The Athletic revealed Southampton had decided to sack Hasenhuttl after Sunday’s 4-1 defeat to Newcastle. They had wanted to wait until the break for the World Cup before making a decision, but have acted sooner.
Southampton are languishing in 18th place after just three Premier League wins from their opening 14 matches.
Hasenhuttl joined Southampton in December 2018 and has consistently kept the club in the Premier League.
They finished a creditable 11th in his first full season in charge after he replaced Mark Hughes, followed by two consecutive 15th-place finishes.
He did, however, oversee two humiliating 9-0 defeats during his time in charge — one in 2019 against Leicester City and the other in 2021 against Manchester United.
Southampton were in desperate need of a performance on Sunday after three home games without a victory, but were a distant second best to Newcastle throughout the game.
Romain Perraud did pull one back after efforts from Miguel Almiron, Chris Wood and Joe Willock, only for Bruno Guimaraes to immediately overshadow his consolation goal with a tremendous long-range strike.
The full-time whistle was met with a chorus of boos from those fans who remained in the stadium until the bitter end.
Hasenhuttl, who previously managed RB Leipzig, has found himself under increased pressure in recent weeks and bristled at suggestions he could lose his job last month, following a 4-0 defeat by Manchester City, which was their fourth consecutive Premier League loss.
When asked whether he feared being sacked, Hasenhuttl said: “I have taken a lot of decisions since I’m here but I don’t have to take this one.”
Pressed on whether he sees a way out of the slump, he added: “No…. Not at the moment.”
Twitter Inc., after laying off roughly half the company on Friday following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, is now reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs and asking them to return.
Some of those who are being asked to return were laid off by mistake, according to two people familiar with the moves. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
Wolves are delighted to confirm the appointment of Julen Lopetegui as the club’s new head coach.
The vastly experienced Spaniard, who has worked in coaching and management for nearly 20 years, will begin his first Premier League role on Monday 14th November when he officially takes charge of the men’s first-team squad.
The 56-year-old has been employed in some of Europe’s most prestigious roles in recent years, notably Porto, the Spanish national team, Real Madrid and Sevilla, who he led for the past three seasons.
Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said: “Julen is a top coach, with excellent experience at an elite level of the game, and we are very pleased to have agreed a deal to bring him to Wolves.
“Since the very beginning, Julen has been our number one choice to manage Wolves, and we look forward to welcoming him and his team when they join us in the coming weeks.”
Subject to being granted work permits, Lopetegui and his team will take over at Molineux following the club’s Premier League fixture against Arsenal, giving him the World Cup period to prepare for his first game in charge of Wolves in late December.
Twitter was sued by former employees who say they were not given enough notice under federal and California law that they had lost their jobs amid ongoing mass layoffs.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in San Francisco federal court Thursday by five current or former Twitter employees, including Emmanuel Cornet, a software engineer known for his satirical cartoons critiquing Silicon Valley, who was fired Tuesday, according to the complaint.
Twitter informed employees Thursday evening, days after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took control of the company, that it would begin laying off staff members, according to communications obtained by NBC News. In the email, Twitter said staffers will receive a notice about their employment in their work email if they still have a job, or their personal email accounts if their "employment is impacted."
Twitter employees are expecting the company to cut 50% of its workforce, or roughly 3,700 employees.
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers to provide advance notice, generally within 60 days, of mass layoffs or plant closings.
"Plaintiffs file this action seeking to ensure that Twitter comply with the law and provide the requisite notice or severance payment in connection with the anticipated layoffs," the complaint states.
The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order requiring Twitter to obey the WARN Act. It also seeks to prevent Twitter from soliciting employees to sign documents that could give up their right to participate in litigation.
Representatives from Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNBC has not confirmed this with former Twitter employees.
A spokesperson for California's employment department said Twitter has not filed any WARN notices with the agency this year.
A French parliament session was thrown into turmoil after a far-right legislator was accused of yelling “back to Africa” to a Black colleague who asked a question on migrant arrivals.
Parliament member Carlos Martens Bilongo of the leftist France Unbowed party was questioning the government over a maritime rescue boat that is carrying hundreds of passengers in the Mediterranean Sea, and has not received an assigned port to bring them to.
