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Dr. Conrad Murray is on trial for involuntary manslaughter for the death of The King Of Pop Michael Jackson. The details that have come out so far are mind blowing. There’s a recording of Jackson talking on Dr. Murray’s phone. Jackson’s voice is almost unrecognizable as he spoke in a low, slurred tone about going on with the This Is It concerts. Dr. Murray’s lawyers are challenging the prosecution. They say, for example, that Dr. Arnold Klein addicted Jackson to Demerol without Murray’s knowledge. Dr. Klein was Jackson’s dermatologist and was also rumored to have been the actual biological father of Jackson’s children. Jackson’s staff have testified that his young children were right outside of his room as he lay dying. Dr. Murray even cried in court as his lawyers presented opening arguments. The big question will be why Dr. Murray continued to treat Jackson when his health appeared to be deteriorating so quickly. Prosecutors say not only did Dr. Murray give Michael Jackson the fatal dose of propofol, but the doctor was negligent in his earlier treatment of the singer. Murray’s lawyers maintain Jackson administered additional propofol to himself and that caused the singer’s death.
*It was just a few years ago that media outlets had a field day when shocking photos of a man dressed in drag–allegedly boxing great Oscar De La Hoya—ignited international headlines.
The photos depicted a man in a hotel room sparring in a fishnet body suit, women’s panties, high heels and a brunette wig. At the time, De La Hoya vehemently denied that it was him in the photos.
But in a recent interview with Spanish-language Univision television, De La Hoya—nicknamed “The Golden Boy” who reportedly generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport, an estimated $696 million–admitted that he did actually pose for the photos.
The photos caused a sensation in 2007, when De La Hoya’s lawyers did damage control by arguing that it was not the boxing great but a “bad Photoshop job.”
“His head is too small and it doesn’t even look like his body,” his handlers argued.
But during the Univision interview, De La Hoya said, “Let me tell you, it was me. I’m tired of lying, lying to people, lying to myself.”
De La Hoya said he was snorting cocaine and guzzling booze when the revealing photos were snapped.
At the time, the very married De La Hoya was having an affair with stripper Milana Dravnel, who sold the photos to the press. De La Hoya’s lawyers claimed that Dravnel was “out for money”.
Dravnel filed a federal lawsuit against De La Hoya, claiming that De La Hoya’s handlers coerced her into agreeing that the photos were manipulated. The lawsuit was settled out of court, but courthouse sources revealed that De La Hoya shelled out a whopping $20 million to make Dravnel “go away.”
De La Hoya allegedly also ordered Dravnel to return the heels, fishnet and lingerie he had posed in during the infamous photo shoot.
During the Univision interview, an emotional De La Hoya revealed that he had been battling alcohol and drugs for years. “My drug of choice was cocaine and alcohol. Cocaine was recent. I depended more on the alcohol than the cocaine.”
He also admitted that he had “cheated” on his wife of 10 years.
“We are obviously not talking Tiger Woods here, but I was unfaithful,” he admitted.
The boxer said he had contemplated suicide after hitting rock bottom with alcohol and drugs.
The boxing champ, who admitted said he had started drinking at the age of 9, revealed that he was deeply affected when his mom, Cecelia, passed away from breast cancer in 1990. He added that drugs and alcohol helped him escape the pain of his mother’s death. “It (drugs and alcohol) took me to a place where I felt safe, it took me to a place where I felt as if nobody can say anything to me, it took me to a place where I can just reach out and grab my mom,” he told the Mail Online.
Hall of Famer, Deion Sanders denied claims of divorceon his Twitter account after reports began to circulate that he was getting rid of his wife after 11 years of marriage.
He says he never filed divorce papers, however several sources are sticking to the story saying that it’s already been set to motion because he didn’t want his wife Pilar to become a reality TV star.
“Ladies and gentlemen I never address Ignorance but I must at this point. I’ve never filed 4 divorce and hadn’t made a statement to Any media,” he tweeted.
The two have actually had a reality show “Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love” since 2008. And his wife has made appearances on several shows and other televised productions.
On the couple’s show, fans and viewers take part in the every day activities of the family of seven, which lives in the small town of Prosper, Tx.
