Author: BBC News

Liam Payne, the former One Direction star, has died aged 31 in Argentina after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, police say.

In a statement, police said they discovered Payne’s body after an emergency crew responded to an emergency call in the upscale neighbourhood of Palermo on Wednesday.

Payne had risen to global fame as part of the much-loved boyband created on the X Factor TV show in 2010, along with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik.

Earlier this month, Payne had attended the Argentina concert of his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan.

According to police in Buenos Aires, officers at the scene were initially responding to reports “of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol”.

When they arrived at the hotel, officials were told a loud sound had been heard in an interior courtyard. Soon after, they discovered the body there. A police investigation has been launched.

Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti told local media that Payne had suffered “serious injuries” and that an autopsy will be carried out.

Mr Crescenti declined to answer questions about the circumstances of Payne’s fall from the balcony.

The UK Foreign Office confirmed it was in touch with authorities in Argentina “regarding reports of the death of a British man”. No further details were given.

Payne appeared to post on Snapchat just hours before the incident, saying: “It’s a lovely day here in Argentina.”

Once news of his death broke, fans began gathering outside the Buenos Aires hotel where the death took place, prompting police to cordon off the entrance. Some lit candles in his memory.

“I was in my living room and my sister told me Liam died,” a young fan named Violeta Antier told Reuters news agency. “We couldn’t believe it. We came here directly to confirm it was true.”

Ms Antier said she saw Payne at the Niall Horan concert just two weeks ago.

Another woman cried as she explained why she had come to the hotel, telling Reuters in Spanish: “This is the only way I have to say goodbye to him”.

Tributes have also been pouring in online.

Max George, from boyband The Wanted, said he met Payne while he was competing on The X Factor with One Direction, and described his death as “absolutely devastating”.

“Over the last few years I had the pleasure of getting to know him personally and spent some treasured time with him,” he said on Instagram.

George said Payne had been “wonderful” in terms of support when his bandmate Tom Parker fell ill with a brain tumour.

When Parker died in 2022 at the age of 33, Payne attended the funeral.

Singer Olly Murs, who was on The X Factor a year before One Direction, said he was “lost for words”.

“Liam shared the same passions as me, the same dreams so to see his life now end so young hits hard, I’m truly gutted and devastated for his family and of course his son Bear losing a dad,” he wrote on Instagram.

On Instagram, presenter Dermot O’Leary said he remembered Payne fondly.

“I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on the X factor and blowing us away singing Sinatra,” he wrote alongside a picture of the pair.

“He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful and was always humble.”

“Sending love and condolences to his family [and] loved ones,” socialite Paris Hilton wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “RIP my friend.”

Payne, who was born in Wolverhampton in the UK, first tried for stardom when he auditioned for ITV talent show The X Factor in 2008 – but judge Simon Cowell told him to “come back in two years”.

He did, impressing the judges more in 2010, and was put together with four other solo hopefuls at the boot camp stage and One Direction were born.

The group had four UK number one albums and four number one singles as well as topping charts around the world, before announcing they were going on a hiatus in 2015.

In 2017, Payne’s debut solo single Strip That Down, which peaked at number three on the Official UK Chart, and his collaboration with Rita Ora on the song For You – from the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack – also reached the top 10.

He began a relationship with Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy in 2016 and they had a son, Bear, the following year. The couple split in 2018.

Earlier this week Maya Henry, another former partner, said to media through her lawyers that she had issued a cease and desist letter against the singer.

She had posted on social media accusing him of repeatedly contacting her. Payne did not respond to the accusations.

NB: The following story contains explicit details that readers may find disturbing

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of raping a woman as “payback” for suggesting he was involved in the murder of Tupac Shakur.

In a lawsuit filed in California, Ashley Parham also claims the musician threatened to slash her face with a knife in retaliation for her comments.

Mr Combs has yet to respond to the allegations, but has consistently denied all claims of sexual assault.

He has also previously denied any involvement in the drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996.

The murder has never been solved, although former gang member Duane “Keffe D” Davis was charged with murder last year.