Charities have appealed to the French government to take them in or help find a solution.
Bilongo was interrupted by Gregoire de Fournas, a newly elected member of the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), who says he said, “They should go back to Africa.”
The President of the lower house of the French parliament Yaël Braun-Pivet subsequently suspended the legislative session, later saying the comment would be investigated.
The comment sparked criticism and condemnation as it was alleged de Fournas may have directly targeted Bilongo with his words, as in the French language the pronouns “he” and “they” are pronounced the same.
De Fournas defended his comment and accused opponents of “manipulation”, and his party also denied any personal attack on Bilongo. De Fournas later apologised to Bilongo for “the misunderstanding my comments caused”.
He “obviously spoke about the migrants transported in boats by the NGOs”, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen tweeted. “The controversy created by our political opponents … will not deceive the French.”
However, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne urged the assembly to sanction the far-right MP saying, “racism has no place in our democracy”.
Bilongo called the comment “shameful”.
“Today I was sent back to my skin colour. I was born in France. I am a French deputy,” he said.
‘Heavy penalty’
Stephane Sejourne, who leads President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, said de Fournas should resign, and the left-wing Nupes alliance said he should be expelled.
A parliamentary committee will meet Friday to discuss the incident, which could see de Fournas punished with a temporary exclusion from the assembly.
Macron’s centrist Renaissance party will refuse to attend further sessions unless the council issues a “heavy penalty”, its vice president in parliament Sylvain Maillard said on Twitter.
In this year’s presidential election, Le Pen challenged Macron which resulted in her party’s best-ever performance in elections, winning 89 seats for MPs.
Over the years, Le Pen has made significant progress in detoxifying her party’s image and convincing voters the party founded by her father Jean-Marie, who was convicted several times of incitement to racial hatred, has moved towards the conservative mainstream and is now fit to govern.
France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne urged the assembly to sanction Gregoire de Fournas for his words to a Black colleague, while he apologised for a ‘misunderstaning’.
Public policy staff and content moderators are among those who have been sacked.
Scores of Twitter employees, including some involved in the company's public policy and content-moderation activities, were fired on Friday as Elon Musk reimagines the social network.
In heartfelt tweets, many using the hashtags #LoveWhereYouWork and #OneTeam, employees took to the social media platform to let others know that they had been let go. Many of those posting had previously worked in roles including public policy, communication, engineering, marketing and human resources.
"All my thoughts, respect, energy and love to all tweeps around the world today," Damien Viel, the head of the company's operation in France, wrote on Twitter. "We have built together the most incredible app on the planet. Let’s be proud of everything we have done and how have done it."
Many who have so far lost their jobs were barred from accessing company logins for online Twitter accounts Thursday night without having been previously informed that their contracts had been terminated, according to one former employee who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity.
The announcements follow an internal email that circulated Thursday that informed the company's tens of thousands of employees worldwide that they would be informed via email on November 4 whether or not they would remain at the company. There had been speculation that up to half of Twitter's global workforce may lose their jobs, according to Bloomberg.
In Dublin, Twitter’s European headquarters, employees speaking with the Irish Times have described the situation as “carnage,” where layoffs are “random and indiscriminate.” A now-former Twitter executive based in the United Kingdom told POLITICO that people were sharing frantic WhatsApp messages with colleagues, trying to garner the latest information about who had been fired — and who was still at the company.
"There's a lot of droom-scrolling on Twitter to see what's going on," the individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told POLITICO.
Joan Deitchman, who was a senior engineer in Twitter's machine learning, ethics, transparency and accountability team, wrote on the platform that the unit — whose job included research on how to improve transparency around automated algorithms — had been completely disbanded. That work is central to how regulators are now looking to police social media, including how potentially hate-filled content is promoted automatically across these platforms.
"All that is gone," she said.
A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One Musk to rule them all
Disgruntled staff in the United States have launched a class-action lawsuit against Twitter, claiming they were not given enough notice of the termination of their contract under U.S. federal law. In Europe, strict labor laws in countries like Belgium may similarly make it difficult — and costly — for Musk to jettison local employees.