The former NFL star is also a football analyst.
One by one, our NBA stars are finding other means of employment as the NBA lockout forges on.
The Washington Post reports that Delonte West, who made a little more than $1 million last year with the Boston Celtics, has taken a warehouse job with the Regency Furniture store in Brandywine, Md.
During his seven-year NBA career, West, 28, has been paid about $14 million, according to the Post. But West tweeted this week that he needed a second job “to stay afloat during the lockout.”
As previously reported, Kobe Bryant is reportedly signing with a team in Italy. But an overseas move is not allowed for West. During the summer, a judge rejected his request to be allowed to work abroad, because he’s on probation stemming from a weapons case.
After that decision came down, West, currently a free agent, tweeted that it was time to put his pride aside, and that he had applied for work at Home Depot. Apparently, that gig never came through.
The International Monetary Fund has warned there is a one in six chance that the UK could be heading towards a double-dip recession.
The IMF’s twice yearly World Economic Outlook report also said the world economy has “weakened significantly” and in a rebuke to politicians, claimed “policy indecision… has added to financial strains”.
It also said the UK economy will grow at a slower pace than it had previously predicted.
Its UK growth forecast for 2011 has been revised downwards from 1.5% to 1.1% and the IMF said there is a 17% chance the UK could be moving into another recession.
If the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrinks for two consecutive quarters, the country officially re-enters recession.
For 2012, the IMF has reduced its estimate of economic growth from 2.3% to 1.6%.
The Government’s official forecast for 2011 growth remains at 1.7% although the Chancellor has acknowledged this will be reduced when it is next reviewed.
The UK’s economy was last in recession between September 2008 and December 2009, but growth has been sluggish since, increasing by just 0.2% in the most recent set of figures in July.
The suggestion from the IMF, based on share price movements, is that there is a chance the economy could shrink again – although its main forecast is still for growth.
According to the IMF report, growth in the United States is forecast to slow to 1.5% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012.
Christine Lagarde, the fund’s recently appointed chief, has made repeated warnings that excessive austerity measures could cause another recession and urged European and US leaders to act to prevent a further deterioration in growth.
The former president of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani has been assassinated in a suicide attack on his home. Afghan and Western leaders have pledged the killing will not deter the country from its current path.
Police confirmed on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s former President Burhanuddin Rabbani had been killed in a suicide attack on his home, not far from the US embassy in a supposedly secure diplomatic zone in the capital Kabul.
“Mr Rabbani has been martyred in the blast,” said Kabul police chief, Mohammad Zahir. “A suicide bomber disguised as a visitor detonated his vest and
killed him.”
Rabbani had been tasked with leading peace efforts in the war-torn country as head of President Hamid Karzai’s High Peace Council. So far it had not succeeded in negotiating with the Taliban.
“Rabbani was supposed to meet two Taliban members in his house today. They might have killed him,” said Arsala Rahmai, a member of the Council.
No diversion from freedom
Karzai cut short talks with US President Barack Obama after receiving news of the attack. He pledged the killing “would not deter us” from continuing the quest for peace, adding that Rabbani was an “Afghan patriot who sacrificed his life.”
The assassination raised new questions about the ability of fledgling Afghan security forces to protect even the most prominent politicians as US-led forces begin a transition to Afghan security control.
“We both believe that despite this incident, we will not be deterred from creating a path whereby Afghans can live in freedom, safety and security and prosperity,” Obama said at the meeting with Karzai, the first since the pullout was announced.
“It is going to be important to continue the efforts to bring all of the elements in Afghanistan society together to end the senseless cycle of violence.”
Seven U.S. states have joined the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit to block AT&T’s $39 billion proposed merger with T-Mobile.
The states are California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Washington.
At the heart of the matter is anti-competition; in an already concentrated industry, the AT&T T-Mobile deal would shrink the field from four national players to three.
Moreover, the combined AT&T T-Mobile entity would hold a whopping 43 percent of the market share, giving it a commanding lead over its three smaller competitors.
”T-Mobile has been an important source of competition among the national carriers…Unless this merger is blocked, competition and innovation will be reduced, and consumers will suffer,” said Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.
