Foreign News
G Marimuthu: Indian film industry mourns popular actor and director
India’s Tamil-language film industry is in mourning for popular actor and director G Marimuthu, who died of a heart attack on Friday.
Marimuthu, who was in his late 50s, collapsed at a TV studio in Chennai and was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.
He was one of the main actors in the soap opera Ethirneechal (Swimming Against The Tide) and was dubbing scenes for the series when he died.
He also acted in more than 50 films. One of his last film roles was as a villain in the recent blockbuster Jailer, the third most successful Indian film at the box office so far this year.
Marimuthu’s cinematic career began in 1990, when he left his home in the southern village of Pasumalaitheri in Theni and headed to Chennai to become a film director. He worked as a hotel waiter at first, then became an assistant director with various film-makers before directing two films of his own, Kannum Lannum and Pulivaal.
In the 2010s, he focused on acting and featured in supporting roles in various Tamil films.
“Deeply saddened to hear about the untimely demise of the versatile actor Marimuthu,” said one fan on social media site X. “He was a superstar on both the big and small screens. A tremendous loss for our industry. May his soul rest in peace.”
(BBC)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a former Navy commander to head the country’s domestic security services, despite the courts having blocked his bid to fire the previous head of Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that he had nominated Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead the agency, which surveils attacks from abroad and at home, including by armed groups based in Palestine and Lebanon. However, a halt to the sacking of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, ordered by the Supreme Court, remains in place.
[Aljazeera]
The Trump administration has deported 17 more alleged gang members to El Salvador, the US state department has said, despite legal battles over removing people to the Central American country’s supermax prison.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group included members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
Salvadoran government officials told the BBC they included a mix of Venezuelans and Salvadorans.
Earlier this month a court ordered a halt to deportations carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law previously used only in wartime. However, US media, citing administration sources, reported that the recent deportations were made under general immigration laws.
In a statement, Rubio said the group included “murderers and rapists”, but did not provide names or details of the alleged crimes or of any convictions.
In a post on X, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shared a dramatically edited video showing shackled men being loaded off a plane and their heads being shaved before they were put into prison cells.
“All individuals are confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders, including six child rapists,” he wrote. “This operation is another step in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.”
President Trump reposted the message, blamed the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden for allowing the deportees into the US and thanked Bukele for “giving them such a wonderful place to live”.
El Salvador has agreed to take in deportees in exchange for $6m (£4.6m).
Family members of some of those who were previously sent to the maximum security prison have denied they have any gang ties.
After Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove more than 100 Venezuelans from the US earlier this month, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge alleging the administration had illegally denied the immigrants due process.
In a hearing on 15 March, James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, imposed a temporary restraining order on the use of the law and ordered deportation flights that were in the air to be turned around.
But the deportations proceeded. The next hearing in the case will be held on Thursday.
[BBC]
Foreign News
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years, meaning she would not be able to run in the 2027 French presidential election
She was found guilty of embezeeling European funds to finance her French far-right National Rally (RN) party.
[BBC]
Heavy rainfall of about 100 mm are likely at some places in Central, Sabaragamuwa, Western, Southern and Uva provinces and in Kurunegala and Polonnaruwa districts
Netanyahu nominates new Israeli spy chief despite court order
Underworld leader threatens police over arrest of his father and brother
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