Vernon Forrest, right, landed a right hand hook against Ike Quartey during their Junior Middleweight fight at Madison Square Garden in 2006 in New York City.
New York Times Reports
Vernon Forrest, a former middleweight boxing champion also known for his charitable work, was shot and killed Saturday night in Atlanta. The police said that he had apparently been robbed and then exchanged gunfire with his assailant.
Forrest, 38, is the third prominent boxer to die this month. Arturo Gatti, a super featherweight and light welterweight, was found dead July 11 at a Brazilian resort. Alexis Argüello, a champion in the lightweight divisions, was found dead on July 1 at his home in Managua, Nicaragua. He had been elected mayor of Nicaragua’s capital last year.
Last September, Forrest reclaimed his World Boxing Council title at 154 pounds by beating Sergio Mora, an opponent 10 years younger. Forrest, who had a 41-3 career record with 29 knockouts, had been sidelined by injury and vacated his crown. In 2002, he twice defeated Shane Mosley and was named Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year.
Forrest, who lived in Atlanta, had stopped at a gas station on Whitehall Street in central part of the city to put air into the tires of his Jaguar when a man robbed him at gunpoint, the police said. Forrest, who also was armed, chased the man several hundred feet, toward a nearby intersection. The two exchanged gunfire, Atlanta Police Det. Lt. Keith Meadows told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Forrest suffered seven to eight shots to the back, the police said. Lt. Meadows said there was evidence that Forrest had used his weapon, but the police did not know if the assailant had been shot.
An 11-year-old boy who was in Forrest’s vehicle gave police a description of the assailant. The boy, the son of Forrest’s girlfriend, did not witness the shootings, the police said.
An autopsy was planned for Sunday, The Associated Press reported.
Forrest, a former W.B.C. super welterweight champion, was just as noted for his work outside the ring. In 1998, he started Destiny’s Child, a foundation for people with mental disabilities in Atlanta.
Forrest said he thought of starting the foundation after seeing an autistic child struggle to tie his shoes. “If you sit there and watch a person take about an hour to tie his shoestrings, then you realize that whatever problems you got ain’t that significant,” he said in a 2006 New York Times interview. “A light just turned on in my head.”
The foundation set up group homes in the Atlanta area.
“We teach mathematics and how to count money,” Forrest said in a 2003 Times interview. “We had this one 18-year-old boy to whom all money looked the same. He had trouble with quarters and nickels. Then one day, he said, ‘Uncle Vernon, I got it, I got it.’ ”
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4. ROCK N ROLL FT. CIK. MONEY
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6. IN THE CLUB (PROD. RENEGADES)
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9. FUCK BITCHES GET MONEY REMIX FT. OMAR CRUZ (PROD. ARAAB MUZIK)
10. BACK TO THE MONEY (PROD. YOUNG BRAZE)
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13. BRAND NEW L (PROD. YOUNG BRAZE)
14. I LOVE CHRONIC FT. JUNIOR REID (PROD. YETI BEATS)
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17. RAISED IN THE GHETTO
18. COMEBACK
19. I GOT HOES
20. THE SHIT (PROD. NEO DA MATRIX)
21. GO BAY
22. MURDAH
23. WE RUN LA (BONUS)
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SkyNews Reports
A lock of Michael Jackson's hair is to be turned into diamonds to give a select few fans a unique way of remembering their idol.
The star lost the hair when he was set on fire during the filming of a Pepsi advert in 1984.
Ralph Cohen, the executive producer of the video, scooped up some of the charred strands and put them in his pocket as Jackson was rushed off set to hospital.
He kept it for 25 years before selling it to John Reznikoff, who has amassed a collection of hair from famous historical figures including Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
Now the collector has teamed up with LifeGem to produce an exclusive set of diamonds from a portion of the hair. The rest will remain in his collection.
LifeGem founder Dean VandenBiesen said: "We specialise in creating diamonds from locks of hair.
"Our plan is to give people an opportunity to own a diamond made from Michael Jackson's DNA.
"We are currently evaluating Jackson's hair sample to determine how many diamonds can be created.
"This will be a limited collection and we anticipate great interest."
