Talking about her favourite Indian Miss World, Chuangsri told IANS: “That’s a tough one! I actually met one of my favorites today—Manushi Chhillar. I also truly admire Priyanka Chopra. I love both of them so much.”

She went on to speak about Bollywood actresses and Indian films she loves.

“I know Alia Bhatt! I saw her in Gangubai Kathiawadi—oh my God, I loved it. It was so inspiring. I also know Baahubali! I haven’t watched it yet, but I’ve been to Ramoji Film City, and I promised myself I’d watch it after the competition. So next time we meet, I’ll give you my review,” she said.

After being crowned, the beauty queen called it the “best day” of her life.

“It marks a huge milestone—not just for me personally, but also for my “Beauty with a Purpose” project and the people of Thailand. I’m incredibly proud, especially now that Thailand is recognized on the Miss World stage.”

“This is our very first Miss World crown, and we’ve waited more than seventy years for it. I truly believe my people are as proud as I am.”

She said she worked very hard to win.

“I wouldn’t say it was difficult in a negative way, because when something really matters to your heart, the effort becomes meaningful. But yes, honestly, it wasn’t easy to win a title like Miss World. That’s why this victory means so much, especially being the first crown for Thailand.”

During her stay in India, did she get to try any Indian food or cultural attire, Chuangsri said: “Yes, I did! I tried wearing a saree and also enjoyed some Indian cuisine—it was wonderful.”

Now that you’ve won, the challenge is often in sustaining that success, what are her plans ahead: “That’s something people often think about—how to maintain fame or success with only one year in your reign. But I believe it’s not just about that one year. It’s about the impact you make.”

“If you create something meaningful, something that touches lives, then your legacy remains long after you pass the crown. For me, that is the true definition of success.”

Asked if she sees any similarities between the Thai and Indian film industries, the beauty queen nodded her head and said yes.

“The Thai film industry is also very big. Thai people love movies and TV series, and our crews—actors, actresses, behind-the-scenes professionals—are very talented. We hope to produce even more high-quality content for the world to enjoy,” she said.

She is now considering acting in Thai dramas or Hindi series.

“Of course! I grew up watching Thai dramas—they’re very close to my heart. It would be a wonderful opportunity to be a part of that world, whether it’s Thai or Hindi content,” she said.(IANS)

In a press conference following a cabinet meeting chaired by Syrian interim leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Al-Mustafa said that indirect talks between Syria and Israel remain in progress, focusing on the enforcement of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

He also outlined the interim government’s reform agenda, emphasising the country’s goal of fostering an attractive investment environment through updated legislation and greater financial freedom.

Al-Mustafa quoted Al-Sharaa as saying that the country is engaged in a “battle against poverty,” which spans sectors including education and human development.

He added that Al-Sharaa had called for improved coordination among “ministries,” adoption of modern governance methods, a crackdown on corruption, and budgetary discipline.

Development efforts will prioritise “liberated areas” and refugee return zones, he said, adding that the interim government had received investment commitments and would soon announce investments from Saudi Arabia, Xinhua news agency reported. He also confirmed that the 2025 state budget allocates a substantial wage increase, which will be announced shortly.

Regarding legislative developments, Al-Mustafa said that the interim government is working on establishing a transitional parliamentary body tasked with reviewing all existing laws.

Israel carried out airstrikes late Friday on multiple military targets in Syria’s coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, including a former special forces headquarters and military positions near civilian areas, according to Syrian state media and a war monitor.

In Tartus, the airstrikes targetted a military facility formerly used by special forces, as well as sites in the al-Wuhaib industrial area and the al-Blata barracks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

State-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported that Israeli warplanes hit the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside, as well as military sites in the Mina al-Bayda port area and the 107th Brigade base in neighbouring Latakia province.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it attacked weapon storage facilities in Latakia on Friday night.

It added that the facilities contained missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, and Syrian defense authorities had not issued an official statement.

The strikes come amid heightened regional tensions and follow a series of Israeli raids across Syria in recent months, some of which have resulted in casualties and the destruction of air defence systems or weapons depots.(IANS)

It is the first West African country that has recorded the omicron variant since scientists in southern Africa detected and reported it and adds to a list of nearly 20 countries where the variant has been recorded, triggering travel bans across the world.

Genomic sequencing of positive cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria identified two cases of the omicron variant among travellers from South Africa, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control said in a statement issued by its director-general.

