Peru

Actors with Down syndrome tear down barriers in London show

BY PABLO SAN ROMAN

  • His words inspired the theatre's artistic director Chela de Ferrari, who has now adapted the play for the eight actors and brought it to the land of Shakespeare's birth.
  • It's one of Shakespeare's most existential questions "to be or not to be?"
  • His words inspired the theatre's artistic director Chela de Ferrari, who has now adapted the play for the eight actors and brought it to the land of Shakespeare's birth.
It's one of Shakespeare's most existential questions "to be or not to be?" Now a group of globe-trotting Peruvian actors with Down syndrome are tackling it head-on, breaking down prejudice and barriers.
Cristina Leon, Jaime Cruz and Manuel Garcia are members of the eight-strong group currently performing William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" at the Barbican centre in London this week until Sunday.
"This play shows that we can be included in everything at work, and in education. There are no barriers, we can do lots of things, and people must open their eyes to the fact that we can do anything they ask us," Leon, 32, told AFP.
The project was launched seven years ago born out of Cruz's dreams of becoming an actor.
He was working as an usher in the Teatro La Plaza in Lima and had never thought that his Down syndrome was an obstacle in life. 
"I have always wanted to be an actor. One day there was an event (at the Lima theatre) in which you had to introduce yourself, and I said my name and said I was an actor," the 30-year-old said.
He added that he wanted to overcome "prejudices, myths and barriers."
His words inspired the theatre's artistic director Chela de Ferrari, who has now adapted the play for the eight actors and brought it to the land of Shakespeare's birth.
"He really caught by attention, and I thought to myself I really need to have a more in-depth discussion with him," she told AFP.
"We went to a cafe, and while we were talking I had a vision of him wearing the prince's crown and I thought about the meaning that Jaime could bring to Hamlet's famous words 'to be or not to be'," she said.

'Form of resistance'

A casting session was organised and seven other actors were chosen for the group.
"Jaime made me face my own prejudices, my deep ignorance about the reality. I think what the public experiences mirrors exactly what happened to me," de Ferrari said. 
Three years ago the group was invited to visit Spain, and since then they have toured the world.
The show had a sold-out run at the Edinburgh International Festival last year, with The Guardian praising the cast's interpretation of the normally depressing tale of the Danish prince as "upbeat", adding it "oozes charm, humour and imagination".
"I don't think it's the only play with actors with Down syndrome, but I don't think other groups have travelled as much," de Ferrari said.
This year, the group of five men and three women will also be performing in Brighton in southern England as well as 35 other towns and cities, including Seoul, Melbourne, Toronto in Canada, and New York and Chicago in the United States.
They act in Spanish with sub-titles in other languages for local non-Spanish speaking audiences.
"In today's society everyone puts up limits. They tell us all the time that we cannot do things," said Garcia, 32.
"With what we are seeing in the world, attacks on certain values such as diversity, it's a good moment to present these projects. It's also a form of resistance," added de Ferrari.
"Instead of rejecting people who have speech problems or stutter, we embrace this diversity," she said proudly.
psr/alm/jkb/aks/giv

earnings

Alphabet quarterly earnings lifted by cloud and AI

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 percent to $90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 percent to $12.3 billion, according to the tech giant.
  • Google parent Alphabet on Thursday reported profit of $34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations.
  • Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 percent to $90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 percent to $12.3 billion, according to the tech giant.
Google parent Alphabet on Thursday reported profit of $34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations.
Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 percent to $90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 percent to $12.3 billion, according to the tech giant.
Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said the strong quarterly results reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business.
"Underpinning this growth is our unique full stack approach to AI," Pichai said in an earnings release.
He touted the latest Gemini software as Alphabet's most intelligent AI model and an "extraordinary foundation" for the Silicon Valley company's innovation.
Alphabet shares were up more than three percent in after-market trades that followed the release of the earnings figures.
"Cloud grew rapidly with significant demand for our solutions," Pichai said of Alphabet's services and tools hosted at data centers.
Investors have been watching closely to see whether the tech giant may be pouring too much money into artificial intelligence.
"Cloud's growth indicates that Google AI product mix continues to thrive despite heightened competition," said Emarketer principal analyst Yory Wurmser.
Google and rivals are spending billions of dollars on data centers and more for AI, while the rise of lower-cost model DeepSeek from China raises questions about how much needs to be spent.

Antitrust battles

Meanwhile the online ad business that churns out the cash Google invests in its future could be neutered due to a defeat in a US antitrust case.
US government attorneys are urging a federal judge to make Google spin off its Chrome browser, arguing artificial intelligence is poised to ramp up the company's online search dominance.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is arguing its position before District Judge Amit Mehta, who is considering "remedies" after making a landmark decision last year that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in online search.
"Nothing less than the future of the internet is at stake here," Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater said prior to the start of the hearings this week in Washington.
"If Google's conduct is not remedied, it will control much of the internet for the next decade and not just in internet search, but in new technologies like artificial intelligence."
Google countered in the case that the United States has gone way beyond the scope of the suit by recommending a spinoff of its widely used Chrome, and holding open the option to force a sale of its Android mobile operating system.
The legal case focused on Google's agreements with partners such as Apple and Samsung to distribute its search tools, noted Google president of global affairs Kent Walker.
"The DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America's global technology leadership," Walker wrote in a blog post.
In another legal battle, a different US judge ruled this month that Google wielded monopoly power in the online ad technology market in a legal blow that could rattle the tech giant's revenue engine.
The federal government and more than a dozen US states filed the antitrust suit against Google, accusing it of acting illegally to dominate major sectors of digital advertising.
District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google built an illegal monopoly over ad software and tools used by publishers.
"Google has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising," Brinkema said in her ruling.
Online advertising is the driving engine of Google's fortune and pays for widely used online services like Maps, Gmail, and search offered free.
Combined, the courtroom defeats have the potential to leave Google split up and its influence curbed.
Google said it is appealing both rulings.
gc/jgc

offbeat

121 metre long cake gives a taste for records

  • "I was looking for a product, or a French pastry, and I also wanted to highlight farm produce, so French strawberries and products like milk, cream and butter," he told AFP. Residents of Argenteuil who went to see the calorie packed record-breaker on Wednesday were given a piece to take away. amd/tw/db
  • Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8 metre (399 feet, eight inch) long strawberry cake which they have claimed is the world's longest ever made.
  • "I was looking for a product, or a French pastry, and I also wanted to highlight farm produce, so French strawberries and products like milk, cream and butter," he told AFP. Residents of Argenteuil who went to see the calorie packed record-breaker on Wednesday were given a piece to take away. amd/tw/db
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8 metre (399 feet, eight inch) long strawberry cake which they have claimed is the world's longest ever made.
Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect.
The effort overtook a 100.48m (329 ft 7 in) long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019.
El Gatou's cake also used 350 kilogrammes of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of cream.
To claim the record in the Guiness book, the cake had to be at least eight centimetres wide and eight centimetres tall. The logistics were so difficult that the team "used blowtorches to heat the bowl" for the cream mix, said the chef's wife Nadia El Gatou.
El Gatou said that since a child he had wanted to set a record.
"I was looking for a product, or a French pastry, and I also wanted to highlight farm produce, so French strawberries and products like milk, cream and butter," he told AFP.
Residents of Argenteuil who went to see the calorie packed record-breaker on Wednesday were given a piece to take away.
amd/tw/db

