funeral

Thousands of mourners gathered at a stadium in Kenya for a state funeral for opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga. His flag-draped coffin was carried by uniformed officers ahead of the service, which was attended by President William Ruto.

BOXER Brad Rea has paid a gushing tribute to the late Ricky Hatton – and vowed to fight on to make his mentor proud.

Hatton – Britain’s most beloved fighter – sadly passed away aged just 46 in September – leaving behind an iconic legacy.

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Manchester light-heavyweight Rea was inspired to take up boxing by the legendary City fan and the two grew a formidable bond together.

Hatton befriended, coached and mentored Rea up until his sad passing.

Today, on Friday October 10, 2025, Hatton is laid to rest with his funeral at the Manchester Cathedral.

Rea – who fights Lyndon Arthur on November 1 – is in attendance and opened up on his special bond with the heroic Hitman.

He told SunSport: “I was lucky that I did have a good relationship and we were friends.

“But I think so many people, even people that maybe just met him once, maybe people that just got a picture with him once, seeing him in the pub or whatever, because of the way he was, everyone feels like they have that kind of personal connection with him.

“He was just down to earth and he was just one of us at the end of the day, no matter how big he made it.

“I think that’s why it has affected so many people and everyone does kind of feel like they know him in a way because he was so down to earth.

“So it’s been a tough one for me to take. It’s been a tough one for most of the boxing scene to take.”

Despite becoming inseparable, Rea admits the novelty of Hatton’s presence in his life never wore off.

He said: “It just kind of merged into one. I was with him so much and I’d see him so often and we’d spend so much time together in the gym kind of every day.

“You do kind of forget how big he was, how loved he was, and how many people he had an effect on.

“Then every now and again you’d be out sparring or you’d be walking down a residential street somewhere and you’d go, ‘It’s Ricky.’ You know what I mean?

“It’s not just Rick, this is the Hitman and, yeah every now and again I kind of had to pinch myself a little bit and go, ‘This is Ricky Hatton I’m sat in Nando’s with.’ It was a bit surreal.”

Despite Hatton’s superstardom and unrivalled fanfare – he dreaded ever being looked at as anything other than a working class people’s champion.

Rea said: “He was just one of the boys at the end of the day.

“He was so down to earth and that was why the other side come with it he didn’t think he was better than anyone else.

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“He didn’t think he was a superstar and I think they probably go hand in hand, kind of just being so down to earth and then still being taken back by all the support.”

Two-weight world champion Hatton would spend 12 hard weeks preparing for his fights – and the rest of his time down the pub with his friends.

Rea was fortunate enough to have socialised with the boxing great – preferring to leave some of their more chaotic tales forever untold.

He beamed: “Oh, there’s so many. There’s so many but all of them I’m just laughing, I’m smiling because it’s just stupid times, rubbish jokes, cracking rubbish jokes.

“I’m lucky that I got multiple different sides of him. I got him as a coach, I had him as part of my team in my corner. I had him as a friend.

“I’ve been to the football with him. I’ve been out for a beer with him, I’ve been on a weekend to Dublin with him, I’ve had all different sides of him.

“I’ve got many memories to kind of look back on. Some stories that I can tell and some I’ll probably keep to myself!”

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Rea was hit with the devastating news just months before his European title defence against Arthur at the Co-Op Live Arena.

And he has since returned to Hatton’s Hyde – where emotions are high.

Rea, 27, said: “I’d not been there for a while. It is a bit surreal. It is a little bit weird.

“Every time I’ve been in there, the majority of the time he’s in there, and he’s cracking jokes, you know, he’s being Rick.

“But at the end of the day there’s me, there’s a load of other lads in there that still got a job to do and he’d be disappointed if we were moping about and we weren’t training.

“He’d want us to get back at it and he want us to crack on and. So you’ve kind of just got to keep cracking on and do what you can to try and make him proud.”

And the best way to make City super-fan Hatton proud? Beat United supporter Arthur – a friend of former sparring partner – in their hometown.

Rea chuckled: “You know what it is? It’s more how we’d react if I let myself get beat by a United fan!

“He would never let me hear the end of it. He would be on my case and I can’t do that to him. I can’t let him down on that front.”

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Dancing on Ice star Ricky Hatton was found dead at his home in Hyde in Manchester in September

Ricky Hatton’s death has “hit people hard,” his former coach has said.

The former world champion boxer – known as ‘the Hitman’ – died in September at just 46. He was found dead at his home in Hyde, Manchester, with an inquest still pending.

BBC Breakfast paid a touching tribute to the Dancing on Ice star ahead of his funeral today (October 10), featuring an interview with Hatton’s former coach Blain Younis. Younis described Hatton as “a hero” to the local community, reports the Manchester Evening News.

