Latest news with #TheFallout
News18
12 hours ago
- Business
- News18
Who Is Thailand's Youngest PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra And What's Triggering Her Political Downfall?
A Shinawatra Heir With A Mandate To Heal Paetongtarn Shinawatra is no ordinary politician. The youngest daughter of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and niece of ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra, her surname alone evokes sharp divides in Thai politics, adored by rural voters and the working class, reviled by the royalist elite and Bangkok's conservative middle class. Born on August 21, 1986, she graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a political science degree and later earned an MSc in International Hotel Management from the University of Surrey. Her early career was rooted in business, not politics. She served as an executive in her family's real estate and aviation ventures. But her political debut was almost inevitable. Her formal entry into politics came in 2021, when she became chief of the Pheu Thai party's Inclusion and Innovation Advisory Committee. The appointment was widely seen as a soft launch for a political career crafted carefully behind the scenes. In the 2023 general elections, the Pheu Thai Party ran on a platform promising economic stimulus, digital wallet schemes, and reconciliation, a far cry from the ideological battles of the past. Though it came second to the reformist Move Forward Party, Pheu Thai ultimately cobbled together a broad coalition after the Constitutional Court disqualified the leading party's prime ministerial candidate. Backed by a mix of conservative and centrist forces, Paetongtarn Shinawatra was nominated as prime minister in August 2024, becoming the country's youngest to ever hold the office. To her supporters, she symbolised a pragmatic centre: young enough to promise change, but tied deeply to political experience through her lineage. The Weight Of A Legacy Paetongtarn's ascent was historic, but also heavy with baggage. Her family's past has shaped modern Thailand's political landscape in seismic ways. Her father, Thaksin, a billionaire telecom tycoon-turned-populist leader, was ousted in a 2006 military coup and later convicted in absentia on corruption charges. Her aunt, Yingluck, followed a similar arc — elected with sweeping rural support in 2011, but ousted by a military-led constitutional court in 2014. Advertisement Though both remained popular in parts of the country, especially the northeast, they became symbols of a deep divide in Thai politics: between the rural majority that embraced their pro-poor policies, and an entrenched Bangkok elite aligned with the monarchy and military. That legacy was both a strength and a liability for Paetongtarn. While it provided her with political machinery and loyal grassroots support, it also made her a lightning rod for suspicion among conservative forces. From day one, critics questioned whether she was her own person, or merely a proxy for her father's return to influence. What Brought Her To The Brink: The Leak, The Fallout, The Fears advetisement The crisis that now threatens Paetongtarn's government centres around a leaked 17-minute phone call with Cambodian Senate President and former PM Hun Sen. In the conversation, which surfaced online earlier this week, Paetongtarn was reportedly heard discussing efforts to de-escalate border tensions after a deadly May 28 skirmish in the Emerald Triangle region, a volatile area where Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos meet. One Cambodian soldier had been killed in the clash. While a private negotiation between heads of state isn't in itself scandalous, what set off alarm bells was the tone of the call. Paetongtarn referred to Hun Sen, a longtime political ally of her father, as 'Uncle", and labelled a Thai military officer as an 'opponent". In a country where the military is not only an institution but a political stakeholder, such language was incendiary. To the nationalist right, it signalled undue deference to a historical rival and disrespect to Thailand's own armed forces. The fact that Hun Sen reportedly shared the audio with over 80 Cambodian officials before uploading it to Facebook only worsened perceptions, casting Paetongtarn as diplomatically naïve and politically vulnerable. advetisement On Thursday, the crisis deepened. The Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest member of the ruling coalition, withdrew its support, accusing the prime minister of compromising national sovereignty and damaging military morale. This sudden exit slashed the government's strength to a precarious 255 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives. Opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut of the People's Party called the leak 'the final straw," demanding dissolution of Parliament and fresh elections. Protests also erupted outside Government House, and impeachment threats surfaced in the Senate. Several senators have reportedly initiated steps to file a formal no-confidence motion. Although Paetongtarn has issued a public apology and insisted the comments were part of a 'de-escalation strategy", it appears her words, and the fallout from them, have struck a deeper nerve. Her decision to end private communications with Hun Sen and accuse the Cambodian leader of playing to domestic politics has done little to quell the storm. History Repeats Itself? Thailand has experienced around 13 successful military coups since 1932, and its armed forces remain a deeply entrenched force in national politics. While the current military leadership, which continues to wield significant influence behind the scenes, has so far exercised restraint, a rare statement issued by the Royal Thai Army on Thursday, reaffirming its commitment to 'protecting national sovereignty through legal frameworks," has been interpreted by analysts as a subtle warning. The statement was widely viewed as a reminder of the army's institutional authority and its historical willingness to intervene during periods of political instability. What's Next For Paetongtarn?