lifestyle

French independent studio's first video game draws fans

BY PHILIPPE SIUBERSKI

  • One of the studio's three co-founders said the high numbers -- rare for a game developed by an independent studio -- were "extremely encouraging".
  • Independent French studio Sandfall Interactive's first video game "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" launched worldwide on Thursday but has already built up a solid community of fans eager to discover its post-apocalyptic fantasy world.
  • One of the studio's three co-founders said the high numbers -- rare for a game developed by an independent studio -- were "extremely encouraging".
Independent French studio Sandfall Interactive's first video game "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" launched worldwide on Thursday but has already built up a solid community of fans eager to discover its post-apocalyptic fantasy world.
According to Metacritic, which aggregates video games reviews, it had a 92 out of 100 "universal acclaim" score -- the highest so far this year.
More than a million players have also added the "turn-based" role-playing game to their wish-list, according to the company, which was set up in 2020 in Montpellier, southern France.
One of the studio's three co-founders said the high numbers -- rare for a game developed by an independent studio -- were "extremely encouraging".
"We are coming to the end of four years of production and even longer for some of us," Francois Meurisse told AFP a few days before the game's release.
"We're now at a crucial moment," he added calmly.
Sandfall Interactive's 20 or so employees sit serenely behind a bank of screens on the first floor of an Art Deco-style mansion in the southern coastal city of Montpellier.
The building's high ceilings, marble-accented bathroom and large garden ideal for drinks fits perfectly with the fantasy "Belle Epoque" spirit of the game.

Fierce battles

For players, "Expedition 33" starts in "Lumiere", a city on an island whose iconic buildings recall the real-life City of Light -- Paris.
But while passers-by are dressed in 1900s fashion, most of the buildings barely remain standing after a disaster whose nature is gradually revealed.
Just as intriguing is a gigantic monolith which displays the number "34", corresponding to the age at which the city's inhabitants "fade away" and turn into flowers.
Worse still, an enigmatic "Paintress" lowers this age every year, cutting life expectancy accordingly.
As characters Gustave, Maelle, Lune, Sciel or Monaco, players must leave the island and explore a vast continent across the sea where, among forests and ruins, the heavily armed minions of the Paintress await.
Between cinematic sequences, the player-explorer must fight fierce battles to try to reach level 33, which should take at least 30 hours, and twice as long to explore the entire universe and solve side puzzles.
The story also provides its share of "unpredictable" twists and turns, according to its creators, who have chosen not to display an on-screen map allowing players to locate themselves.

Inspired by 'Final Fantasy'

At the studio, Guillaume Broche holds the key role of "creative director" for the game, which he has overseen from start to finish and is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
He conceived the adventure more than five years ago and wanted it to be a "role-playing" game, inspired by the famous "Final Fantasy" series but in an environment resembling late 19th, early 20th-century France.
Broche was working in Sweden for the French gaming giant Ubisoft and spoke to a colleague, Tom Guillermin, about the project.
At the end of the first Covid lockdown, they teamed up with Meurisse and founded Sandfall Interactive in Montpellier, which has a long-established video game industry.
In 2022, the three young entrepreneurs were at a specialised trade show in San Francisco when they met London-based publisher Kepler Interactive.
Kepler provided them with funding and took charge of marketing and distribution -- and also helped them gain international recognition.
In June last year, Microsoft announced that "Expedition 33" would also be included on the release date in its Game Pass subscription service.
Since then, interest and anticipation have grown.
siu-kf/ol/jp/zub/phz/rlp

Sweden

Favourite KAJ hopes for fun and steamy Eurovision

BY JOHANNES LEDEL

  • Now, their song "Bara Bada Bastu" (Just Have a Sauna) is the bookies' favourite to win the 69th edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, on May 17.
  • Comedy act KAJ, which has soared out of obscurity to become the favourite in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, says it hopes its steamy-but-not-in-a-sexy-way sauna song will make people laugh.
  • Now, their song "Bara Bada Bastu" (Just Have a Sauna) is the bookies' favourite to win the 69th edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, on May 17.
Comedy act KAJ, which has soared out of obscurity to become the favourite in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, says it hopes its steamy-but-not-in-a-sexy-way sauna song will make people laugh.
With war raging in Gaza and Ukraine and economic and political uncertainty sweeping the world, people "need to have some fun", the trio, who hail from Finland but are representing Sweden in Eurovision, told AFP in an interview.
Kevin Holmstrom, Axel Ahman and Jakob Norrgard -- whose first initials spell KAJ -- met as children growing up in Vora, a small mostly Swedish-speaking town in western Finland.
They formed KAJ back in 2009 and have since produced seven albums but readily admit that describing them as obscure until recently is "accurate".
Now, their song "Bara Bada Bastu" (Just Have a Sauna) is the bookies' favourite to win the 69th edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, on May 17.
Their breakthrough has surprised the group. 
"You're doing this for 15 years, doing the same thing, trying to evolve, and now suddenly it's like this big breakthrough. It's quite hard to understand," Holmstrom told AFP.
They describe "Bara Bada Bastu" as a "fun pop song".
"It's about relaxing with your friends, going into the sauna and having a nice time and coming out on the other side feeling great," Norrgard said.

'Sauna pop'

Their number features the three singers in brown suits, surrounded by dancers in lumberjack shirts first grilling sausages over a bonfire before appearing in a mock sauna with towels around their waists, slapping their backs with birch branches.
"We have called it sauna pop because there's nothing really like it," Ahman explained, adding that the song blends genres.
The group said they even used the sound of water splashing against the hot sauna stove to create one of the song's sound effects.
Sauna culture is deeply embedded in both Swedish and Finnish culture and, as Swedish speakers growing up in Finland, they strongly identify with both countries, they said.
Their song was one of 30 selected by Swedish broadcaster SVT -- out of almost 2,800 entries -- to compete in Melodifestivalen, the contest to select Sweden's Eurovision contestant.
They ultimately won with 4.3 million votes, in a country of 10 million people.
"Since we are from Finland and we were competing in Sweden's national final for Eurovision, we wanted to bring something different to the table and something that represented where we come from," Ahman says.
This will be the first time since 1998 that Sweden will be represented at the glitzy glamfest by a song sung in Swedish.
The Nordic country -- which is tied with Ireland for the most Eurovision wins, with seven -- last won the competition with Loreen's "Tattoo" in 2023.
But KAJ's wacky style stands in stark contrast to the slick pop acts that Sweden has sent to Eurovision in recent years.
"Hopefully it's going to be well received. We have got a lot of good comments from all over Europe and also from Sweden. I think the Swedish people were ready to send something new this year," Norrgard said.

