7aMoDi

Nick movie: Bridgerton Season 3 | Official Clip | Netflix Time: Netflix Netflix / Amazon / HBO: Netflix Duration of the movie: 1min - 20 sec. Trailer:

Music title: Glass Animals - Heat Waves (Official Video) Signer: Glass Animals Release date: 2020/06/09 Official YouTube link:

VOTED✔️

VOTED✔️

The US president posted a meme featuring himself with laser beams shooting from his eyes. What was that about? [Belbury/Wikimedia Commons] It is an image that could belong to a film that is part horror, part sci-fi: US President Joe Biden standing against a murky background, bright-red laser beams emanating from his eyes, his United States flag brooch shining prominently against his lapel. Yet, it was no meme page or troll account posting that image: It was posted on Biden’s own X page early on Monday. Coming against the backdrop of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza that has killed more than 28,000 people and that the US has backed, the image prompted particular criticism of Biden by some social media users. What was the post about? Biden’s post came after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Singer Taylor Swift – arguably the biggest name in the world of entertainment who has previously criticised former US President Donald Trump, Biden’s chief rival in the 2024 election – is dating Travis Kelce, who plays for the Chiefs. While Swift’s appearance at National Football League (NFL) games this season has helped the sport’s brand, it has also sparked conspiracy theories from sections of the far-right, which have suggested that the NFL was conspiring to set up a win for the Chiefs to create a backdrop for Swift to endorse Biden’s candidature. Though the Chiefs won, Swift is yet to declare support for any presidential candidate. That did not stop Biden from mocking the conspiracy theory with his tweet, suggesting that he had plotted the moment. Biden’s tweet set off a range of reactions on X, from digital eye-rolls to responses expressing disappointment and outrage. Several users questioned whether Biden’s account was hacked. Others joked about an intern posting the image while others remarked how they thought a parody account posted the picture at first glance. Many suggested that Biden’s post was distasteful and insensitive as it came amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza. While calling for an end to civilian deaths in Gaza, the Biden administration continues to sell and supply weapons to Israel. Given the war in Gaza, the post was not “appropriate”, said Ahmed Al-Rawi, an associate professor of news, social media and public communication at Simon Fraser University in Canada. “But I don’t think Biden is thinking of the global audience here,” he said. “He is mostly thinking about his US audience.” What is the Dark Brandon meme? The alt text, or image description on Biden’s post, simply says, “dark brandon”. This is a reference to a meme that dates back to October 2021. A crowd was chanting obscenities about Joe Biden during a race at the Talladega Superspeedway race track in Alabama. While interviewing race winner Brandon Brown, NBC’s sport reporter Kelli Stavast interpreted the chants to be, “Let’s Go Brandon”, and reported them as such on live television. Since then, the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” became code for verbal abuse at Biden, lending Republican politicians new language to use against Biden online, circumventing censorship and avoiding criticism. The phrase also started showing up as song lyrics. The Brandon meme has since evolved and different renditions of Biden’s image with laser beams shooting out of his eyes – dubbed “Dark Brandon” – started making the rounds on the internet. Cutouts of the Dark Brandon meme even made an appearance at the venue for the third Republican presidential primary debate in November 2023. Cutouts of the ‘Dark Brandon’ internet meme are displayed across from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the venue for the third Republican presidential primary debate in Miami, Florida, on November 8, 2023 [Mandel Ngan/AFP] Has Biden made similar posts in the past? Regardless of origin, the meme that was intended to mock and criticise Biden has repeatedly been co-opted by Democrats and Biden himself. His tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the Brandon phrase began as early as 2021 and has continued. In April 2023, Biden put on dark sunshades after making a joke about becoming the “Dark Brandon” persona during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, DC. Biden made a joke about becoming the ‘Dark Brandon’ persona during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC on April 29, 2023 [Carolyn Kaster/AP] Biden’s campaign made its first post on Truth Social, presidential race rival Donald Trump’s conservative social media network in October 2023. With the Dark Brandon profile picture, the verified @BidenHQ account posted, “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” This appropriation of memes is part of an ongoing political war, said Al-Rawi, who has researched and written about the politics of memes. “The meme in itself is a political communication tool,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is being weaponised by different parties in order to attract attention and distract from other issues.” Al-Rawi believes the Brandon meme has worked in Biden’s favour from the perspective of his supporters, who like the fact that he is taking on a political attack. On the other hand, Al-Rawi said, it could come across as insensitive in parts of the Global South. Al-Rawi also attributed Biden’s efforts to “meme-ify” political messaging to attempts to connect with younger voters. Biden’s ability to govern has come under scrutiny due to his age and issues with his memory. How has social media changed the way world leaders communicate and are viewed? Biden is not the only politician who has used memes to relay political messaging. Social media teams and followers of politicians including former US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have banked on memes and internet trends to further political messages. World leaders used to communicate through press releases and statements aired on television, but the advent of social media has shifted how they communicate with the public, Al-Rawi said. Memes are one such way. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/12/just-like-we-drew-it-up-whats-behind-joe-bidens-super-bowl-post