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘White Lotus' Stars Finally Open Up About Nasty Feud Rumors
The White Lotus stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood have reunited in an aggressive attempt to finally put rumors of an ongoing 'feud' between them to bed. In a new interview for Variety released Wednesday from an interview conducted on May 3, Goggins and Wood were resolute that 'there is no feud.' Goggins unfollowing Wood on Instagram soon after filming the show's third season sparked the initial feud rumors, but the actor is now attempting to explain why he did it. 'I knew what we had gone through, and I knew how close that we had gotten, and I needed to begin to process saying goodbye to Rick and Chelsea,' Goggins said. 'It's just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for f---ing ever,' he continued. He called the assumptions about the online move 'ridiculous,' as he always cuts some ties with co-stars to 'process' the experience after a project. 'I let her know, this is what I've gotta do. And she was extremely supportive about that.' The fictional couple had become so close off-screen during filming, as shown in their Instagram posts together at the time, that rumors of beef after the unfollow also accompanied rumors of an affair. Neither rumor has any founding, the two actors said, even as it pertains to Goggins and his other co-stars. He explained why he was absent from many of the post-season cast hangouts. 'I haven't spoken to anyone,' he said. 'I couldn't handle it. Judge me or don't. I don't give a f--- what you think. This is my process. Rick means everything to me, and Chelsea means everything to me. And so that's what I needed to do for me to process all of this,' he said. As for why she never addressed the rumors, which continued to grow louder and louder even after Goggins had an unpleasant encounter with a Times reporter, Wood said, 'Eventually I just started to sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing.' Something was certainly made. When Goggins insisted on not discussing the rumors with The New York Times, the actor was taken aback by the response he got from his interviewer, he told Variety. 'What he was insinuating, it was so disgusting. It was so appalling. I was flabbergasted. And I said, 'F--- mate, wow. I think we're done here.' He didn't want to get into it at the time because Wood wasn't there, he said. 'What am I gonna do, speak for both of us? Never.' The rumor mill only churned harder after Goggins appeared to praise the Saturday Night Live sketch mocking Wood's teeth and intelligence. Wood slammed the 'misogynistic' sketch again in the interview. 'I know for a fact a man wrote that,' she said. For his part, Goggins told Variety he was half asleep and heading into makeup to become The Fallout's 'Ghoul' when he complimented Jon Hamm's impression of him in the taped sketch. He didn't see Wood's reaction online until hours later, after which he deleted the post. 'I've been posting for 14 f---ing years, and if I'm gonna say something, I'm gonna say it to your face,' he said Wednesday, adding he'd never 'make a vicious swipe against my friend.' To make his his affection for his former co-star as clear as possible, Goggins gushed, 'I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me... She's special. There is no feud. She is love and I know that I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.' With that, he concluded, 'Hopefully that answers everybody's questions.'
Metro
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins address feud rumours together
After weeks of intense speculation, Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins have unequivocally put the feud rumours to bed. The White Lotus co-stars who played doomed lovers Chelsea and Rick in season three of the hit HBO series saw the high-stakes drama of the fictional Thailand resort bleed into real life after fans started wondering if there was a rift between the pair. After castmate Jason Isaacs alluded to 'drama' on the set, people started fuelling the fire by pointing out Walton had unfollowed Aimee on Instagram and praised the very SNL sketch which the Sex Education star had called out as 'mean' and 'unfunny' for mocking the appearance of her teeth (he later deleted his comments). As rumours whirled, just this week, The Fallout star shut down an interview with The Times when asked to address the feud multiple times. 'There is no conversation to be had about that. Sharing politics on social media — it's in a vacuum,' he said. After being asked a final time, the 53-year-old added: 'What the f**k, Ed [Potton]! Come on, buddy. Wow.' Now, in their first joint interview with Variety since the falling out rumours reached their pinnacle, they have cleared the record once and for all. Walton, who has spent many of the past weeks working intensive hours on the Fallout set, shared: 'There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me.' Then looking at Aimee, added: 'This is Goldie Hawn. This is Meg Ryan. She can do anything, and she will. You watch what the next 20 years of her experience will be. I'll be on an island, I think Greece. But she's special. There is no feud. 'She is love and I know that I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.' And explained that he would 'never' speak for both of them, hence he didn't discuss the issue with The Times. Specifically, Walton claimed that The Times interviewer had tried to compare his and Aimee's teeth and asked if they had bonded over them on set, which left him 'disgusted and flabbergasted'. Aimee echoed the shock, saying: 'How horrible!' The 31-year-old star then said Instagram was 'irrelevant' and neither of them 'gave a s***e', encouraging people to discuss the show's storyline and characters instead. 'Eventually I just started to sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing,' Aimee added while Walton called himself a 'grown-a** man'. Then, he explained that he has always found the end of intense projects of this nature difficult (especially considering his personal ties to this one) and had let Aimee know he was 'processing saying goodbye'. By the end of their chat, Walton had followed Aimee on Instagram once more. He concluded by calling the whole situation 'ridiculous'. 'It's just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for f**king ever,' he said. As for what's next for Goggins, in a recent interview with Metro, he discussed his ethos with allowing himself to embrace 'the unknown'. More Trending 'I didn't know where my life was going before Fallout. I didn't know before White Lotus. And I suppose, at my age, that's the best place to be: comfortable in the unknown,' he said. As for the Bafta winner, she has plenty of projects in the pipeline, including a new series with Adolescence's breakout star Owen Cooper called Film Club and a second season of her hit show, Daddy Issues. View More » The White Lotus is available to stream on Sky and Now TV. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Arnold Schwarzenegger fans shocked by Hollywood legend's comments about son's 'weenie' MORE: The White Lotus fans terrified season 4 will be delayed after major announcement MORE: Netflix star calls 'dark' show 'very different to what I was used to'