The company previously worked with Reznikoff to create diamonds from Beethoven's hair in 2007 and sold one of them on eBay for around $200,000 (£122,000).
The process involves capturing carbon from the hair and heating it to very high temperatures until it is converted into graphite.
This is then placed into a diamond press, which replicates the heat and pressure from deep within the earth, where it will crystallise into a diamond.
Meanwhile, Jackson's former financial adviser has handed over millions of dollars of the King of Pop's money to his executors.
Dr Tohme Tohme said the $5.5m (£3.3m) was "a secret between Michael and me" and had been earmarked for the purchase of a "dream home" in Las Vegas.
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Megan Fox is hot in new horror flick Jennifer's Body. Just ask her.
"I think I'm pretty sexy in it," the actress, 23, said at the Comic-Con press conference for the movie (out Sept. 18). "The movie is SO sexy! You better put on your sexy shoes for this movie!"
In the film, in which Fox eats people, "there's sort of a hint of, a little bit of a lesbian relationship that happens. There's a girl-on-girl kiss.
"And beyond that, before every kill there is a seduction that occurs," Fox continues. "The boys have to be seduced to get in close enough to the dead girl in order for her to devour them."
Fox says she loved starring in the flick because "it's so unapologetic and completely inappropriate at all times."
But it was harder to film than Transformers, which she slammed as "not about acting" -- just special effects.
"There are no robots to distract you from whatever performance I do give. So if it's terrible, you're going to know that it’s terrible!" Fox says. "That of course is intimidating, but I think the character was so much fun for me. And I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I was just trying to have fun with it.
"I sort of felt like I was being able to make fun of my own image, sort of, as to how some people might perceive Megan Fox to be," she continues. "I was just sort of flying freely and I hope some of it worked."
Usually, Fox is "not a fan" or horror movies.
"I actually have a very intense fear of the dark," she admits. "The last horror movie I saw -- I think it was called The Tooth Fairy -- was in 2005, and I was 15 years old. After I saw it, I slept with my mother for two weeks afterwards!"
But she pounced on the opportunity to overcome her fear.
"I think for me, to be able to play something that I would normally be frightened by is really intriguing and interesting," she says.
Watching a scream scene in the movie still horrified her.
"It frightened me, and it shook me up for like five minutes," she admits.
She doesn't mind freaking out an audience.
"It's cool to see myself being able to scare people, because I'm just a little girl," she says. "Look at me: I'm so sweet!"
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Chicago Sun Times Reports
Officers responding to a report of hysterical screams found an 8-year-old girl partially clothed and four boys, barely in their teens, running from an empty shed.
The boys, ages 9 to 14, face charges ranging from sexual assault to kidnapping, police said Thursday. Authorities in Phoenix say it's one of the most horrific cases they've ever seen.
Investigators said the boys lured the girl to an empty shed on July 16 under the pretense of offering her gum. The boys then held the girl down while they took turns raping her, police said.
"She was brutally sexually assaulted for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes," police Sgt. Andy Hill said.
The 14-year-old boy was charged Wednesday as an adult with two counts of sexual assault and kidnapping, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said. He appeared in court Thursday and was being held without bond. He does not yet have a defense lawyer.
The other boys -- ages 9, 10, and 13 -- were charged as juveniles with sexual assault. The 10- and 13-year-old boys also were charged with kidnapping, the office said Thursday.
"This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community," Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said. "Our office will seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation."
The outrage over the allegations has intensified when police said the girl's parents criticized her after the attack and blamed her for bringing shame on the family.
"The father told the case worker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back. He said 'Take her, I don't want her,"' Hill said.
Hill cited the family's background as the reason the family shunned the girl. All five children are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.
In some parts of Africa, women often are blamed for being raped for enticing men or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Girls who are raped often are shunned by their families.
"It's a shame-based culture, so the crime is not as important as protecting the family name and the name of the community," said Tony Weedor, a Liberian refugee in Littleton, Colo., and co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation, which helps Liberians resettle in the United States.
"I just feel so sorry for this little girl," he said. "Some of these people will not care about the trauma she's going through -- they're more concerned about the shame she brought on the family."
