Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; editing by Barbara Lewis
World
Beatlemania is back as chart-topping ‘Now And Then’ breaks records
LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The Beatles returned to the top of the UK music charts on Friday, with the record-breaking track “Now And Then”, making history as the act with the longest gap between its first and last No. 1 single.
Billed as the last Beatles song, “Now And Then” features the voice of late member John Lennon and was developed using artificial intelligence. It also features parts recorded by surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as the late George Harrison.
The group’s 18th UK No. 1 hit, it brings The Beatles back to the top of the Official Singles Chart 60 years after the group’s first No. 1 single “From Me to You”. The feat also extends The Beatles’ record as the British act with the most UK No. 1 singles in Official Charts history.
“It’s mind boggling. It’s blown my socks off,” McCartney said in a statement. “It’s also a very emotional moment for me. I love it!”
The song is the fastest-selling single of the year to date in Britain with 48,600 physical and download sales based on the its first seven days, the Official Charts Company said.
It is also the fastest-selling vinyl single of the century so far in Britain with more than 19,400 copies sold on vinyl, and the most-streamed Beatles track in one week, with 5.03 million streams, it added.
The group is also the act with the longest gap between No. 1 singles – 54 years – and the oldest band to score a UK No. 1 single, the Official Charts Company said. McCartney is 81 while Starr is 83.
“Beatlemania has returned this week,” Official Charts Company Chief Executive Officer Martin Talbot said.
“The return of John, Paul, George and Ringo with the last ever Beatles single… has cemented their legend by breaking a catalogue of records – and in doing so underlined the extraordinary scope of their enduring appeal, across all the generations.”
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
World
Lawmakers call for release of Putin’s ‘political prisoner number one'
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers marked the two-year anniversary of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza’s imprisonment by calling for his immediate release.
Kara-Murza, who lives in solitary confinement in a Siberian maximum-security prison, was sentenced to 25 years last April for treason and other related charges as Russian authorities continue their crackdown on domestic dissent.
The Moscow City Court claimed Kara-Murza was guilty of “high treason“ for “disseminating knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces” when he delivered a speech to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2022 that criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
His sentence is the longest term handed down to a political prisoner in the post-Soviet era.
Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., co-led a group of 80 bipartisan lawmakers urging the Biden administration to declare the Russian dissident as “unlawfully and wrongfully detained.”
Fox News Digital obtained a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Cardin and other lawmakers demanding Kara-Murza’s release and the aforementioned designation.
“There is little time left to end the ongoing and unjust detention of U.S. Legal Permanent Resident and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza,” the letter read in part. “Mr. Kara-Murza’s family has grave concerns that he may not survive much longer. His situation is even more perilous following the killing of Alexei Navalny. Mr. Kara-Murza is the most prominent imprisoned democracy activist still alive in Russia.”
The State Department referred Fox News Digital to spokesperson Matthew Miller’s remarks on Kara-Murza’s two-year imprisonment anniversary but did not provide specifics when asked about efforts to give the Russian opposition leader the designation sought by U.S. lawmakers.
“The Department of State continuously reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of U.S. nationals overseas, including those in Russia, for indicators that they are wrongful. When making assessments, the Department conducts a legal, fact-based review that looks into the totality of the circumstances for each case individually,” a spokesperson said.
Russian human rights lawyer and the Center for European Policy Analysis’ Democracy Fellow Grigory Vaypan told Fox News Digital that Kara-Murza is now Russia’s “prisoner number one.”
AMERICAN BALLERINA WITH DUAL CITIZENSHIP ARRESTED IN RUSSIA, FACING LIFE IN PRISON FOR DONATING $51 TO UKRAINE
“He’s definitely political prisoner number one on Putin’s list, and his life is certainly in danger now that we see with the murder of Navalny that Putin’s regime demonstrates to the world that it’s willing to kill political prisoners in Russia,” Vaypan said.
He added that Kara-Murza, who was reportedly poisoned twice in 2015 and 2017 by agents of the Russian state, is essentially on “Putin’s death row.”
“His health is deteriorating. He has never fully recovered from the effects of those two poisonings. Now, he is not only in prison, he’s on solitary confinement, which is basically indefinite. He can be in his tiny prison cell for many months, and with the effects of those two poisonings, his health is getting worse,” Vaypan explained. “This is why it would be fair to say that he’s essentially on Putin’s death row now.”
Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights group, counts roughly 700 political prisoners in Russia today.
Political prisoners are further isolated and punished in an effort to prevent them from continuing to speak out against the Russian authorities. They can be put into solitary confinement, deprived of food, mail, phone calls with relatives or family visits.
RUSSIAN POET SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR RECITING VERSES AGAINST WAR IN UKRAINE
“There’s a wide array of those measures that the Russian prison authorities can resort to. And we’re increasingly seeing that, especially after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion [of] Ukraine, we’ve seen more people jailed for exercising their right to free speech,” Vaypan told Fox News Digital. “And we’ve seen an increasing number of people being further harassed and pressured even while in prison.”
Kara-Murza’s wife, Evgenia, reflected on the deaths of other Russian opposition figures like Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov at the hands of the Putin regime.
“[They] target the most courageous, the most principled, those Russians who risk not only their freedom but very often their lives to show you that Russia can be different,” she said at an event on Capitol Hill.
“As my husband put it, and I quote, ‘It is my hope that when people in the free world today think and speak about Russia, they will remember not only the war criminals who are sitting in the Kremlin but also those who are standing up to them because we are Russians too.’”
World
At least four dead in US after dozens of tornadoes rip through Oklahoma
Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently struck by debris.
At least four people were killed and dozens more injured after multiple tornadoes wreaked havoc in the central state of Oklahoma in the United States.
The tornadoes caused extensive damage in the town of Sulphur, home to about 5,000 people, flattened buildings, threw vehicles into the air and ripped the roofs from houses.
“You just can’t believe the destruction,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town on Sunday afternoon. “It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”
A four-month-old baby was among the dead, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.
Stitt said about 30 people were injured, including some who were in a bar when the tornado struck.
Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, and more than 20,000 residents were still without electricity on Sunday evening.
Stitt issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the severe weather, while in a call with the Oklahoma governor, President Joe Biden offered the federal government’s full support with recovery efforts, the White House said in a statement.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reported that 38 possible tornadoes hit the area and that the worst of the storms rolled through Central Oklahoma on Saturday into early Sunday morning, spreading into northwest Texas, western Missouri and Kansas.
World
Hannah Green wins LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship for 2nd straight year
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hannah Green won LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship for the second straight year Sunday, holing out twice from off the greens in a pivotal back-nine stretch at challenging Wilshire Country Club.
A year after making a 25-foot birdie on the final hole of regulation and winning on the second hole of a playoff, Green — with help from Maja Stark — took the late drama out of this one for her fifth LPGA Tour victory and second of the year.
“It’s really kind to me,” Green said about the course. “I felt like a couple times today almost got like a member bounce. I, obviously, really am fond of the golf club and joked that they didn’t approve it with me that they were making alterations. I love it here.”
Green closed with a 5-under 66 to beat Stark by three strokes. The 27-year-old Australian, also the winner early last month in Singapore, finished at 12-under 272 on the tree-lined layout with poa annua greens that become bumpy late in the day.
Green began the key run with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 12th and made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th. Then, after Stark bogeyed the par-4 16th two groups ahead, Green ran in a 25-footer for eagle from the fringe on 15 to open a four-stroke lead, and made it 5 under in five holes with a birdie on 16.
“When I chipped in on 12 I kind of felt like I really snagged one there,” Green said. “I really like the 13th hole and also played the 15th really well. When I made eagle on 15 that kind of sealed the deal. I did see Maja got it to 9 under so I know what I needed to do. Usually, I make it really tricky on myself and only win by a shot.”
Stark finished with a 68, rebounding from the bogey on 16 to birdie the final two holes. The 24-year-old Swede also finished second last week outside Houston in The Chevron Championship, two strokes behind top-ranked Nelly Korda in the first major of the year.
“I’m really proud of the way I’ve played,” Stark said. “I feel like I’ve hit a lot of good shots and I feel like my nerves kind of took over for a little while, but I was always able to get back to the normal — my normal state of mind.”
Haeran Ryu (69) was third at 6 under, followed by fellow South Korean players Jin Young Ko (67) and Jin Hee Im (72) at 5 under.
Grace Kim, four strokes ahead entering weekend after opening rounds of 64 and 66 and tied with Green for the lead after a third-round 76, finished with a 77 to tie for 25th at 1 under. She failed to make a birdie the final two days.
Korda withdrew from the Los Angeles event Monday, a day after her record-tying fifth straight victory.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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