved everything, our whole lives, out to America the day after. And I'd been so concentrating on the work that I hadn't thought about the wedding.' The outcome? A royal hair "don't." 'Which meant that my hair was so disgusting, and Freddie still gets upset about it,' Winkleman admitted with characteristic humor. 'It was just disgusting.' Live Events Regarding her attire, Winkleman disclosed that her in-law, Princess Michael of Kent, took charge. 'She sort of took it all over, and I actually didn't mind at all. I thought, 'Great, do everything,' she said. 'I was concentrating on this acting job and saying goodbye to my darling granny, who wasn't very well, and just doing other stuff. But now I look back on it and think I should have worn a simpler dress, and I should have got my hair blow-dried by someone who'd done it before.' In spite of the hair disaster, Winkleman speaks only praise of her royal in-laws. 'Family isn't always brilliant, but this lot are very sweet. I love all of them,' she shared. Now a mother of two daughters—Maud, age 11, and Isabella, age 8—Winkleman has turned her attention to contemporary parenting issues, such as the dangers of screen time. Working alongside social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and actor Hugh Grant, she's become a vocal critic of over-use of screens in schools, going so far as to make a speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London. Looking back on her own royal wedding day, Winkleman's goofy crackle reminds us that even the most star-studded affairs can have their flawlessly imperfect moments. And sometimes, a bit of "disgusting" hair is just part of the story.
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
Minimum income of $3,500 required to obtain Remote Work Visa in UAE
The United Arab Emirates offers a Remote Work Visa to foreigners working outside the country, allowing them to enter, reside, and work remotely for employers based abroad. This visa is valid for one year and is renewable, provided the holder complies with the terms and conditions. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security (ICP) clarifies that this visa enables foreigners to reside in the UAE without a local sponsor. The ICP stated that the documents required include proof of remote employment with a company or entity outside the UAE, evidence of a monthly income of at least $3,500 (or equivalent in other currencies), a valid passport with a minimum validity of 6 months, a colored passport-sized photograph and a valid health insurance coverage within the UAE. Applicants can apply through the smart services system via the ICP's official website or the UAEICP mobile app. The visa permits entry into the UAE within 60 days of date of issuance. It can be applied for on line by these steps: Registering and logging in to the ICP's website or app, filling in the required details and upload necessary documents, paying the applicable fees, and evaluating the service and then the applicant will receive the visa via email. The fees of the total application fee are Dhs350, including: visa issuance fee (Dhs100), application fee (Dhs100), smart services fee (Dhs100) and ICP service fee (Dhs50).
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
IMF Report Spotlights St Kitts And Nevis' Need For Major Investment Project
St Kitts and Nevis is standing at an economic crossroads. IMF data has revealed stagnating growth that requires bold action through strategic development projects that diversify the Federation's economy beyond seasonal tourism and unstable CBI revenue. The IMF's May report observed that real GDP growth moderated to 1.5% in 2024 and is only expected to reach 2% in 2025. These figures are both significantly down on the 4.3% growth seen in 2023. As the original pioneer of Citizenship By Investment (CBI), responsible for almost USD$230m revenue in 2023, and a historic favourite location for tourists, the country must find a way to reinvigorate its economy and drive economic growth. While St Kitts and Nevis bounced back from the pandemic, it was not the only country in the region to do so. The US Virgin Islands experienced a 22% increase in tourist arrivals post-pandemic, leading the region. Other regional players have seen significant economic growth in the same period. St Vincent and the Grenadines, for example, is expected to see a real GDP growth of 4.7% in 2025, a figure substantially larger than St Kitts and Nevis' projections. Extensive investment has strengthened St Vincent and the Grenadines' financial resilience, not least due to its diversification efforts which have enabled it to withstand unforeseen economic shocks. It is also making significant investments into its infrastructure, with new holiday resorts and greener digital connectivity supported by the World Bank's Caribbean Resilient Renewable Energy Infrastructure programme . Although St Kitts and Nevis' tourism sector has recovered well since the pandemic with 870,000 visitors bringing in USD $158mm in 2023, visitor numbers are still significantly down on the 2019 figure of 1.8m. This means that outside the main tourist season of December to April, the country's ability to generate revenue is extremely limited. As highlighted by the IMF, significant economic diversification is therefore essential. One potential long-term driver of growth identified in the report is a 'potentially transformative' geothermal project that would catalyse the country's transition from costly imported fossil fuels to energy self-sufficiency, simultaneously reducing environmental impact while creating long-term economic stability. The transition to geothermal energy has, despite best efforts, been decades in the making. Locals have grown frustrated with continued chatter about the project but limited action. Although funding was secured earlier this year, the project is still out for tender. Geothermal infrastructure urgently requires a catalyst to accelerate its development. Creating sustained energy demand on Nevis which matches or, better still, exceeds tourist season levels is the most viable path forward. Major development projects that attract year-round visitors will provide compelling evidence to geothermal investors that the project is economically viable and finally get it off the ground. With careful planning, such initiatives can enhance rather than diminish Nevis' unique rustic charm. While existing government efforts are admirable and have seen some success, such as the St Kitts to Nevis cross-channel swim and upcoming cultural festivals , a real game-changer is needed. The IMF's assessment is clear in its executive findings that Saint Kitts and Nevis requires 'a multipronged approach to address low growth and fiscal sustainability, while safeguarding financial stability and [the federation's] external position'. The country cannot rely solely on CBI revenue, which is proving relatively unstable at present as the IMF notes. CBI needs to be reinvigorated, and a large-scale project is the saviour that the programme needs to survive. Projects that attract foreign direct investment, including real estate developments, are frequently pursued by the region's key players. The Dominican Republic, for example, has experienced broad success in attracting over USD $3.75bn in annual Foreign Direct Investment, with real estate being a key feature. Large development projects such as Larimar City in Punta Cana have brought in significant investment already, which will in turn trickle down into the local economy as the project is fully realised. Similar projects are also being established in Puerto Rico, where British investors have joined forced with Three Rules Capital to build a $2bn real estate development, Esencia,on the island's western coast. Esencia and Larimar City will both create thousands of jobs across construction, hospitality and tourism, while ensuring stable socioeconomic development. Both provide an exceptional example for Nevis to follow. St Kitts and Nevis stands at a pivotal moment. It is capable of levering its resources and pioneering spirit to create a model that balances development with preservation. Moreover, it has proved in the past with its CBI programme that it is are willing to adapt. The country is well placed to repeat this and transform seasonal vulnerability into year-round economic stability that builds on and secures its position as the birthplace of CBI and a become true Caribbean success story. Originally published on IBTimes UK
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Sophie Winkleman: ‘The Royal family are very sweet. I love them all'
Sophie Windsor had never been the type to post much on the class WhatsApp group. The actress, best known for her role as Big Suze in Peep Show, preferred to keep a low profile. 'I just didn't go anywhere near them,' admits the 44-year-old, who has two daughters, Maud, aged 11, and Isabella, aged 9 with her husband Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. 'But then I had to become that maniac mother who got everyone together before Year 7 and said, 'Can we maybe not do this?'.' What Windsor – or Winkleman, as she is known professionally – wanted was to persuade fellow parents not to automatically give their offspring a smartphone on arrival at secondary school. According to Ofcom, the online safety regulator, nine in 10 children own a mobile phone by the time they leave primary school. But having become increasingly alarmed by research revealing how harmful they are to children's health and education, Winkleman attempted to lead a parents' revolt. 'It was so anti my nature to do that. [To be] the sort of noisy, irritating goose at the school gate,' she admits. 'The screen thing I was quite fanatical about because it was so obvious during lockdown that it was such a terrible way to learn. They are completely un-put-down-able – all these devices.' It started out well, but then slowly 'everyone sort of started folding', she explains. 'Year 7's so hard and so stressful. [Maud] was already self-conscious about me being a mum who was against phones – there's nothing less cool, I mean, what a loser. So my daughter's got one now.' She clarifies that the old iPhone allows her to send 'sweet little texts' but doesn't have any apps enabled. Like any parent of Generation Z and Alpha children, Winkleman had tried to resist the lure of screens from an early age. 'I'm incredibly lazy in every other way, apart from screen use. I'm not a hands on mum; they don't do cello and they don't do Chinese, they can just do what they like.' But everything changed when 'their schools gave them iPads without telling me.' She despairs: 'So they're on screen for a lot of the day. They come home, they open up the damn thing again, and they're on screen for two hours doing homework. And it's such a physically unhealthy way to learn. It's so bad for their eyesight, it's bad for their posture, it's bad for their sleep rhythms. It's even bad for hormones and it's terrible cognitively.' Knowing what she does now, having read extensively on the subject, she admits: 'I wasn't robust enough to immediately take them off them. I regret that. I could have just said, 'No, you're not having them' and had a week of hell. I was a bit pathetic.' But now the mother of two has become a leading voice campaigning for phone-free schools – and the removal of most of the educational technology ('EdTech') from classrooms. Earlier this year, she warned of the 'digital destruction of childhood' during a hard-hitting speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. She recently joined forces with Jonathan Haidt, the American social psychologist and author of the 2024 book The Anxious Generation – to raise awareness alongside fellow actor and father of five, Hugh Grant. Haidt, who believes smartphones should be banned for under-14s, and under-16s should be prohibited from using social media, argues screens have not just caused an 'epidemic of mental illness' in children, but 'rewired' their brains, resulting in 'attention fragmentation'. The Government has rejected calls for a law banning phones in classrooms, and Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has dismissed the demands as a 'headline-grabbing gimmick'. At a recent event organised by the campaign group Close Screens, Open Minds at Knightsbridge School in London, Grant, 64, urged parents to take on the Government: 'I don't think politicians ever do anything because it's the right thing to do, even if it's the right thing to do to protect children. They'll only do what gets them votes. They only care about their career.' Winkleman agrees. 'I'm beginning to worry that this country just doesn't care about children. I've been banging on about screen damage to children for about three years now – and now there's a spate of very intelligent articles about how screens are ruining adults' cognitive health and suddenly everyone's very interested.' Like Haidt, who argues modern parents have underprotected their children online and overprotected them in the 'real world', Winkleman is also dismayed by the lack of traditional forms of play. 'It's so healthy for a child to get really bored and start making his or her own fun. That doesn't need to involve any money. I mean, it can involve a piece of paper and a pen or, you know, if you're a baby, a wooden spoon. You don't need these jazz hands tools to be entertained.' She also advocates a return to pen and paper and for children to be encouraged to handwrite rather than type, insisting it 'implants information so much more profoundly and long-lastingly into the brain than typing does'. She adds: 'I think children's brains are completely atrophying because they're just passive vessels for all sorts of content. They're not developing their imagination anymore because they've got these machines, they can be constantly entertained and it's such a mistake. Apparently, if kids keep going on the way they are, spending seven hours a day on screens, it will amount to 22 years of their lives. That's more than a quarter of a person's life.' Sophie is the daughter of Barry Winkleman, publisher of The Times Atlas of World History, and the children's author Cindy Black. The television presenter Claudia Winkleman is her half-sister from her father's first marriage to the journalist Eve Pollard. Educated at the City of London School for Girls and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she studied English literature, she developed a passion for acting after joining the Cambridge Footlights. Considering herself 'lucky' to be brought up in leafy north London, she says: 'I was very irritatingly lucky. I have two very wonderful parents who I'm far too close to. It's actually awful how close I am to them. I wish I liked them less. I grew up in Primrose Hill before it had a Space NK, when it was still quite shabby and full of lentil shops.' She met Freddie, who is 54th in line to the throne, after sharing a taxi from a party in Soho on New Year's Eve in 2006, when he recognised her from Peep Show. He works as an executive director at JP Morgan and the couple live in south London. Their 2009 wedding at Hampton Court Palace was attended by around 400 guests, including Princess Eugenie, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, actress Jane Asher, Lady Helen Taylor and the singer Bryan Adams. 'It was such a blur because we had to move to Los Angeles the day after and I had to start a brand new job the day after that. So we got married on Saturday and moved everything, our whole lives out to America the day after. And I'd been so concentrating on the work that I hadn't thought about the wedding. 'Which meant that my hair was so disgusting and Freddy still gets upset about it. It was just disgusting. And my mother-in-law chose my dress, which was very sweet and puffy, but I looked barking.' Princess Pushy, as she was cruelly named by the tabloids, chose her dress? 'She sort of took it all over and I actually didn't mind at all. I thought, 'Great, do everything.' I was concentrating on this acting job and saying goodbye to my darling granny who wasn't very well and just doing other stuff. But now I look back on it and think I should have worn a simpler dress and I should have got my hair blow dried by someone who'd done it before.' The Royal family, she insists, were always welcoming. 'Family isn't always brilliant but this lot are very sweet. I love all of them.' Despite finding having the children 'astoundingly knackering', Winkleman has balanced an acting career with a huge amount of charity work and is patron of a number of organisations including the Children's Surgery Foundation and School-Home Support, which, she says, 'keeps children from very tough homes in school and learning.' One of the reasons she campaigns on screens is because of the adverse impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 'The reason we need government intervention is that I think it's predominantly a middle class thing at the moment. It's middle class parents having the confidence to rally people around and say, 'Let's not do this.' And poorer kids are being destroyed by these things. It's not a patronising thing to say. It's true. They're on them all night long. They're going to school wrecked, not focusing, eating rubbish, being angry. I know this because of the education charity and so many teachers I've spoken to. That's why it needs to be a big, old governmental piece of legislation.' Although she says 'I don't think kids should have internet-enabled devices till they finish their GCSEs,' she realises 'it won't happen'. Instead she wants the UK to follow Sweden's lead and remove most of the EdTech from schools, except in the lessons where it's essential, such as computer science. 'They've been very brave and admitted they made a big mistake – that EdTech is a failed experiment. They got computers out of the classroom and reinvested in books, paper and pen. And the children are doing brilliantly. Surprise. Surprise.' The Safer Phones Bill and Online Safety Bill are currently going through Parliament, but Winkleman believes neither go far enough. 'Parents all over the country can get a better grasp on this. I think we have to go towards the doctors and there's a brilliant group called Health Professionals for Safer Screens and they are paediatricians, psychiatrists, optometrists, speech and language therapists. They're all at the coalface seeing what damage screen use in and out of school is doing to children. I think it needs to be a public health warning. They're saying that even 11 to 17-year-olds shouldn't have more than one to two hours of screen time per day.' Parents can mount a revolution, she argues, but ultimately 'it has to come from all the young people'. She adds: 'There was a recent report which interviewed teenagers and asked them, 'If social media and smartphones were banned for all of you, would you be OK with that?' They all said, 'Yes, please,'.' And with that, Winkleman is off to her next acting job: to record a radio play in which she's portraying a mole. She has just finished filming a BBC One drama called Wild Cherry, 'about a group of horrible, competitive, wealthy mothers and their very screwed up teenage daughters.' She laughs: 'I'm playing a complete maniac, which is really fun.' It will certainly be a departure from her clear-eyed and cool-headed quest to lead the mother of all campaigns to end the digital destruction of childhood. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘I am free and happy': Daria Kasatkina has no regrets ahead of first grand slam as Australian
When Daria Kasatkina announced that she had officially switched allegiance from Russia to Australia, she picked up her phone soon after to be greeted with whoops of delight from another Australian player, Daria Saville. 'I was not telling anyone before it came out,' Kasatkina says to Guardian Australia on the eve of the 2025 French Open. 'Dasha called me straightaway and she was so excited. She was so happy for me and I felt so happy because she was super-happy for me. 'It was so natural and now we're real neighbours. I could not have a better neighbour. She's always happy, she's one of the happiest people, I've known her a long time, but it's special that she feels so happy for me. And now we're part of one team.' Saville knows better than most what it is like to switch national and sporting allegiance, having done so in 2014 and going on to marry Australian tennis player Luke Saville and become a citizen. Long-time friends, Saville is now helping Kasatkina to find a place to live near her own home in Melbourne. 'Well, she's trying,' Kasatkina says. 'She's sending me locations, everything. I have to look deeper into it.' Changing nationality was not a decision that came easy to Kasatkina, but one she felt she had to take. One of the few Russian-born players to publicly condemn the country's invasion of Ukraine, the fact that she is openly gay means she can't live the life she wants to in the nation of her birth. When the opportunity to become an Australian citizen, an idea first broached by her agent, John Morris, to Tennis Australia during this year's Australian Open, she jumped at the chance. Official meetings followed and forms were completed, if not exactly by Kasatkina herself. 'I don't know the exact details because I was not doing the applications,' she says with a laugh. 'As a professional athlete, we're never doing this stuff.' Luckily, there were no awkward questions and the process was swift, with Kasatkina becoming a permanent resident of Australia on 29 March. 'Of course it's a big decision,' she says, adding that her family were happy as long as she is happy. 'It's never easy to do something like that. But I am very conscious when I am making this step that I know this is better for my future. I ended up in the situation where I have to make this choice. It's unfortunate, but I had to make it and I'm happy with the decision. 'Honestly, in the past couple of months, I have become a much happier person. I feel like a lot of weight has dropped off my shoulders. I am free and happy. For me this is the most important thing and … I feel this decision is right.' Australia is happy too, with Kasatkina immediately boosting their credentials as a top-20 player. The 28-year-old's results have been up and down since the change, but she is a proven world-class performer, a former semi-finalist at Roland Garros and someone equally adept on grass. Totally comfortable with her decision, the only thing Kasatkina still finds a little strange is when the tournament MCs introduce her as being from Australia. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'I'm still getting used to it,' she says. 'It's a great feeling to represent a country like Australia. It's just something to get used to, I guess. I'm very happy with how everyone welcomed me. The first couple of times it did feel a bit strange. Also to see this beautiful flag next to me, I'm getting more used to it, because at the beginning in the schedule I was a bit confused, but now it's becoming better.' Being Australia's No 1, and suddenly having an entire new nation behind her, is a fresh experience and even for someone as experienced as Kasatkina, it's something extra to deal with. 'It's maybe a little bit of additional pressure, especially when I stepped on court for that first match,' she says. 'That was a lot of pressure. But I'm just going and playing every match like before. It's adding maybe a little pressure but we are facing pressure every single day.' Kasatkina has not had the best of clay-court seasons; in fact she has won just two matches in three tournaments since her switch was announced. But as one of the most talented players on the WTA Tour, with more variety than most, she knows that it could take just one good performance to flick a switch. 'You're going to have ups and downs,' she says, ahead of a first-round match with the Czech, Katerina Siniakova. 'You can be super-ready and still not win many matches and then, next couple of weeks, you may not be feeling amazing, but still somehow you're there. That's normal. I just keep working, I keep pushing and sooner or later, the results will come. I'm very positive about that.'
