Mohamed Salah says Trent Alexander-Arnold did not deserve to be booed by some Liverpool fans after the defender announced he will leave his boyhood club this summer.
The right-back, 26, will depart the newly crowned Premier League champions when his contract expires at the end of June, and is expected to join Real Madrid.
Alexander-Arnold was born in Liverpool and came through the club’s youth system before making his professional debut in 2016.
He played for the first time since confirming his impending exit when he appeared as a substitute in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday and received jeers from some supporters.
“I think somehow the fans were being harsh with him,” Salah told Sky Sports.
“I think he didn’t deserve it at the time, he deserved the fans to treat him the best way possible because he gave it all to the fans.
“We shouldn’t act this way with anyone who always appreciates the people, who came here even for six months.
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Alexander-Arnold has made 353 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, scoring 23 goals.
He has helped them win two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup, and Salah believes he deserves the best send-off possible given what he has helped the club achieve.
“I really love him,” he added.
“I think he deserves the best farewell leaving the club. He has done a lot for the city and done a lot for the club and he’s one of probably the best players in the club’s history. He gave it all.”
Salah, who signed a new two-year deal at Liverpool last month, said he talked with Alexander-Arnold about his decision, but did not try to convince him to stay.
“I think he needed a new challenge,” Salah said. “He spoke to me about it. It’s his decision for sure. He’s won it all twice or three times – what more can he have done?
Mourners gathered to celebrate the life of 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez, who was shot dead during a TikTok livestream at her salon in Jalisco, Mexico. Her killing is being investigated as a possible femicide.
The man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie, leaving him blind in one eye, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum term possible in the case.
Friday’s sentencing hearing was the culmination of a relatively swift trial that began on February 4.
There was little ambiguity about the central events underlying the case: In August 2022, a 24-year-old named Hadi Matar rushed the stage of an amphitheatre where Rushdie was delivering a public lecture for New York’s Chautauqua Institution.
Matar stabbed Rushdie approximately 15 times, delivering cuts to his neck, body and head. After being airlifted to a hospital, Rushdie eventually lost sight in one eye. Another speaker — Henry Reese, who runs a nonprofit for writers in exile — also received injuries, including a stab wound.
Rushdie, now 77, testified in the state-level trial against Matar. “He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing,” the novelist said.
He added that he thought at first he was being struck by fists, not a knife. It was only later that he realised the severity of his situation: “I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes.”
The injuries resulted in Rushdie undergoing painful surgeries, including to seal his blinded eye. He spent months in recovery. “I’m not as energetic as I used to be. I’m not as physically strong as I used to be,” he told the court.
On February 21, after less than two hours of deliberation, a jury in western New York found Matar both guilty of attempted murder for his attack on Rushdie and of assault for the injuries to Reese.
In Friday’s hearing, Matar received 25 years for the attempted murder sentence and seven for the assault on Reese, to be served at the same time since the attacks happened at the same time.
Rushdie, a British American novelist, was born in India to a Muslim family. His books have won wide acclaim: His novel Midnight’s Children earned the Booker Prize, a top literary honour awarded each year to a work of English-language fiction.
But it was his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, in 1988 that stirred up lasting controversy, specifically for passages deemed blasphemous to Muslims. By 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.
The announcement sent Rushdie into hiding, and the British government assigned him round-the-clock protection. Deadly protests accompanied the novel’s publication, and bookstores, along with those close to Rushdie, faced violent attacks.
Before Friday’s sentencing, Matar also delivered a statement to the court voicing his opposition to Rushdie and his work.
“Salman Rushdie wants to disrespect other people,” said Matar. “He wants to be a bully, he wants to bully other people. I don’t agree with that.”
Later, outside the courtroom, defence lawyer Nathaniel Barone took questions about whether his client felt regret or remorse about his actions.
“ I think that’s a fair question, and I can’t answer that,” he responded. “All I can tell you is that I think that, unfortunately, people make bad decisions, and it’s something that certainly they regret or they’re remorseful about, but they may have a difficult time expressing that for whatever reasons.”
Barone added that he felt Matar would have acted differently in hindsight. “ I know, if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he is sitting today. And if he could change things, he would.”
