Soul singer Aretha Franklin has been posthumously honoured with a Pulitzer Prize. The 2019 winners list revealed on 15 April also included Richard Power’s extraordinary novel The Overstory and The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for their investigations on President Donald Trump. Aretha Franklin (pictured) died in August 2018, at the age … Continue reading “Aretha Franklin Honoured with a Pulitzer Prize”
Students from across the New Zealand city gathered for a vigil in honour of those who were killed or injured in the Christchurch mosque shootings. They performed an emotional haka together. The vigil, one of several which have taken place, was organised by Okirano Tilaia, the Head Boy of nearby Cashmere High School. At least … Continue reading “Christchurch Students Perform Haka for Shooting Victims”
A quiet revolution is building momentum around the world as school pupils strike and march to try to get their elders to take serious measures to limit climate change. It started with one Swedish 15-year-old missing school to go and be a one-person picket line in front of a government ministry in September 2018. She … Continue reading “School Strike for the Planet”
It’s the thirtieth anniversary of the conception of the World Wide Web. In seems incredible to imagine that something billions of us use hundreds of times a day was the brainchild of one man trying to solve a practical problem. British scientist Tim Berners-Lee – he wasn’t Sir back in 1989 — was a software … Continue reading “Happy Birthday World Wide Web”
It’s a January fixture in the U.S. calendar: the President’s State of the Union speech, delivered to the joint houses of Congress, and broadcast directly to the nation. This year’s was scheduled for 29 January but has been postponed because of the federal shutdown resulting from the struggle between President Trump and Congress over the … Continue reading “The Union: What a State”
Britain’s Conservative government suffered a historic defeat on 15 January as Parliament massively voted against the deal for Brexit negotiated with the EU. As the clock ticks relentlessly towards the 29 March deadline for leaving, there seems no clear way forward. The government had been forced to agree to a “meaningful” vote on Brexit and … Continue reading “Brexit Chaos”
Language is constantly changing and every year British dictionary publishers Collins likes to look back and see which words have dominated the national conversation. Not necessarily new words, but ones that have come to the fore. The Word of the Year 2018 is… “single-use”. It’s been in the news as more and more campaigners have … Continue reading “Word of the Year: Single-Use”
On 10 December, the Nobel Committee is presenting the 2018 Nobel Prize for Peace to a woman and a man fighting against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Nadia Murad and Dr Denis Mukwege come from different parts of the world, and took different paths to advocacy. But both fight to … Continue reading “Fighting for Women’s Rights”
Australian water activist Mina Guli has undertaken a gruelling physical challenge to draw attention to the growing global water crisis. From November till February she is attempting to run 100 marathons in 100 days. The United Nations estimates that there will be a 40% shortfall between demand and supply for water globally by 2030. Increasing … Continue reading “Running Dry”
Uluru, the giant rock formation in the Australian desert is often used as a symbol of the country. To its Aboriginal traditional owners, it is sacred. After years of asking tourists to respect their beliefs and refrain from climbing the rock, it is to be closed in October 2019. The local people hope tourists will … Continue reading “Uluru to Close to Public”