The two unidentified travellers arrived in the West African country last week, but the variant has also been confirmed in cases in Nigeria prior to their arrival.

Retrospective sequencing of the previously confirmed cases among travellers to Nigeria also identified the omicron variant among the sample collected in October 2021, Nigeria CDC director-general Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa said.

The Nigeria CDC urged the country’s states and the general public to be on alert and called for improved testing amid concerns that Nigeria’s low testing capacity might become its biggest challenge in the face of the new variant.

Testing for the virus is low in many states and even in the nation’s capital, Abuja. For instance, in parts of Kuje, a suburb of Abuja, Musa Ahmed, a public health official, told The Associated Press that no one has been tested for the virus for weeks. (AP)

The report said the infected individual and his close contacts had been quarantined.

The case marks the first-known instance of omicron being detected among Gulf Arab nations.

Much remains unknown about the new variant, which has been identified in more than 20 countries, including whether it is more contagious, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said more would be known about the omicron strain in two to four weeks as scientists grow and test lab samples of the virus. (AP)

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to announce the assistance which came just two days after Khan paid a three-day visit to the Gulf kingdom.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement supports Pakistan with 3 billion US dollars as deposit in Pakistan central bank and also financing refined petroleum products with 1.2 billion US dollars during the year, he said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Khan thanked Prince Salman for the generous aid when Pakistan’s economy was facing difficulties.

I want to thank HRH Prince Mohammad bin Salman for supporting Pak with $3 bn as deposit in Pak’s central bank & financing refined petroleum product with $1.2 bn. KSA has always been there for Pak in our difficult times incl now when world confronts rising commodity prices (sic), he said on Twitter.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia had provided USD 3 billion in cash deposits and promised a USD 3 billion oil facility to Pakistan to help its foreign exchange reserves in 2018.

However, as the bilateral relations deteriorated later, Islamabad had to return USD 2 billion of the USD 3 billion deposits.

Pakistan announced in June this year that Saudi Arabia was about to make available USD 1.5 billion oil facility per annum.

Now it has provided direct disposition assistance along with oil facilities after the visit of Khan.

A formal announcement about the agreement would be made by Prime Minister’s adviser on finance and revenue Shaukat Tarin and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, Dawn newspaper reported.

The Saudi government would immediately deposit USD 3 billion in Pakistan’s account for a year and keep it rolling at least until the completion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in October 2023, the report quoted an official as saying.

Pakistan and the IMF had signed the USD 6 billion deal in July 2019 but the programme was derailed in January 2020 and restored briefly in March this year before again going off the track in June.

From June to August there were no serious discussions between the two sides.

In addition, the Saudi government would provide crude oil to Islamabad on deferred payments worth up to USD 1.5 billion per annum, the report said.

There were no immediate reports from the quake zone.

In Mexico City, the ground shook for nearly a minute in some parts of the capital, but was less evident in other parts. Some people evacuated their buildings briefly, but most quickly went back inside on a rainy night.

Mexico City authorities said there were no early reports of significant damage in the city, though they said electricity was knocked out in some neighbourhoods. (AP)

Speaking to the media after an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBRA) meeting to discuss the crisis in the region on Friday, Johnson said formidable challenges remain around the evacuation of British nationals and supporters from Kabul airport but the situation was getting slightly better .

What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan, working with the Taliban, of course if necessary, will go on and our commitment to Afghanistan is lasting, Johnson said.

The situation is getting slightly better and we are seeing a stablisation at the airport. So yesterday [Thursday] we were able to get out about 1,000 people and today [Friday] another 1,000 people; a lot of those UK eligible persons coming back to this country and a lot of them people coming back under the Afghanistan Resettlement and Assistance Programme (ARAP) interpreters and others to whom we owe debts of gratitude and honour, he said, adding that the operation will continue at a fast pace.

So the operation is becoming faster, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy. The logistical challenges are formidable and they are doing an outstanding job in very difficult circumstances, he said.

Johnson also defended his Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, who has come under fire from the Opposition over a missed phone call with his Afghan counterpart in the now fallen Ashraf Ghani government at the peak of the crisis last weekend. He said he “absolutely” had full faith in the Cabinet minister, adding: I can tell you that the whole of the government has been working virtually round the clock, hitting the phones, to do what we can to sort it out; to deal with a situation that has been long in gestation and to make sure that we get as many people back as possible.

