Category: World News

Posted on

2025: The year of the naked dress?

Source: Radio New Zealand

The year’s biggest trend was barely there. It crested Margot Robbie in slim strands of beads and rhinestones; it draped Julia Fox, Sandro Botticelli-style, in little more than strands of brunette curls; and, through an empire waisted layer of sheer white mesh, it revealed Sienna Miller’s new pregnancy to the world.

We’re talking, of course, about the naked dress.

In 2025, countless actors, musicians and influencers appeared on red carpets in naked dresses – dresses with fabric so sheer or minimal that the wearer looks as if she’s wearing nothing, or dresses designed to create a trompe l’oieil appearance of nudity.

Actress Julia Fox was a repeat offender in 2025 when it came to the sheer dress.

NEILSON BARNARD/JOHN LAMPARSKI

Why did so many designers make these dresses this year, and why do celebrities continue to reach for them?

Designers say they are expressions of freedom and our changing relationship to nudity. Critics say they are an indulgence of the male gaze. Are naked dresses the parable of the emperor’s new clothes come to life, or a dream-come-true for body positivity?

Liberté, egalité, nudité?

“Any style that comes into fashion is going to be overdetermined, to use a psychoanalytical term – it’s going to be caused by a lot of things,” said Dr. Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator, The Museum at FIT. “There’s no one thing, like the conservative mood sweeping the world politically, or a new form of sexual liberation. Big world historical events are often in the background, as are individuals, like a particular actress. But in between is where you find most of the catalysts for changes in fashion, and that means the world of craft or lifestyle.”

Designers are constantly looking at each other for ideas, noting what peers or rivals make that generates publicity – and this past year, that meant the guaranteed virality of the naked dress, Steele said.

The designers behind many of the most popular variations say they have one goal in mind: to celebrate the power of the woman zipped (or thinly veiled) within.

“The naked dress has never been about exposure for me, it’s about liberation,” LaQuan Smith, the New York-based fashion designer behind several stand-out naked dresses at this year’s Met Gala, wrote in an email. “It’s about a woman choosing to show up exactly as she wants, in full control of her presence. When I design pieces that reveal the body, I’m thinking about confidence as an energy, not a flash.”

Actress Halle Berry arrives for the 2025 Met Gala in New York.

ANGELA WEISS

Smith’s Met Gala dresses demonstrate his modus operandi: for Halle Berry, he created panels of alternating black liquid-y bugle beads and sheer stretch mesh that fanned into a glorious, lengthy train; and for Ciara, he placed swags of crystals between an hourglass of black matte silk. With their mix of hard lines and softer materials, you could hardly say the women looked vulnerable (or cold).

Marcelo Gaia, who perhaps invented the contemporary form of the naked dress in 2019 when he launched his New York-based brand Mirror Palais, considers the gowns a celebration of femininity, spurred on by models’ reactions in early fittings to dresses made of one layer of fabric, without lining. “A woman’s body is just so beautiful. It’s like, the most perfect creation,” Gaia said. “If you want to make something beautiful, you really don’t have to do that much – you’re just showing what’s there.”

Still, naked dress designers say that provocation is part of the point. Christian Cowan’s crystal T-shirt dress, made in collaboration with designer Elias Matso as the finale look in his Spring-Summer 2026 show, became a sensation when actress and cultural lightning rod Sydney Sweeney wore it to a Variety party in late October. Some on social media criticized her braless, busty appearance as vulgar. “I loved that it was a bit controversial, and it sparked conversations,” said Cowan. “I think anything worthwhile upsets some people.”

Actress Sydney Sweeney in Christian Cowan’s crystal T-shirt dress.

MAYA DEHLIN SPACH

Designers sense that women care most about how they feel in a garment, rather than what others may think. “I’m like, what male gaze is there?” he said. “For the most part, I don’t think women are dressing for the male gaze.”

Or, if the male is indeed gazing, he’s doing so uncomfortably. Lily Allen wore a form of the naked dress by Colleen Allen to the CFDAs in early November, coasting off the success of her new album “West End Girl,” widely considered to be a post-mortem account of her estrangement from husband David Harbour. The ensemble undoubtedly carried an attitude of vengefulness, suggesting outrageous confidence and an assurance to anyone watching that she’s doing just fine: she showed the ex-lover who scorned her what he’s missing out on, and invited her sympathetic fans to cheer on her fantastic post-breakup appearance.

