March 31, 2023
Trump, accused of paying hush money to a porn star, is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted.
“In a statement released through his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump called the indictment “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history”.
He said the case was part of a coordinated “witch hunt” against him, adding that he is completely innocent.”
From Al Jazeera:
Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday
He said the case was part of a coordinated “witch hunt” against him, adding that he is completely innocent.”
“I am so scared for the people of the states of America.” – Sandhya
From CBS:
What we know about the Nashville school shooting
“Reports were first made of a shooting at The Covenant School, a private Catholic school that teaches pre-k through sixth grade, on Monday morning.
Surveillance video showed the shooter was able to get into the school by shooting out a side door. The shooter then traversed the building, going to the second floor and “firing multiple shots.”
It’s not clear when the six victims were killed or how they encountered the shooter.
The shooter was killed within 14 minutes of the first report of the shooting, police said Monday, an action that likely “saved … many lives,” according to Nashville Mayor John Cooper.
SHOOTER IDENTIFIED AS A MALE.
‘Can’t afford rice’ quote lands journalist in jail
Samsuzzaman Shams of Prothom Alo daily appeared in court and was denied bail, a day after he was arrested.
His story – which ran on 26 March, the country’s Independence Day – is alleged to have “smeared the government”.
Rights activists have denounced the arrest and accused the government of stifling press freedom.
The government denies the allegation but media rights groups have warned of a steady erosion in freedoms under the governing Awami League, in power since 2009.”
“Yesterday was a special day for the media in Fiji. The Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka made an announcement that impacted all journalists and media companies.
You could feel the emotions in some of the leaders of Fiji’s newsrooms yesterday! Finally! After 12 years, it is happening!
When Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced that Cabinet had approved a Bill to repeal the draconian media legislation, it was met with joy in newsrooms.”
“It is encouraging that Government is going to repeal the Act. The fines are discouraging, and obviously designed to punish and control the media.
They have suppressed media freedom and the development of journalists. They were a barrier to freedom of expression and suppressed the people’s right to information.”
…but is that really the reason for the drop in standards? You can still have excellence within oppression.
“Media freedom and freedom of expression, like the PM said, is the oxygen of democracy.”
From Asia Pacific Report:
“Fiji to scrap ‘dead in water’ media law with pledge to back independent journalism”
Quote from University of the South Pacific’s head of journalism programme… Associate Professor Shailendra Singh:
““[Improving standards] will require some financial investments by the state since media organisations are struggling financially due to the digital disruption followed by covid.”
He said among the many challenges, the media industry was struggling to retain staff.
“So incentives like government scholarships specifically in the media sector could be one way of helping out.
“Media is a public good and like any public good… government should invest in it for the benefit of the public.”
This is from ABC Australia:
Afghans in Australia:
“A survey of Afghan evacuees who fled the country following the fall of Kabul in 2021 has found the majority have had good experiences with Australians and are enjoying life here, but many remain concerned about the cost of living.”
…when PAULINE HANSON thinks a bigoted tweet is “disgusting”… then you know it’s bad.
From HARPER’S BAZAAR:
Brie Larson Refuses to Stick to Hollywood’s Script
“Despite the fact that she is Captain Marvel, star of the first female-led superhero franchise in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and despite the fact that she is an Oscar winner, and despite the fact that she has been acting since she was six, Larson, now 33, is still rarely recognized in public. “If I’m checking out at the grocery store, I don’t get recognized,”
Larson, though, is not just content with her relative anonymity; she needs it to feed her soul. “I want to be in reality. I love reality. It’s all I want,” she tells me. “My biggest fear is to not be in reality. It matters so much to me. I don’t wear super-flashy clothes when I’m out in the world because I want to stay in reality. I’m very good at confrontation in my relationships because I want to be in reality. I want to be in what’s as close to what’s true as possible.”
From The Guardian:
Goblin Mode.
“Angelina moving on from her past with a super rich, super hot, super tall billionaire philanthropist is a great story. It’s a GREAT gossip story. And if there’s no mess that comes along with it, I want it to be true too. But given that a source is telling PEOPLE today that it’s strictly business, my guess is that she’s the one pouring water on it.
At least for now. And one of the reasons, if recent history is anything to go by, is because the ex always seems to come with some f-cksh-t whenever she starts living.”
From Fiji Times
Single Mother Builds Her Way To Greatness
by Wata Shaw
Just when things began to look bright for her lovo business, she experienced one of her biggest challenges – separation from her husband, the father of her nine children.
“The break-up with their father when he left was not good. “He made sure he took with him all the bigger kids, the ones who were needed for the lovo business.
“I was left with the youngest four, the eldest of them was 11 and the youngest was only about eight months old – but that didn’t stop us.
“It was difficult to be a single mother to these young ones but we weathered on, all of us going on the delivery runs since there was no one to babysit.”
Ms Waqa reminisced about the days when things got so tough that she was almost ready to throw in the towel. “This business has been me and my nine children from day one.
From BBC Travel:
A journey to Earth’s most remote flower
by Ben McKechnie
This is a beautiful article, not just because it has special meaning for me. Beautifully written.
“A week ago, in search of an extremely rare flower called the tagimoucia (pronounced tahng-ee-mow-theea), I travelled to Taveuni – Fiji’s “Garden Island”. The tagimoucia is Fiji’s endemic and elusive national flower, as well as one of the rarest flowers on Earth. Its bright crimson and white petals grow in clusters, and from a young age, all Fijians are taught that the disparate colours symbolise a beautiful but tragic love story between two disparate people – a sort of Fijian Romeo and Juliet that has captured the country’s imagination.”
“I’ve hiked Kilimanjaro and made it to the Everest Base Camp. However, I quickly discovered that Taveuni’s extreme humidity and the trail’s unrelenting steepness make ascending Des Voeux astonishingly tough. I needed to stop to rest every 10 minutes, which allowed me to gaze out over the sweeping views of Somosomo Straight and back towards Vanua Levu.
“…the tagimoucia is small, like the tip of an adult’s thumb. I examined the flower’s two distinct parts – a crimson outer shell, from which a white flower with a purple crown and yellow filaments burst, as if it was trying to escape. Then, I went in for a sniff, but was surprised to find that the tagimoucia has almost no scent whatsoever.”
