'Send Help' debuts atop N.America box office

Gaza's key Rafah border crossing reopened to Palestinians on Monday, an Israeli security official said, though Egyptian state-linked media said only 50 people would be allowed to cross in each direction in the early days.

The resumption of operations comes after Gaza's civil defence reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend, in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian fighters exiting a tunnel in Rafah city.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel and is a key access point for both people and goods.

Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it has remained largely closed since.

A partial resumption of operations began on Sunday in a tightly restricted pilot phase that did not involve travel of people, following months of appeals from aid groups.

"As of this time, and following the arrival of the EUBAM teams on behalf of the European Union, the Rafah crossing has now opened to the movement of residents, for both entry and exit," the Israeli official said, referring to a European border assistance mission.

Egyptian state-linked media reported that 50 people were expected to cross in each direction in the first days of the reopening.

AlQahera News, which is linked to Egypt's state intelligence service, reported citing an unnamed source that "fifty people will depart Egypt for Gaza and fifty people will come from Gaza, in the first days of the operation".

A source at the border told AFP a few dozen people arrived on the Egyptian side on Monday awaiting entry into Gaza.

Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported that the crossing would be open for about six hours daily.

"The Rafah crossing is a lifeline," said Mohammed Nassir, a Palestinian who had his leg amputated after being injured early in the war.

"I need to undergo surgery that is unavailable in Gaza but can be performed abroad."

- Hospitals preparing -

Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, said Israeli bombings killed 32 people including children in Gaza on Saturday.

Israel's military said the strikes were retaliation for an incident on Friday in which eight Palestinian fighters exited a tunnel in Rafah, which it said violated the fragile US-sponsored ceasefire in effect since October 10.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the opening of the Rafah crossing "marks a concrete and positive step in the peace plan," for the war-battered territory. 

"The EU's civilian mission is on the ground to monitor crossing operations and support Palestinian border guards," she wrote online. 

An official at Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said on Sunday about 200 patients were waiting for permission to leave the territory. 

The director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said there were 20,000 patients in the territory, including 4,500 children, in urgent need of treatment.

Rafah is considered a key entry point into and out of Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war.

The crossing had been briefly opened in early 2025 but has been largely shut since it was seized by Israeli forces.

AFP images from Sunday showed ambulances queued up on the Egyptian side preparing to receive medical evacuees, who were expected to be the first groups allowed out.

AlQahera News, citing Egypt's health ministry, reported that 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances had been prepared to receive Palestinian patients.   

It said 12,000 doctors and 30 rapid deployment teams had been allocated to work with the transferred Palestinians.

- No aid entry so far -

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body coordinating Palestinian civilian affairs, made no mention of allowing in a long-hoped-for surge of aid, speaking only of the passage of individuals "in both directions".

AlQahera News reported that the Egyptian side of the crossing would remain open "round the clock".

Israel had previously tied Rafah's reopening to the return of the remains of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza. His body was recovered and buried last week, prompting Israel to announce the phased reopening.

Rafah lies in an area held by Israeli forces following their withdrawal behind a so-called "Yellow Line" under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire.

Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza, while the rest remains under Hamas authority.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliation left at least 71,795 people dead in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

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Critics and fans welcomed South Korea's first Grammy win for the song "Golden", from the hit animated film "KPop Demon Hunters", describing it on Monday as a breakthrough for the genre.

The track, performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami as the fictional girl group Huntrix in the film, won Best Song Written for Visual Media to claim an accolade that had long eluded the industry despite its global popularity.

K-pop megagroups BTS, for example, has been nominated multiple times in different categories since 2021 but has yet to be recognised at the music industry's biggest night.

One YouTube commentator, who uses the handle striderz1971, noted that neither BTS nor Blackpink had been able to score a Grammy and said that "a path had now been forced open".  

"With that barrier now breached, K-pop artists may finally begin to receive the recognition they deserve," they said.

Music columnist Kim Do-hoon told AFP that the Grammys had long sidelined K-pop because of what he said was its "cookie-cutter format". 

"The Grammys have traditionally placed strong emphasis on musical quality -- an area in which K-pop is not widely recognised," he said.

"They are also known for avoiding heavily produced music, which is often the case with K-pop artists," Kim said.

