Rapper's Eurovision performance leaves Spanish TV red-faced

Mario Baquero has had his 15 minutes of fame - one which undoubtedly left Spain's public broadcaster Corporación Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) rather red-faced and television viewers more than a little open-mouthed.

Appearing under the alias of "John Cobra", the rapper appeared on RTVE television on Monday evening in a live broadcast of the country's search for a song to send to this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Not content with putting in a less-than-impressive vocal rendition of his entry "Carol", the 31-year-old then when on to cause a commotion (to put it politely) by hurling insults at the studio audience and making obscene gestures.

And the whole "performance" was broadcast live on Spain's public television channel with more than two-and-a-half million viewers having the pleasure of the rapper's behaviour.

Yes another Eurovision Song Contest story (groan) as the "excitement" hots up around Europe with each country in the process of choosing its contestant to send to Norway in May.

The actual contest might indeed still be more than three months away, but that doesn't stop it from making the headlines.

When Spanish viewers tuned in on Monday to watch the prime time programme that would decide which act would represent the country in Oslo in May, they probably weren't expecting the eyeful and earful to which they were "treated" when Baquero stepped up to the microphone.

After being booed by the audience, the 31-year-old then went on to give as good as he had been given, much to the embarrassment of the programme's presenter, Anne Igartiburu.

She made a valiant attempt at trying to prevent Baquero from continuing his antics but even after he had finished "singing" the rapper seemed determined to revel in his newly found "glory" and subjected the viewing public to ever more lewd displays.

This being the age of the Net of course, it didn't take long for the clip to make its way to an even wider audience.

So if you're really keen to see what Spanish television viewers had the "pleasure" of experiencing, you only need to watch the accompanying video.

You don't need to understand a word of Spanish to get the gist of what he was saying.

Un rappeur obscène embarasse la télé publique espagnole
par TELEOBS

Spain (along with many other countries) drags out the whole process of choosing its candidate for the annual musical jamboree that is the Eurovision Song Contest by making a television extravaganza out of it and allowing the public to decide which act should be sent to the finals.

A decision Spain's RTVE might well be ruing after Monday night's broadcast - at least in the matter of taste if not ratings.

Perhaps they would be well advised in future to follow the example of France, where it's left to the public broadcaster to decide who will sing what, and nobody else gets a say.

Just for the record (ouch) the winning contestant - chosen by a combination of a professional jury and the viewing public - was Daniel Diges singing "Algo Pequeñito".



And Spain, one of the so-called Big Four financial contributors on which the contest depends, will be hoping he'll manage better than the 23rd place (out of 25) in Moscow last year.

Ordeal over for French tourists in Brazil

On Tuesday a Brazilian court handed down fines to two French citizens, and acquitted a third, accused of inciting a "passenger rebellion" aboard a Paris-bound flight from São Paulo on December 6.

Unless there's an appeal in the case, the ruling should bring an end to what was described by one family member back in France as a "nightmare" for all involved.

The three had been aboard a TAM-operated flight which had already spent more than three hours on the tarmac before take-off because of a malfunction in the aircraft's computer system.

Explanations from the flight crew as to the cause of the delay were apparently only offered in Portuguese and English, and some passengers, among them the three who were later arrested, panicked and requested to be allowed to disembark and take another flight.

That request was refused and somehow "talk of rebellion" reached the cockpit and the police were called in to detain the "ringleaders" and escort them from the 'plane.

So who were these three "rabble rousers" accused of endangering the lives of other passengers and delaying the departure of the TAM flight?

They weren't, as you might be thinking, drunken and uncontrollable yobs, but two retired French men, Michel Ilinskas aged 61 and Antonio Nascimento aged 64, along with Emilie Camus, a 54-year-old hospital worker, all part of a small group of tourists returning home after a two-week cruise.

Ilinskas and Nascimento were held on suspicion of being the main "troublemakers" and Camus, the only Portuguese-speaker among them, was also arrested accused of having "incited violence" through her translations.

As can be seen from the accompanying amateur video taken by another passenger aboard the same flight, they weren't exactly treated with kid gloves when they were taken off the 'plane.

Why the three (and others) reacted in the way they did, perhaps needs to be seen in the light of the Air France flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris which crashed into the Atlantic in June last year killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew members.

Indeed the fate of that flight was mentioned at the trial and Nascimento, who was fined $US 1,400, explained why he had panicked.

"It's just not normal that a 'plane which has an 11 hour journey ahead of it should be subject to three successive equipment failures," he said.

"All I did was to speak rather loudly and express my fear of dying."

As far as Ilinskas, who received a $US 2,800 fine, was concerned, the verdict might not have been fair but he was happy the ordeal was over.

"The trial didn't reflect what truly happened on the 'plane," he said.

"But what's important for me now is to be able to return to France."

Najlae Lhimer, a family violence victim falls foul of French immigration laws

Najlae Lhimer is back in Morocco.

She has been there since last weekend after French authorities deported her because she was in this country illegally.

But the story of the 19-year-old isn't a just case of illegal immigration.

Instead it's surely an example of a law being zealously enforced without any respect to the rights of the individual and one which, as far as women's rights groups are concerned, makes a mockery of the government's policy to raise awareness of the issue of domestic and family violence.

Najlae first came to France at the age of 14, leaving Morocco to escape being forced into an arranged marriage.

She moved in with her brother in the town of Château-Renard in the centre of the country.

But as it turned out, life with him was far from easy to say the least.

He was reportedly a man with a reputation for being authoritarian, and one who didn't like to see his sister emancipated.

So much so that when he "found a cigarette butt" in her room last week, he hit her, to such an extent that she was unable to go to work for eight days.

Najlae decided to file a complaint against her brother.

But as Stéphanie Revillard, a friend who encouraged Najlae to go to the local police explained, rather than being seen as the victim, the 19-year-old found herself being questioned about her status here in France as she didn't have the required identity papers.

"In spite of the fact that she was injured, in spite of the fact that she was there to file a complaint against her brother and she was in fact the victim, she was detained," said Revillard.

And that detention quickly led to her deportation as the police contacted the local préfecture, an "expulsion order" was signed and Najlae put on a 'plane bound for Morocco.

Once there, she was taken into custody once again, this time for having "illegally fled her country" five years ago.

She has since been released and is currently being looked after by the local branch of le Réseau éducation sans frontières, RESF.

Women's rights groups in France have been quick to react to Najlae's plight and criticised the speed with which she found herself sent back to Morocco.

"The deportation of Najlae, a young woman who was in distress, is abominable," said Dominique Tripet from the Orléans branch of Droits des Femmes.

"It's an example of the increasing rapidity with which the (French) government violates human rights and republican values."

Speaking to the national daily Libération by 'phone on Monday, Najlae described what life had been like since she returned to a country she hasn't seen since she was 14 and where she apparently doesn't know anyone.

"After remaining 24 hours in jail, some members of RESF came to collect me," she said.

"I don't understand how or why I'm here," she added.

"I am lost ... "

A demonstration in support of Najlae is planned in the streets of Château-Renard for March 6.

According to France 3 television, Najlae's brother still hasn't been questioned by police.

France 3 Centre : Najlae, 19 ans, expulsée vers le Maroc
par Dj-Sheit