Kaifi Azmi

Athar Hussein Rizvi, known as Kaifi Azmi, (14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures.  Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participated in the most memorable mushairas of the twentieth centuryEarly life
Azmi was born into a Shia Muslim family in the village of Mizwaa(n) in Azamgarh district,Uttar Pradesh.

Family
Azmi was married to Shaukhat Azmi. They have a daughter, Shabana Azmi who is an actress, and a son, Baba Azmi, a cinematographer. Azmi's daughter-in-law Tanvi Azmi is a television actress.

Career
Writings
At age eleven, Azmi wrote his first ghazal Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade and somehow managed to get himself invited to a mushaira and over there, he recited a ghazal, rather a couplet of the ghazal which was very much appreciated by the president of the mushaira, Mani Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thougt he recited his elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi accepted the challenge and completed a ghazal. This particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India and it was immortalised as it was sung by legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar. Azmi abandoned his studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India agitations in 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full-time Marxist when he accepted membership of the Communist Party of India in 1943.[3] During this period, the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very impressed by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended all possible encouragement towards him. Consequently, Azmi started to win great acclaim as a poet and became a member of Progressive Writers' Movement of India. At the age of twenty-four, he started activities in the textile mill areas of Kanpur. As a full-time worker, he left his life of comfort, though he was the son of a zamindar. He was asked to shift his base to Bombay, work amongst the workers and start party work with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm and at the same time actress of Indian cinema and Baba Azmi, a noted cameraman.

Nazmul
Like most of the Urdu poets, Azmi began as a ghazal writer, cramming his poetry with the repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichés and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poetry, he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, and the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society, are the hallmark of his poetry. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect, his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated.[4] Azmi's first collection of poems, Jhankar was published in 1943. His important works including anthologies of poetry, were Aakhir-e-Shab, Sarmaya, Awaara Sajde, Kaifiyaat, Nai Gulistan, an anthology of articles he wrote for Urdu Blitz, Meri Awaaz Suno, a selection of his film lyrics, and the script of Heer Ranjha in Devanagari.[5]

His best known poems are Aurat, Makaan, Daaera, Sanp, and Bahuroopni.
Films
Azmi's work in films includes working as a lyricist, writer, and actor. Azmi wrote his first lyrics for the film Buzdil, directed by Shaheed Latif and music by SD Burman, released in 1951. His early work as a writer was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like Yahudi Ki Beti (1956), Parvin (1957), Miss Punjab Mail (1958) and Id Ka Chand (1958). While directors like Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Bimal Roy strove to create the "New Cinema", writers like Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and Kaifi changed the tenor and vocabulary of the Hindi film song, creating a fresh new wave in Hindi film lyrics that lasted many years. [1] His greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Raanjha (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the greatest feats of Hindi film writing. Azmi also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's Manthan (1976) and Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama (1977). As a lyricist and songwriter, though he wrote for numerous films, he will always be remembered for Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest war film. Some notables films for which he wrote lyrics include Kohra (1964), Anupama (1966), Uski Kahani (1966), Saat Hindustani (1969), Shola Aur Shabnam, Parwana (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Arth (1982) and Razia Sultan (1983). For Naunihal (1967), he wrote the song "Meri Aawaz Suno Pyar ka Raaz Suno" (Hear my voice, hear the secret of love) sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is picturised over the funeral procession of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Years later, after Azmi's own death his daughter, Shabana Azmi mentioned finding comfort in verses from the song.[6] He also played a memorable role of Naseem's grandfather in Naseem (1995). Azmi died on 10 May 2002 at around the age of eighty-three. He was survived by his wife, daughter, and son. His autobiography is included in a collection of his works, Aaj Ke Prashid Shayar: Kaifi Azmi.
In media
Azmi was the subject of a documentary film called Diksha (2015), directed by Raman Kumar. In 1997, he recited his own poems for Kaifiyaat, an audio book on his collected works.

Kaifi Aur Mein, a play based on his life, his works and the memoir of his wife, Shaukat Azmi – Yadon Ki Rahguzar (Down Memory Lane), was written and performed by Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, and performed in India as well as abroad in 2006.[2] Another play, directed by Rani Balbir, Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Hasin Sitam, based Kaifi Azmi's life and writings was staged in 2005, and received rave reviews.[3]

Awards
He was the recipient of Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award. Besides he was awarded the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu for his collection Awaara Sajde, Special Award of Maharashtra Urdu Academy, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Lotus Award from the Afro-Asian Writers' Association, and President's Award for national integration. In 1998, Government of Maharashtra conferred the Jyaneshwara Award on him. He was also honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement.[7]

In 2000, he was conferred the first Millennium Award by the Government of Delhi and the Delhi Urdu Academy. He has also been honoured with a doctorate from Vishva Bharati University, Santiniketan. [4]

Tribute
The government has also inaugurated a train named "Kaifiyat Express" which runs from his hometown Azamgarh to Old Delhi.

