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One opportunity at a time: Ashlee Matapo’s rise in Rugby League

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Ashlee Matapo with her parents and siblings, whose love and support have been central to her journey. Photo: Facebook Antonia Utanga-Taefu | Digital Producer From being the only girl on the field to making her mark on the NRLW stage, Ashlee Matapo has never been afraid to back herself. At 19, Ashlee Matapo has already achieved plenty in a short rugby league career. She joined the New Zealand Warriors as a development player in 2025, without expecting to play NRLW that season. But an opportunity came her way and she made her debut against the Sydney Roosters in Round 1. She went on to make eight appearances in her rookie season, finishing with 138 tackles and just one miss, a 99.2 per cent tackle efficiency. Matapo made eight appearances for the Warriors in her rookie NRLW season. “Getting the opportunity to debut was pretty special,...
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Sideline Conversions 31 August (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Action from Kilbirnie Park on Saturday in the National U85kg competition semi-final between Poneke and Pakuranga. Photo: Tane Nathan/Kinetic Images. Monday morning edition – updates expected: Another busy week and weekend of rugby coming up, with rugby on every day between today and Saturday across several age groups. This includes the annual Hurricanes regional U14...
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Eugene Fraser (15 July 1942 – 29 August 2026)

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The broadcaster whose voice travelled from Fiji to the BBC, Radio Victory and Tagata Pasifika . Celebrating the life and legacy of Eugene Fraser. Photo: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 34-F0465. Graphic: TP+ Ngaire Fuata | Producer Some voices stay with you long after the microphone is switched off. Eugene Fraser had one of those voices – warm, reassuring and elegant. For many in New Zealand, he was a familiar face and voice on Tagata Pasifika during its early years. For listeners in Britain, he was the calm, measured voice of the BBC, even reading the iconic Shipping Forecast, one of the most recognisable broadcasts in British radio history. For those who knew him personally, though, Eugene’s greatest gift wasn’t simply his voice. It was his warmth, his wit and his charm. I first met Eugene more than three decades ...
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Multi-disciplinary fa’afafine artist pays tribute to her past in latest work

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Soana Aholelei | Reporter / Director “I’ve spent 30 years justifying and trying to explain over and over again what I’m doing with Pacific Couture, right, which is a merging of fashion and art with my own unique aitu afa” – Linda Lepou Acclaimed fa’afafine artist Lindah Lepou unveiled her latest work at the Pātaka Art + Museum in Porirua earlier this month. The multi-disciplinary artist says her latest work Mata‘AITU (voyeur) pays tribute to her past works.  “The inspiration is part of an (AI)TU series that I developed almost two decades ago and this series is a place where I can create with my own Ngafa Aitu,” Lepou says.  “Ngafa, as in whakapapa, and Aitu ancestry spirit threaded through my work because it’s an anchor that allows me to have a more personal approach so this particular work is called Mata...
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Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Denied Use of Roy Cohn Portrait for New Biography Over Political Concerns

The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation denied the use of a 1981 portrait by the artist of notorious New York lawyer Roy M. Cohn for the cover of a forthcoming biography, titled American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump , because of its negative affiliation with the sitting US president, according to the New York Times . The portrait in question , simply titled Roy Cohn , captures the lawyer’s striking outward stare and scar-split nose head on, surrounded by a black backdrop, a signature of Mapplethorpe’s images during the final decade of his life. At the time it was made, Cohn was the subject of an interview for an issue of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Writer and book editor Steven M.L. Aronson, who authored the piece, convinced Cohn to pose for Mapplethorpe, who was at the peak of his fame at the time. By then, Cohn was a major New York figure who, by day, represented mobsters, moguls, and med...
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China Pulls Artists from Gwangju Biennale as ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ Moves Forward

The Chinese ambassador to South Korea has ordered China’s artists to withdraw from the 16th Gwangju Biennale, which opens September 5, in protest of the Gwangju Biennial Foundation allowing Taiwanese exhibitors to participate under the name “Taiwan,” South Korean media reported today.  In a meeting with Gwangju Mayor Min Hyung-bae at Gwangju City Hall yesterday, Ambassador Dai Bing expressed his “regret and concern” over the decision to restore the name “Taiwan Pavilion” at the request of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) reported.  Speaking on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, Dai then demanded Chinese curators and  installation staff to halt their preparations and withdraw from the Hajeongung Art Museum in Gwangju, which was set to host their special exhibition. MBC reports that Min told Dai during their meeting that “political considerations should not affect the field of art.” The Gwan...
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Demolition of Tbilisi Arts Complex Sparks Protests

An arts complex in Tbilisi, Georgia, is being razed despite protests from its architects and some members of the local community. Following approval by Tbilisi’s city government in June, demolition work on the Rike Park Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall—colloquially known as Rike Tubes—began at the end of July and is scheduled to be completed by December. The news was reported by Reuters following a photo-essay documenting the destruction of the complex and that of a second landmark, a Brutalist former flour mill known as Silo, published in Civil Georgia . The Rike Tubes are a connected pair of glass-and-steel structures designed by Fuksas Studio, an Italian architectural firm led by husband-and-wife architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas. Built in the final years of United National Movement (UNM) rule (2004–2012), their ultracontemporary design symbolized the pro-Western approach of the UNM’s leader, Mikhail Saakashvili. The current governing ...
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