Entertainment
Hardline Takaichi wins lower house vote to shatter Japan’s glass ceiling and pivot to right
- Takaichi set to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
- Takaichi’s election marks a shift to the right in Japan.
- Equity markets optimistic about Takaichi’s economic policies.
Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was set to become Japan’s first female prime minister on Tuesday after winning a critical vote in parliament’s lower house.
An acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and an admirer of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi received 237 votes in the lower house election to choose the next premier, topping the majority of the 465-seat chamber.
Her victory shatters the glass ceiling in a country where men still hold overwhelming sway and puts Japan, a close US ally, on a forceful shift to the right.
Her victory comes after her Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of its postwar history, agreed to a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.
Takaichi will likely be approved by the less-powerful upper house and sworn in as Japan’s 104th prime minister this evening to succeed the incumbent Shigeru Ishiba, who last month announced his resignation to take responsibility for election losses.
But her elevation is unlikely to be feted as a sign of progressive change, marking instead a turn to the right on immigration and social issues. After years of deflation, Japan is now grappling with rising prices, something that has sparked public anger and fuelled support for oppositions groups including the far-right Sanseito party.
Entertainment
Taylor Swift wins seven awards at iHeartRadio Music Awards 2026
Taylor Swift has extended her own record as iHeartRadio’s most decorated artist of all time, walking away from Thursday night’s ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with seven wins from nine nominations, bringing her all-time total to 41 iHeartRadio Music Award wins.
Swift, who attended with fiancé Travis Kelce, kicked off her winning streak by accepting best pop album of the year for The Life of a Showgirl, presented by Raye.
She used the moment to credit Kelce directly.
“I think that this album feels very happy and confident and free because that’s the way that I get to feel every single day of my life, because of my fiancé who’s here tonight,” she said.
“Thank you to iHeart and thank you to anyone who cared about The Fate of Ophelia, because you made that into the biggest hit of my career, which is crazy at this point.”
The night shifted up a gear when figure skater Alysa Liu presented her with six further awards in one go, including artist of the year and album of the year.
Swift used the platform to deliver a message that clearly meant a great deal to her, about creativity, patience and protecting your dreams from the internet.
“We live in this world where there’s so much immediate feedback, constantly,” she said.
“Anything you feed your mind, it will internalize. Anything you feed the internet, it will attempt to kill, and I don’t want that for your dreams. So just thank you for allowing me to turn my hobby into a love, into a passion, into a dream, into a career.”
The show, hosted by Ludacris, also featured performances from Lainey Wilson, Alex Warren, who took home breakthrough artist of the year, Kehlani, Raye and a joint set from TLC, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue previewing their upcoming summer tour.
Ludacris closed out the evening with a run of his own hits.
Entertainment
Miley Cyrus reveals secret behind Jonas Brothers opening her tour in 2006
Miley Cyrus has let slip the real reason the Jonas Brothers ended up on her 2006 Best of Both Worlds Tour, and it had nothing to do with business strategy.
Speaking on the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special, the 33-year-old admitted the booking came down to one simple fact: she was dating Nick Jonas and didn’t want to leave him behind.
“Literally, the reason that the Jonas Brothers were on tour with me was because Nick was my boyfriend, and I wanted to not leave my boyfriend,” she said.
“So I’d be like, ‘OK, well, I’ll go on tour if my boyfriend can come.’ And they’re like, ‘Cute, have your boyfriend open for the show.’ Boom.”
The special was packed with candid revelations.
Cyrus also shared that she had childhood crushes on both Zac Efron and her Hannah Montana co-star Mitchel Musso, and shed light on how Taylor Swift ended up in the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie.
Swift, 36, appeared in a barn dance scene, performing her original song Crazier.
“This was kind of the beginning of her career, and they were looking for someone that would authentically, no shade, I guess, be performing in a barn. We both performed in the barn,” Cyrus said.
She also spoke warmly about the song she and Swift co-wrote together, You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home, calling it a “banger” that “stands the test of time.”
Perhaps the most unexpected revelation of the night, though, involved Panda Express.
Cyrus admitted that she and co-star Emily Osment used to make a habit of visiting the fast food chain after work, where she would order white rice and pour Diet Coke over it instead of soy sauce.
“I did something really gnarly,” she said, before immediately defending herself. “I am from the south in a way that it’s really hard to describe.”
Entertainment
Ryan Gosling signs up with recent Oscar winning directors for new movie
Ryan Gosling is wasting no time lining up his next major project.
Days after Project Hail Mary shattered box office records, the actor has signed on to star in the next film from Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the filmmaking duo known as the Daniels.
The untitled Universal Pictures project is currently set for release on 19 November 2027, with the news confirmed by multiple outlets on Thursday, 26 March.
The timing is striking.
Project Hail Mary, Gosling’s new science fiction adventure, opened to $80.6 million at the domestic box office in its first weekend, with a further $60.4 million collected internationally.
That makes it the biggest opening ever for an Amazon MGM Studios release, surpassing 2023’s Creed III, and the largest domestic debut of the year so far, ahead of February’s Scream 7.
Kwan and Scheinert, both 38, became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after creative forces after Everything Everywhere All at Once swept the 2023 Academy Awards, winning seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan.
Gosling has been vocal about his belief in the theatrical experience.
At a surprise appearance at a New York City screening of Project Hail Mary earlier this week, he told the audience it was the film industry’s “job to make things that make it worth you coming out” to cinemas.
His schedule for the next few years is formidable.
Alongside the Daniels project, he is set to star in the next Star Wars film, Starfighter, due in May 2027, and an action comedy with Will Ferrell titled Tough Guys.
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