"Getting rid of public policy people when you’re claiming to do “real free speech” is the [stupidest] move ever," Audrey Herblin-Stoop, Twitter's former chief lobbyist in France, wrote on the platform.
The mass firing represents the next stage in Musk's takeover of the social network, which remains a mainstay in how political leaders from U.S. President Joe Biden to France’s Emmanuel Macron to Iran's Ali Khamenei communicate with a global audience.
In the hours after acquiring Twitter in late October, Musk fired the company's board, including its chief executive Parag Argawal, as well as Vijaya Gadde, who ran the social media company's legal, policy and trust teams.
In a bid to increase revenue at the social media network that has continuously struggled to make a profit, Musk also wants to charge people $8 a month so that their accounts can be verified via the company's now-iconic "blue tick" logo. The mass layoffs announced Friday are also part of these efforts to make the company more profitable.
The world's richest man has become a lightning rod for how online content should be policed after he posted falsehoods surrounding the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in California, claimed the platform should be a global townhall where people can freely express their views, and promised advertisers that Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape."
"He specifically said to us that he does not want Twitter to be a hate amplifier," said Yael Eisenstat, head of the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Technology and Society, who participated in a call with Musk alongside other civil society groups this week. "We will continue to watch to make sure that those actions actually happen."
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.
Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity
You will also get: - Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam - Ability to post long video & audio - Half as many ads
And paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us
This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators
There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians
US Woman Who Led Female IS Battalion Gets 20 Years In Prison
An American woman who converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State in Syria, leading an all-female military battalion, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US court Tuesday.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, who grew up on a farm in Kansas, was given the maximum sentence by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema after pleading guilty to terror charges.
"You're obviously a very intelligent woman," Brinkema told Fluke-Ekren in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
"There's no question that you were providing material support to a terrorist organization," the judge said.
For more than eight years, Fluke-Ekren was engaged in a "terrorism crime spree" across war zones in Libya, Iraq, and Syria, including training other women and young girls to undertake attacks for the Islamic State, US Attorney Raj Parekh said.
Fluke Ekren "in effect became the empress of ISIS," Parekh said. "She brainwashed young girls and trained them to kill."
Fluke-Ekren is the rare American woman who occupied a senior position in the ranks of the now defunct Islamic Caliphate.
Her sentencing included dramatic remarks to the judge by one of her daughters.
Leyla Ekren, who was married off to an IS fighter in Syria when she was just 13 years old, said her mother was motivated by a "lust for control and power."
"I want people to see what kind of person she was," her daughter said.
"She abandoned me in Raqqa with my rapist," she said in a reference to her IS fighter-husband.
At one point prosecutors played audio recordings of telephone conversations between Fluke-Ekren and her daughter taped by the FBI.
Her daughter, who was in the public gallery, plugged her ears with her fingers as the tapes were played aloud.
In a written statement to the court, her son Gabriel, who like his sister waived anonymity, said his mother is a "monster without love for her children, without an excuse for her actions."
"She has the blood, pain, and suffering of all of her children on her hands," he said.
Fluke-Ekren, who was wearing a dark green prison jacket and black headscarf, addressed the court herself and asked the judge for a "compassionate sentence" of just two years in prison.
"I deeply regret my choices," she told the judge. "To anyone who has been hurt by my actions I ask forgiveness."
Born Allison Brooks, Fluke-Ekren grew up in a "loving and stable home" in Overbrook, Kansas, and was considered a "gifted" student, the US attorney said.
"There is nothing in her background that can explain her conduct," Parekh said.
After leaving her first husband, Fluke-Ekren attended the University of Kansas, where she married a fellow student named Volkan Ekren and became a Muslim. She later earned a teaching certificate from a college in Indiana.
They had five children together and adopted another after the child's parents were killed as suicide bombers in Syria.
In 2008, the family moved to Egypt and in 2011 to Libya where, the US attorney said, "Fluke-Ekren's dogged pursuit to obtain positions of power and influence to train young women in extremist ideology and violence began."
They were in Benghazi in September 2012 when the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia attacked the US mission and CIA annex there, killing the US ambassador and three other Americans.