Migrating animals are at risk from pollution, the spread of invasive species and the climate crisis, first report of its kind reveals The migratory hawksbill sea turtle is one of many marine animals, from sharks to sturgeons, threatened with extinction. Photograph: Minden Pictures/Alamy More than a fifth of migratory species under international protection are threatened with extinction, including nearly all nomadic fish, according to the first UN expert assessment. From humpback whales to Dalmatian pelicans, each year, billions of animals journey with the seasons over oceans, on land and in the skies. But a new report by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has found that many migratory species are at risk of disappearing, threatened by human pollution, the spread of invasive species and the climate crisis. The assessment of migratory animals that are under protection from the treaty found that 22% of the 1,189 CMS-listed species are threatened with extinction and nearly half, 44%, are showing po[CENSORED]tion declines, with many under unsustainable pressure from habitat loss and overexploitation. As much as 97% of sharks, rays and sturgeons on the list are facing a high risk of extinction, with po[CENSORED]tions declining by 90% since the 1970s. Wildlife can travel enormous distances while migrating, culminating in some of nature’s most dramatic journeys, such as a million wildebeest travelling from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, and Pacific salmon returning upriver to breed across the west coast of the US. During the annual migration more than 1 million wildebeest make their journey from the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara and back. Photograph: Eyal Bartov/Alamy Gorillas and nearly half of all turtles covered by the convention are in danger of disappearing, according to the analysis, while those experiencing declines include bar-tailed godwits, which fly more than 8,000 miles nonstop between Alaska and Australia, the straw-coloured fruit bat, which undertakes the largest mammal migration, across Africa, and the critically endangered European eel. The report comes as governments gather for a summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to discuss how to better protect the world’s migratory species. Executive secretary Amy Fraenkel told the Guardian that the trend toward increased extinction risk was a “huge cause for alarm”, but there was also much that governments could do about the declines. “The reason why species are covered by the convention is because they are in trouble – it is not surprising to find that some of them are endangered. The problem is the trend: 44% of listed species are in decline and that increasing extinction risk is something that applies globally to migratory species,” Fraenkel said. “Three in four species are affected by habitat loss, seven out of 10 are affected by overexploitation, which includes intentional killing of species through hunting or poisoning, as well as bycatch. People might not realise that whales, lions, gorillas, giraffes and many birds are migratory species … It is a huge cause for alarm,” she said. Thousands of knot take flight during a ‘Snettisham spectacular’ in Norfolk. The birds migrate from the Arctic to spend winter on the estuary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images To conserve those that remain and help po[CENSORED]tions recover, the report authors recommend that human infrastructure on key flyways, swim-ways and migration paths should be minimised. They also said more work should be done to understand areas that are crucial to migrations and better protect them. In spite of conservation efforts, 70 listed species, including the steppe eagle, Egyptian vulture and wild camel, have suffered po[CENSORED]tions decreases over the past 30 years. Inger Andersen, the UN’s environment chief, said: “The global community has an opportunity to translate this latest science … into concrete conservation action. Given the precarious situation of many of these animals, we cannot afford to delay.” raenkel added: “There are many things that are needed to be done on addressing the drivers of environmental change, such as agriculture for habitat destruction, the sprawl of cities, we have to look at rail, road and fences. One of the most important things for migratory species is something we call ecosystem integrity: they need particular sites to breed, feed and travel. If those sites cannot be accessed or don’t exist any more, then it’s obviously going to be detrimental.” The convention covers migratory species that require international coordination to protect their survival. The report authors identified 399 threatened migratory species that are not listed under the convention. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/12/from-turtles-to-fruit-bats-migratory-species-increasingly-under-threat-says-un

