Steven Appleby's August Crimp: the cross-dressing crusader

Like his superhero, Appleby discovered his interest

 in cross-dressing when he was young

 Niklas HALLE'N AFP

Issued on: 09/02/2021 

London (AFP)

Not all superheroes wear capes: some prefer dresses. Cartoonist Steven Appleby drew on his own cross-dressing to create August Crimp, who transforms into "Dragman" whenever he puts on women's clothes.

Appleby's first graphic novel, "Dragman", won the special jury prize at France's prestigious Angouleme international comics festival last month.

The hero discovers that putting on women's clothes makes him able to fly -- and his heart soar.

Yet he is ashamed of his secret passion and decides to ditch his dresses and accessories to be a conventional dad.

But when his young neighbour calls out for his help, it's time to slap on the makeup and save the day.

"I put things from my experience in my life in the book," Appleby, wearing deep-red lipstick, a blond wig and elegant black-and-gold dress, told AFP at his south London studio.

The 65-year-old artist said he is "relaxed about pronouns" and goes by "Steven" and "he" but sometimes also "Nancy and "she".

His studio is a warm, cocoon-like space with candles burning and music playing. There are large drawings on the wall, many of them nudes.

- Shame and fear -

Like his superhero, Appleby discovered his interest in cross-dressing when he was young, while studying at art college.

The book takes an incident from his own life when he discovered a discarded stocking in his student flat.

"I found the stocking down the back of the sofa and put it on, and I suddenly thought: 'Oh I could dress up. And then I could look like a girl,'" he said.

He found this enjoyable, but also felt "immediately guilty and full of shame and fear that my flatmates would discover it".

In another autobiographical detail August Crimp's wife, Mary, is a carpenter, as was Appleby's wife, Nicola Sherring, when they met.

They had two children together, are still married and "very good friends", while no longer a couple, said Appleby,

It was Sherring who did the watercolours for "Dragman."

The main difference between Appleby and his hero, he said, is that "I told her I like to dress in women's clothes when we first met.

"She didn't mind and then we would go shopping for clothes," he added.

"Eventually she realised... as well as being a fun thing it was also an obsession and that became more difficult."

The couple still lives in the same house along with Sherring's new partner and they raised their children together.

"Nicola is an amazing person... because she's able to allow that situation," he said.

Despite his supportive family, it took a long time for him to accept his identity. He took the plunge around 13 years ago, since when he has only dressed as a woman.

"I think it was fear that stopped me, fear of embarrassing my children," he said. But in fact they "didn't really notice".

- 'Be true to your own style' -

Appleby came up with the idea for "Dragman" in 2002 and began drawing a comic strip in The Guardian daily.

At the time he was still not "out" as a cross-dresser and said the strip was "a way for me to playfully put it into the world without sort of saying 'I am a transvestite'".

After the novel "Dragman" came out, Appleby received messages of thanks from other cross-dressers.

"One sent me a message saying that he just told his wife that he liked to wear women's clothes," he said, adding that the response was positive.

But he never told his parents. His mother was Canadian and met his English father during World War II.

He grew up in an old vicarage in Northumberland in northeast England, going to boarding school, then art college, he dropped out for two years to play keyboards in a rock group called Ploog.

"All in all it was a disaster but it was fun," he said.

At the Royal College of Art in London, he was taught by Quentin Blake, who famously illustrated Roald Dahl's children's books.

Blake's advice was to be "true to your own style".

"Dragman" is Appleby's ironic take on the superhero comics he enjoyed reading as a child, particularly "Batman".

"And I think 'Catwoman' had an influence on my dressing up," he added with a cherry-lipped smile.

© 2021 AFP

Soviet spy gadgets to go under hammer in Beverly Hills

Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

A Russian spy cigarette pack with hidden camera is displayed 

during an auction preview for "The Cold War Relics Auction" 

at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California 

Frederic J. BROWN AFP

Beverly Hills (United States) (AFP)

Cyanide-filled fake teeth and cigarette packs concealing cameras are among the Soviet spy gadgets going under the hammer at a Beverly Hills auction this week.

Many retro espionage devices in the sale by US-based Julien's Auctions -- known for Hollywood and pop culture memorabilia -- would not be out of place in a classic James Bond movie, including microphones hidden within pens, ashtrays and porcelain plates.

"The people that actually created these things were the pioneers of miniaturization," said director of gallery operations Kody Frederick.

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"Everybody now carries a camera, everybody now has a microphone," but many of the auction's spy gadgets hail from an era when cell phones were "as big as six bricks," Frederick told AFP.

Miniature cameras fitted inside women's handbags, belt buckles, shoebrushes, birdboxes, signet rings and ties -- and used by real secret agents -- are all going on the block.

"People are looking to get their hands on really unique, different pieces from a time when digital didn't exist and analog was the way of life," Frederick added.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, many of the items were discarded in Eastern Europe and eventually made their way to New York's short-lived KGB museum, which opened in January 2019 but closed last year due to the pandemic.

Among those for sale this Saturday, both on-site in California and via the internet, are a fake tooth containing deadly cyanide expected to fetch up to $1,200.

"The tooth was designed to shatter when bitten a certain way so that captured agents could end their own lives when necessary to avoid torture or the release of compromising information," explains the auction catalog.

- Deadly umbrella -

The collection includes a replica of the "Bulgarian umbrella" used in 1978 in London to fatally poison Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in one particularly infamous Cold War episode.

It is estimated at between $3,000 and $5,000.

But other initially announced items including a lipstick tube and a pen designed to fire bullets had to be withdrawn due to California's gun laws.

Spy enthusiasts will have to content themselves with clandestine devices used to store sensitive microfilm or other documents, including cufflinks, high-heeled shoes, hollowed-out coins... and even a "rectal concealment capsule."

Alongside the double-agent gadgets, Cold War relics for sale will include Che Guevara's 1942 school report card, and letters signed by him and fellow Communist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

One Castro missive contains plans to infiltrate Havana, and is predicted to draw bids up to $1,500.

Further objects relate to the US-Soviet space race, such as NASA spaceship designs, vintage astronaut equipment and archive film stock including footage of the low-gravity testing of "various fecal and urine collection devices."

