Articles:
Covid Captured
“Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020”
A book by the Duchess of Cambridge
Psst… this is a Royal rumour you would want to hear. Another dreary Royal book you say? Well, this is different!
This book was created by a country for a country. The Duchess of Cambridge and the National Portrait Gallery UK asked their fellow British citizens to send in photos of their experiences from their COVID-19 lockdown. And photos they sent! In fact, more were received than possible to print from families, children, thankful citizens, and front-line workers. The duchess collated only 100 of the best photos for her initiative: her titled book “Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020”. Released to the public on the 7 May 2021, this book gave citizens a sense of community, relatability, and comfort. It also gave recognition to those front-line Healthcare workers who needed a much deserved ‘thank you’.
Yet there was more! To continue the act of giving, the Duchess, The National Portrait Gallery UK, and Book Fairies UK have hidden 150 copies of the book around the whole country for people to find. So next time you’re in the UK – look out!
But if you’re not soon to be on this scavenger hunt and want a sneak peek? Check out the final 100 photos chosen: https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/hold-still-gallery/
- Rachael Hickey
Indian police and Twitter
This incident comes after Twitter applied the label ‘manipulated media’ to a tweet by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson, Sambit Patra.
According to Twitter’s rules, it applies "manipulated media" labels to posts "if it includes media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated".
This visit comes during tense relations between the Indian government and Twitter, which have been going on for a while now.
In April this year, India ordered Twitter to remove some tweets containing information regarding critique on India’s handling of the Coronavirus, to which Twitter complied with, saying they had blocked some of the material from being viewed in India. Later on in the year, Twitter also had to unblock numerous accounts due to a request from authorities. These accounts were linked to farmer protests against agricultural reforms. Had Twitter not complied, their employees in India would have been arrested and sent to jail. Delhi police say the visit to Twitter was part of the investigation to serve a notice to Twitter’s managing director.
"This was necessary as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice to as replies by Twitter India MD have been very ambiguous," a police statement said, referring to the company's managing director.
"It appears that Twitter has some information which is not known to us on the basis of which they have classified it as such. This information is relevant to the enquiry," the statement added.
Twitter chose not to comment on this situation.
- Nakita Wang
Palestine and Israel Conflict
On the 6th of May 2021, Palestinians started a protest in East Jerusalem due to a controversial decision made by the Supreme Court of Israel. The decision declared that, in line with East Jerusalem’s decades-long eviction campaign, four Palestinian families (The Iskafi, Kurd, Jaouni and Qasim families) consisting of 30 adults and 10 children, evacuate their homes in Sheikh Jarrah within exactly a week of the decision.
It was on the following day that the riots broke out. The event began with Palestinian citizens throwing stones at the Israeli Police Force, which was met with retaliation in the form of the Police Force charging the al-Asqa Mosque. They used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets as means of detaining the rioting Palestinians. The violence persisted through to the 10th of May, where the Supreme Court announced that they would delay all court sessions for 30 days, in an effort to minimise backlash. This decision was on the order of Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelbilt. However, this action didn’t seem to have much effect. Over these 5 days of conflict, more than 600 people were injured.
On the afternoon of the 10th, the Hamas, a Gaza based Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organisation with military and nationalist values, stepped in. The group warned that if the Israeli Police Forces did not withdraw from al-Asqa and Sheikh Jarrah by 6pm, there would be severe consequences. The clock struck 6 and the Hamas were left with simply no response at all. This stillness led to both the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to begin firing rockets at Gaza. Some of these rockets hit residential areas and one school. After six days, on the 16th of May, an estimated 950 nuclear attacks had devastated many and dismantled a total of 40 schools, 4 hospitals and an al-Shati refugee camp, with at least 19 medical facilities destroyed or acutely damaged. 18 buildings, with four of those being high-rise towers, had also been destroyed.
One of the high-rise buildings that was wrecked in the act was al-Jalaa Highrise, which was home to the housing offices of the Associated Press (American non-profit news agency), Al Jazeera (Television Channel), on top of exactly 60 apartment building complexes. The destruction occurred on the 15th of May. Just 7 days after the initial attack on the 10th, it is said that 94 buildings in Gaza had been shattered, with 461 housing units within those buildings being completely demolished.
A call for a ceasefire was attempted on the 13th of May by Hamas, though the Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the offering. France, Egypt, and Jordan, along with the United Nations Security Council, stood together and called for a ceasefire again on the 18th of May. This time, it was effective. Just three days later, on the 21st of May, a ceasefire was put forward.
Despite this, in just 15 days of conflict more than 254 Palestinian people have lost their lives, with 66 of those being just children. Not to mention, 1,900 have been injured. In comparison, 13 people have died in Israel, with 1 being a child. 200 Israeli people have been injured in total. On the 19th of May, the statistics stated that 72,000 Palestinian people had been displaced from their homes. To make matters worse, roughly 4,360 rockets were launched and 680 of those landed within Gaza. Over 1,500 air and sea strikes were put forward against Gaza by Israel.
- Ellis Plant
Crypto Crash Redemption?
The crypto market is slowly back on the rise after a lot of currencies had crashed at the start of the month. This was due to concerns about new regulations, the environmental impacts of crypto mining, and Tesla no longer accepting bitcoin as a payment option. Dogecoin fell around 40% in under 24 hours, other currencies showed mixed results, however most fell a significant amount as well.
- Tilman Ahrens
European Super League
The European Super League (a football initiative) has collapsed, after fans of football around the world revolted against the program. It’s founder, Florentino Pérez, announced the competition in mid-April. The announcement was followed by almost universal backlash from fans, players, clubs, managers, as well as FIFA and UEFA. The criticism mainly focused around elitism and lack of competitiveness. The backlash led to nine of the twelve original clubs announcing their intention to withdraw from the league. The remaining clubs announced that they would reconsider their positions surrounding the competition. Three days later, the league announced that they would be suspending its operations.
- Tilman Ahrens
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