"Golden" was also nominated for Song of the Year alongside "APT.", sung by K-pop idol Rose and Bruno Mars in a high-octane opening to the ceremony.

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell won the coveted category for "Wildflower", a result that surprised some observers in a crowded field.

South Korean media were quick to welcome the success of "Golden".

"'Kedehun', which has captivated the world, has triumphed at the Grammys," a Yonhap news agency headline read, using a shorthand title for the film that has been widely adopted in South Korea.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun daily noted that the Grammys had until now stopped short of honouring K-pop acts.

"The Grammys have long been seen as a conservative awards show that is not particularly open to diverse music genres, making it difficult for K-pop to break through," it said.

The Song of the Year nominations for "Golden" and "APT." were "meaningful milestones" even though they did not win, Kyunghyang said.

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Donald Trump threatened legal action on Monday against the host of the 68th Grammy Awards over the comedian's comment on the US president and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After congratulating Billie Eilish for winning the Grammy for Song of the Year for her track "Wildflower," host Trevor Noah brought up Trump and Epstein.

"Wow. That's a Grammy that every artist wants -- almost as much as Trump wants Greenland," he quipped, referring to the president's threats to seize the autonomous Arctic territory. 

Noah then added: "Which makes sense because, since Epstein's gone, he needs a new island to hang out with Bill Clinton."

Noah, who announced that this will be his final year hosting the Grammys after six turns as emcee, has been light on political commentary in previous years.

His comments drew the ire of the president, who took to his Truth Social platform first saying that the "Grammy Awards are the WORST and virtually unwatchable," before criticizing Noah.

"I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory, statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media," Trump asserted.

The Republican then branded South African Noah a "total loser" who needs to "get his facts straight."

"I'll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C. ... Get ready Noah, I'm going to have some fun with you!" Trump added.

Trump, who moved in the same social circles as Epstein in Florida and New York, has fought for months to prevent the release of a vast trove of documents about the disgraced financier and has given varying accounts of why he eventually fell out with Epstein.

More than three million documents were released on Friday that included mention of numerous powerful figures, including the 79-year-old president, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

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Nina and her husband live in constant fear that US immigration authorities will separate them from their 4-year-old daughter Ayadana. 

The couple is among thousands of immigrant parents hiding in their homes in Minneapolis, dreading that federal agents will come knocking. 

The fear of being torn apart from her little girl gnaws away at Nina, after thousands of US immigration officers were deployed by President Donald Trump to the midwestern city two months ago.  

"If we go out to work and they catch us, and my little girl is at school, what am I supposed to do?" Nina, a 25-year-old asylum seeker from Ecuador, told AFP, withholding her full name. 

"I can't do anything because they won't let me leave to get my daughter, and my daughter will be left all alone."

To protect Ayadana from being placed in the care of social services, Nina considered signing a Delegation of Parental Authority -- a document known as a "DOPA" -- naming a friend who holds a green card as the girl's legal guardian.

But Nina soon found herself despairing, once she realized she could not leave her hiding place.  

"I couldn't go out, go and sign this DOPA at the notary's office," she recalled. 

Nina, who keeps a hawk's eye on reports about raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in her neighborhood, only slips out of her home once a week, and always at night. 

- Transfer of parental authority - 

Daniel Hernandez, a 41-year-old local entrepreneur, decided to act to help immigrants in a similar jam.  

For weeks, Hernandez, who owns several grocery stores in Minneapolis, has been using the services of a local notary to pre-stamp DOPA forms.

He then makes house calls to immigrants to have them sign the papers. 

In his view, many immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, underestimated Trump's anti-immigration crackdown, the cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign.

"Once all the raids began happening, people realized this is real," Hernandez said. "I began getting a lot of calls telling me that they needed this piece of paper."

Since November, he had "signed up over 1,000 children" through these transfers of parental authority. 

"I have another 500 kids that are waiting, and I haven't answered a bunch of messages because I'm overwhelmed," he added.

Several organizations are running similar campaigns in Minneapolis. 

Beyond the shooting deaths of two US citizens and local residents who were opposed to the actions of federal agents, Minneapolis was rocked in January by the arrest of five-year-old Ecuadorian boy Liam Conejo Ramos. 

The photo of his face, lost under a rabbit-eared hat, strengthened Nina's resolve to protect her daughter, who is nearly Liam's age. 