“People are coming to lay flowers outside the gym and his house and you can just see how it’s impacted the town,” he said. “It’s like it’s hit people hard.”

“He was like the hero of Hyde,” he continued. “The astonishing thing was the heights he reached in boxing and celebrity life. He still knew everyone on a personal level around this town.”

BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt informed viewers that thousands were expected to line the streets of Greater Manchester to bid a final farewell to Hatton, before his midday funeral.

The procession will begin from Gee Cross in Hyde, making its way to Manchester Cathedral.

Hatton, who built a gym for his community, will have his procession pause there, allowing fans to reflect on their loss.

As mourners pass a pub cellar where the Hattons constructed a boxing ring, doves will be released in honour of the late sports star.

The procession will then reach Manchester Arena, a venue where Hatton often showcased his boxing prowess.

Hatton was found dead on 14 September.

His family later paid tribute, stating: “He had a heart as big as his smile, and his kindness, humour and loyalty touched everyone who was lucky enough to know him.

“As a family, our loss is immeasurable, and words cannot truly capture the pain we feel. Yet in the midst of our grief, we have been deeply moved by the overwhelming outpouring of love and support.

“Richard’s memory will forever remain in our hearts, in the hearts of his fans, and in the sport he loved so dearly.”

BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One.

Rock band Oasis, who Hatton adored and would later befriend, were building on Manchester’s reputation as a capital of the music world.

Manchester United were dominating English football.

Hatton was playing his part in the ring and also giving his Manchester City-supporting backers something to cheer while their team struggled in the Red Devils’ shadow.

In the city centre, a new venue opened and staged a Torvill and Dean performance on its opening night.

“It was fortunate that they built the Manchester Arena when they did,” said Speak of the indoor venue that welcomed its first customers in 1995.

This is where Hatton had 15 of his professional fights. “It would become his fortress,” Speak said.

By the time Hatton fought Kostya Tszyu in 2005, he was selling out the arena.

Hatton stopped the man who was regarded as the world’s best light-welterweight to win the IBF title.

Danny Jackson, a close friend to Hatton and Manchester City’s matchday announcer, delivered an emotional speech in memory of his pal at the recent City-United derby.

He gives Hatton credit for putting his beloved football club – now giants of the world game – in the spotlight.

“You look at Rick’s time as a boxer, there wasn’t a lot to like about City then,” Jackson said.

“Rick was a bit of a shining light in that period. He got City’s brand out there to millions of people.”

Retired world champion Anthony Crolla described the Tszyu fight as “one of the greatest nights Manchester has ever had in any sport”.

The next day, Hatton set up camp at the New Inn in Hyde for what had become a regular celebration – nicknamed the not-so-nice shirt nights.

“He didn’t want to swan off to celebrity hotspots; he wanted to be around his mates and having a laugh,” said Jackson.

Paul Smith, the Liverpool world title challenger who trained alongside Hatton, remembers one fancy dress party when Hatton dressed as ‘Ginger Spice’ Geri Halliwell.

Those kind of images would get out and help to keep Hatton in the hearts of those from Manchester, because they could see he was one of them.

That never changed. This summer, Hatton attended a friend’s stag do in Portugal.

They set him up by giving him dissolvable swimming shorts to wear in the pool.

“There were a group of lads there from Leeds by the pool idolising him and they were saying ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this to a superstar’,” said Jackson.

“He took the stick, he gave the stick, just a normal guy.”

SHARON Osbourne has shared a glimpse into her life without Ozzy – and how she is being helped by Kelly and a winged friend.

TV star Sharon – who lost her beloved husband Ozzy in July – has ‘found her smile again’ after getting into falconry with daughter Kelly.

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Alongside the heart-warming clip, Kelly said: “Today I introduced my mum to falconry and she loved it! Thank you @gerardsulter for putting a smile on my mum’s face too!”

“Mum, put your hand out,” Kelly instructs in the video.

Wearing a checked shirt, jeans and a leopard-print hat with dark-rimmed glasses, Ozzy’s daughter exudes the confidence of a professional owl handler.

As Sharon receives the bird, she regretfully says: “I don’t have anything to give you. Come on.”

Fans praised the sight and wrote: “There she is!!!! We’ve all missed seeing Sharon. Thank you Kelly.”

“Absolutely love this! So glad you both have somewhat of a distraction,” penned a second.

“So happy to see this! All the positive and healing vibes to you and your family,” remarked a third.

A fourth shared: “Spiritually, the owl symbolises wisdom, intuition, and a connection to the spirit world due to its nocturnal nature and ability to see in the dark. Lovely that your mum enjoyed it too.”

“I love this family more so for being so real, honest and vulnerable for all to see. The Osbourne’s have always embraced imperfection. They also embraced love,” praised a fifth.

Dressed in black with a white T-shirt, the star looked calm in the open field surrounded by dark skies.

