Aug 13 (Reuters) – Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized on Saturday with serious injuries a day after he was repeatedly stabbed at a public appearance in New York state, while police sought to determine the motive behind an attack that drew international condemnation.
The accused attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday, his court-appointed lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, told Reuters.
Rushdie, 75, was set to deliver a lecture on artistic freedom at Chautauqua Institution in western New York when police say Matar rushed the stage and stabbed the Indian-born writer, who has lived with a bounty on his head since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” prompted Iran to urge Muslims to kill him.
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Following hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak as of Friday evening, according to his agent, Andrew Wylie. The novelist was likely to lose an eye and had nerve damage in his arm and wounds to his liver, Wylie said in an email.
Wylie did not respond to messages requesting updates on Rushdie’s condition on Saturday, though the New York Times reported that Rushdie had started to talk, citing Wylie.
The stabbing was condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an assault on freedom of expression. In a statement on Saturday, President Joe Biden commended the “universal ideals” that Rushdie and his work embody.
“Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear,” Biden said. “These are the building blocks of any free and open society.”
Neither local nor federal authorities offered any additional details on the investigation on Saturday. Police said on Friday they had not established a motive for the attack.
An initial law enforcement review of Matar’s social media accounts showed he was sympathetic to Shi’ite extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), although no definitive links had been found, according to NBC New York.
The IRGC is a powerful faction that controls a business empire as well as elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of carrying out a global extremist campaign.
Asked to comment on the case, Matar’s lawyer Barone said, “We’re kind of in the early stages and, quite frankly, in cases like this, I think the important thing to remember is people need to keep an open mind. They need to look at everything. They can’t just assume something happened for why they think something happened.”
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday, he said.
Matar was born in California and recently moved to New Jersey, the NBC New York report said, adding that he had a fake driver’s license on him. He was arrested at the scene by a state trooper after being wrestled to the ground by audience members.
Author Salman Rushdie is transported to a helicopter after he was stabbed on stage before his scheduled speech at the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York, U.S., August 12, 2022, in this screengrab taken from a social media video. TWITTER @HoratioGates3 /via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT.
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Witnesses said he did not speak as he attacked the author. Rushdie was stabbed 10 times, prosecutors said during Matar’s arraignment, according to the Times.
The assault was premeditated; prosecutors said in court that Matar traveled by bus to Chautauqua Institution, an educational retreat about 12 miles (19 km) from the shores of Lake Erie, and bought a pass that admitted him to Rushdie’s talk, the Times reported. Attendees said there were no obvious security checks.
The county district attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
FBI investigators went to Matar’s last listed address, in Fairview, a Bergen County borough just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, on Friday evening, NBC New York reported.
There was no visible police presence on Saturday at the house, a two-story brick-and-mortar home in a largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood. A woman who entered the house declined to speak to reporters gathered outside.
BOUNTY ON HIS HEAD
Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to Britain, has long faced death threats for “The Satanic Verses,” viewed by some Muslims as containing blasphemous passages. The book was banned in many countries with large Muslim populations.
In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill the author and anyone involved in the book’s publication for blasphemy. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the novel, was stabbed to death in 1991 in a case that remains unsolved.
There has been no official government reaction in Iran to the attack on Rushdie, but several hardline Iranian newspapers praised his assailant. read more
Iranian organizations, some linked to the government, have raised a bounty worth millions of dollars for Rushdie’s murder. Khomeini’s successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said as recently as 2019 that the fatwa was “irrevocable.”
Ali Tehfe, mayor of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, said Matar was the son of a man from the town. The suspect’s parents emigrated to the United States and he was born and raised there, the mayor added.
Asked whether Matar or his parents were affiliated with or supported the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon, Tehfe said he had “no information at all” on their political views.
A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Saturday that the group had no additional information on the attack on Rushdie. read more
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Randi Love in Fairview, New Jersey, Rami Ayyub and Ted Hesson in Washington and Timour Azhari in Beirut; Writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Alexander Smith and Daniel Wallis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Aug 12 (Reuters) – Here are reactions to Friday’s attack on novelist Salman Rushdie. read more
SUZANNE NOSSEL, CEO OF FREE EXPRESSION ORGANIZATION PEN AMERICA:
“We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary writer on American soil. Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning, Salman had emailed me to help with placements for Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face. Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered. He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced. While we do not know the origins or motives of this attack, all those around the world who have met words with violence or called for the same are culpable for legitimizing this assault on a writer while he was engaged in his essential work of connecting to readers. Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery.”
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NORWEGIAN PUBLISHER WILLIAM NYGAARD, WHO WAS SHOT AND SEVERELY WOUNDED IN 1993 AFTER PUBLISHING RUSHDIE’S WORK:
“Rushdie has paid a high price. He is a leading author who has meant so much to literature, and he had found a good life in the United States.”
NOVELIST IAN MCEWAN:
“This appalling attack on my dear friend Salman represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech. These are the freedoms that underpin all our rights and liberties. Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred.”
PLAYWRIGHT BONNIE GREER:
“I don’t know why this happened to Salman Rushdie or actually WHAT happened. But it brings back the memory of terrible days and years when-if you were a writer-you could be condemned to DEATH…for a book. For a book…”
WRITER AND DIRECTOR RAJA SEN:
“Come on, Salman Rushdie. We need you now more than ever.”
PEN INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT BURHAN SONMEZ:
“PEN International utterly condemns the brutal attack on Salman Rushdie. Salman is an esteemed and celebrated author and beloved member of the PEN community, who has been facing threats for his work for years. No one should be targeted, let alone attacked, for peacefully expressing their views. We wish our dear friend a speedy recovery. Our thoughts are with him and his family.”
UK HOME SECRETARY PRITI PATEL:
“Shocked and appalled to hear of the unprovoked and senseless attack on Sir Salman Rushdie. Freedom of expression is a value we hold dear and attempts to undermine it must not be tolerated. My thoughts are with Sir Salman and his family.”
British author Salman Rushdie listens during an interview with Reuters in London April 15, 2008. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
UK PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON:
“Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.”
AUTHOR TASLIMA NASREEN, WHO FLED HER NATIVE BANGLADESH AFTER A COURT SAID SHE HAD HURT MUSLIMS’ RELIGIOUS FEELING WITH HER NOVEL ‘LAJJA’ (‘SHAME’):
“I just learned that Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York. I am really shocked. I never thought it would happen. He has been living in the West, and he has been protected since 1989. If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked. I am worried.”
AUTHOR KHALED HOSSEINI:
“I’m utterly horrified by the cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie. I pray for his recovery. He is an essential voice and cannot be silenced.”
U.S. SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER OF NEW YORK:
“This attack is shocking and appalling. It is an attack on freedom of speech and thought, which are two bedrock values of our country and of the Chautauqua Institution.”
“I hope Mr. Rushdie quickly and fully recovers and the perpetrator experiences full accountability and justice.”
AUTHOR AMITAV GHOSH:
“Horrified to learn that Salman Rushdie has been attacked at a speaking event in upstate New York. Wish him a speedy recovery.”
NEW YORK GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL:
“Here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power. Someone who’s been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life, it seems. And it happened at a site that is a place that’s very familiar to me, a very tranquil, rural community known as Chautauqua, Chautauqua institution, where the most preeminent speakers and thought leaders and politicians and justices and everyone come together to have the free expression of thought. So this is a place ideal, ideally suited for him to be able to speak. … Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event.”
BRITISH CULTURE MINISTER NADINE DORRIES:
“Horrifying. An awful attack on a literary giant and one of the great defenders of freedom of expression. Thoughts with @SalmanRushdie and his loved ones.”
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Reporting by Randi Love; Editing by Donna Bryson, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday and airlifted to a hospital, police said.
After hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening after an attack condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an assault on the freedom of expression.
“The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
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Rushdie, 75, was being introduced to give a talk to an audience of hundreds on artistic freedom at western New York’s Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist, who has lived with a bounty on his head since the late 1980s.
Stunned attendees helped wrest the man from Rushdie, who had fallen to the floor. A New York State Police trooper providing security at the event arrested the attacker. Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the event.
“A man jumped up on the stage from I don’t know where and started what looked like beating him on the chest, repeated fist strokes into his chest and neck,” said Bradley Fisher, who was in the audience. “People were screaming and crying out and gasping.”
A doctor in the audience helped tend to Rushdie while emergency services arrived, police said. Henry Reese, the event’s moderator, suffered a minor head injury. Police said they were working with federal investigators to determine a motive. They did not describe the weapon used.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the incident as “appalling.” “We’re thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping him so swiftly,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to the United Kingdom, has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses.”
Some Muslims said the book contained blasphemous passages. It was banned in many countries with large Muslim populations upon its 1988 publication.
A few months later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict, calling upon Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in the book’s publication for blasphemy.
Rushdie, who called his novel “pretty mild,” went into hiding for nearly a decade. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the novel, was murdered in 1991. The Iranian government said in 1998 it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years.
Iranian organizations, some affiliated with the government, have raised a bounty worth millions of dollars for Rushdie’s murder. And Khomeini’s successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said as recently as 2019 that the fatwa was “irrevocable.”
A general view shows UPMC Hamot Surgery Center, where novelist Salman Rushdie is receiving treatment after the attack, in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., August 12, 2022. REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki
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Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency and other news outlets donated money in 2016 to increase the bounty by $600,000. Fars called Rushdie an apostate who “insulted the prophet” in its report on Friday’s attack.
‘NOT A USUAL WRITER’
Rushdie published a memoir in 2012 about his cloistered, secretive life under the fatwa called “Joseph Anton,” the pseudonym he used while in British police protection. His second novel, “Midnight’s Children,” won the Booker Prize. His new novel “Victory City” is due to be published in February.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled that Rushdie was “stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend.”
Rushdie was at the institution in western New York for a discussion about the United States giving asylum to artists in exile and “as a home for freedom of creative expression,” according to the institution’s website.
There were no obvious security checks at the Chautauqua Institution, a landmark founded in the 19th century in the small lakeside town of the same name; staff simply checked people’s passes for admission, attendees said.
“I felt like we needed to have more protection there because Salman Rushdie is not a usual writer,” said Anour Rahmani, an Algerian writer and human rights activist who was in the audience. “He’s a writer with a fatwa against him.”
Michael Hill, the institution’s president, said at a news conference they had a practice of working with state and local police to provide event security. He vowed the summer’s program would soon continue.
“Our whole purpose is to help people bridge what has been too divisive of a world,” Hill said. “The worst thing Chautauqua could do is back away from its mission in light of this tragedy, and I don’t think Mr. Rushdie would want that either.”
Rushdie became a U.S. citizen in 2016 and lives in New York City.
A self-described lapsed Muslim and “hard-line atheist,” he has been a fierce critic of religion across the spectrum and outspoken about oppression in his native India, including under the Hindu-nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PEN America, an advocacy group for freedom of expression of which Rushdie is a former president, said it was “reeling from shock and horror” at what it called an unprecedented attack on a writer in the United States. read more
“Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered,” Suzanne Nossel, PEN’s chief executive, said in the statement. Earlier in the morning, Rushdie had emailed her to help with relocating Ukrainian writers seeking refuge, she said.
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Jonathan Allen, Randi Love and Tyler Clifford in New York and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols, Andrew Hay and Costas Pitas; Editing by Alistair Bell, Daniel Wallis and Michael Perry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
There’s just about a month to go until Apple holds its annual September event focusing on new iPhone and Apple Watch models. We thought we’d take a quick look at everything that’s rumored for Apple’s September event to give MacRumors readers a rundown on what to expect when the first fall event rolls around.
The iPhone 14 can probably be described more as an “iPhone 13S” because it’s not expected to get a whole lot of changes. We’re expecting the same design and the same A-series chip, but camera improvements are a possibility. Note that Apple is getting rid of the 5.4-inch iPhone mini in the 2022 iPhone lineup, with the standard iPhone 14 series to consist of a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and a larger 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max.
6.1-inch iPhone 14, and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max. No mini.
No design changes, Face ID notch remains.
No ProMotion display.
New purple color, which joins black, white, red, and blue.
Improved Ultra Wide camera.
Upgraded front camera with wider f/1.9 aperture and autofocus capabilities.
A15 chip, which was previously used in the iPhone 13.
6GB RAM.
Updated Snapdragon X65 10 Gigabit 5G modem and antenna system.
WiFi 6E.
$799 start price.
For full details on everything we’ve heard so far about the iPhone 14, we have a dedicated iPhone 14 roundup.
Though the iPhone 14 is more of an iPhone 13S, the same isn’t true for the iPhone 14 Pro models. Apple has bigger changes in store for its higher-tier and more expensive iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models.
Same general flat-edged design with 6.1 and 6.7-inch size options.
ProMotion display technology, but with 1Hz to 120Hz upgrade that enables Always-On display technology.
No notch. Notch replaced with pill-shaped and hole-punch cutouts for camera and Face ID hardware.
Larger rear camera bumps and increased lens size.
Graphite, gold, silver, and purple color options.
Faster A16 chip.
Updated Snapdragon X65 10 Gigabit 5G modem and antenna system.
Vapor chamber thermal system to accommodate A16 chip and 5G modem.
48-megapixel Wide lens with 21 percent larger sensor that supports higher-resolution images and 8K video recording.
Upgraded 7-element telephoto lens.
Improved Ultra Wide lens.
Upgraded front camera with wider f/1.9 aperture and autofocus capabilities.
6GB RAM.
WiFi 6E.
Up to 2TB storage.
Possible price increase.
Full details on what to expect from the iPhone 14 Pro are available in our iPhone 14 Pro roundup.
The Series 8 is expected to get an iterative update that largely focuses on a few new features like temperature sensing, but there are some surprises to be had as Apple is also introducing a pro version of the Apple Watch.
Same general design as Series 7.
41 and 45mm sizes.
S8 chip, which basically offers the same performance as the S7.
Low power mode for improved battery life.
Temperature sensor, which can let you know if your temperature is up. May be used for fertility tracking.
Possible car crash detection.
The Apple Watch Series 8 isn’t the only new Apple Watch that we’re getting this year. Apple is refreshing the Apple Watch SE and introducing a new higher-end Apple Watch that could be called the “Apple Watch Pro.”
Updated design that’s an “evolution of the current rectangular shape,” possibly with a flat display, but no flat edges.
Rugged, more durable build for extreme athletes.
More durable titanium alloy casing with shatter-resistant display.
Larger size with 2-inch diagonal screen that provides seven percent more display area.
410 x 502 resolution.
Larger battery and longer battery life, could be as long as multiple days with new low power mode.
All Apple Watch Series 8 features.
Could be priced at around $900 to $1,000.
An updated version of the AirPods Pro is on the horizon, but it’s not entirely clear if the refreshed earbuds will come out alongside the new iPhone and Apple Watch models or if Apple will introduce them later in the year.
Same general design as current AirPods Pro with silicone ear tips and stem.
Improved Find My integration.
Charging case with speaker holes to play sounds when lost.
AirPods 3 acoustics for improved sound.
Updated H1 chip with self-adaptive noise cancellation capabilities.
Possible Lossless audio (ALAC) support.
Lightning port.
Our full AirPods Pro 2 guide has even more information about everything we’ve heard about the AirPods Pro so far.
Potential September Event Date
There’s no word yet on when Apple will hold its annual September event, but given that the events almost always happen within the first two or three weeks of the month, we can make some educated guesses. September 5 is Labor Day, so that’s out, and most events are on Monday or Tuesday, though Wednesday is sometimes a possibility.
Most likely target dates:
September 7
September 13
September 14
September 20
September 21
September 12 and 13 are the two most likely dates, and if Apple does indeed plan to hold the event on one of these days, we could get an announcement the week before.
Past event dates:
2015 – September 9
2016 – September 7
2017 – September 12
2018 – September 12
2019 – September 10
2020 – September 15
2021 – September 14
October Event
Apple’s September event isn’t the only event we’re going to get before the end of the year. We’re also counting on an October event that will see the launch of new iPad Pro models, a new low-cost iPad a revamped Apple TV, and an Apple silicon version of the Mac Pro.
Feedback
What product are you most looking forward to from Apple this fall? Let us know in the comments below.
The New York Jets had a gaping hole on their offensive line after losing Mekhi Becton to injury this week, and it looks like they might have just filled that hole in.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson has reported that the Jets have agreed to terms with Duane Brown on a two-year deal. According to ESPN.com, the Brown’s contract with the team is worth a total of $22 million.
Brown is a five-time Pro Bowler who was easily the best offensive lineman left on the market. The Jets had actually shown some interest in Brown before Becton’s injury with the 36-year-old visiting with the team on Aug. 6. Two days after that visit, Becton went down with a devastating knee injury during practice that will likely end up keeping him out for most of the season, if not the entire season. With Becton out, getting Brown under contract became an immediate priority for the Jets.
