Headline

Why My Daughter Dropped Her Last Name —Barack Obama

Published

12 months ago

November 6, 2024

The former president of the United States, Barack Obama, has shed light on a surprising and deeply personal choice made by his eldest daughter, Malia.

During an appearance on The Pivot podcast, hosted by former NFL stars Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder, Obama shared insights about Malia’s decision to exclude their famous last name ‘Obama’ in her filmmaking career, opting instead to go by Malia Ann.

Malia, now 26, made her mark in the entertainment industry as a staff writer for the Emmy-nominated Prime show Swarm and recently directed her first short film, The Heart, an 18-minute piece that premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

The film has since gained traction, earning the Young Spirit Award at the Deauville Film Festival in France and the Best Live Action Short prize at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Discussing his daughter’s move, Obama admitted on the podcast released to YouTube Saturday, “Malia, she’s making movies. So she made her first movie. And you know, I’ll be a dad, I’ll brag a little bit … her first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals. And she didn’t use ‘Obama’ as director on the credits, it said ‘Malia Ann.’”

He added, “I was all like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are.’ And she’s all like, ‘You know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association.’”

Obama noted that this decision reflects a trend among children of public figures who wish to carve out identities separate from their famous parents.

Despite the former president’s pride, he noted, “The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all. They’re very sensitive about this stuff. They’re very stubborn about it.”

Malia’s work has drawn both praise and scrutiny. At Sundance, some critics labelled her a “nepo baby,” shorthand for “nepotism baby,” pointing out that most emerging filmmakers don’t have the luxury of working with industry titans like Donald Glover, who collaborated with her on Swarm.

Reflecting on raising daughters in the spotlight, Obama recounted an agreement made during his presidency with the White House press pool: “I said, ‘You can follow me around. You can talk about me. You do whatever you need to do. Leave my children alone because they have the right to grow up. They didn’t choose this. Let them grow up.’”

He credited the press for respecting this, allowing Malia and her younger sister, Sasha, the opportunity to navigate their formative years relatively privately.

Despite this, he noted that as his daughters have matured, there has been increased public scrutiny.

“Now, as they’ve gotten older, there’s been some paparazzi stuff going on, and it drives them nuts. Their attitude is, ‘We’re not looking for all that.’ So they’re grounded.”

National Post on Monday reported that defenders argue that while Malia’s connections have undeniably opened doors, her talents have helped her step through them.

The Daily Beast underscored this conversation with a piece titled “Nepo Baby of the Week: Is Malia Obama’s Film Debut Any Good?” which offered a mixed review of The Heart: “It’s subtle, it’s somewhat strange, and its visuals are warm and lo-fi,” and concluded, “The Heart is not a bad film … it’s about what you’d expect from a young filmmaker.”

Meanwhile, The New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan described it as “well-shot” and “a promising debut,” hinting at subtle nods in the closing credits: “You wouldn’t even suspect it came from a former first daughter, though in-the-know types might wonder if the ‘Steven and Kate’ thanked in the closing credits are Spielberg and Capshaw, a husband and wife who can ensure a well-connected debut.”

When asked whether he ever longed for the anonymity lost to fame, Obama reflected, “The thing I miss is just walking around and nobody knowing who you are. Like, you don’t realize what a benefit that is until you try it and suddenly you’ve got 100 people asking you for selfies and all that.” But with a characteristic dose of humility, he added, “That’s a high-class problem to have.”

In a lighthearted moment, he joked about the idea of disguising himself: “Put some dreadlocks on, get a beard, a moustache … but I can’t do it. Folks say, ‘Man, I’ve seen those ears before.’”

His wife, Michelle Obama, in past interviews, had been candid about the personal challenges she and Barack faced when starting their family.

In her memoir, she revealed that Malia and Sasha were conceived through in-vitro fertilisation.

Reactions to the Saturday YouTube post from the viewers acknowledged that this openness further underscored the family’s journey of balancing public life with personal narratives, one that Malia’s career path appears to be navigating in its own distinctive way.

Headline

King Charles To Pray With Pope Leo In Historic Vatican Visit

Published

9 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

King Charles III will on Thursday meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and make history as the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with the pontiff for five centuries.

The 76-year-old monarch, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England, arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening with his wife, Queen Camilla, for what Buckingham Palace described as a “historic” state visit.

It will be Charles’s first meeting with Leo since the US-born pope took over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, following the death of Pope Francis.

The royals will arrive at the Apostolic Palace at 10.45am (0845 GMT) for private talks with the pope.

The king and queen will then join an ecumenical service at midday (1000 GMT) in the Sistine Chapel led by Pope Leo and the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, currently the senior cleric of the Church of England.

Broadcast live by Vatican media, it will be the first time a reigning English or British monarch has prayed publicly with a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534.

Triggered by the pope’s refusal to annul the king’s marriage so he could marry another woman, the schism made the monarch head of the separate Church of England.

