Erykah Badu Wants to Blow Your Mind with Two Albums
She wears a lot of hats these days, including mommy, midwife, spokeswoman, and singer and she’s not slowing down a bit.
Erykah Badu is ready to get back in the studio for some more of that good music. She said she’s working on a solo project and a collaborative album with her group, the Cannabinoids.
“I give myself room to breathe and grow and to procrastinate but to finish those projects is my next successful moment that I am seeking,” said Erykah who is known for keeping her own pace and rhythm. “I am working really hard his year. I don’t have much time to write but I can do it.”
By the way, the Cannabinoids is an eclectic group of musicians who’ve come together for the sake of Hip Hop and creative sounds.
The group’s name references the receptors in marijuana that produce chemical changes and feelings of hunger, paranoia and addiction. But Erykah is hoping listeners get addicted to the group’s digital hip-hop influenced sound, which has helped reinvigorate her creativity, says Sister 2 Sister magazine.
“We are about impromptu performing and we are in the studio trying to recreate something we did on the spot and that’s fun. Our theme is welcome to the human brain and science of addiction. We want you to become addicted to that,” she said.
Naomi Campbell Being Blamed for Russian Boyfriend’s Divorce
Naomi Campbell tries to live a low profile life, but sometimes, things get out of hand.
She’s being dragged into her man’s divorce case from estranged wife, Ekaterina, who is citing her as the reason for their divorce. But the model is confused since the two (her boyfriend and his wife) were separated for over 10 years before they even began dating.
Her Russian billionaire beau, Vladimir Doronin, is still dealing with the mess that comes along with divorce.
Doronin and Ekaterina were married for 24 years and have a 15-year-old daughter together. He actually had a seven year relationship with another woman before meeting Naomi.
Bolt, Blake sizzle at UTech Classics
Usain Bolt opened his season at Saturday’s University of Technology (UTech) Track and Field Classics inside the National Stadium, but it was his training partner, Yohan Blake, who brought the most heat on a wet evening in Kingston.
Bolt, brought the crowd which was concentrated in the grandstand to its feet when he anchored Racers’ Track Club to a meet record 37.82 in the ‘Clubs and Institutions’ men’s 4x100m relay, as former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell, who anchored the MVP team in 38.27 to second place, seemed barely bothered with trying to catch a less-than-comfortable looking Bolt.
“My legs felt good, it was nice to finish the race healthy. I would have liked to have gotten the baton a bit closer to Bolt though,” Powell lamented after the race; but there will be other opportunities in the future for the 80-time sub-10 sprinter.
Bolt, the world record holder over 100m and 200m, has been main topic in recent weeks with speculations of his health dominating public discussion following his somewhat delayed entry into competition this season.
“My coach decides when I run, he decided that this would be the meet where I started so I am here,” said Bolt. “I feel good, I am running pretty well, I am working on my starts and a few different things and everything is coming together, we have about 100 days to go before the Olympics so I am just taking my time and working on what I need to.”
Blake, who ran the second leg for the Racers team in the relay returned a couple hours later to underline his status as a main contender at this summer’s Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships and of course, the Olympic Games in London.
His start, as usual wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t long before he had the rest of the field looking at his head back clocking 9.90 in a +1.6 m/s wind to set a new meet record.
“I could have pushed some more towards the end but my coach told me to take it easy tonight,” said Blake, breathing hard but nonetheless managing a satisfied smile; his work was done for the night.
Jacques Harvey (UTech), 10.10, and Sheldon Mitchell, (SWEPT) 10.18 took the other top spots.
Olympic finalist Rosemarie Whyte, also from Racers, was impressive, winning the women’s 400m in a world-leading 51.13 ahead of MVP pair of Anneisha McLaughlin, 52.49, and Stephanie McPherson, 52.98.
MVP’s Sherone Simpson, who had the previous best time in the world, failed to finish the event after apparently running out of steam at the 350m mark.
UWI’s Hansle Parchment set a new record in the men’s 110m hurdles, winning in 13.71 while MVP’s Nesta Carter continued his fine-tuning with a 20.48 win in the men’s 200m ahead of Racers’ Daniel Bailey 20.60, and GC Foster’s Rasheed Dwyer, 20.71.