SAME RULE IN MEATPACKING PLANTS

'I have to pee!' - Shapovalov throws a toilet tantrum


Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

"What do you mean, I can't go?" Canada's Denis Shapovalov

 remonstrates with umpire Nico Helwerth

David Gray AFP

Melbourne (AFP)

Denis Shapovalov claims he's got the smallest bladder on tour and the Canadian was not impressed when an umpire at the Australian Open denied his request for a toilet break.

The world number 11 had dropped the fourth set of a five-set epic against Italian teenager Jannik Sinner that finished in the early hours of Tuesday and desperately needed to relieve himself.

"What happens if I go?" asked the 21-year-old, "Do I get a fine? I don't care!" he ranted at German umpire Nico Helwerth, who turned down his request.

"What do you mean, I can't go? Are you going to disqualify me? I have to pee!"

He stepped up his tirade when it became clear the umpire would not relent.

"I'm going to piss my pants!" he said. "I'm going to piss in a bottle."

After coming through the high-pressure first-round match 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in just under four hours, he explained that he needed to use the bathroom more than other players.

"First of all, I was just blowing off steam, just kind of cooling my head, getting rid of it," he said.

"But also I do think it's a dumb rule. Especially for me, I've got the smallest bladder ever, so I literally got to take a piss every set. So it's difficult, especially when you're on that court for so long.

"Before the match I'm trying to hydrate as much as possible, so yeah, I gotta pee, man."

The tournament rules that state players are entitled to just one toilet break during a best of three sets match and two for a five-setter.

"I do think that we should be able to take more breaks and go to the wash room, because we are forced -- not forced, but we could be on the court for three, four hours," added Shapovalov.

"So I think even taking those little breaks ... I think we deserve it."

Shapovalov next plays Australian Bernard Tomic.

Tokyo 2020 officials to discuss chief's sexist remarks: reports

Gaffe-prone Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori, 83, sparked uproar in Japan and abroad when he claimed that women speak too much in meetings 

WHICH MEANS HE IS NOT LISTENING 

TO THEM AT ALL

Issued on: 09/02/2021 

Tokyo (AFP)

Tokyo Olympic organisers are planning to meet this week to discuss their response to sexist comments made by their boss that have prompted hundreds of volunteers to drop out, reports said Tuesday.

Gaffe-prone Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori, 83, sparked uproar in Japan and abroad last week when he said that women speak too much in meetings.

He has apologised for the comments but refused to step down, and the International Olympic Committee says it considers the matter closed.

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Kyodo News and broadcaster FNN reported Tuesday that the Tokyo 2020 organising committee is planning to meet later this week to discuss its response.

Around 390 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers, of around 80,000 recruited for this summer's pandemic-postponed Games, have said they will no longer take part in the wake of Mori's comments, reports said late Monday.

Two people have pulled out of the torch relay and around 4,000 people made complaint calls to organisers about Mori's comments, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Tokyo 2020 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mori apologised on Thursday and said he wished to retract his remarks, but then became defensive when questioned, insisting he had heard complaints that women speak at length.

"I hear those things often," he insisted. "I don't speak to women much recently, so I wouldn't know."

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has said she was left "speechless" by Mori's comments, while Japan Olympic Committee chief Yasuhiro Yamashita said the remarks were inappropriate but stopped short of calling on him to resign.

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka slammed the remarks as "ignorant" on Saturday.

The row is the latest headache for organisers already battling public disquiet about the Games, with polls showing more than 80 percent of Japanese oppose holding the event this summer.

© 2021 AFP

UAE on edge as 'Hope' probe poised to enter Mars orbit

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

Key data on the UAE's "Hope" probe and its journey to Mars

 Cléa PÉCULIER AFP


Dubai (AFP)

A tense half-hour on Tuesday will determine the fate of the UAE's "Hope" probe to Mars, as the Arab world's first space mission carries out a tricky manoeuvre to enter the Red Planet's orbit.

If successful, the probe which is designed to reveal the secrets of Martian weather, will become the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red Planet this month.

The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all launched missions last July, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest.

The venture marks the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE's seven emirates.

Landmarks across the Gulf state have been lit up in red at night and government accounts emblazoned with the #ArabstoMars hashtag.

Hope will begin a 27-minute "burn" at 1530 GMT to slow itself enough to be pulled in by Martian gravity, in what Emirati officials say is the most challenging part of the mission.

It will rotate and fire all six of its powerful thrusters to dramatically slow its average cruising speed of 121,000 kilometres (75,000 miles) per hour to about 18,000 kph.

With an 11-minute communications lag -- the time it takes for a signal to travel back to Earth -- the spacecraft must be highly autonomous.

"Twenty-seven blind minutes will determine the fate of seven years of work," Sarah Al-Amiri, chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency and minister of state for advanced technology, tweeted this week.

The "burn" will end at 1557 GMT, and at 1608 GMT the UAE will have its moment of truth.

If all goes well, Dubai's needle-shaped Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, will be at the centre of a celebratory show.

- 50-50 chance -

"This project means a lot for the nation, for the whole region, and for the global scientific and space community," Omran Sharaf, the mission's project manager, told AFP.

"It's not about reaching Mars, it's a tool for a much bigger objective. The government wanted to see a big shift in the mindset of Emirati youth... to expedite the creation of an advanced science and technology sector in the UAE."

While the probe is designed to provide a comprehensive image of the planet's weather dynamics, it is also a step towards a much more ambitious goal -- building a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.

Apart from cementing its status as a key regional player, the UAE also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.

"The probe has a 50 percent success rate in entering Mars' orbit, but we achieved 90 percent of our goals in building new knowledge," Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE prime minister and Dubai's ruler, wrote on Twitter earlier this month.

Unlike the other two Mars ventures, China's Tianwen-1 and Mars 2020 from the United States, the UAE's probe will not land on the Red Planet.

Hope will use three scientific instruments to monitor the planet's atmosphere, and is expected to begin transmitting data back to Earth in September 2021, to be made available to scientists around the world.

© 2021 AFP

Achilova: a Turkmen reporter who persists despite attacks

Issued on: 09/02/2021

Achilova gets her stories by talking to ordinary people about their everyday problems -

 FAMILY HANDOUT/AFP

Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP)

Soltan Achilova, who found her calling late in life, may have fallen into one of the hardest jobs in the world: being a reporter in secretive and repressive Turkmenistan.