Writer and editor Tish Weinstock, who got married in a sheer vintage John Galliano dress, said she hardly feels undressed in naked dresses. “I don’t feel naked at all, because I’m literally wearing clothes. And not just any clothes, but these beautiful, historical relics from the 1930s, eroded over time, or iconic Galliano or Dolce gowns from the 90s,” she said. “For me, it allows me to become a character. I feel more like an apparition than standing there completely starkers”.

In other words, the naked dress allows designers and wearers to challenge our assumptions around a woman’s appearance. “I love the questioning of, why is this taboo?” said Cowan. “A part of a woman’s body shouldn’t be taboo. It should be completely her decision of what she does with that, and then everyone else should be fine.”

The emperor’s new GLP-1

Of course, the wearer, her loyal observers and her ex-boyfriend are not the only people seeing the dress – and no single dress, as Steele points out, has a fixed meaning.

“You cannot put a unifocal interpretation on it, because the same style can mean diametrically different things on one person,” she said. “Meaning is not inherent in the dress. It is created and recreated each time by the wearer, the designer and the viewers as they all try and figure out what it means.”

Steele points to Marie Antoinette popularizing the chemise, the 18th century’s answer to the naked dress, as an instructive example. “It was caused in part by the fall of the old regime and the revolution,” she said, plus the new availability of cotton through the growth of the American slave trade, and a trending interest in Grecian gowns that promoted liberty as a core social value.

Nonetheless, it is impossible to see the rise of the naked dress as extricable from the boom in GLP-1 usage, even if designers like Allen, Gaia, Smith, Cowan and Dilara Findikoglu, the maker of Fox’s Botticelli dress, have been making these dresses since the heyday of the body positivity movement (even if that was only three years ago). Modern body-skimming dresses first emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, when designers like Madeleine Vionnet and Coco Chanel created bias- cut gowns that clung to the figure, with shorter hemlines that showed off the legs. In the background, fascism was beginning its ascent across Europe, and the oppression of liberal values and a focus on the newly slim, physically disciplined body seemed to play off each other.

Actress Zoë Kravitz attends the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.

NEILSON BARNARD

As conservative ideals once again take hold and the figures of celebrities seem to shrink, the body seems to risk becoming a fashion trend unto itself, rather than any clothing style or silhouette. Even as many of the naked dress’s designers put a range of body types in their clothes – and in fact, the designers discussed here are some of the few who remain committed to body diversity in their runway casting – those who most often wear naked dresses tend to be thin.

Gaia believes that the prevalence of thin women in such dresses is not only due to GLP-1s, but the expense of creating and marketing plus size clothing through fitting and ecommerce imagery. (Gaia offers up to a size 18/20.) “It’s very complicated, and it’s not just Ozempic that is playing a role,” he said. “One hundred percent, white supremacy, thinness, its adjacencies – like that is playing a role. But it really also comes down to money.”

Is the naked dress here to stay? Perhaps that depends on how you interpret the year’s most naked dress of all: the scrap of nude nylon worn by Bianca Censori at February’s Grammys. You had to squint to the see the lines of the dress itself, and nearly every outlet ran pictures of her at the event blurred.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori, moments before she dropped her coat to reveal a sheer dress.

Frazer Harrison / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

“The relative nakedness of the female body can either be perceived, and/or intended as liberating, or perceived as objectifying,” said Steele. “Some of the girlfriends of famous people who appear semi-nude next to them on the red carpet, you kind of go, I think she is presenting herself as a sexual object for her partner. In other cases, you think, she is so in charge of what she thinks she’s doing.”

Was Censori merely a sexual prop for a public eager to see female nudity while purporting to revile it? Or was she so in charge? The naked truth may be both.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

UK singer Chris Rea dies at 74, days before Christmas

Source: Radio New Zealand

British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, best known for the 1980s festive hit ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, has died at the age of 74, his family announced on Monday (local time).

“It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris,” a spokesperson for his wife and two children said in a statement shared with UK media.

“He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.”