Steam and lasers

Asked if they thought they could win Eurovision, Ahman said he thought they had a "36-percent" chance, smiling as he referenced the latest odds on bookmaker sites.
"It's crazy to me because we were at the bottom of the list when (the Swedish competition) Melodifestivalen started," he added.
A Eurovision victory would be a win for both Sweden and their native Finland, the trio said.
"We're representing Sweden, so it's Sweden's win, but I think the Finnish people would be equally happy," Norrgard said.
With controversy over Israel's participation looming over Eurovision for the second year in a row, KAJ hopes their contribution can bring some joy in troubled times.
"I think this is a song that fits greatly in these times, where people need to have some fun," Ahman said.
They want to turn the "whole stadium into a sauna", Norrgard added.
"We have requested more steam and more lasers. So that's what we look forward to."
jll/po/gil

television

YouTube says more than 20 billion videos uploaded in 20 years

  • YouTube says that it now sees an average of some 20 million videos uploaded daily.
  • YouTube on Wednesday celebrated more than 20 billion videos being uploaded to the platform since the first clip debuted two decades ago.
  • YouTube says that it now sees an average of some 20 million videos uploaded daily.
YouTube on Wednesday celebrated more than 20 billion videos being uploaded to the platform since the first clip debuted two decades ago.
The online video-sharing platform has evolved from a dinner party lark into a modern lifestyle staple poised to overtake US cable television in paid viewership.
PayPal colleagues Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim conceived YouTube in 2005, reportedly during a dinner party. The domain YouTube.com launched on Valentine's Day that year.
Video uploading capabilities were added on April 23, when Karim posted the first video, titled "Me at the Zoo." The 19-second clip showing Karim at the San Diego Zoo's elephant exhibit has garnered 348 million views.
Over the next 20 years, the site expanded beyond what was imagined possible back in 2005.
YouTube says that it now sees an average of some 20 million videos uploaded daily.
The platform hosts everything from concert clips and podcasts to political ads, tutorials and much more.
YouTube has become the world's largest digital video service in terms of time spent by viewers and ad revenue, according to eMarketer analyst Ross Benes.
The platform reached more than 2.5 billion viewers globally last year, and hit 100 million subscribers to its music and premium tier, according to market tracker Statista. 
YouTube is projected to surpass all US cable television services in paid subscribers within two years, according to Benes. 
Users worldwide watch more than a billion hours of YouTube content daily on television sets alone, Google reported.
YouTube said it will upgrade its TV viewing experience this summer with improved features and "quality tweaks," though it did not provide further details.
"If you go back 20 years, it would have seemed laughable that this website with kids making parody videos would become a threat to Disney, ABC, and CBS," Benes said. 
"That's what they were able to accomplish."
Analysts consider Google's 2006 purchase of YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock a pivotal moment, combining Google's search and advertising expertise with a video-sharing platform that had passionate users.
Google used its advertising know-how to build a successful model, sharing revenue with creators who attracted significant audiences. 
The company enhanced technology and negotiated with studios to address copyright violations on what was once considered the Wild West of video content.
YouTube also worked its way past concerns that disturbing content, like parody videos of popular cartoon characters in violent or risque situations, were being served up to children by its recommendation software.
The platform now competes with streaming services like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon Prime, as well as short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram's Reels.
gc/jgc

music

Oasis fans lose 'over £2 million' in UK ticket scams

  • Working from figures based on its own customers, "the bank estimates that across the UK there are likely to have been at least 5,000 victims since tickets went on sale, with over £2 million lost to fraudsters" -- an average of £436 per person.
  • Oasis fans wishing to see the reunited British band live in concert have collectively lost more than £2 million ($2.7 million) from UK ticket scams, mostly on Facebook, Lloyds bank said Thursday.
  • Working from figures based on its own customers, "the bank estimates that across the UK there are likely to have been at least 5,000 victims since tickets went on sale, with over £2 million lost to fraudsters" -- an average of £436 per person.
Oasis fans wishing to see the reunited British band live in concert have collectively lost more than £2 million ($2.7 million) from UK ticket scams, mostly on Facebook, Lloyds bank said Thursday.
"Fans of Oasis are being targeted by a surge of ticket scams on social media, as the... rock icons prepare to tour the UK this summer for the first time since 2009," the UK lender said in a statement.
The chaotic scramble for the prized tickets followed the announcement in August last year that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had ended their infamous 15-year feud and were reuniting for a worldwide tour.
Oasis -- whose hits include "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger" and "Champagne Supernova" -- kick off the reunion tour on July 4 in Cardiff before playing in their home city, Manchester, the following week.
Other venues include Buenos Aires, Chicago, London, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. 
Lloyds noted that "scams often occur in two waves: the first when tickets are released for sale, and again as the event date approaches".
Working from figures based on its own customers, "the bank estimates that across the UK there are likely to have been at least 5,000 victims since tickets went on sale, with over £2 million lost to fraudsters" -- an average of £436 per person.
Lloyds added that "more than 90 percent of reported cases start with fake adverts, posts or listings on Meta-owned platforms, with the vast majority on Facebook".
Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at the bank, called on social media platforms to take "stronger action to tackle scams" which largely breach their own rules. 
Meta had yet to react to the report when contacted by AFP.
Britain's competition watchdog last month reported that Oasis fans may have been tricked into buying "platinum" seats that offered no additional advantage during the much-criticised ticket sale for their upcoming reunion gigs.
The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into agent Ticketmaster following widespread public anger over the exorbitant cost of some tickets to see the Britpop band's comeback.
Ticketmaster sold more than 900,000 tickets for the gigs.
bcp/phz

entertainment

Mogul Weinstein made sex attack victims 'feel small,' jury told

BY ANDRéA BAMBINO

  • He made all these women feel small."
  • Prosecutors opening Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial described Wednesday how he ignored his victims' pleas to stop and abused his position to make them "feel small."
  • He made all these women feel small."
Prosecutors opening Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial described Wednesday how he ignored his victims' pleas to stop and abused his position to make them "feel small."
The trial, which began with jury selection last week, will see survivors who helped spark the "MeToo" movement testify against Weinstein once more.
The former Miramax studio boss is charged with the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and the 2013 rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old in 2006.
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey recounted Weinstein's alleged attacks in graphic detail, saying all three women had begged him to stop, but that he had "all the power... He made all these women feel small."
The prosecutor described how Weinstein pestered Haleyi with multiple requests for massages and sexual favors before she found herself alone with him in an apartment one day in 2006.
"The defendant, three times (her) size, kissed her, groped her and she told him again she was not interested," Lucey said.
"He pulled Mimi towards him... She quickly realized he was not going take a no for an answer," the prosecutor added. 
Lucey detailed how Weinstein then forced himself on Haleyi, performing oral sex on her despite her pleas for him to stop.
The award-winning movie producer, who was brought into the Manhattan criminal court in a wheelchair and wore a dark business suit, glanced occasionally at the jury as the trial got underway. 
Lucey described the defendant as "one of the most powerful men in... show business," telling the majority-female jury that "when he wanted something, he took it."