On 14 January 2020, search engine Google commemorated Kaifi Azmi with a Doodle on his 101st birth anniversary.[8] Google commented: "With work ranging from passionate love poems and activist verses to Bollywood songs lyrics and screenplays, Azmi has become one of the most renowned poets of the 20th century in India, and his humanitarian efforts continue to impact people’s lives today."[9]

Sahitya Akademi Award
1975: Sahitya Akademi Award: Awara Sajde[10]
2002: Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (Immortals of Literature)
National Film Awards
1970: National Film Award for Best Lyrics: Saat Hindustani

The Outsider

The Outsider is an American drama miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. It was ordered to series on December 3, 2018,[1] after being optioned as a miniseries by Media Rights Capital in June 2018.[2] It premiered on HBO on January 12, 2020
Cast
Main
Ben Mendelsohn as Det. Ralph Anderson
Bill Camp as Howie Gold
Jeremy Bobb as Alec Pelley
Julianne Nicholson as Glory Maitland
Mare Winningham as Jeannie Anderson
Paddy Considine as Claude Bolton
Yul Vazquez as Yunis Sablo
Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland
Marc Menchaca as Jack Hoskins
Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney
Recurring
Summer Fontana as Maya Maitland
Scarlett Blum as Jessa Maitland
Frank Deal as Fred Peterson
Dayna Beilenson as Mildred Patterson
Hettienne Park as Tomika Collins
Michael Esper as Bill Samuels
Claire Bronson as Joy Peterson
Michael H. Cole as Herbert Parker
Marc Fajardo as Myron Lazar
Margo Moorer as Libby Stanhope
Duncan E. Clark as Frankie Peterson
Joshua Whichard as Ollie Peterson

Bishop Peter Ball

Peter Ball CGA (14 February 1932 – 21 June 2019) was a British bishop in the Church of England and convicted sex offender. In 1960 he and his twin brother (Michael Ball) established a monastic community, the Community of the Glorious Ascension, through which Ball came into contact with many boys and young men.

He was the suffragan Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1992 and the diocesan Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 to 1993, when he resigned after being cautioned for sexual abuse; he continued to officiate at several churches after that.

In October 2015, Ball was sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to 1992. Further charges of indecently assaulting two boys, aged 13 and 15, were allowed to lie on file in a contentious decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). He was released on licence in February 2017 and died two years later.
Early life
Ball was born on 14 February 1932. He was educated at Lancing College, a public school in Lancing, West Sussex. He then studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1954; as per convention, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1958.[1] He entered Wells Theological College in 1954 and received two years of training in preparation for ordination.[1]

Ordained ministry
Ball was ordained in the Church of England: made a deacon on Trinity Sunday 1956 (27 May) [2] and ordained a priest the Trinity following (16 June 1957), both times by George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, at Chichester Cathedral.[3] He began his ministry as a curate in Rottingdean.[4] He then received basic monastic training at Kelham Theological College. In 1960 he and his identical twin brother, Michael, founded a monastic community, the Community of the Glorious Ascension (CGA), of which he was prior until his ordination to the episcopate.[5] This brought many young boys who were novice monks into his care over the years.[6] Whilst prior of CGA, he combined his duties as a member of a religious order with several other pastoral roles, including three years as vicar of the Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, in Staffordshire.

Bishop of Lewes
Ball was suffragan Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1992.[7] He was ordained a bishop on 18 October 1977, by Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul's Cathedral.[8]

Official inquiries into prolonged failure to prevent child abuse in the Diocese of Chichester, of which Lewes is part, brought up allegations against Ball, of which he was later convicted.[6]

Bishop of Gloucester, police caution and resignation
After having been translated to the see of Gloucester in 1992, Ball resigned from his position as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993 after admitting to an act of gross indecency with a 19-year-old man and accepting a formal police caution for it.[9] In 1993, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers said that "sufficient admissible, substantial and reliable evidence" existed that Ball had committed indecent assault and gross indecency.[6] At the time, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Barbara Mills, decided not to prosecute Ball[10] though the CPS in 2015 said it believed that prosecution in 1993 would have been in the public interest.[11]

At Ball's trial in 2015 it was stated that a member of the royal family, a lord chief justice, JPs, cabinet ministers and public school headmasters—"many dozens" of people—had campaigned to support him in 1993. There were a further 2,000 letters of support. The Reverend Graham Sawyer, an abuse victim, wants a full investigation and blames corrupt elements in the British establishment. Sawyer believes that the establishment is still too strong and its links with the church should be investigated.[7] Phil Johnson, who claims Ball abused him when he was 13 years old, said it looked like a deal was done between the Church of England, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the CPS, and said, "I think there was great effort made to avoid bad publicity and to avoid the embarrassment of trying a bishop in public."

David Greenwood, a solicitor acting for some victims, said that "With more power comes the ability to work in a culture where you feel that you can get away with it. It seems Peter Ball has been able to do that."[11][12] Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the NSS, believes this was an orchestrated campaign. Wood wants to find out who was behind the alleged campaign and also wants to see copies of relevant letters examined and a comprehensive list obtained of callers and writers, particularly of high profile and influential campaigners. There has been a call for the Goddard Inquiry to look into why Ball was not prosecuted in 1993.[13][14]

Retirement
After his resignation, Ball was given accommodation at "Manor Lodge", Aller, Somerset, on the Duchy of Cornwall estate of Charles, Prince of Wales[10][7]). George Carey, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury, allowed Ball to continue officiating as a priest after his resignation, but not as a bishop—he could still celebrate the Eucharist, but not ordain clergy or confirm.[10][15] He was granted permission to officiate in the Diocese of Bath and Wells from 2001 to 2010.[1] Peter Hancock, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, was critical of Ball being allowed to serve in the Langport area after his retirement.[16]