A post on his official social media channels added: “Chris’s music has created the soundtrack to many lives, and his legacy will live on through the songs he leaves behind.”

No further details were immediately provided.

The musician, born in 1951 in Middlesbrough, northeast England, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had his pancreas removed in 2001, and in 2016 he suffered a stroke.

He first found fame in Britain in the late 1970s with ‘Fool (If You Think It’s Over)’, following up in the 1980s with ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘The Road to Hell’.

Known for his gravelly voice and slide guitar-playing, he recorded 25 solo albums – two of which topped the UK albums chart – while he also earned a Grammy nomination early in his career.

His 1986 track ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ became synonymous with the festive season, often reappearing in the British singles chart in December.

In recent weeks it had reached number 30 and also featured in the Christmas advert for supermarket chain Marks & Spencer.

The song “tells the story of a weary traveller making his way home, a moment of warmth, humour and holiday spirit that’s never lost its magic”, according to Rea’s website.

In interviews, he has revealed he wrote the song during a difficult period eight years earlier when his manager had left him, he had been banned from driving and his wife was behind the wheel.

“I’d look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable,” he previously said.

“Jokingly, I started singing ‘We’re driving home for Christmas…’ then, whenever the street lights shone inside the car, I started writing down the lyrics.”

His hometown football club, Middlesbrough FC, posted on X that it was “deeply saddened” by news of his death, calling him “a Teesside icon”.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

How a Fiji man took on the world’s biggest polluters

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Jamie Tahana for RNZ Pacific

Vishal Prasad (Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change) speaks to the press before the International Court of Justice following the conclusion of an advisory opinion on countries’ obligations to protect the climate. AFP / Lina Selg

2025 was a big year for Vishal Prasad. From the giddy high of a win at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to the euphoria of being awarded an ‘alternative nobel prize’ as part of a collective of Pacific activists, while also plumbing new depths of frustration and despair at international climate talks in Brazil.

The 28 year-old, who lives in Suva, has been beamed across the world this year as the president of Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change, the group of Pacific youth behind the herculean effort to take the world’s major emitters to the UN’s highest court in the Hague.

In an interview this week, Prasad said the mammoth year ended with a flurry of emotions: pride, gratitude, and elation on one hand, frustration and growing concern on the other.

“The year has been a huge year,” he said. “We’ve seen immense, huge developments in the climate space, the ICJ’s advisory opinion being one of the huge outcomes.

“[But] It is a very difficult time. I’d say we’re at this point coming into the end of the year because the necessary energy and the speed at which the world needs to move still is lacking in many spaces.”

That advisory opinion, handed down in July, was a significant advancement for small countries trying to force international action to address the climate crisis. In a rare unanimous opinion from the 12-judge bench, the ICJ found that states are required under international law to protect the climate and prevent further harms.

The judges also found that states must implement evidence-based measures to cut greenhouse gas emission to protect the climate.

The path to that ruling started in a Port Vila classroom in 2019, when a group of students questioned why international law was silent on what they saw as their greatest threat. That started a six-year movement that led to The Hague.

Members of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change. Supplied / Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change

Five months after that sunny afternoon at the Peace Palace in the Netherlands, Prasad said he’s still shocked by the strength of the advisory opinion that was handed down. He had been in contact with many of the communities who provided testimony for the case across the Pacific.

“There has been immense joy, I think, that this has been a win. I think the first thing that people take is that this is a win for the region and it is a source of hope to hang on to,” he said, conceding that many communities had not expected such a strong outcome.

“There’s just been disappointment in the climate space for the last how many years and people have stopped expecting good news,” he said. “This was one thing that caught some people by shock, but also some whose expectations were maybe here but the advisory opinion rose beyond their expectations.”

The effort saw PISFCC win the ‘Right Livelihood Award’, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ alongside their legal counsel, Chamorro lawyer and writer Julian Aguon, for what judges said was “turning survival into a matter of rights.”

“Central to their strategy was gathering testimonies from Pacific communities, who are among those contributing least [to] climate change yet facing some of its harshest consequences,” the organisation behind the award said in its press release.

How much people would pay heed to the ICJ’s opinion was put to the test only a couple of months later, when Prasad found himself in the Brazilian city of Belem, the gateway to the Amazon, which last month hosted the annual round of climate negotiations known as COP.