'Fresh eyes'

Kaja Sokola, who was not part of the previous trial, was an aspiring model and aged 19 at the time that she alleges Weinstein sexually assaulted her at a hotel in Manhattan.  
Accusers describe the impresario as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.
But Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's defense attorney, stressed that the prosecution's opening statement was not "the whole movie," arguing that the jury would hear no evidence of the use of force or a lack of consent.
He said Mann had introduced Weinstein to her mother after the alleged rape, and that Haleyi had "consensual sex" with Weinstein after her alleged attack.
"Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty," he told the jury.
After opening statements concluded, witness testimonies began and will continue when court proceedings resume Thursday.
Presentation of the evidence in the retrial is expected to last five to six weeks.
Weinstein's 2020 convictions over Haleyi and Mann were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful.
The 73-year-old has said he hopes his case will be judged with "fresh eyes," more than seven years after his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers.
Weinstein is already serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.

More than 80 accusers

The producer of a string of box office hits such as "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," Weinstein has battled health issues.
He has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.
Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong'o and Ashley Judd.
A jury of New Yorkers convicted him on two out of five charges -- the sexual assault of Haleyi and the rape of Mann -- in 2020 but the conviction and 23-year prison term were overturned a year ago.
In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York's appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of accusers in alleged sexual assaults for which Weinstein was not indicted.
gw-ft/jgc/aha

music

Santana postpones tour dates over Covid-19 illness

  • "Mr. Santana has tested positive for Covid and is resting at his hotel," Vrionis said in a message posted to Santana's official Facebook.
  • Celebrated rocker Carlos Santana was forced to postpone several tour dates after testing positive for Covid-19, his manager said Wednesday.
  • "Mr. Santana has tested positive for Covid and is resting at his hotel," Vrionis said in a message posted to Santana's official Facebook.
Celebrated rocker Carlos Santana was forced to postpone several tour dates after testing positive for Covid-19, his manager said Wednesday.
The 77-year-old guitar icon "experienced dehydration" before canceling Tuesday's show in San Antonio, and "out of an abundance of caution" is doing the same for Wednesday's performance in Sugar Land, Texas, his manager Michael Vrionis said.
"Mr. Santana has tested positive for Covid and is resting at his hotel," Vrionis said in a message posted to Santana's official Facebook.
"I am happy to report that Carlos is doing well and will be back on his US Tour this Friday in Thackerville," in the state of Oklahoma, the statement continued. 
"We appreciate everyone's well wishes and concern. Carlos is looking forward to seeing you all very soon." 
The postponed shows will be rescheduled as soon as possible, according to the post.
Superstar Santana is one of the world's most vaunted guitarists, who soared to fame after his legendary 1969 performance at Woodstock, and put out smashes including "Oye Como Va," "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways."
He experienced a career renaissance in the late 1990s and early 2000s with his Grammy-winning, chart-topping "Supernatural" album.
mdo/mlm

Arts and Entertainment

Cannes film festival says to 'honour' slain Gaza photojournalist

BY FRANçOIS BECKER AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last Wednesday, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection. 
  • The Cannes film festival said Wednesday that the screening of a documentary about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna at the event next month would honour her work after the "horror" of her death in an Israeli air strike last week.
  • Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last Wednesday, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection. 
The Cannes film festival said Wednesday that the screening of a documentary about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna at the event next month would honour her work after the "horror" of her death in an Israeli air strike last week.
"Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk" by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi is to be shown at ACID Cannes, at this year's May 13-24 festival, which runs parallel to the main competition.
The film features conversations between Farsi and Hassouna, 25, as she documents the impact of Israel's devastating war on the Palestinian territory.
Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last Wednesday, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection. 
The Israeli military, which media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused of carrying out a "massacre" of Palestinian journalists, claimed it had targeted a Hamas member.
"The Cannes Film Festival wishes to express its horror and deep sorrow at this tragedy, which has moved and shocked the entire world," the festival said in a statement on Hassouna sent to AFP.
"While a film is little in the face of such a tragedy, its screening at the ACID section in Cannes on May 15 will be, in addition to the message of the film itself, a way of honouring the memory of the young woman, a victim like so many others of the war," it added.
Just before her death, Hassouna wrote on social media that "if I die, I want a loud death. I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group." 
"She was such a light, so talented. When you see the film you’ll understand," Farsi told Hollywood news website Deadline after her death. "I had talked to her a few hours before to tell her that the film was in Cannes and to invite her."

Miracle

The ACID festival said Hassouna's "life force seemed like a miracle", in a statement released after her death.
"This is no longer the same film that we are going to support and present in all theatres, starting with Cannes," it added.
RSF also denounced her death. "Her name joins those of nearly 200 journalists killed in 18 months. This carnage must stop," it wrote on the Bluesky social media website. 
Also at Cannes, Palestinian twins Tarzan and Arab Nasser will showcase their latest film "Once Upon a Time In Gaza", a tale of murder and friendship set in the war-torn territory, in the secondary "Un Certain Regard" section.
An attack by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023 set off the war. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israeli forces have since killed more than 51,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
fbe-adp/tw

auction

Set of Shakespeare folios to be sold in rare London auction

  • The set to be sold by Sotheby's on May 23, with an estimate of £3.5 to £4.5 million, was brought together in 2016.
  • A set of four Shakespeare folios estimated to be worth more than £3.5 million ($4.7 million) will go on sale in London next month, auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday.
  • The set to be sold by Sotheby's on May 23, with an estimate of £3.5 to £4.5 million, was brought together in 2016.
A set of four Shakespeare folios estimated to be worth more than £3.5 million ($4.7 million) will go on sale in London next month, auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday.
The First Folio, published in 1623, was the first collection of William Shakespeare's plays and is considered one of the most important books in English literature.
Without it, up to half of the writer's plays would likely have been lost, including "Macbeth", "Twelfth Night" and "Julius Caesar".
Around 235 of the 750 copies believed to have been published during this initial printing have survived.
A new print run in 1632 gave rise to the Second Folio, which contained amendments to the initial folio, while the Third Folio containing seven additional plays appeared in 1664.
The third is the rarest of the folios, with many copies believed to have been lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
The sequence was completed with the Fourth Folio in 1685.
Generations of bibliophiles have dreamed of owning a full set, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve with fewer copies in private hands.
The last time all four were offered as a single lot was in New York in 1989.
The set to be sold by Sotheby's on May 23, with an estimate of £3.5 to £4.5 million, was brought together in 2016.
"The folios were large, expensive, and prestigious publications that embodied a claim that Shakespeare, a professional writer in the commercial theatre (rather than a poet writing for an elite), had created a legacy that deserved to be passed down the ages," Sotheby's said.
"The vast majority of all four Folios are to be found in institutions and this is a rare opportunity to acquire a complete set," it added.
The First Folio was published about seven years after Shakespeare's death and contains thirty-six plays, eighteen of them printed for the first time. 
Famous diarist Samuel Pepys bought a Folio in 1664 and King Charles I read and annotated a copy of the Second Folio while imprisoned in the 1640s. 
jwp/lcm/js

