politicodiary

The Nobel laureate and celebrated iconic leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty on some 18 counts by the military styled government that has been running the show. Out of these 18 counts, there are some 11 offences of corruption. If proven guilty, she would have to serve a lifetime in prison where the cumulative sentence comes to 190 years. After having defeated her efforts to create a stable government and democracy through a military coup, she was kept in house arrest and later in jail since February of last year. Pre her detention, Ms. Suu Kyi had held the country’s affairs for a span of 5 years but was later overthrown from her position of state counselor and de facto leader of the country . Obviously, there are reasons for her to deny these allegations, which she has termed as ‘absurd.’ It was not immediately clear if Suu Kyi would be transferred to a prison. She has been held in an undisclosed location, where junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said she could re

Stretched over two three-day weekends, the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival returned to epic styles after a literally two year break. Blame it all on the pandemic. Hundred and thousands of music fans could be seen flocking the Californian desert and no one was complaining about the heat. Those who were worth mentioning at the electric place included Billie Elish, Harry Styles, The Weekend and of course the EDM stars Swedish House Mafia. Concerts and performances have not been the same since the pandemic stopped gatherings due to evident fear of mass transmissions. Style quotients were high and there is undeniable excitement around what celebrity artists are honing on the stage these days. For starters was Harry Styles : The former One Direction star made his Coachella debut in oh-so-glamorous fashion, rocking a black fur coat on stage, which he removed during his opening number, As It Was, to reveal a low-cut, silver sequined catsuit. He was joined on stage by country legen

He might have started as a butcher but today is known as a respected hotelier and restaurant owner in Dubai. His father as a native Lebanon passed on the trade of butchery to the young Fadi Al Safadi at the age of 13 years. But Safadi had other plans for himself and today at the age of 59 years, he is the proud founder and CEO of Al Safadi restaurant. The trade of butchery was considered respectable. His father was renowned at the trade and supplied to the best restaurants in Beirut in the 1970s. A success story of the economically downtrodden Lebanon can be this. Speaking to the local media that has now been writing about him due to the growing reputation of his restaurants, he said, “My time working for my father laid the foundation for something big to come in my life. He taught me to be prepared for everything. For one year, I worked as a cleaner in my father’s shop before he taught me the skill of butchery. My father was my best teacher. From treating customers well, to develo

 It’s a ‘zero work-life balance’ scenario in the power couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh’s life. But the latter is more to be blamed for this than the former. So, who takes the reigns of the horse? Ofcourse its the lady luck who swept Ranveer off his feet in the many encounters they had with each other onscreen and offscreen. Deepika, who fought depression for a long time, understands the value of balancing the facets of life which tend to overtake us, more than once in a while. Come pandemic, and the lines between work and personal life have diminished to a large extend. In an interview with the media recently, Mr. Singh was candid about his inability to balance things in his life. The reason he says is because of extreme amounts of energy and his obsession for acting, his profession, and how he has been so much into it that at one time, he would wish to work for 18 hours a day.  In his making of the Padmavat, he had mentioned how he closed himself in a room to feel the

Once the most poached, these are big 5 and the awe-inspiring creatures to see in the wilds of Africa. We are talking about the most beautiful creatures like lions, leopards, elephants, African buffalo and the rhinoceroses. Still hunted today, the increasing interest in safaris has somehow been a saving grace for them. That’s especially true because all of these species are decreasing in population—lions in particular are struggling, having lost 94 percent of their original habitat. Only about 20,000 of the big cats remain in the wild. Leopards : are solitary cats and sometimes known as the ninja cat as they sneaky in nature and hard to spot. These cats can carry preys as large as an antelope or a zebra and believe in having a meal in silence and alone. They are not pack animals. African Lion: They are pack animals but yet don’t have a permanent social hierarchy. Men only sire babies while women run the packs. In many cases they are also the hunters who teach the young ones to h

  A pro-Russian politician fugitive Viktor Medvedchuk, who is deemed to be the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the country, has been captured by Ukrainian forces. The media themselves are now admitting of skewed and manipulative news doing rounds. New agencies are however claiming that this 67-year-old business tycoon, apparently was residing in Ukraine and is considered one of the richest. His arrest comes over his alleged connections and probably of espionage against Ukraine. If reports are to be believed, Medvedchuk counts Putin among his personal friends and says the Kremlin leader is godfather to his youngest daughter Darya.  Undated and unlocated images of Medvedchuk were released by Ukraine's security service SBU that purportedly show the business tycoon in handcuffs and wearing a Ukrainian military uniform.  The lawmaker that is considered Russia friendly, was captured through setting off a trap for him. Once in custody, his arrest was denied by Kr