"It really hurt me to see that child in that situation," Nina said. 

- 'A bit of safety' - 

The Trump administration maintains that Liam's father, who was the target of the arrest, requested the boy be detained with him in Texas. 

According to the family's lawyers, federal agents used the child to try to lure his mother out of her home in order to arrest her, and refused to let him stay there.

On Saturday, a judge ordered Liam and his father's release, but the ordeal has intensified the anxiety felt among immigrants in Minneapolis.

"Right now, unfortunately, we're in God's hands," said Richard Torres, a 39-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela. 

His two-year-old daughter, who is autistic, and his wife were sent to Texas to be incarcerated, following a routine appointment with authorities to follow up on the couple's case.

The official reason for the pair's detention was that they missed a hearing, which Torres said was a "lie."

A judge recently acknowledged there was a mistake and ordered their release, but the debacle has left Torres, a hospitality worker, devastated. 

Torres now sees the delegation of his parental authority to a guardian as "the only way to ensure a bit of safety for our families and our children."

He said he feels reassured having a DOPA to entrust Alani's care to his wife's cousin, should the worst happen.

"She's not American," he said. "But she's the only person we really trust."

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Snapchat has blocked 415,000 accounts under Australia's social media ban for under-16s, the company said Monday, but warned some youngsters may be bypassing age verification technology.

The platform urged the Australian authorities to oblige app stores to check users' ages as an "additional safeguard" for the world-first crackdown.

Platforms including Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and YouTube must stop underage users from holding accounts under the legislation, which came into effect on December 10.

Companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$34 million) if they fail to take "reasonable steps" to comply.

Australia's eSafety online regulator reported last month that tech giants had already blocked 4.7 million accounts, delivering "significant outcomes".

As of the end of January, Snapchat said it had blocked or disabled 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia belonging to under-16s.

"We continue to lock more accounts daily," it said in an online statement.

But the law leaves "significant gaps", Snapchat said, arguing that age estimation technology was only accurate to within two to three years.

"In practice, this means some young people under 16 may be able to bypass protections, potentially leaving them with reduced safeguards, while others over 16 may incorrectly lose access."

Snapchat joined billionaire Mark Zuckerberg's Meta in calling on Australia to require app stores to check users' ages before allowing downloads.

"Creating a centralized verification system at the app-store level would allow for more consistent protection and higher barriers to circumventing the law," Snapchat said.

The platform said it did not believe an outright ban was the right approach.

Snapchat said it understood Australia's objectives and wanted to protect people online, but did not agree its platform should be covered by the social media ban.

"In the case of Snapchat -- which is primarily a messaging app used by young people to stay connected with close friends and family -- we do not believe that cutting teens off from these relationships makes them safer, happier, or otherwise better off," it said.

djw/fox

Biathlon fans brush up your Italian -- but also your German, for the events this Winter Olympics will be in South Tyrol in Italy, an autonomous province bordering Austria and Switzerland.

The valley of Anterselva, with its snow-capped peaks and verdant pastures, is the most northern of the seven venues for the Games, which run in Italy from February 6 to 22.

The province is known in Italian as Alto Adige, but in English as Bolzano-South Tyrol, and nearly 70 percent of locals speak German, one of three official languages along with Italian and Ladin, a local language spoken in the Dolomites.

The birthplace of tennis great Jannik Sinner, the province enjoys considerable administrative, legislative and fiscal autonomy from Rome and remains deeply committed to upholding its multiculturalism.

The province's president Arno Kompatscher told AFP that place names were bilingual out of "respect for people's sensitivities" in an area with a turbulent history.

In light of that, the province pushed for -- and won -- "an exemption from the International Olympic Committee... because their nomenclature only included one name," Kompatscher said.

As well as the official languages of English and French, and the host language Italian, the Olympic Games is adding German to some of the material published for the 2026 events.

It is the first time organisers have dealt with a host venue that has bilingual place names.

- Forced assimilation -

The region once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire but was ceded to Italy as part of a First World War settlement.

A policy of brutal assimilation followed, implemented from the 1920s onward by the Fascist regime, which encouraged immigration from other Italian regions to South Tyrol and attempted to impose the use of Italian.

The struggle of German-speaking activists for reunification with Austria culminated in bombings targeting Italian infrastructure in the 1950s and 1960s.

