dies

July 12 (UPI) — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly on Saturday night, two days after his 71st birthday, his office announced.

Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he toured a drone factory and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, CBS News and The Washington Post reported.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement posted to X.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement said.

Graham had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday morning, which instead featured an interview with President Donald Trump, who said that he’d spoken with the senator on Saturday after he’d returned from Ukraine.

“Other than being tired, he was fine,” Trump said.

Graham, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, had already won South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary and now will have to be replaced on the ticket.

The state is expected to hold a special primary in the next few weeks so that voters can choose a new candidate.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 71. He died on Saturday evening following a “brief and sudden illness”, according to his office.

Elected to the Senate in 2002, the South Carolina politician was one of Washington’s most influential voices on foreign policy, often pushing for US military intervention overseas.

Donald Trump said Graham was a “true American Patriot” who would be “greatly missed”.

Graham had just returned from Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. There were no known health concerns ahead of his trip.

Graham was a staunch supporter of arming Kyiv and applying sanctions against Moscow. Zelensky said in a post on X, external that he was “deeply saddened” by his death.

“America and the world have lost a determined leader,” he added.

Graham’s relationship with the US president had evolved since Trump first ran for office.

In a CNN interview during his campaign for the presidency in 2015, Graham called Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot”. The next year, he said: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed… and we will deserve it.”

After the US Capitol riots in 2021, Graham gave a speech on the Senate floor in which he said: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way.

“All I can say is a count me out. Enough is enough.”

⁠Qatar’s former Emir ⁠Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani ‌has died at the age of ⁠74, the country’s Amiri ⁠Diwan said.

“With hearts steadfast in faith in God’s decree and destiny, the Amiri Diwan mourns the great loss to the nation of the late – may God have mercy on him – His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who passed away this morning,” the Amiri Diwan said in a statement on Sunday.

More to come…

Theo Burrell’s husband Alex confirmed the tragic news in an Instagram post saying that her death came much quicker than anticipated following a cancer diagnosis

An Antiques Roadshow star has tragically died as her heartbroken husband paid tribute calling her an “incredible person”.

Theo Burrell’s husband Alex confirmed the tragic news in an Instagram post, saying that her death came much quicker than anticipated following a cancer diagnosis.

He shared a snap of the 39-year-old cuddling a dog as he wrote: “It is with great sadness that I share the news that Theo passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday afternoon.

“Neither she nor her medical team foresaw this happening quite so quickly. She was an incredible person who fought hard for her family, friends and raising awareness of this cruel disease.”

He went on: “She saw life events like her son’s first day at school and her wedding that a little over 4 years ago we thought she’d never see.

“The cancer community provided so much comfort and strength to her in her darkest moments. But most of all it provided hope and I think what she would want most of all is for other people to find hope in her story. Hope that the statistics aren’t gospel and that one day they’ll be very different.”

Back in June, Theo shared that it had marked four years since she was diagnosed with glioblastoma – a malignant brain tumour, reported the Express.

At the time, the BBC star shared that she had surpassed the prognosis handed to her by doctors at diagnosis, when she was given 12-18 months to live.

She wrote: “On 7th June this year, I marked 4 years since my glioblastoma diagnosis. Like other GBM patients I was expected to live for 12-18 months.

“In the wake of that news I had many dark thoughts including that I wouldn’t see my son’s 2nd birthday let alone him starting school, but I’m lucky enough to say I did! And no one can take that away from me.

“Life since second surgery in Jan this year has definitely been a bit up and down. My peripheral vision on the left has gone and I’m having to take it slowly wherever I go. My coordination is not what it was.

“However this week Alex and I got the help of my parents (thank you so much GM & GI) and we’ve made it to the Lakes for 4 nights of chilling out. Having such warm weather has therefore been a bit of an extra bonus.

“Of course the next scan looms but I’ve dug deep and found a new bit of determination (which does not always come easy) to say to the GBM ‘I will not give up. Whatever the results, I’ll take stock, trust my oncologist and go from there.’

“So if you’re in the brain cancer world along with me – you’re not alone and we’ve just got to take it slowly but surely – every day we make is a bit of a win for us and a ‘GET LOST!’ to the illness!”

Theo became a Brain Tumour Research Patron in 2023 and tirelessly campaigned in Holyrood and Westminster to make the voices of brain tumour patients heard.

She played a pivotal role in helping the Charity launch the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence where research is focused on moving new treatments for glioblastoma into clinical trials.

Dan Knowles, Brain Tumour Research CEO, said: “We are heartbroken that we have lost the phenomenal, determined and truly inspiring Theo Burrell to this devastating disease. She was always very open about her prognosis and knew from the outset her cancer was terminal, but she was absolutely determined to make a difference for others.