In recent years, Liberia has made efforts to combat rape under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has sought to dispel the stigma associated with sexual assault by publicly acknowledging that she was herself the victim of attempted rape during the country's civil war.
The girl's healing process will be particularly difficult, said Paul Penzone of Childhelp, which aids young victims of crime. Authorities said the victim was in the care of Child Protective Services.
"These four boys used what was a ploy to entice her to a place where they could take advantage of her almost like a pack of wolves," he said.
"And what's so disturbing beyond the initial crime is the fact that a child needs to have somewhere to feel safe, and you would think that would be in a home with her own family," not in state custody, Penzone said.
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2.)BEST I EVA HAD SPI FEAT. DRAKE
3.) 2 DA MOON SPI FEAT. E NOTE PROD. BY MISFITZ
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5.) PUSSY GOOD SPI FEAT. COLUMBO BLACC, PIPER
6.) WHAT'S YO NAME SPI FEAT. SILENT JAY PROD. BY SILENT JAY
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8.)BY MYSELF SPI FEAT. SILENT JAY PROD. BY SILENT JAY
9.)WHO GOT SHOT SPI FEAT. BEGETZ
10.) IMA HUSTLA SPI
11.)WHERE DA MONEY AT SPI
12.)REALLY READY SPI FEAT. DA COVER GURLS
13.) BUTTERFLIES SPI FEAT. COLUMBO BLACC
14.) Bonus Track E-Note
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AllHipHop Reports
With rumors swirling about his possible “music retirement,” Mike Jones is setting the record straight about his future plans.
In an in-depth interview with the Houston Press, Mike Jonesdefended himself against accusations from former friends and associates that he squandered his career and took advantage of them.
"People hate on Mike Jones and what he done, but I sold 2 million. People hated on Mike Jones back then, but I still sold all my CDs. So I don't trip. Because you could hate, but at the end of the day the numbers prove that Mike Jones is still relevant and supposed to be here...You know what I'm saying?"
The 2 million sales Jones references is the breakout success of his 2005 debut, Who Is Mike Jones?
Power by a unique promotional campaign that included the rapper’s own personal phone number and the chart-topping success of “Still Tippin’,” Jones became an overnight superstar.
Unfortunately, the Houston native could not capitalize on the success, and others speculate it was due to the rapper’s work ethic becoming erratic.
It’s alleged that Jones alienated promoters but reneging on shows agreements, and DJ s began to refuse to play his records after breaking commitments with them as well.
Additionally, label issues stalled the rapper’s sophomore album The Voice for over 3 years.
Undeterred, Jones explained his plans to drop another LP entitled Expect the Unexpected later this year, and will focus on building himself back up through endorsement deals with Subway - he claims to have shed 100 pounds - and Cricket Wireless.
"It's just my fan appeal lost a little bit," Jones admitted to the Houston Press. "The buzz, the momentum, lost a little bit. I was on Unsolved Mysteries. They don't know what happened to Mike Jones. He ain't dead. I'm in that glass six feet under trying to get y'all attention. Y'all walking right over me. I'm these dominoes right here. And I seen all y'all faces as y'all spit on me, and walked past me, and laughed, and said f**k me. Somehow I got out of that motherf**king coffin, though.”
Mike Jones last album The Voice was released earlier this year, and charted in Billboard’s Top 20.
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AllHipHop Reports
Popular radio talk show host Wendy Williams has announced she is hanging up her microphone for good, to focus on her new television show.
Williams announced that she will leave her position at WBLS at the end of this month and end her “Wendy Williams Experience” radio show.
She will devote all of her time to The Wendy Williams Show, which launched on July 13 and airs daily on Fox 5 in New York and Fox 11 in Los Angeles.
"I want to tell all of my fans that after July 31st, I will no longer be doing a show with WBLS," Williams said in a statement. "I really was blessed to have a broadcast home in NY on radio for the past 7 years and I want to thank everyone who supported me. I have one of the best jobs in the world, making a difference in the lives of my fans made all the difference to me and I look forward to doing the same thing in my new role as a TV host. My hope is that you will do your best to find me on your remote so I can continue to entertain and inform you each and every day."
Williams, who calls herself “Queen of All Media,” was recently nominated as a potential inductee into the National Radio Hall of Fame, launched her career in 1989.
