WebProNews

Tag: Malala Yousafzai

  • Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch Are Oxford-Bound

    Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch are both Oxford-bound. Are the actors continuing their education at the prestigious university?

    While they likely could do so, should they wish, that’s not what this is about. Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson have been appointed as visiting fellows at Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford University instead.

    Time magazine reports the Harry Potter actress known for her role as Hermione Granger, and the star of The Imitation Game have duties that come with this honor.

    Alan Rusbridger, the college’s principal, explains.

    “At a minimum, we’d like them to drop in occasionally at college, eat with us and meet informally with a variety of the LMH community,” he says. “We’d like them to do one thing a bit more structured. It could be a conversation or debate, a performance, a lecture or seminar, a form of outreach – or something we haven’t thought of. We can imagine fascinating interactions or collaborations between them.”

    “They are welcome to come and stay in college if they’d like a place temporarily to think or work,” Rusbridger adds. “And some have already suggested other ways in which they might engage with a body of 700 incredibly smart students and tutors in order to stimulate their own thinking or work in progress.”

    Emma Watson has long been very vocal about the importance of a good college education. A 2014 Brown University graduate, she once interviewed Malala Yousafzai, who strongly believes in the power of education.

    Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson are among nine such fellows at Oxford. Part of their duties will include helping students transition into various professions.

    How amazing would it be to have Emma Watson or Benedict Cumberbatch help you make strides toward a successful future?

  • Emma Watson Helped Malala Yousafzai Come To Terms With Calling Herself A Feminist

    Emma Watson has become the face of modern feminism in recent years.

    After a couple of very inspiring speeches on the subject and last year’s launch of the HeForShe campaign, Emma Watson and her work in the feminist movement has inspired many women and girls to push forward and break down walls.

    To the list of most notable people to be inspired by Emma Watson can now be added activist and Taliban survivor Malala Yousafzai.

    Malala Yousafzai was, of course, shot in the face by Taliban operatives at 14 because she refused to stop going to school. They threatened the action because Malala is a girl and for no other reason.

    Now, Malala has told her story, won a Nobel peace prize and inspired many, like Emma Watson herself.

    Recently at the premiere of He Named Me Malala , a documentary about the Taliban attack and her life, Malala spoke to Emma Watson about her new-found comfort with the term “feminist”.

    Today I met Malala. She was giving, utterly graceful, compelling and intelligent. That might sound obvious but I was…

    Posted by Emma Watson on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

    Malala Yousafzai said, “This word, feminism, it has been a very tricky word and when I heard it the first time, I heard some negative responses and some positive ones.”

    #Repost @sarahslutsky with @repostapp. ・・・ Television junket continues! Love this chic little @Erdemlondon dress created from fabrics sourced in Italy and produced in Portugal! The suppliers and producers of these bad-ass boots by @Alexawagnershoes are located in Milan. Alexa Wagner is proud of their quality control systems, the excellent workspace and atmosphere provided for their employees. Jewels from @MoniquePean who strives to raise awareness of art, culture and global environmental issues through design, and is committed to partnering with artisans around the world to support traditional craftsmanship. Love this Feminine/Masculin Bag (because traits of both is beautiful!) by @clarevivier who roots herself in the Los Angeles design community, where her line has been made exclusively since 2008. Team on #beauty @charlottehayward @visapyyapy

    A photo posted by Emma Watson (@emmawatson) on

    She added, “I hesitated in saying am I a feminist or not and then after hearing your speech, when you said ‘if not now, when? If not me, who?’ I decided that there’s no way and there’s nothing wrong by calling yourself a feminist, and I am a feminist.”

    What do you think about Emma Watson’s ever-expanding influence in the world of feminism?

  • Emma Watson, Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai Join Forces to Champion Equality For Women

    Emma Watson and the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai have used their powerful voices to champion equality for women.

    According to the Christian Science Monitor, the Harry Potter actress, 25 and Yousafzai sat down for an interview Tuesday at the premiere of the documentary, He Named Me Malala, which chronicles the 18-year-old Pakistani education activist’s fight for girls and stars Watson, who serves as the interviewer.

    The 23-minute video was posted on Watson’s Facebook page and has now been viewed nearly 4 million times.

    Today I met Malala. She was giving, utterly graceful, compelling and intelligent. That might sound obvious but I was…

    Posted by Emma Watson on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

    In the video, Emma Watson, a UN ambassador for women, and Yousafzai bonded over many topics, including their brothers, Hillary Clinton, their love for the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, and most importantly, the definition of feminism.

    “This word ‘feminist’ has been a very tricky word,” said Malala, to which Watson gasped in delight.