Many of the seven states that have joined the DOJ lawsuit also cited anti-competition as their concern.
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Below is what their attorney generals have said:
New York: This proposed merger would stifle competition in markets that are crucial to New York’s consumers and businesses, while reducing access to low-cost options and the newest broadband-based technologies.
Ohio: The proposed transaction threatens to substantially lessen competition for mobile wireless providers across the United States, resulting in poorer quality services, fewer consumer choices and ultimately, higher prices.
California: Our review of the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile has led me to conclude that it would hinder competition and reduce consumer choice.
Illinois: Blocking this acquisition protects consumers and businesses against fewer choices, higher prices, less innovation, and lower quality service.
Washington: This merger will result in less competition, fewer choices and higher prices for Washington state consumers. If the deal goes through, two companies will control roughly three quarters of mobile subscribers in the U.S. Antitrust laws exist to prevent such strangleholds over products and services.
Massachusetts: The proposed merger would create highly concentrated markets in Massachusetts and could lead to higher prices and poorer service. Competition will best serve consumers and businesses in Massachusetts who rely on mobile wireless services in their everyday lives.
Foxconn Electronics is reportedly producing up to 150,000 iPhone 5 handsets per day in a surprising move as supply chain sources indicate that iPhone 5 shipments are expected to reach up to 6 million by the end of the month and will reach 22 million units by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, iPhone 4 orders in the U.S now take one to three business days to ship, indicating that Apple is expecting a slowdown in iPhone 4 production as the next generation comes in. That means, as reported Wall Street Journal earlier, the data is increasingly pointing to two releases of the iPhone 5, meaning one phone would come in fourth quarter and one shortly after. The first one is set to come within a few months, analysts predict.
However, there is one glaring missing feature — 4G high-speed network access. 4G capability should come early next year as Apple would likely not incorporate 4G LTE due to battery life issues and spotty network coverage.
There are also reports suggesting Pegatron Technology will produce 15 percent of the orders from Apple. But Pegatron is not expected to ship the product until next year, giving an indication of an iPhone 5 making it up with 4G support.
According to CultofMac, Apple will issue press invitations to the iPhone 5 launch Sept. 14 and it will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sept. 21. Pre-orders will be taken Sept. 28, and the phone will be released on October. This prediction falls in line with reports of Best Buy passing on the message to its employees that the iPhone 5 could be released in the first week of October.
Various case designs have appeared in different parts of the world for next-generation iPhones with design suited for a 4-inch screen. But the latest iOS 5 beta 7, released for developers, revealed a picture of an iPhone, possibly one of the models expected to feature 3.7-inch screen, which coincides with claim made by Bloomberg earlier of an Apple next-generation smartphone closely resembling the iPhone 4.
TOKYO — Honda Motor Co. says it will recall a total of 962,000 cars worldwide to fix power windows and computer systems.
Honda will recall 936,000 units of the Fit subcompact, CR-V crossover and Fit Aria in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa, the company said Monday. The Fit is called Jazz in some overseas markets, while the Fit Aria is also known as City.
Honda says the recall was prompted by defects in driver’s-side power window switch units, which could potentially melt and catch fire.
It will also recall 26,000 CR-Z compact hybrids globally due to programming problems with the engine control unit
There have been no injuries because of the defects, Honda says
So much of our history is lost to us because we often don’t write the history books, don’t film the documentaries, or don’t pass the accounts down from generation to generation.
One documentary now touring the film festival circuit, telling us to “Always Remember” is “Black Survivors of the Holocaust” (1997). Outside the U.S.., the film is entitled “Hitler’s Forgotten Victims” (Afro-Wisdom Productions). It codifies another dimension to the “Never Forget ” Holocaust story–our dimension.
Did you know that in the 1920′s, there were 24,000 Blacks living in Germany ? Neither did I. Here’s how it happened, and how many of them were eventually caught unaware by the events of the Holocaust. Like most West European nations, Germany established colonies in Africa in the late 1800′s in what later became Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, and Tanzania.
German genetic experiments began there, most notably involving prisoners taken from the 1904 Heroro Massacre that left 60,000 Africans dead, following a 4-year revolt against German colonization. After the shellacking Germany received in World War I,it was stripped of its African colonies in 1918.