Pressed on whether he believed suggestions from the new Taliban regime in charge that it may be more moderate in the future, Johnson said that it was important to take people at face value .

We hope they mean what they say. But again, as I said in the House of Commons, and I think that this is the position of everybody from the President of the United States, President Macron of France, [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel, everybody that I talked to everybody is agreed that we will judge them on their actions, and that is the important thing, he said.

Since last Saturday, the UK says has evacuated 1,615 people, including 399 British nationals and their dependants, 320 embassy staff, and 402 Afghan nationals who worked for the UK government in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the government has announced 5 million pounds for local councils in England, Scotland and Wales offering to house Afghans who have arrived under the ARAP programme. Under the scheme, Afghans who face threats from the Taliban having worked for the UK in Afghanistan, have been allowed to come to Britain.

Three Afghan officials told The Associated Press that the Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman in the capital. The militants later pledged not to take the capital by force as sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital.

No one’s life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk,” the Taliban said.

In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban has defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even with some air support by the US military.

Rapid shuttle flights of Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters near the embassy began a few hours later after the militants seized the nearby city of Jalalabad. Diplomatic armored SUVs could be seen leaving the area around the post.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to questions about the movements. However, wisps of smoke could be seen near the embassy’s roof as diplomats urgently destroyed sensitive documents, according to two American military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation.

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, which typically carry armed troops, later landed near the embassy as well.

The Czech Republic also approved a plan to begin withdrawing their Afghan staff from their embassy after earlier taking their diplomats to Kabul International Airport.

President Ashraf Ghani, who spoke to the nation Saturday for the first time since the offensive began, appears increasingly isolated as well. Warlords he negotiated with just days earlier have surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving Ghani without a military option. Ongoing negotiations in Qatar, the site of a Taliban office, also have failed to stop the insurgents’ advance.

Thousands of civilians now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul itself, fearing the future. Some ATMs stopped distributing cash as hundreds gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings.

Gunfire erupted at several points, though the Afghan presidency sought to downplayed the shooting.

The defence and security forces along with the international forces working for the security of Kabul city and the situation is under control, the presidency said amid the chaos. (AP)

Siddiqui, in his early 40s, was on an assignment covering the clashes in the volatile Kandahar region, as the US withdraws its forces from Afghanistan ahead of the August 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden.

Afghan special forces had been fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province when Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed in what they described as Taliban crossfire, an Afghan commander told Reuters.

“We are deeply saddened to learn that our photographer, Danish Siddiqui, has been killed in Afghanistan,” Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.

He was embedded with Afghanitan special forces in Kandahar province when they came under attack on Friday morning.

“Danish was an outstanding, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time, they said.

“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region,” the statement said.

In New Delhi, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, while responding to media queries, said that “Our Ambassador in Kabul is in touch with Afghan authorities. We are keeping his family informed of the developments.”

Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Farid Mamundzay, said he was deeply disturbed by the news of “the killing of a friend”.

“I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul. Condolences to his family & Reuters,” Mamundzay tweeted.

With foreign troops withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years, the Taliban are rapidly capturing territory from government forces across the country, sparking fears of a potential civil war.

The killing of Siddiqui comes as the Taliban captured Spin Boldak district in Kandahar, near a key border post with Pakistan, this week. Fierce fighting has been underway in Kandahar, especially in Spin Boldak, for the last few days.

Pakistan this week closed down the Friendship Gate crossing at the Chaman border in Balochistan province following reports of Taliban fighters taking control of the key border crossing point Spin Boldak in Afghanistan.

Clashes between the government forces and the Taliban have intensified since US troops began to withdraw from the country.

The Taliban recently claimed their fighters had retaken 85 per cent of territory in Afghanistan – a figure disputed by the government.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a total of 53 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan between 1992 and 2021.

Siddiqui was based in Mumbai. He had received the Pulitzer Prize as part of the Photography staff of Reuters news agency.

In 2018, Siddiqui won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. He won it alongside a colleague and five others for their work documenting the violence faced by Myanmar’s minority Rohingya community.

Siddiqui graduated with a degree in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. He had a degree in Mass Communication from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia in 2007.

He started his career as a television news correspondent, switched to photojournalism, and joined Reuters as an intern in 2010.