    When I heard it for the first time, Malala goes on, “I hesitated in saying ‘I’m a feminist.’”

    “Then after hearing your speech, when you said, ‘if not now, when? if not me, who?’,” Malala says, referring to Watson’s landmark UN speech about men participating in feminism, “I decided there’s nothing wrong with calling yourself a feminist. I am a feminist, and we all should be feminists because feminism is another word for equality.”

    Time magazine reports that Emma Watson said the most profound moment of their interview was when Yousafzai identified herself as a feminist, saying that she was surprised to hear the Yousafzai use the hot-button word.

    “I think this gesture is so emblematic of what Malala and I went on to discuss. I’ve spoken before on what a controversial word feminism is currently,” Emma Watson wrote on Facebook. “I want to make it a welcoming and inclusive movement. Let’s join our hands and move together so we can make real change. Malala and I are pretty serious about it but we need you.”

  • Mindy Kaling Mistaken for Malala Yousafzai by Old Man

    Malala Yousafzai is 17 years old. She is Pakistani, a survivor of a gunshot wound to the face from the Taliban, and a hero to girls throughout the world. Her first name has become a household word in multiple countries.

    Mindy Kaling is an American actress whose parents come from India. She is well-known for her role on the American version of The Office, as well as her own show, The Mindy Project. She is 35.

    They both have caramel-colored skin and dark hair. Mindy is no doubt a delightful person, but she is not Malala Yousafzai. But you could’ve fooled that “tipsy man in his 80s” who cornered her at the New Yorker Festival earlier this month.

    Kaling was at the event for a live festival Q&A with New Yorker writer Emily Nussbaum. Other celebrities and notable persons interviewed during the Festival included Neil Young, Lena Dunham, Edward Snowden (via video), Bill HAder, Stephen Sondheim, Seth Rogen, Larry David, and Kim Dotcom (also via video).

    After the onstage interview at the festival, Kaling headed to an after-event party at the Top of the Standard, a rooftop bar better known as the Boom Boom Room. It was packed with guests like novelist Zadie Smith, writer Malcolm Gladwell and New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick

    “Who are all these people?” Kaling wondered at the non-Hollywood crowd she had stumbled into.

    Apparently she was a bit difficult to recognize for some of them.

    “Congratulations on your Nobel Prize,” the aforementioned “tipsy man in his 80s” told Kaling.

    The man seemed amazed at how well Kaling/Malala had recovered form the gunshots to the face she had received at the hands of the Taliban two years earlier.

    After a bit more chitchat, during which Kaling never bothered to try to disabuse the poor fellow of his mistaken notion, he swayed off into the room.

    “Did he really think I’m Malala?” she said when the man had gone. “And that if I were, I’d be at the Boom Boom Room?

    “That’s the best thing that’s happened all night.”

  • Mindy Kaling Mistaken for Malala Yousafzai

    Mindy Kaling of The Mindy Project and The Office fame experienced a case of mistaken identity at a party recently. She was in New York, attending an after-party for The New Yorker Festival when a man in his 80s–who had likely had a bit too much to drink–began showering her with praise.

    When he said, “Congratulations on your Nobel Prize!” Kaling knew he had the wrong person.

    Prior to his congratulations, however, the man praised Mindy Kaling for her bravery and for her impressive recovery from gunshot wounds inflicted by the Taliban. It was after he stopped talking that a nearby writer helped Kaling undertand what had likely just happened.

    “Did he really think I’m Malala?” Kaling, who is of Indian decent, asked the NYT writer after the bizarre accolades were recited. “And that if I were, I’d be at the Boom Boom Room? That’s the best thing that’s happened all night.”

    The Today Show’s Willie Geist got in on the fun a few days later when he tweeted this message to Mindy Kaling.

    Kaling sent her own Twitter reply.

    Malala Yousafzai is, of course, the 17-year-old Pakistani activist for education for girls and women. She was shot by the Taliban as a result of her activism, and is the youngest person ever to have received a Nobel Prize. Mindy Kaling admitted that although she may have been mistaken for Malala that the two are very different.

    “I was, like, stressing out about getting into college, like a nerd,” she said of what she was doing at the age of 17.

    Most people were. Mindy Kaling might be a very entertaining actress, but she knows she’s no Nobel Prize winner. And she certainly has no qualms about giving credit where credit is due.

  • Kendall Jenner and Sister: Should They Be on ‘Time’ Magazine’s List?

    Kendall Jenner and little sis Kylie Jenner made Time magazine’s list of ‘Most Influential Teens.’ Some people don’t believe the Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars deserve a spot on the list. What do you think?

    Amidst the naysayers, however, is supporter Wendy Williams. The talk show host points out why Kylie and Kendall Jenner made the list.

