List of All Articles with Tag 'ira'

The Chicago Cubs remain in free fall thanks to a series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Manager David Ross and several of his most important players have got to be feeling the heat.

Every team deserves a spot in the playoffs, but only a few can make it. The postseason separates contenders from pretenders, and there are two pretenders on this list, with only three contenders.

A prominent influencer who boasts over two million TikTok followers has been arrested for eating pork in Bali. Lina Lutfiawati turned to the platform with a video of her eating crispy pork skin, while reciting the Islamic phrase "Bismillah" meaning "in the name of God" in Arabic. The clip that reportedly showed her screwing up her face while chewing on the meat, was reported in March, but she was later charged in May. AFP has since reported that she was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty by a court in Palembang on September 19 of "spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups". Lutfiawati, who identifies as Muslim, is also required to pay a $16,269.22 (£13,228) fine. If not paid, her sentence could be extended by a further three months. Pork consumption is strictly forbidden in Islam. At the time, it was reported that Lutfiawati was travelling in Bali, where she tried the meat out of curiosity. Following the verdict, Lutfiawati told local a news station: "I know that I am wrong but I did not expect this punishment." Human rights groups have been vocal about the blasphemy law used to charge Lutfiawati. Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said: "It contravenes Indonesia’s international obligations in relation to respect and protection for freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, freedom of opinion and expression." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The non-fungible token (NFT) craze might be over – but we will always have videos of celebrities endorsing them as reminders of just how unhinged it was. The latest to have re-emerged is of Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon, the US late-night talk show host, and it is quite something. Fallon’s interview with Hilton is from 2022, just before the crypto bubble burst in spectacular fashion last year. It starts with Fallon pulling out a picture of a low-quality cartoon ape, saying: “This is your ape!” "I was going through a lot of them," Hilton said. "I was like, I want something that, like, kind of reminds me of me. But – this one, it does." After a short segment of grindingly awkward conversation, Fallon then pulls out another picture of an ape – his own NFT. Turns out he also wanted something that reminded him of himself. “It reminded me of me a little bit,” he said. He then put the pictures side by side and said, "They're buddies.” Journalist Nooruddean Choudry reposted the clip on X/Twitter, saying: “Still, I’m sure everyone involved in this beyond weird advert to make rich people richer at the expense of gullible idiots is proud of their contribution.” It comes after a report indicated that the NFT market has collapsed and that nearly all NFTs are practically worthless. The study of 73,257 NFT collections found that 69,795 of which have a market value of zero Ether, a popular cryptocurrency used to buy and sell the tokens. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The United Arab Emirates is considering introducing export licenses for a list of items including chips and other

These five Pittsburgh Pirates players should not be part of the big-league roster to start the 2024 season if they want to become contenders.

The Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is set to retire as chairman of his Fox and News Corp businesses and no one could resist making Succession memes and jokes. The Australian businessman is set to be replaced in the role at both companies by his son Lachlan Murdoch. The change of leadership will take place following the companies’ annual meeting in mid-November. Lachlan Murdoch said: “On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career. “We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted. “We are grateful that he will serve as chairman emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.” The highly popular TV show, Succession, which came to an end earlier this year was not so subtly inspired by the Murdoch family Things didn't end so well for the Roy family in that particular saga and given the parallels with the Murdoch family the Succession memes were soon trending on X/Twitter. Additional reporting by PA. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Everyone enjoys a Meal Deal from time to time – everyone except Spanish police, it seems, who took aim at Tesco to remind people to not eat the paella sandwich. In a viral post to X/Twitter, the Guardia civil force encouraged people to celebrate World Paella Day with the nation's favourite dish – and "not those things they sell out there". The tweet included a photo of the limited-edition sandwich with "prawn, chicken and chorizo on sun-dried tomato bread". It didn't take long for fellow X users to chime in with their takes, with one writing: "As an Englishman, I apologise for any offence caused by my country." Another said: "A paella…sandwich? The Spanish police are correct. The end times are upon us. I’m American and even I understand how wrong this is." Meanwhile, a third person wrote: "I’m not of any Spanish or Latin descent, but I have to agree that a paella sandwich is unequivocally the Devil’s work." It comes after the popular pizza joint Domino's created pizzas based on national dishes earlier this year using AI. Spain's dish featured paella with clams and prawns – finished with a sprinkle of spring onions, while France had Coq au Vin braised chicken, with diced potatoes and rosemary garnish. The UK was given a Beef roast dinner speciality pizza, including potatoes on a bed of gravy, covered in horseradish sauce. A Domino’s spokesperson previously said: “Passing the reins to AI, pizzas generated varied from a somewhat delicious looking Roast Dinner to Carbonara and a clam and prawn loaded Paella pizza. “Signature dishes were also generated for host nation Ukraine in the form of Chicken Kyiv pizza. “And Australia, to see what the country that has competed in the competition since 2015 – to everyone’s bewilderment – would serve up. “And it’s Fairy Bread pizza. “A country and party staple of bread spread with margarine and covered in hundreds and thousands.” Sam Wilson, AI mastermind at Domino’s said: “Pizza brings everyone together, just like Eurovision. “So we challenged AI to generate the perfect pizza for each nation. It’s no surprise the classic Sunday Roast was Britain’s pizza of choice, but we didn’t expect Fairy Bread for Australia. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Influencer and former Bad Girls Club star Morgan Osman has spoken out since being branded the new "crazy plane lady." Viral footage from the American Airlines flight surfaced online earlier this week, which saw Osman flaunting her influencer status while trying to get off the plane. The clip shows the "star" getting a suitcase from an overhead locker, telling a man "Call me a b***h again." "I did nothing wrong," she continued, before telling the man and "his b***h" to "shut the f**k up". It was then Osman was spotted storming down the aisle and hitting back at one person who was recording, saying: "Film me, I’m Instagram famous, you f**king bum." Osman has since opened up to TMZ about the incident, claiming she was not told to get off the plane. "Obviously, things have transpired before the cameras rolled and we all know that. So I feel like it’s very unfair that people are attacking me when I was provoked and reacted," she said, adding that she chose to leave the flight by choice. Speaking about a woman next to her, she claimed: "She got on FaceTime and she’s making fun of me and I said, ‘Morgan this is not the flight for you… Just get off the flight because I’m [going to] knock her the f**k out’". It was then that fellow passengers whipped out their phones to record. "I’m the sweetest girl; nobody films the good s**t I do for people. So, whatever. And it wouldn’t have been a sensation if it wasn’t a sensational 10-second clip,” Osmon said. “I don’t feel bad about any of it. I’ll be the crazy plane lady. I don’t care." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Kick streamer Adin Ross successfully fooled fans after claiming to have secured an interview with Kim Jong Un leading to a reported record for the platform. Earlier this week during a live stream, Ross said he had the North Korea leader "locked in" for chat which will go live in the next 48 hours. He claimed US officials had warned him against the so-called interview, saying: "We definitely got government officials hitting up my legal team. No, I swear to god, it's not that. It got millions of views on Twitter and it's on TikTok and s**t. They see everything! The government sees everything." He continued: "They saw and hit up, basically, my team and they just let me know there could be consequences for this. You know?" Ross even shared a list of planned questions he intended to ask the leader, including: Thoughts on LGBT? Can you give Stake money back? React to Andrew Tate. Visit North Korea? Add Yeonmi Park to call. Trump vs. Biden. USA better than North Korea. E-date? Fake n*tsack prank. On the day of his scheduled interview, Ross' viewers soared with over 333,506 fans tuning in to get a glimpse of 'Kim Jong Un', who turned out to be none other than Howard X, an impersonator. Later in the stream, Ross invited Andrew Tate into the stream – who was just as confused as everyone else. "Let me tell you all a story," Tate said. "You know like I had no money at all and I was growing up in Luton on a council estate with a single mother and no money?" "I had all these dreams of what I'd do if I ever got rich, 'Andrew, if you make hundreds of millions of dollars, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that,'" he continued. "Turns out, I go to Romanian jail and get woken up at three in the morning by Adin Ross to come and talk to a Kim Jong Un impersonator." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

History buffs on Facebook were left convinced of time travel after a black and white photograph originating from World War II appeared to show a man speaking on a mobile phone. In the image, the conspicuous figure could be seen leaning against a shop front on a crowded pavement amongst locals as well as US army soldiers deployed there. According to The Sun, the image was taken in Iceland’s capital of Reykjavík in 1943 – long before the invention of the portable telephone devices. The first mobile phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, was sold in 1973. The man who appeared to be holding a device to his ear was dressed in a light-coloured coat, wore a flat cap and was looking in the direction of the camera that captured the image. The picture which has sparked conspiracy theories of time travel was shared by its owner Kristján Hoffman on the Facebook group Gamlar ljósmyndir, which translates to “Old Photographs”. Hoffman wrote on Facebook: “The American army is taking over Icelandic splendour, as you can see. “One thing that draws attention to this beautiful picture is that above the window, in the corner in the middle of the picture, a man is leaning and is on a cell phone.” The post sparked a lot of debate online as people gave their different theories. One person suggested the man was simply scratching his ear, while another said he was holding his watch up to see if it was working since the man is standing outside a watch shop in the image. But Hoffman stuck to his own beliefs, saying: “He's in a stupor, standing alone and wearing a different headdress than the others and a scarf and acting like we would do today. “He has an overview of the square and nothing like having a conversation with someone on a smartphone.” Another person in the comments joked that Icelanders had “already invented the mobile phone way before anyone else!” Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad during a visit to the world’s No. 2