The 72-year-old has been systematically attacked for shining a light on life in the closed Central Asian country and undermining the dictatorship's claims of presiding over an era of "might and happiness".

Her reports for newsrooms outside the ex-Soviet country have described how citizens have been unfairly dismissed from jobs, had their homes bulldozed or have to join long queues to buy subsidised food.

In an email to AFP, Achilova said the subjects for her articles "choose themselves... when you speak to ordinary people about the problems they face every day".

Her detailing of the human misery behind Turkmenistan's grand authoritarian displays won her a place this year on the podium for a prestigious international rights prize.

The Martin Ennals Award -- named in honour of a late British rights campaigner and backed by 10 of the world's leading rights organisations -- announces the winner February 11.

Achilova, who is barred from leaving Turkmenistan, has been shortlisted alongside jailed rights defenders Loujain al-Hathloul of Saudi Arabia and Yu Wensheng of China.

- 'Cameras are dangerous' -

The outlets that Achilova has written for, including Radio Free Europe and Vienna-based Chronicles of Turkmenistan are censored in the country of 5.5 million, where state propaganda monopolises the information sphere.

State harassment of the pensioner has grown more vicious in recent years against the backdrop of a long-term energy price slump and economic mismanagement that has seen incomes shrink and food prices surge.

In 2016 she was mowed down by a quartet of bicyclists in an attack that left her neck and head aching for months.

In 2018, when she was visiting relatives in a provincial town, two men grabbed her and punched her in the chest, knocking her over.

The attacks, which she attributes to the state, are often accompanied by attempts to steal or damage her camera.

"Cameras are dangerous for the authorities because they see things that they hide or refuse to acknowledge," Achilova wrote.

Like other energy-rich, rights poor nations, secretive Turkmenistan has turned to sport to bolster its international prestige.

Autocrat president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is regularly shown riding horses, pumping weights and taking race cars for spins in a bid to promote healthy lifestyles and sporting success.

This year Ashgabat plans to host the Track Cycling World Championships, while in 2017 it held the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

During the build up to the indoor games, rights groups alleged that the government had forcibly evicted thousands of people without offering adequate compensation in a bid to beautify the white marble clad city.

- Bodies wrapped in cellophane -

Achilova, a trained accountant, might never have turned towards reporting had her own home and that of her son not been erased in similar fashion in 2006.

Authorities merely informed her that the house had been built illegally and the city was being "reconstructed" even though the plot remained empty long after the demolition.

After her attempts to seek justice by appealing to local authorities fell flat, she started raising her case with foreign media before deciding that journalism was her calling.

Farid Tukhbatullin, head of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights group that oversees the Chronicles website, praised Achilova for her doggedness.

"She mastered the profession of journalism when she was over 50. Despite some poor health, she is always on the road, in search of people and their stories," Tukhbatullin told AFP.

Tough restrictions on movement around the country imposed last year to stop the spread of "dangerous infectious diseases" have limited Achilova's movements, robbing her readers of insights into the suffering of the provincial population.

Ironically, however, Turkmenistan continues to insist it is completely coronavirus-free, a boast Achilova dismisses out of hand.

"It's not true. We see we are losing our loved ones, acquaintances," she told AFP.

"The dead from the hospitals are handed to their relatives wrapped in cellophane, with a warning to bury without opening."

© 2021 AFP

RIP
'Belle de Jour', 'Tin Drum' screenwriter Carriere dies at 89

Issued on: 09/02/2021 

French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere was known for his work with Spanish surrealist Luis Bunuel and Czech New Wave director Milos Forman 

PATRICK KOVARIK AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

French novelist and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, best known for his work with Luis Bunuel and Milos Forman, died late Monday at the age of 89, his daughter told AFP.

Carriere died "in his sleep" at his home in Paris, said Kiara Carriere.

A tribute will be held for him in Paris and he should be buried in his native village in Colombieres-sur-Orb, in southern France, she added.

A prolific writer who penned dozens of scripts in a career spanning six decades, Carriere created a range of memorable and provocative scenes, including tying a fresh-faced Catherine Deneuve naked to a tree.

"Belle de Jour" was one of the fruits of his 19-year collaboration with subversive Spanish enfant terrible Luis Bunuel, famous for shocking audiences.

Carriere and Bunuel enjoyed Oscar success in 1972 with Best Foreign Film for "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise", adding to Carriere's Best Short Film Oscar in 1963.

His work ranged across cultures, religions and historical periods, from "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1990), for which Gerard Depardieu gave one of the performances of his career, to the adaptation of Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988).

Carriere's 1979 adaption of Gunter Glass's novel "The Tin Drum", directed by Volker Schlondorff, won another Oscar as well as the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

He was also nominated for an Oscar for his "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" screenplay together with director Philip Kaufman and won a Cesar in 1983 for best original screenplay for "The Return of Martin Guerre", starring Depardieu.

In 2014, Carriere was awarded an honorary Oscar for his oeuvre -- totalling around 80 works, the majority screenplays but also essays, fiction, translations and interviews.

He also enjoyed frequent appearances in front of the camera, with roles opposite Juliette Greco, Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau.

Born on September 17, 1931 into a family of winegrowers, his parents moved near Paris in 1945 to open a cafe.

A star pupil, Carriere went on to study at one of France's elite Grandes Ecoles. By 26, he had written his first novel.

He said he enjoyed being at the service of a director and slipping into their way of thinking.

"I have no ego," he once said.

"Meetings, friendships and life teachers" marked his life, from the Dalai Lama to the great surrealist Bunuel.

One key encounter was with acclaimed British director Peter Brook with whom he adapted the Sanskrit Hindu epic the "Mahabharata" for the stage and screen.

When its play version was performed at the Avignon festival in 1985, it ran for nine hours to an astonished crowd.

"Watching it, forgetting I was the one who wrote it, was one of the great joys in my life," Carriere said.

IT RAN ON PBS IN THE EIGHTIES

Staying home an unaffordable luxury 

for many Mexicans

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

For many Mexican street workers, staying at home during the pandemic is an unaffordable luxury Pedro PARDO AFP


Mexico City (AFP)

Mexico's coronavirus death toll is soaring and the capital is on maximum alert, but for many workers who scrape out a living in the street, staying at home is not an option.