Trial and conviction for sexual abuse
In 2007 Peter Halliday, a choirmaster in Guildford in Surrey county, who had told the church that he had abused children in the 1990s but was allowed to continue working with children, was convicted of three counts of sexual abuse of children, and police were concerned that there had been many more cases.[17]

In light of this event and the public airing of the church's bad handling of Halliday, as well as two other high profile sexual abuse convictions, the House of Bishops decided in May 2007 to ask the Central Safeguarding Liaison Group to hold a review of past cases throughout the Church of England, which was carried out starting in 2008.[18]:9,12[19] The Diocese of Chichester and the Sussex Police also began investigating long-standing allegations of sexual abuse in East Sussex.[19][20]

In 2008, Colin Pritchard, a vicar in Bexhill-on-Sea was convicted of sexually abusing two boys; The Guardian described it as the "breakthrough case" for dealing with sexual abuse in the diocese.[19] Roy Cotton, a priest in the Chichester diocese died in 2006 but allegations of abuse by him emerged shortly thereafter.[19] In 2018, Pritchard, who had by then changed his name to Ifor Whittaker, was convicted of further sexual abuse that was carried out in collaboration with Cotton.[21]

In 2010 the past cases review was published.[18]:9,12[22]

In 2011 the Diocese of Chichester asked Elizabeth Butler‐Sloss to conduct an independent review of the way the Pritchard and Cotton cases were handled by the Chichester diocese; the report was published in 2012,[19][23] and was severely criticized when it was released.[24] It emerged in 2014 that Phil Johnson, who by that time was a member of the National Safeguarding Panel for the Church, and who had been abused by Cotton and Pritchard and had given testimony to Butler‐Sloss during her 2011 inquiry, made it public that he had told Butler‐Sloss about abuse by Peter Ball, and that she had chosen to omit that from her report.[24]

In May 2012 the review and historic files about Peter Ball were given to the Sussex Police.[7][6]

Ann Lawrence from the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors organisation described the opening of the police investigation as "a major first step" for the Church of England. Abuse victim Neil Todd, who later died by suicide, said that:

"It is an investigation which to be honest is well overdue. It [the abuse] stayed with me throughout my life's journey and even this far down the track it doesn't feel like there's any real closure. The abuse was varied. The worst of it was mental abuse. Obviously there was a component of sexual abuse. But basically it was mind games and controlling behaviour. (...) When it came to the abuse, the abuse was sexual, mental and physical. He was just not a very nice human being.[25]

The police took several weeks to investigate the 20-year-old matters;[26] Ball and another priest, Vickery House, were arrested in November 2012.[27][28][29] Ball was released the same day on medical advice, to be interviewed by police at a later date for questioning about offences "allegedly committed against eight boys and young men, all of whom were at [the] time in their late teens or early twenties, except one who was 12."[30]

Three days later, police announced that a further seven people had come forward with allegations of abuse by Ball.[31]

On 27 March 2014 Jaswant Narwal, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service South East, announced that based on review of evidence gathered by Sussex Police, they would seek to prosecute Ball on three charges relating to the time when he served as a bishop:[32][33]

Misconduct in public office between 1977 and 1992
Indecent assault on a boy, aged 12 or 13, in 1978
Indecent assault on a man, aged 19 or 20, between 1980 and 1982
On 8 September 2015 Ball pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of misconduct in a public office.[34] His trial began on 5 October 2015.[35] Two charges of indecently assaulting two boys in their early teens, perhaps the most serious alleged offences, were allowed to lie on file in a deal with CPS lawyers.[15] Keith Porteous Wood sees this as yet another example of the law enforcement system repeatedly treating Ball leniently.[14]

I urge the prosecuting authorities to reconsider their decision and if appropriate charge him for all credible allegations using the same offences as they would for any ordinary member of the public. This includes "indecent assaults on two other teenage boys, one in Eastbourne in the late 1970s and one in Litlington in the early 1980s. (Keith Porteous Wood) [36]

Bobbie Cheema QC said for the prosecution:

[Ball] was highly regarded as a godly man who had a special affinity with young people. The truth was that he used those 15 years in the position of bishop to identify, groom and exploit sensitive and vulnerable young men who came within his orbit. For him, religion was a cloak behind which he hid in order to satisfy his sexual interest in those who trusted him.[10]

At the Old Bailey on 7 October, Mr Justice Wilkie sentenced Ball to 32 months in prison.[37][10][6][10][38][39] He was eligible for parole after 18 months,[40] and served under a month for each victim.[41] The late Neil Todd's partner, Marc Hawley, said:

two years and eight months – for 15 years of sexual exploitation, abuse and grooming of young men who came into his orbit while he was the bishop of Lewes. I am more than glad that Peter Ball now resides at Her Majesty’s pleasure even though the sentence is far too lenient for the gravity of his activities.[13]