With Brown headed to New York, the next step for the Jets is to figure out the big question of where he’s going to play. Becton was slotted in at right tackle, but Brown likely won’t want to play there since he’s spent his entire 15-year career at left tackle.
Former Seahawks offensive line coach Mike Solari spent three seasons coaching Brown in Seattle and he doesn’t think it would make sense to move the big guy to the right side.
“Could he do it? Yes, he has the essential qualities,” Solari told the New York Post this week. “But I think with what he gives on the left side, I would not move him from where he’s comfortable at this stage of his career. The adjustment I’d make is to move George [Fant] back to right because he’s played both.”
If the Jets move Brown to left tackle, that would mean moving Fant over to right tackle, which is something Fant might not be on board with. That being said, Fant and Brown did spend some time together as teammates in Seattle and during that span, Brown was the left tackle with Fant playing on the right side. Since the two guys have some familiarity with each other, that will likely make Fant more amicable to being moved.
As for Brown, he’s going to be 37 on Aug. 30 and although he’s getting up there in age, Solari thinks the tackle still has plenty left in the tank.
“He’s definitely got something left in the tank,” Solari said. “Great knee-bender, and what makes him elite is his athleticism and his change of direction. Very competitive, smart, leader on and off the field. He’d be an asset for the Jets in the sense of his play, his demeanor and his work ethic.”
Brown has been in the NFL since 2008, when the Texans made him the 26th overall pick in the draft. In the 15 years since then, he has played almost exclusively at left tackle.
No matter where Brown plays, he was a much-needed addition who should be an instant upgrade to the Jets’ offensive line. The only issue with the signing of Brown is that there’s still a chance he could be punished by the NFL over an arrest last month. Back in July, Brown was charged with misdemeanor carrying of a concealed weapon after being arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.
Anne Heche attends the premiere for the film “The Tender Bar” at The TLC Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 12, 2021. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
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LOS ANGELES, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Anne Heche remained hospitalized in critical condition, comatose and connected to a breathing machine on Monday, four days after suffering severe injuries in a fiery Los Angeles car crash, a spokesperson for the performer said.
Heche, 53, has been hospitalized since shortly after the compact car she was driving sped out of control in a Westside neighborhood of Los Angeles late Friday morning, plowed into a house and burst into flames, according to police.
No one inside the home was hurt, but the impact set the dwelling ablaze, requiring a response by dozens of firefighters.
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A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said on Monday the cause and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.
Heche is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident, said Michael McConnell, a member of the Los Angeles talent management company representing her, Zero Gravity Management.
“At this time, she is in extreme critical condition,” he told Reuters in a text message, adding that Heche “has significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention.”
The Los Angeles Times quoted a Venice Beach salon owner, Richard Glass, recounting a visit by Heche to his shop shortly before the accident, describing her as “a sweet little girl” as she purchased a red wig on Friday morning.
Heche came to prominence for her Emmy-winning work on the daytime television drama “Another World” and went on to star in other screen roles including the HBO series “Hung” and such films as “Wag the Dog” and “Cedar Rapids.”
She made tabloid headlines in the late 1990s for an affair with comedian Ellen DeGeneres around the time that DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian. Following their split, Heche wed cameraman Coleman Laffoon, but they later divorced, and she spent some years after that in a relationship with actor James Tupper, her co-star in the short-lived TV show “Men in Trees.”
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Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Stephen Coates
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It’s not just Embedded AM4 Dekstop CPUs that AMD is working on but a new listing has revealed the upcoming Ryzen 5000 “PRO” lineup too.
AMD’s Ryzen 5000 “PRO” Desktop CPU Lineup Includes Three SKUs: 5945, 5845 & 5645
A few days ago, we reported AMD’s Ryzen 5000 “Embedded” Desktop CPU lineup for the AM4 platform, and now, Lenovo has listed three SKUs that will be part of the Ryzen 5000 “PRO” line which is expected to launch soon. The trio of CPUs has been listed for the Lenovo ThinkStation P358 Tower system which is designed around the socketed AM4 platform with support for DDR4-3200 (Non-ECCC) memory.
AMD Ryzen 5000 “PRO” AM4 Desktop CPUs have been listed by Lenovo. (Image Credits: HXL)
From the listing, we can see that there are at least three AMD Ryzen 5000 “PRO” CPUs in the work based on the Zen 3 core architecture. These include the Ryzen 9 PRO 5945, the Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, and the Ryzen 5 PRO 5645. Based on the specifications sheet, the Ryzen 9 chip features up to 12 cores, Ryzen 7 chip will get 8 cores and the Ryzen 5 chip will adopt a 6-core design. You can base the L3 and L2 cache counts on those configurations. The Ryzen 5000 “Embedded” lineup features a 10-core SKU in Ryzen 9 series so that may also be a possible SKU configuration for the specific PRO segment.
Looking at AMD’s current Ryzen PRO AM4 offerings, we can see that the company has mostly relied on its Ryzen 5000 & Ryzen 4000 APUs for the platform whereas the last proper CPU offerings were the Ryzen 3000 chips based on Zen 2 core architecture. The AMD Ryzen 5000 “PRO” & “Embedded” CPUs being listed online now means that they could be launching in the coming months which also happens to be when the red team will introduce its next-gen Zen 4-powered Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs but don’t expect those to come in PRO or Embedded flavors for a few years.
Today is a great day to grab the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, as it’s on sale for $10 off. Plus, while you’re at it, you can add some storage to your Nintendo Switch. And, Pokemon fans should definitely check out the deal on the Snorlax bean bag chair. Elsewhere, the LG G1 Evo or “Gallery Edition” TV has almost never been discounted, but today it’s $400 off exclusively at Best Buy. In other deal news, the new Apple TV 4K with the beefier 64GB storage capacity has also dropped in price, the Arcade1Up Marvel Super Heroes Countercade sees yet another $20 price drop, and Pokemon Legends Arceus is on sale. Check out these deals and more below.
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for $10 Off
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
The official Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is probably the most comfortable way to play your Switch while it’s docked, and it’s on sale for $10 off over on Woot. Act fast, because this deal is likely to sell out before the time expires later today. If you need an extra controller for multiplayer games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, this is your best option.
Add 64 GB of Storage to Your Switch for Just $17.99
Speaking of the Switch, you can add 64 GB of storage with this MicroSD card from SanDisk. It’s on sale at a huge discount today, going for just $17.99. If you don’t install a ton of games, but like to download the occasional indie or eShop exlcusive title, this 64 GB should be good to last you a while.
Pokemon Snorlax Bean Bag Chair Is 25% Off
This Snorlax bean bag chair is amazing, and it’s discounted 25% today. It’s a must for any hardcore Pokemon fan, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that it’s comfortable, too. Once, when my AirBnB reservation fell through, my friend and I had to crash at a friend’s place. I slept on an air mattress, and my friend slept on this Snorlax bean bag chair, and he said it worked surprisingly well for a full night of sleep. If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.
55″ LG G1 Evo 4K OLED TV (Gallery Series) $ 999.99
5 year LG panel warranty
The LG G1 Evo was LG’s top of the line LG OLED TV last year. It is a superior to the LG C1, B1, and A1 TV lineups. The G1 Evo has a similar Evo OLED panel you’ll find in the current C2 model. The main advantage of the Evo panel is the extra brightness that it offers up compared to the standard OLED panel found on the C1. This is a fantastic deal considering a 55″ LG C2 with Evo panel costs nearly $1600 right now. “Gallery Edition” means this TV has a thinner bezel and no gap between the TV frame and the wall. It’s supposed to be flush mounted so no table stand is included.
Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, OLED panels offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. OLED TVs excel at both gaming and viewing 4K HDR content. The G1 model is future proofed with technology like HDMI 2.1 (4K @ 120Hz), variable refresh rate, and G-SYNC. It’s a perfect matchup for current generation consoles like the PS5 or Xbox Series X.
G1 models have a 5 year panel warranty compared to the C2 and C1 which have the standard 1 year warranty.
Newest Apple TV 4K 32GB and 64GB Both on Sale
The Apple TV 4K happened to be one of Amazon Prime Day’s hottest sellers. Today the price has dropped down to the same as what we saw on Prime Day. The newest Apple TV features two major upgrades. It boasts an A12 Bionic processor that boosts graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing and delivers high frame rate HDR with Dolby Vision. It also includes a new Apple TV remote. The overall build quality is better than before, but the biggest enhancements are a 5-way clickpad, mute button, and dedicated power button that works for your TV, receiver, and Apple TV.
Up to $300 Off Lenovo Intel EVO Laptops at Best Buy
Today Best Buy is offering up to $300 off thin and light Lenovo Yoga, IdeaPad, and Flex laptops. The Lenovo Yoga 7i and 9i laptops, in particular, are highly recommended because they are Intel Evo certified. They feature 14″ higher-than-1080p displays, the newest 12th generation Intel Core i5 or i7 Alder Lake low voltage processors, DDR5 RAM, all while maintaining a weight of under 3.5 pounds. The least expensive model starts at only $699.99 ($650 for MyBestBuy members), down from the original $999 MSRP.
Blue Yeti Professional Microphone Is Under $100
Blue Microphones
Blue Yeti Professional Multi-Pattern USB Condenser Microphone
This microphone is pretty much the industry standard for podcasting, streaming, and other forms of voice recording. So, if you want your content to take off, you’ll want it to sound as professional as possible. This mic comes with four pickup patterns, making it suitable for recording with multiple people, recording in isolation, or even recording musical instruments.
Arcade1Up Marvel Super Heroes 2 Countercade
Another $20 price drop!
There’s a nice 35% 43% price drop on this bite-sized countercade from Arcade1Up. This is a great alternative for anyone who doesn’t have space (or funds) for a massive arcade cabinet. Despite its diminutive size, it’s actually very playable with an 8″ hi-res display, speaker, and full sized joystick and control buttons for two players. Four games in total are included: Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, The Punisher, and Marvel vs Capcom.
Elden Ring Official Strategy Guides On Sale
Future Press
Elden Ring Official Strategy Guide, Vol. 1: The Lands Between
Future Press
Elden Ring Official Strategy Guide, Vol. 2: Shards of the Shattering
Elden Ring is by far the most discussed game of 2022, and some of you may need a little bit of extra help to finish this notoriously brutal game. While plenty of in-depth online guides already exist, superfans of Elden Ring and collectors may be interested in piucking up the official pair of strategy guides. Coming in two separate volumes, the first book tells you all about exploring the Lands Between and interacting with its many NPCs, while the second volume teaches you about combat and the fearsome foes you’ll face along the way.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus for $51.99
Pokemon Legends Arceus helped redefine the Pokemon gameplay loop as we know it. If you’re waiting for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to launch later this year, don’t miss out on this highly experimental title. In a completely new take on the series, you’ll sneak up on Pokemon and toss Poke Balls to catch them. Battling is still present, but it takes a backseat to what Pokemon has always said it’s been about from the very beginning: catching them all.
Hot Wheels Unleashed For $19.99
Hot Wheels Unleashed is the ultimate childhood nostalgia trip for anyone that grew up with a ton of toy cars stashed under the bed. Today, you can get it on all platforms for just $19.99. There are a ton of classic Hot Wheels to collect, and some cool DLC packs featuring crossovers with DC, Looney Tunes, and more.
Better Than Amazon Prime Day Deal: ASUS TUF Dash 15″ Intel Core i7 Alder Lake RTX 3060 Gaming Laptop
ASUS TUF Dash 15″ Intel Core i7-12650H RTX 3060 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
This was one of the most popular gaming laptop deals during Amazon Prime Day, and it’s back for a slightly cheaper price! That’s right, this particular ASUS TUF Dash 15″ gaming laptop was down to $1100 on Black Friday, but it’s only $1069.99 today. It features an RTX 3060 GPU with 105W max TGP and the newest generation Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake processor. The new Alder Lake processors are a significant performance bump over previous gen Intel CPUs. Complementing these specs are 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD.
New Release: 48″ LG UltraGear 48GP900-B 4K HDR OLED Gaming Monitor for $1296.99
New Release
LG UltraGear 48GP900 48″ 4K (3840×2160) OLED Gaming Monitor
For those of you who love LG OLED TVs (for good reason) but don’t like the idea of using a TV for a computer monitor, there’s now an answer. LG has released its first UltraGear OLED gaming monitor. At first glance, the 48GP900 with its 48″ LG WOLED 10-bit color HDR display seems very similar to the 48″ LG C1 OLED TV. The panel is very similar, but there are some key differences. Instead of the semi glossy coating found on the OLED TV, the 48GP900 features an anti-glare low reflective coating that is undoubtedly a better fit for close up monitor usage. It also has DisplayPort connectivity and lacks the built-in Smart TV interface. It does carry over the HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K @ 120Hz compatiblity for PS5 and Xbox Series X owners, as well as VRR and G-SYNC support, but the 120Hz refresh rate can be overclocked to 138Hz when used as a PC monitor. Last and certainly least important of all, there is subtle RGB backlighting on the rear of the monitor that isn’t present on the OLED TVs. This is one of the best gaming monitors you’ll find on the market right now.
$300 Off Arcade1Up Head-to-Head (H2H) Arcade Cabinet Gaming Tables from Walmart
Arcade1UP Marvel vs. Capcom Head-to-Head (H2H) Gaming Table with Lit Deck
If you don’t have the money, time, or know-how to build your own cabinet, these Arcade1Up cabinets are the next best thing. Walmart is offering up to $300 off a selection of Arcade1UP head-to-head gaming tables. These cabinets measure 29″ high and offer a top-down viewing experience for playing head to head locally against your opponent. They feature 17″ color displays with protective clear covers and lit decks, arcade controls for up to 4 players depending on the game, all packaged in an easy to assemble kit.
Marvel table includes: X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, The Punisher, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, and Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems
Pong H2H table includes: Pong, Pong Doubles, Pong Sports, Quadrapong, Warlords, Tempest, Super Breakout, Circus Atari, Destroyer, Avalanche, Major Havoc, and Indy 500
Pong table includes: Pong, Quadra Pong, Pong Doubles, Warlords, Pong Sports, Circus Atari, Tempest, and Super Breakout
Arcade1Up The Simpsons Arcade Cabinet
Includes Riser and Light-Up Marquee
Arcade1Up The Simpsons Arcade Cabinet with Riser, Light Up Marquee, and Themed Stool
Gamestop has the best deal on the Arcade1Up The Simpsons arcade cabinet by throwing in the riser, light up marquee, and the matching themed stool. The Simpsons cabinet is a 3:4 replica of the arcade original, making it approximately 4 feet tall. That said, a matching riser is included which raises the height by another 1 foot, giving you the option of both sitting and standing play. Up to 4 players can join in on the classic Simpsons side-scrolling arcade game as Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa. If you don’t have a buddy around to play with, you can hop onto the live WiFi (no subscription required) to play with other remote Arcade1Up players. In addition to the core The Simpsons game, The Simpsons Bowling is also preloaded.
Razer Anzu Smart Glasses for $69.99 (Was $200)
Razer Anzu Smart Glasses with Interchangeable Blue Light Filtering and Polarized Sunglass Lenses and Hands-Free Calling
The Razer Anzu glasses come with two sets of interchangeable lenses; blue-light filtering lenses for indoor PC use and polarized sunglass lenses for outdoor use. Blue light filtering lenses are designed to reduce eye strain and fatigue caused by high energy blue light emitted from your computer monitor. Blue light is a melatonin suppressor, and the theory is that using your monitor at night suppresses your natural sleep cycle. If that’s true, blue light filtering lenses should help you fall asleep better, even after an intense late night gaming session. The tinted polarized lenses work much like any regular pair of sunglasses; the polarized film provides 99% UVA/UVB protection and is designed to reduce glare and eliminate potential eye damage from the sun.
Razer took an extra step and implemented wireless hands-free calling in these glasses.There’s a Bluetooth speaker and microphone embedded in the frame. A clever touch interface allows you to manipulate the controls, but it’s also voice assistant compatible. You get up to 5 hours of talk time, so you probably won’t need to charge it every day.
HP Reverb G2 VR Headset
This price has become even more attractive following the Meta Quest 2 price hike. The Reverb G2 normally sells for $599, but the HP Store has it for $200 off. The Reverb G2 sports the second highest resolution of any VR headset with 2160×2160 pixels per eye (even more than the already impressive Quest 2’s 1832×1920 resolution), manual IPD adjustment, a far more robust headstrap than the Quest 2, inside-out tracking that doesn’t require external sensors, and off-ear headphones that maintain your peripheral hearing.
Roku Ultra LT 2021 4K HDR for $55.12
Walmart has the Roku Ultra LT 4K HDR streaming media player for only $55, down about 15% off its original MSRP. The Roku Ultra LT is almost identical to the $100 Ultra; the only two features it lacks are a USB port and Dolby Atmos support. It sports the same processor and memory as the Ultra, which means it excels at streaming at up to 4K HDR without a hitch. Roku still has one of the most intuitive smart TV interfaces around.
Apple iPad 10.2″ 64GB for $299.99
Apple’s latest 10.2″ iPad is a great option for school, work, or simply relaxing with your favorite movie, book, or streaming service. The 64GB model has dropped to $299, and you won’t find a less expensive current generation Apple iPad out there. The Apple A13 Bionic chip for fast CPU and GPU performance to tackle just about anything, and the large 10.2-inch Retina display ensures everything is bright and crisp during use. iPad also features both a front-facing camera for voice chat, and rear camera for taking photos and videos.
New Apple AirPods Pro for $179.99
New MagSafe Model
Apple AirPods Pro Noise-Cancelling Earbuds
The current generation Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best sounding “truly wireless” earbuds you’ll find, especially at this price point. “Truly wireless” earbuds have no wires whatsoever; even the earbuds aren’t hardwired to each other. In addition to the excellent sound quality, the AirPods Pro is the only AirPods with active noise cancelling technology. That, combined with the inherent nature of in-ear earbuds, means that the AirPods Pro will provide better noise isolation than over-ear headphones like the Bose QuietComfort or the Sony WH1000XM5. If you’re thinking of getting a pair of new AirPods, we highly recommend jumping on this particular model. Or, if you’re on a tighter budget, you can still grab the second generation Apple AirPods below for 100 bucks.
Marshall Emberton Bluetooth Portable Speaker for 28% Off
Marshall
Marshall Emberton Bluetooth Portable Speaker
This is the Bluetooth speaker I use during my work day. In fact, I’m listening to music on it right now as I’m typing this. The sound quality is fantastic, and the battery life lasts upwards of 20 hours on a single charge. And, its waterproof nature means you can take it to pool parties or beach days without fear of damaging it. I highly recommend this speaker if you’re looking for a new Bluetooth option.
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU Starting at $749.99
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Hybrid 12GB Video Card
The GeForce RTX 3080 GPU really doesn’t need any introduction. This is the de facto card to get if you plan to run current generation games at 4K, since it’s up to 50% faster than the previous generation RTX 2080 SUPER and doesn’t command the exorbitant price of the RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090 (both of which are a mere 3%-5% faster in real world performance). It has an HDMI 2.1 port for passing through 4K @ 120Hz, which it has the power to drive even in resource hungry games like Elden Ring, Battlefield 2042 or Cyberpunk 2077.
Alienware Aurora Ryzen 7 RTX 3080 PC for $1599.99
Use code: 100OFF1499
Alienware Aurora R10 Liquid Cooled AMD Ryzen 7 5800 RTX 3080 Gaming PC with 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD
Use promo code “100OFF1499”
30% off $2,189.99
The RTX 3080 is way more powerful than the previous generation’s best video card, the RTX 2080 Ti, and is the best recommended video card for 4K gaming. The RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 are the only cards that are (very slightly) more powerful, but they cost hundreds of dollars more. The RTX 3080 is paired with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU, which is still one of the best processors out there, whether it be for gaming or for workstation purposes. It’s been upgraded with liquid cooling as well. The rig is ready to go out of the box with 16GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM and a generously sized 1TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD. Don’t worry, even the power supply is up to snuff with an ample 1000W rating.
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop for $1599
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ Intel Core i7-12700 Alder Lake RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Walmart is offering an outstanding deal on the new Lenovo Legion 5 Pro laptop that is also equipped with the 12th generation Intel Core i7 Alder Lake CPU and RTX 3070 GPU. The RTX 3070 GPU in this gaming laptop also has a TGP rating of 140W, and it performs as well as the MSI Crosshair on paper. In real world benchmarks, the Legion 5 Pro is one of the best performing gaming laptops on the market. It also looks more like a standard laptop, so you might want to pick this over the Crosshair if you’re not into the gamer aesthetic.
WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Walorski and two members of her staff died on Wednesday when the vehicle they were traveling in collided head-on with a car that veered into their lane, police in Indiana and her office said.
Walorski, 58, a Republican who represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, was mourned by President Joe Biden and her colleagues in Congress as an honorable public servant who strived to work across party lines to deliver for her constituents. The White House said it would fly flags at half-staff in her memory.
The congresswoman had been traveling down an Indiana road on Wednesday afternoon with her communications chief, Emma Thomson, 28, and one of her district directors, Zachery Potts, 27, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said.
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“A northbound passenger car traveled left of center and collided head on” with Walorski’s vehicle, killing all three occupants, the sheriff’s office said. The driver of the other car, 56-year-old Edith Schmucker, was pronounced dead at the scene, near the northern Indiana town of Nappanee, it added.
Confirming her death in a statement shared on Twitter by House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, Walorski’s office said: “Dean Swihart, Jackie’s husband, was just informed by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s office that Jackie was killed in a car accident this afternoon.”
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) speaks as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar testifies to the House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 2, 2020. J. Scott Applewhite/Pool via REUTERS
It added: “Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. We will have no further comment at this time.”
Walorski was a lifelong resident of Indiana, according to her official biography. She served on the House Ways and Means Committee and was the top Republican on the subcommittee on worker and family support.
Prior to her election in 2012 to the House, Walorski served three terms in the Indiana legislature, spent four years as a missionary in Romania along with her husband and worked as a television news reporter in South Bend, according to a biography posted on her congressional website.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he and Walorski “may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served.”