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Livorno midfielder Morosini dies after cardiac arrest during match
Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini died Saturday after suffering cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field during a Serie B match at Pescara. He was 25.
Edoardo De Blasio, a cardiologist at Pescara's Santo Spirito hospital, confirmed the death.
"Unfortunately he was already dead when he arrived at hospital," De Blasio said. "He didn't regain consciousness."
Morosini, who was on loan from Udinese, fell to the ground in the 31st minute of the match and tried unsuccessfully to get up several times before receiving medical attention on the field. A defibrillator was used on the player, who also had his heart massaged, before an ambulance arrived on the field. He was taken to the hospital where doctors tried to revive him for more than an hour.
A consultant in the hemodynamics department at the hospital, who was watching the game and rushed to help before the ambulance arrived, said Morosini never regained consciousness.
"Morosini never had a single heartbeat again," Leonardo Paloscia said. "From when I arrived he never gave a sign of revival, not in his respiration nor his heartbeat. When I arrived everything (his heart, respiration) was stopped.
"No one can say what the cause was, I think nothing will come out until after the autopsy."
The autopsy likely will be held on Monday. All Italian matches this weekend were called off after the death was announced.
"We are living through a drama," Pescara's general manager, Danilo Iannascoli, told Sky Italia.
It was the latest high-profile case of a soccer player collapsing from heart failure on the field, coming less than a month after Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered cardiac arrest during a game in England.
Muamba survived, but remains in intensive care with steady progress.
An inquiry into Morosini's death will be opened and focus on the car belonging to traffic police that blocked the ambulance's way into the stadium. A window had to be broken so the car could be moved, while players and officials were frantically gesturing for the ambulance to get there.
"At the beginning we didn't really understand the seriousness of the situation," Pescara goalkeeper Luca Anania said. "I immediately ran to Livorno's half, where Morosini had fallen.
"There was great confusion and I seemed to understand that there was also a bit of delay in help arriving, because they said the ambulance couldn't get on the pitch because the entrance was blocked by another car. Some of my teammates helped carry the stretcher by hand to the ambulance."
The match was abandoned with Livorno leading 2-0, and several players left the field in tears. Livorno players and officials rushed to hospital, where they were told their teammate had passed away.
"Only tears. There are no words to express what I tried to when I found out about Piermario Morosini's death," FIFA President Sepp Blatter tweeted in Italian. "The tragedy which hit everyone who wished him well, is a source of great pain for football fans."
Morosini was orphaned in his teens. His mother died when he was 15 and his father died two years later. His brother died shortly afterward, leaving the young Morosini with just an older sister.
"They are things which mark you and change your life," Morosini said in 2005 following the death of his parents. "But at the same time they instill in your body so much anger and help you to always give everything to realize what was also my parents' dream."
Morosini came through the youth system at Atalanta before moving on to Udinese.
"He was golden, always trying to help his family," Atalanta youth team director Mino Favini said. "He was a fantastic lad who always rushed to help everyone. He lived for his family, yet he was such an unlucky man."
Morosini made six appearances for Udinese before he was loaned to Bologna in 2006 and then Vicenza for two seasons. Morosini made 18 appearances for the Italy Under-21 side and was a member of the 2009 European Under-21 Championship squad, which reached the semifinals.
Spurs rout Suns to dampen Phoenix's playoff chase
The San Antonio Spurs insist that being the No. 1 seed in the West isn't important to them. They still might wind up with it.
Simply making the playoffs is important to Phoenix. And this blowout won't help.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Tony Parker scored 14 before calling it an early night, and the Spurs made the Suns' playoff pursuit that much harder with six games to go, coasting past Phoenix 105-91 on Saturday night.
The Spurs officially clinched the Southwest Division, but more importantly, stayed neck-and-neck with Oklahoma City for the No. 1 playoff seed in the Western Conference. San Antonio remains a game behind the Thunder with eight games remaining.