Kelly previously shared a photo of herself with an owl and explained: “In all my sadness and grief I have found something that truly makes me happy!

“I never thought I would find my smile again through falconry but I did. I absolutely love being with the birds!” 

Last month, The Sun revealed how a documentary into the late star’s life had suddenly been pulled.

The special, which was called Coming Home, mysteriously vanished from the BBC schedule just 11 days after it was announced.

Filmed over three years, the documentary gave “unique and intimate access” to the whole family, including Ozzy, Sharon, 72, son Jack, 39, and daughter Kelly, 39.

It documents the late rocker’s life as he tried to peruse his dream of moving permanently back to the UK, after living in LA for decades.

The moving film was originally going to be called Home to Roost, however the project moved in a different direction as Ozzy’s health deteriorated.

Ozzy’s family, friends and fans were left devastated when it was revealed the heavy metal star had died aged 76 on July 22.

Speaking about postponing the documentary, a BBC spokesperson told The Sun: “Our sympathies are with the Osbourne family at this difficult time.

“We are respecting the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film.

“The new tx date will be confirmed shortly.”

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Funeral services have been held for the six people killed in an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha, as Arab leaders continue to visit the Gulf nation to express solidarity.

One coffin bearing a Qatari flag and five others bearing Palestinian flags were brought to Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque, live footage from Qatar television showed on Thursday.

“The mood has been sombre since the death toll from Israel’s failed assassination attempt against the leadership of Hamas in Doha was announced earlier this week,” Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javed reported.

“We heard the Qatari prime minister giving special prayers for him at the funeral ceremony,” he added.

The Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was also present, standing in the front row, “signalling that Qatar stands by its people, especially with those who gave their lives in this unprecedented attack on a Gulf Cooperation Council country”, Bin Javed said, reporting from the Qatari capital.

The Israeli military targeted Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday as they were meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by US President Donald Trump.

At least six people were killed in the attack, including five low-ranking Hamas members. However, the group said its leadership survived the assassination bid.

Qatari Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari was also among the killed.

In the aftermath of the Doha attack, US President Donald Trump said he felt “very badly” about the location of the attacks and later told reporters he was “not thrilled” by Israel’s actions.

Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy says Israel’s attack against a Hamas delegation in Qatar sends a message not just to the Palestinian group, but to the region.

“Either get on board with our project of regional hegemony, which includes the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, or we dare you because we have America on our side and we are unassailable militarily,” Levy said.

Arab states express solidarity

A slew of Arab and Muslim leaders descended on Doha since Israel’s unprecedented attack, including United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who met the emir on Wednesday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also arrived in the Qatari capital to express his country’s show of support for the tiny Gulf nation. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected in Doha on Thursday.

The Qatari Emir also received a verbal message of solidarity from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Thursday, conveyed by his Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during a meeting in Doha.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Abdelatty’s visit was aimed at expressing the country’s “full solidarity” with Qatar and “to discuss ways to deal with the dangerous Israeli escalation and coordinate positions” with senior Qatari officials.

Qatar will convene an emergency Arab-Islamic summit to discuss Israel’s attack, according to the state news agency QNA, a possible hint of what shape a collective regional response would take.

The summit will take place in Doha on Sunday and Monday.

The announcement came as the United Nations Security Council opened an emergency session on Thursday to discuss the attack, which was delayed a day to allow the Qatari prime minister to attend the meeting.

Hamas condemns the attack

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, in a televised statement on Thursday, said the Israeli attempt to assassinate Hamas’s negotiating delegation in Doha and continued threats to target the movement’s leadership abroad showed Israel’s “failure to achieve its goals” after 23 months of genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians.

In the Palestinian group’s first address since Tuesday’s attack, Barhoum said that the group will keep fighting despite the assassination attempt.

“The Israeli attack cannot dent our resolve by targeting our leaders,” the Hamas spokesperson said. “The crime did not target the negotiating delegation, but rather the entire negotiation process.”

The attack on Tuesday was the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has dubbed Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders “state terrorism”.

“There is a response that will happen from the region. This response is currently under consultation and discussion with other partners in the region,” he told US media outlet CNN on Wednesday, adding that “the entire Gulf region is at risk”.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed undeterred, threatening further attacks on Qatar.

“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Israel has assassinated many of Hamas’s top military and political leaders in the last two years, such as top political leader Yahya Sinwar; military commander Mohammed Deif, one of the founders of the Qassam Brigades in the 1990s; and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli prime minister’s comments, calling them a “shameful attempt … to justify the cowardly attack that targeted Qatari territory, as well as the explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty”.

On Thursday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs “condemned and denounced” Netanyahu’s comments, calling them “hostile”.