    “They are influential to teens!” Williams said on her talk show last week. “Either teen girls want to look like them…or dress like them.”

    “They follow them on Instagram. They should be on this list, that’s all!” she added.

    Kylie and Kendall Jenner were beyond thrilled–and quite honored–when they learned they landed a spot on Times ‘Most Influential Teens’ list.

    “We are so honored to be included on the Time magazine list of ‘Most Influential Teens,’” Kendall and Kylie Jenner said during an interview with E! .”There are incredible teens on this list and we are so proud to be in their company.”

    Time said of the two girls, “Together, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians co-stars hosted red-carpet events, released clothing and nail polish lines and even published a dystopian young-adult novel this past summer (though yes, they had some help). But they’ve had solo success too—Kendall with modeling (she’s walked the runway for designers like Marc Jacobs) and Kylie with pseudo-entrepreneurship (she’s launching a line of hair extensions and hopes to get into acting).”

    No, Kylie and Kendall Jenner didn’t earn a Nobel Peace Prize, like Malala Yousafzai, who is the youngest to ever have won one. She won for her activism for women’s education. Others making the list include New Zealand singer Lorde, Little League baseball star Mo’ne Davis, Malia Obama, Jaden Smith, and Austin Mahone.

    Oh, come on–if Austin Mahone and Jaden Smith made this list, how can anyone question the validity of Kylie and Kendall Jenner making it, too?

  • Malala: Better Off Without A Nobel?

    When Malala Yousafzai was passed over for a Nobel Prize, an ABCNews story noted Irish betting magnate Paddy Power’s odds for her as an 8/15 favorite mere days before the prize would go to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Other betting favorites included transgender Wikileaker Chelsea Manning (25/1) and U2 frontman Bono (100/1), but ABC’s piece did not mention the prize’s actual winner, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as a contender.

    Why would an organization that seeks to prohibit and dismantle chemical weapons, especially in the wake of Syrian chemical weapons use, not be a favorite contender for the Nobel peace prize, even though that organization would win the award over Malala?

    The Washington Post‘s political reporter, Max Fisher, believes he has the answer: because to award Malala with the prize is to formally validate her new Western celebrity, and he concisely argues that Malala’s new celebrity status is a subconscious effort by Westerners to cope with the cultural issues they played a role in creating.

    “Like a sort of slacktivism writ large, awarding Malala the Nobel would have told us what we wanted to hear: that celebrity and ‘awareness’ can fix even the worst problems,” Fisher wrote. “It would have made us less likely to acknowledge the truth, which is that it takes decades of hard work, not to mention a serious examination of our own role in the problem, to effect meaningful change.”

    Fisher goes on to note that the OPCW oversaw the dismantling of 80 percent of Planet Earth’s declared chemical weapons, a number that included all the deadly nerve agents in South Korea and India.

    Unfortunately, as University of North Carolina assistant professor Zeynep Tufekci wrote in his blog, “There is an abundance of them [courageous, oppressed people like Malala], especially in poor, authoritarian countries. If you think Malala is rare, that is probably because you have not spent much time in such countries. Most Malala’s, however, go nameless, and are not made into Western celebrities.”

    During Malala’s Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart, Tufekci felt something telling passed between host and guest when Jon Stewart praises the girl’s father only to express his desire to adopt her. “Such a striking sentiment,” he said, “in which our multi-decade involvement in Pakistan is reduced to finding a young woman we admire that we all want to take home as if to put on a shelf to adore.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Christiane Amanpour Interviews Malala Yousafzai Who Defied Pakistani Terror

    Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who defied Pakistani terrorists, and almost lost her life to defend freedom and women’s right to education, was interviewed by famed journalist and opinion moulder Christiane Amanpour this week. The full interview will be aired as a special report “The Bravest Girl in the World” on CNN this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

    Yousafzai has become the global face of oppressed Pakistani and Asian women who are quietly mobilizing by the millions to fight for equal rights and universal secular education. Malala was shot in the head in a barbaric assassination attempt by Pakistani terrorists on October 9, 2012, while she was returning home from her school.

    The brave teenager’s life was saved at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, where she underwent intensive rehabilitation, that helped recover her mental faculties, her hearing and speech. The assassination attempt did not kill Malala, but only made her stronger.

    She has redoubled her efforts since February this year to spread worldwide awareness on the inhuman treatment of women in Pakistan and West-Asia and the challenges they face to their dignity in daily life. On July 12, she spoke in front of the United Nations on the power of girl child education, and why pen is mightier than the sword. She has been feted with accolades, honors and awards across the globe including this year’s nomination for Nobel Peace Prize.