Mr Davis, whose trial will begin in March 2025, previously claimed that Mr Combs offered him $1m (KSh 129.4M) for a hit on Shakur.

In legal papers filed in California on Tuesday, Ms Parham says she landed on Mr Combs’ radar after meeting one of his friends at a bar in 2018.

The friend was “attempting to impress” people by making a video call to Mr Combs, but Ms Parham refused to take part because she believed the rapper “had something to do with the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur”.

In the lawsuit, she claims Mr Combs overheard her comment and said she would “pay” for it.

About a month later, the friend invited her to his home asking for help with his cancer drugs, and Mr Combs unexpectedly turned up, she claims.

Ms Parham alleges that the rapper then approached her “with a knife and held it to the right side of [her] face and threatened to give her a ‘Glasgow smile’ in retaliation for her previous statements”.

Mr Combs then ripped off her clothes and “violently” raped her with a television remote control, the documents say.

During the ordeal, Mr Combs allegedly told her that her life was in his hands and that, if he so desired, she would never be seen again.

Ms Parham alleges that she was then raped by multiple people, “until eventually she had no control over her body nor could she move her body”.

Ms Parham says she eventually tried to escape but was confronted by Mr Combs, who offered her money to say the rape was consensual, she claims.

She ran to neighbours for help, the lawsuit says, as gunshots were fired in her direction. They had already called the police, having heard the disturbance next door.

Ms Parham says she told the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department she had been gang raped by Mr Combs and his associates, but no further action was taken.

She went to hospital three weeks later and staff called local police.

However, Ms Parham claims neither of her police reports led to an investigation.

She is suing Mr Combs and six other people for sexual assault and battery, abuse, false imprisonment and kidnapping, and is demanding a trial by jury.

The BBC has contacted his lawyers for comment and is similarly seeking a response from his co-defendants.

Ms Parham’s case is the latest in more than a dozen claims of rape, sexual assault and physical abuse that have been filed against Combs in the past year.

Six new cases were lodged in New York on Monday alone, including allegations that he molested a 16-year-old boy at a party in his mansion.

Responding to those cases, lawyers for the star said that Mr Combs “has never sexually assaulted anyone – adult or minor, man or woman”.

They have also described previous lawsuits as a “money grab” and “clear attempts to garner publicity”.

Mr Combs is currently being held at a detention centre in New York, as he awaits trial on federal criminal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

On Tuesday, his lawyers filed a motion requesting the identities of his accusers, in order to prepare for the trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin on 5 May 2025.

They added that the number of anonymous accusations against Mr Combs have been “irreparably damaging” to his “character and reputation”.

“These swirling allegations have created a hysterical media circus that, if left unchecked, will irreparably deprive Mr Combs of a fair trial, if they haven’t already,” the motion concluded.

The music mogul’s lawyers have also argued for his release on bail, citing the “horrific” conditions he faces in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

However, prosecutors have countered that he poses a risk of witness intimidation.

The musician, who was one of the most influential producers in the 1990s hip-hop scene, is known for solo hits like I’ll Be Missing You and his work with Notorious B.I.G. on tracks like Juicy and Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.

He took the unusual step of posting to Instagram from jail on Tuesday, wishing his two-year-old daughter a happy birthday.

Women for Change, an organisation that advocates for the rights of women and children in South Africa, has started a petition to stop the US artist from performing.

It currently has over 20,000 signatures.

When the tickets for the Chris Brown concert first became available, tickets to the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg with over 94,000 seats, sold out in less than two hours.

Due to demand, a second date was added.

Speaking to the BBC, Sabina Walter, Executive Director for Women for Change said: “When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed.

“The petition was started to send a strong message that we will not tolerate the celebration of individuals with a history of violence against women,” said Ms Walter, especially in a country like South Africa.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of femicide and gender-based violence in the world.

A rape is reported in the country roughly every 12 minutes and it is assumed that many more go unrecorded.

“When someone like Chris Brown is given a platform in a country where GBV is at crisis levels, it sends a damaging message – that fame and power outweigh accountability,” said Ms Walters.

The most well-known instance in Chris Brown’s history of abuse is the domestic dispute with singer Rihanna in 2009.