The talks are the key mechanism for getting countries to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, along with other measures to mitigate against the worst effects of climate change. Yet, for Pacific countries, they’re almost always a source of obstinance, frustration, and bewilderment.

This year’s bout of talks came against an even greater backdrop of pessimism. Enthusiasm for climate action has waned in many Western countries, including New Zealand, and the United States has exited the Paris agreement and rescinded climate finance commitments altogether, with President Trump calling the climate crisis a “con job.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the summit with a grim prognosis that it was “inevitable” the target of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees celsius would be missed. The target, agreed to in the 2015 Paris agreement, had been advocated for by Pacific countries, who said anything beyond that would imperil their futures.

Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu (3rd L) speaks to the media after an International Court of Justice (ICJ) session tasked with issuing the first Advisory Opinion (AO) on states’ legal obligations to address climate change, in The Hague on 23 July 2025. AFP / John Thys

“Every year we leave the COP depressed, but [we] will begrudgingly continue to participate because if we’re not at the table we’ll be on the menu,” the Vanuatu climate change minister, Ralph Regenvanu, told The Guardian in September. “But I don’t think it is reformable.”

They were frustrations shared by Prasad.

“We saw that at COP, there was a huge change in the narratives of countries that were supporting the advisory opinion, asking for the usage of the advisory opinion. And then also those that were blocking progress as well, being very conscious about the advisory opinion,” he said. “So I think the potential for the opinion to shape climate politics and policy is huge, and I think that needs to be unlocked further.

Vanuatu, which led the pursuit for the advisory opinion from a government level, is now working to secure a vote at the UN General Assembly to turn the advisory opinion into concrete obligations.

“I think a lot of people have lost faith. I think there is a lot of disappointment with existing processes and I think that’s exactly where the advisory opinion steps in,” he said. “I think in this very tense moment the advisory opinion does bring hope because now you have a baseline to actually measure and hold governments accountable.

“We’ve seen a lot of people reach out to us … talking about how they’re looking at mounting campaigns within their country to say, okay, whether it’s in Europe, whether it’s in Asia, or how a particular activity, particular initiative or policy of government is incompatible with the ICJ and how they’re thinking of using the AO to kind of mount a counter to this.”

President of the International Court of Justice Yuji Iwasawa (C) and other members of the top UN court as it handed down a landmark ruling on climate change. JOHN THYS / AFP

Prasad, at the end of this mammoth year, was spending some time relaxing in the west of Fiji before heading to spend Christmas with family in Suva. But also this week, a tropical depression brushed along the country’s north, another reminder of the stakes at play.

He hoped 2026 would be another mammoth year. There was work to do to support Vanuatu’s bid to get the advisory opinion through the UN General Assembly. Could the advisory opinion open new paths to litigation?

Just as fulfilling, he said, was work outside the nebulous and insular realms of international law and politics. What gave so much of the drive for the students’ campaign were stories of communities on the front lines across the Pacific, from yam farmers in Vanuatu to fishermen in Solomon Islands, to the women on Bougainville’s Carteret Islands. Prasad said he wanted to continue working with them.

“The advisory opinion was one great way of claiming space, claiming ownership and bringing Pacific people to a space that really was not theirs. And so there are many such injustices that still exist. There are many such spaces that still exist where we need to claim, reclaim the space, reclaim the power that we have.”

Still, while he called the international system “frustrating” and deeply flawed, there was no alternative but to remain optimistic.

“If you give into despair, if you give into disappointment then there is no way out. I think that’s the beauty of Pacific campaigns, because even in those dark, desperate, despair-filled days, you have people around you that are shouldering the burden with you. And that’s the nature of the Pacific. It’s a community. It’s a family. And I think that makes it much easier for us to carry on in that way versus say someone outside the region.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

James Ransone, star of ‘The Wire’ and ‘It: Chapter Two’, dies at 46

Source: Radio New Zealand

James Ransone, an actor best known for playing Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire and also starring in It: Chapter Two, has died at age 46, according to LA medical authorities.

The actor took his own life, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Ransone played the dock worker-turned-petty criminal Zibby Sobotka throughout The Wire season two.