Fluke-Ekren, a fluent Arabic speaker, assisted Ansar al-Sharia by "reviewing and summarizing the contents of stolen US government documents."
The family left Libya in late 2012 or early 2013 and moved around between Iraq, Turkey and Syria, becoming deeply involved with IS and living in the group's Mosul stronghold for a time.
Fluke-Ekren's second husband -- the leader of an IS sniper unit -- was killed in 2015.
She married three more times, including to an IS military leader who was responsible for the defense of Raqqa in 2017.
In 2017, Fluke-Ekren became the leader of a battalion of female IS members called "Khatiba Nusaybah," which provided military training to more than 100 women and girls, according to the US attorney.
"During training sessions, Fluke-Ekren instructed the women and young girls on the use of AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, and explosive suicide belts," Parekh said.
Fluke-Ekren acknowledged in court that she had provided such training but said it was only for self-defense.
"I never fought myself," she said. "I never shot or fired one bullet."
Fifty-nine people have died in a crush among huge Halloween crowds in a popular nightlife area of South Korea's capital, officials say.
Yonhap news agency cited emergency services saying 150 more had been injured in Seoul's Itaewon district.
Videos from the scene show body bags on the streets, emergency workers performing CPR, and rescuers trying to pull people trapped beneath others.
It is not yet clear what caused the incident.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol has called an emergency meeting.
Crowded area 'felt unsafe'
There were reportedly 100,000 revellers in the area celebrating the first outdoor no-mask Halloween event since the pandemic.
Social media messages posted earlier in the evening show some people remarking that the Itaewon area was so crowded that it felt unsafe.
The BBC's Hosu Lee, who visited the scene, said he saw "a lot of medial staff, a lot of ambulances, they were taking the bodies away one by one".
Hosu Lee said there were thousands among the crowds, and a number of bodies covered in blue sheets, alongside a "ton of police".
"A lot of young people have gathered here tonight. A lot of people came to the party and club, wearing costumes and a lot of people I've seen distraught and sad and there are chaotic scenes," said Mr Lee.
Photos and videos show a number of both emergency responders and civilians attending to what appear to be unconscious people on the streets.
In one video numerous responders appear to be performing CPR on people in a narrow road in the district.
In another, emergency responders try to pull out people from what appears to be a pile of people's bodies following a crowd surge.
Another local journalist said that an emergency broadcast had been sent to every mobile phone in the Yongsan District urging citizens to return home as soon as possible due to "an emergency accident near Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon".
“Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi. The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. Mr. Pelosi was taken to the hospital, where he is receiving excellent medical care and is expected to make a full recovery. The Speaker was not in San Francisco at the time.
“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time.”
A woman was found dead in the stomach of a 7-metre python at a rubber plantation where she worked in Indonesia, according to local reports.
The woman, identified as Jahrah, 54, went to work on the plantation in Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra, on Sunday morning and her husband reported her missing when she did not return home that evening.
Searching for her on Sunday night, her husband discovered her sandals, headscarf, jacket and the tools she used at work, and called for others to help, police told local media. The following morning, a python was spotted nearby.
“When the security team and residents conducted a search around the rubber plantation, then we found a python 7 metres long. It is this snake that is suspected of preying on the victim. After we caught him, we found the victim’s body in the snake’s stomach,” the local police chief, AKP S Harefa, told the Detik news site.
Pythons, which kill through constriction, typically eat smaller animals, swallowing their food whole. Cases of humans being swallowed are rare.
In 2018, a woman was found to have been swallowed by a giant python on the island of Muna, off Sulawesi. She had gone missing in her garden, which was at the base of a rocky cliff where snakes were known to live in caves.
A year earlier, a farmer was killed and swallowed by a giant python in the village of Salubiro, on Sulawesi island.
Far greater numbers of people are affected by snake bites. Every year there are about 5.4m cases of snake bites, of which between 1.8m and 2.7m lead to poisoning, according to the World Health Organization. Children and agricultural workers in poorer, rural communities are the most at risk.
Dutch media reports that overseas Chinese police centers are putting "pressure on dissident Chinese." An NGO report says that Bejing has such centers in "dozens of countries across five continents." The Dutch Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it was investigating reports that China had set up two illegal police stations in the Netherlands.