She gained notoriety in New York radio with her gossip, drawing the wrath of numerous celebrities along the way, including Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Method Man and others.
Williams radio show went into syndication in 2001, when she returned to WBLS and New York radio after a stint at Philadelphia’s Power 99FM.
“We are saddened to lose one of our most popular personalities,” said Deon Levingston, Vice President and General Manager of WBLS. “But we understand what it requires to put a live show on television each and every day and wish Wendy all the best in this new venture.”
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Elizabeth Roberts' 17-year-old daughter was put through the bureaucratic wringer to get a summer job in her home state of Rhode Island this year.
Under state law, the teenager could not operate a power saw, work on ladders or even pump gas. The state also regulates how many hours and times of day minors can work.
But in Rhode Island, where Roberts is lieutenant governor, the teen -- with a work permit -- can take off all her clothes at a strip club, even those where adult men can touch the merchandise.
Just this week the Providence Journal revealed that a loophole in the state's minor laws do not restrict girls as young as 16 from working as strippers, as long as they are home by 11:30 p.m.
This spring, while investigating a 16-year-old runaway who had been working at one of Providence's notorious strip clubs, police discovered that they could not prosecute, because there were no local or state laws barring teens from working in the city's thriving adult entertainment business.
"To think that any minor could just as easily be employed as a stripper is mind-boggling," Roberts said. "This must end immediately."
In other parts of the country, even in Las Vegas, there are age limits on strippers, according to the report.
"When I saw yesterday's paper, I had a visceral reaction -- it's an outrage that we would ever have allowed this to happen -- that anyone would hire a young person we are meant to protect," Roberts told ABCNews.com.
"Everyone was completely shocked to learn it wasn't against the law," she said. "None of us was aware of it."
Strip Club Described as 'Dark and Dirty'
The 16-year-old runaway had been working at Cheaters, described by the Boston Strip Club Directory as "dark and dirty."
Cheaters refused to comment to ABCNews.com.
"You get more contact here talking to a woman at the bar than you do in most clubs during a lap dance, and in the private rooms, anything goes for probably half the women working there, and the others will still make sure you leave happy," reported one of its customers.
Now, amidst the embarrassing publicity in a state that has one of the highest unemployment rates and a reputation for corruption, Roberts is supporting a bill introduced by state Rep. Joanne Giannini, D-Providence, that would close that loophole.
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A young Muslim woman has been warned by police that her life is in danger after a male friend lost his tongue in an alleged assault using acid in an apparent “honor attack”.
The Asian man is in a serious but stable condition in hospital after an incident in Leytonstone, East London, three weeks ago. Sulphuric acid is said to have been thrown in his face and he was stabbed twice in the back.
The 24-year-old, being treated in a specialist unit in Essex, is now blind, his tongue has been destroyed and he suffered 90 per cent burns.
The woman, who claims the relationship is an innocent friendship, and the man live in the Asian community of East London, where their relationship is said to have upset her family for bringing dishonor on them.
Scotland Yard have issued what is known as an “Osman warning” — telling the woman that there is a threat to her life.
A police source told The Times that she had not been moved into a safe house but police were in daily contact with her.
Detectives believe that the man and woman were not in a sexual relationship but were just friends.
Two men, aged 19 and 25, are due to appear before Waltham Forest Magistrates today, charged with the attempted murder of the 24-year-old man on July 2, 2009. Both men are said to be related to the woman, one is understood to be her brother.
Five men have been arrested and bailed “pending further inquiries” by police.
At the time of the attack a police source said: “It looks like this gang set out to deliberately target this man. They were dressed in masks and gloves so none of the acid would get on them.”
An Osman warning system follows a legal ruling directing that police have a “duty of care" to issue alerts, not only to civilians but also to known criminals.
It was introduced after a high-profile failure by officers to protect several individuals from Paul Paget-Lewis, a teacher suffering from psychotic tendencies. In 1988 Paget-Lewis wounded a former pupil, Ahmet Osman, to whom he had formed a disturbing attachment, and killed his father, Ali, as well as two others.
Many people warned by police seek alternative accommodation with relatives or move abroad, while others can be taken into the witness protection programme.
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}