“Can you give us a twirl and tell us about your outfit?”
— Professional journalist Ian Cohen, in an Australian Open post-match interview with Eugenie Bouchard.
Home | Netflix thinning down under
THE GIST. Australian Netflix subscribers are going to miss out on
premium shows like 'House of Cards' and 'Orange is the new black', when the streaming service rolls out in March.
BIO. Netflix is a television and movie broadcaster that 'streams' its content to customers online, for a monthly fee. So far it has about 50 million subscribers across America and Europe. Netflix isn't going to be flying solo into the Australian market - the established players are getting in on the streaming act too: be on the lookout for Stan (Fairfax/Nine) andPresto (Foxtel/Seven West) this year. Quickflix are also technically on the 'competitor' list, but after their share price plummeted to $0.0002 yesterday, it looks like they might have more in common with Blockbuster before too long.
LIKE A FOXTEL. The bigger problem for Netflix is getting the rights to all the best shows. Foxtel has its exclusive licences and monopolistic mitts all over shows like 'Cards and OITNB, so Australian Netflix subscribers are going to have to wait until those contracts are up. That's only a matter of time though - a Netflix spokesman says the days of Foxtel lording it over the Australian media landscape will soon be a "historical footnote."
ALL GOOD. Growing pains aside, Netflix has got plenty to be pleased about: they're expecting to to add 4 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2015, and earned US$1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Be scared, Rupert.
THE GIST. A commander in Joseph Kony's 'Lord's Resistance Army', Dominic Ongwen, has been handed over to the International Criminal Court, to face charges of war crimes.
THE ARMY. The LRA is an extremist Christian militia which was formed in 1987 in Uganda, but has since operated in several Central African countries. The group's brutality is infamous, practicing widespread murder, rape and mutilation of civilians. Since the LRA rebellion began in the 80s, they've also abducted and conscripted over 30,000 child soldiers.
KONY COUNTRY. The leader of the LRA is Joseph Kony, a self-styled 'black magic' prophet who has been wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity since 2005. Kony achieved mainstream recognition thanks to the Kony 2012 campaign, which featured a documentary cataloguing the crimes of the LRA and Kony in particular.
COURTING. Kony is still on the run, but prosecuting Dominic Ongwen is a big deal. He was actually a victim of the LRA himself: he was abducted at age 10 and rose through the ranks as a child solider. In December last year he left the LRA and handed himself over to authorities. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it's"a step forward in efforts to bring justice to the thousands of victims of LRA violence."
Science-law. By a vote of 98 to 1, the US Senate has passed an amendment saying that climate change is real, and "not a hoax". Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe said it was "arrogant" for people to think they can change the climate.
Resurrection from above. Two performance artists have been arrested in Russia for dousing Vladimir Lenin's tomb with holy water, in an attempt to resurrect the dead revolutionary leader. They were caught while flinging water on the walls and chanting, "arise and be gone!".
Rich list. The world's richest 80 people now hold as much wealth as the poorest half of the world combined. Thirty-five of the planet's biggest ballers are American, 68 are older than fifty, and 70 are men. Australia's own iron-woman Gina Rinehart came in at number 46 on the list, worth a middling $18 billion
Prevaricate v. To speak or act in an evasive way: Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop seemed to prevaricate when asked about Tony Abbott's leadership struggles, saying "The Prime Minister is leading a strong team."