art

Tokyo's newest art star: one-year-old Thumbelina

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

  • The couple then had Thumbelina -- not her real name -- whose paintings inspired 32-year-old Isomura.
  • Gripping paintbrush and crayon, the artist known as Thumbelina splodges and splats with merry abandon, the one-year-old star of a Tokyo exhibition that goes on way past her bedtime.
  • The couple then had Thumbelina -- not her real name -- whose paintings inspired 32-year-old Isomura.
Gripping paintbrush and crayon, the artist known as Thumbelina splodges and splats with merry abandon, the one-year-old star of a Tokyo exhibition that goes on way past her bedtime.
Abstract paintings by the toddler are on sale for 33,000 yen ($230) at her debut show at hip gallery Decameron, tucked above a bar in the Kabukicho red-light district.
Thumbelina's vivid style is "babyish but mysteriously dexterous", gallery director -- and matchmaker of her parents -- Dan Isomura told AFP.
"I thought, 'wow, these are legit artworks'," Isomura said, describing his first impression of her free-form creations.
Colourful smudges adorn tatami mats and tables at the 21-month-old's suburban home, where her mother patiently helps twist open paint tubes and squeeze them onto paper.
"I can see this rhythm in her movements and patterns... she knows what she's doing," said the evacuee from Ukraine in her 20s, asking to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.
As a fellow artist focusing on Japanese calligraphy, she is "jealous" of her daughter's first solo exhibition, she joked, although of course "I'm happy, as a mum".
Once she thought her daughter might help her with work, but now "I'm her assistant".

'Like Cupid'

After Russia invaded in 2022, Thumbelina's mother left Ukraine's eastern Donbas region -- her "very pathological, violent" homeland torn apart by war.
She found herself on a plane to Japan, having consulted a website helping Ukrainians find housing worldwide.
A chance seating beside contemporary artist Isomura, who had only boarded due to two delayed flights, changed her life.
Amazed to learn they were both artists, the pair kept in touch, and later, through Isomura's introduction, she met her future husband.
"Dan is our angel, you know, like Cupid," she said.
The couple then had Thumbelina -- not her real name -- whose paintings inspired 32-year-old Isomura.
At first he had assumed the toddler was "scribbling randomly, like she was playing in the mud".
But when he saw Thumbelina in action, "she seemed to signal each time she considered her drawing complete," prompting her mother to give her a fresh sheet.
The fact that Thumbelina sometimes demands a specific colour, develops shapes from paint droplets and finishes voluntarily suggests a will at work, he said.
"Some may say her mother's involvement means these are not Thumbelina's works," Isomura said.
But "for a baby, a mother is part of their body".

Young creative mindset

In any case, adult artists aren't fully independent, Isomura argues, as they rarely break free of store-bought paints or conventional canvases.
"We operate under the illusion of solitary creation, while in fact we rely heavily on systems built by others," he said.
The exhibition, Isomura's first as director of Decameron, opened last month and runs until mid-May.
But most of the time it's on, from 8 pm until 5 am, Thumbelina will likely be fast asleep.
One recent night at the gallery, an admiring visitor said the paintings had an innocent charm.
"We instinctively try to draw skillfully" because "we've grown used to having our paintings evaluated by others", 45-year-old Yuri Kuroda told AFP.
"But it feels like she doesn't care at all about whether it's good or bad... It's a mindset we can never return to."
So would she pay $230 to take one home?
"I'm tempted," Kuroda chuckled. 
tmo/kaf/rsc/tc

Vatican

Napoleon letter auction recalls French pope detention

  • Pope Pius VII was kidnapped by French forces in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome and remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. 
  • A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 is to go under the hammer this weekend, in a reminder of France's complicated past relationship with the Vatican.
  • Pope Pius VII was kidnapped by French forces in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome and remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. 
A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 is to go under the hammer this weekend, in a reminder of France's complicated past relationship with the Vatican.
The letter, signed "Napole", will go on sale at auction on Sunday, the day after the funeral of Pope Francis who died this week.
Pope Pius VII was kidnapped by French forces in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome and remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. 
The head of the Catholic church had sought to maintain the Vatican's sway over the French church and resisted Napoleon's desire to exert control over the clergy.
In the letter addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis Cambaceres, Napoleon feigns ignorance of Pius VII's detention.
"It was without my orders and against my will that the Pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France," he wrote. 
"But I was only informed of this ten or twelve days after it had already been carried out. From the moment I learn that the Pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take...," he added.
The missive has been estimated at 12,000-15,000 euros ($14,000-17,000) by auction house Osenat and will go on sale in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, where Pope Pius VII was imprisoned after being initially held in Savona in Italy. 
"This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon’s reign, at a political and religious level," Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat, told AFP. 
"Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it’s intended for authorities everywhere," he added.

'Miscalculation'

In his 2021 book "To Kidnap a Pope", historian Ambrogio Caiani called the arrest "one of the greatest miscalculations of (Napoleon’s) career" which stoked domestic and foreign opposition to his rule.
Pius VII's predecessor, Pius VI, fared even worse than him.
After opposing France's anti-clerical government following the 1789 revolution, Pius VI was seized by French forces in March 1799 after their occupation of Rome and died in captivity the following August.
Napoleon memorabilia regularly comes up for sale at auction.
Two pistols that he once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France last July for 1.7 million euros, while one of his trademark "bicorne" hats set a record price for his possessions when it was acquired for 1.9 million euros in November 2023. 
ls-adp/rmb

music

Pianist to perform London musical marathon

  • Abramovic, 78, an art world icon, has earned worldwide acclaim for her work that has frequently tested her own physical and mental endurance.
  • Classical Russian-German pianist Igor Levit takes to a London stage this week for an epic musical endurance test directed by the world-famous Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic.
  • Abramovic, 78, an art world icon, has earned worldwide acclaim for her work that has frequently tested her own physical and mental endurance.
Classical Russian-German pianist Igor Levit takes to a London stage this week for an epic musical endurance test directed by the world-famous Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic.
Levit is aiming to be the first person to solo play "Vexations", a single sheet of music repeated 840 times, in a public performance expected to last at least 16 hours.
The audience at central London's Queen Elizabeth Hall will witness "silence, endurance, immobility and contemplation, where time ceases to exist", according to Abramovic on the venue's website.
Written by Erik Satie in 1893, "Vexations" is described as "one of classical music's most simple, yet arduous and demanding works".
Satie's manuscript included a composer's note instructing that it should be repeated 840 times, a feat which generally takes between 16-20 hours of continuous playing.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Levit livestreamed a "Vexations" performance from a Berlin studio.
He also streamed dozens of "concerts" from his flat in the German city to highlight the challenges faced by artists during lockdown.
Although numerous pianists playing in succession have succeeded in performing "Vexations" over the years, it has rarely been completed in its entirety by a single musician.
Tickets have been priced from £32 for a one hour slot with others available for the full-length performance.
Levit, who is a professor at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, has released a dozen albums of classical works including Beethoven's complete piano sonatas and concertos by Brahms.
Levit told The Guardian daily he'd "never tell an audience" what they should hope to experience.
"But I would encourage people to just literally let it go. There is no agenda in this piece. There is no meaning to it," he said.
"It's just empty space, so just dive into that and let go. That would be the dream," he added.
Abramovic, 78, an art world icon, has earned worldwide acclaim for her work that has frequently tested her own physical and mental endurance.
In one of her best known early works Rhythm O, Abramovic invited audiences to interact with her in any way they chose which resulted in a loaded gun being held to her head.
The "Vexations" performance will begin at 10:00am (0900GMT) on Thursday.
har/jkb/jwp/ach 