Thursday’s service, held beneath Michelangelo’s spectacular ceiling frescoes, will be centred on conservation and protecting the environment, a cause championed by Charles.

It will bring together Catholic and Anglican traditions, with the choir from the Sistine Chapel joined by that from Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, one of the king’s residences.

– Schism –

The religious break between London and Rome remains, even if there has been a significant rapprochement in recent decades.

In 1961, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, became the first British monarch to visit the Holy See since the split.

The law was changed in 2013 so that marrying a Catholic would no longer disqualify someone from becoming monarch — although they still have to be a Protestant themselves.

The rapprochement is important because “Anglicanism was born in reaction to the Catholic Church, and therefore in opposition,” said Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French priest and member of the Vatican’s dicastery (department) for promoting Christian unity.

This is no longer the case, despite “theological differences in recent decades”, he told AFP.

Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England — the mother church of the world’s 85-million-strong Anglican community — ordains women and allows priests to marry.

Sarah Mullally was recently named the first female archbishop of Canterbury, the Church’s top cleric, although she has yet to officially take up her post.

– Royal Confrater –

Charles and Queen Camilla are also set to take part in a service at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, one of four major papal basilicas, which has historic links with the English crown.

The king will be made a “Royal Confrater” of the basilica and presented with a specially designed seat for use by him and future British monarchs.

Charles has visited the Vatican several times and met privately with Pope Francis on April 9, just days before the pontiff’s death.

The king sent his son and heir, William, to the funeral and his brother, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Leo’s inauguration mass.

The visit comes as the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, a year-long event held every 25 years, which has drawn millions of pilgrims to the Vatican.

It also comes at a delicate time for Charles, following new revelations about his brother Prince Andrew, who is mired in a scandal surrounding late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew announced on Friday that he would relinquish his title as Duke of York, reportedly under pressure from Charles. He had already stepped back from royal duties in 2019.

AFP

Headline

One Dies As Woman Trying To Kill Cockroach Sets House On Fire

Published

9 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

South Korean police have stated that a woman in her 20s set her apartment building on fire while trying to kill a cockroach with an improvised flamethrower.

Local media reports that the woman attempted to burn the insect using a lighter and a flammable spray, saying she had used the same method before. However, items in her home caught fire on Monday, spreading to other parts of the building.

Police in the northern city of Osan said they will seek an arrest warrant for the woman, who could be charged with accidentally starting a fire and causing death by negligence.

According to the BBC, one of the woman’s neighbours, a Chinese national in her 30s, died while trying to escape the blaze. The victim lived on the fifth floor of the building with her husband and their two-month-old baby.

When the fire broke out, the couple opened their window and called for help. They handed their baby to a neighbour on the adjacent block before attempting to escape. The husband managed to climb over, but the woman fell from the window. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead hours later.

Police said they believed the couple tried escaping through the window because thick smoke from the fire had blocked the stairway.

The building houses commercial shops on the first floor and 32 residential units from the second to fifth floors. Eight other residents also suffered from smoke inhalation.

Using blowtorches or homemade flamethrowers to kill cockroaches has become a trend on social media. In 2018, an Australian man set fire to his kitchen while attempting to exterminate cockroaches with a similar device.

Headline

ChatGpt Launches New Web Browser To Challenge Google’s Dominance

Published

10 hours ago

October 23, 2025

Editor

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has introduced a new artificial intelligence-powered web browser designed to rival Google Chrome, the world’s most widely used browser.

The new browser, named ChatGPT Atlas, removes the traditional address bar, a key element of internet search.

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, said Atlas was “built around ChatGPT” as the company launched the browser on Apple’s macOS on Tuesday.

The release marks OpenAI’s latest step in finding new ways to generate revenue from its growing AI ecosystem.

According to the company, Atlas includes a paid agent mode that allows ChatGPT to search and browse automatically for users. The feature is limited to paid ChatGPT subscribers and is designed to make browsing “faster and more useful by working with your browsing context.”

OpenAI has also been expanding its online ecosystem through partnerships with Etsy, Shopify, Expedia, and Booking.com, integrating its chatbot with popular e-commerce and travel platforms.

At the company’s recent DevDay event, Mr Altman announced that ChatGPT had reached 800 million weekly active users, doubling from 400 million in February, according to Demandsage.

“I believe that early adopters will kick the tyres on the new OpenAI browser,” said Pat Moorhead, CEO and chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. However, he expressed doubt that Atlas would significantly challenge Chrome or Microsoft Edge, saying that “more mainstream, beginners, and corporate users will just wait for their favourite browsers to offer this capability.”

Mr Moorhead added that Microsoft Edge already offers similar features.

The launch comes a year after Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in online search. Although the US Justice Department sought to have Chrome spun off, the court did not order such a move.

Meanwhile, more internet users are turning to large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for answers and recommendations. According to research firm Datos, as of July, 5.99% of desktop searches were made through LLMs more than double last year’s figure.

Google has also increased its investment in AI and now prioritises AI-generated responses in its search results.

(BBC)