JEDDAH: French-Syrian singer Mennel has become the subject of huge media and online attention following her appearance in the blind auditions of the French version of popular talent show “The Voice.”
Mennel, 22, is the first contestant to wear a headscarf for religious reasons on “The Voice France,” and she astonished audience and judges alike with her English- and Arabic-language rendition of talent-show staple, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
Mennel is a master’s degree student who hopes to become a professor of English. She said singing is a liberating experience for her and she finds music offers her an emotional release.
Mennel dedicated Saturday’s performance to her parents.
Although all judges expressed an interest in coaching her, she chose Lebanese-born English singer and songwriter, Mika, as her coach.
In an interview with “Le Figaro,” Mennel defended her choice of wearing a colorful turban on the show instead of the more-traditional hijab, calling it her “signature style.”
“I am a Muslim so we can say that it is a way of wearing a veil in a more modern way,” she said. “But that’s mostly part of my look. You will never see me without it.”
Mennel has a Syrian-Turkish father and a Moroccan-Algerian mother and lives in Besançon, in the east of France.
“For me, ‘The Voice’ is an opportunity to express myself and discover who I really am. I have watched the show for several years and each time, I would say to myself, ‘One day, it will be me. Maybe.’ Then I was spotted and now I’m living my dream,” she said.
Mennel had 26,700 followers on Instagram before her audition. That number has almost doubled, with 51,500 fans at the time of writing.
First contestant to wear head covering on ‘The Voice France’ wows judges
First contestant to wear head covering on ‘The Voice France’ wows judges
Thai officials say 72 tigers at tourist parks died of canine distemper, allaying bird flu fears
- “There has not been an animal-to-human infection case,” Promphat said
- “If we detect any sick persons, we will prepare for a nationwide monitoring measure,” said Khanasawat
BANGKOK: The deaths of 72 tigers in two animal parks for tourists in northern Thailand shouldn’t be a major concern for the public, officials said Tuesday, because they were caused by a virus not known to affect humans, rather than bird flu.
No one has shown any symptoms so far, but authorities were nonetheless monitoring the health of people who had recently come into contact with the animals.
“There has not been an animal-to-human infection case,” Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat said at a news conference at Government House in Bangkok.
The tigers in the parks in Mae Taeng and Mae Rim districts in Chiang Mai province became sick and died during a roughly 10-day period between Feb. 8-18.
On Friday, the Chiang Mai regional livestock office announced in a statement that autopsies of the animals found genetic material of canine distemper virus, or CDV, and traces of bacterial infection, but no avian influenza type A virus, also known as bird flu.
“If we detect any sick persons, we will prepare for a nationwide monitoring measure,” said Monthien Khanasawat, director-general of the Public Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department. “This will include contact tracing and treatment as necessary.”
Monthien spoke at the news conference in an apparent effort to reassure the public that the tigers’ deaths didn’t come from bird flu, which has been resurgent in parts of Asia. Thailand saw 17 deaths among 25 infected patients from poultry-caused influenza from 2004 to 2007, according to the Public Health Ministry.
CDV, infectious for both dogs and felines, can cause stronger symptoms in cats and tigers and can be spread through bodily fluids and air. Thai authorities said that tigers in confined environments, and which are already affected by stress and inbreeding conditions, could be particularly vulnerable to the viral infection.
The remains of the tigers went through necropsies before being cremated and buried. The carcasses were properly disinfected, photographed and discarded to prevent any further use, Livestock Development Department Director-General Somchuan Rattanamangklanan said at the news conference.
But Visit Arsaithamkul, a veterinarian who took part in the tiger necropsies, expressed concern that the origins of the infections remained unclear without further investigation. In a Facebook post, he said that he suspected that as the two parks were located just 30 kilometers (18 miles) apart, the cause of infection could be food the tigers were fed that came from the same source.
He declined to elaborate when contacted by The Associated Press. Both parks, run under the name of Tiger Kingdom, remain closed. The operators didn’t immediately respond when asked for comment.
Thai authorities are still alert for the threat of a bird flu outbreak. Monthien, the Public Health Ministry director, urged Thais to be careful with their consumption of poultry after a man in a neighboring country that he didn’t name was found infected with bird flu.
The first animal-to-human transmission of bird flu was discovered in Hong Kong in 1997 before a pandemic started spreading in Asia in 2003. In Thailand, tens of millions of poultry were exterminated and consumption plunged in fear of getting infected.
