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Saudi Arabia Orders Rapper’s Arrest After Song Praising Women in Mecca

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  • Saudi Arabian Prince Khalid bin Faisal has called for the arrest of a rapper and her production crew after she posted a music video praising women in Mecca to YouTube.
  • The song, “Mecca Girls,” features singer Ayasel Slay rapping about how beautiful and strong women in Mecca are in comparison to other cities.
  • Bin Faisal has denounced the video as offensive to “the customs and traditions of the people of Mecca.”
  • The Saudi Arabian government has faced accusations of racism, with many saying that Ayasel’s arrest has only been ordered because she is of African descent and not part of the Arab ethnic group.

Ayasel Slay Posts “Mecca Girl”

The Saudi Arabian government is calling for the arrest of a singer after she posted a song called “Mecca Girl” to YouTube last week.

That music video features singer/rapper Ayasel Slay dancing in a coffee shop. In it, she raps about women in Mecca, praising them as the strongest and most beautiful in all of Saudi Arabia.

“A Mecca girl is all you need. Don’t upset her, she will hurt you,” she raps at one point. 

Notably, Slay, who is reportedly of Eritrean descent, also specifically raps about the beauty of both light- and dark-skinned women, saying: “She’s white, shines like a lightbulb. She’s dark, her beauty stings.”

The end of the music video shows kids dancing and having fun. Like Ayasel, many of the children are black.

While the video has garnered praise from activists, it’s also been hit with heavy religious criticism for featuring Mecca. Though also filmed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia’s holiest city, “Mecca Girl” was not filmed at any religious site.  Nonetheless, Muslims consider the entire area sacred.

The mention of Mecca was enough to prompt Prince Khalid bin Faisal, governor of the Mecca province, to call for Ayasel’s arrest, as well as the arrest of her production crew. 

In a post to Twitter, he said the music video “offends the customs and traditions of the people of Mecca and contradicts the elevated identity and traditions of its sons.” He then used the hashtag “You_Are_Not_Mecca’s_Girls.”

Following bin Faisal’s call to arrest Ayasel, she reportedly deleted her YouTube channel, also deleting “Mecca Girl” in the process. Numerous copies of the music video have since been posted to YouTube.

Accusations of Racism by the Saudi Government

Though some have argued that Ayasel’s incorporation of Mecca into her song was the reason behind the Saudi government’s retaliation against her, others have said the government is targeting Ayasel specifically because she is black. 

“The consequences are not equaling the crime, because there is no crime there,” Seattle-based Saudi activist Amani Al-Ahmadi told The Washington Post. “It’s obviously targeted against a woman who they feel doesn’t represent what Saudi and Mecca should be.” 

“It was very modest in nature,” she added. “If anything, it was just talking about how strong women are in the city compared to others… If you changed that city to any other city, you wouldn’t even know the difference. If she wasn’t a woman of color, they wouldn’t have seen her as a minority to target.”

Critics have also pointed to a 2018 music video featuring rapper Leesa, who went viral for singing about the end to a ban that prevented women in Saudi Arabia from driving. 

Like “Mecca Girl,” Leesa’s song featured overt messages of female empowerment.

“I don’t need anyone to take me/ I put the seat belt over my abaya,” she raps at one point. 

Unlike Ayasel’s performance, Leesa’s was more well-received, with critics noting that ethnically, Leesa is Arab. On the other hand, Slay is of African descent—even if Mecca is her hometown.

Online Response

Criticism against Ayasel has also made waves on social media, with many people using the #You_Are_Not_Mecca’s_Girls hashtag to attack Ayasel.

“Immediate deportation is the answer, in addition to holding every foreigner who claims to be from Mecca accountable,” one person said. 

Others, however, doubled down that Ayasel’s arrest warrant wasn’t about race but the fact that she referenced Islam’s most holy city in a song.

By Tuesday, many people had taken the “#You_Are_Not_Mecca’s_Girls” hashtag and flooded it with support for Ayasel, and in turn, criticism of the government. 

“Had it been an affluent, well connected, light skinned Saudi influencer who created the video it would have been used in MBS’s propaganda as a sign of progress and reform. Double standards & hypocrisy at its best,” one user said.

Some people also accused Saudi Arabia of hypocrisy, noting that the country has been trying to change its strict social codes by booking performances from major acts such as Nicki Minaj, BTS, and Liam Payne. 

Notably, all of those acts faced their own criticism for agreeing to perform in the country, especially considering Saudi Arabia’s poor track record with women and LGBTQ+ groups. That backlash then prompted Minaj to drop her performance.

“Shout out to the Saudi government for inviting Nicki Minaj to perform in a bid to appear “modern” but banned and arrested an *actual* Black Saudi female rapper who created a banger about her hometown #AsayelSlay,” one user said. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, it is unclear still unclear whether or not the Saudi Arabian government has taken any action against Ayasel.

See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (Al Jazeera) (Mashable)

International

U.S. Intel Suggests Pro-Ukraine Group Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipeline

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There is no evidence that the culprits behind the attack were acting under the direction of the Ukrainian government.


Europe Braces for Shocking Revelations

A pro-Ukraine group blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last September, intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests.

The New York Times reported the news Tuesday, citing officials who said there was no evidence of involvement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, any of his top lieutenants, or any government officials.

The strength of the evidence, however, is not clear, and U.S. officials declined to inform The Times on the nature of the intelligence or how it was obtained. They reportedly added that the intelligence indicates neither who the group’s members are nor who funded and directed the operation.

The Times’ sources said they believe the saboteurs were most likely Russian or Ukrainian nationals and that they possibly received specialized government training in the past.

It’s also possible that the group behind the attack was a proxy with covert ties to Kyiv, the report added.

When three of four Nord Stream pipelines were found to be severely damaged last year, the revelation shook markets and sent European gas prices soaring. Nord Stream 1, which was completed in 2011, and Nord Stream 2, which had been laid down but wasn’t yet operational, supplied Germany and by extension the rest of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas.

Following the explosions, Poland and Ukraine blamed Russia, and Russia blamed Britain. Other observers speculated that Ukraine might be behind it too.

More Ongoing Investigations

Last month, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed in a Substack article that the United States military carried out the attack and that President Biden authorized it himself. However, Hersh’s report cited only one anonymous source in support of its central claim, so it was largely dismissed as not credible.

Western governments expressed caution on Wednesday in response to The Times report.

“There are ongoing national investigations and I think it’s right to wait until those are finalized before we say anything more about who was behind it,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Russia, by contrast, pounced on the opportunity to renew its demand for inclusion in a proposed international probe into the pipeline explosion.

The Ukrainian government denied any involvement in the Nord Stream explosions.

On Wednesday, multiple German media outlets reported that investigators have largely reconstructed how the attack happened, pinning the blame on six people who allegedly used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland.

German officials reportedly searched a vessel suspected of carrying the explosives in January, but the investigation is ongoing.

The country’s defense minister suggested the explosions may have been a “false flag” attack to smear Ukraine.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Associated Press) (Reuters)

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Turkey, Syria Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 41,000 as Survivors Pulled from Rubble

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A pair of brothers spent around 200 hours trapped under debris, living off of protein powder and their own urine.


A Humanitarian Crisis Explodes

The number of confirmed dead from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last week has surpassed 41,000.

Millions more people have been left stranded without adequate shelter, food, clean water, or medical supplies.

At night, the region has dropped to below-freezing temperatures.

Now health authorities are worried that the lack of sanitation infrastructure, which was damaged by the quakes, will lead to a disease outbreak.

“We haven’t been able to rinse off since the earthquake,” 21-year-old Mohammad Emin, whose home was destroyed, told Reuters.

He was helping out at a clinic serving displaced people in an open-air stadium, but with no showers and only six toilets, the resource shortage was poignant.

“They are offering tetanus shots to residents who request them, and distributing hygiene kits with shampoo, deodorant, pads and wipes,” added Akin Hacioglu, a doctor at the clinic.

The World Health Organization monitors the population for waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid, as well as seasonal influenza and COVID-19.

Rescuers Race Against the Clock

After more than a week of searching, hopes that more living victims will be found amid the collapsed buildings are fading, but rescuers continue to pull out the final few survivors.

Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21, and his brother Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, spent about 200 hours under rubble in the city of Kahramanmaras before they were extracted Tuesday. They told reporters they held on by eating protein powder, drinking their own urine, and swallowing gulps of air.

In the same city, teams dug a 16-foot tunnel through debris to rescue a woman, and to the south, a volunteer mining crew joined the efforts to save another.

With no homes to go back to, some survivors have joined the ranks of volunteers themselves.

In the past week, more than 35,000 Turkish search-and-rescue teams worked alongside thousands of international workers in the effort, according to Turkey’s emergency management agency.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the earthquakes the “disaster of the century” and said in a statement that at least 13,000 people were being treated in hospitals.

The death toll is expected to rise even further in the coming weeks.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Resigns

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“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she said to reporters


Sturgeon Steps Down

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation on Wednesday. 

Sturgeon has been Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister and she is also the first woman to ever hold the position. She has been in politics since 1999, leading the charge for Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom. Sturgeon also guided the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sturgeon made sure to mention that her decision was not in response to the latest round of political pressure she is facing after her recent controversies regarding gender reform. Rather, her reasons are rooted in her own personal struggle with whether she can continue to do the job well. 

 “To be clear, I am not expecting violins here. But I am a human being as well as a politician,” she said during a press conference on Wednesday. “My point is this – giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it. The country deserves nothing less. But, in truth, that can only be done by anyone for so long.

For me, it is now in danger of becoming too long,” Sturgeon continued. “A First Minister is never off-duty. Particularly in this day and age, there is virtually no privacy. Even ordinary stuff that most people take for granted like going for a coffee with friends or going for a walk on your own becomes  very difficult.”

Sturgeon’s Political Future

Sturgeon’s approval ratings are reportedly the lowest they’ve been since she’s been in office. Regardless, many political figures in Scotland, as well as the U.K., have applauded her and her historic service as First Minister. 

There are still several unknowns moving forward. There is still no confirmation on who will take over the position. However, Sturgeon did say that she will serve until someone else is elected. 

The push for Scotland’s independence is hanging in limbo as well, and no one knows what it’ll look like without Sturgeon’s leadership. She did mention, however, that she does not intend to leave politics fully and will still fight for the cause as a lawmaker in Parliament. 

Sturgeon said the support for Scottish independence needs to be solidified and grow.

“To achieve that we need to reach across the divide in Scottish politics,” she said. “And my judgment now is that this needs a new leader.”

See what others are saying: (New York Times) (BBC) (The Washington Post)

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