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, said in a statement that Walorski “passionately brought the voices of her north Indiana constituents to the Congress, and she was admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her personal kindness.”
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Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Eric Beech, Dan Whitcomb, Costas Pitas and Frank McGurty; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
DUBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Ayman al-Zawahiri succeeded Osama bin Laden as al Qaeda leader after years as its main organiser and strategist, but his lack of charisma and competition from rival militants Islamic State hobbled his ability to inspire sizeable attacks on the West.
Zawahiri, 71, was killed in a U.S. drone strike, U.S. President Joe Biden said on live television on Monday evening. U.S. officials said the attack took place on Sunday in the Afghan capital Kabul. read more
In the years following bin Laden’s death in 2011, U.S. air strikes killed a succession of Zawahiri’s deputies, weakening the veteran Egyptian militant’s ability to coordinate globally.
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He had watched as al Qaeda was effectively sidelined by the 2011 Arab revolts, launched mainly by middle-class activists and intellectuals opposed to decades of autocracy.
Despite a reputation as an inflexible and combative personality, Zawahiri managed to nurture loosely affiliated groups around the world that grew to wage devastating insurgencies, some of them rooted in turmoil arising from the Arab Spring. The violence destabilised a number of countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
But al Qaeda’s days as the centrally directed, hierarchical network of plotters that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, were long gone. Instead, militancy returned to its roots in local-level conflicts, driven by a mix of local grievances and incitement by transnational jihadi networks using social media.
Zawahiri’s origins in Islamist militancy went back decades.
The first time the world heard of him was when he stood in a courtroom cage after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981.
“We have sacrificed and we are still ready for more sacrifices until the victory of Islam,” shouted Zawahiri, wearing a white robe, as fellow defendants enraged by Sadat’s peace treaty with Israel chanted slogans.
Zawahiri served a three-year jail term for illegal arms possession, but was acquitted of the main charges.
A trained surgeon – one of his pseudonyms was The Doctor – Zawahiri went to Pakistan on his release where he worked with the Red Crescent treating Islamist mujahideen guerrillas wounded in Afghanistan fighting Soviet forces.
During that period, he became acquainted with bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who had joined the Afghan resistance.
Taking over the leadership of Islamic Jihad in Egypt in 1993, Zawahiri was a leading figure in a campaign in the mid-1990s to overthrow the government and set up a purist Islamic state. More than 1,200 Egyptians were killed.
Egyptian authorities mounted a crackdown on Islamic Jihad after an assassination attempt on President Hosni Mubarak in June of 1995 in Addis Ababa. The greying, white-turbaned Zawahiri responded by ordering a 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. Two cars filled with explosives rammed through the compound’s gates, killing 16 people.
In 1999, an Egyptian military court sentenced Zawahiri to death in absentia. By then he was living the spartan life of a militant after helping Bin Laden to form al Qaeda.
A videotape aired by Al Jazeera in 2003 showed the two men walking on a rocky mountainside – an image that Western intelligence hoped would provide clues on their whereabouts.
THREATS OF GLOBAL JIHAD
For years Zawahiri was believed to be hiding along the forbidding border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This year, U.S. officials identified that Zawahiri’s family – his wife, his daughter and her children – had relocated to a safe house in Kabul and subsequently identified Zawahiri at the same location, a senior administration official said.
He was killed in a drone attack when he came out on the balcony of the house on Sunday morning, the official said. No one else was hurt.
Zawahiri assumed leadership of al Qaeda in 2011 after U.S. Navy Seals killed bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan. Since then he repeatedly called for global jihad, with an Ak-47 as his side during video messages.
In a eulogy for bin Laden, Zawahiri promised to pursue attacks on the West, recalling the Saudi-born militant’s threat that “you will not dream of security until we live it as a reality and until you leave the lands of the Muslims”.
As it turned out, the emergence of the even more hardline Islamic State in 2014-2019 in Iraq and Syria drew as much, if not more, attention from Western counter-terrorism authorities.
Zawahiri often tried to stir passions among Muslims by commenting online about sensitive issues such as U.S. policies in the Middle East or Israeli actions against Palestinians, but his delivery was seen as lacking bin Laden’s magnetism.
On a practical level, Zawahiri is believed to have been involved in some of al Qaeda’s biggest operations, helping organise the 2001 attacks, when airliners hijacked by al Qaeda were used to kill 3,000 people in the United States.
He was indicted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The FBI put a $25 million bounty on his head on its most wanted list.
PROMINENT FAMILY
Zawahiri did not emerge from Cairo’s slums, like others drawn to militant groups who promised a noble cause. Born in 1951 to a prominent Cairo family, Zawahiri was a grandson of the grand imam of Al Azhar, one of Islam’s most important mosques.
Zawahiri was raised in Cairo’s leafy Maadi suburb, a place favoured by expatriates from the Western nations he railed against. The son of a pharmacology professor, Zawahiri first embraced Islamic fundamentalism at the age of 15.
He was inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb, an Islamist executed in 1966 on charges of trying to overthrow the state.
People who studied with Zawahiri at Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine in the 1970s describe a lively young man who went to the cinema, listened to music and joked with friends.
“When he came out of prison he was a completely different person,” said a doctor who studied with Zawahiri and declined to be named.
In the courtroom cage after the assassination of Sadat at a military parade, Zawahiri addressed the international press, saying militants had suffered from severe torture including whippings and attacks by wild dogs in prison.
“They arrested the wives, the mothers, the fathers, the sisters and the sons in a trial to put the psychological pressure on these innocent prisoners,” he said.
Fellow prisoners said those conditions further radicalised Zawahiri and set him on his path to global jihad.
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Editing by Howard Goller, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Stephen Coates
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
