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NZ Herald
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
On the Up: IA and Rei release new single for NZ Music Month 2025
'After 25 years of marriage, this waiata resonates deeply. Love isn't always easy, but patience and perseverance create something truly magical.' About using the analogy of the eel, Rei (Callum McDougall) said: 'If eels can journey to Tonga overcoming every obstacle, surely our own relationships can endure life's hardships.' He piko he tuna blends smooth R'n'B with minimalist beats and the voices of the punga ihu (clay nose flute), which are meant to evoke the echoes of late '90s R'n'B and hip-hop. IA's lead vocalist Reti Hedley said the song offered listeners a tranquil space to unwind, reflect and reconnect with the calm waters of their relationships. 'It's a great track for winding down, offering a moment of calm amidst life's currents.' The song was created remotely across Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Central Asia and Ngāruawāhia, with the music video being filmed in and around Taupō. 'We had great fun filming. Despite sitting in freezing water from Tongariro River pretending to be relaxed, it was definitely memorable,' Rei said. IA are based in Waikato and create music that blends contemporary genres with traditional Māori instruments, exploring themes of identity, connection and cultural heritage. Rei is an award-winning artist known for fusing Māori language and tikanga with modern R'n'B, hip-hop and electronic influences, celebrating innovative and soulful storytelling. Rei and IA formed their friendship at the International Indigenous Music Summit in Canada in 2023. They said he piko he tuna was rooted in whakawhanaungatanga, true relationship-building. Writing the song together felt 'connected and personal', Rei said. '[It was] not just verses swapped remotely, but an authentic, collaborative effort from the heart.' Hedley added: 'It felt like writing with a cuzzy who has your back, knowing that we've got theirs too. 'It's an indescribable feeling of being inspired by someone and who you also inspire.' He piko he tuna is available on all streaming platforms now.
Telegraph
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Torture and starvation: The horrors of being a Hamas hostage
Dalia Cusnir takes a moment to compose herself in the relative peace of Tel Aviv's central library. Outside, in what has become known as Hostages Square, a large crowd chants a mixture of angry slogans and mournful songs as the last hours of Israel's ceasefire deal with Hamas slip away. Inside, Dalia prepares to answer that simplest yet hardest of questions: how are you? Tonight it's particularly hard. Less than two hours ago, Hamas released a propaganda video shot in the tunnels of Gaza showing her two beloved brothers-in-law, Iair and Eitan Horn. Iair, 46, was released on Feb 15, but Eitan, 38, never made it onto the list of hostages to get out under the first phase of the deal. Set to emotional music and with liberal use of reverberative echo, the video lingers on the brothers as they hug and sob uncontrollably in the moments before they were torn apart. 'Do you want me to leave my little brother to die,' cries a desperate-looking Iair down the camera, presumably directed at the Israeli government, presumably on his captors' orders. Eitan, for his part, says: 'Sometimes I am fine and not fine. But here,' he adds, pointing to his head, 'I am not fine,' before breaking down in tears again. Dalia lets out a long breath. The family had known the video would come. But still, 'It was a big shock,' she says. 'It's a sign that things are getting too late. It's like a desperate person is drowning and with his last voice is calling on us, but we cannot help.' Naturally on the stocky side, Eitan does not look quite as gaunt as some of his fellow hostages. But it is the blotchy spots on his arm that causes Dalia the greatest concern. For years now, the community organiser has suffered from a rare and serious skin condition that requires daily medication to keep under control. Without it, he could develop sepsis at any minute, which would most likely be fatal. 'The video showed his arms full of wounds. He should be taking antibiotics, proper hygiene and avoiding humid places, and we know he's not getting any of those,' says Dalia. 'We all saw the images on Oct 7 2023. Hamas slaughtered, they burned, they abducted, they raped. It's the same people who are holding him.' 