After nearly three weeks of lurid reporting on a horrifying gang-rape in New Delhi, women in the Indian capital say they are more anxious than ever, leading to a surge in interest in self-defense classes.
New Delhi has long been known as the “rape capital of India,” with more than twice as many cases in 2011 as the commercial hub Mumbai, and special care is taken by most women when traveling at night or on public transport.
But the December 16 gang-rape, in which a 23-year-old student was repeatedly violated on a moving bus and assaulted with an iron bar, has brought concern to new levels amid increased focus on the city’s safety record.
Self-defense trainer Anuj Sharma says he has fielded a flurry of calls from concerned women interested in taking classes with his Invictus Survival Sciences training institute in south Delhi. “There has been a certain surge in the level of demand for services like self-defense and personal protective training,” Sharma told AFP at a class in a school hall, echoing comments from other martial arts experts in the city.
“I think this infamous case has forced people to think that they can no longer put this (safety issue) on the backburner, self-defense is a priority for them,” he said.
Smriti Iyer, a 23-year-old student like the Delhi victim, says she started coming to Sharma’s classes to protect herself better and her example has sparked interest in other friends.
In the classes, Sharma teaches her basic self-defense, including how to squirm free from the grip of an attacker and disable them with a punch or kick to the groin.
“I think women have always known that they have to look after themselves, but after this incident a lot of people of my age have really started taking this up,” said Iyer.
Across the sprawling city of 16 million, shopkeepers say sales of pepper spray and rape alarms are up, while many young women report that relatives have become more concerned than ever about their welfare.
One newspaper reported this week that women had started coming forward to apply for gun licences.
Jai Shankar, owner of a general store on the Janpath main road in central New Delhi, told AFP that sales of pepper sprays had been “brisk” since the gang-rape, which has galvanized disgust over rising crime against women.
“Earlier we would sell just a few cans in a month. But more women have been coming to my shop asking for the spray,” he told AFP.
Ashima Sagar, a 22-year-old sales assistant in Shankar’s shop who takes the “relatively safer” metro train with reserved carriages for women at night, says her mother has become almost paranoid.
“I leave my workplace around nine in the night. After this incident, even if I am late by 10 minutes, my mother gets anxious and calls me to find out if I am OK,” Sagar told AFP.
In the outsourcing industry, rocked by a rape and murder of an employee late at night in 2005, some companies have begun providing extra security to women staff who work shifts around the clock.
“After the Delhi incident, we ensure that at least one security guard is present in our late-night cabs,” Anurag Mathur, a human resource executive in a Delhi-based company, told AFP.
A survey by industry group ASSOCHAM published on Friday showed a 40 percent fall in productivity of women employees at call centers and IT companies because many had reduced their hours or had quit.
As anxiety takes root, meaning in many cases that women simply stay at home more, activists have raised their voices to condemn the state for failing to offer protection.
“Why should we live in a society where every woman is made responsible for her own security and safety? What we need really is a system which will protect us,” said Ranjana Kumari of the New Delhi-based Center for Social Research.
This has been the source of sometimes violent protests against the government over the last two and a half weeks as incensed women led marches and demonstrations in cities across the country of 1.2 billion people.
The statistics show however that any self-defense techniques are most likely to be needed against a family member or neighbor, with more than 95 percent of alleged perpetrators in rape cases being someone known to the victim.
There were 24,206 cases of rape registered in 2011 in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, but this is thought to be gross under-representation of the problem.
In the cities, 17 percent of cases were recorded in Delhi compared with 8.6 percent for Mumbai.
In ‘rape capital’ New Delhi, women turn to self-defense
In ‘rape capital’ New Delhi, women turn to self-defense
Ivory Coast orchestra offers rural children an escape
ODIENNE: In the hubbub of children’s chatter, nine-year-old Leila Coulibaly deftly tunes her violin ahead of a rehearsal by Ivory Coast’s first philharmonic orchestra.
She is among almost 140 children who make up the ensemble based in the rural northern town of Odienne.
They gather as an orchestra once a week but every day some youngsters, aged six to 16, are picked up by minibus and brought to a hotel.
There, they practice for over two hours incorporating traditional instruments like the balafon, a type of xylophone, and djembe drums.
“I want to be a professional musician because the orchestra changed my life,” Leila told AFP.
Hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from the bustling metropolis of Abidjan, Odienne relies heavily on agriculture, sometimes involving child labor.
Poverty and high unemployment make the future uncertain for many young people in Ivory Coast.
The Odienne orchestra is somewhat of a “crazy project” in a region like this, conductor Fabrice Koffi said, laughing.
In temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), 15-year-old trombonist Siaka Sy Savane sits behind the shady stalls of a market.
From dawn “Monday to Friday, I come to help my mother at the market. Saturday and Sunday, I go with my big brother to the field,” he said.
“When I sing the music of the orchestra, I don’t feel tired anymore, it motivates me.
“Ever since I was young, I dreamed of being a musician,” he said, adding: “Today, my dream has come true.”
Last August, less than a year after the orchestra was created, the children played for Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara on the anniversary of independence from France in 1960.
Despite playing the odd wrong note, they play with ease Mozart’s “March of the Priests” from “The Magic Flute” or the “Coup du Marteau,” which became a hit during the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.
The song by musician Tam Sir was performed by the orchestra at the closing ceremony of the football competition, which Ivory Coast won.
“I enjoyed playing in front of all of those people. I was really scared” but “I regained my self-confidence,” violinist Leila said.
The youth development program is inspired by Venezuelan initiative El Sistema, which teaches music to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In the West African nation, the orchestra was set up by Minister for Employment and Social Protection Adama Kamara, who is personally funding it.
Koffi has watched over every student since the very first rehearsal.
“We are doing the opposite of what a traditional orchestra does,” he said.
While an ensemble is usually a “gathering of the very best” musicians, the orchestra in Odienne has taught the children the basics, such as music theory and playing techniques.
Teaching is done collectively, “unlike an academy of music” which gives priority to private lessons, trumpet teacher Jean Caleb Kouadio said.
MUSIC AND SCHOOL
The lessons have also been designed with sometimes conservative parents in mind, in a predominantly Muslim region.
“At first, the parents were downright reluctant,” said Abdramane Doucoure, an intermediary between the families and the orchestra.
“Some people used to say that music doesn’t go with Islam,” he said.
Sarata Kante, a trumpeter in her early teens, had to convince her parents to let her play in the orchestra.
“She insisted for several weeks,” her mother Mawa Keita said.
“It wasn’t my ambition, my vision for her,” said her father Ousmane Kante, fearing she would be too distracted.
“School is serious business,” he added.
It is not a question of “taking children out of school” to become musicians, Koffi said.
He, too, had to stand up to his parents when he was younger in order to become a flautist.
“On the contrary, music” offers “the potential to excel at school,” he added.
Sarata’s grades in school have improved and she dreams of becoming a vet.
For viola teacher Deborah Bodo Israel, the orchestra and its achievements continue to amaze. “What’s happening is magic,” she said.
France arrests three after coffins left at Eiffel Tower
- The incident is being investigated as a possible interference by a foreign power in French affairs
PARIS: Police have arrested three people after five coffins were found near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, draped in French flags with the inscription “French soldiers in Ukraine,” sources close to the case said Sunday.
The incident is being investigated as a possible interference by a foreign power in French affairs, they told AFP.
Around 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday, three people left the five life-size coffins on the Quai Branly in Paris near the base of the Eiffel Tower, one of the world's most visited tourist attractions.
The boxes contained gypsum, a source close to the case told AFP.
The driver of a van used to transport the coffins, who was arrested nearby, told police that he had been paid 40 euros ($43) to drive the two others and their cargo, the source said.
The man was believed to have arrived from Bulgaria the evening before.
The two others were apprehended later Saturday across town at the Bercy coach terminal where they were about to board a service to Berlin, the source said.
One of the three people was Bulgarian, another Ukrainian and the third German, the source said. They were still in custody on Sunday.
President Emmanuel Macron said last month the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.
The president was doubling down on earlier comments in which he did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, which sent shock waves through much of Europe and unsettled allies including Germany.
The Kremlin slammed the remarks, calling them “dangerous.”
French authorities have suspected foreign — notably Russian — interference in domestic affairs in several other recent incidents, including last month when red hand graffiti was painted onto France's Holocaust Memorial.
The three suspects in that case are believed to have fled abroad.
France suspects that Russia was behind another high-profile incident, the daubing of dozens of Stars of David on buildings in Paris and its suburbs shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel.
Investigators said some of the mass graffiti, widely condemned as anti-Semitic, may have been carried out at the “express demand” of an individual residing abroad, implying a possible connection to Russia.
Moscow has denied having anything to do with it.
French auction house postpones sale of Maradona’s trophy amid ownership controversy, judicial probe
- A French court ruled the auction could go ahead but the lawyer for Maradona’s heirs has lodged an appeal
The auction of a trophy awarded to the late Diego Maradona that was planned this week has been postponed, French auction house Aguttes said on Sunday amid a judicial investigation looking into the possible resale of stolen goods.
