Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is coming to Tampa to lead an acting workshop when the "Bollywood Oscars" — the International Indian Film Academy's weekend and awards — arrives in April.
The IIFA announced Thursday that Spacey will be joined in the master class with Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, who won India's prestigious National Award for her thriller Kahaani.
The awards event honors Indian culture, fashion and film and will take place April 24-26 with workshops, parties and dignitaries from both U.S. and Indian cinema.
The show is expected to be watched by up to 800 million viewers around the world when it arrives in the U.S. for the first time.
Icons for the smartphone apps Xiaohongshu and TikTok are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
As the threat of a TikTok ban looms, U.S. TikTok users are flocking to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu – making it the top downloaded app in the U.S.
Some of the "TikTok refugees," as they call themselves, say the TikTok alternative, a Chinese app, is being chosen in protest of the TikTok ban.
The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on a law that stipulates TikTok must be divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by Jan. 19 or face a ban in the U.S. over national security concerns.
After the justices seemed inclined to let the law stand, masses of TikTok users began creating accounts on Xiaohongshu, including hashtags such as #tiktokrefugee or #tiktok to their posts. Since Monday, Xiaohongshu has become the top downloaded free app on Apple's App Store in the U.S.
Xiaohongshu, which in English means "Little Red Book" is a Chinese social media app that combines e-commerce, short video and posting functions.
The app has gained traction in China and other regions and countries with a Chinese diaspora such as Malaysia and Taiwan in recent years, racking up 300 million monthly active users, a majority of whom are young women who use it as a de-facto search engine for product, travel and restaurant recommendations, as well as makeup and skincare tutorials.
The #tiktokrefugee topic has racked up over 160,000 posts on Xiaohongshu, many of which are videos of American users introducing themselves and asking for tips on how to navigate the app, which they are calling "RedNote".
Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Alexis Garman is a 21-year-old TikTok user in Oklahoma with nearly 20,000 followers. She joined Xiaohongshu on Tuesday after seeing... Read More