This facelift doesn't change the looks much, except on the interior, but adds an impressive 128 horsepower. The "regular" Vantage, being facelifted for 2025, will now have 656 horsepower from an AMG V-8—a 128-hp increase. Exterior changes are small, but there's a new interior including a touchscreen. Deliveries start in the second quarter of 2024, and the price is expected to be around $190,000. Midlife facelifts of successful models normally bring small revisions. But not the 2025 Aston Martin Vantage. Bodywork changes are limited—there was little wrong with the looks of the outgoing version—but the Vantage has also been given an all-new interior and a huge power increase. In V-8 guise, the outgoing Vantage boasted a maximum output of 528 horsepower in turned-up F1 Edition guise. This new Vantage boasts an enormous 656 horsepower and output that sees it leapfrogging rivals such as the Porsche 911 Turbo S and the Mercedes-AMG GT63. Aston insiders say that the overall scale of the changes is even greater than the one that turned the DB11 into the DB12. Other revisions include a stiffened body structure, smarter active dynamics, and an all-new infotainment system. The revised car still carries the Vantage name, although we know that thought was given to changing it, but Aston insiders say that the overall scale of the changes is even greater than the one that turned the DB11 into the DB12. The outgoing Vantage was already a handsome beast, so we aren't surprised that visual changes are limited. The front end gets a new bumper and fenders to wrap around what will be standard LED headlights and also a substantially larger radiator grille. The increase in area is driven by both form and function, with the amount of air reaching the revised car's radiators increased by a full 50 percent. That means if the new Vantage continues its predecessor's Formula 1 safety car duties—which seems likely, given Aston's close connection to the sport—it will apparently be able to do so without any extra cooling. The new Vantage's arches are filled by what will be standard 21-inch forged alloy wheels with fatter tires, necessitating a one-inch increase in body width. From the side it is distinguished by DB12-style vents behind the wheel arches carrying Aston branding, and the flush-fitted door handles will now automatically deploy when the car is stationary and they detect the proximity of the key. As before, the lower sill cover is a structural rather than cosmetic component, and it will now be possible to specify it in carbon fiber. The rear profile is little changed beyond small vents set into the bumper and larger-diameter quad exhaust tailpipes. Much bigger changes have been made where they were really needed: inside the Vantage's cabin. The new car has been given a set of updates very similar to those of the DB12, with a redesigned center console that rises at a shallow angle to a new touch-sensitive infotainment screen; physical switchgear is identical in both cars. The old Vantage's three-part digital dashboard, with a central rev counter, has also been replaced by a single instrument display. As on the DB12, a mild disappointment is the loss of the PRND transmission control buttons that have been a characteristic feature for a generation of Astons. They have been replaced by a small, stubby gear selector for the standard automatic gearbox. Other than that, having seen the new car up close, our overall impression was of a dramatic upgrade in both design and ergonomics. The new Vantage's engine shares its layout, capacity, and Mercedes-AMG bloodline with its predecessor: a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8. But as with the DB12, it has been given numerous internal upgrades to boost performance, with new turbos and a heavily revised top end, as well as much better cooling. Peak torque has risen to 590 pound-feet, an 85-pound-foot increase over the Vantage F1 Edition, available all the way from 2750 to 6000 rpm. The final-drive ratio for the standard ZF-supplied eight-speed auto has also been lowered, improving acceleration further. (Sadly, there will never be a manual option.) Aston claims the new car gets to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, but we would be surprised if we didn't beat that given the F1 Edition blasted its way through the benchmark in 3.5 seconds with 158 less horsepower. Top speed is claimed to be 202 mph. Beneath the surface, the Vantage's body structure has been stiffened with new reinforcement pieces; the improvement across the whole car is quoted as 7 percent, but in key areas close to suspension attachment points, it is much more than that. Adaptive dampers will be standard, offering a much greater range of force adjustability than in the old car. Buyers will also be able to choose between cast iron and carbon-ceramic brakes. The old Vantage had separate control switches for its adjustable powertrain and chassis settings, but the new one has a single controller for all functions. There will be five dynamic modes—Wet, Sport, Sport Plus, Track, and Individual—which modify engine, damper, and power steering settings as well as the reactions of the electrically controlled torque-biasing rear differential. A new six-axis accelerometer and faster-acting software allow for quicker and more progressive stability control intervention, something that Aston's director of vehicle performance, Simon Newton, tells C/D is critical to maintaining drivability given the amount of power being delivered through a single axle. It will also feature an adjustable traction control system to help maintain control when the rear tires are pushed beyond their limits. The increase in performance is set to be matched by an increase in price. We don't have a confirmed number yet, but expect the new Vantage to be around $190,000—nearly $20,000 more than the previous Vantage F1 Edition—with the first customer deliveries starting in the second quarter of the year. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46660819/2025-aston-martin-vantage-revealed/