As a spoil of war, the French were allowed to occupy Germany in the Rhineland -a bitter piece of real estate that has gone back and forth between the two nations for centuries. The French willfully deployed their own colonized African soldiers as the occupying force. Germans viewed this as the final insult of World War I, and, soon thereafter, 92% of them voted in the Nazi party.
Hundreds of the African Rhineland-based soldiers intermarried with German women and raised their children as Black Germans. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about his plans for these “Rhineland Bastards”. When he came to power, one of his first directives was aimed at these mixed-race children. Underscoring Hitler’s obsession with racial purity, by 1937, every identified mixed-race child in the Rhineland had been forcibly sterilized, in order to prevent further “race polluting”, as Hitler termed it.
Hans Hauck, a Black Holocaust survivor and a victim of Hitler’s mandatory sterilization program, explained in the film “Hitler’s Forgotten Victims” that, when he was forced to undergo sterilization as a teenager, he was given no anesthetic. Once he received his sterilization certificate, he was “free to go”, so long as he agreed to have no sexual relations whatsoever with Germans.
Although most Black Germans attempted to escape their fatherland, heading for France where people like Josephine Baker were steadily aiding and supporting the French Underground, many still encountered problems elsewhere. Nations shut their doors to Germans, including the Black ones.
Some Black Germans were able to eke out a living during Hitler’s reign of terror by performing in Vaudeville shows, but many Blacks, steadfast in their belief that they were German first, Black second, opted to remain in Germany. Some fought with the Nazis (a few even became Lut waffe pilots)! Unfortunately, many Black Germans were arrested, charged with treason, and shipped in cattle cars to concentration camps. Often these trains were so packed with people and (equipped with no bathroom facilities or food), that, after the four-day journey, box car doors were opened to piles of the dead and dying.
Once inside the concentration camps, Blacks were given the worst jobs conceivable. Some Black American soldiers, who were captured and held as prisoners of war, recounted that, while they were being starved and forced into dangerous labor (violating the Geneva Convention), they were still better off than Black German concentration camp detainees, who were forced to do the unthinkable–man the crematoriums and work in labs where genetic experiments were being conducted. As a final sacrifice, these Blacks were killed every three months so that they would never be able to reveal the inner workings of the “Final Solution”.
In every story of Black oppression, no matter how we were enslaved, shackled, or beaten, we always found a way to survive and to rescue others. As a case in point, consider Johnny Voste, a Belgian resistance fighter who was arrested in 1942 for alleged sabotage and then shipped to Dachau . One of his jobs was stacking vitamin crates. Risking his own life, he distributed hundreds of vitamins to camp detainees, which saved the lives of many who were starving, weak, and ill–conditions exacerbated by extreme vitamin deficiencies. His motto was “No, you can’t have my life; I will fight for it.”
According to Essex University ‘s Delroy Constantine-Simms, there were Black Germans who resisted Nazi Germany, such as Lari Gilges, who founded the Northwest Rann–an organization of entertainers that fought the Nazis in his home town of Dusseldorf –and who was murdered by the SS in 1933, the year that Hitler came into power.
Little information remains about the numbers of Black Germans held in the camps or killed under the Nazi regime. Some victims of the Nazi sterilization project and Black survivors of the Holocaust are still alive and telling their story in films such as “Black Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust”, but they must also speak out for justice, not just history.
Unlike Jews (in Israel and in Germany ), Black Germans receive no war reparations because their German citizenship was revoked (even though they were German-born). The only pension they get is from those of us who are willing to tell the world their stories and continue their battle for recognition and compensation.
After the war, scores of Blacks who had somehow managed to survive the Nazi regime, were rounded up and tried as war criminals. Talk about the final insult! There are thousands of Black Holocaust stories, from the triangle trade, to slavery in America , to the gas ovens in Germany .
We often shy away from hearing about our historical past because so much of it is painful; however, we are in this struggle together for rights, dignity, and, yes, reparations for wrongs done to us through the centuries. We need to always remember so that we can take steps to ensure that these atrocities never happen again.
For further information, read: Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi.