Here's another art exhibition that is a must-see. There's more than these three artworks which I photographed. Fathmath Azleena uses mixed mediums to get her creativity displayed. The exhibition ends on 12 May 2024. It's open for free viewing at the private 350 Gallery in Maldives' capital Male'. You can view from Monday to Saturday from 4pm to 10pm.
Hypergraphia is a behavioral condition characterized by the intense desire to write or draw. READ MORE from Wikipedia
Without Freud the world wouldn’t have the language, concepts & devices to think and talk about a lot of things we do today. Without Freud the world would still be deaf & mute to some of 20th century’s most important debates on the structures of the subconscious & the human condition. READ MORE from Naimbe's Instagram
"Life teaches us at all levels. People who inhabit the Earth are teachers as well as students, learning from each other all the time. Each in his or her own way, from an ordinary coolie to a multimillionaire, from an uneducated vagabond to a learned professor, from an ordinary mechanic to a top industrialist, gives to the other that something that the other does not have. And one keeps learning, in a non-stop process that has no limits. There is no such thing as the last milestone. Every time you reach a landmark or a goal, another one comes into view up ahead in the distance."
-- Dev Anand, "Romancing with Life"
Opinion Editorial by Mariyath Mohamed, Editor at The Edition. As today (23 April 2024) marks 7 years to the day Yameen Rasheed was murdered, this is her account of shared memories, friendship and loss. READ MORE from The Edition
.png)
Press release | 18 April 2024
Nearly half of the 28 journalists killed in India since Narendra Modi took over as prime minister ten years ago, including media directors, investigative reporters and correspondents, were working on stories linked to the environment. Protecting journalists and combatting impunity for crimes of violence against them should at the centre of the elections in which Modi is seeking another term, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says.
At least 13 of the 28 journalists killed since 2014 were working on environmental-related subjects, mainly land seizures and illegal mining for industrial purposes. Several were killed for taking an interest in India’s so-called sand mafia, an organised crime network that excavates sand illegally for the country’s booming construction industry. Closely linked to politicians and often protected by them, the mafia is quick to silence journalists who take too close an interest in its activities, and does so with complete impunity.
In its recommendations to candidates competing in these elections, RSF calls for the urgent creation of a system to guarantee the physical and digital security of journalists. To this end, account must be taken of the dangers linked to environmental issues.
“It is alarming to see that half of the journalists murdered in the past ten years were investigating environmental issues, often linked to the activity of criminal groups, mafias that maintain strong links with local authorities and enjoy almost total impunity for the crimes of violence they commit against journalists to protect their financial interests. This is appalling. Thorough and independent investigations should be carried out as a matter of urgency into the cases of murdered journalists and those who have been the victims of murder attempts. On the eve of crucial elections for the future of journalism in India, we call on candidates to undertake to end this unacceptable impunity and to prioritise the safety of all journalists," said Célia Mercier, Head of RSF’s South Asia desk.
Journalists killed for investigating the environment
.png)
The topics on which the 28 journalists killed in India over the last ten years were working.
Journalists investigating the exploitation of natural resources by the sand mafias or other networks involved in mining have often been the victims of violent reprisals during the past ten years. One of the first was Jagendra Singh, a freelancer who died in June 2015 from the serious burns he sustained during a police raid. He had been working on a case of illegal sand mining involving the chief minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
In 2016, Jansandesh Times reporter Karun Misra was murdered in Uttar Pradesh and Hindustan reporter Ranjan Rajdev was killed in the northeastern state of Bihar. Both were shot dead by hitmen motorcycles as a result of their work on illegal mining activities. Sandeep Sharma, a reporter who was covering a sand mafia for the News World local TV channel in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, was killed by a dumper-truck that deliberately ran him down in March 2018.
Continuing abuses
The tragic killings continued after Modi, the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), began his second term in 2019.
Shubham Mani Tripathi, a reporter for the Kampu Mail local newspaper was gunned down in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, in June 2020 after voicing concern that he could be targeted because of his work on cases of illegal expropriations by the sand mafia.
Subhash Kumar Mahto, a freelance reporter known for his reporting on the sand mafia, was fatally shot in the head by four unidentified hitmen outside his home in Bihar in May 2022. Investigative reporter Shashikant Warishe died of his injuries in the western state of Maharashtra on 6 February 2023 shortly after being run down by an SUV driven by a real estate lobbyist connected to illegal land seizures that Warishe had been investigating.
The 15 other journalists murdered in connection with their journalism since 2014 were targeted for working on stories linked to corruption, organised crime, elections and a Maoist insurrection. One of the 28 fatal victims was a woman. It was Gauri Lankesh, who worked on disinformation. She was gunned down outside her home in Bangalore in September 2017 by members of the Hindu far right after being subjected to very violent online harassment by far right networks linked to the ruling party.
India is ranked 161st out of 180 countries in RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
In the last ten years, 13 out of the 28 journalists killed in India were working on environmental related topics
Legend: In green, the journalists killed while working on environmental related topics.
.jpg)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the international community to step up the pressure on Beijing to restore full freedom of journalist Zhang Zhan, detained since 2020 for covering the Covid-19 epidemic in China, and whose four-year prison sentence is due to be served next month.
In one month's time, on 13 May 2024, Chinese journalist and RSF press freedom laureate Zhang Zhan, 40, is supposed to regain her freedom. The journalist and former lawyer was arrested in May 2020, while covering the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan, in central-eastern China. She had posted more than a hundred videos on social media before being arrested on 14 May 2020. Seven months later, she was sentenced to four years in prison by a Shanghai court for allegedly "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".
Even though she will have served her sentence, there are doubts regarding the Chinese regime's willingness to give her back her freedom: in China, journalists detained for their work often remain under surveillance even after being released and are generally banned from travelling abroad.
"Zhang Zhan courageously risked her life to inform her fellow citizens about the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan. She should never have been arrested, let alone sentenced to a prison term. We call on the international community to step up pressure on the Chinese regime to restore her complete freedom and that of all other detained journalists and press freedom defenders," said Cédric Alviani, RSF Asia-Pacifique Bureau Director.
On several occasions, RSF has called for her release and warned about the ill-treatment that she has been subjected to while in prison. During her first months in detention, she almost died after going on hunger strike to claim her innocence. The authorities forcibly fed her through a nasal tube and left her handcuffed for entire days.
The Chinese regime has been conducting a veritable war against journalism since leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. China, the world's biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 119 detainees, is ranked 179th out of 180 countries in the 2023 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
Press release | 29 April 2024
Together with its local partner, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been helping more than 170 Afghan journalists who fled to Pakistan, providing financial and administrative assistance and organising networking workshops. While a conference is being held in Islamabad on 29 April, RSF urges the Pakistani authorities and international community to help protect Afghan journalists in Pakistan.
The “Advocacy platform for Afghan journalists” project launched in December 2023 by RSF and its local partner, the Islamabad-based Freedom Network, has so far helped 173 Afghan journalists who fled persecution in their own country only to encounter many administrative, financial and professional difficulties in the country where they sought refuge.
To help address these problems, RSF has supported Freedom Network in providing administrative, financial and advocacy assistance. As part of the project, Freedom Network is organising a conference in Islamabad on 29 April to draw the attention of political decision-makers and the international community to the plight of these journalists, with a view to finding short and long-term political solutions to the challenges they face.
This initiative is supported by RSF and is funded by the European Union’s ProtectDefenders programme.
"When the RSF project was launched in November 2023, I saw the despair on the faces of many Afghan journalists. For me, it was important to get them out of that situation and give them a new perspective. Today, I see hope in them as the project draws to a close. A solid foundation has been laid to support them, especially the women, and this would not have been possible without the RSF project. Freedom Network, RSF's partner in Pakistan, will continue to support these refugee journalists from Afghanistan", said Iqbal Khattak, Freedom Network executive director and RSF representative in Pakistan.
Humanitarian assistance was also provided to 59 Afghan journalists under the project, including women journalists who were particularly affected in exile. Four orientation workshops were organised to help the journalists familiarise themselves with local conditions. Pakistani journalists' unions and press clubs were also mobilised to support their colleagues in exile.
Participants in the RSF/Freedom Network project, which is due end at the end of April, have also pleaded the cause of the exile journalists with local and international bodies. A solidarity network called the “Pak-Afghan Journalists Solidarity Network (PAJSN)” was set up at the beginning of 2024 to involve the Pakistani government, diplomatic missions in Islamabad and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Representatives of the Afghan journalists were able to meet UNHCR officials, diplomats from EU member countries and the National Human Rights Commission (NCHR).
“It is necessary and urgent for stakeholders to join forces to address the many problems that Afghan journalists face in Pakistan. We urge them to hear our call and to respond. Afghan journalists who have fled to Pakistan deserve to live in decent conditions and should have the possibility to become residents and to use their professional journalistic skills, or to be allowed and supported in their departure to a host country", said Antoine Bernard, RSF director of advocacy and assistance.
More than 170 Afghan journalists are still refugees in Pakistan after fleeing their country, which has been under Taliban control since August 2021. Most of them hope to obtain a visa for a third country but are not sure whether they will ever succeed.
They are having great difficulty renewing their Pakistani visas, and some have been the victims of police harassment. Often deprived of a legal status enabling them to lead a normal life, they live in a state of permanent anxiety. They also have no access to healthcare at public hospitals or to public schools for their children. Their careers have been cut short and their financial resources are running out.
.jpg)
The US Congress has decided that TikTok’s owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, must be barred from the United States in order to protect US citizens from “foreign adversaries.” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for urgent independent legislation to address the issue of allowing foreign platforms to use a democratic country’s information space.
ByteDance has been given the choice of leaving the United States or leaving the United States. On 23 April, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, under which it is unlawful to “distribute, maintain, or update” an app controlled by a "foreign adversary country," whether North Korea, Russia, Iran or China.
The law specifically targets ByteDance and its hugely successful platform TikTok as well as all of its other apps. TikTok will be banned from US devices within the year unless ByteDance previously sells it or the law is challenged before the District of Columbia appeals court.
In RSF’s view, this latest attempt to ban the Chinese social media app from the United States raises an important underlying issue. The public’s right to information is being completely ignored. The political authorities are too easily swayed by geo-political considerations to be allowed, on their own, to decide whether to shut down an app used by 148 million Americans. This underscores the need for clear, overarching legislation on the ways foreign platforms can gain access to a democratic information space.
“Let's be clear. TikTok is not a model of reliable access to information and its recommendation algorithm, surely one of the most addictive in the world, is a major disinformation catalyst. But this issue is completely ignored in a law based solely on the claim that ByteDance is controlled by China. Tension between the United States and China should not dictate regulation of the information space. This sensitive issue must be addressed within a legal framework independent of the political authorities. We call on the United States to develop such legislation by adopting the system for protecting democratic information spaces designed by RSF, which addresses the issue of platforms linked to authoritarian governments without neglecting the public’s right to access information," said Vincent Berthier, Head of RSF’s Tech Desk.
Independent legislation to avoid information wars
The system of protecting information spaces proposed by RSF prevents information wars between open spaces, such as those in democratic countries, and closed spaces such as China’s, which the authorities control closely while distributing their own content to foreign countries. Democracies are vulnerable because their information markets are open, while media and social media based in democratic countries are blocked in closed spaces, especially China.
The legal framework proposed by RSF includes a reciprocity mechanism designed to encourage openness and to promote independent, pluralistic and reliable information in all countries involved. Its goal is effective regulation of the information space being shaped by all the various platforms, not just the Chinese ones, which are far from being the only ones to threaten information integrity.
Used wisely, this framework could provide the United States with leverage to encourage the Chinese government to relax its control over its own information space. It offers a way out of the crisis based on principle, putting protection of the public’s right to information back at the heart of the debate.
United States ranks 45th in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index. China ranks 179th of the 180 countries.
...This island nation, a hotspot for tourists, is not just about sun, sea, and sand anymore, guys. Right now, it is on the verge of making an economic decision that could significantly alter the global economy as we know it. READ FULL REPORT FROM Citizen Watch Report
It comprises a web of residences, shops, and schools that will one day be home to 20,000 people. READ MORE from AOL
Among the nearly 200 picture-perfect resorts in the Maldives, Baros is the stuff of legend. Having recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, it welcomed its first guests in December 1973 and was just the third hotel to open (after Kurumba and Bandos) as the island nation took the very first tentative steps on a journey that would see it become one of the world’s most desirable destinations.
Before then, this chain of 1,192 low-lying tropical islands sprinkled across the Indian Ocean barely registered a flicker on the international stage. Most were uninhabited, with the rest home to small villages of up to a few hundred people. So cut off, in fact, the only means to contact the rest of the world was to send a Morse code message to the embassy in Sri Lanka. READ MORE from The Independent
There is even a Bond-style dining tower you get to by zipline. READ MORE from The Sun
1) If you don't believe in a god, why do you think Jews are a god's chosen people and that that god gave a land (Palestine) to Jews?
2) Why do you say Christianity is a better religion than Islam? Do you think Muslims have killed more people than the millions who were tortured to death during the Inquisition?
My brain doesn't work anymore indeed when intellectuals who claim to be enlightened demonstrates themselves as stupid.
My ordeal convinced me to fight harder for justice, and demand more from our leaders – including better protections for peaceful protesters. READ MORE from Al Jazeera
What should we make of Israel’s obscene social media stunts in Gaza? READ MORE from Al Jazeera
Spain and Ireland are discussing a collective plan to recognise Palestine as a state amid Israel’s war on Gaza. READ MORE from Al Jazeera
...Many of the stories are told through the eyes of children—tales of parents splitting up, of school, and of the often baffling behaviour of adults around them. Older characters also appear—sometimes destructive, sometimes inspiring. Five of the stories reflect on motherhood in very different ways. Others tell of forbidden love in a hostile world. Topics range from music, football, art, film, the impact of electricity arriving in a village, and even one woman’s passion for tea. While romance and thrillers feature prominently, nearly a quarter of the shortlisted stories are speculative fiction. READ FULL REPORT from Commonwealth Foundation
The full Cannes Film Festival competition jury has been revealed. READ MORE from Variety
A Malayalam-language film (The Goat Life)that depicts the plight of impoverished Indians seeking jobs in the Middle East has been drawing throngs to cinemas. READ MORE from BBC
"You don't know what side you're fighting for?" READ MORE from Inverse
Let’s face it, you’re addicted to your phone, and Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno may be partially to blame. The tech power couple met while working at Apple, where they helped create everything from the Mac, to the iPhone, to the iPad, to the Apple Watch. READ MORE from Inverse
Rather than being an optional extra, dreams might be vital to our functioning. READ MORE from The Guardian
As far as black holes go, there are two categories: supermassive ones that live at the center of the galaxies (and we're unsure about how they got there) and stellar mass ones that formed through the supernovae that end the lives of massive stars. READ MORE from ARS Technica
These popular pets aren’t guaranteed to be allergy-friendly.
...Cats and dogs produce several allergenic proteins, Sandra Koch, a veterinarian and professor of comparative dermatology at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, tells Inverse. The most common ones appear in their saliva and shed skin, or dander. People with allergies to these proteins experience immune reactions, meaning their immune system responds as if they’re bacteria or viruses, deploying a bevy of unpleasant symptoms like sneezing, itching, or coughing. READ MORE from Inverse
Botswana alone is home to a third of the entire African elephant population – more than any other country in the world. READ MORE from Al Jazeera
.jpg)