Conor Gallagher celebrates after his double earned Chelsea victory over his former loan club, Crystal Palace. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian This must have felt like a punch in the guts for Roy Hodgson. In his 200th match in charge, Crystal Palace succumbed to a 13th successive Premier League defeat by Chelsea after two goals from Conor Gallagher sealed a dramatic late comeback for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. It was the cruellest blow for a manager who has already suffered so much this season as his team have struggled with injuries and a poor run of form that now stretches to two wins in their last 14 matches. But while things will not get any easier for Hodgson as his under-pressure team prepare for a trip to Everton, a club they have not beaten in their last seven attempts and currently occupy the final relegation spot, it was a different story for Pochettino’s team as they wrapped up the points in stoppage time with a third from Enzo Fernández. That capped an unbelievable turnaround after a first half that saw Chelsea plumb new depths having failed to muster a single shot on target despite dominating the ball and conceding the opening goal to a thunderbolt from Jefferson Lerma. At least they can always rely on Gallagher – who scored eight times while on loan at Palace and now has four in six appearances against them. Hodgson had described Palace’s current predicament as “the toughest period of my career for one reason, and that is that the fans have turned so much against us”. So a series of banners being held by home supporters as the teams kicked off, one of which took aim at “weak club culture and direction”, was not exactly what he needed. The major criticism of the 76-year-old has been his unwillingness to give Palace’s young players an opportunity but on this occasion, Matheus França and Adam Wharton epitomised their fighting spirit on their full debuts that got the crowd on their side. Pochettino opted to start Cole Palmer as a false 9 with Nicolas Jackson operating down the left flank, while Gallagher was back at the ground where he enjoyed such success on loan two seasons ago. Not that it seemed to make much difference to Chelsea’s spluttering attack as neither side looked capable of raising the temperature on a chilly night in south London. Thirteen of Palace’s 26 league goals this season have been scored or created by the injured Eberechi Eze or Michael Olise but Wharton showed his ability on his first full start since joining from Blackburn with a raking ball that almost played in ­Jean-Philippe Mateta. The French forward should have done better when he robbed the ball off Axel Disasi from a Chelsea throw-in but could only direct his shot straight at Djordje Petrovic. Conor Gallagher’s stoppage-time strike gives Chelsea the lead. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters If ever a game needed a lift then this was it and Lerma duly obliged. Tyrick Mitchell’s resilience made it all possible after a brilliant double tackle on Noni Madueke and Moisés Caicedo, although Chelsea were aggrieved that Lerma had fouled the Ecuador midfielder before hammering the ball into the net from 25 yards out. Selhurst Park erupted in a rare moment of celebration against their London rivals after a losing run that stretches back to a 2-1 win here in October 2017 courtesy of a winning goal from Wilfried Zaha. He is long gone these days of course but despite their patched-up side, it was Palace who continued to pose more of a threat as a nonplussed Pochettino watched his side create nothing. Almost 80% of possession had yielded precisely one shot – skewed wide by Gallagher – by half-time. It could have been worse for Chelsea had the referee, Michael Oliver, ruled against Thiago Silva after he appeared to shove Daniel Muñoz over inside the area. Both sets of fans joined in with a rendition of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds during a delay to the start of the second half due to technical issues for Oliver. It seemed to spark Chelsea’s players into life as within 90 seconds, Gallagher had slammed home Malo Gusto’s cross to equalise and suddenly everything was all right again. Sort of. With the half-time substitute Christopher Nkunku to the fore, Chelsea showed renewed attacking purpose as Palmer dragged his effort wide from another Gusto cross. Mateta saw his effort from a França through ball blocked by Silva following a late lunge from the veteran Brazilian that signalled the end of his night’s work. Petrovic had to be alert to tip França’s shot from outside the area around his post, while Palmer could not beat Dean Henderson from a tight angle after an excellent interchange with Gusto. Mateta was denied a penalty late on after going down under a challenge from Levi Colwill before Gallagher struck with his hammer blow from Palmer’s pass in the first minute of stoppage time and Fernández sent Chelsea’s jubilant fans celebrating into the night. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/12/crystal-palace-chelsea-premier-league-match-report