arts

Zurab Tsereteli, whose monumental works won over Russian elites, dies aged 91

  • He died at his home in Peredelkino, a village southwest of Moscow, "surrounded by his works", his assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told the RIA news agency.
  • Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, a politically connected artist known for his monumental yet sometimes divisive works, has died aged 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.
  • He died at his home in Peredelkino, a village southwest of Moscow, "surrounded by his works", his assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told the RIA news agency.
Georgian-Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, a politically connected artist known for his monumental yet sometimes divisive works, has died aged 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.
He died at his home in Peredelkino, a village southwest of Moscow, "surrounded by his works", his assistant Sergei Shagulashvili told the RIA news agency.
Born and trained in Tbilisi, Tsereteli rose to prominence designing resort complexes in then-Soviet Georgia during the 1960s.
He became chief artist of the USSR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later head of Russia's influential Academy of Arts, serving in the role from 1997 until his death.
Popular with Russia's elite, Tsereteli's friendship with Moscow's mayor Yury Luzhkov in the 1990s gave him what critics called a "monopoly" on public art.
He populated the Russian capital with his distinct brand of monumental architecture, earning the wrath of many Russian intellectuals in the process.
His giant statue of Peter the Great on a ship on the Moscow River got a tongue-lashing in the press, while a 500-tonne monument to Christopher Columbus built in the early 1990s was rejected by several US cities as a monstrosity.

Reverence for Putin

Tsereteli is more fondly known for presiding over the reconstruction of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, an Orthodox church meticulously rebuilt in the 1990s after it was demolished by Stalin.
Tsereteli also enjoyed brief success in the West during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, unveiling works that embodied the fall of communism: "Break the Wall of Distrust" in London in 1989 and "Good Defeats Evil" in New York in 1990 -- made partly from the remnants of Soviet and American missiles. 
Encouraged by this success, he attempted to donate a monument dedicated to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to the city of New York, a giant 30-metre (100-foot) sculpture featuring a teardrop, but the authorities politely declined his offer.
The work finally found a home in 2005 in Bayonne, a city of 60,000 in New Jersey, in view of downtown Manhattan across the water.
Tsereteli revered President Vladimir Putin, unveiling a five-metre bronze statue of the Russian leader posing in judo gear in 2004.
But the piece was so badly received by the Kremlin that a Russian media report quoted an anonymous official as saying it should "not be exhibited anywhere except in the courtyard of the sculptor's own home".
"He of all people should know that President Putin has an extremely negative attitude towards such things," the official told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.
bur/js

Trump

Woe is the pinata, a casualty of Trump trade war

BY PAULA RAMON

  • - Many enemies -  The service sector is not immune either to Trump's trade war, and neither are his supporters. 
  • The humble pinata has become one of the latest targets to take a whacking in US President Donald Trump's trade war.
  • - Many enemies -  The service sector is not immune either to Trump's trade war, and neither are his supporters. 
The humble pinata has become one of the latest targets to take a whacking in US President Donald Trump's trade war.
Party store owner Patricia Loperena said she has supplied fewer parties this year than last, which means she is selling fewer of the colorful candy-filled papier mache favors at her southern California establishment.
Another blow to Loperena's business? The rising cost of the raw materials to make trinkets and custom pinatas, a traditional game of Latino children's parties that are now popular in much of the United States.
"People stop spending. Instead of, like, making a bigger party, they make it a lot smaller," the 45-year-old told AFP.
Prices are jumping, and that has customers on edge. "They just know there's a lot of unpredictability, and they just want to be cautious," she said.
They are spending less overall because of jitters over how Trump's policies will unfold.
Loperena is worried about Trump's new tariffs, too -- especially the outright trade war underway with China.
To adjust and help protect Ollin Party Store in this Los Angeles suburb, Loperena has already placed supply orders early to get ahead of the tariffs and build up inventory.
That may help keep her prices stable for a few months but Loperena's supplier -- based in the United States, selling imported products -- has already warned that the next order will be pricier.
Most of the napkins, plates, balloons and other goods in her store are labeled "Made in China."

Going to 'get worse'

  
Some might say tariff policy has been a pinata-esque moving target under Trump -- chaotic swings followed by an economy that has taken a beating. 
On what he called "Liberation Day" in early April, Trump dramatically hiked levies globally, standing with a chart of country-specific tariff rates to announce a new era. 
He threatened allies and close trading partners like Canada and Mexico. 
Then he slapped tariffs on much of the world, including triple digit ones against China. Trump has since lessened many of the immediate levies to 10 percent, saying a 90-day suspension was needed to negotiate.
That leaves American business owners dangling in suspense to see what happens next. 
In the San Fernando Valley, many small businesses like Loperena's were already struggling to compete with online outlets.
Service providers and retailers all depend on imports to one extent or another, for parts or products.
"Everything comes from overseas, from China, Taiwan and stuff," said Angel De Luna, who runs a store that sells sewing machines and vacuum cleaners.
For this 28-year-old taking over his father's shop, which survives not so much on sales but on repairing and servicing appliances people already own, the tariffs are shaping up to be the last straw.
"We're just hanging in there the best we can," said De Luna. "But it's probably going to get worse."
- Many enemies - 
The service sector is not immune either to Trump's trade war, and neither are his supporters. 
While the president says he is fighting unfair trading practices to erase trade deficits, many are bracing for bad economic news.
OJ Longmire, 46, owns a popular barbershop and beauty parlor in the valley and says tariffs hurt him too.
"It definitely affects us all. You know, supplies, everything here on my station. Clippers. I don't believe this is American made," he said, pointing to the equipment, gels and lotions he works with to do people's hair.
Marcos Ochoa, owner of a small hardware and gardening products store, said people are "going crazy" with tariff uncertainty.
"Because we don't know what to expect. You don't know if you're going to buy at higher prices," said Ochoa.
Ochoa, who imports his products mainly from Japan and Europe, said his costs have not yet risen and it is too early to say what the future holds.
But he has advice for Trump.
"He needs to stop and think what he's gonna say or what he's gonna do before he acts, like, automatically," said Ochoa.
He voted for Trump in the belief it would be good for business. Now, he has his doubts.
"He was good four years ago," Ochoa said. "Now I don't know. He's making a lot of enemies, that's for sure."
pr/dw/sla/mlm