“Any aggression against a GCC member state constitutes an attack on the collective Gulf security framework,” the ministry said, stressing that “the continuation of such provocative and hostile rhetoric undermines prospects for stability and pushes the region towards extremely dangerous trajectories”.

Mourners gathered in Qatar’s capital Doha to pray for six victims of Israel’s attack, including a 22-year-old policeman. The strike has been described as unprecedented for the Gulf.

Tell someone about “The Cortège,” and it may inspire as much apprehension as it does curiosity.

A theatrical procession running this month at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, “The Cortège” promises to explore grief, loss, mourning and our collective disconnection from one another. It’s a dramatic interpretation of a funeral, albeit one with jubilant street-inspired dance and a Sasquatch-like creature. And robots and drones.

I arrived at “The Cortège” just weeks removed from attending a very real, deeply personal funeral for my mother. Did I want to revisit that space as part of my weekend’s entertainment, and would the show inspire a new round of tears? The answer to both turned out to be yes.

“The Cortège” is alternately playful and serious as it explores the cycle of life.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

For “The Cortège” approaches a difficult subject matter with an imaginative question: What if we explore grief not with isolation or solemness, but with wonder? It’s a prompt that’s ripe for an era of divisive politics, financial stress and often isolating technology.

Beginning at twilight and extending into the evening, “The Cortège” starts with an overture, a six-piece band performing in the center of the field. We’re seated either on the grass on portable pads with backs or in folding chairs on an elevated platform.

Soon, a mist erupts on a far end of the field; a lone figure emerges who crawls and then walks to the center. He’ll move in place for much of the show, remaining silent as a fantastical life transpires around him — dancers, ornately costumed characters and larger-than-life puppets will surreally reflect the journey of life.

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Inspired as much by Walt Disney’s approach to fairy tales as, say, Carl Jung’s theories of collective consciousness, “The Cortège” is a revival of an ancient art — the procession — that aims to be a modern rite of passage. A ritual, “The Cortège” is a communal experience, one that seeks to erase borders between audience and performer while imagining a more optimistic world.

Think of it as theater as a healing exercise, or simply an abstracted evening with elaborate, vibrant costumes and choreographed drones creating new constellations in the sky. It’s also a bit of a dance party, with original music composed by Tokimonsta, El Búho and Boreta.

““The Cortège” builds to a final that invites audience participation — and maybe a little dancing.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

“The Cortège” comes from Jeff Hull, a Bay Area artist best known for devising participatory and mysterious experiences that have used real-world settings as a game board — some may recall the beloved underground experiment “The Jejune Institute.” This, however, is a more personal show. It’s informed as much by the struggles and challenges of adulthood as it is the awe and playfulness that Hull experienced when he was younger, specifically his time working as a teen at Oakland’s Children’s Fairyland, a theme park-like playground for young kids.

“Every day I would follow the yellow brick road and have a magic key and slide down a rabbit hole, and I would wonder why the rest of the world wasn’t like that,” Hull says. “I’ve been trying to make it like that ever since. Why can’t we play? Why does it all have to be barriers? That’s the motivation from a childlike place, but now I also have motivation from a wise elder space.”

In turn, “The Cortège” is part festive renewal and part philosophical recollection. At the start, music is mournful but not quite sorrowful, a lightly contemplative jazz-inspired feel anchored by a steel hang drum. The music shifts through reggae stylings and Eastern rhythms. Performers are robed and instruments are carried on ramshackle wheelbarrows, setting up the transitory mood of the night.

What follows will touch on religious and mystical iconography — we’ll meet three lantern-carrying masked figures, for instance, with exaggerated, regal adornments as they herald a birth. Expect a mixture of old and new technologies. Drones will form to mark a passage of eras, a marching band will conjure New Orleans revelry, and towering, furry creatures may invite youthful spiritedness while militant, robotic canines will represent clashing images of human ingenuity and violence.

Think of “The Cortège” as a ceremonial rite of passage — a show that wants audiences to find healing via community.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

For much of the show, we are asked to wear glowing headphones. Their luminescence highlights the crowd while also creating a more intimate, reflective atmosphere. It’s not quite a sound bath and it’s not quite a play, but as more figures enter the field — some haunting and dreamlike with their bodies shaped like arrowheads, and others sillier bursts of feathered color — “The Cortège” takes on a ceremonial, meditative feel.

While some may indeed come for the outsized costumes and extended dance sequences, Hull says the show is the entertainment equivalent of “shadow work,” that is the therapeutic uncovering of suppressed, forgotten or hidden memories.

“Shadow work is something we need to do as individuals, but it’s also something we need to do as a culture,” Hull says. “Let’s look at ourselves. Let’s look at what we don’t want to admit about ourselves. How can we bring that to life? When you do it as an individual, we’re actually partly doing something for the collective. That’s a big aspect of ‘The Cortège.’ Let’s do shadow work as a cultural moment. It’s not all just meant to be entertainment.”