“She constantly inspired us with how big her heart was and we will continue on our mission, driven by everything she taught us. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends and with all those who had the privilege of knowing her.”

Bonnie Tyler, the husky-voiced, powerhouse vocalist who performed memorable and dramatic pop rock songs including “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the 1980s, has died.

The Welsh singer died in a Portugal hospital on Wednesday night, according to a statement on her official website and social media accounts Thursday morning. Prior to her death, Tyler was hospitalized and underwent emergency intestinal surgery in May 2026. She was placed in an induced coma to aid her recovery which she awoke from in mid-June but remained “very unwell,” her family said at the time. She was 75.

“Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for,” the statement read.

A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Tyler first rose to fame in the late 1970s. She was known for her raspy vocals, offering listeners an edgier sound that also melded rock and pop. Tyler released a total of 18 studio albums, beginning with her debut, “The World Starts Tonight,” in 1977. But she solidified her place in music with collaborations with songwriter-producer Jim Steinman, a hitmaker who worked with Meat Loaf, Air Supply and Celine Dion.

Tyler contributed her powerful voice to Steinman’s dramatic “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which was released in 1983 ahead of her fifth studio album, “Faster Than the Speed of Night.” Steinman initially envisioned the power ballad as a core piece in a musical adaptation of “Nosferatu,” but with Tyler, the number took on a different life.

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” climbed music charts and earned Tyler a Grammy nomination for female pop vocal performance in 1984. In addition to its commercial and critical success, Tyler’s moody hit became a mainstay in pop culture, covered in the musical TV series “Glee” and finding new life in versions by One Direction, Kelly Clarkson and several other musical acts.

“When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it had been given to me to record. I just cried at the intense emotion of it and was so happy to have that song,” Tyler told the Guardian in 2009. “Now when I go on stage and sing ‘Total Eclipse,’ everybody sings with me. So many people say they fell in love to it and it means a hell of a lot to them. It’s such an anthem, and such a wonderful feeling, I never get tired of singing it.”

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” wasn’t the only celebrated hit from Tyler.

A year later, she performed “Holding Out for a Hero,” produced by Steinman and co-written by Dean Pitchford, for the 1984 film classic “Footloose,” starring Kevin Bacon. The energetic anthem, which features Tyler’s thunderous voice over a racing beat, also climbed the Billboard Hot 100 (it peaked at No. 34) and went on to be featured in other screen projects, including a pivotal scene in the animated comedy “Shrek 2,” with Jennifer Saunders performing the hit.

Tyler, also known for “Bitterblue,” written and produced by Dieter Bohlen, continued releasing music throughout the ’90s and early aughts. Amid the process of creating her 16th album, “Rocks and Honey,” Tyler joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 to represent the United Kingdom. Though she finished 19th, she said at the time she was glad she competed “because it was an incredible experience,” likening it to the Grammy Awards. She released “Rocks and Honey” that same year, her penultimate album, “Between the Earth and the Stars,” in 2019 and her final album, “The Best Is Yet to Come” in 2021.

In 2022, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, recognizing Tyler’s contributions to music.

Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951, to homemaker Elsie and coal miner Glyndwr, and was one of seven children. She was raised Protestant and cared for by her grandparents in the small Welsh town of Skewen. Her passion for music could be traced to watching British charts program “Top of the Pops” with her father, writing down lyrics to the hits of the time and singing them herself. Tyler officially caught the singing bug after placing second at the talent show hosted by a local rugby club.

After the contest, the singer continued her artistic pursuit, performing with a handful of bands including Bobby Wayne & the Dixies and, later, Imagination. She was eventually scouted and traveled to London to record a few demos but did not immediately hear back. “After two years, someone called me out of the blue and told me I’d got a record deal on the same label as Elvis,” she recalled to the Guardian.

The singer underwent several name changes over the course of the career. First she pivoted to Sherene Davis to avoid confusion with fellow Welsh vocalist Mary Hopkin. Then once more, at the behest of RCA Records, to Bonnie Tyler — a name she conjured up by mixing and matching names she read in a local newspaper.

Now Bonnie Tyler, the singer released her debut single “My! My! Honeycomb!” in 1976 and her debut album the following year. However, she would not come into her signature sound until the spring of 1977. Tyler suffered nodules on her vocal cords and underwent surgery to remove them. She feared her career would end as a result, though that would be far from the case.

Tyler, after a brief recovery period, returned to the recording studio with a huskier, edgier voice. “It turned out losing my voice was not too treacherous for me,” she told the Guardian. She released “It’s a Heartache” in 1977 with her raspy voice front and center.