film

Oscar voters required to view all films before casting ballots

  • The Academy previously operated under an honor system that voters would see every Oscar-nominated film before casting their ballots.
  • Oscar voters will be required to demonstrate that they have watched all the films in each category before they cast their final ballots, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.
  • The Academy previously operated under an honor system that voters would see every Oscar-nominated film before casting their ballots.
Oscar voters will be required to demonstrate that they have watched all the films in each category before they cast their final ballots, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.
The new rule, which addresses a longstanding concern that voters are skipping some films, will apply for the next Oscars ceremony in March 2026, the Academy said in a statement.
The Academy previously operated under an honor system that voters would see every Oscar-nominated film before casting their ballots.
However, with the number of nominees growing in recent years, some voters have admitted not fully fulfilling that duty.
Under the new system, Academy members will be tracked on the organization's voters-only streaming platform to make sure they have watched each film.
For movies seen elsewhere, such as in cinemas or at festival screenings, voters will be required to "fill out a form" vouching for when and where it was watched, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
For the Best Picture category alone, which has 10 nominated films, competing studios traditionally host glitzy events to woo voters during their awards campaigns, with parties, screenings and festival showings, sometimes followed by Q&A sessions with the stars and filmmakers.
The Academy also weighed in on a controversy that arose during the last voting season, which was marred by questions about the use of artificial intelligence in movies, such as "The Brutalist" and "Emilia Perez."
In guidance issued Monday, the Academy said AI and other digital tools will "neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination." 
The new rule clarifies that the use of technology is not disqualifying. 
"The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award."
rfo/sla/des

politics

Nigerian Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti takes a look inward

BY KADIATOU SAKHO

  • It might be a given, then, that the virtues that guided Femi Kuti would be political in nature -- though he has tempered his expectations of what exactly music can do. 
  • Sat comfortably in a large chair at the New Afrika Shrine, his family's legendary Nigerian music venue, Femi Kuti was surrounded by history.
  • It might be a given, then, that the virtues that guided Femi Kuti would be political in nature -- though he has tempered his expectations of what exactly music can do. 
Sat comfortably in a large chair at the New Afrika Shrine, his family's legendary Nigerian music venue, Femi Kuti was surrounded by history.
The concert hall is an homage to his father Fela Kuti's original Shrine, which had also been located in the northern outskirts of Lagos before its demise. 
Femi's own music awards are scattered around, recognition for his determination to keep fighting the good fight his Afrobeat legend father was known for -- calling out corruption and injustice in Africa's most populous nation.
Part of a family defined by its determination to speak defiantly about what was going on around them -- whether through lyrics or protest or both -- Femi Kuti, however, is ready to turn inward, and focus on the "virtues that have guided me in my life", he told AFP in a recent interview.
Those reflections will be apparent in the 62-year-old's upcoming album, "Journey Through Life," his 13th record, set to release on April 25.
In the upcoming record, he sings about "the kind of advice I give myself to where I am today," he said. The title track, for example, is "not political".
But listeners should not expect a member of the Kuti clan to give up politics completely.

From Afrobeat to Afrobeats

The elder Kuti came to define Afrobeat, the 70s-era jazz- and funk-inspired genre that would later give birth to the modern, R&B-inspired Afrobeats -- plural -- style shaking up the global music industry today.
He was also a poster child of protest -- using his lyrics to call out government abuses, even under brutal military juntas that ran Nigeria off and on before its latest transition to democracy in 1999, two years after his death from AIDS.
Femi Kuti's grandmother, meanwhile, was a women's rights and independence activist.
It might be a given, then, that the virtues that guided Femi Kuti would be political in nature -- though he has tempered his expectations of what exactly music can do. 
"My father used to say music is the weapon. I think music is a weapon for change, but it can't be the soul," he said. "We still need organisations." 
After all, the elder Kuti was repeatedly beaten and jailed by authorities -- and with an incomplete record to show for it. Democracy might have eventually taken hold, but the corruption he railed against has been trickier to uproot.
"Self-reflection makes me think maybe it's not possible to change the world. But one thing I'm sure of is that I can change myself, I can make myself a better person," Kuti told AFP.

New songs, same struggles

Femi Kuti has spent the last four decades as the heir to his father's activism and musical style.
Together with his son Made and brother Seun, he keeps the New Afrika Shrine a sweaty, bumping place to be each Sunday night, and continues to tour internationally.
The album, Kuti promised, is "still very political" -- and Kuti has some of his own thoughts to share as well.
"I've been singing political songs for 38 years," yet not much has changed. In "Nigeria, it's gotten worse".
"Corruption must stop in the political class," he said. "Everybody thinks the only way to be successful is through corruption."
"The health care -- there's nothing that works," he said. 
"We can't afford a good education (for children)." 
These days he is unlikely to be beaten or jailed like his father -- which traumatised his family growing up, he said. 
Though things are not always rosy for musicians in the modern political climate either.
Broadcasting authorities earlier this month banned "Tell Your Papa", by Eedris Abdulkareem, for its lyrics blasting President Bola Tinubu's handling of the economic and security situation in the country. 
The government is pursuing painful -- though necessary, it argues -- economic reforms, while insecurity from jihadist groups continues to menace the country's north.
"It will probably be very hard for me to not talk on political subjects," Kuti admitted, before an electrifying live performance at an all-night show.
"I've lived it all my life with my father"
ks/nro/sn/sbk

fashion

Kim Kardashian: From sex tape to Oval Office via TV and Instagram

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • A series of enterprises including KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance established Kardashian as a serious player in the fashion and lifestyle sector, propelled by the rise of social media, where she regularly posted thirst traps to build her brand.
  • Billionaire businesswoman, high priestess of social media, Oval Office invitee, effortless siren, mother of four: Kim Kardashian has mastered the 21st century like no one else. 
  • A series of enterprises including KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance established Kardashian as a serious player in the fashion and lifestyle sector, propelled by the rise of social media, where she regularly posted thirst traps to build her brand.
Billionaire businesswoman, high priestess of social media, Oval Office invitee, effortless siren, mother of four: Kim Kardashian has mastered the 21st century like no one else. 
For almost two decades, she has been a constant presence in popular culture, an uber-celebrity whose every move commands attention, yet who never seems to be anything other than in complete control.
While lesser stars have been consumed by fame, Kardashian remains at the height of her powers, defying criticism that she is really only famous for being famous.
Kardashian, 44, is expected to testify at a French trial beginning April 28 over a 2016 robbery that cost her millions of dollars worth of jewelry -- and in which she was held at gunpoint.
Six people are charged over the heist, which netted items including a diamond ring gifted by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West. 

Fame

Born in Los Angeles on October 21, 1980, Kardashian spent her childhood on the periphery of fame.
By 1991, after her parents were divorced, her mother Kris married the 1976 Olympic decathlon winner then known as Bruce Jenner, who has since transitioned to life as Caitlyn. 
A few years later, her father Robert was one of the high-flying lawyers who defended American football legend OJ Simpson in his 1995 murder trial. 
As a teenage friend of Los Angeles socialites Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, Kardashian garnered the first inklings of her own fame, being photographed with them at popular nightspots and appearing in their reality show "The Simple Life."
But it was in 2007 that she was catapulted into popular consciousness when an explicit four-year-old home movie she had made with her then-boyfriend Ray J was posted online.
Cynics noted the tape appeared as Kardashian and her family were readying to promote "Keeping up with the Kardashians," a fly-on-the-wall reality TV look at the family's life of wealth, luxury, unbelievable cattiness -- and startling mundanity.
Planted or not, the footage burned Kardashian onto the public's collective retina.
"Keeping up with the Kardashians," which followed the personal and professional trials of sisters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe and their half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, was one of television's longest-running reality shows.
For some, it was must-see entertainment offering an insight into celebrity through the prism of a unique family.
For others, as The Washington Times once wrote, it was vapid chaff that "illustrates our nation's moral, spiritual and cultural decay."
Either way, the show was very, very good for business.
A series of enterprises including KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance established Kardashian as a serious player in the fashion and lifestyle sector, propelled by the rise of social media, where she regularly posted thirst traps to build her brand.
But it was the apparel label Skims that really brought in the big bucks.
The firm unapologetically celebrates the female form, boasting "technically constructed shapewear that enhances your curves."
A 2023 investment round valued the company at $4 billion, and Forbes estimates Kardashian's personal net worth is now $1.7 billion.

Marriage to Kanye... and divorce

Her forays into the fashion and beauty worlds were supercharged by her relationship with West, her third husband.
Their marriage in 2014 -- the year of that "Break the Internet" photoshoot for Paper magazine involving her shapely bare buttocks and lots of champagne -- was a "historic blizzard of celebrity," according to The New York Times.
They flew to France for a pre-wedding rehearsal at the Palace of Versailles, where they arrived in a gold-plated carriage before flying on to Italy to tie the knot.
Four children later, the couple's relationship ran into difficulties, as West's behavior became increasingly erratic. 
His bizarre, but truncated 2020 bid for the US presidency degenerated into rambling self-confession.
Kardashian appealed for empathy for her husband, who at one time spoke of living with bipolar disorder, but by 2021 was filing for divorce.
Kardashian says she has tried to protect the couple's children from the inevitable hurt of their parents' split.
"You want to be sensitive because they're just kids, and it's hard to go through no matter what age," she told GQ in 2023.
"Ultimately what matters is that kids feel loved and heard."
They are certainly seen: Kardashian's 357 million Instagram followers are given regular updates on the children.
Since her split with West, Kardashian had a high-profile romance with comedian Pete Davidson, and was linked to NFL player Odell Beckham Jr.
Amid the parenting, the television shows, the endless red carpets and the multi-billion-dollar business, Kardashian has also found time to launch a legal career.
After embarking on an apprenticeship with a prison reform group, she successfully petitioned US President Donald Trump to pardon a grandmother serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense -- and then visited him at the White House.
In 2021 and on her fourth attempt, she passed California's "baby bar" exam, a seven-hour slog for first-year law students with a pass rate of only around 20 percent.
Her late father, she mused, "would be so proud."
"He would actually be so shocked to know that this is my path now."
hg/sst/cms

celebrity

'Grandpa robbers' go on trial for Kardashian heist in Paris

BY JURGEN HECKER

  • In what has been called the biggest French hold-up targeting an individual in 20 years, Kardashian was robbed of jewellery estimated at 10 million euros ($11.4 million at current rates) while she was staying at a luxury residence during Paris fashion week.
  • A group of suspects nicknamed the "grandpa robbers" goes on trial at the end of April, charged with stealing jewellery worth millions from US reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Paris in 2016. 
  • In what has been called the biggest French hold-up targeting an individual in 20 years, Kardashian was robbed of jewellery estimated at 10 million euros ($11.4 million at current rates) while she was staying at a luxury residence during Paris fashion week.
A group of suspects nicknamed the "grandpa robbers" goes on trial at the end of April, charged with stealing jewellery worth millions from US reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Paris in 2016. 
In what the French press has called "the heist of the century", masked men walked away from the luxury Parisian hotel where Kardashian was staying in October 2016 with millions of dollars worth of jewels, including a diamond ring gifted by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West.
Kardashian will testify in person at the trial, which opens on April 28, her US lawyer Michael Rhodes said last week.
Ten people will be in the dock and the verdict is expected on May 23, with Kardashian set to appear on May 13, according to a provisional schedule.
In what has been called the biggest French hold-up targeting an individual in 20 years, Kardashian was robbed of jewellery estimated at 10 million euros ($11.4 million at current rates) while she was staying at a luxury residence during Paris fashion week.
Among the suspects arrested four months later in Paris and in the south of France is Aomar Ait Khedache, known as "Old Omar", 68, who has admitted to his participation in the heist, but denies the prosecution's accusation that he was also the ringleader.
Two investigating magistrates ordered the suspects to stand trial by jury -- which in France is reserved for the most serious crimes -- on charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and membership of a criminal gang.
On the night of October 2-3, 2016, several men, some impersonating police officers, entered the hotel where Kardashian, who was then 35, was staying during Fashion Week.
The star had attended a Givenchy show before returning to the hotel around midnight without her bodyguard who was with her sister Kourtney, also a media personality and socialite, who had gone clubbing.

An 'easy' heist

Two of the intruders put guns to her head and one, Kardashian later told detectives, addressed her "with a very strong French accent" in English, telling her to hand over her diamond engagement ring.
That ring from West, which the influencer had shown off extensively on social media, was estimated to be worth four million dollars.
The intruders then tied her up, gagged her and carried her into the bathroom.
Three men meanwhile kept watch at the reception, with one waiting at the wheel of a getaway car.
The entire robbery lasted around 10 minutes.
Kardashian's frequent posts about her wealth, personal life and whereabouts may have facilitated the perpetrators' actions. 
Ait Khedache later told investigators that the job had been "easy", and nothing like a regular armed robbery.
In addition to the ring, which featured a near-flawless 18.88-carat diamond, the group made off with several more pieces of gold and diamond jewellery, including a gold Rolex watch.
One of the alleged robbers, Yunice Abbas, now 71, fleeing the scene on a bicycle, dropped a diamond-encrusted cross worth 30,000 euros, which was found by a passer-by a few hours later.
The suspected thieves lost a few more items while on the run, but the bulk of the bounty has never been found and is believed to have been sold in Belgium.
Abbas later wrote a book, called "I kidnapped Kim Kardashian", despite also claiming that he was just one of the lookouts without laying eyes on the star.
Another suspect, 69-year-old Didier Dubreucq, also came to the scene by bike and is accused of having been in Kardashian's room, which he denies.
The ageing suspects had, according to prosecutors, hoped to make a criminal comeback with the heist.
The suspects were identified mostly thanks to their DNA.
Of the 12 people originally charged over the robbery, only 10 will be present at the trial after one suspect died and another, 80-year-old Pierre Bouianere, was declared unable to participate in proceedings for health reasons.
He will be tried separately.
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