Headline

French Star Writer Seeks Porn Movie Ban

Published

3 years ago

February 8, 2023

French literary star Michel Houellebecq is seeking a ban on a sexually explicit film awaiting release and featuring the writer, his lawyers said Tuesday.
The global bestselling author also wants the trailer for the movie, “Kirac 27” by Dutch filmmaker Stefan Ruitenbeek, taken down, they said.

The trailer, released in January, shows a shirtless Houellebecq kissing a young woman in bed.

It contains an off-camera commentary by Ruitenbeek saying that Houellebecq had written to him saying that his honeymoon in Morocco had been called off after his wife had “spent a month booking prostitutes”.

Houellebecq and his wife, Lysis, “discovered with shock and disgust” that the trailer contained “serious and false statements which violently attacked their dignity,” their lawyers Angelique Beres and Maia Kantor said in a statement.

The couple had launched legal proceedings, “civil and criminal,” to ban the film, scheduled for release in March, and the trailer with its “defamatory” commentary, they said.

They want to “put an end to these attacks immediately” by removing the trailer from all internet platforms and banning the director and his team from showing the film, “or any other images they may have of the Houellebecqs”.

In a message to the director seen by AFP, Houellebecq said that the trailer was an attack on his honour and his personal life and, “worst of all” on his wife, who he said was “devastated by the lies” in the clip.

Ruitenbeek meanwhile told the Vice news site last week that the idea to shoot a porn movie had come from Houellebecq and his wife after they had seen “Honeypot”, a previous film by the “Kirac” collective.

“That made them want to do something similar,” he said in an interview with the site, quoting Lysis Houellebecq as telling Ruitenbeek that if he wanted to do something for her husband “you’ll have to turn him into a porn star”.

A first scene was shot the next day with Houellebecq and a young woman called Jini van Rooijen who works with the director and “adores Houellebecq”, Ruitenbeek said.

“It was incredible, they did all kinds of positions,” he said.

Shooting went on for six days in Amsterdam in Paris, and also included scenes of Houellebecq discussing philosophy with sexual partners, four in total, and restaurant visits, the director said.

Houellebecq is a controversial writer, and often accused of tapping into right-wing fears over Islam in France.

The Union of Mosques in France told AFP last month it was suing Houellebecq for discrimination, hate speech and inciting violence in remarks to an interviewer.

In 2015, Houellebecq published the international headline-grabbing “Submission” about a Muslim winning the presidency.

He was tipped as a contender for the Nobel Literature Prize last year, although it ultimately went to Annie Ernaux of France who called Houellebecq’s ideas “completely reactionary and anti-feminist”.

AFP

Headline

Indian Court Denies Bail To Nigerian Man Over Drug Charges

Published

3 hours ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

A court in India has denied bail to a 44-year-old Nigerian national, Cristian Soporuchukwu, who is currently facing drug trafficking charges in the country.

Cristian Soporuchukwu initially entered India on a business visa but was later arrested over allegations of involvement in the sale of hard drugs.

Reports indicated that after arriving in India, Soporuchukwu travelled through Goa, Delhi, and Mumbai, where he allegedly established links with suspected drug traffickers.

He was accused of purchasing MDMA crystals and distributing them to college students and information technology workers.

According to reports, operatives of the Beguru Police arrested Cristian Soporuchukwu in April 2025 for allegedly selling MDMA crystals around Begur Lake and the AECS Layout Road area.

The New Indian Express reported that the High Court of Karnataka subsequently dismissed the Nigerian’s bail application.

“The anti-narcotics wing seized about 1 kg of MDMA crystals, a pocket weighing machine, 10 zip-lock covers, a mobile phone and a scooter from him,” the report stated.

Justice V. Srishananda, while ruling on the bail application, reportedly held that errors relating to the grounds of arrest could not automatically justify bail in serious narcotics-related offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, NDPS, Act.

The court further noted that Cristian Soporuchukwu had allegedly overstayed his visa in India, according to the report.

Headline

Strait Of Hormuz: US Announces Sanctions Against Iran

Published

4 hours ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States Treasury has announced sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement extended the threat of sanctions to anyone paying the fees, saying they may be providing support to and receiving services from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and therefore may be exposed to sanctions risk.

“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash.

“Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions,” Bessent said.

Bessent added that the US has succeeded in disrupting tens of billions of dollars’ worth of revenue from being accessible to Tehran.

Headline

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran

Published

4 hours ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States has launched new airstrikes in southern Iran.

The strike shot down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz and then a ground control site.

A US official revealed that American forces struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

The official described the strikes as purely defensive, saying the US intended to maintain the ceasefire.

Report says this is the second time in three days that the US has carried out self-defense strikes against Iranian military targets in southern Iran.

Recall that on Monday the US carried out airstrikes against Iranian missile locations and boats that US Central Command said were preparing to launch mines in the Strait of Hormuz.