"They tell us not to go out. But what are we going to eat?" said Gerardo Acevedo, who has a stall selling stocks in downtown Mexico City.

"I have to support my children, sons-in-law, grandchildren," the 52-year-old man said.

While authorities in the capital and many other areas of Mexico have ordered a halt to most non-essential activities, crowds still gather in the streets and on public transport.

The plight of Acevedo and many like him presents a dilemma for the Mexican authorities, who are trying to balance their efforts to control the pandemic with the need for people to survive financially.

Street hawkers are among the nearly 30 million people who work in Mexico's informal sector, which accounts for almost a quarter of the economy, the second largest in Latin America.

"There is social indiscipline, but the reality is that in this city many live from day to day and have to go out to making a living," said Cesar Salazar, an economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

The pandemic is feared to have pushed up the number of people living in poverty in Mexico to around 62 million in 2020, almost half the population, according to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy.

The country of 126 million has officially registered more than 166,000 deaths from Covid-19 -- the world's third highest toll -- and around 1.9 million known cases.

- 'Have to move' -

Taco vendor Marisela Monzon said she has to go out on the streets seven days a week to support four children and a grandchild.

The 54-year-old criticized food handouts from the city authorities as woefully inadequate.

"Imagine that the rent man comes and I tell him 'have a kilo of beans'. He's not going to accept that," Monzon said.

She has got in the habit of covering her taco cart with a sheet, ready to make a quick getaway if the police arrive, and communicates with other vendors by radio.

When a warning came that police were on the way, the vendors gathered up their merchandise and exchanged nervous looks.

This time, however, it was a false alarm and they went back to work.

Mexico's government opted for a policy of austerity in the face of the crisis to avoid driving up the national debt, choosing limited aid such as micro credits for small businesses instead.

Venancio Buenrostro, a 44-year-old ice cream seller, said that street hawkers do not expect lavish handouts from the authorities.

"If they just tolerated us, that would be a pretty good support," he said.

Vendors are not the only ones in Mexico City risking exposure to the virus because of their jobs.

Buses and the subway are still busy with people going to work during rush hour, almost all wearing face masks, although of differing quality.

"We can't stay at home, we have to move around," said 27-year-old engineer Brianda Romero.

© 2021 AFP

In conservative Kuwait, women launch their own #MeToo movement



Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

Dozens of testimonies about women being stalked, 

harassed or assaulted have emerged online, focused 

on the Instagram account 'Lan Asket',

Arabic for 'I will not be silent' 

YASSER AL-ZAYYAT AFP/File

Kuwait City (AFP)

Women in Kuwait are defying conservative norms and a culture of "shame" to speak out against harassment for the first time, in a social media campaign sparked by a popular fashion blogger.

Dozens of testimonies about being stalked, harassed or assaulted have emerged online, focused on the Instagram account "Lan Asket", Arabic for "I will not be silent".

Kuwaiti fashion blogger Ascia Al Faraj, who has more than 2.5 million social media followers, said in an explosive video uploaded last week that there is a "problem" in the country.

"Every time I go out, there is someone who harasses me or harasses another woman in the street," she said in the emotionally charged video uploaded after a vehicle sped up to "scare" her while she was walking to her car.

"Do you have no shame? We have a problem of harassment in this country, and I have had enough."

Faraj's video sparked a nationwide movement in a country where the #MeToo campaign that took off in the United States in 2017 did not make much of an impact.

Radio and TV shows have hosted activists, lawyers and academics to discuss the issue of harassment, and the US embassy in Kuwait also threw its weight behind the women.

"A campaign worth supporting. We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the US or in Kuwait. #Lan_asket," it said in a tweet last week.

The embassy also tweeted a striking graphic that illustrates the campaign -- images of three women, one unveiled, one with a headscarf, and another with her face covered -- and bearing the slogan "Don't harass her".

Activists have also emphasised that foreign women who make up a large portion of the Kuwaiti population, many in menial roles, are among the most vulnerable to assault and abuse.

- 'Silence not an option' -

Shayma Shamo, a 27-year-old doctor who studied abroad and moved back to Kuwait last year, launched the "Lan Asket" platform after seeing Faraj's video.

"As soon as I opened the account, the messages started to pour in... from women and girls that have experienced verbal, physical and sexual harassment," she told AFP.

Faraj said in another video uploaded later that week that she had also received "intense stories" by Indian, Pakistani and Filipina women working in Kuwait.

"The expat community here is incredibly vulnerable and are sometimes harassed at a level that Kuwaiti women will never understand," she said.

While there has been tremendous support online, the movement has also faced a backlash from conservative voices who say women should simply dress conservatively to avoid harassment.

"Silence is no longer an option. We must speak up, unite and defend each other because what is happening is unacceptable," Shamo told AFP.

Rothna Begum, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said women were taking the fore in a society where, like many in the Middle East, police often do not take such abuses seriously, and the fear of bringing shame to families silences many.

"These accounts being published are incredibly important to give Kuwaitis a sense of what harassment actually looks like and the terrible harm it causes," she told AFP.

- 'Shame' culture -

The Arabic word "ayb", or shame in English, is a term that most girls growing up in the region learn at a very early age.

"Going to the police station is 'ayb' and talking about harassment is 'ayb'," said Shamo.

"As soon as a woman starts to speak about being harassed, the questions from family members start: What were you wearing? Who were you with? What time was it?"

But Kuwaiti women are pushing the boundaries of their society, considered one of the most open in the Gulf region, and where a law against harassment exists on the books, but where discussions about gender-based violence remain taboo.

Lulu Al-Aslawi, a Kuwait media personality whose Instagram feed features her in glossy fashion shoots, said she has been bullied online for the way she dresses.

"Girls don't speak up over fears of being stigmatised, but we will not stop until we overcome this cancer in society," she told AFP.

© 2021 AFP

Hackers try to poison Florida town's water supply through computer breach

Screen shot of Reuters video of sign in City of Oldsmar, Florida. 

© Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES


Hackers broke into the computer system of a facility that treats water for about 15,000 people near Tampa, Florida and sought to add a dangerous level of additive to the water supply, the Pinellas County Sheriff said on Monday.

