Fans gather to praise slain rapper Takeoff at memorial in Atlanta
ATLANTA — Fans celebrated the musical legacy of slain rapper Takeoff on Friday at a memorial service in Atlanta, near where the artist grew up, that drew Justin Bieber, Drake and other big names in the music industry.
Takeoff, part of the Grammy Award-nominated trio Migos with uncle Quavo and cousin Offset, was shot and killed this month outside a Houston bowling alley. A woman and another man were also wounded in the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Jenifer Loving, 22, stood in line with her infant son, Mateo, for more than an hour before the doors at State Farm Arena opened to fans who were able to get a free ticket. She said Takeoff ’s death was heartbreaking in part because he was only 28 years old.
Migos’ music represented the creativity and culture of the Black community, she said, and she worried the group would be too saddened to make new music — at least for a while.
Dozens of fans lined up early at the arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, despite rainy weather. A massive sign outside was lit up with the rapper’s image.
Free tickets to the memorial service were available to Georgia residents, but the arena said well before Friday that the event had reached capacity and fans without tickets should not come downtown.
Organizers did not release a program for the event or allow media inside. Several fans leaving the event confirmed Bieber and Drake’s presence and said Offset and Quavo also spoke.
Atlanta resident Jeffrey Wilson said the event was moving.
“His mother was up there, and I could see the tears in her,” Wilson said. “I felt the kinship myself, like I knew him personally.”
Migos broke out nearly a decade ago with the 2013 hit “Versace,” which hit even greater heights in popularity through a Drake remix. The trio were largely raised by Takeoff ’s mother in an Atlanta suburb.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the day after the Nov. 1 shooting that Takeoff, born Kirsnick Khari Ball, was “well respected,” and there was “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”
Migos’ record label, Quality Control, mourned Takeoff ’s death in a statement posted on Instagram that attributed it to “senseless violence and a stray bullet.” Police have said nothing about the gunshot being stray.
Israeli politics: Israel’s president on Friday asked former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new government, presenting the longtime leader currently standing trial on corruption charges with the chance to end years of political instability in Israel with his partners on the far right.
President Isaac Herzog will formally present Netanyahu with the task Sunday and give him a month to cobble together a governing coalition with a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
Netanyahu had governed Israel for 12 successive years before being ousted in 2021. His comeback in last week’s election, the nation’s fifth in four years, seemed to ensure Israel would have a cohesive government with a comfortable majority for the first time since 2019.
But it will be the most right-wing and religious government in Israel’s history, after Netanyahu
forged an alliance with an ultranationalist party that has grabbed headlines for its anti-Arab sentiment and threats to overhaul the judicial system.
Belgium stabbing suspect: Belgian authorities said Friday that the lone assailant who killed one police officer and wounded another in a stabbing attack had been on a counterterrorism list of potential extremists.
The Belgian suspect, who had served six years in prison for common-law crimes, had gone to a police station early Thursday to express hatred for them, but couldn’t be arrested before he launched his stabbing attack on two police officers that evening.
The suspect was identified as Yassine M., born in Brussels in 1990. He was behind bars between 2013 and 2019.
On Friday, he faced charges of “murder and attempted murder within a terrorist context,” federal prosecution magistrate Eric
Van der Sypt said.
China quarantine rules: Travelers arriving in China will spend less time in quarantine under changes to sweeping anti-virus controls announced Friday to reduce disruptions to the economy and society.
Incoming passengers will be quarantined for five days — rather than the previous seven — at a designated location, followed by three days of isolation at their place of residence, according to a notice from the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
It wasn’t immediately clear when or where the rules would take effect and whether they would apply to foreigners and Chinese citizens alike.
The announcement came as an upsurge in COVID19 cases prompted Beijing to close parks and impose other restrictions. The country reported 10,729 new cases, and over 5 million people were confined to their homes in Guangzhou and Chongqing.
Migrant rescue ship: A maritime rescue ship docked Friday in the southern French port of Toulon carrying 230 migrants whose fates have sparked a diplomatic row between France and Italy.
The French welcome for the Ocean Viking, though reluctant, unleashed fury from far-right rivals of the French government. Migrant advocates expressed relief, but lamented that it took weeks to find a harbor for the ship as Italy refused to let it dock, and vowed Friday to send their vessels back out to the Mediterranean to save others in distress.
The passengers included people from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other nations, including 44 unaccompanied minors and children as young as 3.
The ship became the cause of a rift between France and Italy after Rome eventually granted three other rescue ships permission to dock in Italy but refused the Ocean Viking.
French Interior Minister
Gerald Darmanin said the passengers would ultimately be divided among France and 11 other European Union countries.
The U.N.’s top human rights body is poised to hold a special session on Iran in the wake of the government’s deadly crackdowns on protesters, threats against journalists and other alleged human rights violations.
The Human Rights Council will hold the session “if possible on Nov. 24,” following a diplomatic request by Germany and Iceland.
At least one-third of the council’s 47 member states must support such a request, and the call for a session suggests enough backing has been lined up.
The protests, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by Iran’s morality police, have grown into one of the largest challenges to the nation’s theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.