Many victims have claimed severe lasting harm[42] and Civil Court action against the Diocese of Chichester was lodged in October 2015. A Church of England priest said that when he was a teenager Ball had tried to make him have sex considered an "act of commitment" as a condition of being ordained.[43] There are allegations of serious corruption and cover-ups within the Church of England regarding Ball's abuse.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, ordered an independent review of the way the Church of England dealt with Ball's case,[44] but the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group and Keith Porteous Wood were unsure if the investigation would be sufficiently far-reaching. Wood accused a former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, of encouraging the cover-up and Carey has been quoted stating:

I was worried that if any other allegations of past indecency were made it [criminal action against Ball] would reignite. I wanted some reassurance that this would not be the case. … I was so troubled, that evening after dinner I went to my study. … I was supplied with a number of a man at the CPS I believed to be a director. I do not recall his name. … I rang him and asked what might happen if allegations from the past were made. … I was told quite categorically that the other allegations would not be taken further as far as we are concerned.[45]

Wood commended Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, for initiating the inquiry.[36] The Guardian's crime correspondent, Sandra Laville, also wrote that Carey knew of the cover-up.[6] Ruth Gledhill, writing in Christian Today, said that Carey intervened personally over the matter.[46] Carey insists he only contacted the CPS after Ball had been cautioned.[12] Abuse survivor Graham Sawyer, who alleges decades of pressure from the Church of England to silence him, believes that the church should no longer police itself.[47] The Church of England said in 2015 that the operation leading to Ball's arrest was a direct result of concerns raised by the Church to the police in 2012:

[The investigation] began as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files. The approach to the police was a proactive step on the part of the national Church leading to a self-initiated referral via CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) to Sussex Police in 2012. This led to active co-working between Lambeth Palace, the Diocese of Chichester and Sussex Police on a complex enquiry with full information sharing. We pay tribute to those detectives whose work on this case over the past three years has led to this conviction and sentencing.[48]

The review ordered by Welby produced its report, An Abuse of Faith, on 22 June 2017, which found that senior figures in the Church of England had colluded over twenty years with Ball—Welby said it made harrowing reading, adding "The church colluded and concealed rather than seeking to help those who were brave enough to come forward. This is inexcusable and shocking behaviour".[49]

A former vicar, Vickery House, was convicted in October 2015 and was sentenced to serve 6½ years in prison for sex assaults against men and a boy. House worked in the same diocese as Ball. House and Ball collaborated running a "Give a Year For Christ" scheme and both men abused three of the same victims during the scheme. If Ball had not pleaded guilty both men would have been tried together.[50] There was a long delay between the first complaints to the police over House and a proper police investigation.[51]

Ball was released from prison on licence in February 2017, after having served half of his sentence.[52][49]

After the trial
On 16 December 2015, the BBC published a report on the Ball affair. Cliff James had told the BBC that he informed a cleric in 1992 about abuse he had suffered. James alleges three bishops later telephoned his contact urging her to discourage him and another stated victim from going to the police or to the media. Thirteen different bishops allegedly took no action after a person in the church raised concerns. Ball's housekeeper and gardener, Christine and Michael Moss, said that bishops ignored their concerns over Ball. Moss said, "What upsets me so much is the Church did nothing." BBC reporter Colin Campbell stated that during 20 years three different police forces tried to access information the Church of England held about Ball but investigations started only in 2012. Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, said he would call the above a cover up and, "in terms of our practice today, that would immediately be the trigger for disciplinary action."[53]

On 23 February 2016, the BBC published information about documents they discovered suggesting Ball's defence team tried during the 1990s to negotiate with the police and avoid a public trial. Ball promised to resign as bishop, leave Britain and retire to a French convent.[54] Ball, however, stayed active as a priest until 2010 and remained in the United Kingdom.

It looks like there was a deeply sinister, coordinated, but probably in the end rather inept attempt at a cover-up.(Graham Sawyer, abuse survivor and vicar who waived his right to anonymity)[55]

The Church of England confirmed that Ball stood in for his twin brother, Bishop Michael Ball, at services and official duties on several occasions in the 1990s.[56] Michael Ball has said that those attending such occasions had been informed of the substitution, but the report An Abuse of Faith (sections 4.3.5-4.3.8) found cases where those attending were not informed, adding "we have received no evidence to corroborate the assertion that anyone was ever advised that Peter Ball was attending an event in the place of his brother".[49]

Reviews
In early 2016, it was announced that Dame Moira Gibb would chair a review into how the allegations against Ball were handled and why there was so little credence given to his victims, also whether the Church of England complied with its statutory duties.[57] The review had been criticised because, among other reasons, it would take place behind closed doors and lack what was considered necessary transparency, and because it did not "specifically include the questionable role played by the Church in bringing undue influence to bear on the administration of justice concerning Ball's abuse".[58]

I believe that the Church of England review should add bullying and silencing of victims and whistleblowers to the terms of reference and I shall be making this clear to Dame Moira before agreeing to take part. (Graham Sawyer, a vicar and abuse survivor speaking in Feb 2016)[59]

Sawyer stated in April 2016 that he was refusing to co-operate with the review because alleged bullying by high-ranking current church office holders would not be investigated.[60] Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said:

The institutional bullying and silencing almost succeeded in preventing Bishop Ball ever being brought to justice. The Church's obdurate refusal at the highest levels to specify them [bullying and silencing] in the Terms of Reference should ring alarm bells about the seriousness of its intentions to look at them with the requisite priority. Maintaining the refusal means the principal witness Graham Sawyer, and perhaps others, will not give evidence and this further undermines the validity of the Review. At least he will be able to give his evidence to the Independent (Goddard) Inquiry set up by the Government.[61]

Gibb published her report in June 2017.[62]

The remit of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse includes investigation of the Church of England, and specifically of the Ball case and other cases in the Diocese of Chichester.[54]

2017 review
An independent review in 2017 found that the church's hierarchy, notably former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, colluded in concealing abuse by Ball over a 20-year period. Carey had seven letters from individuals and relatives after Ball was cautioned by police in 1992 but passed only one (of least concern) on to the police. Carey did not put Ball on the "Lambeth List" of clergy whose suitability for the ministry is questioned. Concealing abuse was given higher priority than helping victims. The review stated that "The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself." It also said that "progress [towards dealing satisfactorily with claims of abuse in the Church of England] has been slow and continuing, faster improvement is still required". Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that the church "colluded and concealed" instead of trying to help "those brave enough to come forward", and asked Carey to step down from his role assisting the Bishop of Oxford. Rowan Williams was also criticised.[citation needed]

Abuse survivor Graham Sawyer said the church treated him and others with contempt. He said, "The church continues to use highly aggressive legal firms to bully, frighten and discredit victims ... In my own case, I continue to endure cruel and sadistic treatment by the very highest levels of the church." Sawyer wants the police to investigate Carey's part in the Ball case.[63][64][65]

Conversion to Roman Catholicism
It was reported in 2017, after his release from prison, that Ball and his twin brother were seeking to join the Roman Catholic Church, in order to "live and worship in anonymity and without constant fear".[66]

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
The IICSA was investigating the Peter Ball case in 2018, and asked Charles, Prince of Wales and his principal private secretary to give witness statements about Ball, for a hearing starting on 23 July 2018. Charles, who had been in correspondence with Ball, indicated his willingness to assist.[67]

William Chapman, a barrister representing some of the survivors, said, “The story of Peter Ball is the story of the establishment at work in modern times. It is the story of how the establishment minimised the nature of Peter Ball’s misdeeds … and silenced and harassed those who tried to complain.... [Ball had the] willing assistance of members of the establishment. It included the heir to the throne, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary, to name only the most prominent....The alacrity and the extent of the response by Peter Ball’s friends to one of their own in trouble was impressive. It makes a horrible contrast to the way Peter Ball’s victims were treated....These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball … But you will have to consider if it is credible, given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball, whether they were really as ignorant as they claimed they were about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities. Some claimed they did not know what a caution meant. Well, Prince Charles has many advisers; he only had to ask. So does the archbishop of Canterbury.” Chapman added that Ball's friends worked against the criminal process. “They went far beyond the normal obligations of friendship.”[68][69]

Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing other abuse survivors, said that Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, bears the greatest responsibility, and called on him to give a “transparent account of his actions”. He also said, "If a charlatan with an insatiable appetite for abuse wanted to secure a continuous supply of vulnerable young victims, there was no better way of achieving this than by founding a religious order not subject to any external supervision, and by making his victims participation in the abuse a religious duty obligated by their oath of absolute obedience. Not for the first time, theology and religious ritual provided the ideal mask for abuse, with the evil of what Peter Ball did being compounded by his nauseating claim that the abuse was spiritually uplifting. Most of all, however, Peter Ball found in his fellow bishops in the Church of England the perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades, to collude in the lie that the abuse of Neil Todd was an uncharacteristic aberration, to cast doubt on his guilt, to smear his victims, and to rehabilitate him."[68][69]

Fiona Scolding, senior counsel, described a scheme by Ball that enabled him to groom young men for sexual abuse. The men were incited to pray naked, and practise massage and spanking.[68][69]

Death
Peter Ball died on 21 June 2019 from injuries sustained in a fall. He was 87.[70][71]

In popular media
In January 2020 the BBC broadcast Exposed: The Church's Darkest Secret a two-part story of the individuals who brought Ball to justice and the cover-up that reached to the highest levels of the Church of England

Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh (/pjuː/ PEW; born 3 January 1996) is an English actress. She made her professional acting debut in the mystery film The Falling (2014) and gained recognition for her starring role as an unhappily married woman in the independent drama Lady Macbeth (2016). Her performance in the latter film won her the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. She received praise for her leading role in the miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018).

Pugh's breakthrough came in 2019, during which she received positive reviews for her portrayals of professional wrestler Paige in the sports film Fighting with My Family, an emotionally troubled woman in the horror film Midsommar, and Amy March in the period film Little Women. For the lattermost, she received Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Academy Award and BAFTA Award ceremonies.
Early life
Pugh was born on 3 January 1996 in Oxford.[1][2] Her father, Clinton Pugh, is a restaurateur in Oxford,[3] while her mother, Deborah, is a dancer and dance teacher. Pugh has three siblings including actor and musician Toby Sebastian, actress Arabella Gibbins.[4]

Pugh spent part of her childhood living in Andalusia in southern Spain.[5] Her love of accents and comedy was first displayed at age six at Cokethorpe School in Hardwick, Oxfordshire, when she played Mary in a Christmas nativity play with a Yorkshire accent. She later studied at Wychwood School (2007–2009) and at St. Edward's School, Oxford.[4][6][7][8]