The attempt on Friday was thwarted. The hackers remotely gained access to a software program, named TeamViewer, on the computer of an employee at the facility for the town of Oldsmar to gain control of other systems, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in an interview.

"The guy was sitting there monitoring the computer as he's supposed to and all of a sudden he sees a window pop up that the computer has been accessed," Gualtieri said. "The next thing you know someone is dragging the mouse and clicking around and opening programs and manipulating the system."

The hackers then increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, being distributed into the water supply. The chemical is typically used in small amounts to control the acidity of water, but at higher levels is dangerous to consume.

The plant employee alerted his employer, who called the sheriff. The water treatment facility was able to quickly reverse the command, leading to minimal impact.

Oldsmar Mayor Eric Seidel said in a press conference on Monday that the affected water treatment facility also had other controls in place that would have prevented a dangerous amount of lye from entering the water supply unnoticed.

"The amount of sodium hydroxide that got in was minimal and was reversed quickly," Gualtieri said. The affected water treatment facility is a public utility owned by the town, he explained, which has its own internal IT team. Oldsmar is about 17 miles northwest of Tampa and has about 15,000 residents.

TeamViewer, which says on its website that its software has been installed on 2.5 billion devices worldwide, enables remote technical support among other applications.

The FBI and Secret Service have been called in to assist in an investigation. Gualtieri said he does not know who is responsible for the cyberattack.

"The important thing is to put everyone on notice,” he said. "This should be a wake-up call."

(REUTERS)

US forces not protecting Syrian oil fields: Pentagon

Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

A US Bradley Fighting Vehicle patrols near oil production facilities in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province in early February

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP


Washington (AFP)

US forces in Syria are focused on fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group and are not guarding oil fields as previously ordered by ex-president Donald Trump, a US defense official said Monday.

Since a US firm contracted last year with the Kurds in northern Syria to help exploit northeastern Syria oil reserves, US troops are not involved, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

The 900 US military personnel and contractors in the region "are not authorized to provide assistance to any other private company, including its employees or agents, seeking to develop oil resources in Syria," said Kirby.


The only exception is when US troops in Syria are operating under existing authorizations to protect civilians, he said, which could explain the continuing presence of US forces around the area of the oil fields.

"It's important to remember that our mission there remains to enable the enduring defeat of ISIS," he said, referring to the Islamic State.

The shift is more a change in tone by the new US President Joe Biden from Trump's policy for the decade-old Syrian civil war.

The main oil fields are in territory in the country's northeast, a region where the US-allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces hold sway and depend on the oil for income.

In 2019, after the Syria-Iraq Islamic State "caliphate" was crushed by US and allied forces, Trump declared that US troops would mostly withdraw from the country, leaving behind a residual force to "protect" the oil.

US officials said at the time that they were there to prevent the oil fields from falling into the hands of extremists.

The next year a previously unknown US oil company, Delta Crescent Energy, signed a deal with the Kurds to exploit the oil deposits.

© 2021 AFP

#Haiti opposition names interim leader as political crisis deepens

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

A man holds a photograph of Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis during protests against Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 8, 2021. 

© REUTERS/Jeanty Junior Augustin

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The Haitian opposition on Monday escalated a constitutional crisis by naming a magistrate as an interim leader for the troubled Caribbean country amid a dispute over when the term of President Jove Moisten ends

Political tension was exacerbated on Sunday when Moisten alleged there had been an attempt to overthrow the government and 23 people were arrested, including a Supreme Court judge and a senior police official.

The opposition dismissed the suggestion of a coup attempt, and said Moise should have stepped down on Feb. 7 when it says his five-year term ended.

The president has vowed to stay in power until February 2022, pointing out that an interim administration had governed for a year after he was elected in a disputed poll that was canceled by the electoral council.

Moise took power in 2017 after fresh elections.

Magistrate Joseph Mecene Jean Louis, 72, said in a video message that he had been chosen by the opposition to replace Moise, who the opposition accuses of being authoritarian and presiding over a crippling economic crisis.

"I declare to accept the choice of the opposition and the civil society to be able to serve my country as the provisional president," Jean Louis said.

Moise, who has ruled by decree since January last year, has stated he would hand over power to the winner of the September presidential election but would not step down until his term expires in 2022.

The United States, which is the biggest donor to Haiti, appears to have backed Moise's timeline, saying the new president should take office in February next year.

On Monday, Moise held a cabinet meeting and said on Twitter the government is "taking all measures to ensure the safety of the population".

Haiti's executive branch, consisting of the president, prime minister and ministers, published a decree announcing three Supreme Court judges who were approached by the opposition to replace Moise as president are to be retired.

Haiti's military on Monday said it was concerned about political events but appeared to back Moise, saying it would defend the rule of law and "legitimate authorities democratically elected by the population".

Earlier in the day, two journalists covering a small protest were shot in the capital and one of them is in a serious condition, according to news outlets and videos uploaded on social media.

Andre Michel, an opposition figure, told Reuters that the opposition would keep up its protests against the government this week.

"The mobilization must continue to force Jovenel Moise to leave office," Michel said. "We hope that the international community will support our approach."

(REUTERS)

#Haiti opposition names interim leader as presidency fight rages

Issued on: 08/02/2021

Haiti's political crisis intensified on Sunday, as the opposition claimed 

President Jovenel Moise's term had expired Valerie Baeriswyl AFP


Port-au-Prince (AFP)

The struggle over Haiti's presidency intensified Monday as opposition politicians named their own leader of the country in an effort to drive out President Jovenel Moise, whose term they say has expired.

The smouldering political crisis flared up Sunday, when officials claimed they had foiled an attempt to murder the president and overthrow the government.

Moise has been governing without any checks on his power for the past year and says he is president until February 7, 2022 -- an interpretation of the constitution rejected by the opposition, which led to protests asserting his term ended on Sunday.

Some small demonstrations took place over the weekend, which included clashes with police, but residents of the capital Port-au-Prince largely stayed at home in a nation gripped by political uncertainty and a resurgence of kidnappings for ransom.

In a video statement sent to AFP, judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis, 72, said he "accepted the choice of the opposition and civil society, to serve (his) country as interim president for the transition."