Public defender Nathaniel Barone speaks to the media outside Chautauqua County court on May 16 [Adrian Kraus/AP Photo]
Matar’s defence team had sought a lesser sentence of 12 years in prison and plans to appeal the verdict, arguing that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt an intent to kill Rushdie.
Barone also questioned the intense level of scrutiny on the case, calling it a “publicity sponge”. He argued that his client was denied the presumption of innocence due to any suspect.
The prosecution, however, praised the sentencing hearing’s outcome as justice for the pain Rushdie continues to endure.
“He’s traumatised. He has nightmares about what he experienced,” Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the hearing.
“Obviously, this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa.”
In explaining to the judge why he was pushing for the maximum sentence, Schmidt said that Matar “designed this attack so that he could inflict the most amount of damage, not just upon Mr. Rushdie, but upon this community, upon the 1,400 people who were there to watch it”.
Separately, Matar, now 27, faces three counts of federal terrorism-related charges in the US, including providing material support to terrorists and committing terrorism that transcends national boundaries.
“We allege that, in attempting to murder Salman Rushdie in New York in 2022, Hadi Matar committed an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization aligned with the Iranian regime,” former US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Iran, however, has denied involvement in Matar’s attack on Rushdie.
Ncuti Gatwa had been selected to deliver the results of the UK jury at the Eurovision Grand Final, but it’s now been announced he’ll be replaced by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The BBC has confirmed that Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa has officially stepped down from his role as the United Kingdom ’s Eurovision 2025 spokesperson, citing “unforeseen circumstances”. Pop star and radio presenter Sophie Ellis-Bextor will now take his place, delivering the UK jury’s scores live during the Grand Final on Saturday, May 17.
Ellis-Bextor, who is best known for her early 2000s hit Murder on the Dancefloor and has had a recent resurgence thanks to her popular kitchen disco sessions during lockdown, expressed her excitement about the Eurovision gig. She gushed: “I love Eurovision and it’s a privilege to be part of 2025’s Grand Final.
“What an honour it is to announce the UK’s jury score on such a special show which always puts music front and centre. I am very much looking forward to delivering the iconic douze points from the United Kingdom!”
Ncuti Gatwa was slated to represent the UK’s vote in the 2025 Eurovision Grand Final but has pulled out(Image: Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
The singer’s appointment comes just days before the highly anticipated Grand Final in Basel, Switzerland, where British country-pop trio Remember Monday will perform their song What The Hell Just Happened?
The all-girl group, made up of Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull, and Charlotte Steele, were internally selected by the BBC and formally unveiled as this year’s UK Eurovision representatives on March 7.
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Since the UK is part of the ‘big five’, a group of countries that sponsor Eurovision and therefore automatically qualify for the Grand Final, Remember Monday did not have to compete in the semi-finals. However, the band still performed on stage on Thursday night (May 15).
It is a landmark year for the band, which first formed in 2013 while all three members were studying at Farnborough Sixth Form in Hampshire.
He will be replaced by Sophie Ellis-Bextor(Image: PA)
The trio started off performing under the name Houston, but later rebranded as Remember Monday and gained national attention after reaching the quarter-finals of The Voice UK in 2019.
BBC Radio 2’s Richie Anderson, who has been reporting live from Basel, admitted he was “a little nervous” before seeing the group’s final rehearsal, which he compared to the feeling of watching a family member’s school assembly.
However, he quickly added: “But as soon as they started singing, their vocals were just incredible.” Anderson also praised their “mind-blowing” stage presence, crediting their West End roots for a performance that feels “intimate and polished”.
Fellow presenter Sara Cox added to the Remember Monday praise, calling the trio a “tight-knit friendship group” who “shine” whenever they’re on stage.
Fans are hopeful that Remember Monday can break the UK’s recent unlucky streak, after Olly Alexander finished 18th in Eurovision last year with zero points from the jury, while Mae Muller came second-last in Liverpool in 2023.
Six unlucky countries were culled from the competition last night, so Australia, Czechia, Georgia, Ireland, Montenegro, and Serbia will be sent home without a trophy. Meanwhile, Armenia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Malta have soared through to the Grand Final.