Career
2014–2018: Career beginnings
While still in school, Pugh made her professional acting debut in the mystery drama The Falling (2014), in which she played a precocious teenager opposite Maisie Williams.[4][9] Tara Brady of The Irish Times called her "remarkable" and Mike McCahill of The Daily Telegraph said she conveyed her character's "teen-queen bearing with the vulnerability of one still unsure of her own body."[10][11] In the same year, Pugh was nominated for Best British Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival and for Best Young British/Irish performer by the London Film Critics' Circle.[12]

Pugh made her American television debut in the television film Studio City, co-starring Eric McCormack, in 2015.[4][13] The next year, she starred in the independent drama Lady Macbeth and had a recurring role as a webcam model in the first season of the ITV detective series Marcella.[14] In the former, based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov, she played a young girl unhappily married to a much older man. Reviewing the film for Variety, Guy Lodge called Pugh a "a major talent to watch" and praised her portrayal of her character's "complex, under-the-skin transformation".[15] For her performance, she won the BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film, among others.[16]

In 2018, Pugh appeared in the action film The Commuter and played Cordelia to Anthony Hopkins's Leir of Britain in Richard Eyre's television film King Lear.[17] Later that year, she portrayed Elizabeth de Burgh in the Netflix historical film Outlaw King (2018), which also stars Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce. Charles Bramesco of The Guardian found her "excellent despite her thankless role".[18] She next appeared in a six-part miniseries adaptation of John le Carré's spy novel The Little Drummer Girl, in which she played an actress in the 1970s who becomes embroiled in an espionage plot.[19][20] In a mixed review of the series, Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote, "Pugh is terrific throughout, once again asserting her star-on-the-rise status. She smartly mixes earthiness with sophistication, wisdom with naïveté."[21]

2019–present: Breakthrough
Pugh was listed on Forbes's annual 30 Under 30 list, which recognizes the 30 most influential people in Europe under the age of 30, in 2019.[22] She was also recognized as having a breakthrough in the same year, during which she starred in three major films.[23][24] She first starred as professional wrestler Paige in Fighting with My Family, a comedy-drama about Paige's relationship with her family, co-starring Lena Headey and Dwayne Johnson.[25] The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and received critical acclaim.[26][27] Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent noted how different the role was from Pugh's previous appearances, and wrote that she was "completely convincing as the wrestler" and that she showed "the same defiance, scruffy glamour and self-deprecating humour as the real life [...] Paige."[28] She next portrayed the lead role in Ari Aster's horror film Midsommar, which chronicles a troubled couple who encounter Swedish cultists. David Edelstein of Vulture called her performance "amazingly vivid" and wrote, "Her face is so wide and open that she seems to have nowhere to hide her emotions."[29]

In her final film of 2019, Pugh played Amy March, a headstrong artist, in Greta Gerwig's film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women.[30] The ensemble cast rehearsed the script before filming began, but Pugh could not participate as she was filming Midsommar at the time. She stated that she believed this helped create distance between her and the actresses portraying her sisters, which proved conducive for her character's personality.[31] Highlighting Pugh's performance, David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she "continues to prove herself a distinctive talent, managing all the tricky contradictions of the role with disarming grace, humor and a willful streak that grows almost imperceptibly into wisdom."[32] Pugh's portrayal of March garnered her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[33][34]

Pugh will next star alongside Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow, about the titular superhero.[35][36]

Personal life
Since April 2019, Pugh has been in a relationship with American actor Zach Braff.[37] As of January 2020, she resides in London

Richard Jewell

Richard Allensworth Jewell (born Richard White;[1] December 17, 1962 – August 29, 2007) was an American security guard and police officer famous for his role in the events surrounding the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. While working as a security guard for AT&T, in connection with the Olympics, he discovered a backpack containing three pipe bombs on the park grounds.[1] Jewell alerted police and helped evacuate the area before the bomb exploded, saving many people from injury or death. Initially hailed by the media as a hero, Jewell was later considered a suspect, before ultimately being cleared.

Despite never being charged, he underwent a "trial by media", which took a toll on his personal and professional life. Jewell was eventually exonerated, and Eric Rudolph was later found to have been the bomber.[2][3] In 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue publicly thanked Jewell on behalf of the State of Georgia for saving the lives of people at the Olympics.[4] Jewell died on August 29, 2007, at age 44 of heart failure from complications of diabetes.
Personal life
Jewell was born Richard White in Danville, Virginia, the son of Bobi, an insurance claims coordinator, and Robert Earl White, who worked for Chevrolet.[1] Richard's birth-parents divorced when he was four. When his mother remarried to John Jewell, an insurance executive, his stepfather adopted him.[1]

Bombing
Main article: Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Centennial Olympic Park was designed as the "town square" of the Olympics, and thousands of spectators had gathered for a late concert and merrymaking. Sometime after midnight, July 27, 1996, Eric Robert Rudolph, a terrorist who would later bomb a lesbian nightclub and two abortion clinics, planted a green backpack containing a fragmentation-laden pipe bomb underneath a bench. Jewell was working as a security guard for the event. He discovered the bag and alerted Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers. This discovery was nine minutes before Rudolph called 9-1-1 to deliver a warning. During a Jack Mack and the Heart Attack performance, Jewell and other security guards began clearing the immediate area so that a bomb squad could investigate the suspicious package. The bomb exploded 13 minutes later, killing Alice Hawthorne and injuring over one hundred others. A cameraman also died of a heart attack while running to cover the incident.