He also played adult Eddie Kaspbrak in the horror anthology It, and had roles in HBO’s Generation Kill, indie film Tangerine, and Black Phone 2.

Ransone was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and throughout his career openly documented his struggles with heroin addiction.

In a 2016 interview, he said he wrestled “with the catharsis of acting” due to the roles he leaned towards.

“I don’t end up playing a lot of likable characters, so I find myself living in a lot of unlikable skin,” he said.

“As a result of that, I don’t always feel good.”

He also credited the Iraq war-based miniseries Generation Kill — which kickstarted the career of co-star Alexander Skarsgård — as a “highlight” of his life.

“I remember going to Africa and I was going to be there for almost a year,” he said.

“I was number two on the call sheet and I was like, ‘I think somebody made a mistake. This is too much responsibility for me.'”

Instead, he found his time as Corporal Josh Ray Person helped him connect to his father, who was a Vietnam War veteran.

“A lot of things started to make sense to me in a different way,” he said.

“It didn’t do so much for my career but it shaped me and the way that I think about my life.”

In March 2021, Ransone also alleged on Instagram that he had been sexually abused when he was about 13.

The actor reportedly filed the allegations with police but the Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office did not make any charges, according to The Baltimore Sun.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Villagers who watched Manawanui sink still waiting for compensation

Source: Radio New Zealand

The HMNZS Manawanui, aground in Samoa. Profile Boats / supplied

More than a year after the New Zealand navy vessel HMNZS Manawanui sank off the south coast of Samoa’s island of Upolu, affected locals have yet to be compensated.

Information showing a compensation payment from the New Zealand government to the Samoa government of SAT$10 million – about NZ$6m – made as far back as May this year has also raised concerns over the process in Samoa.

The NZ Navy vessel crashed into the Tafitoala reef on 6 October 2024, and spilled diesel and rubbish into the surrounding water. It eventually sank into the reef, where it remains today.

Residents from the village of Tafitoala in the district of Safata watched the ship crash and burn less than two kilometres from their homes.

Fagailesau Afaaso Junior Saleupu, a matai of the village, has been helping co-ordinate the Tafitoala compensation claim to the government of Samoa and New Zealand High Commission over the incident. He said the wreckage continued to cause problems for families who have long depended on the ocean for sustenance and income.

“So many sea resources we [rely] on for food, not only for food, but for selling [so we] get money – it’s gone.

“We don’t know why, and that’s the only thing we [can think] of. Since the Manawanui grounding, all these issues start coming up.”

A ‘disappointing’ process

When the ship ran into the reef, a five kilometre precautionary zone was placed around the wreck, preventing locals from fishing and using the waters in front of their homes.

After five months, the no-go zone was reduced to two kilometres, which Fagailesau said remained in place today.

Locals were initially pleased at the development, returning to the ocean surrounding their village to fish and gather seafood, only to find – even after more than a year – much of the regular marine life was missing.

Seasonal fish like igaga and lupo, and sea cucumbers – harvested as a delicacy – had been scarce, which had significantly affected families who sold seafood often at roadside stalls along the coast, he said.

“That’s the other source of income for us.”

The whole process had been disappointing, Fagailesau said.

Documents released to RNZ Pacific under the Official Information Act show the SAT$10 million compensation payment was requested by Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign of Affairs and Trade.

Then-Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa made a formal request for the money to New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters in May.

Peters agreed and the exchange of letters between the leaders facilitated the “immediate” payment of the SAT$10 million, according to the documents.

However, seven months after the transaction, locals from the villages most affected by the Manawanui wreckage remain unsure about what has happened with the money.

Transparency over information has been difficult, with the compensation amount only disclosed publicly in October when the New Zealand government announced it at the one-year anniversary of the wreckage.

Fagailesau said it simply was not good enough.

“That money is from the government of New Zealand for our village. The money is the compensation for Safata, so they should distribute the money now for the district for us,” he said.

“We’ve already [given] our request to the government.”

Maninoa chief says payment delays due to govt change

Despite the delay, not everyone has lost faith in the process.

Atanoa Tusi Fa’afetai, the paramount chief from the neighbouring village of Maninoa in the district of Si’umu, believes delays in compensation are due to a change in government.

Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao Schmidt took over from Fiame in September following the general election.

Atanoa said the government was working on the distribution process.

“We know that we’re supposed to be compensated, and we are expecting payment, but because of the new administration, the new government, I think they are trying to make sure that they iron out all the details from the previous administration and New Zealand government to get some understanding of how the funds [are] being released.”

Like Fagailesau, he believed the New Zealand government had not paid enough for the damage caused by the Manawanui.

“It’s not sufficient,” he said.

Atanoa, an engineer, drew comparisons to the Rena ship, a commercial vessel which crashed into a reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand in 2011. An estimated 350 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea and significant damage and pollution to the environment occurred.

Maritime NZ, which led the response, said the clean-up cost NZ$47 million, of which more than $27 million was paid for by the ship’s owners. The salvage of the vessel came to $700 million, which was paid by the ship’s owners but overseen by the New Zealand government.

Atanoa said if the Manawanui wreckage remained on the reef, then the New Zealand government would need to contribute more.

“If they cannot remove the vessel, they have to compensate for the vessel’s displacement here in our ocean, and also the fishery loss.

“People depend on consuming the fish and marine life… [and] tourism losses.

“Those are the things that New Zealand has to look into for the liability of what’s been happening.”

A New Zealand Defence Force Court of Inquiry into the Manawanui incident also found multiple failures of the crew, the ship and the New Zealand Navy. It also showed the ship grounded after it was left in autopilot and could not turn.

Peters had no comment following the release of his correspondence about the SAT$10 million compensation payment.

Fiame said she signed off on what was recommended by her officials, and did not have access to the relevant files to look at while speaking to RNZ Pacific.

Laaulialemalietoa has not yet responded to requests for comment, nor has the chief executive of Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which is the Samoa agency leading the compensation process.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Uh oh, my child just discovered the truth about Santa

Source: Radio New Zealand

Christmas can be a magical time of year for kids. Writing wish-lists, seeing Santa at the shops, leaving carrots for the reindeer out on the porch. And then of course, the presents under the tree.

So what happens when the penny drops and a child realises the guy who brings toys in a sleigh is not real? Perhaps an older sibling, friend or even a parent breaks the news. Perhaps the child works things out for themselves.

This can lead to some big feelings – sadness, disappointment, perhaps even betrayal. How can you work through this?

There’s still plenty of magic to Christmas once the magic of Santa fades.

Helena Lopes / Pexels

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

How Sydney Sweeney transformed to play boxing champion Christy Martin

Source: Radio New Zealand

Australian director-writer team Dave Michôd and Mirrah Foulkes teamed up with Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney to produce one of the most intense cinematic experiences of the year.

Their biopic Christy begins as a familiar story of the gutsy underdog athlete, Christy Martin – America’s first breakthrough female boxing champion – but transforms into a can’t-look-away horror story about coercive control.

Sweeney – who attracted criticism this year following her appearance in an American Eagle denim commercial – is almost unrecognisable in the role of the stocky, brash boxer from West Virginia.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

The Oscars will abandon broadcast TV for YouTube starting in 2029

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Oscars telecast will move from broadcasting to streaming in 2029, switching from ABC to YouTube — a watershed moment for the entertainment business.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that YouTube signed a “multi-year deal” for the “exclusive global rights to the Oscars.”

The deal will run through 2033.

The deal underscores a tremendous power shift in the media industry, which has been upended by YouTube and streaming platforms like Netflix.

ABC, owned by Disney, has been the home of the Oscars for decades. ABC will continue to show the awards ceremony through 2028.

The Academy had been auctioning off the rights to future telecasts in recent weeks, leading to speculation that a new Big Tech buyer would swoop in.

YouTube evidently outbid ABC and other suitors, though the details were not immediately available.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a statement, “The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry. Partnering with the Academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”

Mohan’s acknowledgement of the Academy’s legacy will resonate in Hollywood, where creators are split between preserving traditional modes of storytelling and embracing audience-centric platforms like YouTube and Netflix.

“YouTube broadcasting the Oscars is like shaking hands with the guy who’s trying to kill you,” screenwriter Daniel Kunka remarked on X when the announcement was made.