'Torture' is a word that has increasingly entered Israeli public discourse since the latest batch of hostage releases began in mid-January. Mostly, the hostages have kept their counsel, with hints and suggestions of what they endured emerging via family members such as Dalia. Despite this, we are learning enough to know that the 'torture' took many forms, denial of basic healthcare, including for those wounded in the massacre of Oct 7, being one of them. Eliya Cohen, the 26-year-old who was freed late last month, endured crude surgery to dig a number of bullets out of his leg without anaesthetic, according to reports. Alon Ohel, who was chained to Mr Cohen for much of the time, went into captivity with an eye wound which, his family believes, has never been properly treated. Like Eitan, he did not make it onto the first-phase hostage release list. As things stand, there is no second phase. According to Dalia, Iair Horn is still 'not seeing well', despite never having needed glasses before, a hint that his eyesight might be permanently damaged as a result of (nearly) 500 days of poor light. She and others have talked about their loved ones 'learning to walk again', having been cramped for so many months. Then there were the beatings. In an interview last week that shook Israel's political establishment to its foundations, recently released hostage Eli Sharabi described suffering broken ribs from the attacks, which he said were closely linked to comments made by hard-Right Israeli ministers who endorsed harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners. 'We knew they were watching it [the news],' he told Channel 12. 'Every responsible utterance, the first ones to suffer from it are us.' Mr Sharabi, who only learnt that his wife and daughters had been murdered upon his release, directed specific criticism at Itamar Ben-Gvir, the former national security minister, for his comments. The ultra-nationalist refused to apologise. This week, he said he was proud of remarks and accused the former hostage of 'echoing Hamas propaganda'. To what extent was torture in the traditional sense – the deliberate imposition of pain – widespread, and what forms did it take? Sagui Dekel-Chen, for example, still has scars from wounds inflicted during an interrogation by Hamas, his family has suggested. But, for the most part, we simply don't know, because those who may have suffered it are unwilling to discuss it publicly, or even, in some cases, behind closed doors. 'He's not talking about specific torture,' says Dalia of Iair. 'We've been told not to ask about it and to respect that. 'He still has Eitan there. He believes that every incorrect word might be used to damage Eitan.' Despite the murkiness around this question, we are learning from multiple released hostages that the mere method of physical restraint was often torture enough. Eyal Kalderon, the brother of Ofer, who was released on Feb 1, spoke to The Telegraph at the protest in Tel Aviv on March 1. 'In the beginning he was held by both legs and cuffs in a cage,' he said. 'It was a very tiny cage and he shared it with one other, Yarden [Bibas, husband and father to the murdered Shiri, Ariel and Kfir].' Mr Sharabi described in his TV interview the excruciating pain of the restraint methods initially used by Hamas. 'During the first three days my hands are tied behind my back, my legs are tied with ropes that tear into your flesh,' he recalled. 'I remember not being able to fall asleep because of the pain.' Prof Hagai Levine, the medical adviser to the Hostages Family Forum, said: 'We know that they were locked, shackled, which is very traumatic for people. 'We know some were cuffed upside down. From the legs down. Any kind of torture that you can imagine. It's literally hell.' Excruciating as this sounds, it seems that the most prolific form of 'torture' – not to mention the easiest for the Hamas captors to inflict – was the pain caused by starvation. Indeed, Mr Sharabi said that, for him, it was worse than the broken ribs. For months, a small bowl of pasta or a piece of pitta bread was the norm – perhaps 200-300 calories a day, a fraction of what an adult requires to stay healthy. The tunnels echoed to the sounds of hostages moaning in pain from the hunger. Even obtaining an extra dried date from the guards became a major victory as the months dragged on. It was the shockingly emaciated state of Mr Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy as they were released on Feb 8 that first woke Israel up to the full horror of the hostages' starvation. But, from the testimony of others, it seems that this was a rare PR blip from Hamas, which generally took care to feed those slated for release more, to give a better impression to the outside world. Speaking of his brother again, Mr Kalderon said: 'In the month before [his release] they started to give him more food. And so he went out in a bit better shape.' Boredom was a torture all of its own, and prompted a range of coping mechanisms. 