Investigation and the media
Early news reports lauded Jewell as a hero for helping to evacuate the area after he spotted the suspicious package. Three days later, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that the FBI was treating him as a possible suspect, based largely on a "lone bomber" criminal profile. For the next several weeks, the news media focused aggressively on him as the presumed culprit, labeling him with the ambiguous term "person of interest", sifting through his life to match a leaked "lone bomber" profile that the FBI had used. The media, to varying degrees, portrayed Jewell as a failed law enforcement officer who may have planted the bomb so he could "find" it and be a hero.[5]

A Justice Department investigation of the FBI's conduct found the FBI had tried to manipulate Jewell into waiving his constitutional rights by telling him he was taking part in a training film about bomb detection, although the report concluded "no intentional violation of Mr. Jewell's civil rights and no criminal misconduct" had taken place.[6][7][8]

Jewell was never officially charged, but the FBI thoroughly and publicly searched his home twice, questioned his associates, investigated his background, and maintained 24-hour surveillance of him. The pressure began to ease only after Jewell's attorneys hired an ex-FBI agent to administer a polygraph, which Jewell passed.[5]

On October 26, 1996, the investigating US Attorney, Kent Alexander, in an extremely unusual act, sent Jewell a letter formally clearing him, stating "based on the evidence developed to date ... Richard Jewell is not considered a target of the federal criminal investigation into the bombing on July 27, 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta".[9]

Libel cases
After his exoneration, Jewell filed lawsuits against the media outlets which he said had libeled him, primarily NBC News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and insisted on a formal apology from them.

In 2006, Jewell said the lawsuits were not about money, and that the vast majority of the settlements went to lawyers or taxes. He said the lawsuits were about clearing his name.[5]

Richard Jewell v. Piedmont College
Jewell filed suit against his former employer Piedmont College, Piedmont College President Raymond Cleere and college spokesman Scott Rawles.[10] Jewell's attorneys contended that Cleere called the FBI and spoke to the Atlanta newspapers, providing them with false information on Jewell and his employment there as a security guard. Jewell's lawsuit accused Cleere of describing Jewell as a "badge-wearing zealot" who "would write epic police reports for minor infractions".[11]

Piedmont College settled for an undisclosed amount.[12]

Richard Jewell v. NBC
Jewell sued NBC News for this statement, made by Tom Brokaw, "The speculation is that the FBI is close to making the case. They probably have enough to arrest him right now, probably enough to prosecute him, but you always want to have enough to convict him as well. There are still some holes in this case."[13] Even though NBC stood by its story, the network agreed to pay Jewell $500,000.[10]

Richard Jewell v. New York Post
On July 23, 1997, Jewell sued the New York Post for $15 million in damages, contending that the paper portrayed him in articles, photographs and an editorial cartoon as an "aberrant" person with a "bizarre employment history" who was probably guilty of the bombing.[14] He eventually settled with the newspaper for an undisclosed amount.[15]

Richard Jewell v. Cox Enterprises (d.b.a. Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Jewell also sued the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper because, according to Jewell, the paper's headlines read, "FBI suspects 'hero' guard may have planted bomb", "pretty much started the whirlwind".[16] In one article, the Atlanta Journal compared Richard Jewell's case to that of serial killer Wayne Williams.[13][17]

The newspaper was the only defendant that did not settle with Jewell. The lawsuit remained pending for several years, after having been considered at one time by the Supreme Court of Georgia, and had become an important part of case law regarding whether journalists could be forced to reveal their sources. Jewell's estate continued to press the case even after Jewell's 2007 death, but in July 2011 the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled for the defendant. The Court concluded that "because the articles in their entirety were substantially true at the time they were published—even though the investigators' suspicions were ultimately deemed unfounded—they cannot form the basis of a defamation action."[18]

CNN
Although CNN settled with Jewell for an undisclosed monetary amount, CNN maintained that its coverage had been "fair and accurate".[19]

Aftermath
In July 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, prompted by a reporter's question at her weekly news conference, expressed regret over the FBI's leak to the news media that led to the widespread presumption of his guilt, and apologized outright, saying, "I'm very sorry it happened. I think we owe him an apology. I regret the leak."[20]

The same year, Jewell made public appearances. He appeared in Michael Moore's 1997 film, The Big One. He had a cameo in the September 27, 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live, in which he jokingly fended off suggestions that he was responsible for the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.[21]

In 2001, Jewell was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Carmel, Indiana's Independence Day Parade. Jewell was chosen in keeping with the parade's theme of "Unsung Heroes".[22]

On April 13, 2005, Jewell was exonerated completely when Eric Rudolph, as part of a plea deal, pled guilty to carrying out the bombing attack at the Centennial Olympic Park, as well as three other attacks across southern parts of the US. Just over a year later, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue honored Jewell for his rescue efforts during the attack.[23][24]

Jewell worked in various law enforcement jobs, including as a police officer in Pendergrass, Georgia. He worked as a deputy sheriff in Meriwether County, Georgia until his death. He also gave speeches at colleges.[5]

On each anniversary of the bombing until his illness and eventual death, he would privately place a rose at the Centennial Olympic Park scene where spectator Alice Hawthorne died.[25]

Death and legacy
Jewell died on August 29, 2007, at the age of 44. He was suffering from serious medical problems that were related to diabetes.[4]

Richard Jewell, a biographical drama film, was released in the United States on December 13, 2019.[26] The film was directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. It was written by Billy Ray, based on the 1997 article "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell," by Marie Brenner, and the book The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle (2019) by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen.[27][28][29][30][31] Jewell is played by Paul Walter Hauser.

