BREAKING Bob Cole, veteran CBC broadcaster and former voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' dead at 90
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
Indian-born novelist Salman Rushdie, author of the both praised and criticized “The Satanic Verses,” remains in hospital after being stabbed at an appearance at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on Friday.
His attacker, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, caused severe damage to Rushdie's liver and his agent said he is likely to lose an eye over suffering nerve damage.
The 75-year-old has faced decades of death threats, including a government-issued bounty in Iran of US$3 million calling for his execution over his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses.”
Salman Rushdie is an award-winning author of thirteen novels, often depicting stories in the style of magic realism. Rushdie moved to England at the age of 14 and has since received multiple global literary awards, including Britain’s Booker Prize award in 1981 for his novel “Midnight’s Children.” Additionally, in 2007, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his literary contributions.
In 1988, his novel “The Satanic Verses” came under scrutiny from the Muslim community as many considered it to be blasphemous for the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. According to the book's synopsis, the first act of the story follows “two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil” after a terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet.
Shortly after being published, the book was burned and banned in several Muslim countries including India, Pakistan and Iran; following major protests across the world leaving 45 people dead including 12 in the author's hometown of Mumbai.
In 1989, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, a religious ruling calling for the execution of Rushdie and the publishers of the book; which included a bounty of US$3 million. Amid the fatwa, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed and killed in 1991 and an Italian translator was also stabbed but survived. William Nygaard, the publisher of the book, was also shot three times in 1993 but he also managed to survive the assassination attempt.
While Iran’s Khomeini died the same year the fatwa was issued, the current leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not rescinded it, leaving the ruling in effect. Rushdie was given protection by the British government, which included round-the-clock security as he went into hiding for nearly a decade while living under the pseudonym Joseph Anton.
In a visit to Columbia University in 1991, Rushdie spoke about freedom of speech and explained how he was sorry for offending people but does not regret writing the novel.
“I have never disowned ‘The Satanic Verses,’ nor regretted writing it. I said I was sorry to have offended people, because I had not set out to do so, and so I am,” Rushdie said in an excerpt of his speech published by the New York Times.
In 1998 Iranian President Mohammad Khatami’s foreign minister said the government does not support the bounty, allowing Rushdie to slowly emerge from hiding even though he continued to face threats to his life.
In his 2012 memoir titled "Joseph Anton” Rushdie wrote about living through the fatwa and described defeating terrorism by “not being afraid.”
With files from The Associated Press.
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.