'Ofer said he didn't realise how many songs he knew the words to,' said Mr Kalderon. 'He sang so many songs to Yarden. It helped keep his mind positive.' Others formed fiercely close and protective friendships. Mr Sharabi talked about swiftly 'adopting' the younger Alon Ohel, and constantly being together for long periods meant he knew 'everything about him and his family'. But, again, these comforts came with a sting in the tail. When Mr Ohel learnt that his friend was to be released without him, it prompted panic, 'a moment of hysteria'. Despite being happy that the older man was being released, it took him 15 minutes to calm down. Viki Cohen, whose now 20-year-old son was the only survivor from an Israeli tank crew that was overrun on Oct 7, said she had heard from released hostages that the young man 'talked a lot about his family', while in captivity. 'He missed us very much and believes we will do everything we can to bring him back.' For many hostages abducted from the melee of Oct 7, its the torture of not knowing if their loved ones were alive or dead. Mr Sharabi, we now know, went 15 months without knowing that his close family were all dead. Yarden Bibas, similarly, only found out about the appalling fate of his wife and two children after he was released and their bodies were returned by Hamas. It appears that Hamas also used ambiguity over whether individual hostages would be released as a form of abuse. Prof Levine said: 'They were told you are going to be released and they are not released, so they don't know what to believe. 'They were told that family members were murdered or not murdered – they don't know.' Overall, returned hostages have shared a feeling best summed up by Ofer Kalderon. 'He described it as being buried alive,' said his brother. 'He didn't see the light for all of this period. 'Apart from terrorists, he didn't see anyone apart from rats or spiders.' Back in Israel, the torment continues. How a person even begins to rehabilitate after such experiences is a massive question. But, as loved ones are finding out, some of the released hostages are not prepared even to start while their friends remain in the tunnels. 'Iair is not willing to start rehabilitation,' said Dalia. 'He says 'I'm going to start, but I'll do it when Eitan and all the rest are back'. 'He keeps saying, 'they have no time, they have no time – trust me, I've been there'.' Eyal Kalderon says something very similar. 'He [Ofer] cannot start his process of healing until everybody is out,' he said. Treading a delicate path Adding to the anguish of the newly released is the dilemma of how best to campaign to get the others out: to reveal to the world the full horror of the conditions; or to keep quiet for fear of antagonising Hamas and making things worse for those still captive? Most, it seems, are treading a delicate path, but leaning towards the latter. That is why Mr Sharabi's intervention last week was so momentous – it even appeared to rattle Benjamin Netanyahu sufficiently to offer an extremely rare apology. Those who believe in a more muscular approach hope that it will be a turning point, that others will come forward and recount their ordeals in detail, creating a wave of disgust strong enough to force the government into accepting the strategic compromises that would come with a proper second-phase agreement. Last week, Iair Horn, Mr Sharabi and others visited Donald Trump in Washington for a meeting in the Oval office. The meeting appeared to move the US president so much that within hours he had issued a warning to Hamas stating that this was its last chance to release the remaining hostages: ''Shalom Hamas' means Hello and Goodbye.' Many in Israel hoped the visit would prevent the drift back to all-out war that could spell disaster for the remaining 24 living hostages. At the very least, it may have provided a smidgen of distraction for Iair. 'He says 'you think I'm here, you look at me, but I'm not',' his sister said. 'My soul, my body and my mind is in Gaza. Please release me.'
