Just a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of his infamous Taylor Swift-interrupting rant, Kanye West decided to complete the Twitter step of his 12-step forgiveness recovery plan ...

by unleashing a flurry of tweets to express forgiveness, regret and nearly every emotion in between.


Kanye posted nearly 100 tweets in a little over two hours. It started innocently enough with: "Man I love Twitter... I've always been at the mercy of the press but no more... The media tried to demonize me."


Then it moved on to: "Remember in Anchor Man when Ron Burgandy cursed on air and the entire city turned on him? But this wasn't a joke. This was & is my real life."
And: "People tweeted that they wish I was dead... No listen. They wanted me to die people. I carry that. I smile and take pictures through that."
Then he finally brought up Taylor: "I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that's so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won't take it then I'll perform it for her."
Later: "When I woke up from the crazy nightmare I looked in the mirror and said GROW UP KANYE ... I take the responsibility for my actions ... I am not a bad person. Even in that moment I was only trying to do good but people don't always need my help ... Beyonce didn't need that. MTV didn't need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn't want or need that."
After several more it ended with, "I'm sorry Taylor."
Kanye has gone Twitter silent since then.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with a $12 million dollar lawsuit by a former employee, who claims he fired her from Bad Boy Records over her age and medical condition.


TMZ.com reports that Francesca Spero filed the lawsuit in New York Federal Court today (September 1st).

According to the lawsuit Spero identifies herself as a “51-year-old-white woman” who clashed with Combs after she revealed she needed hip surgery in 2008.

Spero, who was Vice President of Management and Publishing at Bad Boy Records, “suffered a relapse” into an addition to prescription medication and alcohol abuse.

She claims that Combs attempted to freeze her out of her position at Bad Boy until she was fired in March of 2010 and allegedly replaced with a woman who lacked her skill set, in addition to being 10-15-years younger.

Yesterday, reports surfaced that after months of drifting apart (due to his fathering a child outside of his marriage to Tina), Beyonce and her father Mathew had finally parted ways professionally.

It was also stated that Mathew would be replaced by hubby Jay-Z.

However, Music World Entertainment has come forward and issued an official press release.

In a statement forwarded by Mark Young on behalf of the label,

“Contrary to false rumors online, Beyoncé and her manager Mathew Knowles unequivocally have had and continue to have a close personal and business relationship. Mathew Knowles is the sole and exclusive manager of Beyoncé.”

Paris Hilton was banned Wednesday from two Wynn resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, and her boyfriend was dismissed as a nightclub partner following their arrests in a vehicle that police said reeked of marijuana, The Associated Press reports.


Wynn Resorts Ltd. spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne, reportedly told The Associated Press that Hilton is barred from Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
Meanwhile, boyfriend Cy Waits was "separated" from his job after less than a week as top managing partner of the Tryst Nightclub at Wynn and XS The Nightclub at Encore, Dunne said in a statement.


Waits and a lawyer and publicist for the 29-year-old Hilton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


The moves come after Hilton was arrested Friday for investigation of felony cocaine possession. Waits was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Charges have not yet been filed.


Hilton was arrested inside the Wynn resort, where a police lieutenant reported a small plastic bag containing 0.8 grams of cocaine fell into his hand when Hilton reached for a tube of lip balm in a purse.


The celebrity socialite is scheduled for arraignment Oct. 27 and would face probation if convicted.


A police report made public Wednesday said the suspected butt of a marijuana cigarette was found in the Cadillac Escalade in which the couple was stopped in front of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino.

While charges have yet to be filed, the case has the potential to put one of music's top names in behind bars yet again.


"We're not making any observations at this time," said Ed Garland, a defense attorney for T.I. "This is an unfortunate occurrence, and we do not know what the outcome will be."


His music label, Atlantic Records, also said it "would be premature to speculate about the current situation given that there is an ongoing investigation of this matter."


Known as the "King of the South," T.I is a top name in hip-hop, and pop. Born as Clifford Harris, he sold millions of albums since his debut and racked up hits like "Whatever You Like" and "U Don't Know Me." He also had top collaborations with artists including Rihanna, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake.


But his celebrated career was put in jeopardy in 2007 when he was caught trying to buy semiautomatic weapons on the way to a BET Awards show.

The Atlanta rapper, who has served time for drug and other offenses, pleaded guilty to weapons charges and served seven months in an Arkansas prison and three months in a halfway house in Georgia.


He was ordered not to commit another federal, state or local crime while on supervised release, or to illegally possess a controlled substance.

He was also told to take at least three drug tests after his release and to participate in a drug and alcohol treatment programme.

(Source: AP)

Rap star T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle were arrested on drug charges last night after police smelled alleged marijuana wafting from their vehicle, the AP is reporting.

The arrests for possession of a controlled substance occurred on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood during a traffic stop, Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy Mark Pope told The Associated Press.

“Deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle,” the department said. “A narcotics investigation ensued” that resulted in the arrests.

The Atlanta-based T.I., 29, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., and Cottle, a 36-year-old singer with the group Xscape, were booked at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station and bail was set at $10,000 each.

T.I., starring in the current No. 1 film “Takers,” is on probation after serving seven months in an Arkansas federal prison and three months in a Georgia halfway house on federal weapons charges.

The father of five was released in March and married Tiny in late July. His new album, “King Uncaged,” is due later this month.

A 51-year-old New York woman is suing Sean “Diddy” Combs, claiming he fired her because of her age two decades after she helped launch his career.

Francesca Spero filed the age discrimination lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, reports to the AP.

According to the lawsuit, the Malverne resident introduced Diddy to hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Uptown Records after meeting Combs in 1988.

She went on to work at Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment record label as an executive for 12 years before being axed in March.

Spero’s lawsuit says she was fired after having hip surgery and confiding to an executive that she was treated for a drug dependency relapse.

A publicist for Combs says “there are many reasons why Ms. Spero is no longer employed by Bad Boy, but age discrimination is not one of them.”

Kim Kardashian is done with black men for a minute at least. She’s interested in finding a “normal Armenian boy.”

This is coming from the woman who made a bet on football game for her at the time black boyfriend Reggie Bush to propose to her.

The same woman famous for a sex tape with her black ex-boyfriend Ray-J. Maybe we’re taking it the wrong way, but if a black man said this, we’d be all over it.

Supposedly her mom is trying to play Cupid but this is how Kim feels.

Singer Eric Benet recently sat down with legendary rapper and producer DJ D-Nice where he spoke about his childhood, music and sex.

Growing up Eric and his siblings had discriminating tastes in music from R&B, Funk, Gospel, Jazz Fusion and Rock.

Growing up in a musical environment, he thought everyone’s family was like his: come home do homework, eat dinner and then sing.

Eric then went on to discuss a period of battling depression and explained how hooking up with a certain young lady, where the connection was so strong, it brought him out of his depression.

Chris Brown dissed Rihanna on Twitter over the weekend after she made an announcement on her Twitter page.

Rihanna, whose Twitter account had been managed by her someone else, announced that she has personally assumed control of her Twitter account.

Shortly there after Chris Brown tweeted, "TWITTER JUST GOT WACK!!!!!!!!!!" Chris Brown deleted the post but it was up long enough for internet bloggers to save screen shots of it.

Nicki Minaj revealed a couple of her Hollywood A List crushes in a recent interview with People Magazine.

Surprisingly to some, the stars that Nicki Minaj mentioned were bot women.

Charlize Theron, who starred in Devil's Advocate and Monster, was the first celebrity crush that Nicki Minaj admitted.

The South African actress, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2003 film Monster, has made quite the impression on Nicki Minaj. “She’s a bad bitch.

I think she’s really, really perky.”

Jada Pinkett Smith also caught the eye of Nicki Minaj and is described as one of her Hollywood favorites. “If it were raining I’d give Jada Pinkett my umbrella n put my rain coat on the puddle in front of her.”

Lady Gaga is known for her skimpy outfits and sexually-charged performances, but she says she fears having sex with a partner could deplete her artistic energy.


"I have this weird thing that if I sleep with someone they're going to take my creativity through my vagina," the performer said in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine that was released on Monday.


Lady Gaga is not the only pop star to laud the value of abstinence, but she may be among the first to tout it as a boost to creativity. Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and American Idol-winner Jordin Sparks have all worn "promise rings" to symbolize a pledge of chastity until marriage.


Even Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has become the face of an abstinence campaign after she became pregnant at the age of 16 and gave birth to a son.


Lady Gaga is on the cover of the September issue of Vanity Fair. A photo spread of the "Poker Face" singer clad in little other than a rhinestone choker, accompanies the interview. Gaga also speaks about drug use and family.

LAS VEGAS - Paris Hilton was arrested late Friday after a police motorcycle officer smelled marijuana smoke wafting from a black Cadillac Escalade driven by her boyfriend on the Las Vegas Strip, then found cocaine in her purse, authorities said.


A crowd quickly gathered when Hilton and Las Vegas nightclub mogul Cy Waits were stopped about 11:30 p.m. Friday in the vehicle near the Wynn Las Vegas resort, police said.


The 29-year-old celebrity socialite was taken into the hotel "to keep her safe" during the initial investigation, police Lt. Wayne Holman said.


Police Officer Marcus Martin said the motorcycle officer pulled the Escalade over on Las Vegas Boulevard after noticing smoke that smelled like marijuana. Police later found a substance in Hilton's purse that tests showed to be cocaine, Martin said. He didn't say how much of the drug was found. Hilton was arrested on suspicion of felony cocaine possession.


Waits, 34, was arrested on misdemeanor suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.


Both were booked into the Clark County jail, where Martin said Hilton was released without bail about 2:45 a.m. Saturday.


Less than an hour later, Hilton's Twitter account was updated with a posting that said the actress was in bed watching the television show "Family Guy," and then that she was going to sleep.

It was unclear if the tweets came from her, were posted by time-release or were sent by someone else.


If convicted of the low-grade felony, Hilton would get probation. Any violation of probation would be punishable by one to four years in Nevada state prison.


Hilton's manager did not immediately respond early Saturday to telephone calls for comment. Hilton's publicist, Dawn Miller, did not immediately return an e-mail message.


A spokeswoman for Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.


Waits and his twin brother, Jesse, are managing partners of the Tryst Nightclub inside Wynn Las Vegas, Drai's after hours club at Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, and XS The Nightclub at Wynn's Encore resort.

A spokeswoman for Harrah's resorts declined immediate comment.
Earlier this week, Hilton was in the news when a 31-year-old man allegedly tried to break into her Los Angeles home.


While most famous for her tabloid exploits and reality TV series "The Simple Life," Hilton has appeared in the films "Bottoms Up," "The Hottie & the Nottie" and "House of Wax."

A judge in Maryland has ruled on Tuesday that Ne-Yo and his booking agent must pay in excess of $156,000 in damages to a promoter after Ne-Yo failed to show up at a show in Washington state on New Years Eve, 2008.

Ne-Yo and Mike Esterman were sued by promoter Kenyohn Clark who claimed that Esterman failed to return a $95,000 deposit.

Ne-Yo testified at the trial and says he knew that the deposit should have been returned.

In this interview with ThisIs50.com former Bad Boy artiste Black Rob airs some grievances with his old boss, including some shady dealings over G-Dep.

“Look who I was hanging with? Biggie, Mase, Lox. Puff was looking for something different,” he said. “That’s when I brought G-Dep in the game. He got snatched from me. He was my artist.

But being that I didn’t have the paper work he got snatched from me. If me and Dep was together we could have done bigger things than Bad Boy did for both of us. That was some sucker sh*t.”

He also says that comparing Biggie to Rick Ross is wrong and that Puff never came to see him in jail despite going to visit Lil Wayne during his bid.

Akon may have a new wife, which will make her wife #4!!!

A tipster reached out to MediaTakeOut.com to tell them that Akon is reportedly married to a girl he was recently spotted with.

The insider claims that the young lady, who used to be an EXOTIC DANCER and goes by the name Unique shes going around ATLANTA telling people that she and Akon are married.

Tuesday Timbaland was the focus of a Malibu manhunt amid concerns he might be suicidal. Today, the uber producer is talking about the whole mix-up.

“It ain’t nothin to worry about,” he said during an interview this morning with Ryan Seacrest.

According to family members, the 39-year-old hip-hop superstar disappeared following the theft of a $2 million Jacob & Co. watch from his home.

His wife and mother-in-law called in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said he had left his Malibu home “upset, under a lot of stress” and they feared a “possible suicide attempt.” An APB was issued before 5 p.m., and a helicopter and squad cars were mobilized.

Sheriff’s deputies soon found him driving near the Pacific Coast Highway.

But Timbaland says everyone way overreacted. The beatmaster himself called in to Ryan’s radio show this morning to clear up any suicide rumors, saying that the whole incident was blown out of proportion, and that this isn’t the first time people have stolen from him.

“I don’t know what happened to be honest with you, I don’t know what people are talking about,” he said. “People steal from me all the time. Stuff did happen, it wasn’t a watch it was something else.”

What he was upset about was that the item had been in his house and he knew someone he trusted had taken it. He then took a drive to clear his head.

“It’s people that are close to you, you know,” he explained. “So only thing I did was take a drive to see how my head is.”

When he didn’t respond to frantic calls from friends, they assumed the worst.

“They probably thought because I won’t talk to them, I guess people got worried. If my mom ain’t callin’ or my brother or my best friend, ain’t nothing to worry about. The officer pulled me over, he just had to do procedures. I snapped, ‘Who the heck reported something like that? No, why would I commit suicide?’ ”

Timbaland was calling from the studio, where he is currently putting the final touches on Keri Hilson’s new album.

“I’m in the studio,” he said. “I don’t know if a person committing suicide would be in the studio

.

Kat Stacks is back to her old antics of exposing the secret life of B list rappers, next up is Soulja Boy.

Kat Stacks released a new video showing Soulja Boy in an Atlanta hotel room complete with a dresser adorned with lines of what's reported to be cocaine.

Kat stacks says, “This n*gga's a muthaf*ckin coke head, yo! This n*gga's been doing muthaf*ckin dope all day, that's why this nigga can't f*ck me right!”

Soulja Boy has since responded to Kat Stacks allegations, via Twitter: “God knows I didn't do that. That's all that matters, you are nothing but humans. Pow.”

Looks like Michael Jordan’s sons made it rain all over Las Vegas last weekend before returning to college at the University of Central Florida.

Jeffrey, 21, and Marcus, 20, were in Sin City to take part in their dad’s fantasy basketball camp, which took place at the pricey Mirage Resort Casino.

While there, Marcus and Jeffrey, along with UCF point guard A.J. Rompza, racked up bills amounting to nearly $60,000 — and tweeted about it, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Marcus Jordan posted on his Twitter account about the Knights players’ visits to Haze Nightclub and Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria Hotel and Casino City Center.

“Last night was stupid,” he tweeted. “… 35k at Haze… Totals 50k something the whole day.. Damn!! Going to the pool again today.. Gotta relax!”

Marcus also posted a Ustream video, and Jeff a Twitter video (watch below), from the Liquid Pool Lounge featuring all three basketball players. Jeff posted an additional video filmed inside Haze Nightclub, but he was the only Knight who could be identified in the short clip.

Jeff, who relayed via Twitter that his dad’s basketball camp cost between $13,500 and $15,000 per person, tweeted Sunday that he and Rompza were back in Orlando and ready for classes that began at UCF this week.

Rompza also wrote on his Twitter account Sunday night: “Starting the semester off good tomorrow. Workouts early cant wait. Its time to put UCF on the map for basketball! I want it.”

Celebrity websites TerezOwens.com and TaintedVegas.com posted updates about the Jordan brothers spending $56,000 in Las Vegas in one day. TerezOwens.com said Michael Jordan “caught wind of his son’s extravagant behavior” and the tweet disappeared soon after.

Keith Murray was caught on tape discussing past fights with Tupac Shakur and Damon "Dame" Dash.

Keith Murray was filmed just outside BB Kings in New York City talking smack and he was visibly intoxicated in the video footage.

Keith Murray says that he "squared off with Tupac at the House of Blues in California" and urged anyone who was "there that night" to "add on" or comment "on Twitter."

Keith Murray then went on to discuss incidents involving the Notorious B.I.G. and Dame Dash. An animated Keith Murray said that he and 50 Grand smashed Dame Dash over the head with a bottle in the club, "word to my mother...my dead mother Black Rose," Murray added. Check out the video footage below.

After Billboard announced her return to the charts with the leaked single, “Repercussions,” word spread over the weekend that L Boogie left the crowd wanting more at a Rock the Bells concert in San Bernardino, California, on August 21.


Hill reportedly did her thing, performing hits like “Fu-Gee-La,” “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “To Zion” and “Ready or Not" at the concert, which also featured other venerated hip-hop artists Snoop Dogg, Slick Rick, Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest and the Wu-Tang Clan.


“When she started to perform ‘Fugee La’ and ‘Ready or Not’ from ‘The Score’, her multiplatinum album with the Fugees, the place erupted,” reports MTV’s Sway, who said that Hill’s performance was the day’s defining moment.


The L.A. Times agrees, saying that Hill “dispelled any doubts of her abilities.”

While the Times notes that Hill was “occasionally chaotic and harried, her voice and skills remained peerless and again revealed that her lack of prolificacy doesn’t stem from an absence of talent.”


MTV’s Shaheem Reid also sang Hill's praises, saying the artist “was undoubtedly the must-see event of the night… This was not a woman who some reports had labeled ‘crazy.’ Lauryn was lucid and dancing and appeared to be enjoying herself.”

Here she comes again – country singer Dolly Parton is returning to the big screen in a new movie musical with Queen Latifah.


In the upcoming "Joyful Noise," the pair star as two women hoping to stop a small-town gospel choir from shutting down.


Forty-year-old Latifah, who earned an Oscar nomination for "Chicago," will play a mother of two who heads up the Pacashau Gospel Choir following the choir director's death, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Parton, 64, plays the choir director's widow, who also wants her late husband's job.


The music legend, who appeared in hit '80s films like "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "9 to 5" and "Steel Magnolias," hasn't made a major motion picture since the 1992 comedy "Straight Talk."


In July, she hinted to Entertainment Weekly that she had a project in the pipeline, saying, "I might even possibly do a movie soon...

I don't want to say what it is yet, but I've got a real good offer, and if it comes through, I'll probably start a movie in October to have a movie out next year."

Fantasia says she knew exactly what she was doing when she overdosed earlier this month…she was trying to kill herself.

In an interview with VH1, 26-year-old Fantasia claims she was so depressed about all of the drama surrounding her relationship with a married man … that, “I didn’t have any fight in me. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted out.”

Fantasia added, “At that moment, I wanted out. I wanted it to be over with – all of it, all of that [expletive].”

She went on, “I just sat in the closet and looked at the mirror and took all the pills in the bottle. I wanted to go to sleep and just be at peace. I knew exactly what I was doing. You can’t accidentally take a whole bottle of pills.”

“I was tired of people doing me wrong, constantly, over and over again, dealing with my family – my father, dealing with men and their shit – I was tired,” she says of the incident. “My head was hurting me. I was over it.”

Fantasia’s Behind the Music interview, airs 9 p.m. ET/PT tomorow, the same day her new album, Back to Me, is released.

DJ Marc Mysterio has filed a lawsuit against R&B star, Brandy for allegedly not fulfilling an agreement for music. According to the suit, Mysterio paid the singer $10,000 a month to write and record a song for him, but nothing ever prevailed.

Supposedly the DJ lost more than $25,000 because of Brandy’s lack of follow through.

Professionally, besides being a singer, Brandy has also starred in several big screen projects. Some movies she has starred include “Cinderella”, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Osmosis Jones”. As for small screen projects, she has starred in “Moesha”, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”, “American Dreams”, “One on One” and “This Little Piggy”

After nine months of turmoil over his extramarital affairs, now begins the next chapter in the life and times of Tiger Woods. In a hearing that lasted no more than 10 minutes in a Florida judge's chambers, Woods and his Swedish-born wife officially divorced Monday.
"We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future," Woods and Elin Nordegren said in a joint statement released by their lawyers.
The divorce was granted shortly after 2 p.m. in Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Fla., about 375 miles from their Isleworth home outside Orlando, where Woods drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree on Thanksgiving night. That set off shocking revelations that sports' biggest star had been cheating on his wife through multiple affairs.
He and Nordegren were married Oct. 5, 2004, in Barbados and have a 3-year-old daughter, Sam, and an 18-month-old son, Charlie.
Terms of the divorce — such as how much it will cost Woods — were not disclosed. They said only that they will "share parenting" of their two children.
Nordegren's attorneys — including her twin sister, London-based Josefin Lonnborg — referred all questions to the statement.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, declined to comment when asked if the couple had a prenuptial agreement or terms of the settlement. "We're not commenting beyond what was in the release," he said.
Nordegren, who once worked as a nanny for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, asked to have her maiden name restored as Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren.
The sordid sex scandal cost Woods three major corporate sponsors — Accenture, AT&T and Gatorade — worth millions of dollars, and he lost his stature the gold standard in sports endorsements. A month after the scandal became public, Woods spent two months in therapy at a Mississippi clinic with hopes of saving his marriage.
Woods is to play this week at The Barclays, his first tournament as a single man in nearly six years. He needs a good performance just to get out of the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which he won the previous two times he played, and he also is trying to show he is worth picking for the Ryder Cup, where wives take on a visible role.
Since returning to golf at the Masters, Woods has not come close to winning a tournament. He tied for fourth in the Masters and in the U.S. Open, both times taking himself out of contention early in the final round.
Woods has won 82 times worldwide — 36 times and six majors while married — in his professional career. His last victory came at the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, his last trip before his serial infidelity was uncovered.