“I had my first hit in America with my new husky voice on ‘It’s a Heartache,’” she said. “Maybe my husky voice was what that song, and my career, needed.”

After her tenure with RCA Records, Tyler signed with CBS Records in 1982, leading to her memorable collaborations with Steinman. At the end of the ’90s, Tyler signed with Hansa/BMG Ariola and, eventually, with EastWest Records and continued to find success in continental Europe. In addition to her albums, Tyler embarked on several tours, most recently her Between the Earth and the Stars live tour in 2019. Her most recent release was “Together” in July 2025, produced by electronic music artist David Guetta, which samples the chorus of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

Tyler married former Olympic martial artist Robert Sullivan in 1973. The pair never had their own children — the singer suffered a miscarriage at age 39 — but experienced “no shortage of children,” she told the Guardian in 2012. Tyler had numerous godchildren, more than a dozen nieces and nephews and multiple great-nieces and great-nephews. With her fame, Tyler supported her family and purchased several properties including a home in Mumbles, Wales, and a home in Portugal.

When Tyler reflected on her decades-long career for the BBC in 2019, she said she had long exceeded her own expectations.

“I didn’t expect ever to be making records,” she said at the time. “I was just happy being in a band, singing.”

AN influencer has died after her BMW flipped and slammed into a tree in a horror crash.

Ayzia J, 22, was killed in the deadly collision in New Jersey alongside her friend.

Her friend Henrietta Carter, 22, was riding in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash and was killed.

A third person, who had been in the back of the car, survived the deadly collision with minor injuries.

The car left the road, then overturned and smashed into a tree, according to New Jersey State Police.

Police have launched an investigation into the deadly crash.

Ayzia’s family have launched a fundraising appeal to help them cover funeral costs.

The influencer has more than 300,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

David Kelly was flown home but could not be saved

A man has died after a holiday in Turkey when he suddenly fell seriously ill hours before flying home. David Kelly was at the airport when his health rapidly deteriorated.

Within hours, the joiner was rushed into intensive care and placed in an induced coma. He was kept alive on life support as he fought for his life miles from home. His devoted wife, Dawn, remained at his bedside in a Turkish hospital for four weeks.

A fundraiser set up with the permission of David’s family said: “What was meant to be a relaxing holiday in Turkey turned into a nightmare that none of us could have imagined. Just hours before his flight home, David suddenly became seriously unwell at the airport.

“Within a matter of hours, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was rushed to intensive care. Placed into an induced coma and kept alive by life support, David was fighting for his life thousands of miles from home.

“For four long weeks, his devoted wife, Dawn, remained by his side in a Turkish hospital, never leaving him as he battled with incredible strength and courage.”

David, from Barrhead, Renfrewshire, was eventually repatriated on 8 June aboard a specialist flying intensive care unit. He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

The fundraiser said he continued his fight while receiving “outstanding care” from hospital staff. But David sadly died peacefully on 18 June surrounded by his family. The fundraiser added: “Despite everyone’s best efforts, our warrior David passed away peacefully on 18 June, surrounded by his loving family.”

His family later announced the devastating news through his business’ Facebook page, Barrhead Joinery. They said: “We would like to share the devastating news that sadly after fighting as hard as he could, our lovable, amazing David Kelly passed away on Thursday 18 June.

“Barrhead Joinery will now cease trading, as a family we’d like to thank you all for the work you all have given David over the years. Lots of love from his wife Dawn and daughters Gemma & Sophie.”

David was described as a much-loved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend. The fundraiser said: “He was someone who was always there to lend a hand, offer support, and put others before himself. Now it is our turn to be there for those he loved most.”

Tributes have also poured in from members of the local community. Noreen McHugh wrote: “I am devastated to hear this sad news about Davie. He was an excellent professional who I counted on over the years.

“But upmost a wonderful human being who was always friendly and honest. My sincerest condolences to you and your daughters. A huge loss for you all. RIP Davie, you will be sorely missed.”

Another person added: “So sorry to hear this very sad news. David did some work for me when I moved into my home in Newton Mearns some years ago. Such a lovely, lovely man. Sending you all my heartfelt condolences. x”

A fundraiser has been launched to help ease the financial impact of David’s emergency medical treatment abroad and specialist repatriation. Money raised will also support Dawn and the family, help with funeral expenses and fund donations to Kidney Research UK and the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The appeal said the donations would recognise the “exceptional care and compassion” shown to David and his family.

LeRoy Irvin, a cornerback and special teams player who made two Pro Bowls with the Rams in the 1980s, has died, the team said Thursday. He was 68.

Irvin holds the Rams record for most non-offensive touchdowns (11 — five interception returns, four punt returns, one fumble recovery return and one blocked field goal return). He also is tied with Janoris Jenkins and Ed Meador for most pick-sixes in team history.