Bolzano and neighbouring province Trento were granted the status of autonomous areas in 1972, and in South Tyrol multiculturalism is protected by law.

The Milan-Cortina organising committee confirmed that "on signs and maps, the towns and villages of South Tyrol have been indicated with their official bilingual names" in Italian and German.

"Materials intended primarily for local communities" have also been produced in two languages, including a guide for volunteers, it told AFP.

- 'Little Europe' -

South Tyrol's designation as autonomous ushered in "remarkable economic and cultural development" as well as "a form of self-governance found in few other Italian provinces", tourism historian Hans Heiss told AFP.

Posters reading "Grüß Gott in Tirol" ("Welcome to Tyrol" in German) have been put up at some bus stops by the South Tyrolean Shooting Federation, in collaboration with the South Tyrolean Patriotic League.

"The goal is to draw attention to a historical reality that many are unaware of," Christoph Schmid, the federation's provincial head, told the local press.

On the posters, a QR code links to a page that recounts the history of the region and deplores the "persistent injustice" of the province having been annexed to Italy, without asking the locals their opinion.

South Tyrol's folklore will also be celebrated during the Games.

For the biathlon events in Anterselva, expected to attract many German-speaking tourists, there will "always be people in traditional Austrian costumes," the province's president Kompatscher said.

In Bolzano's central square on Tuesday evening, dozens of musicians in traditional black jackets, round hats for the men, and long skirts for the women, welcomed the arrival of the Olympic flame.

"We want to be a little Europe within Europe, taking up the European slogan of unity in diversity," said President Kompatscher. 

That which "perfectly matches the Olympic spirit," Kompatscher said.

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A musical deep dive into colonial legacy, an epic concert residency, an oeuvre of smash albums with remarkable range: no one is doing it quite like Bad Bunny.

And on Sunday, the Puerto Rican phenom made history, winning the coveted Grammy for Album of the Year -- and becoming the first artist who performs in Spanish to ever claim the prize. 

And he came out swinging at President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, earning cheers when he told the Grammys audience: "ICE out."

"I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country to follow their dreams," Bad Bunny said as he accepted his groundbreaking gramophone. 

He won two other prizes on the night -- for best global music performance and best musica urbana album.

The Grammys were an appropriate exclamation point on an extraordinary year that has cemented the 31-year-old's reign over global music.

Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio's career is barely a decade old, but it's marked by historic milestones that have broken barriers for Latin and Spanish-language music.

In just one week, he'll helm the world's most visible stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, the first Spanish-language artist ever to do so.

Bad Bunny was the first -- and remains the only -- Spanish-language artist to ever receive an Album of the Year Grammy nod. 

He's earned it twice, for Sunday's winner "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" and in 2022, for "Un Verano Sin Ti."

He also was the first Spanish-language artist to ever headline Coachella, delivering a two-hour performance in 2023 that included documentary footage and traditional dance.

That set foreshadowed the history lesson in Puerto Rican music Bad Bunny would soon give with "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos," which he promoted with a hometown concert residency.

The first nine shows were only open to residents of the Caribbean island that has been under US rule since 1898.

He then launched a world tour in support of the album -- but with no scheduled stops on the US mainland, out of fear that federal immigration agents would target concertgoers.

Bad Bunny has been Spotify's most-streamed artist four separate times, including in 2025, beating out the likes of titans like Taylor Swift and Drake.

He is wildly popular both stateside and abroad, a commercial golden goose who is critically acclaimed and commands legions of ardent fans.

- 'Deeply political' -

The son of a truck driver and a teacher, Bad Bunny was born on March 10, 1994 and grew up in Vega Baja, a small municipality near Puerto Rico's capital San Juan.

He honed his vocal skills in the children's choir at church, before growing into a pre-teen who loved spending hours developing beats on his computer, as he also began delving into everything from bachata to the Bee Gees.

He was working at a supermarket bagging groceries when he got a call from a label over his viral plays on the DIY platform SoundCloud.

Thus began the reggaeton star's rapid explosion to the top of global music.

With his enormous fame came pressure to meet the varying expectations of loyal fans, including those who wanted him to take stronger political stances.

Earlier in his career, he wavered on taking up a role as a de facto spokesperson. 

But more recently, he has joined Puerto Rican protests and spoken out against US President Donald Trump's policies. His statement on the Grammys stage was perhaps his most direct yet.

"Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" was a full-throated, identity-affirming exploration of Puerto Ricanness in the context of persistent colonialism, set to folkloric sounds, infectious salsa and reggaeton rhythms.

It was a love letter to his home, for his home -- and it brought positive visibility to a place often viewed through a lens of suffering.

The artist's commitment to singing in Spanish in a music industry that has historically marginalized Latino voices makes his mammoth success even more extraordinary.

Historian Jorell Melendez-Badillo told AFP the artist's mere presence at major cultural events like the Grammys or the Super Bowl is "deeply political."

And all those sociopolitical layers come packaged in eminently danceable form: it's hard to attend a Bad Bunny show and resist the urge to twerk.

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For the second year running, Kendrick Lamar is living his best life at the Grammys. 

After scooping up five prizes last year, the 38-year-old Lamar on Sunday won five more including Record of the Year, cementing his status as one of contemporary music's most impactful writers.

The Pulitzer Prize winner's music has made him a household name and a rare artist whose work is commercially successful but who is not dependent on a constant content churn.

"I'm not good at talking about myself, but I express it through the music. It's an honor to be here," Lamar said Sunday as he accepted the best rap album award for "GNX."

The Record of the Year honor came for "Luther" featuring R&B singer SZA. He also won prizes for best rap performance, best rap song and best melodic rap performance.

Born in 1987 in Compton, the California native grew up poor, with his parents reliant on welfare and food stamps to survive. He witnessed his first murder at age five, and a second three years later, he told Rolling Stone.

"After that," he said, "you get numb to it."

He began putting out music in high school, drawing inspiration from the West Coast rappers of the day such as Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, who embraced funk influences and graphic lyrics.

After a number of collaborations, mixtapes and tours with other rappers under the name K.Dot, Lamar eventually worked under his own name, and released his first studio album, "Section.80," in 2011. 

But it was with his second album, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City," that Lamar came into his own. 

His poignant verses offering personal insights into his life in Compton, while taking on systemic issues such as race relations and structural poverty, struck a chord with listeners and critics.

Each track offers an almost cinematic look at a particular idea.

For Timothy Welbeck, a professor of African American studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, that album helped make Lamar "one of this culture's most important artists."

"It showed that he had the ability to create a level of quality that could stand the test of time" and "the ability to tell his story in a way that was compelling" and understandable for those who did not have similar experiences, Welbeck told AFP.

- Pulitzer Prize -

The albums that followed, including 2015's "To Pimp a Butterfly," saw Lamar use more and more jazz-heavy instrumentals, along with soul and funk influences. 

He also went deeper with his writing, talking about the depression he experienced after his first major success, his difficult relationship with masculinity and sexual abuse committed within his family. 

In 2018, he became the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for music for his album "Damn." The jury hailed a "virtuosic song collection... that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African American life."

And then came "Not Like Us."

- Super Bowl, huge tour -

He dropped the track in May 2024, the fifth of a collection of songs skewering Drake that dropped less than a day after his previous single, "Meet the Grahams."

"Not Like Us" led critics and followers to proclaim Lamar the winner of the battle, which saw the rappers trade barbs including allegations of domestic abuse and sexual misconduct involving children.

A record-breaking streaming giant, "Not Like Us" catapulted to the top of the charts and quickly became a West Coast rap anthem, beloved for its pounding bassline, rhythmic strings and exaggerated enunciation.

A week after his Grammys triumph last year, Lamar took one of the biggest stages in the world, headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. 

He performed a string of classics like "Humble" and "DNA" before sending fans into a frenzy with a knife-twisting rendition of "Not Like Us."

He subsequently went on a world tour with SZA, which raked in more than $350 million, according to Forbes magazine, with more than 1.5 million tickets sold.

Lamar, who is somewhat diminutive at roughly 5'6", has been with his fiancee Whitney Alford since high school. The couple has two children.

The rapper rarely sits down for extensive interviews, and makes few public appearances. He does not comment on current events, except through his music.

Kendrick Lamar often will say that he's "not your savior and that it's not necessarily his role to be a politician in that way," Welbeck notes. 

"But he believes the way he makes change is by getting people to think about difficult subjects and challenging the way that they view the world."

rh/sst/bgs

Music's A-listers on Sunday lashed out at the immigration raids rocking the United States at the Grammy Awards, with Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny setting the tone.