Maradona’s heirs this week failed to stop the auction of the Golden Ball trophy he received for being the best player at the 1986 World Cup by starting an urgent judicial motion. A French court ruled the auction could go ahead but the lawyer for Maradona’s heirs lodged an appeal.
“Maradona has always aroused passions, and this continues despite the recent court ruling on Thursday, which we welcome and which dismissed the heirs’ request for a ban on the sale,” Maximilien Aguttes said in a statement. “Our mission is to organize the auction in the best possible conditions, both for our seller and for the buyers. This litigious climate and these uncertainties do not allow connoisseurs to approach this acquisition calmly, and our role as a trusted third party can no longer be properly fulfilled.”
A new date for the auction has yet to be set.
French judicial officials last month opened an investigation after they received a complaint related to the resale of allegedly stolen goods. The Nanterre prosecutor’s office said the court ruling did not have an impact on the probe, which is still ongoing.
The Golden Ball was missing for decades after it disappeared in uncertain circumstances and only recently resurfaced. Maradona’s heirs say the trophy was stolen and claimed the current owner wasn’t entitled to sell it. Aguttes said the trophy reappeared in 2016 among other lots that were acquired from a private collection at auction in Paris.
The current owner and Aguttes claimed that when he bought the trophy years ago he was not aware it had been stolen.
Maradona received the award in 1986 at a ceremony at the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Élysées. It subsequently disappeared, giving rise to rumors. Some say it was lost during a poker game or sold to pay off debts. Others say Maradona stored it in a safe in a Naples bank that was robbed by local gangsters in 1989 when he played in the Italian league. Maradona’s heirs believe it was stolen from the bank.
Maradona, who died in 2020 at age 60, captained Argentina in its 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 final in Mexico City. In a quarterfinal win over England he scored the “Hand of God” goal and the “Goal of the Century.”
Aguttes said it expects the trophy “to fetch millions due to its uniqueness.”
The Hand of God goal came when Maradona punched the ball into England’s net. Four minutes later, he weaved through England’s midfield and defense and past goalkeeper Peter Shilton for what FIFA later declared the greatest goal in World Cup history.
Egypt’s Sudanese refugees using rich cuisine to build new lives
- Across the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo — home to over 20 million people — many Sudanese refugees have opened businesses, bringing a taste of home and hoping to make a name for themselves
CAIRO: Sudanese entrepreneur Julie Samir’s dream of opening a restaurant has finally come true, but it’s a bittersweet achievement after she fled Egypt from her war-torn homeland of Sudan.
Now, Samir has one aim for her menu: winning over the palate of Egyptians with a taste of Sudan’s complex culinary traditions, born from a rich history at the crossroads of the Middle East and Africa.
“I’m targeting the Egyptian consumer, I want them to get to know Sudanese culture,” the 42-year-old told AFP from her sun-lit eatery in eastern Cairo, the scent of simmering aromatics wafting out of the kitchen.
Across the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo — home to over 20 million people — many Sudanese refugees have opened businesses, bringing a taste of home and hoping to make a name for themselves.
Samir and her two children have been in the Egyptian capital for over a year, since making the 2,000-kilometer (around 1,200-mile) journey from their home in Khartoum.
Along with half a million other Sudanese, they fled the war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to neighboring Egypt — and got to work rebuilding a life.
Today, on the lawns of one of Cairo’s upscale sporting clubs, Samir’s restaurant ‘Kush Children’s Village’ serves up a fusion menu.
“The name was my father’s idea, inspired by the Bible,” she said, explaining the reference to Kush, the ancient kingdom that straddled modern-day Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
“We serve all three cuisines,” she said proudly, but insisted the restaurant is still distinctly Sudanese.
“Everyone who works here is from Sudan, all of us came here fleeing the war,” she said, explaining how the team found each other through solidarity networks on social media.
In the kitchen, 46-year-old chef Fadi Moufid fussed over pots and pans stewing a number of the restaurant’s wide array of dishes.
The former caterer’s signature is agashe — skewered meat, chicken or fish seasoned with a spicy peanut dry rub then barbequed low and slow on glowing embers.
“Egyptians don’t like their food as spicy as we do, so we try to tone it down so they can really appreciate it,” Moufid told AFP over a bowl of zigni, a beef stew marinated in Ethiopian spices and served with injera, a spongy flatbread.
But cracking the Egyptian culinary scene is no easy feat.
“Competition wasn’t as big in Sudan between food businesses, but here it’s huge,” Moufid says, pointing particularly to “large Syrian restaurants” founded by diaspora entrepreneurs who also fled their war-torn homeland in recent years.