“We mourn the loss of Rams Legend LeRoy Irvin,” the team wrote on social media. “We extend our condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”

No further details were provided. Freelance sports journalist Eric Geller reported that Irvin died Wednesday after a long battle with throat cancer.

Born Sept. 15, 1957 in Fort Dix, N.J., Irvin played running back at Glenn Hills High School in Augusta, Ga. He told Sports Collectors Daily in 2023 that he patterned his running style after O.J. Simpson’s.

“That parlayed into my pro career,” Irvin said. “When I moved to defensive back in college, I always prided myself on being a great runner, which led to me being a great punt returner.”

As a senior at Kansas in 1979, Irvin led the Big Eight Conference with 27 punt returns for 321 yards and two touchdowns. He also intercepted five passes that season. In four years with the Jayhawks, Irvin had 42 punt returns for 454 yards and two touchdowns to go with 10 interceptions.

Selected by the Rams in the third round of the 1980 draft, Irvin played in L.A. for 10 seasons before spending his final season with the Detroit Lions in 1990.

In an NFL record that still stands, Irvin recorded 207 punt return yards during a 37-35 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 11, 1981. Two of his six punt returns that day went for touchdowns, of 75 and 84 yards.

Irvin finished his career with 35 interceptions for 676 yards, and 147 punt returns for 1,457 yards. After retirement, he worked as a coach, broadcaster and businessman.

“Devastated to hear about the passing of my brother, teammate, and Rams legend Leroy Irvin,” his former Rams teammate and business partner Eric Dickerson wrote on Instagram.

“Leroy wasn’t just a lockdown corner and a fierce competitor on the field; he was a true friend and a great man who always brought incredible energy. Rest in peace, my brother. Sending my thoughts and prayers to the Irvin family and all of Rams Nation.”

The Benin Bronzes are a broad term used for the carved ivory, wooden works, metal sculptures and plaques looted by British troops during the Punitive Expedition in 1897.

Scholars estimate that more than 5,000 artefacts were stolen, some of which were gifted to Queen Victoria, others sold in auctions, held in private galleries or donated to museums across Europe and elsewhere.

The call to return the art, which began in the 1930s, intensified in the recent decade, inspired by growing pressure, repatriation activism and the relentless effort of the Benin Dialogue Group, a multilateral stakeholders’ group.

As momentum built at the peak of the homecoming of these arts, Igun Street unexpectedly found itself in the global spotlight. Diplomats, state officials, museum curators and researchers began arriving in numbers local artisans say they had never witnessed before.

This noon, Double Chief’s voice brims with pride as he points to a recently completed sculpture resting on a wooden bench. The bronze figure, a man in a suit and tie, had received its final polish only that morning after months of work.

Yet for many bronze casters, the attention has done little to solve underlying concerns.

“We are struggling to keep the industry alive,” says Oriakhi Osazee, who sits on a wooden stool at the entrance of a store in Igun. A sculptor whose mediums are clay, fibre, brass and bronze, Osazee has been in the craft for more than 35 years. He speaks with depth and conviction, drawing from vivid dates and past events to reinforce his ideas.

Efforts to recruit apprentices have stalled, he says. Young people, on whom the future of the craft depends, are increasingly leaving in search of what he calls “quick money” in other professions, cities and countries.

When their ancestors began, he recalls, their craft extended beyond bronze casting. There were, among the Iguns, men who had a gift in ivory carving. Long before the global ban on ivory trade was made official, that layer of art, without heirs and hope of continuity, had died.

For Agbonmwenre Alex, the subject of heirship within the craft is a matter of personal pain.

Alex, who was taking a tour of his workshop, began learning the craft at the age of eight under the guidance of his father. He started with errands and light tasks before progressing to kneading clay pottery. Over time, he learned every stage of the casting process, from preparing moulds to the final polishing of finished works.

Today, he is the only one of his father’s seven sons who remains in the profession. But uncertainty now hangs over the next generation.

“I would like my sons to take after me,” Alex says. “Unfortunately, I started exposing them to this craft so late. They literally see this work as outdated, archaic, and dying. The zeal, the love for the job, is dead.”

I would like my sons to take after me. They see this work as outdates, archaic, and dying. The zeal, the love for the job, is dead.

by AGNONMWENRE ALEX, BRONZE CRAFTSMAN

His first son chose to study law. His second is pursuing a degree in healthcare. Despite repeated efforts to pique their interest, including offering workshop space, raw materials and financial support to start a business of their own, neither accepted.

“The number of youths is declining drastically. It [the craft] is at risk of going into extinction. Apprentices are so scarce,” says Osazee. “We used to have a lot of apprentices in the past.”