The comment I get most is: “It’s like having a cup of tea with a friend”’ … Jackson. Photograph: Anna Jackson A new start after 60 Life and style A new start after 60: I turned my homely lifestyle into a global phenomenon Kate Jackson’s cosy, creative existence in rural Northumberland has spawned a YouTube channel, two websites, an online shop – and financial independence One sunny day in 2017, Kate Jackson, then 61, took a wooden wool-spinning wheel into her garden. She propped her iPad against a brick, pressed record and started talking as she spun – about crafts, the countryside, her menagerie of animals (cats, chickens, bees and Eileen the goose). Jackson enjoyed watching videos about gardening and quilting on YouTube, so one day she thought: how hard can it be? “I made a resolve to upload once a week.” She called her channel The Last Homely House, “which is a place to feel comfortable, secure and welcomed. That’s what I wanted my channel to be.” It now has 123,000 subscribers. Last May, Jackson – who lives in rural Northumberland – set up a sister channel, called The Last Homely Garden. She has an online shop, nearly 40,000 Instagram followers, and even a fan-run Facebook group. She has become the linchpin of a thriving online community. Thirteen years ago, after an unexpected divorce and with her three children adults, Jackson found herself living alone. “It was not a future I’d planned,” she says. “I found it hard to reimagine myself.” She left her career as a midwife to focus on selling homemade crafts and teaching workshops, “but I was struggling financially”. Around this period, her best friend was diagnosed with, and then died from, motor neurone disease. “It was a dark time,” she says. Jackson escaped to New Zealand, where she travelled the country by bus. “I came back healed,” she says; ready to embrace a solo life and find peace in her home. By the time her village had decent broadband installed in 2017, she was ready to share her little world of artisan pastimes online. In Jackson’s videos, she chats while cooking, sewing, sorting fabrics. Sometimes, she will film a tutorial – but it’s always relaxed. Recently, she has been teaching her daughter-in-law, Anna, how to make a quilt. Jackson eschews polish; she doesn’t like scripting videos and never wears makeup. During one cooking video, she dropped the recipe for the dish she was making in the pan, but kept the mishap in the edit. Her audience loved it, she says. “The comment I get most often is: ‘It’s like sitting having a cup of tea with a friend.’” Most of her viewers are older American women, who adore this glimpse into English country life. But it’s more than that. “My daughter Martha said: ‘You’re a woman who lives on her own, rurally, and you’re fine.’ Quite often, people are on their own through divorce or death, and it overwhelms them. Whereas I enjoy my solitude and love being able to make my own decisions. I’m showing people it’s all right.” Her fans collectively call themselves “The Lime Green Sofa”, a concept from lockdown where Jackson imagined her viewers cosied together on an infinite settee. American fans made sofa badges to identify one another at a craft festival. In the UK, Jackson has had people professing their fandom, even “bursting into tears and hugging me. It’s always really friendly and lovely. But a little bit weird.” Jackson at work. Photograph: Anna Jackson While she withholds her exact location, people have also managed to turn up on her doorstep. Online, there are “intrusive questions”. Jackson shares a lot. “But there has to be a point at which you say: ‘No, I’m not going to share this.’” Not least as it protects the privacy of her children and grandchildren. The Last Homely House has become a family endeavour in other ways, though. Her children and their partners are all creative and get involved by doing bits of work on the channel. They create illustrations, run the online shop, edit videos and photos, and sometimes appear on screen. “Seeing how invested they are in what I’m doing has been an absolute joy,” Jackson says. “It’s a collaboration between the people I love most in my life.” The channel’s success means Jackson is very busy, but she loves how she spends her time. This year will involve collaborations with YouTubers she once considered heroes, as well as visits to material factories. Success also brings security: “I’m financially independent in a way that never seemed possible when I was down, wondering when I’d sell my next quilt.” Sometimes she wishes she had started sooner. “But I had to have gone through all those difficult life stages,” she says. “I wouldn’t have appealed to the same people if I’d been younger. I’m doing the right thing, at the right time.” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/12/a-new-start-after-60-i-turned-my-homely-lifestyle-into-a-global-phenomenon

Ethnic Chinese candidates running for office aim to challenge stereotypes that linger from Soeharto era. Indonesia's election campaign season lasted for two months [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia will see almost 10,000 people, including some from the country’s ethnic Chinese minority, competing in Wednesday’s general elections to become one of 580 lawmakers in the national parliament. According to Indonesia’s General Elections Commission (KPU), there are 9,917 candidates representing 18 political parties across 38 provinces. Among those running are Indonesians of Chinese descent, who accounted for about 2.8 million of Indonesia’s then-237 million people, in the 2010 national census. The more recent census in 2020 did not list its ethnicities. For Chinese Indonesians, democracy has afforded them political rights that were once restricted. During more than 30 years under the rule of Soeharto, who resigned following mass protests in 1998, Chinese Indonesians were not allowed to publicly celebrate the Lunar New Year and assimilation policies were introduced to make them more “Indonesian”, effectively turning them into second-class citizens. Many turned to business and the private sector to earn a living after they were limited from government positions. “Politics is not for everyone,” said Taufiq Tanasaldy, a senior lecturer in Indonesian and Asian studies at the University of Tasmania. “Particularly for the Chinese who had endured decades of discriminatory policies under the Soeharto regime.” Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority can now celebrate the Lunar New Year and are no longer a target of official assimilation policies [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] But Taufiq said interest had “grown post-Soeharto due to political reforms and policies aimed at eradicating discriminatory practices”, referring to equal opportunities for ethnic Chinese to run for office and vote for their preferred candidates. “The elections or appointments of several Chinese individuals to national and regional politics sparked this growing interest. The visibility of their initial ‘success’ has been important to the Chinese community,” he told Al Jazeera. Among the prominent Chinese who have gone into politics is former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, po[CENSORED]rly known as Ahok. He was later jailed for blasphemy over comments made on the campaign trail and has adopted a lower profile since his release. “Representation has been steady, certainly not getting worse,” Taufiq said. But for many Chinese Indonesian voters, Taufiq said, “parties with nationalist platforms are more attractive compared to those championing sectarian values … particularly at the national level”. With more than 270 million people, Indonesia has almost 205 million eligible voters participating in the 2024 poll. The general elections are set to take place just four days after the Lunar New Year. February 14 is also Ash Wednesday, a holy day for Indonesians who are Catholic. Despite representation, the current system of proportional representation could disadvantage some candidates who now have to campaign directly for seats. R Siti Zuhro, a research professor of political science at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), says the open-list made it “very difficult to compete” for some candidates compared with the previous system where votes went to the party rather than the individual candidates. “It is more dependent on the legislative candidate [to do the work] – either their effort or money – in carrying out tactical strategies, not the party,” she told Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera spoke to three Chinese Indonesians who are running for the national parliament. Fuidy Luckman, PKB Fuidy Luckman is a candidate for the Muslim-based National Awakening Party (PKB) which supports Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar for president and vice president, as Muhaimin is its current chairperson. One of PKB’s founding figures was Indonesia’s late president