Sky News
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
'I had this amazing adventure': Aimee Lou Wood, Michelle Monaghan and Natasha Rothwell on The White Lotus
Relocating to a luxurious hotel in Thailand for six months sounds like a job only conceivable through a dream or a stroke of good fortune. Season three of The White Lotus awarded that luxury to its cast and crew which, this time around, includes Sex Education's Aimee Lou Wood, The Fallout's Walton Goggins and Gen V star Patrick Schwarzenegger among others. Mission: Impossible star Michelle Monaghan plays Jaclyn on the show, a woman on a "girls' trip" consumed with the competing power dynamic between the group. Speaking to Sky News, Monaghan called her time on the series - filmed in Thailand - a "once in a lifetime opportunity". "[My family] came over and we got to have adventures, and it was just a very, very special time. I've been doing this for 25 years and this kind of takes the cake. "They are their own little adventurers themselves, and they love the water so obviously, we're in Thailand, we all went and got our diving certificates. We spent a lot of time diving together and we really bonded in new and different ways." Bafta winner Aimee Lou Wood's experience differed slightly. Adjusting to a new country alone during, what she says, felt like a big moment of change in her life moving flat and turning thirty. "It was obviously incredible. But yeah, I was really overwhelmed. I was so overwhelmed and I kind of remained overwhelmed. "I had this amazing adventure, but I missed home. But then when I was at home, I really missed the adventure. And I also missed my friends that I've made in The White Lotus because they did become home." The actress says she went straight out to meet her friends the moment she returned to the UK after filming. "I was crying at the beautiful London litter. I was like 'It's just the most gorgeous place, London'. And it was probably me crying at a bin, but it was just home." Television show boosts tourism Similar to Emily In Paris, The White Lotus has become somewhat of a featured advert for each of the Four Seasons hotels, where filming takes place, as well as the surrounding area. If season three follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, which were set in Hawaii and Sicily, the number of visitors to Thailand is expected to grow by 20% thanks to television tourism. HBO partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand during production, filming in and around the Four Seasons Koh Samui and the neighbouring Phuket and Bangkok. Who's in The White Lotus? The latest season of the hit show sees series one alumna Natasha Rothwell return with a whole new cast: Jason Isaacs, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola and Parker Posey. Rothwell reprises her role as Belinda Lindsey from season one - the spa manager eager to create her own business. The American actress received a call from the show's creator Mike White about the possibility of returning for another season and says she was in disbelief when he officially asked her to return. "He [Mike White] hadn't put pen to paper yet, so... I didn't have any guarantee of a part. And then when he followed up again after the scripts were written, then I knew it was real. "My life. It's ridiculous. Like if I went back in a time machine and I told that little, you know, neurotic girl in Miss Mandy O'Neill's [theatre] class being like, 'You're going to travel the world, doing your art in your craft'."
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
3 great Max crime dramas you should watch in February 2025
Few streaming services have a deeper lineup of great movies than Max. In addition to plenty of regular new release movies, the streamer also has an archive with tons of Warner Bros.'s best projects and other all-time classics. One part of Max's deep bench of interesting movies is tons of crime titles. We've pulled together a list of three great crime movies that are all available on Max now. Two of these movies are from the recent past, while the third is an all-time classic that might feel especially poignant right now. Here are three great Max crime dramas you should watch this month. We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. A smart, whip-fast thriller about an agoraphobic young woman who begins to suspect that she heard a crime being committed while listening in on an Alexa-like device, Kimi is anchored by Zoe Kravitz's central performance. The movie's clever structure, which uses both the pandemic and the actual streets of Seattle to tell its story, will keep you on the edge of your seat. Director Steven Soderbergh is no longer trying to make perfect movies. Instead, the Oscar winner makes incredibly fun and zippy thrillers like Kimi. It might be a little rough around the edges, but Kimi is better than most of what you'll find on Max. You can watch Kimi on Max. A heartbreaking, all-too-real drama, The Fallout follows two girls who become close friends after they go through a shared experience of a school shooting. The movie is really about how they handle the trauma, and it only works because Maddie Ziegler and Jenna Ortega deliver star-making central turns. The Fallout is about the world we've given our teenagers, one where those who don't die at the hands of a shooter are forever changed by what they've seen. It's a bracing, difficult movie that is well worth your time. You can watch The Fallout on Max. David Lynch may be one of the greatest American directors ever, and Blue Velvet was the moment we fully understood what his career would be like. The movie stars Kyle MacLachlan as a normal kid who slowly becomes ensnared in the criminal underground of his seemingly normal town. Blue Velvet is a movie that looks evil in the face and wonders why it exists. It also plays with Lynch's and the audience's fascination with the violence it depicts. It's not always an easy sit, but Blue Velvet is as magnetic and strange as you've probably heard, and it's one of several David Lynch masterpieces. You can watch Blue Velvet on Max.