Chris Brown, who was 19 at the time, pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to five years probation, community service and domestic violence counselling.

Although Rihanna forgave him and the pair briefly dated again after the incident, Chris Brown has also been accused of violence by other women – and men.

Women for Change says it wants to know how the Department of Home Affairs could grant “a convicted abuser” a visa.

For Ms Walter, the decision is “concerning and indicative of a systemic failure”.

According to South African law, having a previous conviction can result in a visa being denied.

But there can be an exception for “good cause” and those are cleared by the Director General of the Department of Home Affairs.

Chris Brown has previously been banned from entering other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, although he has subsequently gone on to play in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

But his South African fans are undeterred.

Former University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng shared on X that she would be attending the Chris Brown concert.

“I am totally against GBV and condemn it. I believe that those who perpetrate GBV should face the full might of the law without exceptions or leniency.

“But let me be clear, just in case the message didn’t sit well: I am going to attend Brown’s concert if he comes. These two things are not mutually exclusive.

“To suggest that enjoying a concert aligns you with every past action of the artist is, at best, simplistic and, at worst, intellectually dishonest,” she said.

Prof Phakeng explained that “music is bigger than the individual”.

She added that boycotting Chris Brown’s concert wouldn’t end GBV in South Africa.

“Attending the concert does not magically erase our moral stance on GBV.”

Although this is not Chris Brown’s first concert in South Africa, there is huge excitement among his fans.

One said on X: “Chris Brown coming to South Africa??… I’ll take a loan for a meet & greet.”

“Chris Brown you don’t know us yet… but my wife and I will be those two microscopic fans in the stands singing and dancing to every jam!!!!” said another.

Ms Waters said she had even received threats because of her campaign against the US star.

“Supporters of Chris Brown seem ready to defend him at any cost,” she said.

“The criticism we are facing for our petition speaks volumes and actually reveals a deep disconnect in how we, as a society, view violence against women.”

She said that too often people were willing to “excuse abusive” behaviour when it comes to celebrities they admire.

Selective outrage is dangerous because it perpetuates the rape culture and high levels of violence women face every day, said Ms Walters.

The two concerts are set for December 12 and 14.

South Korean author Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The 53-year-old fiction writer is a former winner of the Man Booker International Prize for her 2007 novel ‘The Vegetarian’.

At the ceremony she was praised “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.

The Nobel Prize committee has awarded the literary award since 1901 and this marks the 18th time a woman has won the prize.

She has won 11m krona (£810,000) which is the amount awarded to each Nobel Prize winner this year.

Han is the first South Korean winner of the prize, who was described by the Nobel Prize board as someone who has “devoted herself to music and art”.

The statement also added that her work crosses boundaries by exploring a broad span of genres – these include violence, grief and patriarchy.

A turning point for her career came in 2016, when she won the International Man Booker prize for ‘The Vegetarian’ – a book which had been released nearly a decade before, but was first translated into English in 2015 by Deborah Smith.

It depicts the violent consequences for a woman who refuses to submit to the norms of food intake.

Han’s other works include The White Book, Human Acts and Greek Lessons.

Swedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm said at the ceremony that “she wasn’t really prepared” to win the prize.

Committee chair Anders Olsen also said she “confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life”.

He praised her “poetic and experimental style”, and called her “an innovator in contemporary prose”.

The chair added she has “unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead”.

Han is the first female recipient of the literature prize since 2022, when it was awarded to French writer Annie Ernaux.

She is also the first female Nobel laureate this year.

The prize is awarded for a body of work, rather than a single item – there is no shortlist and it is notoriously difficult to predict.

Han is the daughter of novelist Han Seung-won and was born in the South Korean city of Gwangju.

She moved to capital Seoul at a young age and studied Korean literature at a university in the city.

Her first published works were five poems in 1993, and she made her debut in fiction the following year with a short story.

Han, who has taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts and is writing her sixth novel, has been published in more than 30 languages.

Last year’s prize was won by Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, and previous winners include Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, Kazuo Ishiguro, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Bob Dylan.