July 3 (UPI) — A man, identified by Tibetan exile media as a Tibetan activist, died Thursday evening after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations’ headquarters in Manhattan, authorities said.

Video of the incident posted online shows the man dressed in robes and holding a Tibetan flag, which he places on a pole that keeps it erect, before he is seen flicking an apparent fire starter and becoming engulfed in flames.

Responders arrived with extinguishers more than a minute later and putting out the fire. The man had crumpled to the ground.

Voice of Tibet, a Tibetan exile media outlet, identified the man as Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen who self-immolated after “a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity.”

Gonpo Dhundup, a Tibetan exile parliamentarian, said in an online statement that the man made “the ultimate sacrifice through self-immolation to protest China’s occupation of Tibet and its repression of the Tibetan people.”

Rangzen was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police, the New York Post reported.

UPI has contacted the New York Police Department for comment.

China has controlled Tibet since 1951 and views the region as having been an integral part of Chinese territory since ancient times. The Chinese Communist Party considers the Tibetan independence movement to be one of the so-called Five Poisons that threaten its territorial claims, along with Taiwanese independence and Chinese democracy movement.

The International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights group, called Rangzen “a tireless advocate for Tibet who devoted himself to peacefully raising awareness of the human crisis in Tibet.”

The organization said in a statement that Rangzen had in his final statement warned that “China’s policies threaten the very survival of Tibetan identity, language and culture, and called on all Tibetans to be united in their fight for the cause of the Tibetan struggle.”

Self-immolation is not an unprecedented form of Tibetan protest.

According to the International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights group, 159 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet, China and in exile since 2009.

This is a developing story.

LONDON — Penelope Keith, a comic performer who shone as flinty but lovable upper-crust characters in British sitcoms “The Good Life,” which aired on PBS in the U.S. as “Good Neighbors,” and “To the Manor Born,” has died aged 86.

Keith’s family said Monday that she had been diagnosed with cancer and died at her home in Surrey, near London.

Keith began her acting career onstage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963. But she found her greatest fame on television.

She won a BAFTA Award in 1977 for “The Good Life,” playing Margo Leadbetter, a snobbish suburbanite appalled by her back-to-the-land neighbors Tom and Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal.

Kendal called Keith a “comic genius.”

“She was a joy to know and work with, and she will be much missed,” Kendal said.

Keith displayed a similar mix of imperiousness and deadpan wit in “To the Manor Born,” broadcast between 1979 and 1981 and brought back for a 2007 Christmas special. Keith played cash-strapped aristocratic widow Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, forced to sell her country estate to a nouveau millionaire, played by Peter Bowles, with whom she has a love-hate relationship.

Keith’s velvet tones featured on children’s show “Teletubbies” as the voice of the Bear With Brown Fuzzy Hair and in ads for everything from Pimm’s to Parker Pens. She also presented cozy documentary TV series, including “Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages.”

Keith continued to perform in stage roles into her 80s. Theaters in London’s West End will dim their lights Wednesday evening in tribute to her.

In 2014 she was made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, for services to the arts and to charity.

She is survived by her husband, Rodney Timson, and their two sons.

Khadijah Farrakhan, longtime wife of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, died Saturday, the Nation of Islam has announced. She was 90.

“Mother Khadijah” worked alongside her provocative and charismatic husband for decades, helping lead their religious and sociopolitical movement, which espouses Black self-reliance. Its home base was Mosque Maryam on the South Side of Chicago, where the couple lived.

“The Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan with deep sadness yet with profound gratitude to Allah informs you that his beloved wife of 72 years, the first lady of the Nation of Islam, Mother Khadijah has returned to Allah (may Allah be pleased),” a statement by the Shura Executive Council said.

Her death came seven months after devotees had marked Khadijah’s 90th birthday. The statement said funeral services are to be announced.

Mosque Maryam remembered her as “a devoted follower” with “a precious soul, a sweet heart.”

In a post on Facebook, R&B artist ZaRio Son Rise recalled her as “a true queen, a righteous woman, and one of the greatest examples of dignity, faith, loyalty, and grace our generation has ever witnessed.”

Born Betsy Ross, Khadijah Farrakhan married her husband, then named Louis Walcott, in Boston on Sept. 12, 1953. The two had nine children. Their eldest son, Louis Farrakhan Jr., died in 2018, and another son, Joshua Farrakhan, died in 2023.

Khadijah Farrakhan converted to Islam in 1955, the same year that her husband joined the Chicago-based movement after being heavily influenced by Malcolm X, his friend from Boston. The pair changed their names around that time.

Louis Farrakhan, who is now 93, stepped into the organization’s leadership vacuum shortly after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Among his most significant accomplishments was the Million Man March on Washington in 1995.

Two years later, Khadijah Farrakhan spoke before a gathering of America’s Black women in Philadelphia dubbed the Million Woman March.

“A nation can rise no higher than its women,” she told the crowd. “We focus on women, but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family — men, women and children.”

Smyth writes for the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.

Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died peacefully Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause of death.

Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive.

“A lot of the guys [in Blood, Sweat & Tears] would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: Give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”

At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.

Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Counterculture Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.

The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3,” their appeal soon faded. A burned-out Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.

Beginning under a licensing agreement reached in 1984, Clayton-Thomas toured as “Blood, Sweat Tears” for 20 years with a revolving roster of bandmates. A 1994 Times review of a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano reported that “BS&T’s formula has legs, that its music has withstood the test of time. Indeed, in a world full of today’s pop harmonic minimalism, the sound of trumpets, trombones, guitar and sax backing a singer somehow seems fresh, even if it has been around for so long,” and Clayton-Thomas “still has all the enthusiasm and buzz-saw roughness that gave his voice its distinctive quality way back when.”

In 2005, BS&T re-formed (without Clayton-Thomas, who continued his solo career) and has toured since with various lead singers.

Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.

Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept. 13, 1941, in Kingston upon Thames, near London, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.

An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.

Eager to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-’60s, he released such albums as “Sings Like It Is” and had a hit single with the antiwar rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.

The band Blood, Sweat & Tears, including David Clayton-Thomas, far right, from the documentary “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?”

(Sony Music Archives)

Hooker had encouraged Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Clayton-Thomas.

“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”

Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to form a jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album “Child Is Father to the Man” early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.

By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.

“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?’ ” Clayton-Thomas told Bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew [bassist] Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”

Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.

Italie writes for the Associated Press.

Philip Doyle, who led Ireland to the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam as head coach in 2013, has died aged 61.

He had two spells in the role, leading the side for three years after being appointed as Kevin West’s successor in 2003 before returning in 2010.

Doyle enjoyed success in the second stint as he steered Ireland to a first Six Nations Grand Slam in 2013, a first win over New Zealand and a fourth-placed finish at the 2014 World Cup.

He stood down after that tournament and went on to take over as Scotland women’s boss in 2019, but left that role a year later due to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also had spells coaching Blackrock College women’s team and Ulster Rugby’s women’s team.

Leading tributes, Blackrock College said there was “profound sadness” and described Doyle, affectionately known as ‘Goose’, as “the most influential coach in the history of women’s rugby”.

The club added: “At Blackrock, Goose was far more than a list of achievements. He was a mentor, a friend, a storyteller, and a constant source of encouragement.

“He cared deeply about the people he coached. He gave players confidence, challenged them to be better, and reminded everyone around him why rugby is such a special game.”

“Few people have done more to advance the women’s game in Ireland and fewer still have done it with such charisma, warmth, humility and generosity of spirit.”

Alan Greenspan, one of the most influential economic policymakers in modern US history, has died aged 100. Greenspan led the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades under four presidents, overseeing a long period of economic growth but also faced criticism linked to the 2008 financial crisis.

June 20 (UPI) — A Lebanese conservationist and protector of sea turtles died from injuries she suffered when her home was hit by an Israeli strike.

Mona Khalil, 76, died after suffering injuries from an Israeli attack on her home at al-Mounsouri Beach on Lebanon‘s southern coast on June 5. Her assistant was also injured in the attack, according to Green Southerners, a local nonprofit.

The Israeli military told CNN that Khalil “was not a target” of the Israel Defense Forces. “There is no known IDF strike in which she was injured,” the military said in a statement Saturday. “However, strikes were conducted in the area after the IDF issued evacuation warnings.”

Khalil was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to her parents’ homeland Lebanon at age 7. In her 20s, she fled to the Netherlands to escape the Lebanese civil war and became a porcelain restorer. She attained British citizenship because she was born in a British colony.

She returned to Tyre, Lebanon, when she inherited property from her grandmother. There, she spent the rest of her life protecting the nests of loggerhead and green sea turtles.

Both species of turtles are threatened by coastal development, plastic pollution, fishing nets and light pollution. They are at risk of extinction in the eastern Mediterranean.

Khalil helped create the Orange House, an eco-tourism project at al-Mansouri beach. She painted her house orange to symbolize the safety the Netherlands had given her.

“She is a deeply committed environmental defender,” Hisham Younes, founder and president of Green Southerners, told the BBC. “She used to talk about the beach like it was a person. Her bond to the sunset, her bond to the water and the turtles … she was really into conservation, and into the soul, the spirit of conservation.”

In 2006, CNN profiled her, and she said she refused to leave her sea turtles even among fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

“Me and my animals were all traumatized, and I lost a bit of my hearing. But otherwise I’m still alive and kicking,” Khalil told CNN at the time. “I live every day to the fullest and don’t worry about tomorrow.”

June 20 (UPI) — A train driver is dead and nine people are still in critical condition after two passenger trains collided in England.

About 80 people were injured in the crash Friday evening. As of Saturday morning, 28 were still hospitalized after a moving train crashed into a stopped train on the tracks in Bedford, England, north of London.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said it was “devastated to learn that a train driver and former RMT rep has tragically died,” The Times of London reported.

Eddie Dempsey, RMT general secretary, wrote on X: “The thoughts of RMT are with their family, friends, colleagues and the ASLEF trade union at this awful time.”

The trains collided in Bedford, one from Corby and the other from Nottingham en route to London St. Pancras.

One passenger told The Times that the scene was “carnage.”

“We had to walk through farmers’ fields to get to an A-road,” he said. “There is a huge emergency service presence and loads of air ambulances.”

Another unidentified passenger told the times that it looked like an explosion.

“The front carriage collided into the front of another one, and when I got up I saw all of the chairs everywhere and it felt like I’d been in a bomb explosion. When I got up I saw people with bloodied faces and people’s legs looked broken, and there was smoke everywhere,” the passenger said.

Passenger Pete Knapp added that he saw smoke in the cabin.

“There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke. People were crying, screaming, people were so scared and confused,” Knapp said.

A helicopter arrived within about 5 or 10 minutes, he added. Emergency services had to cut through a hedge with shears to reach the area, and he said passengers were triaged into different groups based on their injuries.

“I was triaged by some paramedics and they said that I had a muscular damage to my back and the gouges on my shins, they hadn’t broken my legs so hopefully they will heal over time. I’m extremely grateful for that because so many people in that carriage I was in had their legs broken, and there was blood everywhere and people crying and screaming.”

Khalil spent more than two decades protecting the nests of endangered turtle species in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese marine ecologist Mona Khalil, who was severely wounded after an Israeli strike hit her home near Tyre last week, has died, according to local reports.

Khalil, 77, succumbed to her wounds on Friday, the same day Israel escalated air attacks on southern Lebanon, killing at least 50 people and injuring dozens despite the risk posed to a fragile peace deal between Iran and the United States.

“It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Mona Khalil today,” environmental group Live Love Tyre said in a Facebook statement on Friday.

“She will be remembered through an incredible legacy. Through it all, Mona chose to stay and care for the turtles of Live Love Tyre. Her life was selfless and impactful.”

A life of impact

Khalil was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1949. She spent several years abroad before moving to southern Lebanon.

A fleeting encounter with a turtle which had emerged from the ocean to lay its eggs on al-Mansouri beach near Tyre in 1999 propelled her on a lifelong journey devoted to animals.

She went on to dedicate decades to protecting the nesting sites of endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles on Lebanon’s southern coast.

Both species are highly threatened by coastal development, plastic pollution, fishing nets, and light pollution and are at risk of becoming extinct in the eastern Mediterranean.

In 2000, Khalil helped establish the Orange House, an eco-tourism project situated at al-Mansouri beach. She also helped document marine life in southern Lebanon and advocated for wildlife and against the pollution of Lebanon’s coastline.

“You have left us yet you remain within us – we, your children,” journalist and volunteer Fadia Joumaa, who worked closely with Khalil, said in a tribute shared on Facebook.

Khalil’s death “is a loss for all of Lebanon… not just for us. A loss for the life you guarded so faithfully,” she said.

GRAMMY-NOMINATED producer Tay Keith has been found dead in Nashville.

Brytavious Chambers, 29, better known as Tay Keith, was found dead in his apartment earlier today.

Police said his body was discovered while officers were performing a welfare check at his home.

Investigators say there was no evidence of foul play, but the exact cause of death has yet to be determined.

In a post on social media, Metro Nashville PD wrote: “No foul play is suspected in the death of Brytavious Chambers, 29, also known as the Grammy nominated record producer Tay Keith.

“He was found dead in his Martin St apt this afternoon by officers performing a welfare check.

Read more in Entertainment

NOT LIKE US

Reason Drake turned down ‘chance for revenge in Bad Bunny Super Bowl show’

“His death is unclassified pending autopsy results.”

Throughout his career Keith worked with a wide range of music artists, including Beyoncé, Travis Scott and Drake.

The Memphis hitmaker enjoyed huge success on the Billboard Hot 100, earning 11 top 10 hits and four No.1 records.