Standing out can be difficult, but Moufid and Samir are slowly drawing in Egyptian palates.
“I liked the taste of the spices and how tender the meat is,” one of their Egyptian guests, Khaled Abdelrahman, told AFP.
“It has a different feel to it,” he said.
In the suburb of Sheikh Zayed, west of Cairo, Sudanese confectioner Qussay Biram’s dessert shop, “Jeeb Maak” — Arabic for “Bring Along” — sells deep-fried dough balls called ‘luqaimat’.
They are similar to Egyptian ‘zalabia’, but still shock the Egyptians who step into the sweet-smelling store.
“They’re taken by surprise because we put more salt in the dough than they’re used to,” one of his employees, Ziad Abdelhalim, told AFP.
“It brings out a different taste to the sweetness,” he said while serving customers a steaming cup of traditional cardamom-spiced milk tea — also novel to most Egyptians.
The business model is clearly working, with ‘Jeeb Maak’ now boasting three branches across Cairo.
But Biram says it hardly makes up for what he left behind.
At 29, the entrepreneur believes he will likely never return to Sudan and that the businesses he “closed because of the war” back home are gone forever.
In a little over a year, already impoverished Sudan has been torn apart. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, pushed close to nine million from their homes and brought the country to the brink of famine.
“Even if things calm down, there won’t be many business opportunities,” he said, resolute in his plan to “see this experience in Egypt through.”
Samir, who said her family was stalked by paramilitary fighters when fleeing Sudan, had planned to spend only a month in Egypt.
“But the war’s not ending,” she said, resigned to finding ways to remind herself of the homeland she longs for.
“I want to hire a henna artist in the restaurant, I know Egyptians love that,” she said with a laugh.
Climate activist arrested for attacking Monet painting in Paris
- Action is the latest in a string of protests aimed at drawing attention to global warming by defacing art
PARIS: A climate activist was arrested on Saturday for sticking an adhesive poster on a Monet painting at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris to draw attention to global warming, a police source told AFP.
The action by the woman, a member of “Riposte Alimentaire” (Food Response) — a group of environmental activists and defenders of sustainable food production — is the latest in a string of protests aimed at drawing attention to global warming by defacing art.
In a video posted on X, the woman — introducing herself as a “concerned citizen” --- is seen placing a blood-red poster over the “Coquelicots” (Poppy Field) painting by Claude Monet, a French Impressionist artist.
In the video she said of the poster covering Monet’s art that “this nightmarish image awaits us if no alternative is put in place.”
She added: “At four degrees, we can expect hell,” a reference to forecasts saying that Earth’s temperature could rise by 4 Celsius over pre-industrial levels by 2050.
Monet’s painting, completed in 1873, shows people with umbrellas strolling in a blooming poppy field and is part of a special Musee d’Orsay show called “Paris 1874, Inventing Impressionism” that features 130 works by 31 artists.
A restoration expert examined the painting which suffered no permanent damage, the Musee d’Orsay told AFP, adding that it had been put back on the wall.
“The exhibition is entirely accessible to the public again,” a spokesperson said.
The museum would file a criminal complaint, the spokesperson added.
Some of Monet’s works have sold for tens of millions of dollars, with his painting “Meules” (“Haystacks“) even fetching over $110 million including fees at an auction in 2019.
Riposte Alimentaire has claimed responsibility for several attacks on art in France in a bid to draw attention to the climate crisis and deteriorating food quality.
They included an attack on the world’s most famous portrait, the “Mona Lisa,” in the Louvre in January when two protesters hurled soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork, saying they had a right to “healthy and sustainable food.”
The attackers were sentenced by a Paris court to carry out volunteer work for a charity organization.
Already in 2022, a man had thrown a custard pie at the Mona Lisa because, he said, artists were not focusing enough on “the planet.”
In February, Riposte Alimentaire protesters again threw soup at a painting, this time in Lyon, southeast France, targeting another Monet painting, “Springtime.”
Last month activists also belonging to the group stuck flyers around “Liberty Leading the People,” a painting by Eugene Delacroix in the Louvre.
In April, two of its members were arrested at the Musee d’Orsay, which is dedicated to 19th-Century art, suspected of preparing an action there.
Riposte Alimentaire calls itself a “French civil resistance movement which aims to spur a radical societal change for the environment and society.”
“We love art,” the movement has said, “but future artists will have nothing to paint on a burning planet.”
Monet appears to be a favorite target for climate activists elsewhere, too, with paintings by the Impressionist having previoiusly come under attack in Potsdam, Germany, and in Stockholm.