Former member of Xscape and HelloBeautiful.com blogger, Kandi Buruss has recently candidly spoken about the groups breakup, as well as her past sexual relationship with producer Jermaine Dupri.

She says the reason Xscape broke up was because one of the other members wanted to go solo after the second album. Then Kandi admits to having crossed the line with Jermaine Dupri, and addresses the group member who put her on blast during a radio interview.

She then addresses crossing the line with Jermaine Dupri:

“But just like anybody, sometimes you can work with people and you be like, hmm I wonder how he is in the bedroom, you know, and you just try it out… we hung out, we was friends, like playing pool, talking trash and then you know you hear somebody say yeah I’m a beast, I’m this, I’m that, you know how you can be around your friends talking about sex or whatever and then you be thinking like, I wonder is it that good, you know? Let’s be realistic, it wasn’t me trying to get anything out of the situation. We already had hit records.

We already had hits. It wasn’t like I was trying to do it to get somewhere. It was just out of curiosity.”

Grammy-winning singer Faith Evans has been arrested after being stopped at a drunken driving checkpoint in the Los Angeles area.


Officer Cleon Joseph of the LAPD says the 37-year-old Evans was arrested Saturday night near Marina del Rey on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving. He says Evans was held for a few hours and released on bail Sunday morning. Her car was impounded.


The R&B singer is the widow of rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious B.I.G. She won a Grammy in 1998 for the song "I'll Be Missing You."


A reality series chronicling Evans' life is reportedly in production, and a new album is scheduled for release in October.
A message left with Evans' agent Sunday was not immediately returned. (Source: AP)

Hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean said Sunday he is not abandoning his presidential bid just yet and will try to get the courts to overturn a decision disqualifying him from the race, a report carried by The Associated Press stated..


In a telephone interview with the AP from his home in Croix des Bouquets, Jean said his lawyers will file an appeal with the national electoral dispute office.


Jean said that he has a document "which shows everything is correct" and that he and his aides "feel that what is going on here has everything to do with Haitian politics."


"They are trying to keep us out of the race," he said, referring to Haiti's political establishment.


Haiti's elections board rejected Jean's candidacy Friday night — presumably because it decided he didn't meet residency requirements, although the board did not cite a specific reason. Under Haitian law, a presidential candidate must have lived in the country for five consecutive years leading up to the election.


Jean has argued that he was not required to comply with the law so strictly because after President Rene Preval appointed him as roving ambassador in 2007, he was allowed to travel and live outside the country.


Some officials in Haiti worried about political unrest among Jean supporters after his candidacy was rejected. But the singer asked his fans to stay calm, and there were no significant election-related protests or violence over the weekend — although rumors swirled about a large protest planned for Monday.


Many people in Jean's hometown of Croix des Bouquets — a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince — cheered the singer Sunday in his quest for the presidency.


Jean said he had planned to leave the country this weekend to see his family in New Jersey, but has decided to stay in Haiti to see the appeal process through.


Shortly after informing the AP of his decision Sunday morning, Jean announced it again on his Twitter feed, saying: "Tomorrow our Lawyers are appealing the decision of the CEP. We have met all the requirements set by the laws. And the law must be Respected."

Mega-producer Swizz Beatz is still glowing following his July 31 wedding to singer Alicia Keys.


"Everything was just wow, it was a blessing," Swizz said in a new interview with Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos. "It was positive energy, and we're still in those moments."


Swizz, whose real name is Kaseem Dean, said his Grammy-winning wife calls him "Baba," instead of his footwear-inspired industry nickname.


"I used to wear K-Swiss sneakers back in the day, and I couldn't get rid of the name," he explained. "I had every color."


The former DJ, whose work has been heard on over 270 million albums sold, said working with his superstar wife comes naturally.


"Anybody that's brilliant can just connect to another mind," he said of their collaborations in the studio. "Our chemistry is just a simple flow."


The musical couple, who were married at a private home in the Mediterranean Sea, are expecting their first child later this year.

Star's name not on list of presidential hopefuls

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean was not on the list of approved candidates for Haiti's presidential election.

Reuters reported that a member of the country's provisional electoral council said he wasn't on the list of candidates who satisfy legal requirements to run.

The final and official list is to be published some time on Friday.

Reuters also said Haitian New Yorkers are wary of Jean's political ambitions.

After everything has already been discovered about Fantasia and Antwaun Cook’s relationship, the married man has finally come forward to give his side of the story.

Antwaun’s lawyer, Nicole Sodoma, released a statement last night regarding his position about both Fantasia and his wife Paula.

“Antwaun would be remiss not to address the criticism and judgment he has received. He knew Fantasia Barrino but the failure of his marriage can in no way be blamed on anyone except the two people that were a part of the union – Paula and Antwaun. [Paula and Antwaun] expected their marriage to stand the test of time.

Unfortunately, like many marriages, it did not turn out as planned. In late summer 2009, after years of discussion, the parties separated with the intention of no longer being married.”

Paula stated in court documents that the two split June 16, 2010, not summer 2009 as Antwaun is stating.

Now, that everybody has said their peice, hopefully all this drama will die down.

Radar Online is reporting that Fantasia Barrino appears to be back with the man who was the cause of all her recent problems.

According to RadarOnline.com, the “American Idol” champ is now openly dating her married boyfriend, Antwaun Cook.

“Fantasia and Antwaun are back together again and they have even talked about marriage once his divorce is finalized with Paula,” a source told Radar. “She knows that her family will only fully accept her relationship with him when he is no longer married.

Just one day after being released from the hospital, the singer, 26, was reportedly photographed having a heartfelt conversation with Cook in front of cameras for her VH1 reality show, “Fantasia For Real.”

Cook was also snapped removing his belongings from the home of his estranged wife, Paula Cook, with whom he has two young sons.

“Antwaun has finally committed to Fantasia and his wife knows that their relationship is definitely over now,” the insider added.

“They want the divorce pushed through as soon as possible and Fantasia is determined to marry him and she wants to start a family with him too.”

Looks like Gabrielle Union is off the hook for allegedly getting frisky in front of Dwyane Wade’s kids…A judge ruled in Gabby’s favor, officially ending the lawsuit that Siohvaughn Wade filed against her accusing her of exposing their children to some sexy foreplay.

Dwyane Wade’s actress GF Gabrielle Union just won big in her legal battle against Dwyane’s ex-wife — as of last week, she’s officially in the clear over charges that she got too sexy in front of Dwyane’s kids.

It’s all over a lawsuit the basketball star’s ex-wife Siohvaughn Wade (right) filed a few months ago — claiming her and Dwyane’s kids were left scarred when Gabrielle and the Miami Heat guard engaged in “sexual foreplay” in front of them.

Both Dwyane and Gabrielle denied the allegations — calling them “erroneous claims” — and last week, a judge in Illinois officially dismissed Siohvaughn’s lawsuit, citing improper jurisdiction.

Gabrielle’s lawyer — who called the lawsuit a “shame” and a “waste of time” — tells TMZ, “The allegations against Ms. Union are completely false and do not belong in the Illinois Court System.”

Michael Jackson’s father is appealing a court decision which says that he has no right to object to the executors of his son’s will.

Joe Jackson’s lawyer Brian Oxman filed papers at the 2nd District Court of Appeals in California last Friday (Aug. 13) to object to the decision made by the Probate Court in November 2009.

Joe – who had objected to executors John Branca and John McClain, accusing them of fraud and embezzlement, which the pair strongly deny – was told at a previous hearing he could not make any complaints because he was intentionally left out of his late son’s will.

However, in the documents for the appeal Joe claims he was “not treated with dignity and worth” when the case was dismissed last November.

According to TMZ, the appeal alleges that Joe was denied “due process in not according him a hearing where he could present evidence of his standing.”

Lawyers for Jackson – who had a tumultuous relationship with his late son – insist he was financially dependant on the superstar and should therefore have a right to object to the appointment of the men who are making financial decisions for the estate.

However, Margaret Lodise, the lawyer for Michael Jackson’s children – Prince Michael, 13, Paris, 12, and eight-year-old Prince Michael II (Blanket) – claims Joe only cares about his stake in the estate, describing him as “the ultimate dog in the manger.”

Soul and R&B singer Erykah Badu has paid a fine and will serve six months probation for stripping off her clothes to film a music video Dallas, Texas, at the site where former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a city official said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old music star had been charged with disorderly conduct in April over her nude video shoot in Dealey Plaza for her single “Window Seat,” from her latest album “New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh).

Badu agreed with prosecutors in her hometown of Dallas to serve probation that will end February 11, and she paid a $500 fine late last week, a spokesman for the city of Dallas said.

In “Window Seat,” Badu sheds all her clothes throughout the course of the song as she walks and runs through the plaza. At the end, a gunshot rings out and she collapses to the ground naked, as blue blood spills out to form the word “groupthink.”

US and congressional officials say the Obama administration is considering easing travel restrictions to Cuba and could announce a decision before the end of next week.


The officials said today a decision on the move to increase "people-to-people" exchanges with the communist island has not yet been made.

They said political considerations could still hold it up.
But they said the administration is keen to expand opportunities for American students, educators and researchers to visit Cuba.

Details of the proposed policy shift were reported Tuesday by The New York Times.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because internal deliberations are still ongoing.

(AP)

Hours after being released from Los Angeles County Jail, DMX was pulled over in his rented Mercedes Benz for a minor traffic violation.

The traffic cop discovered that the frequently incarcerated rapper didn’t have a valid drivers license. X was issued a citation and will have to appear in court soon.

Trina’s latest single “My B*****s” raised a few eyebrows around the offices here, and apparently elsewhere as the rapper recently defended the song to Vibe Magazine.

From Vibe.com:

“My B*****s” came from one of those days where I was in the studio [with] a bunch of different friends. Some aren’t celebs so it’s regular girls that work 9 to 5. They have jobs.

It’s a different life than the industry world and we were in the studio so I just starting thinking of medical assistants or somebody that’s working in a lawyer’s office and you just have a lot of independent women and to me it doesn’t matter what it is that you’re doing, but you’re doing it.

I love that. That’s how the song came together. It’s just strong women who are focused, but people took the word out of context…

I just think other people need to find something to do with themselves instead of just taking everything and making it into a big issue.

There’s so many more things to worry about in the world and the word bitch has been around before I was born and when I leave the earth it’s still gonna be around. It’s nothing we can do about it. I didn’t create the word. I just use it meaning that at the end of the day you’re a strong woman.

Remember when Jermaine and Janet broke up late last year right after her brother’s Michael death and everyone was up in arms about it? How could he leave her at such a terrible time in her life?

Well, according to mediatakeout.com insiders, Jermaine cheated on Janet with a stripper from Atlanta gentleman’s club Magic City – and got her pregnant. And the stripper is about to give birth any day now.

Why would you cheat on Janet Jackson with a stripper?

Shyne and his mohawk called up MTV to tell them how he felt about 50 Cent’s prank during his conference call.

“Wow. That’s like an all-time low,” Shyne said. “I didn’t know he was so desperate. He’s gone from confidential informant, witness-protection program dude, getting order [of protection] on muthaf—as. Now he’s a stalker.

I was in shock. He called up saying he was ‘Jamal from Harlem.’ He didn’t call up saying he’s Curtis Jackson, Hawaii 5-0. He’s a busta. I can’t believe it.

I can’t believe he would stoop to that low. Then again, a guy in the witness-protection program, he has no shame.”

Another influential music artist has passed. On Saturday we reported the death of actress and jazz great Abbey Lincoln.


Now, the Tulsa World is reporting that Robert Wilson of the Gap Band has died. He was 53.


Wilson, a native of Tulsa (OK), and his brothers, Charlie and Ronnie, started the Gap Band in the early 70s before moving to Los Angeles and finding fame as one of the premiere funk bands of the era.


Known as the “Godfather of Bass Guitar,” Wilson died from a massive heart attack in his home, his publicist and manager, Don Jackson said. His family became concerned about him when they didn’t receive their regular phone calls from him throughout the day. His adult son found Wilson’s body on Sunday afternoon in Palmdale, Calif.


Funeral details will be disseminated as they become available, confirmed his publicist.
Ironically Wilson gave what is most likely his last public interview to the Tulsa World last week to promote a show he was scheduled to do on August 28. The news outlet said he expressed joy about returning to his boyhood home of Tulsa and an upcoming festival headlining show and following tour.


The August 28 show will go on as planned, but will now be a memorial to Wilson.

Just two days after music producer Mike Stock slammed the pop charts for being too pornographic for children, Rihanna took to the stage last night and made a rather sexually-suggestive dance move.


The singer grabbed her microphone and used it in a phallic way in front of her young fans at the concert at New York's Madison Square Gardens.


And it only reiterated Mike Stock's point that modern pop culture is 'sexualising' youngsters.


Stock, 58, was one third of the legendary pop factory Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and helped launch the career of Kylie Minogue.


This week he said: 'The music industry has gone too far. It's not about me being old fashioned. It's about keeping values that are important in the modern world.


'These days you can't watch modern stars - like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga - with a two-year-old.”
Although Rihanna, 22, is known for her raunchy dance moves and skimpy, revealing outfits, she does have thousands of young fans, many of whom may have been in the audience in New York last night.
Not that it stopped the singer strutting her stuff in her outfit that left very little to the imagination as she thrust and gyrated on stage.


But it was the suggestive move during the concert - which is part of her Last Girl On Earth world tour - with her microphone that really stood out as she showed no shame while performing it.

(Source: Daily Mail)

She's played every role from a dowdy young woman in Monster's Ball to a sexy mutant with super powers in X-Men, and in her latest photo shoot Halle Berry has undergone another dramatic transformation.


The Oscar-winning star's sleek 1920s-style bob and elfin look are a far cry from the casual mum-about-town style she sports when out and about with two-year-old daughter Nahla.
The former Bond girl poses in a series of velvet gowns in

the striking photos in this month's Vogue magazine.
In the accompanying interview Berry is candid about her break up earlier this year from former partner Gabriel Aubry and says she is optimistic about finding love in the future.


She told interview Jonathan Van Meter, 'I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle.
'I am a hopeless romantic. And I won't stop till I get it right.'
Berry and Aubrey, 33, were together for 4 years and had daughter Nahla, 2, in 2008.


Of the breakup she said:'It’s just that you realise you are not meant to go the distance with everybody.


'We were meant to bring this amazing little person into the world. And I think that’s why we came together. And because of that, we are going to be together forever, all three of us.

We are a family until we are not here any more.'
Despite the breakdown of the relationship, Berry insists that the couple's split was amicable.


'By the time it hit the papers – full of rumours and lies, with people having to make up problems between us – Gabriel and I had long dealt with it. We were done. And we were on a good foot, and we had decided what we were going to do for Nahla, and we were able to say, 'This will pass."'


Still a family: Berry, says that she, Aubry and Nahla, pictured here at Disneyland earlier this year, will always be 'together forever'
The Monster's Ball star, 43, is the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of the iconic magazine's September issue, which is considered in fashion circles to be the most important issue of the year.

(Source : Daily Mail)

“Nas and Damian Marley … It's called Distant Relatives because that's what we are! This isn't a concert, it's a family affair!"

Nas announced onstage at Brooklyn's Williamsburg Waterfront on Saturday (July 31), referring to his collaborator and co-headliner Damian Marley.

Throughout the show, the duo performed cuts off their Distant Relatives album together as well as doing alternating solo sets, all to a crowd of 7500 with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.



The show began with As We Enter, with Nas and Damian backed by a full band that included a bongo player, backing vocalists, DJ Green Lantern and even a flag waver who waved the Jamaican banner for the duration of the 90 minute set.


Damian's solo set included The Mission and More Justice. He then sang father Bob Marley's hits War and No More Trouble. "If you're next to someone who's not jumping, grab them!," Damian yelled before incorporating the elder Marley's Exodus into Move.


Nas returned for Distant Relatives cut Patience," which featured Damian Marley's falsetto.

Strong Will Continue was a standout that suited the audience's energy and had an anthem feel.

During Nas' Got Yourself A Gun, so familiar with fans that he barely had to rap, he let them take over.

Made You Look had the audience in a frenzy that continued to Damian's solo Welcome to Jamrock. Lighters made their return for Road to Zion, after which Damian told the audience, "This song is about the birthplace of humanity," before moving into finale Africa Must Wake Up which had the entire audience singing along.

(Source: Billboard)

In a recent interview with Complex magazine T.I. said this of his jail time…

“When I was goin’ through it (prison), I really felt like it added insult to injury. The lesson had already been learned. I already understood the errors in my ways and made the adjustments necessary.

“It did make me worse in a sense that, before I went in, I was already on the path of positivity. Putting me in prison took me off that path a little bit, and now I’m working to get back on that path – or at least back on the path to the extent that I was before I went in.

“I’m still not as bad as I was before this incident, but I lost a little bit of my positive focus during that period of incarceration. Being in that environment and having those daily surroundings, it’s going to affect you.”

Although on some level I can understand the point T.I. is trying to make. He is insinuating that he knew what he did was wrong and he decided that he was going to make a change with his life right before he went to jail. His time in jail somehow halted that progress.

Foxy Brown’s brother/rapper Gavin “Pretty Boy” Marchand was among the men arrested for allegedly using a stolen credit card to purchase designer clothes in Manhattan.


Gavin Marchand was arrested on August 7th for allegedly possessing a forged American Express card to purchase almost $8,000 worth of clothes from the Hermes store on Madison Avenue.

According to the New York Post, police were inside the store conducting surveillance when Gavin, 35, and three associates arrived at the high-end boutique.

A 31-year-old man named Warren David allegedly attempted to use the card. When the men attempted to leave the store, police approached them, but the driver, Derwin Benoit, led police on a 90-mph chase, before he finally pulled over and surrendered.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Foxy Brown told the New York Post as she left a grand jury hearing yesterday, for allegedly violating a restraining order against her neighbor last month.

Rihanna has made no secret of her love of tattoos. But with more than a dozen of them etched all over her body, it seems the pop singer may be becoming addicted.


The singer unveiled yet another piece of body art today - the words rebelle fleur, which translates from the French as 'rebellious flower'.


While it's almost impossible to keep count, at just 22 she now has at least 15 of the permanent inkings.


The latest etching joins a series of novelty markings, including recent addition 'always a failure, always a lesson' written back to front on her collarbone.


In March she controversially had a picture of a handgun etched across her ribcage.


Rihanna even has the 11-04-88 birthdate of her assistant, Melissa Forde, written in Roman numerals as XI IV LXXXVI on her left shoulder.


On top of this she boasts a smattering of stars plunging from the nape of the neck down her back, a music note on her right ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear, a star in her left ear, a Sanskrit prayer going down her hip, and the word shhh.... on her right index finger.


She also has an Arabic phrase on her rib area which translates as Freedom in God, a small skull with a pink bow on the back of her left foot, and love on her left middle finger, a handgun, a henna-style dragon claw and a tribal pattern on her right hand.


The Barbadian singer received her newest inking on a late night date in New York with her new beau Matt Kemp. She was seen with the words written on her neck in pen before her late night trip to the tattoo parlour.


The words may have a deeper meaning to Rihanna, who was pictured hugging and kissing her lover as they looked through a book of designs. Perhaps it's his pet name for the star, who has talked of her devotion to the LA Dodgers player, 25.

Wyclef Jean is being sued by Jacob The Jeweler, celebrity jeweler to the stars, for an unpaid bill.

It seems that Wyclef owes everybody money and they all are trying to collect after he announced his bid to become the next President of Haiti.

Wyclef reportedly owes the IRS $5 million and now Jacob The Jeweler also wants his money before Wyclef begins financing a Hatian Presidential campaign. According to Jacob & Company, Wyclef has paid for roughly half of the $765,000 worth of jewelery that Jacob The Jeweler made for him. Here's a price list of the items that Wyclef purchased but still owes money for.

Choppard Watch ($225,000)
Ladies Choppard Watch With Diamonds ($45,000)
18KT Yachtmaster Rolex ($25,000)
Diamond Chain 57.00 CT Round Brilliants ($90,000)
CZ Stones For Wyclef Automobile ($5,000)
Jesus Head Diamond ($12,000)
Five Gold Crosses With Chains ($30,000)

Can Wyclef run Haiti if he can't even keep a handle on his own finances?

Jennifer lopez is no longer being considered to be a judge on the next season of American Idol.

Apparently Fox and Jennifer lopez couldn't agree on the terms for the reality show.

According to an inside source, J-Lo's escalating demands have taken her out of the running to be a judge on American Idol.

The negotiations have broken down completely and she is no longer any part of the discussion of the upcoming 10th season. So far it looks like Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler are the only two onboard and the rest of the judge panel will be determined before the show starts taping.

His Hollywood star son has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately - now Mel Gibson's father has left people reeling with an outrageous radio outburst.


The Braveheart actor's father, Hutton Gibson - a devout Catholic like his son - has reportedly blasted the Vatican and labelled Pope Benedict XVI as 'gay' on a US radio show.

According to gossip website TMZ.com, Gibson senior rang Stateside radio talk show the Political Cesspool Radio Program, which is broadcast on the Liberty News network, during which he's asked if the Catholic Church was addressing issues such as homosexuality.

The 91 year-old responded: 'It's not willing to do so because half of the people there in the Vatican are queer.'

When asked if he thinks Pope Benedict is gay, Hutton replies: 'I certainly do... why else would he put up with this?... He's a slippery character.'

In January Beyoncé announced that she was taking a well deserved break from showbusiness. 'It's definitely time to take a break, to recharge my batteries,' she said at the time. 'I'd like to take about six months and not go into the studio. I need to just live life, to be inspired by things again.'