He was also the mastermind behind Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” and Drake’s “First Person Shooter”.

Keith currently holds the record for the most No.1s on the Hot R&B / Hip-Hop songs chart this decade – with six.

His work even earned him a coveted Grammy nomination in 2019.

In the aftermath of his death, tributes for the producer have poured in.

Artist and childhood friend Blocboy JB shared photos of the pair as teenagers with the caption: “Damn Cuz You Just Hurt Me Bad.”

He also posted a video of their call history, writing: “We talked everyday yeen tell me you was leaving.”

Fellow Memphis producer Hitkidd also expressed his disbelief, posting a picture of the pair on Instagram.

The caption said: “I ain’t even got the words, we been doing this since 2010.”

Born on September 20, 1996, Keith stated making music when he 14.

He later received a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University.

Signed to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, he was also a member of BMI.

JOHANNESBURG — Globally celebrated South African jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim has died at age 91, his family announced in a statement Monday.

Ibrahim, formerly known as Dollar Brand, passed away peacefully in Germany following a short illness, surrounded by loved ones, the statement issued on behalf of his family said.

As one of South Africa’s most respected jazz figures, he famously played at Nelson Mandela’s 1994 presidential inauguration. Mandela referred to Ibrahim as “our Mozart.”

His final public concert in South Africa took place at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in March, when he once again captivated audiences with the musical skill that defined his career.

Paying tribute to her partner, Dr. Marina Umari said he “passed away peacefully with South Africa and its people in his heart.”

“His love for his country never wavered, no matter where in the world he found himself,” she said.

His family said that even though his life is over, his influence and voice would continue to resonate around the world.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to the musician, praising his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle and acknowledging his lasting impact through music.

“Today our nation mourns the passing of an international icon and global citizen whose profound creations honored the South Africa that shaped his political commitment and musical brilliance,” said Ramaphosa.

Born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town on Oct. 9, 1934, Ibrahim rose to international prominence as a pianist, composer and bandleader. With a career spanning more than seven decades, he forged a unique blend of jazz and South African musical traditions, making him a cultural ambassador whose music struck a chord with listeners worldwide.

Ibrahim’s mother Rachel Brand was mixed-race and under the apartheid system he was classified as “colored,” which afforded him certain social privileges that were denied Black South Africans. He was raised by grandparents and was told Rachel was his sister, only learning the truth in adulthood. Influenced by his grandmother and mother playing piano at the AME Church in Kensington, a Cape Town suburb, Irbrahim began piano lessons at age 7 and made his professional debut at 15.

In 1959 and 1960, he played with saxophonists Kippie Moeketsi and Mackay Davashe, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, trombonist Jonas Gwangwa, bassist Johnny Gertze and drummer Makaya Ntshoko in the Jazz Epistles. The group recorded the first full-length jazz LP by Black South African musicians, “Jazz Epistle — Verse 1.” The South African government began targeting jazz groups as part of increasing state repression, and following the Sharpeville massacre in March 1960, the Jazz Epistles broke up.

During this time, Ibrahim met jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin and the pair moved to Europe. The following year, in Zurich, Switzerland, Benjamin convinced Duke Ellington to come see Ibrahim perform with the Dollar Brand Trio. Impressed, Ellington helped arrange a recording session with Reprise Records, later released as “Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio.”

In 1965, Ibrahim and Benjamin married and moved to New York. He played at the Newport Jazz Festival and toured throughout the U.S. In addition to playing with, and, on occasion, leading the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Ibrahim interacted with such musicians as Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and was influenced by the Black Power movement, incorporating African elements into his jazz. His compositions also reflected the influence of Ellington and Thelonious Monk.

The musician returned briefly to Cape Town in 1968 and converted to Islam, changing his name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim. As an expatriate, he toured the world for decades, appearing at major venues and working with classical orchestras in Europe. His composition “Mannenberg” became noteworthy as an anthem of South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement.

In 2009, Ibrahim received an honorary doctorate in music from Wits University and the Order of Ikhamanga, a prestigious civilian award, from former President Jacob Zuma in the same year.

Ibrahim was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2019.

Alan Winde, the mayor of the Western Cape, where Ibrahim’s hometown is located, honored the performer and commended him for capturing South Africa’s cultural richness and history in his music.

“South Africa has lost a legend,” Winde said. “Abdullah Ibrahim represented everything that makes South Africa and the Western Cape so remarkable. His music told the story of our unique cultural diversity and past.”

Ibrahim is survived by Umari; his son, Tsakwe, a musician; and his daughter, Tsidi, a rapper who goes by Jean Grae.

According to his family, Ibrahim will be laid to rest in the German state of Bavaria, where he lived.

Gumede writes for the Associated Press.