"We are now investigating as a ministry what is going on with the centers, and when we have more intel about it we can determine the appropriate action," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maxime Hovenkamp said.
"What is correct is that the Chinese government never informed us about the centers via diplomatic channels so that makes them illegal to begin with," Hovenkamp said.
What do we know about the Chinese police centers?
According to a report by Dutch broadcaster RTL Nieuws and investigative journalism platform Follow the Money published on Tuesday, there were "indications" that the centers were used to "put pressure on dissident Chinese in the Netherlands."
The centers offer citizen services such as renewal of Chinese drivers licenses or declaring changes in marital status, the report said.
A Chinese dissident who had received asylum in the Netherlands told RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money that he had been summoned by the Chinese police office in the Netherlands' second-largest-city, Rotterdam. The Chinese citizen also reported having received threatening phone calls and text messages from unknown numbers, and said that bomb threats had been made under his name.
According to the report, the Rotterdam center was opened by the police force in the Lishui prefecture of China's Zhejiang province, located immediately south of Shanghai, while the Amsterdam center is tied to the city of Fuzhou, which lies in Fujian province on the mainland Chinese side of the Taiwan Strait.
The two eastern coastal regions are major sources of Chinese emigration to Europe.
RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money said that they had received an e-mail from the Chinese embassy in Amsterdam saying that it did not know of the existence of the two overseas police centers.
Stations in 'dozens of countries' Spain-based human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders said in a September report that Beijing had overseas police "service stations" in "dozens of countries across five continents," including 12 EU countries. The report alleges that one of these stations is in Frankfurt, Germany. It claimed that the operations "eschew official bilateral police" and "violate the international rule of law."
The report claimed that Beijing has engaged in a campaign targeting overseas Chinese suspects of fraud and telecommunications fraud since 2018. Chinese authorities persuaded 230,000 nationals to return to face criminal proceedings between April 2021 and July 2022, Safeguard Defenders cited Vice-Minister of Public Security Du Hangwei as saying.
According to the report, authorities used methods such as "tracking down … the target's family in China in order to pressure them through means of intimidation, harassment, detention or imprisonment" to "persuade" overseas suspects to return to China.
Since the end of November 2021, China has warned its citizens not to travel to seven countries in Southeast Asia, as well as Turkey and the UAE, which it deems are the source of serious telecommunications crimes.
Safeguard Defenders claims that Beijing authorities have used intimidation tactics to pressure Chinese citizens residing in these countries, regardless of whether they are suspected of telecommunications fraud or other crimes, to return.
Olufunto Badenoch (née Adegoke, 2 January 1980) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities and Minister of State for Equalities from 2021 to 2022.
She is the daughter of Femi and Feyi Adegoke who are of Nigerian origin. Her father was a GP and her mother is a Professor of physiology. Badenoch's childhood included living in Lagos, Nigeria and in the United States, where her mother lectured.
Kemi is married to Hamish Badenoch and they have two daughters and a son. She describes herself as a cultural Christian and notes that her maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister in Nigeria. Badenoch lost her father Femi in February 2022.
She was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade @TradeGovUK by Former PM, Liz Truss.
Aston Villa is delighted to announce the appointment of Unai Emery as the club’s new Head Coach.
Unai joins from Villarreal, whom he led to Europa League success by beating Manchester United in the final in 2021 as well as the semi-finals of the Champions League last season.
A highly experienced top level coach who has managed over 900 games, Unai has also previously managed in the Premier League during a spell with Arsenal, leading the Gunners to a Europa League final.
He has also enjoyed notable success at Sevilla and at Paris Saint Germain. In Seville, he won three successive Europa League titles between 2013 and 2016 before going on to lift a Ligue 1 championship in France as well as two French Cups, two French League Cups and two Trophée des Champions.
Unai will take over from November 1st after his work permit formalities are completed. �
Rishi Sunak will become the UK's next prime minister tomorrow after meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace in the morning.
At the start of the day, outgoing PM Liz Truss will hold her last cabinet meeting before she is expected to make a departing statement outside Number 10 at 10.15am.