But this week she has re-emerged on the scene with a bang, announcing the release of her new single Why Don't You Love Me on August 29th, and starring in the new advertising campaign for her Dereon fall fashion line.

The singer is almost unrecognisable in a platinum wig and covered in tattoos. She has described the new campaign as '1960s pin-up girl meets futuristic biker chick.'

Beyoncé appears to have embraced one of the top trends of 2010: body art. First seen in the Spring Summer 2010 Chanel ready-to-wear show, temporary tattoos have been a hit with celebrities over summer.

But in true Beyoncé style, she has taken it to the next level with customised artwork covering her legs, arms and back. The tattoos include chains, spiders, wings, skulls and what appears to be a spine that runs the length of her back.

After completing an incredible 110 city tour for I Am... Sasha Fierce in 2009, the hard-working Single Ladies singer decided to to take an extended break from work.


'When I got home,' she told USA Today in January, 'I wrote out a contract with myself. I made a list of everything I want to do that has nothing to do with music.


'Well, some of it does. But I promised myself that I would not go back on tour or in the studio until I finished these things.'

Her to-do list included: 'random things. I want to go to restaurants, maybe take a class, see some movies and Broadway shows,' and spending time with five-year-old nephew, Daniel.

But she didn't exactly stick to her 'contract', returning briefly in March to record and film a video for Telephone with Lady Gaga. The epic clip, which was banned from several TV stations for its explicit content, has received over 74.4 million hits on YouTube.

But working in the middle of her self-imposed holiday has paid off for the savvy star, as the video has earned her five MTV Video Music Awards nominations.

Beyoncé and Gaga have earned nods in the best pop video, female video, collaboration, choreography and art direction categories in the awards show to be held September 12th.

(Source: Mail online)

A new superbug could spread around the world after reaching Britain from India -- in part because of medical tourism -- and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.

Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.

NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems, and experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.

With international travel in search of cheaper healthcare increasing, particularly for procedures such as cosmetic surgery, Timothy Walsh, who led the study, said he feared the new superbug could soon spread across the globe.

"At a global level, this is a real concern," Walsh, from Britain's Cardiff University, said in telephone interview.

"Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread around the world very, very quickly. And there is nothing in the (drug development) pipeline to tackle it."

Almost as soon as the first antibiotic penicillin was introduced in the 1940s, bacteria began to develop resistance to its effects, prompting researchers to develop many new generations of antibiotics.

But their overuse and misuse have helped fuel the rise of drug-resistant "superbug" infections like methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA).

In a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on Wednesday, Walsh's team found that NDM-1 is becoming more common in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and is also being imported back to Britain in patients returning after treatment.

"India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and Americans, and it is likely NDM-1 will spread worldwide," the scientists wrote in the study.

"CINDERELLA" BUSINESS

For many years, antibiotic research has been a "Cinderella" sector of the pharmaceuticals industry, reflecting a mismatch between the scientific difficulty of finding treatments and the modest sales such products are likely to generate, since new drugs are typically saved only for the sickest patients.

But the increasing threat from superbugs is encouraging a rethink at the few large drugmakers still actively hunting for new antibiotics, including Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

Most worryingly, NDM-1-producing bacteria are resistant to many antibiotics including carbapenems, the scientists said, a class of the drugs often reserved for emergency use and to treat infections caused by other multi-resistant bugs like MRSA and C-Difficile.

Anders Ekblom, global head of medicines development at AstraZeneca, whose Merrem antibiotic is the leading carbapenem, said he saw "great value" in investing in new antibiotics.

"We've long recognized the growing need for new antibiotics, he said. "Bacteria are continually developing resistance to our arsenal of antibiotics and NDM1 is just the latest example."

Experts commenting on Walsh's findings said it was important to be alert to the new bug and start screening for it early.

"If this emerging public health threat is ignored, sooner or later the medical community could be confronted with carbapenem-resistant (bacteria) that cause common infections, resulting in treatment failures with substantial increases in health-care costs," Johann Pitout from the University of Calgary in Canada wrote in a commentary in same journal.

Fantasia Barrino’s manager released a statement saying the singer’s overdose Monday night was caused by a combination of aspirin and a sleep aid.

According to the statement reported by TMZ, Fantasia ingested the medication after feeling “overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media attention” surrounding her relationship with married boyfriend Antwaun Cook.

“Last night, Fantasia was hospitalized. She took an overdose of aspirin and a sleep aid.

Her injuries are not life threatening,” the statement read. “She was dehydrated and exhausted at the time.

Fantasia is stable now. She will be released from the hospital soon.”

Addressing the sex scandal, the rep also explains that Fantasia “believed him when he told her he and Mrs. Cook separated in the late summer of 2009. She believed Mr. Cook when he told her he lived elsewhere.”

Fantasia’s manager also stated: “Fantasia has always been an open book. Honesty, self-respect, and personal responsibility are values she wears proudly.”

A plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens and ex-NASA chief Sean O'Keefe crashed into a remote mountainside in Alaska, killing the longtime senator and at least four others, authorities said Tuesday.


O'Keefe and his teenage son survived the crash with broken bones and other injuries, former NASA spokesman Glenn Mahone said. The O'Keefes spent Monday night on the mountain with several volunteers who discovered the wreckage and tended to the injured until rescuers arrived Tuesday morning.


Stevens and O'Keefe are longtime fishing buddies who had been planning a trip near where the float plane crashed.


The crash was a stunning event in a state where Stevens became the most beloved political figure in Alaska history during his 40 years in the Senate, earning a reputation as a tireless advocate for projects that brought billions of federal dollars to the state. He was 86.


The plane crashed into a brush- and rock-covered mountainside sometime Monday night, authorities said. Volunteer pilots were dispatched to the area around 7 p.m. local time after the plane was found to be overdue at its destination, and they came upon the wreckage about a half hour later.


The weather soon took a turn for the worse, with heavy fog, clouds and rain blanketing the area and making it impossible for rescuers to arrive until after daybreak Tuesday. O'Keefe, his son, and two others were flown to the hospital.


The bodies of Stevens and the other four victims remained at the scene Tuesday, investigators said at a briefing in Juneau. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but the flights at Dillingham are often perilous through the mountains, even in good weather.

Veteran reggae artiste Beres Hammond will headline a peace concert in the US Virgin Islands this year.

The “How Can We Ease the Pain” Peace Concert is slated for October 234 at the Randall ‘Doc’ James Racetrack in St. Croix.

Shawn Baptiste, a promoter for the event, says he is happy that Hammond, the king of lovers’ rock, agreed to come on board and will be gracing the stage at the concert.

Baptiste says very few artistes exemplify peace and love through their body of music like Beres Hammond and it is with that in mind that he believes the event will be a wonderful experience for all who attend.

Hammond will be performing classics such as How, Tempted to Touch, Putting up Resistance, Can We Ease the Pain as well as recent hits such as Rockaway and I Feel Good.

The organisers of the concert say they will be using the event to bring people together in a safe environment in which they can celebrate love, life and peace.

American Idol Fantasia Barrino made a sex tape with new boyfriend Antwuan Cook, his wife is claiming in new court documents.

The allegation is contained in a complaint Antwuan’s wife, Paula Cook filed August 4 requesting custody of their two children.

“Husband and Barrino have at times recorded their illicit sexual activity,” Cook says in a declaration supporting her petition.

According to Paula Cook, her husband and Fantasia, who won America Idol in 2004, began their affair a year ago. She wants spousal and child support in addition to custody of the kids, ages 4 and 1.

Filmmaker Spike Lee is calling a "lie" a U.S. government report that 75 percent of the spilled Gulf Coast oil is gone.


Speaking to a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Saturday, Lee said journalists should expose what he called the real story.

He argued that it's unlikely that "abracadabra, presto chango" the vast majority of the oil has vanished from Gulf of Mexico waters and coastal wetlands.

Federal scientists said last week that nearly three-quarters of the oil has been removed by various artificial or natural means, but that the spill's effect on wildlife will long continue.

Lee was promoting his new documentary about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," a follow-up to his 2006 film about the hurricane, debuts Aug. 23 and 24 on HBO.

(Source: AP)

Photos have surfaced of Queen Latifah and her friend Jeanette Jenkins getting rather close on a yacht while vacationing with Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys.

We can only wonder how she’s going to explain this pic…

The daughter of Matrix star Laurence Fishburne was once arrested for prostitution, according to court documents.

Fishburne is currently causing a stir with a release of a porn tape with adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment.

But now is has also been revealed that Montana Fishburne, 19, was arrested for prostitution in November 2009 and is still on probation from her conviction.

The documents from the Los Angeles Superior Court show Fishburne was arrested on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, in the 'Hollywood area' on a violation of California Penal Code 647(b), which prohibits prostitution or solicitation.

After two continuances, Fishburne pleaded nolo contendre (no contest) and was sentenced to 104 hours toward the California beautification project, 15 days of community service, an AIDS test, STD education, and two years probation.

The last page lists her current status as 'On Probation' as her probation time was listed as 24 months.

As part of her probation she must also abide by these rules: 'Do not offer to engage and do not engage in any form of sexual activity for money or any other consideration.

Seeking fame: Montana hopes to find stardom through a new porn video

Neither Fishburne or her actor father have made any comment on the arrest. (Source: Mail online)

"It is so unfortunate that Sean Penn is unaware of Wyclef's magnificent commitment to the people of Haiti and his independence.

His campaign has nothing to do with corporate or special interests and everything to do with his calling and belief he can lead and make a difference.

Some of Mr. Penn's comments seemed so out of sorts that those close to Wyclef worried about Mr. Penn, who has also done important, life-saving, inspirational work for the people of Haiti.

This is a time to think productively about solutions and long-term strategies to rebuild, not to insult anyone who dares to care. Haiti needs everyone to collaborate for a 21st century safe, productive nation.."


"It is unfortunate that Sean Penn is unaware of Wyclef's magnificent commitment to the people of Haiti and his independence. His campaign has nothing to do with corporate or special interests and everything to do with his calling and belief he can lead and make a difference.

Some of Mr. Penn's comments seemed so out of sorts that those close to Wyclef worried about Mr. Penn, who has also done important, life-saving, inspirational work for the people of Haiti.

This is a time to think productively about solutions and long-term strategies to rebuild, not to insult anyone who dares to care. Haiti needs everyone to collaborate for a 21st century safe, productive nation.."

Filed under: Wyclef Jean

Sean Penn has criticized Wyclef Jean for stepping into Haiti's presidential race, insisting the former Fugees star has been "a non-presence" in aid efforts following the country's devastating earthquake.

The Oscar-winning actor has made several trips to the nation in the wake of the January quake and has become heavily involved in charity efforts to help the survivors.

But Penn isn't impressed with the news that Jean is campaigning to become the country's next leader and he is convinced the allegations that the star misused money donated to his Yele Haiti Foundation will come back to haunt him.

Penn says, "He has been virtually silent for those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence. His voice has really been most loudly that which allegedly (sic) has taken over 400,000 dollars designated for Haitian relief for himself and claims he didn't do it. That has to be looked into."

"I've been there. I know what $400,000 could do for these people's lives and for a 24-year-old girl right now who is dying.

"So, I want to see someone who is really, really willing to sacrifice for their country and not just someone who I personally saw with a vulgar entourage of vehicles that demonstrated a wealth in Haiti that, in context, I felt (was) a very obscene demonstration."

Harsh criticism is being meted out against US first lady Michelle Obama’s four-day "private trip" to Spain with her 9-year-old daughter, Sasha and several Obama family friends.

The price of the trip, which includes stay at the luxury Hotel Villa Padierna, a Ritz-Carlton property often described as one of the world's top 10 hotels. Rates range between $500 and $2,500 a night.

Michelle Obama is being criticised “for taking such a glitzy vacation while most of the country is struggling to make ends meet”.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the first lady will pay her personal expenses — as will the friends who are traveling with her.

But that only covers a small part of the ultimate expense, given that she has full-time Secret Service protection and has to travel with an entourage of staff. That cost, as well as her travel on board an official Air Force charter plane, is covered by taxpayers.

According to Fox News prior to the first lady's arrival, the State Department had issued a travel warning to Americans advising that "racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain."

The wording was reportedly removed from the State Department website Monday, ahead of Michelle Obama's arrival in the country Wednesday.

As the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports, by the end of the summer, the first lady will have taken eight vacations.

That includes a June trip to Los Angeles, where she and her daughters attended the NBA Finals, as well as an upcoming trip to the Florida Gulf Coast next weekend and a 10-day visit to Martha's Vineyard later this month with the president.

Dancehall artiste Gyptian is gearing up to go on tour this month with singer Damian "Junior Gong" Marley and American rapper Nas on their new 'Distant Relatives' album tour.br>

Gyptian has been creating waves locally and internationally with his new single "Hold You" and its remix with Trinidad American rapper Nicki Minaj.br>

He says he is very happy about the up coming tour and the recent success with his hit single which is also the title of his latest album.br>

"Hold You", his album’s lead single, entered the Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop Charts on March 27 at number 78 and has been rising steadily since.br>

The single currently rests at number 41 on the Billboard chart and has the greatest airplay and sales gain this week.br>

The cost of launching Oprah Winfrey's TV network OWN is set to soar beyond its $100 million budget, because broadcasting bosses have already spent three quarters of the money before its 2011 debut.

Executives at Discovery Communications invested the sum in a joint venture with Winfrey to premiere the talk show queen's new network in January.

In a newly released report on second-quarter earnings, Discovery Communications boss Brad Singer admits that the firm has so far "spent $75 million ... on investment in the Oprah Winfrey Network," three quarters of the "maximum of $100 million that we're obligated to."

And costs look set to rise, in part because the launch has been delayed twice, after previously aiming for 2009 and mid-2010.

OWN has signed deals for several new star-studded series, including "Why Not? With Shania Twain," which will follow her life on the rebound after a messy public divorce, in addition to several documentaries produced by Winfrey's celebrity pals, such as Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker and Goldie Hawn.

NEW ORLEANS – BP pumped cement into its blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, hoping to start sealing it for good a day after it forced a slow torrent of heavy mud down the broken wellhead and pushed the crude back to its underground source.

The next step in the so-called "static kill" was another bright spot as the tide appeared to be turning in the months-long battle to contain the oil, with a federal report this week indicating that only about a quarter of the spilled crude remains in the Gulf and is degrading quickly.

Even so, Joey Yerkes, a 43-year-old fisherman in Destin, Fla., said he and other boaters, swimmers and scuba divers continue to find oil and tar balls in areas that have been declared clear.

"The end to the leak is good news, but the damage has been done," Yerkes said.

If the mud plug in the blown-out well is successfully augmented with the cement, the next step involves an 18,000-foot relief well that intersects with the old well just above the vast undersea reservoir that had been losing oil freely since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off Louisiana on April 20, killing 11 workers.

(Source: AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Singer Wyclef Jean is about to announce his candidacy for president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the former head of the country’s Chamber of Deputies said Tuesday.


Former Deputy Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques told The Associated Press that the hip hop artist will run as part of his coalition in the Nov. 28 election.


Jean spokeswoman Cindy Tanenbaum declined to confirm the report. She said the singer planned to make an announcement Thursday night in Haiti but declined to say what it would be.


Jean-Jacques, who will be seeking to return to the Chamber of Deputies in the election, said he will be a candidate for a new coalition that calls itself Ansanm Nou Fo, which translates as “together we are strong” in Creole.


“Yes, we have an agreement (with Jean). But he’s the one who has to announce it first,” Jean-Jacques told AP, declining to elaborate on their political plans.


Jean is popular in Haiti for his music and for his work through his charity Yele Haiti, which raised millions of dolars after the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people and knocked down most of the government ministries and many of the homes in the capital.


Rumors have swirled for months that Jean would run for president. The singer has always been careful not to rule out a run for the office and recorded a song “If I was President.”
The 37-year-old was born outside Port-au-Prince but left as a child and grew up in Brooklyn.


Dozens of candidates are expected to compete for the presidency in the Nov. 28 election, among them Jean’s uncle Raymond Joseph, who is Haiti’s ambassador in Washington. Other likely candidates include former prime ministers, mayors and another popular Haitian musician, Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly.


All must register their candidancies with the country’s electoral council by Saturday. The electoral council’s director of registration, Jean-Marie Lumier, said Tuesday he had not received papers for Jean’s bid.


Questions surround Jean’s qualifications for office. He must prove he has resided in Haiti for five consecutive years, own property in the country and have no other citizenship but Haitian. Officials have disqualified some candidates on technicalities while allowing others to run.


In 2007, the singer was named an official Haitian ambassador-at-large by President Rene Preval, whom Jean supported in his 2006 re-election bid. Preval has served two non-consecutive terms and is barred by the constitution from seeking office again.


Haiti’s next president will face an enormous task of rebuilding a country devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake. But the office has never been an easy job: Presidents have only rarely completed a constitutional five-year term — most in history have been overthrown, assassinated, declared themselves “president-for-life” or some combination of the three.


(Source — Associated Press)

Aretha Franklin says she’s recovering from a fall and will miss two free concerts in New York.


Franklin’s office says the Queen of Soul broke ribs and has abdominal pain from Sunday’s fall. Franklin says her doctors advised her to undergo tests.


She says efforts are under way to reschedule the canceled concerts for late August.


In a statement released Tuesday, Franklin says she was “very much looking forward to being in Brooklyn and having a foot-long hot dog at Coney Island.”


The concerts were set for Monday and Aug. 12.
Franklin also was to perform at an Aug. 11 birthday party for U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel.

Rolling Stone is reporting that new material from the late Michael Jackson is coming to stores this fall courtesy of Sony Music.

Ten previously-unreleased songs are due in November, which will be the first in a 10-project, seven-year, $250 million deal the Jackson estate signed with Sony Music in March 2010. The pact also includes reissues of Jackson’s classic albums, greatest hits sets and a DVD collection.

The magazine said Jackson is believed to have left hard drives filled with unheard music, much of it recorded during his 1980s peak.

Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo said he estimates that the King of Pop’s vaults contain more than 100 completed and unreleased songs, including collaborations with artists Akon, Will.i.am and Ne-Yo.

“There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational,” DiLeo said.

*Well it’s happened and according to the AP, it went down Saturday.

The couple, singer Alicia Keys and producer Swizz Beatz, who are expecting their first child together later this year, were married in a private ceremony by spiritualist Deepak Chopra.

A representative for Keys confirmed the wedding on Sunday.

The Grammy winner and Beatz announced in May that they were engaged.

The marriage is the first for 29-year-old Keys and the second for 31 year-old Beatz, whose real name is Kaseem Dean.

Foxy Brown was reportedly caught up in the middle of massive brawl the other night in the lobby of an apartment building in New York City.

Foxy Brown was apparently in the apartment building visiting a friend when the fight broke up, and left just before NYPD arrived on the scene.

Witnesses say she just missed the cops and what would have been her second incident with police in almost a week.

The apartment building is a luxury high-rise on 43rd Street and sources say the fight was huge.

Foxy was spotted throwing blows in the lobby after the fight broke out. The details are scarce and authorities are uncertain what actually started the fight, but it took more than 10 people to break it up.

Reportedly, no one was arrested and Foxy Brown's manager, who was also spotted in the brawl, refused to comment.

TMZ is reporting that actor Chris Tucker owes more that $11 million in federal back taxes.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

2001 — $4,007,794.34
2002 — $5,060,074.23
2004 — $55,544.84
2005 — $660,414.94
2006 — $1,788,080.91

Total –$11,571,909.26

TMZ reported earlier that Tucker owed more that $3 million to the state of California for state taxes as well.

Beyonce may be receiving a call from Oprah soon and it isn’t to be featured on her talk show. Oprah, who endorsed the ‘No Texting While Driving’ campaign, is probably upset that her friend Beyonce ignored the rules, as she was recently pulled over for texting while driving.

But even beauty and a superstar status couldn’t get the singer out of a ticket with the NYPD. As a result, Beyonce, who recently obtained her driver’s license, received what us regular folks would have gotten, a $100 ticket.

Al Goodman, one-third of Ray, Goodman & Brown as well as the Moments ("Love on a Two Way Street"), has died at age 63 of an undisclosed illness.

Part of two of the most underrated soul groups of the past half century, Goodman provided the "bottom end" on hits such as "Special Lady" and "Take It To the Limit."

Part of the generation of soul music groups that arose in the late 60s and early 70s, the combination of Harry Ray, Al Goodman and Billy Brown became most notable as perhaps the greatest live performing group of that elite bunch. While many groups of that era had more successful recording careers, few have equaled the stage presence and consistent crowd pleasing shows of RG&B.

The trio was brought together by Stang Records in 1970 as replacement members of the label's soul group the Moments.

As the Moments, they hit the top of the pop and soul charts in 1970 with the falsetto ballad, "Love On A Two Way Street."

That began a string of major soul hits throughout the 70s, including "If I Didn't Care," "Gotta Find a Way," "Sexy Mama" and another soul chart topper, "Look At Me (I'm In Love)."

As the decade came to a close, the group experienced significant creative differences with Stang and label founder Sylvia Robinson (later known as a rap pioneer through her Sugar Hill label).

Unfortunately, Stang owned the "Moments" name, and the group's departure from the label meant leaving their well established moniker behind -- a tough pill to swallow after a decade as the Moments.

Yardflex sends condolence to his family and friends. He will truly be missed on the musical landscape.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie accepted undisclosed damages Thursday in London’s High Court to settle a privacy claim against a British tabloid that had reported they were planning to split.