Audiences are asked to wear headphones during “The Cortège,” creating an intimate relationship with the music.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Ultimately, however, “The Cortège” is an invitation, a hand extended to the audience asking us to consider and reimagine our own journey through life. Emerging from both the traumatic end of a relationship and the death of my mother, I appreciated the way in which “The Cortège” sought to put our existence in perspective, to reinterpret, essentially, the individual as the communal for a celebratory reminder that we’ve all struggled as much as we’ve dreamed.

Hull says “The Cortège” was born from a time of strife.

“What you mentioned, losing a loved one and going through a separation, my version of that is I had Guillain-Barre Syndrome and was walking with a cane. My wife was diagnosed with cancer and then she lost her father. And this was all during a time when the sun didn’t come out. It was dark out, all day, because of the California wildfires. It was a shift between taking everything personally and realizing that all the things I mentioned were things we all have to go through.”

The show is purposefully abstracted, says Hull, to allow audience members to attach their own narratives. It’s a work of pageantry, inspired in part by Hull’s fascination with medieval morality plays, specifically the story of “Everyman,” an examination of self and of our relationship to a higher power.

“The tale of ‘Everyman’ was one in which a universal protagonist met with all of the challenges of life and a reckoning with himself and with God,” Hull says. “That’s literally what we’re doing here. It is a revival of ancient European pageantry.”

Drones will form constellations in the sky during “The Cortège.”

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Hull’s name is well-known among those who follow what is the still-emerging niche of so-called immersive entertainment, media that, broadly speaking, asks participants to take on an interactive role. Those who went deep into “The Jejune Institute,” which ran in the late 2000s in San Francisco and inspired a documentary as well as the AMC series “Dispatches from Elsewhere,” could discover a narrative that examined the fragility — or the allure — of human belief systems. It was often, for instance, compared to a cult.

“The Cortège” is clearly a departure. And Hull today is skeptical of the word “immersive.” Though “The Cortege” invites audiences onto the field in its final act and then asks participants to join in a reception (the afterlife), Hull finds much of what is classified today as immersive to be lacking, emphasizing spectacle and imagery over human emotion.

“The Cortège,” says Hull, is “not a metafiction.” Or don’t think of it as a show about a rite of passage. It’s intended to be a rite of passage itself. “That’s kind of the thesis of this piece,” Hull, 56, says, before expanding on his evolved take on the immersive field.

“There’s this world of immersive entertainment, but what are we immersing ourselves in?” he says. “Is this just sensory stimulation? Is this gesturing at the numinous? Is this referencing the mystical? There’s no meta-narrative here.”

Hull’s hope is “The Cortège” will erase the line between the performative and the restorative. “We all want to have a pretend metafictional relationship to transformative experiences rather than genuine transformative experiences,” he says.

Not quite a play and not quite a dance show, “The Cortège” incorporates elements of both during its procession.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

We can get there, Hull believes, by engaging with an art form that has largely been discarded by the Western world.

“We are reconnecting a lost lineage to that which is ancient and to that which is eternal,” Hull says. “A procession is people walking together; that is simply what a procession is. Where are they walking from? They’re walking from their past. Where are they walking to? They’re walking toward the future. That’s what we’re doing.”

I won’t spoil the moment that made me tear up other than to say it was not due to the jolting of any memories. For “The Cortège” is also exultant — a procession, yes, but a walk into an imagined world.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is offering military funeral honors for Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed at 35 by an officer in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Babbitt was a U.S. Air Force veteran from California who was shot dead wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol.

Offering military honors to one of the Capitol rioters is part of President Trump’s attempts to rewrite that chapter after the 2020 election as a patriotic stand, given he still denies he lost that election. Babbitt has gained martyr status among Republicans, and the Trump administration agreed to pay just under $5 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit that her family filed over her shooting.

Matthew Lohmeier, an undersecretary of the Air Force, said on X that the decision was “long overdue,” and shared a post from a conservative legal group that was advocating for Babbitt’s family. The group, Judicial Watch, said the family had requested military honors from former President Biden’s administration and had been denied.

In a statement, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said that “after reviewing the circumstances” of Babbitt’s death, military funeral honors were offered to the family. Babbitt was a senior airman.

The post shared by Lohmeier included a link to a letter the Air Force under secretary wrote to Babbitt’s family, inviting them to meet him at the Pentagon.

“After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect,” the Aug. 15 letter read.

Mourners in Italy held a funeral for 19-year-old Marah Abu Zuhri, who had been evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical care. Doctors tried to save her but she died two days after her arrival, severely malnourished, as a result of Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians.

HULK Hogan has been laid to rest in a private funeral with WWE legends, celebrities, and his family attending.

Mourners appeared to be wearing a touching nod to the wrestling icon as his casket was taken into a Clearwater, Florida, church on Tuesday.

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Hogan died on July 24 aged 71 from a heart attack, but medical records showed he had a history of leukaemia.

Wrestling icons like Triple H, Stephanie McMahon attended, while celebrities like singer Kid Rock and comedian Theo Von were also present.

His ex-wife Lina, who he was married to from 1983 to 2009, was the only member of his family seen going in or out of the service.

Photos from the funeral saw pallbearers wearing yellow boutonnieres – the same colour as Hulk’s iconic wrestling outfit.

The private service was held at the same church where Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was baptized in 2023.

The service was heavily patrolled by church security and Largo police officers, including K-9 dogs.

President Donald Trump paid tribute to the wrestler by posting a photo to his social media of the pair arm wrestling.

He said: “They are having the “Hulkster’s” funeral today, and I thought everybody would enjoy seeing this picture.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags flown at half-staff at all official buildings last Friday, which he declared Hulk Hogan Day in Florida.

Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits.

He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

Hogan had been dealing with significant health issues for months when he went into cardiac arrest at his $11.5 million mansion in Clearwater.

He had a neck surgery in May, and was rushed to the hospital afterwards over complications with his recovery.

In June, he suffered a series of health issues that left him reportedly unable to feel his legs or walk with a cane.

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Hogan was also a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including Hogan Knows Best, a reality show about his life on VH1.

Hogan’s body will be cremated.

His daughter Brooke Bollea Oleksy, better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, memorialized her father in a recent social media post.

“I am so grateful I knew the real version of him. Not just the one the world viewed through a carefully curated lens, she wrote on Instagram.”

Just days before his death, Hogan and Brooke shared a short but emotional conversation, per the National Enquirer.

“It was a tearful conversation, albeit a short one,” a source told the outlet.

“Brooke told her dad how much she loved him, how much she missed him. Hulk said he loved her, and he was sorry.”

Instantly recognisable in trademark bandana and shaggy, blond handlebar moustache, Hogan had long been a larger-than-life icon for middle America.

Hogan became such a big star that he was able to transcend wrestling and starred in the movie The Rock III with Sylvester Stallone, as well as securing his own reality TV show, Hogan Knows Best.

Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, in 1953, his dad was a construction foreman father and his mum was a dance teacher.

At school, he was called a hippy because of his long hair, love of rock music and hatred of American football despite his physique.

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July 31 (UPI) — New York’s police commissioner promoted slain officer Didarul Islam to detective during his funeral at a Bronx mosque on Thursday morning.

Thousands of police officers, local officials and mourners lined the street outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque in the Bronx to honor Islam.

“Look at all the NYPD officers here and outside this mosque and across this city who stand with you,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam’s family while speaking at the funeral.

“I am so heartbroken for you and your family,” Tisch said.

“As we scan the sea of blue, you will notice they look a whole lot like Didarul,” she continued.

“They wear his uniform, his shield [and] his collar brass,” Tisch said.

“They carry on his purpose and are sworn to finish the work he started,” she added, “and they will be there for you, always.”

Tisch then promoted Islam to detective-first grade, which is an NYPD tradition.

Islam, 36, was among four people who were killed by Las Vegas resident Shane Tamura during a mass shooting at an office building at 345 Park Ave. in New York City on Monday.

Tamura was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James were among elected officials who attended the funeral.

The funeral service started at 10 a.m. EDT, followed by prayer services at noon.

A “solid wall of blue” stood in a downpour as the hearse carrying Islam’s body from the mosque following the funeral service.

Islam’s body afterward was transferred to his family for a private burial service.

Islam had served on the NYPD for four years, was a father of two, and he and his wife were expecting the arrival of a third child.

Adams and Tisch visited the NYPD’s 47th Precinct station house on Wednesday to attend its morning roll call and talk with police officers.

Adams also visited with Islam’s family on Wednesday night.

The brothers, who were en route to the UK, were found dead near Zamora in northwestern Spain after a car crash.

The funeral of footballers Diogo Jota and his brother has been held, two days after the siblings died in a car crash in Spain, with family and friends joined by players and staff from Jota’s Premier League club, Liverpool.

Saturday’s service was held at Igreja Matriz church in the Portuguese town of Gondomar, where Jota had a home.

Portugal’s national team coach Roberto Martinez and several top Portuguese players also attended, including Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes.

Among the mourners, Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk arrived carrying a red floral arrangement in the shape of a football shirt with Jota’s No 20 in white. His teammate Andrew Robertson carried a similar arrangement with the No 30, the number worn by Jota’s brother, Andre Silva, who played for Portuguese club Penafiel.

Jota, 28, and his brother, Silva, 25, were found dead near Zamora in northwestern Spain early on Thursday after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of highway just after midnight and burst into flames.