But the United States has accepted Moise's claim to power and he appears to have retained leadership of the Caribbean island nation, which has a long history of instability and deep poverty worsened by natural disasters.

- Disputed elections -

Former senator Youri Latortue said that the transition period was expected to last around 24 months.

"There's a two-year roadmap laid out, with the establishing of a national conference, the setting out of a new constitution and the holding of elections," he said.

The opposition has also attacked the claim Moise was targeted by a coup attempt, saying he was no longer legally the president.

"We are waiting for Jovenel Moise to leave the National Palace (the president's official office) so that we can get on with installing Mr Mecene Jean-Louis," opposition figure Andre Michel told AFP.

The dispute over when the president's term ends stems from Moise's original election: he was voted into office in a poll subsequently canceled after allegations of fraud, and then elected again a year later, in 2016.

After that poll was also disputed, demonstrations demanding his resignation intensified in the summer of 2018.

Voting to elect deputies, senators, mayors and local officials should have been held in 2018, but the elections have been delayed, triggering the vacuum in which Moise says he is entitled to stay for another year.

At present Haiti lacks institutions that could break the stalemate over the presidency. The Constitutional Council, which should have decided on the length of the presidential term, only exists on paper.

Nor can the Senate establish itself as a high court as the law allows, because only a third of senators remain in office due to the lack of elections under the Moise administration.

In the last presidential elections, barely more than 20 percent of voters took part in the ballot that brough Moise to power.

© 2021 AFP

Haiti 'on the verge of exploding' after allegation of failed coup

IN THE PRESS – February 8, 2021: We look at press coverage of the largest protests to hit Myanmar in over a decade. We also take a look at the increasingly fragile situation in Haiti following a failed coup attempt against President Jovenel Moise. Finally, we take a look at what critics have described as an assault on one of the most sacred traditions here in France: eating at the table.

Haitian opposition names judge as transitional president

Haitian opposition parties named a top judge as interim leader overnight Sunday, the latest attempt to oust President Jovenel Moise, whose term they say has expired. In a video statement, Judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis, 72, said he "accepted the choice of the opposition and civil society, to serve (his) country as interim president for the transition."

Protestors march in Myanmar's Yangon despite warnings from military


Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

A man with a tattoo of Aung San Suu Kyi takes part in a protest against the military coup and to demand the release of the elected leader in Yangon, Myanmar, February 8, 2021.

 © REUTERS

Text by: FRANCE 24

Video by: Alexander AUCOTT


Protesters started gathering across Myanmar's largest city of Yangon on Tuesday, defying warnings from the military threatening "action" against large gatherings.

In San Chaung township -- where gatherings are currently banned -- scores of teachers marched on the main road, waving a defiant three-finger salute.

Opponents of Myanmar's military coup have vowed to continue non-violent action in the face of bans on big gatherings, night curfews and road closures after the biggest demonstrations in more than a decade.

The Feb. 1 coup and detention of elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi brought three days of protests across the Southeast Asian country of 53 million and a growing civil disobedience movement affecting hospitals, schools and government offices.

Promises on Monday from junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to eventually hold a new election in his first address since seizing power drew scorn. He repeated unproven accusations of fraud in last November's election, won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide.

"We will continue to fight," said a statement from youth activist Maung Saungkha, calling for the release of political prisoners and the "complete collapse of dictatorship" as well as the abolition of a constitution that gave the army a veto in parliament and for federalism in ethnically-divided Myanmar.

An older generation of activists formed during bloodily supressed protests in 1988 called for the continuation of the strike action by government workers for another three weeks.

"We also request the protesters in the whole nation to be united and systematically help each other," said the statement from Min Ko Naing on behalf of the 88 Generation group.

After tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Myanmar, local orders banning gatherings of more than four people were imposed. The U.S. Embassy said it had received reports of an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. local time curfew in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay.

Bridges connecting central Yangon to populous districts outside were shut on Tuesday, residents said.

There was no further comment from authorities on the measures to stop protesters.

Some coup opponents suggested on social media that people should meet in groups of four to protest to get around the ban on large gatherings.

Election promise

In his first televised address as junta leader on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing said the junta would form a "true and disciplined democracy," different to previous eras of military rule which left Myanmar in isolation and poverty.

"We will have a multiparty election and we will hand the power to the one who wins in that election, according to the rules of democracy," he said. The electoral commission had dismissed his accusations of fraud in last year's ballot.

Min Aung Hlaing gave no time frame but the junta has said a state of emergency will last one year.

The comments brought angry responses on social media, with some people posting pictures of themselves putting one finger up at the television as he spoke.

Western governments have widely condemned the coup, although there has been little concrete action so far to put pressure on the generals.

The U.N. Security Council has called for the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees. The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the crisis at the behest of Britain and the European Union.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has said it is considering targeted sanctions. It said on Monday it was "moving quickly" to form its response.

In a letter on Monday, a senior member of Suu Kyi's NLD asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to "use all available means...to ensure a swift reversal of the coup".

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest as she struggled to end almost half a century of army rule.

The 75-year-old has been kept incommunicado since her arrest. She faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies and is being held in police detention until Feb. 15.

Her lawyer said he has not been allowed to see her. The U.S. State Department said it had made both formal and informal efforts to reach her, but was denied.

Suu Kyi remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of the Muslim Rohingya minority.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

New rallies in Myanmar's Yangon despite military warnings

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

Since the junta staged a coup on February 1 and ousted Myanmar's 
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, waves of dissent have swept 
the country -- with hundreds of thousands amassing in major cities 
STR AFP/File

Yangon (AFP)

Protesters started rallying across Myanmar's largest city of Yangon on Tuesday, defying warnings from the military threatening "action" against large gatherings.

Since the junta staged a coup on February 1 and ousted Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, waves of dissent have swept the country -- with hundreds of thousands amassing in major cities.

By Monday, the military issued a stern warning on state TV, vowing to take "action... against offences that disturb, prevent and destroy the state's stability".

Curfews and a ban on gatherings were also announced for hotspot areas across the country, including Yangon's San Chaung and Kamayut townships -- the main spots where protesters converged in recent days.

But in San Chaung township, about 200 teachers defied the orders Tuesday, carrying banners saying "We are teachers, We want justice" and waving a three-fingered salute -- a gesture borrowed from pro-democracy movements across Asia.

"Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" they yelled as they marched down the main road, where cars passing by honked their horns in support.

"Down with the military dictatorship!"

Across town, another group gathered in front of the headquarters of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Wearing red -- the NLD's colours -- the protesters carried Suu Kyi's portraits and chanted for the military to free her.

Despite a tarnished reputation in the West for her handling of the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi remains an immensely popular figure in the country, with her party sweeping more than 80 percent of the votes in November's election.

But the army said the polls were marred by widespread voter fraud -- the reason they have used to justify the military coup.

© 2021 AFP

Cuba tipped off Colombia about looming left-wing ELN rebel attack

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

Colombian soldiers and police patrol during a nationwide three-day armed strike called by ELN left-wing guerrillas in Medellin, Colombia on February 15, 2020 

JOAQUIN SARMIENTO AFP/File

Bogota (AFP)

Cuba has tipped Colombia off about a plan by the left-wing ELN guerrilla group to attack Bogota in the "next few days," Colombia's defense minister said Monday.

"The Colombian government received from the Cuban ambassador... Jose Luis Ponce a communication with an alleged terrorist attack that was being planned for Colombia by the ELN group," Diego Molano said in a statement.

Since May 2018, Havana has hosted a delegation from the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the last active guerrilla organization operating in Colombia after the 2016 peace agreement by the main rebel group, the FARC, which was negotiated on the island.

The ELN rebels had been angling for a similar truce with then-president Juan Manuel Santos that would completely end the civil conflict that had stretched on for more than half a century.

But Santos' successor, President Ivan Duque, broke off talks after the ELN detonated a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota that killed 22 people, in addition to the attacker, in January 2019.

Cuba said in the memo, signed by its ambassador, that it had shared the intelligence with the guerrilla delegation on the island, but that the ELN representatives "expressed total ignorance" of the plot.

The ELN delegation also "reiterated that it has no involvement in the military decisions or operations of the organization," according to the memo, released by Colombian officials.

After the breakdown of the peace process, Duque demanded that Cuba extradite the rebels in its territory, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel's government opposed.

Havana argued that there are protocols signed by Colombia and guarantor countries that provide for the ex-negotiators to be safely returned to their camps on Colombian soil.

The government of former US president Donald Trump used Cuba's refusal as an argument to include the island nation again on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The ELN has some 2,300 combatants and an extensive support network in urban centers. Bogota also condemned the fact that a significant number of the rebels are in Venezuela under the protection of "the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro."

India's rural rebellions -- it's all in the family

Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

Rakesh Tikait (C) has revived a campaign by Indian farmers against agricultural reforms that they say will allow corporate giants to overtake the industry 

Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP/File


New Delhi (AFP)

The Tikait family has a history of being a thorn in the side of Indian governments that take on the country's farmers, and their emotional appeal has again energised a showdown with authorities.

Three decades after his father led a massive protest into the capital, Rakesh Tikait has revived a campaign against agricultural reforms that had quieted after a rally last month turned into an ugly rampage.

Sat in a cold protest camp on the outskirts of Delhi with police building barricades, the internet cut and some farmers drifting away, the 51-year-old lit a fuse with his ultimatum.

"If the laws are not repealed, Rakesh Tikait will commit suicide," he said in a tearful video.

His message spread like wildfire on social media around Punjab and Haryana states and beyond.

Tikait also refused an order to vacate the Ghazipur protest camp and the next day a new wave of tractors carrying thousands more protestors arrived.

"Everyone cried that day, it wasn't just Tikait," said Giriraj Saini a farmer from Uttar Pradesh state who spent hours manoeuvring through barricades and diversions to reach the camp at the crack of dawn after seeing the video.

"It's like a rebirth of the protest," said Kuldeep Tyagi, a protestor from Haryana.

Since November, tens of thousands of farmers opposing new free market reforms have posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

The Hindu nationalist government says the changes will bring new investment to a sector that employs about two thirds of Indians and will boost rural incomes.

Farmers say corporate giants will overtake the industry and the loss of longstanding guaranteed minimum prices will ruin them.

The tussle took an international turn earlier this month when pop superstar Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted their support for the farmers, sparking furious reactions from Modi fans in Bollywood and India's sporting world.

- Father's shadow -

Rakesh Tikait has suddenly become the face of the protests like his father, Mahendra Tikait, was in 1988.

Tikait senior marshalled around 500,000 farmers onto the lawns in front of the government complex in the capital to force an increase in sugar cane prices.

Rakesh now pours scorn on the government on a stage at the Ghazipur protest site covered with posters of his father.

He says he is aware of the family comparisons, particularly in his native Uttar Pradesh.

"I will rise to their expectations. I will finish what I have come for," he told AFP.

In the past week, tens of thousands of people have flocked to rallies to hear him condemn Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which he had allied with for the 2009 elections.

Tikait was also named -- along with BJP politicians -- in an official investigation into communal riots in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. And Defence Minister Rajnath Singh appeared with Tikait at a 2015 commemoration for his late father.

But now, his sharp words for his former allies are hitting home.

People line up each day to take selfies with Tikait and hand over donations from their villages. The government knows it has a fight on its hands.

Journalist and commentator Ajoy Bose said Tikait's mobilisation of the farmers has become a big "headache" for the government which thought it was finished with the protests after a January 26 rally turned violent and left hundreds injured.

"It's difficult to vilify him. He's mainstream so you can't call him anti-national, and he's not Sikh so one can't even bring in the Sikh extremism angle," Bose said. Many of the protesting farmers are Sikhs from Punjab.

Tikait says the protests could go on for months, no matter if water supplies are cut and barbed wire fences surround the camp.

Harinder Rana, a 69-year-old farmer from Haryana, said Modi had "messed with the wrong person".

"He (Tikait) will not let you go this time," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Climate-driven temperature swings slow economic growth

Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing

 planet-wide temperature rises that have intensified deadly droughts,

 heatwaves, floods and superstorms 

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Increasingly erratic weather caused by global warming threatens global economic growth, scientists warned Monday with a report showing that even short-lived climate volatility can have a significant impact.

Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing planet-wide temperature rises that have intensified deadly droughts, heatwaves, floods and superstorms.