The celebrity couple began legal action against the News of the World after it reported in January that they had agreed to separate. The pair argued the newspaper had made false and intrusive allegations in saying that they had planned to divide assets worth 205 million pounds ($320 million) and had made arrangements regarding the custody of their six children.


“When the News of the World failed to publicly retract the allegations and apologize for them — thereby leaving their readers in the dark as to the true position — the couple felt they had no alternative than to sue,” the couple’s attorney, Keith Schilling, said in a statement. “Today’s victory marks the end of the litigation brought by Brad and Angelina.”


The newspaper confirmed that a settlement had been reached, but declined to comment further.


The movie star couple did not attend the hearing. (Source: AP)

TMZ is reporting that Christina Milian’s soon-to-be ex-husband, The-Dream, filed for divorce nine days before she gave birth to their only child.

The documents were filed on Feb. 17 in Georgia, but never surfaced until the Web site discovered them recently. Milian gave birth to their daughter on Feb. 26.

In the docs, The-Dream, whose real name is Terius Nash, claims the marriage is “irretrievably broken,” and “there is no hope for reconciliation.”

One of the most famous feuds in hip-hop just got more interesting.

Lil’ Kim recently sat down for an interview with our friends over at AOL Black Voices and went in on her 90’s rival:
On whether she’ll reconcile with Foxy Brown
“I don’t even want to mention her (Foxy).

No, because she’s just somebody that’s just…No, I don’t even want to mention her. One moment she got something bad to say about me, one moment she got something good to say. I don’t like that flip flop sh–, that just means that you’re still crazy!

My mom always told me if you know there’s a snake in the grass, and you know it’s a snake that bit you before, why would you pick it back up? I’m not picking back up anymore snakes no more.

Everyone that’s around me now are very genuine, positive, and love me. You never know, time goes by and people show their real skin so I don’t give people 100% anymore.

I brought so many people in this game, I rocked with so many people, showed so many people homage and love. But they don’t show it back to me. It doesn’t bother me, I just move on. That’s why I’m always quiet about things, I just take it on the chin because I’m God’s child.”

Shannon Price, the ex-wife of late actor Gary Coleman, is asking a judge to formally recognize her as the child star’s surviving spouse.


According to the AP, Price filed documents last week in Salt Lake City claiming she and Coleman continued to live together and represent themselves as married despite their 2008 divorce.


Price wants a judge to recognize their common law marriage from the date of the divorce through his May 28 death. She is seeking the declaration as part of the ongoing battle over Coleman’s estate.


A note handwritten by Coleman days after his 2007 marriage names Price his sole heir. However, Coleman’s ex-girlfriend, Anna Gray, contends a 2005 document awards her the estate.

Beyonce had an amazing escape when she opened her car door — and it got ripped off its hinges by a London taxi.


Beyonce with hubby Jay-Z was about to step out of the car and enter Harrods for some quick shopping, but the cab missed her by inches as it collided with their Mercedes.


A source said:
“It was terrifying to watch. It all happened so quickly, the taxi came out of nowhere. She seemed very shaken and was lucky to be alive. A couple of seconds difference and God knows what could have happened.”


Beyonce was out for a romantic evening in London with her husband.

WASHINGTON — A minor earthquake shook residents awake in the DC area early Friday.


The quake hit at 5:04 a.m. EDT and had a magnitude of 3.6.
The quake was centered in the Rockville, Md., area said Randy Baldwin, a physicist with U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center.


Police in Washington and in nearby Montgomery County, Md., said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.


On the U.S. Geological Survey’s website, people as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia reported feeling the quake.


Lucille Baur, public information officer for the Montgomery County Police Department, said the department received a lot of calls from people wondering what had happened.


Debby Taylor Busse said she was in the basement of her home in Vienna, Va., in Fairfax County when she felt the quake hit. She was already awake watching television, but her husband had been asleep in a second-floor bedroom when the tremor woke him.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Busse said. “I have never been in an earthquake before. It felt like an airplane going overhead or thunder, but it wasn’t coming from above.”


She said it lasted just a few seconds and compared it to a strong thunder strike — enough to rattle the house, but not enough to knock anything over.


Brett Snyder, who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., told AP Radio he was awakened by the quake but said it wasn’t a big deal.
“It happened very instantaneously and then off to a day’s work,” Snyder said.

Paris Hilton was briefly detained in Corsica after sniffer dogs detected a “quite small” quantity of marijuana in her bag, a French newspaper reported Saturday.


Corse Matin newspaper said officers at the airport in Figari found about one gram’s worth of marijuana. Hilton, who was transiting the French Mediterranean island in a private jet on Friday, was hauled in for questioning and released about 30 minutes later, the report said.


In a story posted on its Web site, the newspaper said Hilton was traveling along with “personalities close to power in Malaysia” from the French capital to Porto-Cerno, in Sardinia.


In a posting on the TwitLonger site Saturday, Hilton wrote, “Just to put an end to these rumors. The stories saying I have been arrested are completely false!”


“I am having the best vacation of my life,” the posting said.
Earlier this month, Hilton was arrested after the Brazil-Netherlands World Cup match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on suspicion of possession of marijuana. The case was then dropped at a midnight court hearing.


Hilton pleaded no contest in 2007 to alcohol-related reckless driving and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

After spending about 23 days in jail, Hilton told U.S. television host Larry King that the experience caused her to re-evaluate the role partying played in her life. She said she wanted “to help raise money for kids and for breast cancer and multiple sclerosis.”

(Source: AP)

Justin Bieber’s music video for “Baby” is the most-watched video ever on YouTube.

The summer is already off to a great start for singer, songwriter and producer, Alaine Laughton, more popularly known as “Alaine”, who has not only just released a new song, but also her own record label – proving once again what an amazing talent she has to share with the world.


The 16-year-old pop star’s video passed Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” video to take the all-time lead. More than 246 million have watched Bieber’s video on the Google Inc.-owned website.
Bieber tweeted a thank you to “Beliebers” and said the video’s success was “crazy.” The singer wrote: “I started on youtube so ... WOW!”

The summer is already off to a great start for singer, songwriter and producer, Alaine Laughton, more popularly known as “Alaine”, who has not only just released a new song, but also her own record label – proving once again what an amazing talent she has to share with the world.


Bieber’s video and Lady Gaga’s switched positions briefly Friday, but as of late afternoon, Bieber was ahead by more than 600,000 views.

The summer is already off to a great start for singer, songwriter and producer, Alaine Laughton, more popularly known as “Alaine”, who has not only just released a new song, but also her own record label – proving once again what an amazing talent she has to share with the world.


The most-watched clip on YouTube that isn’t a music video is the popular “Charlie bit me” viral video, which more than 210 million have watched.

The summer is already off to a great start for singer, songwriter and producer, Alaine Laughton, more popularly known as “Alaine”, who has not only just released a new song, but also her own record label – proving once again what an amazing talent she has to share with the world.

On Wednesday we carried a story where singer Sean Kingston was accused of sexual assault. In Yesterday’s Star a story was carried indicating that the singer was innocent of the charge.

Check out the report.

According to www.tmz.com, Kingston has been accused of sexual assault for an incident that allegedly took place on Sunday night at the Crowne Plaza in Seattle, USA.

According to the report, cops are sceptical of the women's claim. TMZ stated that sources told them the two women showed up for a party in one of the hotel rooms and Kingston was present.

The report said, "law enforcement sources tell TMZ the women were both intoxicated when they arrived, with bottles of vodka and beer in hand.

We're told one of the women claims Kingston had sex with her." It is also reported that Kingston left the party and went to another room on the same floor when one of the women became aggressive.

They claim that sources say the woman then proceeded to have sex with two other men in the room. The second woman also had sex with someone in the room.

A hotel manager told TMZ "an incident" did indeed occur in the hotel on Sunday night, though he was not specific.

They added that the fire department claims that an ambulance was called and transported both women - who are 19 and 20 years of age - to a hospital where rape tests were conducted. We're told the women were also tested for Rufinol, but the results are not in.

Sources say Kingston, who is scheduled to perform tonight with Justin Bieber in Portland in the United States, was initially asked by cops to come in for an interview, but police have determined the case is not credible and they now say an interview is unnecessary.

TMZ said that it is claimed that the women might file civil lawsuits.

Originally from Jamaica, Sean Kingston became an international success a few years ago with the break-out hit Beautiful Girls. The singer was recently in the island in Ocho Rios for the shooting of his video for the single Letting Go (Dutty Love) with rapper Nicki Minaj.

On his Twitter page, in what seems to be connected to the incident, Kingston commented, "I have the best management team and mother so the truth will soon surface only God knows right now so I don't have no problem, fans I luv you all."

He also added: "Just read my Bible and had a convo with the Lord and I'm gonna be fine ... . I just hate to get lied on, that's all."

In the 25 years since he first stormed onto the boxing scene at age 19, Mike Tyson has seen more than his share of ups and downs.

Now at age 44, Mike Tyson has been in a reflective mood, starting with the Tyson documentary which was released in 2008.

In a recent interview with Details Magazine, Tyson looks back at his past with much disgust.

Details: Twenty years ago, you were one of the most famous men on the planet. Is there a big plan for Act 2?


Mike Tyson: The first stage of my life was just a whole bunch of selfishness. Just a whole bunch of gifts to myself and people who didn’t necessarily deserve it. Now I’m 44, and I realize that my whole life is just a f*****g waste. “Greatest man on the planet”?

I wasn’t half the man I thought I was. So if there’s a big plan now, it’s just to give—it’s selflessness, caring for the people who deserve it. Because I think I’m a pig. I have this uncanny ability to look at myself in the mirror and say, “This is a pig. You are a f*****g piece of s**t.”

Mary J. Blige and production crew “The Clutch,” which includes R&B singer Keri Hilson, are being sued for copyright infringement over Blige’s hit single “Take Me As I Am.”

In the lawsuit filed in US District Court in the Central District of Californi, songwriters Jay Ballard and Kim Jones claim Blige and The Clutch stole their track, which was released in 1995, and used it for her hit 2005 song of the same name.

Ballard and Jones seek an accounting for all singles and albums sold in all formats, royalties and an accounting of publishing income derived from using the song in advertisements.

The Clutch has produced a number of hits for artists like Justin Bieber, Keri Hilson, Omarion, Britney Spears, Ciara, Jennifer Lopez, Timbaland and others.

Check out this story on blackplanet.com. It is really disgusting. Whether it’s in Jamaica, the States or any part of the world, it’s is getting terrible the way kids are treated.

Are Italians Raping Our Children in Luxury Villas & Hotels in Malindi Kenya


If you come across a tourist whose passport reveals multiple entries to Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Singapore, it is most likely that when you continue flipping the pages, you will come across a couple of entries to Kenya.


If you forcefully examine his luggage, you may find old chattered airline tickets or taxi receipts evidencing frequent tours to Malindi, on more investigation will confirm short stays in a range of Malindi Beach Resorts and exclusive Malindi private beach villas (primarily owned by Italians).

At this stage, a man of average intelligence acting prudently will not want to view the tourists' picture album.especially if it is resting on a box of assorted candies, lollipops and bubble gum.

Guys we are at the advent of the most profitable child sex tourism industry in Africa.


Pictures of lions hunting impalas at Tsavo National Park are slowly being replaced with those of white pony-tailed sandal wearing Italian tourists preying on beautiful black young Kenyan girls. Elephant tusks, leopard skins and rhino horns are no longer the much sort out trophies; Instead, local virgin boys and girls define the holy grail, guys the child sex pest has arrived and his/her mighty thirst will not be quenched by the award winning kenya Tusker beer.

This particular beast will only drink the juice of innocence spewing from the undeveloped private parts of our most treasured assets i.e. our children or in other words, our future.


The debate on how Kenya finds itself depicted in child pornographic videos is endless.

We all agree that poverty has been known to skew perceptions of morality. The story of the thief stealing the bread to feed his starving family conveniently comes into play.

You see, the parents who choose to turn the other way as their own children bring home a couple of sleazy dollars after spending nights in Italian villas and beach resorts, are quick to accept that the 'end justifies the means'.


The society have chosen to ignore the awkward walking style of these toddlers, after all, how are they supposed to feed themselves. We all know what happens to our young girls when they get married to old German men and are shipped to the land of the third Reichso long as they send back some Deutschmarks (now Euros), we are all set.


Oh, by the way, some of our very own grown Kenyans gleefully indulge in this rape. My point here is that we are all complacent to this evil that is slowly tainting the image of our country. So what next? How do you stop a buibui clad girl from succumbing to the scourge from Italians with huge resources and Mafia connections? Education? How do you explain the ruinous behavior to parents whose only means of survival is the sleazy dollar? What about disease?


To what extend is personal responsibility the only answer? Are some of us just born sexually deviant?

What would happen if lets say, the government used the police to consistently swoop the villas, discos and prominent hotels that are conduits to this evil?

How about billboards of caution at every corner? Maybe deportation of perpetrators and repossession of filthy villas? How about genuine tourists blacklisting hotels, resorts lodges and private villas known to practice child prostitution?


It would be unfortunate if we allow our country to be listed in the yellow pages of sleaze holiday vacation destinations.

Another twist has surfaced in Tiger Woods’ attempt to squash a paternity scandal involving one of his mistresses. The man alleged to be the child’s real father is now insisting he never took a DNA test.

Lawyers for the golfer filed papers earlier this month to dismiss Devon James’ claims that Woods fathered her nine-year-old son, Austin, following a fling in 2001. The porn star, whose real name is Melinda Brinling, wanted the court to force Woods to take a DNA test.

Woods’ legal team had hoped to get the case thrown out after it was revealed a man named Pele Watkins took a medical test in 2002 which proved he fathered the baby.

But in a letter dated August 1, 2009 — and obtained by TMZ — Watkins, writing from prison, tells James he never took a DNA test. At one point he wrote, “They will never get DNA from me.”

He closes the letter, “I never took a DNA test but tell your mom I will fight her for messing wit [sic] me in jail.”

James is reportedly planning to file the alleged letter in response to Woods’ latest legal bid to have the case dismissed.

TMZ is reporting that 20-year-old pop singer Sean Kingston has been accused of sexual assault following an alleged incident Sunday night at a Seattle hotel. However, cops aren’t buying the woman’s story, the site claims.

In fact, the singer was initially asked to come in for questioning, but police have determined the case is not credible and they now say an interview is unnecessary, the Web site reported.

According to sources, two women attended a party in one of the rooms of a Crowne Plaza hotel, where Kingston was present. Law enforcement sources say both women were drunk when they arrived, toting bottles of vodka and beer.

One of the women claims Kingston had sex with her, and, as one source says, “She was very aggressive.” TMZ reported. Kingston then reportedly left the party and went to another room on the same floor.

“Sources say the woman then proceeded to have sex with two other men in the room. The second woman, we’re told, also had sex with someone in the room,” TMZ reported.

A hotel manager confirms that “an incident” did indeed occur in the hotel Sunday night, though he was not specific. Fire department sources say an ambulance was called and transported both women — 19 and 20 years of age — to a hospital where rape tests were conducted.

“We’re told one of the women is going to file a civil lawsuit, and maybe both,” TMZ stated.

Kingston, meanwhile, is scheduled to perform tonight with Justin Bieber in Portland.

South Africa’s Heat magazine is claiming that Rihanna and her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown have been in telephone contact since his emotional performance at the BET Awards.

The two had reportedly not been in touch since Brown was sentenced to 180 days of community labour and five years of probation for beating her in February 2009.

An unnamed source told Heat: “It’s been almost a year since they last spoke, but Rihanna felt like she could try to be friends with Chris again. Seeing how emotional he was on set [at the BET Awards] really touched her.

She’d never seen him like that before.”

The source added: “Chris told her that he felt like he’s grown up in the past year.

He’s said he’s so happy to be back in touch with her. They were each other’s first love and he’s missed her so much. Rihanna knows that if she wanted him back, he’d be there in a second.”

The pair have reportedly text messaged one another since their telephone conversation, with a friend of Rihanna’s suggesting that she’s hoping for a face-to-face meeting.

But under the terms of his August 2009 probation, Brown must stay at least 100 yards away from RiRi for five years.

After photos surfaced Monday morning with The Dream’s Terius Nash on the beach in the Caribbean with his arms around another woman, he confirms his separation to wife of two years, Christina Milian. They have a 5-month-old daughter together named Violet.

The pictures and the confirmation of separation are coming just one month after the couple refuted allegations of marital strife.

In a statement released to US magazine, The Dream’s rep said:

Christina Milian and The-Dream have decided to separate, his rep confirms to UsMagazine.com. Terius ‘The-Dream’ Nash is saddened to announce that his marriage to Christina Milian was unsuccessful.

The couple reached this decision in late 2009, but decided to keep the news private in efforts to protect their baby daughter Violet. They ask for consideration and respect for their family moving forward,” his rep tells Us.

Something appears fishy though, as the couple had their second wedding ceremony in December of 2009.

Christina Milian appears to have addressed and confirmed the cheating on her Twitter account with the following:

I'VE officially lost my appetite

AND

WHATEVER YOU THINK...BELIEVE IT

Sources familiar with the police report tell us ... the alleged victim claims White allegedly punched her in one of her breast implants while they were driving on Pacific Coast Highway two weeks ago, with an infant in the car.


We're told, she claims when they got home White allegedly slapped her, and pushed her into a toilet so hard it broke the tank.

Sources connected with White's baby mama, Bridget Hardy, tell TMZ Hardy is in fact the alleged victim. We're told she did not report any injuries.

The alleged victim filed a report with the LAPD Tuesday. The investigation is ongoing.

A rep for Jaleel tells TMZ, "There was absolutely no battery ... no abuse ... and the incident never happened."

The rep continues, "This is just a ploy in an ongoing custody battle over their young daughter to tarnish his name.

A hotel in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus has threatened Jennifer Lopez with a 40 million dollar lawsuit after she cancelled a concert there for "political" reasons, press reports said yesterday.


The chief executive of the Turkish company which runs the hotel and casino complex said Lopez still had time to change her mind about the July 24 gig


"The contract has not been terminated. If she does not show up for the concert, we will begin a procedure in the courts to claim 35-40 million dollars in damages," warned Murat Bozoglu, speaking from the company's headquarters in Istanbul.


"The cancellation....is not covered by any clause in the contract she signed with us," said Bozoglu.


Lopez drew the wrath of Greek-Cypriots in the southern half of the divided island after the new Cratos Premium hotel and casino complex announced the singer would perform there on her 41st birthday.


But the singer scrapped the plans after criticism that the appearance would make a political statement, entertainment website TMZ.com reported Thursday.


"Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse," a representative for the American singer and actress told TMZ.


The US-based American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association claimed the concert would "lend credence to an illegal entity recognised only by Turkey".


Cyprus has been divided since Turkey occupied the north in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the Mediterranean island with Greece.

Is one of the wuss ting when you own a fight you pon every ting.

Look deh how Mel Gibson rant and rave and dem a investigate him fi assault on him girlfriend and all dese tings.

You see the white community a go into uproar, bout him must not do no more movie.

I don’t read one thing cussing him out on his actions. Yet, Chris Brown who was’'t as disrespectful incident was all over the place, on Oprah, suh till all people a Jamaica a buy it out bout him dem nuh want him on Sumfest. Bwoy Jackass sey di world nuh level and a true.

Celine Dion says the twins she’s expecting are boys.
The superstar singer revealed the sex of the babies in a brief statement Friday on her website.


Dion already has a son, Rene Charles, with her husband and manager, Rene Angelil.


The 42-year-old singer had undergone several rounds of in-vitro fertilization to become pregnant again and has spoken openly about her difficulties having children.


A representative for the singer was not immediately available to comment on the posting.

The two-minute clip of Mel Gibson using a racial slur and calling his ex-girlfriend a “whore” during an argument are unlikely to be the last ugly words the public hears from the actor.


RadarOnline.com, the celebrity website that posted the recording Friday, says there’s more where that came from.


For 10 days, the site has posted written transcripts of secret recordings it said Gibson’s former girlfriend, Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva, had made. The snippet released Friday is the first audio of the confrontations that have been aired.


The clip includes segments in which a voice that sounds distinctly like the Academy Award winner is heard telling Grigorieva that she is dressing too provocatively and that it would be her fault if she were raped. He uses the N-word, a racial epithet, at one point, and the recording is laced with his profanity.


Shortly after the posting, entertainment news outlets reported that Gibson had been dropped by talent agency William Morris Endeavor, although that decision appeared to have been made days ago. The agency did not return phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment.
David Perel, RadarOnline’s founder and executive vice president, told The Associated Press that the site had heard “a substantial portion” of 30 minutes of recordings Grigorieva had made. Perel said more audio clips will likely be released in coming days.


The site reported the 40-year-old made the recordings because she was afraid Gibson might harm her.


The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating allegations that Gibson was involved in a domestic violence incident with Grigorieva, with whom he has an 8-month-old daughter. That inquiry is expected to take several weeks before it reaches prosecutors, who will decide whether to press charges.


Gibson’s camp, for its part, remained silent Friday about the recording. Spokesman Alan Nierob did not issue a comment on the audio’s contents.


Grigorieva’s attorney, Marci Levine, also did not return a phone message seeking comment.


It is the second high-profile incident in which Gibson has been accused of using slurs and degrading women. He apologized after his drunken driving arrest in 2006 after it was revealed by another celebrity website, TMZ, that he had made anti-Semitic and sexist comments.


In the recordings released Friday, the actor is heard criticizing Grigorieva, 40, for the way she dresses. He accuses her of lying to him about having breast implants.


“They just look stupid,” Gibson tells her at one point in the recording. “Keep them if you want to. They look like a Vegas bitch, a Vegas whore.”


“You look like a (expletive) bitch in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of (N-word), it will be your fault,” Gibson is heard telling Grigorieva. “You provoked it. You are provocatively dressed.”

(Source: AP)

A court hearing during which actor Charlie Sheen was expected to plead guilty to a charge stemming from a Christmas Day dispute with his wife has been postponed.


Court officials say the hearing has been delayed from Monday to Aug.

2. Yale Galanter, one of Sheen’s attorneys, says the defense needs more time to work out details of an agreement that calls for Sheen to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in exchange for prosecutors dropping more serious charges.


Galanter previously said the agreement calls for Sheen to serve 30 days in jail.


Sheen, star of “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, is charged with felony menacing, criminal mischief and assault against his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen.

Mary J. Blige made headlines over the weekend with her announcement that she had received an honorary NYC high school diploma and was to attend Howard University in the fall, making her a member of the class of 2014.

However, that was apparently news to the folks at Howard University.

The Washington Post decided to follow-up MJB’s claims with the folks at Howard:

Early Tuesday, a rep for the school declined to address Blige’s prospects at the school, noting that information about applicants and admissions is confidential.

By late in the day, the university put out a statement suggesting Blige’s comments may have been somewhat premature.

They were kind about it, though, praising her “resilience and dedication” to her craft: “We encourage Ms. Blige to continue her studies and welcome her consideration of Howard University in the future. We are happy to work with Ms. Blige on completing the formal process for admission.”

Sounds like somebody got ahead of herself.

Clearly LeBron James’ decision to leave Cleveland and its Cavaliers NBA franchise, to join the Miami Heat, is not sitting well with the citizens of the city by Lake Erie and the team’s desperate fans.

The heartbreak and anger they are feeling is captured in an emotional, if not ill-advised, open letter from Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert.

In his scathing missive, Gilbert angrily calls James “the self-titled former King” while claiming that his televised announcement was “shameful display of selfishness and betrayal.”

And it gets better, or worse, depending on one’s point of view. Read it for yourself:

*Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown “chosen one” sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And “who” we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called “curse” on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day….

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue….

Dan Gilbert Majority Owner Cleveland Cavaliers

After a meeting with gay and lesbian activists on Thursday, NBC TV’s “Today” show said it is changing the rules for its annual wedding contest to allow same-sex couples to apply for a ceremony conducted on morning TV.


NBC extended the deadline for applications until Monday. Already thousands of couples have expressed interest in the on-air wedding, which the top-rated morning show has sponsored for a decade, a spokeswoman said.


Viewers plan every aspect of the wedding, from the cake to the clothing styles of attendants. NBC picks four couples from thousands of applicants, and viewers vote on which of those couples will participate.


Same-sex couples have been excluded because New York state law does not allow them to get wedding licenses. But NBC said GLAAD pointed out that a same-sex couple would be able to get a license from another state and still have their ceremony in New York.


Although “Today” viewers will decide which couple to get married on TV, it will choose from among four that “Today” producers screen and put up for a vote. So there’s no guarantee that even if same-sex couples apply for the on-air wedding, viewers will have a chance to select one to participate.

NEW YORK (AP) — Usher’s album is barely 4-months-old and he’s already on to his next project.


The singer is releasing eight new songs on a new disc, “Versus,” which will be out Aug. 24. The songs will also be released on a special deluxe version of “Raymond V. Raymond,” which was released in March. That album includes hits like the No. 1 song “OMG.”


Usher follows in the footsteps of Lady Gaga, who released “The Fame Monster” as a separate disc and also as a deluxe version of “The Fame” after the success of that album.


Usher is slated to headline International Night II at Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay on July 24.

By: Liz Smith

Separated into the themed nights of Caribbean Night; Dancehall Night and Vintage Night, the 7th annual Montreal International Reggae Festival has returned to the Quays of The Old Port in picturesque Old Montreal.

On August 6th, 7th and 8th 2010 this riverside venue will come alive with pulsating rhythms from some of the world’s best Caribbean cultural icons and Canadian based acts.


The festival opens up with a salute to celebrated and adored Caribbean musicians like Byron Lee’s Dragonaires, whose recent golden anniversary brought light to a custom of them literally bringing Caribbean music around the world.

They will carry on that tradition; and will be joined by the witty Pluto Shervington. St Vincent’s ace calypsonian/composer Becket, whose illustrious career spans over 30 years of churning out top hits, will be featured with CKUT’s Howard “Stretch” Carr hosting what organizers promise to be a solid fusion of the old and brand new.
Montreal International Reggae Festival (MIRF) President, Eric Blagrove said, “This year we have created a sense of lasting legacy by show-casing internationally respected Caribbean musicians whose music continues to bring people from all walks of life together.”

Blagrove and the MIRF team will uphold their commitment to presenting an artistic platform of excellence.
Dubbed “Dance-hall Night” – August 7 will feature Lady Saw, the first female dancehall Dee-Jay to win a Grammy. Also called “the red hot night” by festival organizers, it will sizzle with artists like, Mr. Vegas, Sustain, Little John and Baby Cham, who has international collaborations with artists such as Rihanna and Alicia Keys.

Canadian based Lady Shelly, Damien Jackson and JLogix will add to the steam that will wind up a full day of festive activities designed for all ages.

Cultural displays, a children’s corner, information booths and food from all corners of the world, will be on the Saturday festival agenda.
On the final day, August 8, “The Living Legend” Bunny Wailer from the trio of Original Wailers with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, will be making his first appearance in Montreal in many years. Other performers for this vintage night include Leroy Gibbons, Frankie Paul, Tony Gits and Peter Tosh’s son ; Tosh 1.


As is customary MIRF identifies heavily with their running theme of “United Against Violence” and they strive to produce events that mirror this sentiment.

From the eldest to the youngest – all are encouraged to check out the rocking rhythms of MIRF under the river breezed Quays of the Old Port in Montreal. Go to www.montrealreggaefest.com for more information or call 514-482-7921.

LOS ANGELES – A moderate earthquake rocked Southern California on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.

The magnitude-5.4 quake was centered 28 miles south of Palm Springs, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at 4:53 p.m.

It was initially reported as a magnitude-5.9 but later downgraded.

Sheriff's departments in Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties have no reports of damage or injuries.

The quake was felt as a long rolling motion in downtown Los Angeles.

A woman is seeking $20 million in damages against Chris Rock, Sony Pictures and other producers of the April comedy “Death at a Funeral” claiming the film ripped off her 1995 book about her embarrassment at a funeral in Jamaica when she was stripped of her clothing.

Pamela Lawrence, who is representing herself in court, is also claiming racism, a plot to eradicate the female population of urban cities and allegations of inside jokes within the movie that were specifically intended to humiliate her, Reuters reports.

The 54-page complaint comes stuffed with applicable laws and case citations (although none are required in complaints), copyright registrations, numerous exhibits and, Reuters notes, a frame work intended to bypass the legal pitfalls that typically trip up those asserting idea theft in Hollywood.

Two versions of “Death at a Funeral” have come out in the past three years. The first was a British comedy directed by Frank Oz and released as a modest hit in 2007.

The second – a U.S. film directed by Neil LaBute and starring Rock, Tracy Morgan and Martin Lawrence – came out earlier this year to lukewarm reviews and so-so box office. The plots of both movies center on a planned funeral service gone horribly wrong.

Pamela Lawrence claims these two films infringed her copyright on the book “Caught on Video … The Most Embarrassing Moment de Funeral, July 11, 1994, Jamaican Volume 1.” She lists similarities in incidents, characters and settings between the works.

For example, Martin Lawrence plays a writer who is traveling from L.A. to New York and complains that if he doesn’t get money, he’ll have to do a reality show. In her book, Pamela Lawrence is a writer from New York traveling to Los Angeles with problems worthy of a talk show.

Pamela Lawrence says her work (including a videotape of her real life experience) was strong enough that agents at William Morris signed her as a client.

In 1998, Lawrence says she was contacted by the co-vice chairman of Sony’s Columbia TriStar to attend a “pitch meeting.” At the meeting, executives at the studio were left a copy of the book, videotape and other research materials. Later, she was allegedly told by them to “get lost, if you can afford to prove our action see you in court, we employee (sic) the best attorneys.”

According to the complaint, Lawrence responded by filing a lawsuit against them about a decade ago.

In 2001, that case was allegedly settled on undisclosed terms, a fact which Lawrence claims made its way into the 2010 film as a joke about Col. Harland Sanders stealing the recipe for KFC fried chicken from a slave and then settling a claim.

In short, Lawrence goes beyond mere copyright infringement to assert breach of implied contract, unfair competition, interference with prospective economic advantage, tortious breach of confidence, deceit and fraud.

Lawrence is demanding $20 million in damages, 66% of gross profits and an injunction. Among the many defendants are Sony, Columbia Pictures, Tristar, Target Media, Screen Gems, Lawrence Malkin, Frank Oz, Chris Rock and Neil LaBute. Sony had no comment.

In the 2 1/2 months since the spill began, the gulf has been examined by an armada of researchers — from federal agencies, universities and non-profit groups.

They have brought back vivid snapshots of a sea under stress: sharks and other deep-water fish suddenly appearing near shore, oil-soaked marshes turning deathly brown, clouds of oil swirling in deep water.

But, with key gaps remaining in their data, there is wide disagreement about the big picture.

Some researchers have concluded that the gulf is being spared an ecological disaster. Others think ecosystems that were already in trouble before the spill are now being pushed toward a brink.

"The distribution of the oil, it's bigger and uglier than we had hoped," said Roger Helm, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official and the lead scientist studying the spill for the Interior Department.

"The possibility of having significant changes in the food chain, over some period of time, is very real. The possibility of marshes disappearing . . . is very real."

Helm said that his prognosis for the spill had worsened in the past week — as the amount of oily shoreline increased from Louisiana to Florida, despite cleanup efforts. "This just outstrips everybody's capability" to clean it up, he said.

The official toll of dead birds is about 1,200, a fraction of the 35,000 discovered after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

But this, too, has been called into question. Officials can only count the birds they can find, and many think a number of oily birds have sought refuge in the marshes.

Other scientists have focused on more subjective measures of the gulf's health — not counting the dead, but studying the behavior of wildlife, the movements of oil and the state of larger ecosystems. For them, solid answers are even more elusive.

Further offshore, federal scientists and university researchers have disagreed about the existence of "plumes" or "clouds" of dissolved or submerged oil.

Several educators have reported finding underwater oil dozens of miles from the spill: Sometimes, they reported it was so well dissolved that the water appeared clear. In other situations, they found what they thought to be oil globs the size of golf balls.

Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, said he did not think the government had studied these areas well enough yet.

“I've been frustrated with the calm reassurances that we've been receiving, because . . . I don't know what they're based on," Inkley said.

In Sarasota, Fla., scientists found an 11-foot tiger shark, normally an open-water fish, drifting near the surf. That, plus sightings of whale sharks and other creatures outside their normal environmental range, raised concerns that oily water or low oxygen in the central gulf might be driving fish toward land.

"It would be like, to these fish, almost like an island, a huge island rising up in the middle of the gulf," said Bob Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.

Seeing this and other strange patterns in fish, Hueter said, "I just, all of a sudden, just felt this impending sense of doom, that the place that I loved was going to be changed in a very dramatic way."

Producer Swizz Beatz not only has the attention of Alicia Keys, who’s pregnant by him, but the tax man, too. Beatz has been hit with an IRS lien for $652,787 for unpaid 2008 income taxes.


Unfortunately, this is not a first time issue for Beatz who, along with his former wife Mashonda, has had several liens filed against him amounting to a whopping $2.2 Million:

2006 – Somerset County, N.J.: $842,645 lien


2008 – Rockland County, NY: $556,989 lien


2009 – Rockland County, NY: $162,300 tax warrant

“We have been discussing the issue with the government for years and are currently negotiating an amicable resolution of the dispute,” Beatz’ attorney said.

R. Kelly returned from World Cup festivities in South Africa to a fresh lawsuit in the United States.

Anthony Navarro, a former employee, is accusing the R&B singer of failing to compensate him for the overtime hours he earned in 2007 while Kelly was on tour.

In his legal papers, filed in an Illinois court, Navarro claims he and his fellow workers were sometimes forced to toil more than 80 hours a week to help with studio and tour preparations.

They were reportedly contracted to be paid time-and-a-half for the additional hours but Navarro alleges he was only paid at the normal rate.

Navarro has also named Kelly’s production company, Bass Productions Ltd., in the lawsuit and has cited the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law in his court filing.

He is seeking undisclosed damages and court costs.

Randall Cunningham’s 2-year-old son Christian has died after apparently drowning in a backyard hot tub, according to authorities.

Las Vegas police Lt. Dennis Flynn says it appeared to have been an accident.

He says a woman at the house with several other children found the boy at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and began trying to resuscitate him, reports the Associated Press.

Christian was pronounced dead at St. Rose Dominican Hospital Siena campus in Henderson.

Cunningham, 47, starred at UNLV and played for 16 years in the NFL, mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles. He is now an ordained minister and pastor of a church in Las Vegas.

Cunningham was not at home when Christian was found.

A songwriter-producer who claims to have written Kanye West’s 2007 hit “Stronger” is now suing the rapper for compensation.


In the lawsuit filed Friday (June 25th) in United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vincent “Vince P.”

Peters says he wrote the track in 2006 and played it for West’s manager John Monopoly at his Chicago home on Nov. 12 of the same year.

Peters says he recorded his own version of “Stronger” about seven months after he gave a copy of the track to Monopoly. In the suit, Peters accuses West of copying significant portions of his original version.

Kanye’s track went on to become a Grammy-winning, No. 1 hit.

Peters is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages and a trial by jury, reports Allhiphop.com.

A blind item about an unnamed “diva” caught smoking weed in a Barbados hotel room was reported by a gossip Web site to be none other than Rihanna.


Media Take Out posted the blind item from an unnamed Barbados newspaper on its Web site.

Part of it read: “…It appears that the classy woman and her guests smoke, drank and partied nonstop in the room.

Security had to be constantly knocking on the door because the smoke alarm would not stop going off.

…Management at the hotel are now contemplating banning this guest from using its facilities.”

The blind item went on to suggest that the same hotel had issues with Rihanna before, when she and former boyfriend Chris Brown booked a room there.

“Apparently a few years ago, they had to send her a huge bill when she and her former boyfriend also wrecked the place.”

If you believe the NY Post, there’s a big rift developing between Beyoncé and her father and manager, Mathew Knowles.

The Grammy winning singer reportedly is still refusing to speak to him since he became a baby daddy with a woman 20 years his junior. Now execs at her label, Columbia, are fearful the problems between the two could damage her career:

The superstar singer was horrified when it was alleged last year that Matthew had an 18-month affair with 38-year-old Alexsandra Wright and DNA tests confirmed he’d fathered her son, Nixon, while still married to Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles.

Matthew guided Beyoncé’s career through her days with Destiny’s Child and is still her manager.

But one music industry insider said, “Beyoncé was horrified to find out her dad cheated on her mom.

She always looked up to him, and she is very close to her mom, so this has hit her really hard.

She is refusing to speak to him, which is making things difficult where it comes to managing her career.

Some people at Columbia now think it would be better to move him aside.”

Tiger Woods can get his “Maury” dance on after learning a paternity suit filed against him by porn star Devon James has no merit.


TMZ.com has been reporting that a DNA test conducted in 2002 has already proven that another man is the father of her nine-year-old son, Austin.

Today, the Web site produced the document showing the test result, which states a man named Pele Watkins is 99.99 percent the biological father of Austin.


Angered by TMZ’s initial report, James filed legal documents in Manatee County, Florida earlier this month, asking a judge to force Woods to take a DNA test to prove her son’s paternity.


James, whose real name is Melinda Brinling, alleged Woods had fathered her child after a reported fling in 2001.

She said she kept the pregnancy and birth of her son a secret from Woods, but decided to reveal everything after his 2009 cheating scandal.

The Nas and Kelis divorce drama continues…It looks like spousal support is not the most pressing problem for Nas.

According to TMZ, the rapper is having problems making the monthly mortgage for the home Kelis is living in. Nas is behind $52,989.22.

So Nas’ lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, filed a payment plan with the court, in which the rapper agrees to pay $17,500 up front, and then pretty much double the $7,800 mortgage payment each month to catch up.

According to the docs, the plan is to sell the home stat.

NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has been indicted by a suburban New York grand jury on charges of rape, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse, the AP reports.

The indictment Wednesday follows his May 6 arrest at a Holiday Inn, where he allegedly paid a 16-year-old girl $300 to have sex with him, according to prosecutors.

The former New York Giant was also indicted on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and patronizing a prostitute.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe says the teen victim told investigators that she had been verbally threatened and physically assaulted by Taylor after being brought to his hotel room by a pimp.

Taylor has denied the charges. The alleged pimp, Rasheed Davis, She was later arrested by New York City police.

It’s no secret that Mariah Carey loves her Jack Russell terriers, but paying for their vet bills? Not so much, according to the doctor responsible for their care.

Veterinarian Cindy Bressler sued Carey on Wednesday in a Manhattan state court claiming she owes nearly $30,000 in bills for her three dogs.

In her lawsuit, Bressler said she provided “extraordinary services” for the Jack Russell terriers — Cha-Cha, Dolomite and JJ — but the singer paid only about $8,200 of the roughly $37,800 in charges. The bills cover a little more than a month of care.

Bressler’s lawyer, Michael C. Posner, declined to elaborate on the treatment given the dogs.

Her Web site notes that she makes house calls in New York City and the Hamptons and caters to “prominent New Yorkers and celebrity clients.”

Carey and her husband, “America’s Got Talent” host Nick Cannon, recently welcomed a new addition to their household: a puppy named Jackie Lambchops, born to Cha-Cha this month, according to Carey’s Twitter feed.

TORONTO — A rare earthquake, measuring magnitude-5.5, struck at the Ontario-Quebec border region of Canada on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The midday quake was felt in the city of Toronto in Canada and in a number of U.S. states, including Michigan, Vermont and New York.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of about 12 miles (19.2 kilometers). The quake occurred at 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT).

In New York state, people from Buffalo to Albany and north to Massena on the St. Lawrence River said pets were startled and plates rattled when the quake hit.

David French, 53-year-old state worker from Cicero, New York, said he was at his computer inside his home near Syracuse when he felt his chair shake.

"I thought the chair was breaking or something," he said. "I looked over and my filing cabinet was moving."

The quake prompted several calls to state police in the Adirondacks area.

"A little shake, nothing too big," is how Trooper Mark Revette described the temblor. "It happens. We get a couple of these a year."

Kellie Tassone, 40, was at home on Oneida Lake in Cicero.

"My dog picked his head up just before it happened and kind of looked at me," she said. Then the sliding door started to rattle "and the house was shaking."

Source: AP

A company that leases private jets has filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z over a number of bills that yet to be paid in full.

Air Platinum Holding is accusing the rapper of spending 55 hours on their planes in 2009, but only paying for 37 hours of service, reports TMZ.com. The company is seeking roughly $137,485 in total payments, broken down as follows:

– 18 hours of flight time at $4,500-per-hour (discounted from $6,000-per-hour) … $81,000 — Catering for 17 domestic flights ($500-per-flight) …. $8,500 — Catering for 4 international flights ($750-per-flight) … $3,000 — International fees … $8,500 — Taxes … $12,285 — Luxury trip to England … $24,200

Dream shuts down his Twitter page after Ciara fans send him some pretty angry messages.

Their disturbing responses were caused from some hmm … mean comments he made in Parlour magazine. When answering if Ciara’s upcoming album “Basic Instinct” will be her last shot at fame.

“I think so. You only get so many times to, and I won’t say fail, but not achieve,” he said in the interview.

“There’s an expectation of where Ciara should be in her career. To others, she’s achieved but not to us, because we saw where her career was headed.

But now she’s back on the horse. When she first came out I, like Lil Jon and Jazze Pha, understood exactly who she was.

It was that whole Atlanta vibe because if I’m not Atlanta, no one is … I knew if I had a chance to get with her creatively, there’s a specific type of swagger that she’s got.

Tricky and I did her whole album, but it’s not all shallow songs like ‘Ride’. There’s play time but there’s substance too, it’s a great listen.”

Perhaps that response didn’t go over to well with fans.

But before he shut it down completely, he posted a message in his defense, telling his new haters club to get familiar with the context of the article? Situation? Industry? Or something and that he loves Ciara.

“Look up the word context. And also become familiar with the phrase ‘taken out of context’ it helps. I believed in Ciara when every1 else walked away &talked s**t I love her that’s my sister! Actions speak louder than words.”

Alicia Keys has had her unborn child blessed in a traditional Zulu ceremony while in South Africa for the World Cup.

The Grammy award-winning singer, who is around five months pregnant, joined hands with music producer fiance Swizz Beatz for the outdoor blessing near Durban, on the country's eastern coast.

Wearing tribal beads, Alicia and her baby were given Zulu names while standing under a fig tree known as the 'healing tree' by locals who believe it brings good fortune and health.

The star, 29, had the ritual performed by female elders on Wednesday after arriving in South Africa the previous week to headline the World Cup Kick-Off Concert in Johannesburg.

The R&B diva was given a blue robe to cover her shoulders, while Swizz, 31, donned a red sarong and leopard print sash.

Alicia was chosen to receive the blessing in return for her work with local children's charity Bobbi Bear, whose workers are paid by the singer.

Bobbi Bear director Jackie Bradfield said yesterday: 'Alicia has been made part of the tribal family because she really reached out to the people here.

'Two female priests who practise a mix of Christianity and tribal custom chose new names for her and the unborn child, as a mark of respect. The names were kept between them, but were chosen to reflect Alicia's character.

'Alicia had to do a special dance with drums banging in the background, and was embraced by abused children who she has helped. She was chosen for the ceremony as a thank-you, because she has done a lot to keep children's lives afloat and for us to afford our support staff.

'Her partner came too - he held her hand and helped her sit down when she needed rest.'

Alicia's mother and brother were among a crowd of around 50 people who watched her by the tree where Bobbi Bear runs a weekly HIV clinic.

Poet Maya Angelou is inviting fans of Michael Jackson to be represented in a pointillism portrait of the late singer, who died almost a year ago.


Angelou met Monday at her home in North Carolina with artist David Ilan, who is putting together the tribute. Ilan placed a dot representing Angelou in the heart area on the portrait.


Ilan says he hopes one million people will each ask through a website to be represented by one of the free dots.

So far, the portrait has 250,000 dots, representing fans in 180 countries. Pointillism is an art technique in which small dots are used to form an image.

(Source AP)

Rapper Lil Wayne could avoid jail time in Arizona on drug and weapon charges after entering a plea agreement with prosecutors.


During a change of plea hearing Friday in which he appeared via video from a New York jail, the 27-year-old Grammy winner pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous drug.


The charge stems from an incident in January 2008 in which his tour bus was stopped at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Arizona. Authorities say they found cocaine, Ecstasy and a handgun on the tour bus.


Prosecutors say the rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, is scheduled to be sentenced June 30 and could receive 36 months of probation.

He’s currently serving an eight-month jail term in New York after pleading guilty last October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon.

(Source AP)

In trouble again, rapper Lil’ Wayne is trying to avoid more jail time in Arizona on drug charges after making a plea deal with Yuma County prosecutors.

On Friday, the rapper videoed in from a New York jail and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous drug in January 2008.

U.S. Border Patrol stopped his tour bus at a checkpoint 78 miles from Yuma. According to reports, cocaine, ecstasy, and a gun were found on the bus. Wayne is facing 36 months of probation and possible jail time. He is currently serving an eight-month sentence in New York for a weapons charge.

Fat Joe was detained by police in Madison, Wisconsin Sunday night after a 33-year-old woman accused the rapper and his entourage of sexually assaulting her inside a Cadillac limo.

Citing the Madison police department, TMZ.com reports that the woman alleges the assault happened after the artist — real name Joseph Cartagena — performed at a concert at The Orpheum Theater last night.

According to police, the woman claims, “shortly after the concert had concluded … [she] found herself inside of a Cadillac limousine with Joseph Cartagena and other male subjects all with the destination of a hotel located on Madison’s west side.”

Cops tell TMZ Fat Joe was detained for questioning — but was not arrested. He was released this morning — sometime before 7 a.m.

So far, no arrests have been made and police say the investigation is ongoing.

Jaleel White, best known for his TV role Steve Urkel, called Detroit’s WJLB to promote the first ever DVD release of “Family Matters” with COCO, Foolish and Mr. Chase In The Morning — but got more than he bargained for when they began questioning his sexuality and rumored relationship with former NBA player Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

The jocks said they heard rumors that Jaleel and Penny Hardaway were once secret lovers, and even lived together at one time. But when Foolish said he heard Jaleel and Penny were “roommates” Jaleel emphatically said, “Naaaah man, I wasn’t ever no damn roommates with Penny Hardaway.”

Mr. Chase was more blunt – stating, “We heard you guys were buTT-ddies!”

Jaleel said Penny was like a “big brother” to him, and compared their relationship to that of LeBron James and rapper Drake. He said, “If you see Drake and LeBron do you think they’re gay? It’s like… Get outta here man, that’s crazy.”

He went on to say that the gay rumors don’t really bother him because, “You’re not successful unless somebody thinks you’re gay.”

Foolish also asked him about the picture below that appears to be the actor in some Applebottom jeans. Jaleel said that it’s not him.

Porn star Devon James filed legal papers in Florida Thursday hoping to prove that Tiger Woods is the father of her 9-year-old son.

James, whose real name is Melinda Janette, asked a judge to “establish paternity” after TMZ.com reported Thursday that a 2001 DNA test done on her son proved another man was his father.

The TMZ account is “false,” a source close to the 29-year-old told the New York Daily News. “The DNA test done in 2001 was on a man who is a white guy, a complete white guy. His name is Matt. The test showed he is not the father, and Tiger has never taken a DNA test.”

There was no comment from Woods, who is competing at Pebble Beach, Calif., in the U.S. Open.

James claims she was 19 and working on a Christian charity project in Hawaii when she hooked up with Woods. “She became pregnant, but she decided not to tell Tiger,” the source said.

James claims she told Woods years later about their love child, Austin, when she was working as an escort and allegedly hooked up with him again for a “dirty” threesome, which earned her and the other gal $2,000 a piece.

“She and Tiger both recognized each other,” the source said. Woods “was huge by then; he was married. Devon was afraid he would take her son away.”

James made no mention of Austin in March when she joined dozens of women who claimed to have slept with Tiger. James’ mother, Sandra Brinling, later called her daughter a “pathological liar” who was trying to squeeze Woods for money.

The man who made the world stand up and understand what the black community meant about racial profiling with his song “Ridin’ Dirty” has made a decision to let his $2 million dollar home go back on the market.

The media has painted a picture of poverty and mishandled funds by the rapper, but he couldn’t be further from that.

According to AOL’s Housing Watch, the rapper born Hakeem Seriki, has been spending his time taking care of business.

Something that a lot of celebrities don’t spend time taking care of once the money starts rolling in.

But, Seriki happens to own a record label called Chamilitary Entertainment and he co-owns a dealership in Houston called Fly Rydes, along with a tour bus company. He’s involved in a project with Quincy Jones as well.

The more than 7,000 square foot home was too much house for someone who is never enjoying the home.

In addition to that, the house had the largest payment of all of his properties.

When you finished applauding him, read here to find out more about his finances…that appear to be in tact. Or you can listen to him in his own words.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper said Tuesday that he still hadn’t heard from BP after his attack on the company for failing to make its representatives available to talk about the Gulf oil spill on his nightly newscast.


On Monday night’s show, Cooper took the unusual step of playing tape of 14 different nights in which he told viewers that the company had either not responded to requests for interviews or declined. He said the company failed the test of transparency and its officials don’t like to be asked tough questions.


“It’s easy for me to kind of smile about this and almost kind of make a joke about it,” Cooper said on the air. “But it’s not a joking matter.”


BP has run into some trouble with the media during the nearly two-month oil spill, including reporters who have complained about restricted access to workers cleaning up the oil or areas affected by the spill.


Cooper’s harsh words were noteworthy, particularly given a lack of complaints from other networks. They left him walking a thin line between informing his viewers about BP’s unwillingness to answer questions on his newscast or appearing petulant that he’s not getting guests.
“I don’t yell at people,” Cooper said Tuesday. “I’m not trying to embarrass anybody. I think they just need to be held accountable for the public statements.

I think they’ll get a lot tougher questions Thursday on Capitol Hill than they would on my program, but it’s their right to pick and choose.”


BP representatives did not immediately return messages for comment on Cooper left by phone and e-mail.


BP Managing Director Bob Dudley did appear on Cooper’s program on May 19.

Cooper said he had not heard whether the company had been unhappy with the interview, although he noted that he had repeated questions that he did not feel Dudley answered at first.


He said the company had fibbed about the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico and should be asked to explain contradictory statements.

(Source: AP)

One of Tiger Woods’ mistresses is now claiming that he fathered her secret love child.

Porn star and escort Devon James tells RadarOnline.com that the golfer is the father of her son, who was born in early 2001, before Woods and Elin Nordegren were married.

A source said James told him he was the father in 2006, when she claims they reconnected.

“She says Tiger is the father of her child,” one source told RadarOnline.com. “And she’s insistent about it.”

James claimed to have had a two-and-a-half year affair with Tiger after he paid her and another woman $2,000 each for a “two-girl party.”

Yet it wasn’t until a chance encounter with Woods, six years later, that the Florida woman told Woods that she believed her son was his, according to the source.

Tiger has not taken or been asked to take a paternity test, the Web site reported.

Randy Jackson, brother of the late pop legend Michael Jackson, was hospitalized Tuesday in Southern California, a report carried by The Associated Press (AP), stated.

The 48 year-old Jackson reportedly experienced chest pains around noon on Tuesday and was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena

According to the AP source, the doctors at the hospital thought it was a mild heart attack.

On Monday, Randy Jackson was in court with his family for a hearing in the involuntary manslaughter case of Dr. Conrad Murray who is accused in connection with Michael Jackson's death. Randy Jackson arrived after everyone else and stopped to hug his parents, his brothers and sister LaToya before the hearing began.

Last week, he made an appearance on CNN's "Newsroom" and expressed the opinion that Murray should be charged with first-degree murder. He also said he thought others were implicated in Michael's death.

In a series of posts on Twitter in the last few weeks, Randy Jackson said he had succeeded in stopping an unapproved tribute show to Michael in Rome which had been scheduled on June 25, the anniversary of his death.

He said he also had been talking to officials at Forest Lawn Glendale in an effort to have fans admitted to the area near Jackson's tomb on the anniversary.

He said in his posts that the fans had been a great source of comfort to him.

"At times, I'm sad & broken," he tweeted. "But ur supprt helps 2 encourage me and fuel my motivation 2 continue this fight 4 truth&justice."

Joe Jackson is now blaming his estranged wife Katherine for the death of their son Michael Jackson, saying she could’ve done more to intervene when it appeared he was ailing in the months leading up to his death last June.

Speaking to the tabloid News of the World, Joe explained that he told Katherine that Michael was “looking kinda funny and frail” and wanted her to help him, but she refused.

“She didn’t want to do that because she was afraid she was invading his privacy,” he claims.

He added that, after the King of Pop’s death, he scolded his wife. “I said this would have never happened if you had went and been with him.”

Meanwhile, Katherine’s lawyers are coming to her defense in the press.

“The world knows that Mrs. Jackson has always been a loving mother and grandmother, and that she and Michael had a very special relationship,” her lawyer, Adam Streisand, tells TMZ, adding, “The world also knows who Joe Jackson is and he seems bent on never letting us forget.”

Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for the Jackson estate, also defended Michael’s mother. “The inference by Joe Jackson that Mrs. Jackson was in any way responsible for Michael’s death is preposterous.

Katherine Jackson was a supportive and loving mother throughout Michael’s life. His love and respect for her is reflected in his estate plan.”

Intl news

The official cause of death for Gary Coleman was a fall, according to a newly released death certificate.

Chronic renal failure was also listed as a contributing factor to the actor’s death, which was officially recorded as an accident, reports UsWeekly.com.

An autopsy was completed last week.

The newly-released death certificate also lists Shannon Price as Coleman’s spouse, although they were technically divorced at the time of Coleman’s death, on May 28 at age 42.

UsMagazine.com previously reported that Coleman underwent an intense four-hour dialysis treatment hours before he hit his head, which lead to his brain hemorrhage.

Dennis Rodman’s estranged wife Michelle is suing the former NBA star for over a quarter million dollars worth of child support she claims he never paid.

According to the documents filed in Orange County Superior Court, D-Rod owes $305,244.67 in child support for his two children.

The former basketball star was last ordered to fork over $50,000 a month, plus an additional $1,083 in spousal support, but Michelle claims he’s delinquent on those payments.

Dennis’ rep tells TMZ, Rodman has already made several child support payments “and we intend on clearing up any discrepancy in that regard.”

T-Pain is reportedly being sued by singer Sara Stokes from Diddy’s MTV series “Making the Band” after he allegedly failed to credit her for a song she wrote for Jennifer Hudson.

Stokes claimed that she co-wrote Hudson’s track “What’s Wrong (Go Away)’ with the Auto-Tuned rapper, whose real name is Faheem Najm. The song appeared on J-Hud’s self-titled debut in 2008.

“The exploitation of musicians is a story as old as the music and recording industry itself,” said Stokes’ lawyer, according to AllHipHop.com.

“Unfortunately, too often in today’s popular music culture, the fame and notoriety of some performers may eclipse the considerable contributions and integrity of developing artists/writers, often at the expense of the legal and moral rights of lesser known co-authors.”

The attorney added: “Only slight deviations in the lyrics exist between Stokes’s version and the released version, whereas the whole musical composition is the exact same on which Stokes collaborated with Najm.”

Stokes is reportedly seeking royalty payments as well as a co-writing credit and legal fees.

A Lil Kim concert in Vermont was cut short last week after police were called to break up a drunken brawl outside the venue.


The rapper was performing at the Higher Ground nightclub last Wednesday as part of her U.S. tour when a fight erupted just outside of the club. Vermont State Police rolled through and shut it down shortly after midnight.

Cops managed to put an end to the chaos, which led to one person being arrested and cited on suspicion of drink driving, reports AllHipHop.com.

New Orleans rapper Juvenile has been accused of slapping a woman at a New York City nightspot.

According to popular gossip website Bossip, Juvenile was at the New York City club Amnesia last night, when a rowdy member of his entourage got into an altercation with a woman at the bar.

When asked by the civilian to refrain from "waving his arms," the entourage member began to argue.

Juvenile then entered the fray, threatening the woman, saying "B----, you better shut the f--- up before I smack you," according to Bossip's source.

The woman responded by challenging him and Juve allegedly "backhanded her so hard her contact fell out." The rapper and his entourage were then escorted from the club.

A representative for Juvenile has confirmed that an incident did take place between a woman and a member of Juve's entourage, but that "Juvenile was not around at the time the situation occurred."

Juvenile was in the news back in February, when he was arrested for possession of marijuana. He is currently working on his comeback album 'Beast Mode,' scheduled for a 2010 release

Kanye West's car was accidentally driven into a house in Honolulu over the weekend, though the Grammy-winning rapper/producer does not appear to have been involved.

According to reports, Kanye's black Porsche Panamera was driven directly into a multi-million dollar house at 4AM on Saturday morning, destroying the garage wall of the house.

Chris Cooper, a Honolulu resident who lives across the street, was awakened by the accident, which he described as "just a tremendous crash. As if a small building were coming down."

Apparently, the car missed a right turn, driving straight into the house instead, which is currently in construction, and thankfully unoccupied.

Though the car is registered to Kanye, who is currently recording his fifth album 'Good Ass Job,' in Hawaii, the controversial artist was not on the island at the time of the wreck.

Sources claim that a cousin of Kanye's was given permission to drive the Porsche, and according to witnesses at the scene, three men were seen fleeing the accident.

The car has been reported stolen, but at this time Kanye has yet to release a statement regarding the incident.

The Manchester Police have charged a man attached to the popular televised Columbian Trade Show who allegedly molested a 10-year-old boy in the town of Mandeville over the weekend.

George Miguel Silvera Santos, 23, a Dominican national has been charged with gross indecency.

Mr. Santos was approached in a popular fast food restaurant by the 10 year old asking for money.

He reportedly gave the boy $500 and escorted him to the bathroom.

The restaurant's security guard became suspicious and went to investigate and reportedly saw Mr. Carlos in a compromising position with the child.

The boy was sent for medical examination and then handed over to his mother.

A boisterous crowd gathered outside the police station in the town to voice their displeasure.

Since the incident, the Colombians have become concerned about their safety but police say that they will beef up their presence at the show's location in the town to quell these concerns.

According to gossip site MediaTakeOut.com actress Fran Drescher has finally come clean, and revealed that her former husband, to whom she was married for 21 years, is gay.

Fran is probably best known for playing Fran Fine on the 1990s TV series The Nanny. Well in this week’s issue of In Touch Weekly, she told them that he husband Peter Marc Jacobson came out to her after the two split in 1999.

But get this. Fran GOT OVER IT and stayed friends with dude. Here’s an excerpt from the report:


The former couple created The Nanny together, still work on entertainment projects, and remain "the best of friends."

"We love each other dearly," she says. "We have even fixed each other up - I more successfully than him, by the way.

"Peter and I feel so blessed to have met each other and to still have a caring, loving relationship. Love is what we’re all about."

Fran . . . child . . . there ain't that much LOVE IN THE WORLD. He'd have caught a BULLET if that was our hubby . .. .

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As Nick Cannon continues to neither confirm nor deny that his wife Mariah Carey is pregnant, it hasn’t stopped the tabloids moving full steam ahead on the story.

The National Enquirer reported today that the couple is not only expecting, but Mariah is carrying twins.


An insider tells the publication, “Mariah is gushing that she’s going to have twins. Mariah and Nick both want a big family. And Carey has already begun to scale back her work commitments to prepare for motherhood, starting with Perry’s film.

Baby rumors have been following the Cannons since they got married two years ago, but talk went into overdrive after suddenly pulling out of Tyler Perry’s upcoming movie, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.”

The source adds, “Mariah told her handlers that she’s taking an unofficial family time break, and she’s keeping her work load light for the rest of the year.”

Last year, the couple hired top designer Kenneth Bordewick to help style a nursery for the new Los Angeles-area home Carey and Cannon purchased.

Gary Coleman's ex-wife had a passion ... for getting pampered and spending money in Las Vegas -- and now she's begging Gary's fans to help her with his funeral costs.

In an interview shot the day after Gary's death -- and obtained by TMZ -- Shannon Price talks an awful lot about money ... bragging that she "bought high-end stuff" during trips to Vegas.

Price also says she's hard up for cash now because Gary couldn't get life insurance -- due to his kidney condition.

Last week we reported that international minister Juanita Bynum has been getting close with her colleague Matthew Knowles.


The pair have been seen working close lately and rumors began to circulate the two were getting serious and were flirting with the idea of dating.

Well, in response to the report, Knowles’ Music World Entertainment submitted to EURweb a statement to nullify the false claims. The statement flatly says the two are not dating and their relationship is strictly professionals.

Bynum recently signed a management contract with Knowles’ company, Music World Entertainment, “which also includes a joint venture recording agreement between Music World and her record label Son Flower Records.” Her newest single, “Soul Cry (Oh Oh Oh)” from her upcoming album, “The Diary of Juanita Bynum” is set to release June 22.

Canadian singer Celine Dion is 14 weeks pregnant with twins, CNN television reported Monday.


The television network said Dion, 42, and her husband-manager Rene Angelil, 68, will find out next month the gender of their twins.


The pregnancy was the result of Dion’s sixth in-vitro fertilization attempt, according to the report, which cited Dion’s spokeswoman Kim Jakwerth.


Dion turned to acupuncture therapy to improve her chances of getting pregnant, the report said. Angelil is the father.


The couple already has a nine-year-old son, Rene-Charles.
Dion, a five-time Grammy winner, will return to Las Vegas, Nevada, next March to begin a three-year residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

(Source: AFP)

Glenn Beck, the nationally recognized a-hole, who’s always telling his opponents to “leave the families alone,” went into hypocrite mode on Friday morning and spent most of his radio program mocking and attacking the intelligence of President Obama’s 11-year-old daughter, Malia, reports Media Matters (scroll down to listen to the audio and/or read transcript).


On Thursday, at his press conference, President Obama said that Malia asked him of the Gulf oil spill: “Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?”
Beck, like the idiot/child he is, mockingly affected Malia’s voice … asking “Daddy” why he “hates black people so much.

”
Then he attacked Malia’s intelligence, saying:
“That’s the level of their education, that they’re coming to — they’re coming to Daddy and saying, ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’

“
The routine continued for several minutes, as Beck and his co-hosts touched on a variety of topics and laughed the entire time, all of it at the expense of an 11-year-old girl.


Transcript
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, did you plug the hole yet? Daddy?

PAT GRAY (co-host): (imitating Obama) No I didn’t, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy, I know you’re better than [unintelligible]

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Mm-hmm, big country.

BECK: (imitating Malia) And I was wondering if you’ve plugged that hole yet.

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Honey, not yet.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why not, daddy? But daddy–

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not time yet, honey. Hasn’t done enough damage.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not enough damage yet, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah?

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why do you hate black people so much?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) I’m part white, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) What?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) What?

BECK: (imitating Malia) What’d you say?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Excuse me?

BECK: (laughing) This is such a ridiculous — this is such a ridiculous thing that his daughter– (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: It’s so stupid.

BECK: How old is his daughter? Like, thirteen?

GRAY: Well, one of them’s, I think, thirteen, one’s eleven, or something.

BECK: “Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?” Is that’s their — that’s the level of their education, that they’re coming to — they’re coming to daddy and saying ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’ ” Plug the hole!

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yes, I was doing some deep-sea diving yesterday, and–

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I was doing–

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why–

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, honey, I’m–

BECK (imitating Malia) Why, why, why, why, do you still let the polar bears die? Daddy, why do you still let Sarah Palin destroy the environment? Why are — Daddy, why don’t you just put her in some sort of a camp?

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Gary Coleman, the adorable, pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood’s D-list, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42.


Coleman was taken off life support and died with family and friends at his side, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said.

Best remembered for “Diff’rent Strokes” character Arnold Jackson and his “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?” catchphrase,
Coleman suffered the brain hemorrhage Wednesday at his home in Utah.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s a sad day,” said Todd Bridges, who played Coleman’s older brother, Willis, on “Diff’rent Strokes.”

“Diff’rent Strokes” debuted on NBC in 1978 and drew most of its laughs from Coleman, then a tiny 10-year-old with sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing.

He played the younger of two African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man. Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up.

Coleman’s short stature added to his child-star charm but stemmed from a serious health problem, kidney failure.

After “Diff’rent Strokes” was canceled, Coleman continued to get credits for TV guest shotss, but he never regained more than a shadow of his old popularity
Coleman was among 135 candidates who ran in California’s bizarre 2003 recall election. In a 1993 television interview, he said he had twice tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills.

He remained estranged from his parents, Sue and Willie Coleman, who said they learned about his hospitalization and death from media reports.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Gary Coleman's family is asking fans to pray for the former child television star, who is in critical condition at a Utah hospital suffering from what they call a "serious medical problem."

Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said Friday morning that Coleman remains in critical condition, but said she couldn't release any other details.

The 42-year-old actor was admitted to the Provo hospital on Wednesday. He has lived in Utah since 2005.

He's best known for his stint on TV's "Diff'rent Strokes," which aired from 1978 to 1986.

Free

Alicia Keys is in a motherhood state of mind: She’s pregnant with her first child, from The Associated Press reports.


The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer has been dating producer Swizz Beatz, who has written hits for Beyonce, Jay-Z and others.

They’re engaged to be married at a private ceremony later this year.
Representatives for the couple confirmed the news Thursday night.


Keys last year teamed up with Jay-Z for a hit song about New York called “Empire State of Mind.”

She’s among a string of international artists slated to perform at a June 10 concert to mark the start of the World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa.


Beatz has been married before and has two sons.

While Tyler Perry is busy touring with his new stage show (Madea's Big Happy Family), someone stole his credit card number and was racking up charges left and right. In the end, the thief stole charged a total of $28,492.22 -- mostly in airline tickets.

In a post on his blog, Tyler wrote: "Some idiot stole my credit card number. Can you believe that? Take a look at all the stuff they charged. If you know any of these people, call the police."

Here are the charges:


4/25/10 - Southwest Airlines - M. Woods (Burbank-Las Vegas) - $3.00

4/25/10 - Southwest Airlines - M. Woods (Burbank-Las Vegas) - $158.70

4/28/10 - Best Buy - $734.00

4/29/10 - Lowe's (Greenville) - $6761.95

4/30/10 - Delta Airlines - S. Archer (NY/JFK-Las Vegas) - $1022.70

4/30/10 - Delta Airlines - Q. Hinton (NY/JFK-Las Vegas) - $1022.70

4/30/10 - Lowe's (Greenville) - $7278.70

5/1/10 - Southwest Airlines - Andre B. (Burbank-Las Vegas) - $158.70

5/1/10 - Southwest Airlines - Justin S. (Burbank-Las Vegas) - $158.70

5/1/10 - Delta Airlines Andre B. (Las Vegas-Los Angeles) - $573.70

5/1/10 - Delta Airlines Justin S. (Las Vegas-Los Angeles) - $573.70

5/1/10 - Fandango.com (movie tickets) - $120.00

5/1/10 - AMC Theatre (North Decatur) - $105.00

5/1/10 - Lowe's (Greenville) - $7000.00

5/1/10 - Abercrombie.com (clothing) - $500.00

5/2/10 - SVM Prepaid Card (retail) - $317.45

5/3/10 - Spirit Airlines - Q. Hinton (Ft. Lauderdale-NY/LGA) - $660.42

5/3/10 - Spirit Airlines - Q. Hinton (Ft. Lauderdale-NY/LGA) - $250.00

5/3/10 - Toys R Us (King of Prussia) - $505.00

5/3/10 - Amex Gift Card - $192.80

5/3/10 - Fandango.com (movie tickets) - $195.00

5/4/10 - Delta Airlines - P. Smith (Chicago-Atlanta) - $312.70 - REFUNDED BY DELTA (caught before use)

5/4/10 - Delta Airlines - P. Smith (Chicago-Atlanta) - $312.70 - REFUNDED BY DELTA (caught before use)

5/4/10 - Delta Airlines - Jason S. (Chicago-Atlanta) - $312.70 - REFUNDED BY DELTA (caught before use)

5/4/10 - Delta Airlines - John H. (Chicago-Atlanta) - $312.70 - REFUNDED BY DELTA (caught before use)

5/4/10 - Express.com (clothing) - $200.00

Ultimately, all of these monies will be refunded back to Tyler's credit card. The credit card company will go after the culprit(s).

Mathew Knowles is on the prowl!!!

We’re hearing that Bey’s dad has yet another girlfriend, just months after becoming a dad with girlfriend Alexsandra Wright.

Yes, you read right, Mathew is supposedly dating TV evangelist Juanita Bynum!!

Apparently Mathew and Juanita have been friends for years and she has counseled him in the past through his hardships.

According to MediaTakeOut.com the two are, “exploring taking their friendship further.”

Mathew recently became Juanita’s manager…guess he wants to keep it all in the family.

A top Malawian daily warned Friday the maximum 14-year jail sentence with hard labour handed down to a gay couple was too harsh and portrayed Malawi as a cruel nation, a report carried by the AFP said.


“Our worry is the message this sentence is sending, considering that we are in a democratic society where everyone is supposed to enjoy rights enshrined in the constitution,” said an editorial in the independent Nation newspaper.


“There is something grossly wrong” the paper said.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were sentenced Thursday after being convicted of sodomy for holding the southern African country’s first same-sex wedding in December.


Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and most other African countries.
The Nation described Chimbalanga, 20, and Monjeza, 26, as “harmless citizens who committed a crime supposedly in the confines of their privacy”.


In South Africa, the only African nation to legalise same-sex marriage, newspapers said the ruling posed a challenge to the country’s own supposed tolerance.


The Times newspaper said protection of gay rights did not preclude lesbians being raped and gay men beaten up in South Africa, in an editorial headlined “Malawi gay trial a blow to human rights in Africa”.


“Sovereign rights aside, we should be talking about respecting and upholding a human rights culture that should prevail irrespective of a country’s sovereignty,” it said.

The 70-year-old wife of a 1970s heroin dealer who inspired the movie “American Gangster” has been arrested after officials said she tried to sell 2 kilograms (4 pounds) of cocaine at a hotel in Puerto Rico, an Associated Press report stated..


Julianna Farrait, appeared Thursday in court and did not say anything except to request that the judge speak to her in Spanish. She is charged with conspiracy to violate narcotics law, and has not yet entered a plea.


Farrait is married to Frank Lucas, the infamous Harlem heroin dealer who was arrested in January 1975 at his New Jersey home, where police seized more than half a million dollars. Lucas was convicted that year and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released in 1991.
Farrait served five years in that case.


Lucas was played by actor Denzel Washington in the 2007 film by Ridley Scott. Farrait was played by Puerto Rican actress Lymari Nadal, who is married to actor Edward James Olmos.


Federal agents in New York had been following Farrait since February 2009 with help from an informant, according to the complaint.
In a May 2008 interview with local newspaper Primera Hora, Farrait was quoted as saying that she was always attracted to danger.


She told the newspaper that she left Puerto Rico in 1969 for New York, where she met Lucas at a nightclub. She said she did not find out about his drug deals until a year later, and that she left him one time after fighting about it.


Farrait also said she missed taking trips and having diamonds and a Mercedes Benz.


“Those who say that money is not important are lying,” she was quoted as saying. “People say that money does not buy happiness. It doesn’t?”

O Habits: 40 Success Habits of Oprah Winfrey And The One Bad Habit She Needs To Stop (Morgan James Publishing) is the hot new book out this summer about American TV talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey.

The paperback is written by a Caribbean author, Montserrat attorney-at-law Warren Cassell.

He specialises in intellectual property, trademarks and entertainment law, and in this smooth flowing and delicious read, he showcases the winning ways of Oprah.


“The book is really a road map to success", Cassell recently told Devon Hunter on Jamaica’s Hot 102 Radio show Reasoning.


He admits he gets hounded daily by readers who want to know what is that one small imperfection that Oprah needs to correct.


“For that one bad habit and a lot more, readers can go to the web site Ohabits.com,” he quipped.

An Indonesian filmmaker said Monday that his upcoming movie about the childhood of President Barack Obama will portray how the diversity of Jakarta influenced the future president, a report on the Associated Pres said.


Obama lived in the city with his mother and Indonesian stepfather from 1967 to 1971.


Director Damien Dematra is basing his movie on a fictionalized account of Obama’s childhood that he published earlier this year, using interviews with neighbors and friends of Obama and his family.

The movie will be in both English and the Indonesian language.


“We want to show the world that Obama lived in Indonesia’s pluralistic environment, with different religions and races, and his experiences of pluralism led him to become a great man,” Dematra said.


“Obama Anak Menteng” (“Obama, the Menteng Kid”) began shooting last week in the west Java city of Bandung, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of Jakarta.


Dematra said parts of Bandung look similar to Jakarta in the 1970s, particularly Menteng, the upscale neighborhood where Obama lived.


A 12-year-old American, Hasan Faruq Ali, plays the title role. Ali, born in New Mexico, has lived in Jakarta for years with his parents, who are members of a popular musical group.


“He speaks fluent English, but not too fluent in Bahasa Indonesia,” Dematra said of Ali. “It fits with Obama’s character as a boy.”
Dematra said some former neighbors were hired as consultants to ensure the actor’s mannerisms matched the young Obama’s.


British model Clara Lachelle plays Obama’s late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who moved with her 7-year-old son to Indonesia after she married her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, whom she met when they were studying at the University of Hawaii.


Obama’s half-sister, Maya, was born in Indonesia, but after four years Dunham sent Obama back to Hawaii, where he lived with his maternal grandparents and attended school.


Dematra said the 100-minute film will be screened in Indonesian cinemas by June 17, in time for Obama’s expected visit to Indonesia.
He hopes the president will watch the movie but said it was not made just for Obama.


“This film is dedicated to Indonesian children,” Dematra said. “I hope this film will inspire children to achieve their dreams.”

Rapper Lil Wayne’s efforts to keep up the beat behind bars have gotten him in trouble in jail, an official said Thursday.


The Grammy Award-winning rapper faces potential discipline after jail officers found a charger and headphones for a digital music player stashed in a potato chip bag in his cell Monday, city Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello said.

Lil Wayne is serving a yearlong sentence after pleading guilty to a gun charge.
The items are considered contraband, as inmates can listen to music only on radios and headphones sold at the jail commissary. Lil Wayne’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, had no immediate comment Thursday.


Officers said the music player itself turned up in another inmate’s nearby cell.

Both men were charged with infractions that aren’t crimes and will be subject to a jail disciplinary process, not a court. Punishments can include being segregated from other inmates.


Lil Wayne began serving his term in March in the city’s Rikers Island jail complex. He pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he had a loaded semiautomatic gun on his bus in 2007.

Rihanna is certainly enjoying the party life. Imagien buying over US$30,000 on booze for herself and her entourage. The young singer’s lifestyle caught up with her and she passed out.

There are photos on the internet of her lying against a wall dead to the world. Really now, she needs to clean up her act.

Rapper Bow Wow is claiming that the screen cap of a tweet he reportedly sent asking one of his followers for oral sex is actually a fake image that has been Photoshopped.


It all started with reports that the rapper was allegedly attempting to send a direct message to one of his fans asking for some “dome,” which is slang for oral sex. But instead, the tweet went to all 430,000 of his followers – some of whom saved a screen cap of the message, according to Allhiphop.com.

The tweet stated: “How much for some dome? How far are you from Richmond?” [See video below.] According to Bow Wow, the message is a doctored Photoshop image.


“The tweet that was posted was photo shopped. Just recently I did an interview on how I never pay for sex [Ozone's Sex issue], so I guess someone felt the need to write some bogus tweet before my original tweet,” Bow Wow told AllHipHop.com in a statement.

“I have damn near 500,000 followers on Twitter. If I were to tweet such foolishness it would have been all over Twitter in a matter of seconds.

I don’t know why people feel the need to try to s**t on my name or what I represent. All I want to do is please my fans, make more millions, make sure my family is straight and have fun.”


In related news, “Cuff Ur Chick” — a single featuring Fabolous and Drake from Bow Wow’s new album — leaked today (May 12) and his Cash Money Records debut has been pushed back as a result.

“My album not coming til next year!! I was holding on to that record. It was not suppose to drop. That was my dream project. F**K!” the rapper tweeted.

“[The] song was for my fans man! Any song could have leaked. But not that one. That was gone be surprise for yall. A yr [year] early? F**king yr early?”


The rapper, according to Allhiphop.com, was dumbfounded as to why someone would doctor up one of his tweets, leak his music and spread lies, just to make him look bad.


“I’ve never done nothing to no one. I don’t beef with n***as, I don’t waste time blogging about people, I just make hit movies, and #1 records,” Bow Wow told AllHipHop.com.

“I don’t know what they are set out to do but it wont work against someone who knows the game and has been successful at it for the past 10 years.

No matter how much you dislike me you cant take away that I’ve sold 10 million albums, 6 arena tours, and I’m still here.

I came out in 2000, I cant name u 5 artist who are still around from that time, but I am. I’m only 23 the best has yet to come.”

Earlier this week, R&B singer Ciara was celebrating a friend’s birthday in Los Angeles when neighbors did not seem to appreciate the festivities. The police shut down the party, but that didn’t stop the group from celebrating a little more.

The party found a nearby parking lot to keep the festivities going. Although Ciara thought it was a great time to play some of her new music, nearby residents didn’t think so. Police came back around and shut the whole thing down for good.

She captured the whole night on her Twitter page:

“Tonight was sooo much fun!! I originally had plans to go to the Victoria Secret party, but that changed last minute and I headed to celebrate my friend’s birthday party!

It was sooo much fun, and the funny thing to top it off was we all decided to go to a parking lot and play a few of the newest songs I recorded and we realized we had the music just a little too loud because the police came by and said they had received reports of loud music!!

But thank God we had the music down in time, and there was no trouble with the po po.”

But that’s not all. The singer used her girly charm to win over the officers and ended up snapping a few pics with them.

She recently released two songs for her upcoming album, “Ride” and “Basic Instinct.” The album is due to release later this year.

LOS ANGELES – A gay rights group is demanding an apology from Newsweek magazine for a recent story that the group says suggested gay actors can't play straight characters, according to an Associated Press story.

"An actor's personal life should not be a factor in their believability in a role," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

"That would be tantamount to audiences not buying Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl as lovers in their upcoming film 'Killers' because the two are happily married to different people in real life."

GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro said the magazine has not offered the apology sought by the group, but that the topic was discussed with Barrios and Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Milk," during a Q&A with Newsweek on Wednesday. He said he believed that discussion would be published in the next issue.

Some Hollywood stars blasted the magazine and writer Ramin Setoodeh for an April 26 story that said it was OK for straight actors to play gay roles, but "it's rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse."

In the story, Setoodeh criticized Sean Hayes' latest leading-man performance on Broadway, writing that the openly gay actor "comes off as wooden and insincere, like he's trying to hide something, which of course he is."

Lady Gaga parodies and tributes abound on the Interweb--some funny, some serious, some good, some not-so-good. But the school recital performance of "Paparazzi" by boy wonder Greyson Michael Chance just might be the best yet.

As the teacher emceeing the Edmond's Sixth Grade Festival says at the end of Greyson's stunning piano performance, this mega-talented kid could even "teach Lady Gaga a lesson.".

Greyson is bona fide prodigy (as his lovely original piano compositions "Stars" and "Broken Hearts" on his YouTube channel demonstrate), and his talents are being celebrated on a national scale now that his "Paparazzi" video--in which he bangs out the piano ballad while his classmates look on in shock and awe, mouths agape--has gone viral.

As of this writing, the video has gotten more than 5,254,742 views so far, and he's even been invited to perform on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" today.

BERLIN, May 11, 2010 (AFP) - Heavily pregnant supermodel Claudia Schiffer is poised to appear naked on the cover of Germany’s Vogue magazine, snapped by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, the publication said Tuesday.


Schiffer, 39, will be proudly showing off her bump in the magazine’s June issue, which hits newsstands on Wednesday. She is expecting her third child “in a matter of days,” Vogue said.


“There are probably not many other women who have been photographed as often as Claudia. But she has never been seen in such a different way,” said the magazine’s editor, Christiane Arp.


Schiffer, who first graced the cover of German Vogue nearly 20 years ago and has appeared 11 times since, said: “It was important to show how beautiful womanhood is.”


The pose bears a striking resemblance to a controversial edition of Vanity Fair in 1991 when Hollywood film star Demi Moore, then seven months pregnant, appeared nude.


Lagerfeld himself is no stranger to controversy, making the news recently for saying that no one wanted to see “curvy” models, after a prominent German women’s magazine said it would publish only pictures of “real women.”

According to an Associated Press exclusive story, Playboy readers who can only imagine what it would look like if a nude centerfold jumped right off the page are getting new specs to help them see into Hef’s world.


The magazine’s June edition hits newsstands Friday equipped with 3-D glasses. Now the toy that has kids dodging dragons, meatballs and tall blue aliens at the movies will help adults focus on what is, at first glance, a very blurry Playmate of the Year.


“What would people most like to see in 3-D?” asked Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. “Probably a naked lady.”


Hefner makes no secret of hoping to capitalize on the popularity of 3-D movies such as “Avatar” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” even as he makes no secret of not quite getting what all the fuss is about.


“I’m not a huge enthusiast of 3-D,” he said in a telephone interview. “I leave real life to go to the movies and 2-D is fine with me.”
Playboy hopes that the issue featuring centerfold Hope Dworaczyk in 3-D also reminds people that for all the infatuation with the Internet, there is nothing quite like having a magazine in your hands.


“People want things that last and have meaning,” he said.
The thought hadn’t occurred to Hefner. But, now that you mention it:
“This particular picture is one example of how books and magazines are different (than computer images),” he said. “You can hold it in your hands, save them, and as Dad used to, put them under the mattress.”

Lena Horne, the enchanting jazz singer and actress who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, died Sunday. She was 92.


Horne died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Gloria Chin. Chin would not release any other details.


Horne, whose striking beauty and magnetic sex appeal often overshadowed her sultry voice, was remarkably candid about the underlying reason for her success.


“I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept,” she once said. “I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.”


In the 1940s, she was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the Copacabana nightclub and among a handful with a Hollywood contract.

In 1943, MGM Studios loaned her to 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Selina Rogers in the all-black movie musical “Stormy Weather.” Her rendition of the title song became a major hit and her signature piece.

Yardflex commentary

We are observing with alarm the closure of a few music outlets with the latest being the Liguanea based Mobile Music which is now going through a closing down sale process.


Derrick Harriott was also quoted in the story as saying he is surviving through loans from friends and a little royalty.


He feels that the authorities are not doing enough to protect the intellectual property of artistes and its main stakeholders.


It’s a sad reality and this problem is being faced the world over, but in Jamaica it is even more chronic. Bootleggers are not afraid to come out on the streets and sell the illegal stuff.

They are even now walking around with their little boom boxes and peddling their wares.


The funny thing about it is that we have observed them on the streets, DVDs and CDs spread out in front of them and police officers passing to and fro with them comfortably doing business there.


Maybe it’s that we don’t really understand the law…but shouldn’t there be some kind of respect for the cops in terms of doing illegal stuff.
It’s sad that producers and artistes invest so much in their craft and at the end of the day can’t even reap anything from it.


While we see with them too, we have to acknowledge one argument put forward by someone who supports the bootlegging business.

According to her she will buy an original CD and only like one song on it, but when she buys from the man in the streets, she gets all the number ones on one CD for a minimum cost!


It’s a vicious cycle and the sad thing is that there seems no real solution in sight, except to produce your CDs and DVDs with an anti piracy software of something.
Peace out.

By: Liz Smith

The legacy of classic soul is about to be unleashed on Toronto’s Mother’s Day revelers who are about to be graced with the high energy and first rate musicianship of the SOS Band and Ready For The World.

Both vintage icons join leading comedian Kenny Robinson and ace disc jockey Starting From Scratch, for a night of nostalgic sounds and laughter.

On May 8, 2010 starting at 8:30pm, Toronto’s Kool Haus, that is located at 132 Queens Quay, will be the place to be, where all moms will be given special honor..

“It has been sometime since we played in Toronto – I think since the 1980s,” Willie Triplet, band member of Ready For The World, told Yardflex recently; and as the group’s name implies, they are more than ready to take Toronto by storm.

Having stuck together since their inception, Ready For The World remains relevant with their collection of memorable hits – all timeless classics.

Chart topping tracks like “Oh Sheila” and “Love You Down” have become undeniable marks of success that are chiseled in the minds of all soul music enthusiasts, young and old.


In the same vein, the SOS Band has maintained a steady global following since exploding onto the scene in 1980 with their first mega hit, “Take Your Time – Do It Right” - that went platinum.

Their Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced hits, “Weekend Girl” and “Just Be Good To Me” further sealed their fate as undisputed musical greats.

Initially known as Sounds Of Success, the band’s original lead vocalist Mary Davis and trumpeter/vocalist, Abdul Ra’oof still tour with the new band after more than 20 years.


Willie Triplet attributes his band’s longevity to their being constantly active and totally in house with their writing, producing and performing all their materials.

Working together on this regular basis has a lot to do with it, he explained. “Even though individual members’ focus sometimes diverts our working together has a lot to do with it,” Willie Triplet expounded.


Hosted by the hilarious Kenny Robinson, with musical transitions by DJ Starting From Scratch, this Mother’s Day concert will be the place to be and definitely the place to take your mothers this weekend. Tickets are available at www.ticketbreak.com. Call 416-731-9696 for more information.

The Falstaff Crips and the Five Point Generals gangs which have reportedly terrorized neighborhoods in Toronto, Canada have been dealt a crippling blow by cops there.

A crackdown on the two notorious gangs which have links to the Shower Posse and allegedly operating in Toronto’s north end has resulted in more than 70 arrests and a haul of guns, drugs and diamonds, Toronto police Chief William Blair told a news conference Tuesday.


Reports on the Internet say that Staff Inspector Mike Earl told reporters that a nine-month investigation dubbed Project Corral began in August 2009 after a spiked increase in violence in the northwest area of Toronto.


Earl said the two gangs have been linked to the Shower Posse, an organization based in Jamaica which operates above the street gangs, supplying and controlling them.

More than 1,000 police officers conducted about 100 pre-dawn raids early Tuesday in Toronto and Ottawa.


They arrested 71 people and seized 19 firearms and at least $30,000 in cash, as well as body armour, vehicles and diamonds. Also seized were drugs including cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, hash oil and more than 10,000 ecstasy pills.


“(The) investigation has been successful in apprehending a significant number of individuals and has in our opinion, compromised the ability of these two very significant and dangerous street gangs to continue their criminal enterprise in Toronto,” Blair said.


Blair pointed out that the investigation uncovered more than just two local street gangs.


“We’ve also identified an international organised crime group which has tentacles into these street-level organisations and are supplying them with both firearms and guns and organising and profiting from their criminal activities,” he said.

NEW YORK — A Pakistani-born US citizen was charged Tuesday with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the botched Times Square bombing.

The government said he confessed to receiving explosives training in Pakistan.

Faisal Shahzad — the son of an air force officer in a wealthy Pakistani family — was arrested Monday night, pulled off a plane that was about to fly to the Middle East.


According to the complaint, Shahzad confessed to buying an SUV, rigging it with a homemade bomb and driving it Saturday night into Times Square, where he tried to detonate it.


Shahzad admitted to receiving bomb-making training in Waziristan, the lawless tribal region where the Pakistani Taliban operates with near impunity, but there is no mention of al-Qaida in the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada — A Grenada man with two severed human heads in a bucket walked into a precinct station and presented his haul to horrified police, authorities said Tuesday.

The 32-year-old, whose name wasn't released, was detained when he entered the Grenville station late Monday. He has yet to be charged, said police spokesman Troy Garvey.

Investigators released few details about the grisly slayings in St. Andrew parish, but said the man is a suspect. Garvey did not say if there were other suspects or a motive for the killings.

Police later found two hacked-up, headless bodies in a rural field, including the owner of a local tavern.

Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, who is also national security minister, called the beheadings an "indescribable act" that underscores the need for a "structured approach to anger management."



The beheadings have shocked islanders in the Caribbean country of 91,000 who are accustomed to crime reports of only robbery and theft.

— Source AP

Black Entertainment Television, which Sheila Crump Johnson and her husband Bob started three decades ago with $15,000 in seed money and a $500,000 investment from media mogul John Malone, made her one of wealthiest women in America.

When Viacom bought them out in 2000, Sheila and Bob pocketed $1.3 billion—making them, pre-Oprah, the nation’s first African-American billionaires.

So today she must be extremely proud of her baby, right?

“Don’t even get me started,” says the 60-year-old Johnson, who has since divorced and remarried (charmingly enough, to the Virginia circuit court judge who presided over her divorce).

“I don’t watch it. I suggest to my kids [a 20-something daughter and a college-age son] that they don’t watch it… I’m ashamed of it, if you want to know the truth.”

Johnson—who was at the Tribeca Film Festival this week for the premiere of The Other City, a searing, but ultimately hopeful documentary she produced about the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C.—says BET is making matters worse, and potentially contributing to the spread of AIDS, by promoting promiscuous, unprotected sex in raunchy late-night rap videos.

The former CBS television producer who tried to shake down David Letterman over the comic icon’s office affairs started a six-month jail term Tuesday, closing a case that opened Letterman’s behind-the-scenes behavior to public scrutiny.


Robert “Joe” Halderman, 52, didn’t speak before he was led from a Manhattan court in handcuffs to begin his jail sentence, to be followed by 1,000 hours of community service. He agreed to both when he pleaded guilty in March to attempted grand larceny.


Letterman wasn’t on hand for Halderman’s sentencing Tuesday. But throughout the six-month saga, Letterman made himself a presence in the case, if not the courtroom.


He revealed the blackmail plot — and the workplace dalliances at the heart of it — before prosecutors unveiled the case. He dispatched his lawyers to many of Halderman’s court appearances with statements in hand for the press, and Letterman himself commented during a TV appearance last week on the toll the disclosures had taken on his personal life.


Halderman, 52, admitted in March that he demanded $2 million in hush money last fall to keep from revealing personal information about Letterman.

Halderman buttressed the threat with information he’d culled from peeking at a former girlfriend’s diary, which described a relationship with Letterman, her boss, officials have said.


Besides being stung by jealousy, Halderman also was under financial pressure, his lawyer has said.

Lawyers for Halderman’s ex-wife have said in court papers that he was struggling with money in the aftermath of their divorce, and Halderman told a Letterman lawyer in a secretly taped conversation about his demand that he needed money to visit his son.


“I feel great remorse for what I have done,” Halderman said when he pleaded guilty.


The case spurred Letterman to disclose on-air that he’d had sex with women on his staff, stunning viewers, stripping away his well-guarded privacy and initially tarnishing his good-guy image.


(Source AP)

It has now been nearly a year since pop icon Michael Jackson has passed away, but that isn't going to stop someone from coming out and revealing that towards the end of Jackson's life, he had an intimate gay relationship with a man named Jason Pfeiffer.

The story was broke to the tabloid Extra. Jackson - who's sexual orientation has often been in question - was obviously a private person personally with his children and his short-lived marriages, but was often in the media spotlight prior to his death in late June 2009.

His alleged relationship with Pfeiffer, his-then assistant to his dermatologist, began in 2008 when the two allegedly met in his father’s dermatology office. Pfeiffer told Extra that the relationship was both "passionate and sexual."

"We were just sitting there and we both started to cry and I got up and went over to him and said it’s going to be OK Michael," Pfeiffer revealed to the tabloid. "We hugged, and it was kind of then that the hug was a little bit more.

It wasn't until a few months later that it was obvious that Michael had feelings for me as well. I just assumed that he was probably bisexual. I know we loved each other, I know he told me that all the time. I believe that he was probably my soul mate."

The relationship has been confirmed by Pefifer’s father Dr. Arnold Klein. He even claims that he saw both of them together at one point. "When you see two people looking at each other you know what's happening. I was just very happy for both of them," the doctor said.

Pfeiffer has a dozens of voicemails that Jackson left him. He admits that the reason he came out with the story nearly a year after his death because he wanted to "set the record straight."

Investigators are looking into the possibility that Saturday's failed attempt to ignite a car bomb in Times Square was carried out in reaction to a controversial recent South Park episode in which the show tackled the issue of censorship related to the Prophet Mohamed.

New York Republican Congressman Peter King confirmed to CNN that the NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force was one of many possibilities being considered because the failed bomb was discovered near the headquarters of Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central, which

"I know that it is being looked at by investigators as one of the possibilities, I was going down a list of possibilities and that is one of them," King said.

"All I know is that they themselves -- the police -- thought it was something that should be looked into and is being looked into, along with any number of other scenarios."

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly didn't rule out the possibility that the plot may have been planted in reaction to the South Park episode, but said that authorities had yet to establish a link.

The developing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, in which about 5,000 barrels of crude oil gushes into the ocean every day, continues to worsen.

The growing slick has begun touching shore in some areas, and frantic efforts are being made to prevent, contain, and clean up the spill, including treating wildlife affected by the slick.

The massive oil spill is due to the collapse of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig, based some 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.

The rig suffered an explosion and fire over a week ago, which caused the structure to eventually list and sink.

An oil pipe attached to a well under the sea floor ruptured, causing the 5,000 barrels (over 200,000 gallons) per day of black gold to spew forth. The emergency "blowout preventer," meant to cut off oil flow in the event of just this type of disaster, failed to work, meaning that there was nothing emergency crews could do to stop the flow of oil in the short term.

Strong wind and waves are helping to break down the slick itself, but they are also disrupting almost 80% of the thousands of feet of oil boom laid out along sensitive coastline and waterways, particularly in areas which have delicate wildlife that needs to be protected. Calmer seas later this week will allow the boom and surface vessels acting as oil skimmers to be more effective in prevention and cleanup efforts.

Here are several more major developments:

NOAA closed commercial and recreational fishing in a stretch of the Gulf from the Florida Panhandle to the mouth of the Mississippi.

Officials said the closure would last for at least 10 days and that government scientists were sampling for contamination.


The Environmental Protection Agency announced that air monitoring from Saturday showed no presence of benzene, hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide at any coastal station between Venice, La., and Pensacola.


The Port of Mobile remained open and continued to order vessels to come and go from the east.

The Canadian model told how the breakup of his 4½-year relationship was amicable, and denied the nine-year age gap between him and 43-year-old Berry was a factor, as had previously been reported.

He told Access Hollywood: "While I will not comment on all of the wild inaccuracies being speculated about in the media, I am sad to say that Halle and I have decided together to separate at this time.

"She is, and will forever be one of the most special and beautiful people that I have ever known, and I am certain that we will continue to have only love and respect for one another."

Since the couple split, which happened a few months ago, Aubry, 34, and Oscar-winning actress Berry have been working to resolve their finances and make arrangements for their two-year-old daughter, Nahla, whom they are said to be planning to equally share custody of.

Aubry added: "We have been blessed with the most amazing daughter in the world, and her happiness and well-being are the most important thing for both of us. Please respect our privacy during this very difficult time."

Aubry is believed to have ended the relationship with the Monster's Ball actress because they spent so much time apart.

David Letterman says the scandal surrounding his workplace dalliances "knocked him down" and depressed him, but that he's putting the pieces of his life back together.

During a guest appearance on Friday's "Live with Regis and Kelly," the CBS late-night star said his behavior hurt his family and himself.

But he sounded hopeful that life with his wife and young son can "even be better, in a different way" than before the explosive revelations that he had had sex with co-workers.

Letterman made no reference to the $2 million shakedown attempt over his sex life that spurred him to acknowledge the affairs on his show last October.

Former television producer Robert Halderman, who pleaded guilty to the blackmail attempt, is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

According to gossip site MediaTakeOut.com R&B singer Alicia Keys and her boyfriend, rapper/producer Swizz Beatz were expecting a child together.


The website claims that people over at the popular weekly hip hop gossip magazine, Hip Hop Weekly, Alicia's with child.

Here's what they are reporting on their new issue - which hits stands in A FEW DAYS:
HHW has received some shocking news! Sources have come forward alleging that R&B singer Alicia Keys is pregnant by her boyfriend, hip hop producer Swizz Beatz.

The pair, who have been an item since 2008 when Swizz and his estranged wife, singer Mashonda, announced that they were splitting up, and are also rumored to be engaged.

While HHW cannot confirm the pregnancy at this time, the source is someone close to the couple.

Well it ain't confirmed yet, but CONGRATS to the happy couple. We have to say . . . behind JIGGA and QUEEN BEY . . . . these guys are our SECOND favorite celebrity couple!!!

Smokey Robinson was reportedly at the bedside of his sister Rose Ella Jones, affectionately known as “Aunt Woody,” when she passed away Monday in Los Angeles. She was 82.

Roland Bynum of LA radio station KJLH reported that Jones died at approximately 4 p.m. at Olympia Hospital (formerly Midway Hospital).

Jones co-wrote many songs with Robinson, including “Quiet Storm,” “Daylight & Darkness” and “Virgin Man.”

Bynum said Jones was instrumental in raising Robinson along with Bynum’s mother and Robinson’s sister, Geraldine Burston.

Jones is survived by a daughter, Stacey and other relatives. Funeral arrangements are pending.76672.jpg

Sandra Bullock has filed for divorce from her husband, Jesse James, and is adopting a baby boy as a single parent, a story posted Wednesday on People magazine’s website said.


“Yes, I have filed for divorce,” the 45-year-old Oscar-winning actress said in an interview. “I’m sad and I am scared.”


Bullock and James, 41, began the adoption process four years ago, the report said, and brought 3 1/2-month-old Louis Bardo Bullock home in January but decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Oscars. The baby was born in New Orleans, the story said.


James and Bullock separated in March after five years of marriage, following reports that James had been unfaithful.


Bullock won the Oscar for best actress for her role in the blockbuster hit “The Blind Side” on March 7. Within days of her win, the cheating allegations became public and Bullock went into seclusion.


The motorcycle mogul publicly apologized to Bullock and his children, Sunny, 6; Jesse Jr., 12; and Chandler, 15.


He recently returned home after a 30-day stay in a treatment facility where he sought help for “personal issues,” the story on People’s website said.


She said of her relationship with Jesse’s three children: “I don’t want to know what life is like without those kids. ... Whatever we need to do, in the healthiest way, we are going to be co-parenting.”

LUMBERTON (WTVD) -- State alcohol agents arrested the mother of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur earlier this month.

According to the Fayetteville Observer, 63-year-old Afeni Shakur Davis was charged on April 16 with felony possession of marijuana, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance and simple possession of a controlled substance.

She is out of jail on a $10,000 bond, and her court date is scheduled for May 10.

Shakur is a Lumberton native who is best known for her work as a political activist and former Black Panther. She also is the mother of rapper Tupac, who was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.

His murder remains unsolved.Since her son's death, Afeni has managed Tupac's unreleased music and poetry, selling millions of albums since his death.

With the money from album sales, she found the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, which is based in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The foundation provides art programs for youth. She also launched a clothing line called Makaveli Branded. Proceeds from those sales go to the Shakur foundation.

Hundreds of frenzied teenagers mobbed pop star Justin Bieber as he arrived in New Zealand, knocking down his mother and stealing his hat as he was rushed through the airport to escape the fans, the Associated Press reported yesterday..



The Canadian singer tweeted his 2.1 million fans Wednesday to report: "Finally got to New Zealand last night. The airport was crazy. Not happy that someone stole my hat and knocked down my mama. Come on people."



His mother, Pattie Mallette, tweeted that she was "OK" after being pushed over by rampaging fans at Auckland Airport.



Bieber earlier told fans that he wanted to sign autographs and have pictures taken. But police and security had to shut the opportunity down because fans were pushing.

The frenzy followed similar scenes in Sydney, Australia, earlier in the week, where police canceled a Bieber concert after surging crowds crushed some fans. The most serious injury was a fractured kneecap.



A similar situation occurred at a mall in Long Island, New York, in November. Bieber's free concert was canceled at the 11th hour when hundreds of fans stampeded after a reported sighting of the teen star.



In New Zealand, a mob of mainly teen girls screamed their welcome and swarmed toward Bieber, 16, at the airport. Escorted by security, police and minders, Bieber quickly left the airport out a side door.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper DMX says he’s been ripped off for years by a company hired to collect his song royalties, but he’s been behind bars so much that he only recently realised the problem.


The platinum-selling but troubled hip-hop artiste — who’s currently in an Arizona jail — said in a lawsuit filed Monday that Rich Kid Entertainment Inc and related companies paid him nothing while collecting royalties on some of his most popular work.

The company also made deals letting record labels reproduce his work without telling him, the lawsuit claims.


No telephone number could be found for Englewood, New Jersey-based Rich Kid. Its president didn’t immediately respond to a fax sent to a possible number for him.


DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, scored such hits as Get At Me Dog and Party Up in the 1990s. He also appeared in films including 2000’s Romeo Must Die and 2003’s Cradle 2 the Grave.


But the 39-year-old rapper has repeatedly been arrested and jailed during the last decade. He’s currently serving a six-month term in a Phoenix jail for violating probation by failing a drug test, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.


He was jailed there for nearly three months last year on animal cruelty, theft and drug-possession charges. Some stemmed from an August 2007 raid in which authorities found three dead dogs, guns, ammunition and drug paraphernalia at his suburban home.


His other run-ins with the law include pleading guilty in 2008 to attempted cocaine and marijuana possession in Miami, being arrested and released in London in 2006 after police said he refused to put on a seat belt and became abusive on an airplane, and pleading guilty in a 2004 incident in which he posed as an undercover federal agent and crashed his sport-utility vehicle through a security gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.


“From 2000 through 2008, (DMX) was in and out of jail and changed representatives numerous times.

These were some of the factors contributing to any delay” in bringing the case, the lawsuit notes.


It says Rich Kid has stolen from him for nearly a decade, but he didn’t know that until last year.

LOS ANGELES – Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner on Monday donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group for a land purchase needed to save the famed vista of the Hollywood sign from being spoiled by development, a report by news agency Reuters stated..

Hefner's key role in reaching the group's fund-raising goal was announced by Los Angeles city officials, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land at a news conference in the Hollywood Hills.

The land trust needed to collect a total of $12.5 million by this Friday under a deal with a group of Chicago investors who bought the 1,820-foot (555-meter) ridge, called Cahuenga Peak, from the estate of billionaire Howard Hughes in 2002.

The trust will now purchase the 138-acre (56-hectare) adjacent parcel and turn it over to the city to be incorporated into the surrounding Griffith Park, preventing any construction that would mar the postcard-perfect view of the Hollywood sign nearby.

"My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy," Hefner said in a statement. "As I've said before, the Hollywood sign is Hollywood's Eiffel Tower and I'm pleased to help preserve such an important cultural landmark."

Other private donors to the Hollywood sign preservation effort included actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg, the land trust said.

Radar Online is reporting that Oscar-winner Mo’Nique is not only upset with her brother’s appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” this week, but is frustrated with the talk show host as well, claiming Oprah’s interview was not sympathetic enough to her ordeal.

On Monday’s show, Gerald Imes admitted that he molested his younger sister for “a year or two,” starting when he was 13 and Mo’Nique was 7 or 8. Oprah began the broadcast by stating that she had Mo’Nique’s blessing to interview Gerald, although the star herself turned down an invitation to appear.

Citing a source, Radar Online reported that Mo’Nique “was particularly upset that Gerald lied to Oprah that he molested her while she was sleeping because she was wide awake and scared of him.

“Also, she is angry that he did not get any help or enter a rehab and she does not trust him around children.”

“Oprah asked her to appear on her show again for another interview but at this point she has declined the invitation. If anything it has made the situation worse between Mo’Nique and her family and she doesn’t know if she will ever speak to them again now.”

On “The View” this morning, Barbara Walters said that Gerald contacted her in February after Mo’Nique discussed the molestation on her Oscar special.

Walters said she declined his request to interview him, sensing that Gerald’s desire to repair his relationship with Mo’Nique may have been financially motivated.

A source close to Mo’Nique told RadarOnline.com: “Gerald made the first move and called Oprah asking her if he could appear on the show. So, Oprah called Mo’Nique to see if she was okay about him appearing on her show to discuss the abuse and although she was not entirely happy about it she gave Oprah her blessing.”

Gerald said he decided to appear on Winfrey’s show to apologize to Mo’Nique and bring their family back together. Imes said he himself was molested and he was using drugs and alcohol at age 11.

He said: “I abused and betrayed the trust of another sibling, my sister, my blood sister, I’m sorry, Mo’Nique. I’m sorry.”

“Hopefully somewhere, somehow as siblings we can come back together as brother and sister.”

According the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airlines have lost over $1.7 billion in revenues since the volcano blast in southern Iceland, causing cancellations of flights to Europe.


The airlines lost the most from April 17 to 19, when there was the most disruptions in air services. They were losing revenues of $400 million per day in those days.


"Lost revenues now total more than $1.7 billion for airlines alone. At the worst, the crisis impacted 29% of global aviation and affected 1.2 million passengers a day. The scale of the crisis eclipsed 9/11 when US airspace was closed for 3 days," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.


He also warned that the volcano crisis could put a loss of record $2.2 billion this year for the European carriers.


The global aviation industry incurred loss of $9.4 billion in 2009 due to the economic crisis. However, the industry was forecast to lose $2.8 billion in 2010.

Media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, is refusing to take a DNA test after several men emerged claiming to be her father.


The TV titan was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by her single mother and never knew her dad.


Her life has come under scrutiny in new tell-all book Oprah: A Biography, with writer Kitty Kelley alleging to know the real identity of the father of the star.


Noah Robinson, 84, a Second World War veteran, came forward earlier this month (Apr10) claiming he is the star's dad and alleged he had requested a DNA test from Winfrey last year (09).


The chat show host was left fuming at the claims. "New daddies are saying, 'Hello daughter, call me, I need a new roof.'"


Winfrey is adamant she will not be reaching out to any of them and is refusing to agree to any requests for a DNA test.

After a Monday night performance in Switzerland, Rihanna was rushed to the hospital after suffering from an injured rib.


Rihanna is currently going around Europe for a 27-date tour.


Rihanna had injured her rib, and just wanted to have it checked out.


After the show, the pop-star visited a private clinic and left around 3am. There was nothing serious with her injury.


The singer was back on the stage rocking out with a sold-out arena the following night in Lyon, France.


Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth tour will make its way through France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain. After finishing the European tour on June 5, Rihanna will start her North American tour in Seattle in July.


She will go up to Canada, and head East at the end of summer. Ke$ha will join Rihanna for her North American tour; the Tik Tok singer is ecstatic to be on the same stage as her.


MTV reports that her representative revealed: "All is OK and the tour is going great."


Rihanna has revealed that she is currently in a relationship with Los Angeles Dodger, Matt Kemp. Earlier this month she announced her status to Ryan Seacrest. The international superstar just wants to have fun and enjoy her time with her new beau.

Danny Glover was arrested in Maryland today -- after armed police cracked down on a massive protest rally.

Glover -- along with 11 other people -- was taken into custody outside of the headquarters of Sodexo, Inc. ... where protesters were rallying against the business practices of the food management giant.

He was given a citation and later released, telling cameras, "We're moving to make some real positive changes."

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2010/04/16/danny-glover-arrested-in/#ixzz0lOSWYQ6k