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The Eurovision Grand Final will take place on Saturday, May 17 at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has taken a leave of absence pending the conclusion of UN-led investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
Khan’s office said on Friday that he had informed colleagues he would step aside temporarily until the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) wraps up its probe. The OIOS has been conducting the external investigation since December, following complaints raised with the ICC’s oversight body.
The ICC said that Khan would remain on leave until the inquiry concludes, though a timeline for its completion remains unclear. During his absence, the court’s two deputy prosecutors will assume his responsibilities.
Lawyers for Khan said he rejected all claims of wrongdoing and had only stepped aside temporarily due to intense media scrutiny, which had made it difficult for him to carry out his work effectively.
“Our client remains the prosecutor, has not stepped down and has no intention of doing so,” UK-based law firm Carter-Ruck said in a statement.
Khan’s decision to step aside temporarily follows months of growing pressure from human rights groups and some court officials, who had urged him to withdraw while the investigation was ongoing.
“Stepping aside helps protect the court’s credibility and the trust of victims, staff, and the public. For the alleged victim and whistleblowers, this is also a moment of recognition and dignity,” said Danya Chaikel of human rights watchdog FIDH.
The court has not confirmed when the OIOS investigation will conclude, but the case comes at a time of rising global scrutiny of the ICC’s role and credibility.
High-profile investigations
The decision comes as the court is pursuing high-profile investigations, including into Russia’s assault on Ukraine and Israel’s war on Gaza.
Khan requested arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Charter Communications has agreed to buy its rival Cox Communications for $21.9bn in a deal that would unite the two of the largest cable and broadband operators in the United States as they battle streaming giants and mobile carriers for customers.
The deal, announced on Friday, comes more than a decade after the companies reportedly abandoned an earlier merger attempt. Since then, pressure has intensified on cable companies, with wireless carriers attracting broadband customers with aggressive plans, while millions ditch traditional pay-TV for streaming.
The companies said they expect to realise $500m in cost savings within three years of the deal’s expected close in mid-2026.
Under the cash-and-stock deal, Charter will take on about $12.6bn of Cox’s net debt and other obligations, giving the transaction an enterprise value of $34.5bn.
Cox Enterprises, the family-owned parent of Cox Communications, will own about 23 percent of the merged entity, with its CEO Alex Taylor serving as chairman.
The combined firm will rebrand as Cox Communications within a year of the deal’s close, with Charter’s Spectrum being the consumer-facing brand. It will keep its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, while maintaining a big presence at Cox’s campus in Atlanta, Georgia.
The merger with Cox – one of the biggest deals globally this year – will aid Charter’s push to bundle broadband and mobile services, helping it fend off competition from carriers.
Analysts have said Charter’s strategy of combining internet, TV and mobile services into a single, customizable package has shown merit, but it needs scale as cable firms rely on leasing network access from major carriers to offer mobile plans.
“This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products,” said Charter CEO Chris Winfrey, who will head the combined company.
The Spectrum-owner has a market value of nearly $60bn.
On Wall Street, Charter’s stock rose on the news of the potential merger. As of 12:00pm ET (16:00 GMT) the stock is up 1.66 percent since the market opened.
Antitrust concerns
The merger will be among the first major tests of M&A regulation under the administration of US President Donald Trump, as it would create the largest US cable TV and broadband provider with about 38 million subscribers, surpassing current market leader Comcast.
It will likely be reviewed by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division. Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater, who leads the division, has made it clear she intends to focus on mergers that decrease competition in ways that harm consumers or workers.
EMarketer analyst Ross Benes said the merged entity would be the largest US pay-TV operator, but the “ISP (internet service provider) side of the business is more consequential” for consumers, potentially positioning it as a regional monopoly.
Winfrey echoed Trump’s “America First” employment priorities and said the deal would bring Cox’s customer service jobs back from overseas, but he did not specify how many. Charter’s customer service teams are already based entirely in the US.
“This is the first big corporate move (in the same sector) to happen under the new Trump administration so … will set the tone for other potential moves or not,” said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.
Charter and Cox had also discussed a merger in 2013 before shelving the plan, according to media reports. But speculation had risen again in recent months after cable billionaire John Malone said in November Charter should be allowed to merge with rivals such as Cox, shortly after Charter agreed to buy his Liberty Broadband.