YouTube would surely disagree. The platform has encouraged filmmakers to experiment with new technology and distribute projects in new ways, and has also dabbled with financing original movies in the past.

The Oscars, though, still primarily celebrate theatrical releases, even as more and more people ultimately see the films via streaming.

The 2025 winner for Best Picture, Anora, had its launch at the Cannes Film Festival, then came out in theaters, and made its way to Hulu months later.

ABC, which has been “the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century,” said in a statement, “We look forward to the next three telecasts, including the show’s centennial celebration in 2028, and wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued success.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Bondi community returning to new normal, after shooting tragedy

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kazzi Beach Greek displays Israel flags to support the victims, but has had both positive and negative feedback. Charlotte Cook

Bondi businesses say they will feel the effects of Sunday’s attack for a long time, but they are determined to return to normal.

The community is defiant to not let the terrorist attack that killed 15 victims and one shooter, and injured dozens more, define them or their summer.

Hospitality underpins the beachside suburb. Four days after the massacre, businesses were returning to normal – or their new normal.

For Tony Gosden at Tony’s Burger Joint, it happened sooner than he thought.

They closed on Monday, but the staff wanted to return for Tuesday, unsure how it would go.

“We had a full house last night, which I was really surprised,” he said. “So do people want to get out and go, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be beaten by this’?

“Part of me feels that.”

Tony Gosden from Tony’s Burger Joint at Bondi Beach. Charlotte Cook

It’s also complicated.

“It’s going to be weird for a really long time, but the next couple of weeks, everyone’s just meant to be, you know, sort of celebrating life, and being happy and stuff, and now… it doesn’t feel that way.”

Gosden said the terrorist attack had changed the trajectory of the summer.

“This is probably going to be the best summer we’ve had in years… and us personally, as a business… we’ve been booming, absolutely booming.

Probationary Constable Jack Hibbert was shot twice during the Bondi Beach attack. NSW Police

“I think what’s just happened has put a massive cloud over the whole of Bondi and the whole festive season, and the way people are feeling.

“I think everyone wants to get on and have a good festive season, but it’s going to be really tough to celebrate anything, with what’s happened.”

He described the atmosphere as heavy, similar to when COVID hit – downtrodden.

Peter Papas from Kazzi Beach Greek hadn’t noticed a difference in his patrionage. He had put up Israeli flags up in support of the Jewish community.

Papas said people had been stopping in, appreciative of his gesture, but he didin’t know what was to come for the festive season

“People around here are not going to be silenced and they’re going to, if anything, defiantly get back to normal life as fast as they can.”

Johnny Weiler from Jono’s Kitchen at Bondi Beach. Charlotte Cook

He said he’s also had people stop in, critical of him for hanging the flags. Papas said that showed the tensions in the community.

Johnny Weiler from Jono’s Kitchen grew up in Israel – he’s used to violent attacks.

“Here, it’s a thing that people aren’t used to and it’s good that way, but you know, the way it’s going, this is one that’s the beginning of what’s going to happen here.”

He hadn’t lost trade and said lots of people from out of Bondi came in to deliver flowers to the memorial.

The story is different for those behind the cordon,

About 500 metres of the main road along the waterfront was closed for three nights and is still closed.

The government and the insurance council is forcing insurers to pay Bondi attack claims, overruling terror exclusions with official declarations of a terrorist and significant event.

Signs in windows after the attack at Bondi Beach. RNZ / Charlotte Cook

These declarations allow a special fund to be accessed to help, something that hasn’t been done since the Lindt Cafe Sydney siege in 2014.

Insurance or not, these businesses are determined the tight community will pull through.

“Again, I think maybe that’s defiance talking, but we’re looking forward to life carrying on and, if anything, getting better eventually,” Papas said. “We’re just not going to be cowed into behaving differently because of what’s happened.”

Bondi is determined to keep the light.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Live: Bondi terror attack gunman wakes from coma

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the gunmen who police believe carried out a mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people at the weekend has woken from a coma.

Naveed Akram, 24, remains in a Sydney hospital under police guard. His 50-year-old father Sajid was killed by police during the shooting.

Police are yet to announce what charges Naveed Akram may face.

Australian officials have described the shootings as a targeted, anti-semitic terror attack.

See our liveblog above for the latest updates.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand