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Extra.ie
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Muireann O'Connell in her homeowner era as she celebrates after 'soul-destroying' process
Ireland AM star Muireann O'Connell is officially a homeowner, joking that she can finally 'legitimately' refer to her fiancé as 'housemate'. The presenter got engaged to her partner, Philip Manzor, in 2021, but the pair have seemingly no plans to tie the knot just yet. Like many Irish couples, it seems they have decided to take on home ownership first, with Muireann revealing on social media on Friday that they have finally purchased their first home. Ireland AM star Muireann O'Connell is officially a homeowner, joking that she can finally 'legitimately' refer to her fiancé as 'housemate'. Pic: Instagram/Muireann O'Connell Writing on Instagram, she said: 'If I was a pedant, I would have been calling him my bungalow-mate. Today, I can legitimately call him my housemate. 'Thank you to the lovely previous owners and to everyone who helped us to get here. Ye are the best. 'We've been terrible at this process. God, house buying has been a slog. I know it's not easy.' Pic: Instagram/Muireann O'Connell The Ireland AM host added: 'For anyone going through it, much love. It can be soul-destroying. But bloody hell do I feel good today.' 'Now, how the hell do you decorate a house?' Muireann went on to share a few snaps from the process, sharing a sneak peek into the couple's lovely home. Pic: Instagram/Muireann O'Connell Friends and followers rushed to the comments to congratulate her on the major milestone, with Irish influencer Louise Cooney writing: 'Yayyy huge congrats to you both!! Exciting times.' Fionnuala Jay said: 'Oh my god delighted for ye!!!!!!', while Terrie McEvoy added: 'THRILLED FOR YOU!!!' Back in 2021, Muireann had the help of co-hosts Tommy Bowe and Alan Hughes when she announced that she was engaged to her long-term partner live on air. The Limerick native has been very private about her love life over the years, with her 'housemate's' identity only being revealed last year. Speaking to RSVP in March 2024, Muireann laughed as she noted Philip is quite private, but added that it didn't bother either of them when his identity was revealed. 'I didn't mind in the least, I am dead proud of him, and, sure, I love him,' she said, 'I don't think he wanted to run onto the couch, jump up and down and do a Tom Cruise on The Oprah Show about it, but he was fine.' She added that they 'never talked about it because it wasn't a big deal.' 'I think some people think I kept him locked up and only let him out on the weekends,' she joked. 'The reality is that like so many others, he is a private person and doesn't put himself out there — I respect that.'
CBS News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Oprah Winfrey unveils "The Emperor of Gladness" as her latest book club pick
Oprah Winfrey reveals new book club pick: "The Emperor of Gladness" by Ocean Vuong Oprah Winfrey unveiled her latest book club selection Tuesday on "CBS Mornings," choosing "The Emperor of Gladness" by acclaimed author and poet Ocean Vuong. During the exclusive announcement, Winfrey described the novel as containing "some of the most beautiful writing I've experienced in my lifetime," and praised Vuong's ability to "capture the essence of just ordinary people." "When I tell everybody, would you just read the first chapter. And if you read the first chapter, you're gonna be hooked," Winfrey said. The novel opens with the line, "The hardest thing in the world is to live only once," and follows 19-year-old Hai who develops a profound connection with Grazina, an elderly widow suffering from dementia. In the interview, Vuong shared that the story was inspired by personal experience, noting that suicide is "a very personal thing" following his uncle's death by suicide in 2012. Rather than focusing solely on the moment of crisis, Vuong said he wanted to explore what happens after. "Often in stories or news segments, we have the suicide at the edge of the bridge. And then when they come off that bridge, and God willing they do, we all clap. Everything's back to normal," Vuong said. "But I've always thought what's happened for that person on day two of that decision. Day three, day 20. Because their life still is in shambles." The author said the unlikely bond between his main characters, noting that "both the young people and the very old have been pushed on the margins" of society, creating "masses amount of loneliness on both sides of that age spectrum." There is also a personal connection between Winfrey and Vuong, who shared that his mother, a nail salon worker in Connecticut, regularly watched "The Oprah Show." Vuong said as a child, he watched women feel empowered through reading. When asked what his late mother would think of his book being selected for Oprah's Book Club, Vuong said it would be the only literary achievement she would have fully recognized, saying "This is the only thing that would be legible to her." "I hope she's proud of me. I hope she's seeing me somewhere," Vuong said. Vuong's previous work includes the bestselling novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" and the poetry collection "Time Is a Mother." "The Emperor of Gladness" is on sale now.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Japan sparked Trump's 40-year love affair with tariffs
When Donald Trump's fortunes took a downturn in the 90s and he needed to raise cash fast, he sailed his 282ft (85m) superyacht, the Trump Princess, to Asia hoping he could attract Japan's wealthy. It wasn't the first time the businessman had sought out Japanese buyers or lenders for his projects. In the cut-throat world of New York real estate, Trump had a front-row seat from his Fifth Avenue skyscraper of Tokyo's buying spree in the 80s of iconic US brands and properties, including Rockefeller Center. It was then that his worldview on trade and America's relations with its allies was formed, and his fixation on tariffs, a tax on imports, began. "He had a tremendous resentment for Japan," says Barbara Res, a former executive vice-president at the Trump Organization. He watched with jealousy as Japanese businessmen were viewed as geniuses, she says. He felt America wasn't getting enough in return for assisting its ally Japan with military defence. What are tariffs and why is Trump threatening them? Trump often complained that he had difficulties doing deals with large groups of Japanese businessmen. "I'm tired of watching other countries ripping off the United States." That Trump quote could've been pulled from 2016, but it's actually from the late 80s when he made an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, around the time he first floated his name as a potential presidential candidate. Fresh from sharing his business philosophy in his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, Trump went on a tirade against America's trade policies in national interviews. In an animated interview with Oprah Winfrey before a live studio audience on The Oprah Show, he said he would handle foreign policy differently by making the country's allies "pay their fair share". He added that there wasn't free trade when Japan was "dumping" products into America's market but making it "impossible to do business" there. Jennifer Miller, an associate professor of history at Dartmouth College, said others shared his concerns about the economy at the time. Japan provided competition for US manufacturing, particularly in consumer electronics and cars. As US factories were shuttering and new Japanese brands entered the market, pundits were talking about Japan surpassing the US as the world's leading economy. "Trump is sort of symbolic of a lot of people who were kind of questioning American leadership in the American-led international order, and whether it actually served the United States," Prof Miller says. Before his Oprah appearance, Trump had spent almost $100,000 to release an "open letter" in full-page ads in three major US newspapers. The headline read: "There's nothing wrong with America's Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can't cure." In it, he said Japan and other nations had been taking advantage of the US for decades. He claimed "the Japanese, unimpeded by the huge costs of defending themselves (as long as the United States will do it for free), have built a strong and vibrant economy with unprecedented surpluses". Trump believed the obvious solution was to "tax" these wealthy nations. "The world is laughing at America's politicians as we protect ships we don't own, carrying oil we don't need, destined for allies who won't help," he wrote. ANALYSIS: The tariff wars have begun - buckle up EXPLAINER: Why is Trump threatening tariffs? GLOBAL: Trump hit China hard before. This time it's ready CONSUMERS: Six things that could be more expensive in US VOICES: Canadians 'snap' as rift with US widens The ad served as a potent introduction to Trump's foreign policy vision, according to Prof Miller. One built on the zero-sum belief that allies are freeloaders and that the liberal internationalist approach which had dominated since World War II was weak and foolish in a competitive world. The solution, he argued, was a more aggressive, protectionist trade policy. "I think that's one reason he likes tariffs so much, is they fit not only with his transactional ideology but his sense of himself, which is very deeply rooted as this successful dealmaker," she said. "And the fact that tariffs can be threatened; they can be dangled over another country." Clyde Prestowitz headed negotiations with Japan during the Reagan administration as counselor to the secretary of commerce. A longtime critic of free-trade policies, he said nobody who was intellectually serious was affiliated with Trump or his simplistic approach at the time. He argues that the president hasn't offered a real solution to the problems he's raised. "Tariffs are kind of a showy thing that you can say, look what I did, I banged those guys… so you know, you can be a tough guy. Whether or not they are effective in any way is really open to discussion." Mr Prestowitz believes the real problem then and now is that the US doesn't have a strategic manufacturing policy, despite complaining about unfair trade. Of course, fears of Japan's rise calmed over time and now it's an ally. Instead it's China that is the US's fiercest corporate competitor. This week Trump welcomed Japan's prime minster into the Oval Office as one of his first foreign visitors. But Donald Trump's governing philosophy is still the same as when he was a young real estate developer. He still believes just as strongly in tariffs as a tool to pressure other countries to open their markets and reduce trade deficits. "He just says this all the time to anybody who will listen whenever anybody asks, and that's been true for 40 years. And in fairness to him, you know that is a very natural way to view international commerce," said Michael Strain, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He says students often share Trump's intuitive thinking about the economy, and one of the big challenges that professors face is convincing them that their understanding is wrong. Mr Strain says despite Trump's hold on the party, with a stance that has upended decades of Republican embrace of free trade, he doesn't think he's convinced sceptical lawmakers, business leaders and economists. The sticking points remain that his views that foreign imports are bad, that the size of the trade deficit is a useful measure of policy success or that the ideal state for the US economy is to only import goods that cannot physically be made in the US. Mr Strain believes threats to increase tariffs on US allies could reduce business investment and weaken international alliances. Joseph LaVorgna, a chief economist of the National Economic Council during Trump's first term, believes there's been too narrow a focus on tariffs and not enough of an attempt to understand the big picture of what Trump is trying to accomplish. He says the president wants to galvanise domestic industry, in particular high-tech manufacturing. The administration, he explains, feels they can encourage more corporations to come to the US using tariffs, combined with deregulation, cheaper energy and lower corporate taxes, if enacted by Congress. "I think that President Trump understands something which is very important, being a businessman and being transactional, and that is free trade is great in theory but in the real world you need to have fair trade and that's a level playing field." He is betting Donald Trump is right. Few Republicans have publicly opposed the president as he demands loyalty to his agenda. Still, some who have remained silent understand that their constituents could be impacted by rising prices, and are hoping they can convince Trump not to follow through with his beloved tariffs.
