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Turmoil In Tiaras At Miss Universe Pageant In Thailand

Miss Finland Sarah Dzafce (C) poses on stage with other contestants during the Miss Universe 2025 official welcome event in Bangkok, Thailand, 05 November 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Miss Finland Sarah Dzafce (C) poses on stage with other contestants during the Miss Universe 2025 official welcome event in Bangkok, Thailand, 05 November 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
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Turmoil In Tiaras At Miss Universe Pageant In Thailand

Miss Finland Sarah Dzafce (C) poses on stage with other contestants during the Miss Universe 2025 official welcome event in Bangkok, Thailand, 05 November 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Miss Finland Sarah Dzafce (C) poses on stage with other contestants during the Miss Universe 2025 official welcome event in Bangkok, Thailand, 05 November 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

This year's Miss Universe in Thailand has been marred by ugly drama, with allegations of an insult to a beauty queen's intellect, a walkout by pageant contestants and a tearful tantrum by the host.

More than 120 women from across the world have gathered in Thailand, vying to be crowned Miss Universe in a contest considered one of the "big four" of global beauty pageants.

But the runup has been dominated by the off-stage antics of the coiffed contestants and their Thai hosts, escalating into a feminist firestorm drawing the attention of Mexico's president.

On Tuesday, Mexican delegate Fatima Bosch staged a dramatic walkout -- in an evening gown and high heels -- from a meeting where she was lambasted by Miss Universe host Nawat Itsaragrisil.

In a livestream of the event, Nawat seemed to single out Miss Mexico and call her a "dumbhead" during a dispute over her apparent failure to post promotional content on her social media.

He has since denied using the term.

But after Nawat called for security to intervene, the besashed Bosch staged a walkout flanked by Miss Iraq, who wore a bejewelled floor-length robe.

"What your director did is not respectful: he called me dumb," Bosch told a press gaggle. "The world needs to see this because we are empowered women and this is a platform for our voice."

Other beauty queens appeared to rise in solidarity with Bosch, before freezing as Nawat warned those still wanting to participate should "sit down".

The drama provoked a reaction from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who on Wednesday said Bosch was an "example of how we women should speak out" in the face of aggression.

"In public events, I say women look prettier when we speak out," she said. "So my recognition goes to this young woman."

Mexico's embassy in Thailand said on its Facebook page it is in "constant communication" with Bosch and her relatives, but did not respond to AFP's request for further comment.

Nawat, meanwhile, has seen his own behavior publicly shamed by the Miss Universe Organization.

"I will not allow the values of respect and dignity toward women to be violated," president Raul Rocha said in a grandiose podium speech.

"Unfortunately, Nawat has forgotten the true meaning of what it means to be a genuine host," he added, accusing him of "public aggression" and saying his role in the pageant would be limited.

Afterwards Nawat appeared at a press conference wearing a tuxedo and openly weeping as he theatrically dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief, claiming he had been "betrayed".

But he had a starring role in the opening ceremony of the competition on Wednesday night, standing contrite before the assembled grinning beauty queens where he offered an apology.

"I am a human," he said. "The pressure is a lot."

"I have not intended to harm anyone because I respect all of you. I have to say I am so sorry."

It is not the first time the mogul -- also the president of Thailand-based pageant Miss Grand International (MGI) -- has been caught in a spat fit for a telenovela.

Last year, contestants of MGI were incensed after having to sit on plastic chairs and eat peanuts on a tourist boat in Cambodia instead of a highly-anticipated luxury river cruise.

Even before the fight with Miss Mexico, this year's Miss Universe pageant had been struck by controversy.

Thai media reported police investigated participants for allegedly filming clips featuring pillows branded with the name of an online casino at their hotel, a breach of the country's strict gambling laws.

Barring any further drama, the pageant final is set to be held on November 21 in Nonthaburi province.

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Varieties

Great White Shark Caught on Underwater Footage During Mediterranean Clean-up

People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
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Great White Shark Caught on Underwater Footage During Mediterranean Clean-up

People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)

Divers removing abandoned ‌fishing nets from the central Mediterranean, between Italy and North Africa, have captured what they believe is the first-ever underwater footage of an adult great white shark in the region.

The sighting occurred as a team led by the Healthy Seas Foundation recovered so-called ghost nets from a shipwreck in the Strait of Sicily -- a biodiversity hotspot heavily impacted by industrial fishing.

The video, taken ‌last week and ‌released on Monday, shows the shark ‌accompanied ⁠by a dozen ⁠striped pilot fish, that often flank large predators in the hope of picking up leftovers.

Footage and photographs of the shark were filmed by volunteer diver Derk Remmers of Ghost Diving, one of the project partners.

"An offshore underwater shark encounter ⁠in the Mediterranean is insane," Remmers ‌said in a statement.

Another ‌member of the diving team, Pascal van Erp, ‌said on Facebook that the shark had likely ‌been drawn to dead marine life entangled in the abandoned fishing net, including lots of sea turtles.

While there have been occasional sightings of great whites in the ‌Mediterranean, the size of the population is unknown and previous encounters are not ⁠believed ⁠to have been filmed by divers, the foundation said.

"Moments like this remind us how much life can still exist in offshore Mediterranean waters and how important it is to protect it from preventable threats like abandoned fishing gear or overfishing," said Healthy Seas director Veronika Mikos.