Ms Truss, who became the shortest-serving leader in UK history after serving for just 44 days, will then travel to Buckingham Palace for her final audience with King Charles.
After Ms Truss has left the palace, Mr Sunak will then also travel to Buckingham Palace to be officially appointed as the next PM by the King.
The new Conservative Party leader is expected to then travel back to Downing Street where he will make a public address in front of Number 10 at around 11.35am.
The club is delighted to announce the appointment of Michael Carrick as Head Coach.
Michael brings a wealth of experience to the club having spent 12 years as a player at Manchester United before coaching and caretaker managing the Old Trafford club.
The 41-year-old, one of the most decorated English players of all-time, joined Manchester United’s coaching staff in 2018 following his retirement as a player.
He worked with Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before being asked to take on the number one job on a caretaker basis. The 41-year-old’s three games at the helm produced wins against Villareal and Arsenal, and a draw at Chelsea.
“We’re delighted to welcome Michael to the club,” said Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson.
“We had identified a number of potentials for the vacancy who we spoke with, and were impressed by all, but Michael was the outstanding candidate.
“Michael has the same values as the club, and we are very much aligned in our ambitions.
“We see Michael as the perfect fit for us and he believes this is the right club at the right time.”
The former England international is a five-time Premier League winner and also won the Champions League and Europa League while at Old Trafford.
“I’m really excited to be here and to be part of a club with such a deep history and tradition,” said Carrick.
"Middlesbrough was the first professional club I played for as a nine-year old boy, so it’s a very special feeling to be back here as a head coach.
"Growing up in the north-east myself I’m fully aware of what football means to people. It’s a real privilege for me to be in this position and to feel all the passion and enthusiasm you’ve got for the game and for Boro.
"I’ll give everything to help develop the team and keep moving the club forward and make you the supporters proud.
"I can’t wait to get started.”
Michael will be joined by Jonathan Woodgate as First Team Coach with a further appointment expected.
Woodgate was previously the club’s head coach after cutting his teeth with the Under-18s and he also guided AFC Bournemouth to the Championship play-offs in 2021.
The club would like to place on record its thanks to Leo Percovich and the staff who worked with him and supported him during the interim period. Leo will now become the club’s Head of Player Pathway and Development.
Update after the attack on Rushdie, author of the Satanic Verses, on August 12.
Salman Rushdie’s agent says the author has lost sight in one eye and the use of a hand as he recovers from an attack from a man who rushed the stage at an August literary event in western New York, according to a published report.
Literary agent Andrew Wylie told the Spanish language newspaper El Pais in an article published Saturday that Rushdie suffered three serious wounds to his neck and 15 more wounds to his chest and torso in the attack that took away sight in an eye and left a hand incapacitated.
Rushdie, 75, spent years in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 edict, a fatwa, calling for his death after publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Over the past two decades, Rushdie has traveled freely.
Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, has been incarcerated after pleading not guilty to attempted murder and assault in the Aug. 12 attack on Rushdie as he was being introduced at the Chautauqua Institution, a rurally located center 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo that is known for its summertime lecture series.
After the attack, Rushdie was treated at a Pennsylvania hospital, where he was briefly put on a ventilator to recover from what Wylie told El Pais was a “brutal attack” that cut nerves to one arm.
Wylie told the newspaper he could not say whether Rushdie remained in a hospital or discuss his whereabouts.
“He’s going to live ... That’s the important thing,” Wylie said.
The attack was along the lines of what Rushie and his agent have thought was the “principal danger ... a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking,” Wylie told El Pais.
“So you can’t protect against it because it’s totally unexpected and illogical,” he said.
Wylie told the newspaper it was like Beatles member John Lennon’s murder. Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman outside his Manhattan apartment building Dec. 8, 1980, hours after the singer had signed an autograph for Chapman.
In a jailhouse interview with The New York Post, Matar said he disliked Rushdie and praised Khomeini. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.
Foreign nationals involved in propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations will be expelled from Russia and fined up to 400,000 rubles ($6,500), according to a bill submitted to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament), a copy of which is available to TASS.