But researchers from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Columbia University and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change said impact studies often look at annual averages, rather than the effects of day-to-day temperature fluctuations.

"The real problem caused by a changing climate are the unexpected impacts, because they are more difficult to adapt to," said co-author Anders Levermann from PIK and Columbia, adding that these rapid changes work differently to long term ones.

"Farmers and other businesses around the world have started to adapt to climate change. But what if weather becomes simply more erratic and unpredictable?"

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, compared day-to-day temperature fluctuations between 1979 and 2018 with the corresponding regional economic data from more than 1,500 regions worldwide.

They found that an extra degree Celsius of variability -- up or down -- results in an average five percentage-point reduction in regional growth rates.

- Poor regions hit hardest -

Parts of the economy hit by these daily temperature swings include crop yields, human health and sales, the authors said.

"Policy makers and industry need to take this into account when discussing the real cost of climate change," Levermann said in a statement.

Economies like Canada or Russia, where average monthly temperature varies by more than 40 degrees Celsius within a year, seemed better able to cope with daily volatility than parts of Latin America or Southeast Asia, where temperatures can fluctuate as little as 3C, said Leonie Wenz of PIK.

"Furthermore, income protects against losses," Wenz said.

"Even if at similar latitude, economies in poor regions are more strongly affected when daily temperature fluctuates than their counterparts in rich regions."

In 2015, the world's nations vowed to cap global warming "well below" 2C, and 1.5C if possible.

A subsequent report from the UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, left no doubt that 1.5C was the safer threshold. There has been just over 1C of warming so far.

The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent and deepening trend, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has said.

© 2021 AFP

SOLIDARITY NOT CHARITY

Romanian opera star Gheorghiu to perform in aid of New York's Met musicians


Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu performing in Vienna in February 2012. DIETER NAGL AFP/Archives

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu has announced she will lend her voice to help the musicians of New York's Metropolitan Opera (Met), deprived of their pay because of virus-related cancellations of their shows.

"On February 21, through the wonders of technology, I will perform for you Dvorak's 'Song to the Moon' and Anton Pann's 'Tatal Nostru' (Our Father) in a special arrangement by (composer) Andrei Tudor," she wrote on Facebook late Sunday.

I am very happy to have a special appearance on the next MET Orchestra Spotlight Series on Sunday, February 21st, at 3PM...Posted by Angela Gheorghiu on Friday, 5 February 2021

Considered one of the world's greatest opera singers, Gheorghiu, 55, will perform in Bucharest alongside pianist Alexandru Petrovici, to the accompaniment of the Met Orchestra from New York.

Tickets for the performance, which can be watched online, have gone on sale for $15 (12.5 euros).

Gheorghiu said the proceeds would "benefit over 150 Met musicians in need".


In an interview with the Romanian channel Digi24, Gheorghiu said that the musicians "had not received their salaries for a year and were in a very difficult situation".

The soprano rejected the term "charity concert", stressing that she felt a "human and professional need" to support the cause.

"An artist is important only alongside one's artistic family," she said. "Without an orchestra or choir we cannot do anything."

Gheorghiu will perform for the recital in Bucharest's elegant Athenaeum concert hall, built by the French architect Albert Galleron and inaugurated in 1888.


"This is my cathedral," Gheorghiu said of the venue, recalling that she gave her first recital there at the age of 17.

The Met's general manager Peter Gelb told AFP in September that his institution was going through "the most difficult period" in 137 years of existence.

The last eight weeks of the 2019-20 season and the whole of the following one have been cancelled, which is expected to result in a shortfall of $154 million.

(AFP)

Anti-vaccine stronghold emerges in Mexican highlands

CHIAPAS IS ZAPATISTA COUNTRY

Issued on: 08/02/2021 -
O

Only two of the more than 24,000 residents of the Mexican town of San Juan Cancuc are said to want the coronavirus vaccine Isaac GUZMAN AFP

San Juan Cancuc (México) (AFP)

An indigenous town in the highlands of southern Mexico is home to traditional weavers, farmers, ruins, a market -- and possibly the country's most ardent community of coronavirus vaccine skeptics.

While many in the pandemic-plagued nation are waiting impatiently to be immunized, officials in San Juan Cancuc in the state of Chiapas say only two of the more than 24,000 residents want the shot.

According to community leaders, it is a reflection of the low number of cases in the area, as well as worries about vaccine safety and the residents' confidence in their good health.

"Thank God -- until now, there's no pandemic here. No one has died," said local civil protection chief Marcelino Garcia.

In stark contrast to the situation in much of the country, the hospital where Garcia works appears to be empty.

At the market and local sports center, no one wears a face mask.

When the town recently held a consultation about the coronavirus vaccine, almost none of the residents said they were willing to have it, according to Mayor Jose Lopez.

"Only two people voluntarily want to get the vaccine," he said in a report last week to Mexican health authorities.

The overwhelming rejection came after the benefits and possible adverse effects of the shot were explained at a town assembly, according to Lopez.

While it is not yet clear how widespread anti-vaccine sentiment is in other indigenous communities, it could complicate the government's efforts to tame the pandemic gripping Mexico.

- 'Don't blame anyone' -

So far, only three cases of Covid-19 have been reported in San Juan Cancuc, none of which required hospitalization.

The residents, who belong to the Tzeltal ethnic group, grow their own vegetables and believe that "their bodies are totally healthy," Garcia said.

Rumors have also made people worried that "vaccines bring diseases," he added.

The two people who do want to get inoculated were warned they would do so at their own risk, and "if something happens, don't blame anyone," he said.

Jaime, an auto rickshaw driver in his mid-20s, is among San Juan Cancuc's vaccine skeptics.

"I don't believe" in Covid-19, he said.

With around 166,000 known coronavirus deaths, Mexico is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

More than 1.9 million cases have been recorded in the country of 126 million people, around 7.3 million of whom speak an indigenous language, according to a census last year.

In Chiapas, which has registered 1,375 Covid-19 deaths, rumors that disinfection work was spreading the virus sparked riots in some areas last year.

While the government has assured Mexicans that coronavirus vaccines are safe, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised they will be voluntary, saying: "The most important thing is freedom."

Lopez Obrador said Monday that he had recovered from his own bout with the novel coronavirus.

© 2021 AFP