مراد هوفمان

مراد ويلفريد هوفمان (بالألمانية: Murad Wilfried Hofmann) (6 يوليو 1931 في أشافنبورغ - 13 يناير 2020 في بون)، كان محامياً ودبلوماسياً وكاتباً ألمانياً. اعتنق هوفمان الإسلام عام 1980. قام بتأليف العديد من الكتب عن الإسلام، منها رحلة إلى مكة المكرمة والإسلام: البديل. تركزت العديد من كتبه ومقالاته على وضع الإسلام في الغرب، وبعد 11 سبتمبر على وجه الخصوص، في الولايات المتحدة. كما أنه أحد الموقعين على "مبادرة كلمة سواء"، وهي رسالة مفتوحة لعلماء المسلمين للقادة المسيحيين، تدعو إلى السلام والتفاهم.
حياته
ولد سنة 1931 في أشافنبورغ، وهي بلدة كبيرة في شمال غرب بافاريا تابعة إدارياً لمنطقة فرنكونيا السفلى بألمانيا)، دبلوماسي ومؤلف ألماني مسلم بارز. كان منتميا لشبيبة هتلر عندما كان في سن التاسعة من العمر ولكن إلى جانب ذلك كان منتميا إلى عصبة محظورة مناهضة للنازية في ذات الوقت. بدأ بدراسة القانون بعد حصوله على شهادة البكالوريا في ميونخ و تخرج من هارفارد وحصل بعدها على الدكتوراه في القانون. كان مولعا برقص الباليه حتى أنه أعطى دروسا فيه وتعلم العزف على طبول الجاز. وأسس رابطة محبي الباليه في ميونخ. وعمل لسنوات طويلة كناقد لفن الباليه في مجلات متخصصة. عمل منذ الخمسينات في سفارة ألمانيا الإتحادية في الجزائر وهذا ما جعله يشاهد عن قرب الثورة الجزائرية التي يبدو أنها أثارت اهتمامه الشديد ودفعته للتأمل.

صاحب العديد من الكتب التي تتناول مستقبل الإسلام في إطار الحضارة الغربية وأوروبا. هوفمان كاثوليكي المولد اسلم عام 1980.

عمل كخبير في مجال الدّفاع النّووي في وزارة الخارجية الألمانية وكان إسلامه موضع جدل بسبب منصبه الرّفيع في الحكومة الألمانية. عمل كمدير لقسم المعلومات في حلف الناتو في بروكسل من عام 1983 حتى 1987 ثم سفيرا لألمانيا في الجزائر من 1987 حتى 1990 ثم سفيرا في المغرب من 1990 حتى 1994.

مؤلفاته
كتاب: الإسلام كبديل (الذي أحدث ضجة كبيرة في ألمانيا).
كتاب: يوميات ألماني مسلم.
كتاب: الإسلام في الألفية الثالثة: ديانة في صعود.
كتاب: رحلة إلى مكة.
كتاب: الإسلام عام ألفين
كتاب: الطريق إلى مكة)
إسلامه
يذكر د. هوفمان أنّ من أسباب تحوله إلى الإسلام : ما شاهده في حرب الاستقلال الجزائرية، وولعه بالفن الإسلامي إضافة إلى التناقضات الكثيرة التي تواجهه في العقيدة المسيحية.

وفاته
توفي يوم الاثنين 13 يناير 2020 في مدينة بون عن عمر ناهز 89 عاما، بعد صراع طويل مع المرض.

بثينة الرئيسي

بثينة الرئيسي (9 يونيو 1983  -)، ممثلة عُمانية تعيش في الكويت.
عن حياتها
ولدت في العاصمة مسقط شرقي سلطنة عمان، تزوجت منذ مدة طويلة واعلنت ذلك في برنامج الليلة بتاريخ 28 اغسطس 2017 على قناة الكويت ، بداية حياتها الإعلامية كانت كمذيعة في تلفزيون سلطنة عمان، وانتقلت بعد ذلك إلى الكويت للدراسة في «المعهد العالي للفنون المسرحية»، وبدأت من هنالك التمثيل وكانت البداية في مسلسل حمل اسم واو موتيل كان يعرض أسبوعيًا على قناة الراي، وتوالت بعد ذلك أعمالها الفنية في الكويت ودول الخليج. كما أنها قامت بتقديم برنامج «إهداءت» على قناة سكوب، وبعدها قدمت برنامج بعنوان «يا هلا» على قناة فنون، كما قدمت برنامج بعنوان «يا ليلة دانة» على تلفزيون الكويت الذي تعمل به