The brothers were reportedly heading to catch a boat from northern Spain to go to England, where Jota was to rejoin Liverpool after a summer break.

Cause of crash unclear

Spanish police are investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve another vehicle, they said.

They said they believe it could have been caused by a blown tyre.

Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family. A wake was held for them on Friday.

Jota’s death occurred two weeks after he married longtime partner Rute Cardoso while on holiday from a long season where he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. The couple had three children, the youngest born last year.

Jota was born in Porto but started his playing career as a child in nearby Gondomar. Silva played in Portugal’s lower divisions.

Their loss has led to an outpouring of grief and condolences from the football world and Portuguese officials.

MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was honored for her legislative accomplishments and her humanity during a funeral Saturday where former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined more than 1,000 mourners.

Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot to death in their home two weeks ago by a man posing as a police officer that Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has called an assassination. The assailant also shot and seriously wounded a Democratic state senator and his wife at their home.

“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor and the most talented legislator I have ever known,” Gov. Tim Walz said in his eulogy. ”For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.”

Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with the governor and his wife, Gwen. Biden also paid his respects Friday as the Hortmans and their golden retriever, Gilbert, lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul. Biden also visited the wounded senator, John Hoffman, in a hospital.

Hortman was the first woman and one of fewer than 20 Minnesotans to lie in state at the Capitol. It was the first time a couple have been accorded the honor, and the first for a dog. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized.

Hortman, who was first elected in 2004, helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives including free lunches for public school students during a momentous 2023 session as the chamber’s speaker, along with expanded protections for abortion and trans rights. With the House split 67 to 67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

Walz said Hortman saw her mission as “to get as much good done for as many people as possible.” He said her focus on people was what made her so effective.

“She certainly knew how to get her way. No doubt about that,” Walz said. “But she never made anyone feel that they’d gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasn’t part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didn’t need somebody else to lose” for her to win, he said.

The governor said the best way to honor the Hortmans would be by following their example.

“Maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about,” Walz said. “A moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did — fiercely, enthusiastically, heartily, but without ever losing sight of our common humanity.”

Dozens of state legislators who served with Hortman attended. The Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector of the Basilica, led the service. Other clergy present included Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese.

The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park and wounding Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin on June 14 made a brief court appearance Friday. He’s due back in court Thursday.

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.

Boelter has not entered a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first. His lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty.

Friends have described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views and a supporter of President Trump. Prosecutors have declined to speculate on a motive.

Karnowski writes for the Associated Press.

A state funeral has been held in Iran for about 60 people, including military commanders and nuclear scientists, killed during the 12-day conflict with Israel.

Coffins draped in the Iranian flag, bearing portraits of deceased commanders, were flanked by crowds near Tehran’s Enghelab Square.

The conflict ended with a ceasefire earlier this week, after the US became directly involved by bombing key nuclear sites in Iran.

Huge crowds of mourners dressed in black chanted slogans, waved Iranian flags and held portraits of those killed.

Ahead of the event, a media campaign urged people to participate, with authorities providing free bus and metro rides. Government offices were shut for the day.

Among those laid to rest on Saturday was Mohammad Bagheri, the highest-ranking military officer in Iran who was chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces.

Bagheri was to be buried with his wife and daughter, who were killed in an Israeli strike. In total, Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran. Israeli officials said 28 people were killed in Israel following missile attacks by Iran.

Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, and nuclear scientists including Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi – head of Azad University in Tehran – were also among those laid to rest.

The funeral was attended by prominent figures including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani – an advisor to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – state television showed. Shamkhani was injured in an Israeli strike earlier this month.

It comes after US President Donald Trump said he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again.

Responding to a question from the BBC’s Nomia Iqbal at a White House press briefing on Friday, he said he would “without question” attack the country if intelligence concluded Iran could enrich uranium to concerning levels.

Trump has also repeated his assertions that Iran was “decimated”, writing: “Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war-torn country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the war with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie.”

Trump also claimed to have known “exactly where he [Khamenei] was sheltered”, saying he “would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces… terminate his life”.

“I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death, and he does not have to say, ‘thank-you, president Trump!'”, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned Trump against making “disrespectful” comments about Khamenei, who claimed US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites had achieved “nothing significant”.

“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei,” Araghchi posted on X.

“The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had no choice but to run to ‘Daddy’ to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults.”

Araghchi has admitted that “excessive and serious” damage was done to Iran’s nuclear sites by the recent bombings.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said it is still not known how much of Iran’s nuclear capabilities – including highly-enriched uranium and the centrifuges needed to purify the metal – have been destroyed or moved.

The agency’s director general Rafael Grossi also said that stopping Iran from being able to build nuclear weapons would not be achieved through military attacks.

“You are not going to solve this in a definitive way militarily, you are going to have an agreement,” he told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

On social media, Trump claimed that in recent days he had been “working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery”.

But he said Khamenei’s comments had deterred him, declaring: “Instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more.”

A state funeral service is under way in Iran for about 60 people, including military commanders, killed in Israeli attacks, with thousands joining the ceremony in the capital, Tehran.

State TV showed footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain head of the Revolutionary Guard, other top commanders and nuclear scientists in the ceremony that started at 8am (04:30 GMT) on Saturday.

Images from central Tehran showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the deceased commanders in uniform.

The United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel’s bombardments of Iran in the 12-day war launched on June 13.

Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplaying the US strikes, claiming Trump had “exaggerated events in unusual ways”, and rejecting US claims that Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back by decades.

The coffins of the Guard’s chief General Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, which Israel said was meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mohammad Bagheri, a major-general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as top nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were also killed in Israeli attacks.

Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.

Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.

War of words

The state funeral comes a day after US President Donald Trump launched a tirade on his Truth Social platform, blasting Khamenei for claiming in a video address that Iran had won the war.

Trump also claimed to have known “EXACTLY where he (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces… terminate his life”.

He claimed he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, but he dropped it after Khamenei’s remarks.

Hitting back at Trump on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X: “If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader.”

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Araghchi’s remarks were “a most expected reaction” to Trump’s social media posts.

“Many Iranian people regard him [Khamenei] as chiefly a religious leader, but according to the constitution, he’s not only that – he’s the political leader, he’s the military leader – he’s simply the head of state in Iran,” he said.

Serdar also said Khamenei’s position is not just the top of a hierarchy, but a divine role in Shia political theology.

“Not only in Iran, but across the world, we know there are a significant number of Shia who look for his guidance,” Serdar said. “Anyone who knows that would be meticulously careful not to publicly criticise him, and particularly not to accuse him of lying.”

No nuclear talks planned

There was no immediate sign of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral.

Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the outbreak of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for fallen commanders over their coffins before the open ceremonies, later aired on state television.

During the 12 days before the ceasefire, Israel claimed it killed about 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites.

Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.

The Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.

After the US strikes, Trump said negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme for a new deal were set to restart next week, but Tehran denied there were plans for a resumption.

Investigators described finding decaying bodies stacked atop each other throughout a dilapidated, bug-infested building.

A judge in the US state of Colorado has handed a funeral home owner, who stashed 191 dead bodies on his premises, a 20-year prison sentence for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government.

Federal prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for Jon Hallford, the owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado, where he and his wife, Carie Hallford, stored bodies between 2019 and 2023 and sent families fake ashes.

At Friday’s hearing, US District Judge Nina Wang said the circumstances and scale of John Hallford’s crimes, as well as the emotional damage to families he inflicted, warranted a longer sentence.

“This is not an ordinary fraud case,” Judge Wang said.

Investigators were called to the dilapidated, insect-infested building in the small town of Penrose, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Denver, in 2023 after reports of an “abhorrent smell” coming from the property.

At trial, investigators described finding the bodies stacked on top of each other and being unable to move into some rooms because they were piled so high with human remains.

FBI agents also had to put boards down so they could walk around the crime scene and above the bodily fluid that had pooled on the ground.

The morbid discovery by investigators in 2023 revealed for the first time to many families that the ashes they had received from Return to Nature were fake. Court documents showed Hallford had sent families urns filled with dry concrete mix, and in two cases, the wrong body had been buried.

In separate charges, Jon Hallford has pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse in state court. He is scheduled to be sentenced for those charges in August.

Carie Hallford is scheduled to go to trial in the federal case in September. That same month, she will attend her next hearing in the state case, in which she’s also charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse.

COVID-19 fraud

At Friday’s hearing, Jon Hallford was also jailed for defrauding the US federal government out of nearly $900,000 in emergency financial assistance provided to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a news statement, the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Colorado said the Hallfords had “defrauded the Small Business Administration through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications”.

Federal prosecutors said the Hallfords syphoned the money and spent it, along with customers’ payments, on SUVs worth more than $120,000, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, and luxury items from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co.

In addition to his jail sentence, Jon Hallford was also “ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution for a conspiracy to commit wire fraud”, according to the District of Colorado.

The District of Colorado statement said the Hallfords had “collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided”.

“Instead of ensuring proper disposition of the remains, Hallford allowed bodies to accumulate in various states of decay and decomposition inside the funeral home’s facility,” it said.

According to an order suspending the home’s registration as a funeral establishment, Jon Hallford had claimed when the bodies were discovered “that he practises taxidermy” at the property.

In court before the sentencing, Jon Hallford told the judge that he opened Return to Nature to make a positive impact on people’s lives, but “then everything got completely out of control”.

“I am so deeply sorry for my actions,” he said. “I still hate myself for what I’ve done.”