Anger was palpable at President Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, whose heavily armed and masked agents have been deployed in multiple US cities.

The killing of two US citizens by federal agents last month in Minneapolis raised the temperature for many Americans, already anxious over what they think are unfocused operations unjustly sweeping up anyone who speaks Spanish or has brown skin.

"Before I say thanks to God, I'm gonna say 'ICE out'," Bad Bunny said to cheers from the audience in Los Angeles -- only a week before he is due to headline the Super Bowl halftime show.

"We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens; we are humans and we are Americans," the singer said after being given the Grammy for Best Musica Urbana Album.

The reggaeton star was not alone in calling out the actions of ICE, one of the lead agencies involved in the crackdown.

Among the couture frocks by Valentino, Chanel and Saint Laurent on the red carpet, several of those attending added an "ICE out" button to their outfits.

They included power couple Justin and Hailey Bieber, veteran songstress Joni Mitchell, US singer Jordan Tyson and actress and singer Helen J. Shen.

Here are some of the other comments made by musicians at the show in Los Angeles:

- Gloria Estefan - 

"I'm scared, I'm very worried," Gloria Estefan told AFP backstage after winning the Grammy for best tropical Latin album.

"I don't think anyone would say we want a free-for-all at the border, but what is happening is not at all 'criminals being arrested'. 

"These are people that have families, that have contributed to this country for decades, little children. There are hundreds of children in detention centers. It's inhumane. I don't recognize my country at this moment."

- Olivia Dean -

"I guess I want to say I'm up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant," British singer Olivia Dean -- who has an English father and a Jamaican-Guyanese mother -- said after scooping the prestigious Best New Artist Grammy.

"I'm a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated."

- Shaboozey - 

"Immigrants built this country," the breakout country star Shaboozey, who was born in Virginia to Nigerian parents, told the audience after winning the Grammy for best country duo/group performance with Jelly Roll.

"So this is for them, for all children of immigrants. This is also for those who came to this country in search of better opportunity to be a part of a nation that promised freedom for all and equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it," said the artist. 

"Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories and your traditions here. You give America color."

- Billie Eilish -

US singer Billie Eilish, whose "Wildflower" scored the Grammy for Song of the Year, said she felt grateful for the award.

But, she added: "As grateful as I feel, I honestly don't feel like I need to say anything, but that no one is illegal on stolen land.

"It's just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now. I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter."

- SZA -

"It's incredibly dystopian that we're dressed up and able to celebrate accolades... and people are getting snatched up and shot in the face on the street," said R&B singer SZA, who shared Record of the Year honors with Kendrick Lamar.

"It just feels bizarre, and I find so many of us don't really know how to feel right now, besides rage and hopelessness," she said.

"I just don't want everyone to fall into despair, because when you lose... morale, change becomes impossible."

bur-sst/

Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Monday he was grateful for his first Grammy, after bagging the top music industry award for audio book, narration and storytelling.

The charismatic 90-year-old, who lives in exile in India, is lauded worldwide for his tireless campaign for greater autonomy for his Tibetan homeland, which Beijing says is an integral part of China.

He was announced as the winner at the Grammys ceremony in Los Angeles for his book "Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama".

"I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility," he said in a post on social media. "I don't see it as something personal, but as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility."

In his maroon robes, simple sandals and wide-rimmed spectacles, the Dalai Lama is an unlikely global celebrity.

"I truly believe that peace, compassion, care for our environment, and an understanding of the oneness of humanity are essential for the collective well-being of all eight billion human beings," he added.

"Meditation: Reflections Of His Holiness The Dalai Lama" features artists such as Rufus Wainwright, who accepted the award on behalf of the spiritual leader, and Maggie Rogers.

The Dalai Lama was just 23 when he fled the Tibetan capital Lhasa in fear for his life after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in 1959. He has never returned.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate insists he has many more years to live, but Tibetans are preparing for an inevitable future without him.

Tibetan Buddhists believe he is the 14th reincarnation of a spiritual leader first born in 1391.

Self-declared atheist and Communist China, which condemns the Dalai Lama as a rebel and separatist, said last year that it must approve his eventual successor. The Dalai Lama says only his India-based office has that right.

ash/pjm/fox