Picture for representative purpose only The movie Kashmir Files seemed to have rekindled some unhappy memories and violence in Srinagar. A controversy is said to have erupted after protests broke out at the city’s Jamia Masjid. Apparently, some men were witnessed allegedly shouting moving phrases of the movie like the “azadi” slogans. This was the first congregational prayer held in the grand mosque in the month of Ramzan. It is heartwarming that the mosque has only opened up after a period of two years, when Covid-19 seemed to have brought back everyone on the same plane, irrespective of any religious differences. A string of attacks has been on the rise in the valley off late. These have been targeting migrant workers and security personnel in particular. The offensive between Army personnel and Kashmiri turned militants continues to rock the valley of love and knowledge. Recent reports have confirmed that the Srinagar police have gunned down two top Lashkar-e-Taiba militants –

No one seems to be happy with current Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s attempts to politicalize a formal letter that came in from the United States. The court squashed his party’s appeal to send Khan into a trust vote situation in the coming days. He apparently used the formal letter to prove that the American administration was trying to play diplomacy, poisoning and forcing people of opposition to oust him. Mr. Khan is known to have accused US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu of being involved in the plot to overthrow his government. This only went on to suggest that Lu had warned Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington that there would be implications if Khan survived the no-confidence vote. The US has dismissed this claim. Sources in the diplomatic circles added that it will be difficult to manage foreign relations in the future if the image being projected is that the government could use diplomatic communications for political gains. Pakistan’s latest political crisis erupted las

  After the gory scenes that have played themselves in Bucha of Ukraine, the world is wondering over the quality of military that Russia is holding onto. Retreating soldiers had tied civilians and gunned them down and then disposed their bodies in mass graves. These instances have shaken the Western world, so much so that Russia now stands excommunicated from the UN Human Rights Council. Sources have claimed that Russia has actually made use of The Kadyrovites, the troops of the Republic of Chechnya that are known to be exceptionally cruel. Videos of their war brutalities in Ukraine have surfaced as their leader Ramzan Kadyrov himself has been posting videos as trophies of their wins. He continues to be a Putin ally and has already been accused of human rights abuses such as torture and executions. Videos explicitly show how the Kadyrovites have been shooting in all directions while Ukrainian victims are dragged between corpses.   Ramzan apparently, is Putin’s protégé and willf

Overproduction of avocados is hurting the Australian farmer. But help has come from an Asian partner and everyone is happy at the moment. Prices have dipped due to overproduction and low consumption. Growers are now keen to find new markets knowing more trees are about to mature this year and avocado prices dived under a $1 in stores last year. Farmers are looking for a prospective market so that they can sell their excess yield; possibly get a better price out of the production too. Sources claim that avocados sold for $3,000 for a 400-kilogram bin last year. Opportunities are coming from across the ocean. Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas said with lots of new plantings in the past five years securing new markets was time critical. In 2021, national avocado production was 90,000 tonnes. "That's expected to almost double and grow to 170,000 tonnes by 2026," Mr. Tyas said. "There's no way the domestic market will be able to absorb the volumes t

Cadbury chocolates continue to be pulled into controversy over use of child labor in their chocolate growing facilities in Africa. A recent documentary titled ‘Cadbury Exposed’ surfaced on Channel 4 in the UK and shows footage where children can be seen working with machetes in fields in Ghana. They are said to be as young as ten years old are were filmed harvesting cocoa pods for Mondelēz International, owner of Cadbury, for the U.S. equivalent of less than $3 a day.  Tweets are doing round accusing Mondelēz of continuing to indulge in child labor. Children were filmed weeding cocoa plantations, using sharp knives to open cocoa pods, and swinging sticks with blades to harvest the pods from trees. None of the children seem to have any protective equipment and one girl reported that she had once sliced her foot open while using a long machete. These children are too small to be doing this kind of dangerous work. Apart from boys, girls are also being employed to do similar work. Whil