    During the interview, Amanpour asked Malala whether she hoped to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Malala responded, “If I get the Nobel Peace Prize, I think it will be such a great honor, and more than I deserve, and such a great responsibility as well…It would help me to begin this campaign for girls’ education, but the real goal, the most precious goal that I want to get and for which I am thirsty and I want to struggle hard for, that is the award of seeing every child to go to school.”

    She added, that being shot had only strengthened her resolve:

    “They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams…They shot me because they wanted to tell me that, ‘we want to kill you and to stop you campaigning’, but they did the biggest mistake: they inured me, and they told me through that attack, that even death is supporting me, even death does not want to kill me.”

    And in a clear warning to Pakistan’s patriarchal society, she made her ambitious clear:

    “I want to become a Prime Minister of Pakistan, and I think it’s really good. Because through politics I can serve my whole county. I can be the doctor of the whole country…I can spend much of the money from the budget on education…

    International organizations and leaders have rallied to Malala’s clarion call for women’s freedom and education rights, and here is what Malala had to say at an event hosted by World Bank today:

    As Malala’s heroic speeches and worldwide campaign for women gains steam, Pakistani terrorists are increasingly desperate to hold back human progress. The world is watching, but the world must also act – to help young girls like Malala, as they yearn to breathe free.

    [image from youtube]

  • David Beckham Family Sells “Beckingham Palace”

    David and Victoria Beckham are moving the family back to London, selling their Hertfordshire property for just over $19 million, about $5 million less than the listing price.

    The property, called “Beckingham Palace”, was purchased by the Beckhams in 1999 for a fraction of the selling price, a mere $4 million. The family has not stayed in the “Palace” for about two years, according to a Daily Mirror source. “They have had years of happiness in the home, but practically now there is no need to keep it,” a source for The Sun reported.

    The iconic couple will move their children Brooklyn (14), Romeo (11), Cruz (8) and Harper (2) into a central London pad reportedly costing about $72 million.

    Beckhams

    Beckham, pictured in cool black & white photos, is also releasing a book at the end of October. The globe-trotting athlete retired this year from his 20-year soccer career and the book will feature photos from his time on the field. And Becks need not confine himself to sports, modeling for H&M and promoting his own celebrity fragrance can fill the hours. But it seems he enjoys family-time most of all, even attending a sports day at the kids’ London school.

    Soccer phenom Beckham also grabbed headlines for a surprise appearance to award Malala Yousafzai the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award. The teen honoree said upon meeting Beckham, “I didn’t know you would be here.” She apparently recovered gracefully, quizzing Beckham about his work as a Unicef ambassador.

    Beckham presented the award, “You’re an amazing young lady whose story has moved millions… I’m privileged to present this award to you.”

    Yousafzai, 16, who now resides in England, is best known for surviving a shot to the head by a Taliban gunman while on her school bus in Pakistan. She is also regarded for her advocacy of girls’ education. The attack happened almost a year ago.

    [Image via David Beckham official Facebook and Victoria Beckham official Twitter.]

  • Malala Yousafzai: Books Are Anti-Terrorism “Weapons”

    Tuesday, at the opening of the largest public library in Europe, 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai praised pens and books as, “the weapons that defeat terrorism.” The Pakistani teen, who gained attention when she was shot by the Taliban for advocating education for girls, is now one of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize nominees. Take that, Taliban!

    “Let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world,” said Yousafzai. The last book to enter the library was her copy of Paulo Coelho’s, The Alchemist, which tells the story of an Andalusian shepherd boy with lessons about listening to our hearts and ultimately following our dreams.

    The new library (pictured below) is located in the town where Yousafzai attends school, Birmingham, England. The building now houses over a million books and the opening drew a crowd 1,000-strong.

    (image)

    Yousafzai has given herself a challenge, “I will read thousands of books, and I will empower myself with knowledge.” She said further, “I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through educating not only our minds, but our hearts and our souls.”

    Yousafzai used this opportunity to call for peace and to, “speak up for the children of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan who are suffering from terrorism, poverty, child labor and child trafficking.”

    Last October, after a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai in the head on her school bus, she was flown from Pakistan to the UK for emergency treatment. Tuesday, she thanked the medical staff, teachers and townspeople for supporting her in, “my second home,” of Birmingham.

    The teen inspiration is due to receive the International Children’s Peace Prize later this week. On her birthday in July, she experienced a different sort of present, addressing the UN’s youth assembly; the day was declared Malala Day. She has also garnered a place as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and though not apparently directly affiliated, her story has sparked new age heroines of all sorts.

    [Images via Facebook Fan Page and Wikimedia Commons.]