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why the Founders Left Presidential Powers So Vague
In 1787, General George Washington presided over the Constitutional Conventionwith sphinx-like inscrutability. He betrayed not a flickerof emotion as the architects of a new nation wrangled over the shapeof its executive branch. The air, dense with possibility and acrid tobacco smoke, crackled with the electricity of creation—and seeds of both republican virtue and potential tyranny were beingsown. Alexander Hamilton, brilliant and brash, argued forcefully for apresident imbued with near-monarchical authority, proposing a lifetimeappointment and an absolute veto over legislation. Others, theirrevolutionary fervor still smoldering, recoiled at the mere suggestionof concentrated executive power. Delegate Edmund Randolph warned thata single executive would be the "foetus of monarchy," while GeorgeMason decried it as an invitation to tyranny. Washington, who maintained a studied silence from the president'schair, was the solution. He didn't know it yet, but it'd had alreadybeen decided: Washington would become the Atlas upon whose shouldersthis experiment in self-governance would rest—and theget-out-of-specifics-free-card they needed. If he was in charge, theycould deliberately leave the contours of executive power ambiguous, aRorschach test onto which future presidents would project theirambitions and insecurities—and that's what worried Washington. This deliberate vagueness in Article II would prove to be both ablessing and a curse. It allowed the presidency to adapt to unforeseenchallenges, but also opened the door for expansive interpretationsthat would have made the Founders blanch. The framers, still hauntedby the specter of King George III, could scarcely have envisioned howtheir carefully constrained executive would evolve as Americatransformed from a fledgling republic to a global colossus. Once in office, however, Washington saw it as the salvation and thepotential damnation of the republic. In his Farewell Adress,he warned of the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of maintaining constitutional boundaries. As the nation grew in size and complexity, so too did the powerswielded by its chief executive. Crisis after crisis—from civil war toeconomic collapse to global conflagration—provided fertile ground forpresidential power to germinate and flourish. Lincoln's suspension ofhabeas corpus during the Civil War, though constitutionally dubious,set a precedent for executive action in times of national New Deal programs, born from the crucible of the GreatDepression, vastly expanded federal authority and the president's rolein shaping economic policy. The 20th century saw the presidency morph into something the Foundersmight scarcely recognize. Woodrow Wilson and FDR shattered the norm oflimited direct communication between president and public, using newtechnologies to bypass Congress and speak directly to the masses. Therise of the administrative state placed vast swathes of policymakingunder the executive branch's purview. The Cold War ushered in an eraof heightened presidential authority in foreign affairs and nationalsecurity. Each crisis provided an opportunity for presidents to test theelasticity of their constitutional constraints. The attacks ofSeptember 11, 2001, catalyzed a dramatic expansion of executive powerin the name of national security. Guantanamo Bay, enhancedinterrogation techniques, and warrantless surveillance all emergedfrom aggressive interpretations of presidential authority. Modern presidents have wielded executive orders like legislativecudgels, reshaping policy landscapes with the stroke of a pen. The WarPowers Resolution of 1973, intended to curb presidential militaryadventurism, has been routinely circumvented. Recess appointments,signing statements, and claims of executive privilege have all beenused to expand presidential prerogatives, often at the expense ofcongressional authority. The presidency's metamorphosis has not occurred in a vacuum. Asexecutive power has grown, so too have the institutions meant to checkit. An increasingly active judiciary and a more polarized Congressprovide counterweights to executive overreach. Yet the overall trendhas been a steady accretion of presidential authority. As we approach the semiquincentennial of American independence, wefind ourselves at a crossroads Washington himself might have foreseenin his most somber reflections. The vaunted system of checks andbalances groans under the weight of executive fiats, emergencyproclamations, and unilateral actions. The line between executing thelaw and creating it has blurred beyond recognition. The question that now looms is whether this accumulation ofpresidential power is necessary for effective governance in a complex,interconnected world, or whether it represents a dangerous deviationfrom republican principles. As we grapple with this dilemma, we woulddo well to remember Washington's example—a leader who understood thattrue strength lies not in the exercise of power, but in its judiciousrestraint. The story of the American presidency is one of evolution andreinvention. It's a tale of how an office designed to faithfullyexecute the laws came to dominate their very creation. As we stand inthe long shadow cast by two centuries of expanding executive power, wemust ask ourselves: Are we perilously close to crowning the very kingwe once deposed—or rather, watching him crown himself? You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