The bill suggests punishing propaganda of non-traditional values among adults, including on the Internet, with an administrative fine of 100,000 to 200,000 rubles ($1,600-3,200) and subsequent expulsion from Russia. A similar offense involving minors, is supposed to entail a fine of 200,000 to 400,00 rubles ($3,200-6,500) and deportation from the country.
A message of condolence from His Majesty The King to the President of Nigeria
Your Excellency, Dear Mr President,
I wanted you to know how deeply saddened both my wife and I are to hear of the many people who have lost their loved ones and whose lives have been so dreadfully affected as a consequence of the devastating floods across Nigeria.
We remember with the greatest affection our visits to Nigeria and the kindness of the people we met.
However inadequate this may be under such tragic circumstances, our most heartfelt sympathy is with all those who have suffered so much, and our thoughts are with those working to support the recovery efforts.
I know that the United Kingdom stands in solidarity with Nigeria as you recover from these truly terrible events.
Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the contest to replace Liz Truss and believes it is a matter of “national interest”, The Times has been told.
The former prime minister, who only left office six weeks ago, is taking soundings from friends but is said to believe he can turn the Conservative Party around. Several Tory MPs are already suggesting that he should replace Truss, who announced her resignation this afternoon after 44 days in office.
The prime minister said a successor would be chosen within a week “to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country’s economic stability”. Conservative members will be “consulted”, according to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, which runs Tory leadership contests.
Candidates for the Tory leadership election are expected to need the backing of 100 Tory MPs to run, The Telegraph can reveal.
That is five times the previous threshold of 20 Tory MPs to get on the ballot in the summer contest. It also means only a maximum of three candidates can run.
The details of the contest are just being finalised at an emergency meeting of the Tory party board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law Wednesday in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed and gave all regional governors in Russia emergency powers that open the door for sweeping new restrictions throughout the country.
Putin didn’t immediately spell out the steps that would be taken under martial law, but said his order was effective starting Thursday. His decree gave law enforcement agencies three days to submit specific proposals and orders the creation of territorial defense forces in the annexed regions.
The upper house of Russia’s parliament quickly endorsed Putin’s decision to impose martial in the annexed Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The approved legislation indicated the declaration may involve restrictions on travel and public gatherings, tighter censorship and broader authority for law enforcement agencies.
“We are working to solve very difficult large-scale tasks to ensure Russia’s security and safe future, to protect our people,” Putin said in televised remarks at the start of a Security Council meeting. “Those who are on the frontlines or undergoing training at firing ranges and training centers should feel our support and know that they have our big, great country and unified people behind their back.”
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said two men fired at soldiers on a military firing range near Ukraine, killing 11 and wounding 15. The ministry said two men from an unnamed former Soviet republic fired on volunteer soldiers during target practice before they were killed by return fire.
Putin didn’t provide details of the extra powers the heads of Russian regions will have under his decree. However, the order states that measures envisaged by martial law could be introduced anywhere in Russia “when necessary.”
According to the Russian legislation, martial law could require banning public gatherings, introducing travel bans and curfews, and conducting censorship, among other restrictions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s order doesn’t anticipate the closure of Russia’s borders, state news agency RIA-Novosti reported. In an apparent attempt to assuage a nervous public, regional authorities rushed to declare that no immediate curfews or restrictions on travel were planned.
Putin last month ordered a mobilization of army reservists, prompting hundreds of thousands of men to flee Russia.
The Russian leader on Wednesday also ordered the establishment of a Coordination Committee to increase interactions between government agencies in dealing with the fighting in Ukraine, which Putin continued to call a “special military operation.”
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who was named to lead the committee, said it would focus on boosting supplies of weapons and military equipment, conducting construction work and facilitating transportation.
A rapper-actor who appeared in the 2018 film “SuperFly'' was sentenced on Monday to 50 years to life in state prison for sex-related charges involving three teens and four young women in attacks dating back to 2013.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino also ordered Kaalan Walker, 27, to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Wallace, who told City News Service that she believes the defendant is "truly a predator.''
A Van Nuys jury convicted Walker on April 18 of three counts of forcible rape, two counts each of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and rape of an intoxicated victim and one count of assault with intent to commit oral copulation involving crimes between 2013 and 2018.
Jurors acquitted him of two counts of forcible rape and one count of forcible digital penetration involving three other alleged victims.