Abdurrahman Wahid, po[CENSORED]rly known as Gus Dur, who lifted the ban on public Lunar New Year celebrations while in office in 2000. Fuidy Luckman in his office in North Jakarta. He says Chinese Indonesians should not be afraid to get involved in politics [Randy Mulyanto/Al Jazeera] Originally from Singkawang in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, 61-year-old Fuidy moved to Jakarta for university in 1983 and has lived there ever since. He campaigned in some of the poorest parts of the sprawling capital, meeting residents and also posting videos on TikTok and Instagram. Fuidy, who owns a company in the wood industry in Jakarta, urged Chinese Indonesians to come out and vote and take part in Indonesia’s “festival of democracy”. “We ethnic Chinese do not need to feel allergic to politics because we live in Indonesia,” he told Al Jazeera. “Do not ask to be recognised as Indonesians when we instead put aside the [democratic] processes.” If he gets elected, Fuidy wants to pursue programmes related to “justice” and “equality” – focusing on more affordable education and healthcare. Mery Sutedjo, Partai Buruh Mery Sutedjo joined Partai Buruh (Labour Party), whose founders include Indonesia’s various national trade union confederations. The party is headed by labour activist Said Iqbal and has not officially supported any presidential candidate. Mery, who runs a housing construction company, says she found Partai Buruh to be the right platform to push for better social welfare and law enforcement for the Indonesian working class, including blue-collar and white-collar workers. Born in Medan in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, the 54-year-old moved to Jakarta more than 30 years ago for university and is hoping to win one of the capital’s seats in the national parliament. As part of her campaign strategy, Mery hands out her business cards to people she meets and introduces herself. She has also asked for her family, friends and business contacts for their support. “I hope there’s an opportunity and possibility for people like me – for an ordinary female Chinese minority without political experience and background to run for office,” she told Al Jazeera. Mery Sutedjo is running for the Indonesian Labour Party [Handout/Mary Sutedjo] Redi Nusantara, Perindo A candidate with the Perindo Party, Redi Nusantara is running in Indonesia’s Central Java province. Perindo is backing the presidential pair of Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD. It backed outgoing President Joko Widodo when the leader won his second term in 2019. The 55-year-old, who owns a factory making metal racks for cabling, wants to attract more foreign investments into Indonesia and develop a tax regime that encourages manufacturers to use domestic products rather than imported components that arrive in the country through special economic zones. Originally from the provincial capital Semarang, Redi is targeting the country’s ethnic Chinese and business communities, as well as first-time voters. He is also hoping to change the minds of those who might be planning to abstain from voting. Redi also appeared on video podcasts, talking about entrepreneurship. He encourages Chinese Indonesians – especially the younger generation – to enter national politics and “fix it from within”. “For all of us ethnic Chinese, especially young people, we must understand Indonesian politics,” Redi told Al Jazeera. “Because if we, the Chinese community, do not understand the parliament, we will always be the cash cow of the Indonesian economy,” he said, hoping increased political participation will help change the lingering stereotype that ethnic Chinese care only about doing business. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/13/fix-it-from-within-more-chinese-indonesians-chase-seats-in-parliament

Nick movie: TWISTERS Time: Universal Pictures Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: Trailer:

Music title: One Direction - Night Changes Signer: One Direction Release date: 2014/11/21 Official YouTube link:

VOTED✔️

VOTED✔️