Researchers working with the mission said the sighting could improve understanding of the distribution and behavior of the critically endangered species, though further analysis would be required before broader conclusions are drawn.

Varieties

Aging France to See Population Fall After 2037 Peak

People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
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Aging France to See Population Fall After 2037 Peak

People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)

France's population is expected to peak in 2037, seven years earlier than previously estimated, before shrinking back to around its 2014 level in the following decades, statistics agency INSEE said on Monday.

France has long had stronger demographics than most of Europe, but an ageing population and falling birth rates show it is not immune to the pressures straining public finances across the continent.

France's ⁠natural population growth ⁠turned negative in 2025 and will remain so, with gains until 2037 driven entirely by migration, INSEE said in its latest projections.

The population is expected to rise from 69.1 million in 2026 ⁠to a peak of 69.8 million in 2037, before falling to 65.9 million by 2070, roughly its 2014 level, Reuters reported.

INSEE's previous projections in 2021 put the peak later, in 2044, at about 69.3 million.

If migration weakens or fertility falls below the central assumption of 1.45 children per woman, the population could drop to as low ⁠as ⁠54.6 million by 2070.

As well as shrinking, the population will age significantly.

By 2070, one in three people in France will be aged 65 or older, about double the share under 20.

The sharpest shift will be among the oldest groups, with the number aged 80 and over more than doubling to around 9 million, while centenarians could quadruple to about 160,000

Varieties

Cuba’s Iconic Antique Cars Sit Idle as US Energy Blockade Deepens Fuel Crisis

An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
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Cuba’s Iconic Antique Cars Sit Idle as US Energy Blockade Deepens Fuel Crisis

An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)

A worsening fuel crisis across Cuba is testing the island's famed “almendrones," the vintage American cars that serve as vital shared taxis and embody the island’s ingenuity and endurance.

These days, many of the iconic gas-guzzling antique cars sit idle, casualties of fuel shortages that have gripped Cuba since January and that Cuban officials blame on a US energy blockade.

Outside his modest concrete-block home on a dirt road in Las Minas, a town of about 2,000 people on the outskirts of Havana, Diriel Valdez is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. The burgundy body is intact and the original engine still works. Finding fuel for it, however, is another matter.

Valdez is among thousands of Cubans waiting for fuel through a government reservation app that, for many, has become a symbol of the shortages it was designed to manage.

“I signed up in February ... I’m still somewhere around number 2,800,” said the 27-year-old who runs an auto body shop from his home.

The reward for the wait would be 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of gasoline — enough fuel, Valdez says, to get him to the beach.

The name almendrón comes from the Spanish word for almond, a reference to the rounded shape of the large American sedans imported before Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

For decades, sanctions, shortages and limited imports forced Cuban mechanics to become masters of improvisation. Engines were swapped, bodies rebuilt and replacement parts sourced from wherever they could be found.

On a recent night in Havana, as another blackout darkened much of the city, taxi driver Leonardo Daniel González steered a friend’s glowing purple 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster through the darkness.

“These cars are passed down from generation to generation,” said González, 30. “I had one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It went from him to my grandfather, then to my father, and then to me.”

The wait for fuel Cuba is experiencing one of its most severe energy crises in years. The population, already battered by decades of economic crises and shortages, is now navigating daily blackouts that can last up to 20 hours in some parts of the island.

The country produces only about 40% of the fuel it consumes and depends heavily on imports to keep its power plants running and its transportation network moving.

Since January, the Trump administration has tightened sanctions on Cuba as an element of its ongoing pressure campaign against the island’s communist government. Trump also threatened tariffs on countries that sell or transport oil to Cuba, further complicating the island’s efforts to secure fuel supplies. Just a single Russian tanker has delivered oil to the island nation since then.

Standing beside his Chevrolet in Las Minas, Valdez, who runs the auto body shop, said the fuel shortage is also affecting his livelihood. He learned auto-body work from his stepfather and has been repairing classic cars since he was 13.

“People don’t want to do major repairs anymore,” he said. “A lot of them have their cars parked. They don’t have much hope that they’ll be circulating the way they used to.”

Almendrones persist even with electric vehicles

As gasoline becomes harder to obtain, many drivers are turning to Cuba’s black market, where fuel can often be found more quickly, though at significantly higher prices that can reach up to $8 per liter ($30 per gallon).

Omar Everleny Pérez, a former economist at the University of Havana’s Center of Cuban Economic Studies, said the country’s transportation system still depends heavily on almendrones because modern vehicles remain out of reach for most Cubans.

“They’ve been vital to the transportation of ordinary Cubans,” he said. “Not only in Havana but throughout the country.”

New vehicles have become available in Cuba in recent years, but at prices far beyond the reach of most state-sector workers, Pérez said. That has helped keep the aging American cars on the road, even as a different future is beginning to emerge on Cuba’s streets.

Electric motorcycles imported from China have become increasingly common. Small electric vehicles are also appearing, aided by a growing network of solar-powered charging stations promoted by the government as part of its push toward renewable energy.

Back in Havana, González is not ready to write off the almendrones. Despite the lack of fuel and a sharp decline in tourism, he can still make a living off the old Chevrolet.

“There are ... several WhatsApp groups for us to find rides and so on,“ said González. “But tourism in Cuba is in very bad shape.”