In her opening statement in March, Deputy District Attorney Yasmin Fardghassemi told the jury that the case involved women who didn't know each other, and that the "single thing that unites all of these women is the defendant Kaalan Walker.''
"You're going to see a dark side of him ...'' the prosecutor told jurors, saying Walker primarily used Instagram and Twitter to lure his alleged victims to locations he chose by booking them for fake photo or music video shoots or with a false promise of introducing them to someone famous.
"When they said 'Stop,' he didn't care,'' Fardghassemi said.
Walker's attorney, Andrew Flier, countered that his client — whom he said had been “portrayed as a monster'' — was innocent of the charges.
"They're going to lie to you because they know that they fell for his B.S.,'' the defense lawyer told jurors, saying the alleged victims were out for “revenge.''
"The pattern of Mr. Walker is to make false promises, and they bought it... Each one of these women voluntarily made their own decisions,'' Flier said. "He didn't force them... It's pay-back to Mr. Walker and we're not going to let that happen.''
He said his client has endured “a living nightmare'' and had a great career that has since been ruined.
Walker — who also appeared in the 2017 Halle Berry-Daniel Craig film “Kings'' — was arrested in September 2018. He was subsequently released on bond, but he was taken into custody again after the jury's verdict was read.
The body of a 12-year-old girl has been found inside a suitcase in Paris, according to reports.
Her father became concerned after she failed to arrive home from school on Friday, BFMTV reported.
The girl's mother reported her missing to the local police station in the French capital's northeastern 19th arrondissement later that day.
Detectives quickly launched an investigation after signs of a kidnapping were discovered in the basement of the family home.
CCTV footage then showed a woman outside the building carrying a suitcase, which was later found a few streets away in rue d'Hautpoul with the girl's corpse inside.
Her face was covered in tape and she had several cuts to her throat. A post-mortem examination will take place on Saturday.
Four people are currently in custody, but it is not clear what they were arrested for. Among them is the man who called police after discovering the suitcase.
The investigation into a 'murder of a minor under 15' is ongoing.
Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been arrested on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions following his initial arrest in January.
Greenwood, 21, was arrested by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of the rape and assault of a woman and further arrested in February on suspicion of sexual assault and threats to kill.
A GMP spokesman said: "Greater Manchester Police are aware of an allegation regarding a 21-year-old man breaching his bail conditions and an arrest has been made on Saturday 15 October 2022. Enquiries are ongoing at this time."
He was released on bail after spending three nights in custody. The bail was extended in April to mid-June of 2023.
Greenwood has now been arrested on suspicion of contacting his alleged victim which would be a breach of bail conditions.
Greenwood was questioned by police who attended his mansion on Saturday morning (October 15).
Manchester United are aware of his arrest but are not expected to comment on the matter.
The new deal will keep Mason Greenwood at Man Utd until June 2025.
Greenwood, who made a single appearance for England in 2020, remains suspended by his club but still receives his salary of £75,000-a-week.
Following his arrest, he was dropped by sponsors Nike and removed from FIFA 22.
Back in March, United were forced to release a statement after it was found that Greenwood could still be spotted on their club website.
The statement from United read: "There has been no change whatsoever in Mason’s status.
"We removed his profile from the club app soon after he was removed from the squad in January. This was in order to remove Mason from interactive elements of the app, such as team predictions etc.
"However, his profile was never removed from the website as he remains a Manchester United player, albeit not currently part of the squad while the legal process unfolds."
Actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films and for starring in ITV detective drama Cracker, has died at 72.
"Robbie will probably be best remembered for decades to come as Hagrid... a role which brought joy to children and adults alike, prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years," his agent said.
At 74, King Charles III will be the oldest person to be so crowned in the British history.
The day was chosen with the Palace and in conjunction with the Church of England and the British Government. The coronation will take place at WestMinister Abbey and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd. Justin Welby.
The ceremony will be a solemn one that will see the King (alongside the Queen Consort) be anointed with holy oil, blessed, consecrated and have the Crown placed on his head.
Sports › Southampton Sack Head Coach, Ralph Hasenhuttl by HonNL(op): 10:55am On Nov 07, 2022