"It doesn't matter what we do. We're going to end up where we end up. There's no reason to sit there and study it," Duncan said. "We're going to play these games as best as we can. Win or lose, we're going to end up where. We're in a great position right now. Hopefully we can end on top. If we don't, hopefully we're number two and we're happy with that."
Sebastian Telfair scored 21 points for Phoenix, which simply wants to make the postseason. Yet the Suns never looked ready to play from the start and slipped 1 1-2 games behind Denver and Houston for the West's eighth and final playoff spot.
Phoenix trailed by 17 before the first quarter was even halfway finished, and Steve Nash and Grant Hill sat out the entire second half. Nash said he irritated his right hip socket in a loss to Memphis on Wednesday, and despite fighting through it in Friday's win at Houston, he only lasted the first 6 minutes.
Yet even that early, it was clear it wasn't going to be the Suns' night.
"It was a situation where, one, I wasn't going to be effective and two, I didn't want to miss the last six games," Nash said. "Lucky to get out, I think, when I did."
Nash said he hopes to be OK for Monday's game against Portland.
The Spurs also didn't needlessly wear out their stars in this blowout. Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all sat out the fourth quarter and most of the second half, giving coach Gregg Popovich some bonus rest for his Big Three after he began the week by not even letting them on the plane to Utah.
Duncan got the rout going by hitting his first five shots, and quickly racked up 11 points and five rebounds by the time the stunned Suns found themselves down 21-4 just 6 minutes into the game.
That's when Nash called it a night. The 38 year old played 34 minutes the night before in Houston, where the Suns squeaked out a big road win against one of the teams in front of them for the No. 8 seed.
Hill was coming off a long night, too. Houston was the 39-year-old veteran's first game since undergoing surgery March 30 to repair a medial meniscus tear in his right knee, and Suns coach Alvin Gentry admitted the 25 minutes Hill played was probably more than ideal. Hill wound up playing eight minutes against the Spurs, scoring four points.
"We've been on the road a lot. We get a chance to be at home and try to finish," Hill said. "It's a tough loss, it's embarrassing, but we're still in the hunt. "
Rookie Kawhi Leonard added 14 points for the Spurs and DeJuan Blair had 10.
Phoenix's starters combined for just 20 points. Michael Redd scored 13 and Markieff Morris had 10 in a game that was hardly as close as the final score indicated. Phoenix trailed by as much as 28.
Phoenix has six games left and the good news is that five of them are at home - where the Suns are 10-2 since the All-Star break - including hosting the Nuggets on Saturday.
But the Suns must also face the Thunder and finish the season against the Spurs. Popovich, however, will give serious thought to playing his stars in the final game even if the No. 1 seed is still on the line, especially after Ginobili got hurt in that very same situation last season.
Newcomer Stephen Jackson, who the Spurs acquired at the trade deadline, isn't predicting how Popovich will manage minutes in the final two weeks.
"You never know what Obi-Wan is going to do," Jackson said.
Magic C Dwight Howard May Be Out For Season
Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has been sidelined with a herniated disk in his back, and reports now state that he will be out at least 10-14 days, according to ESPN.com. Some reports suggest he could miss the remainder of the regular season.
The ESPN report states that surgery remains a possibility, and there is no guarantee that he will return at full strength. The Magic are currently 6th in the Eastern Conference, with the playoffs beginning April 28.
The Magic are currently 1-4 without Howard, who averages 20.6 points and 14.5 rebounds per game.
“Are you kidding me?” Glen Davis told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s going to be tough without him next couple weeks. A herniated disk? That’s crazy. Dwight isn’t playing, everybody has to step up. Everybody.”
Tevez's hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Norwich
Carlos Tevez's hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Norwich to reduce Manchester United's lead to two points at the Premier League summit.
Tevez's swerving effort beat John Ruddy before he set up Sergio Aguero.
Norwich replied when Andrew Surman blasted in after Joe Hart's punch.
But Tevez boosted the lead with a header and Aguero's solo effort added the gloss before Tevez rounded Ruddy to complete his hat-trick and Adam Johnson slotted in from close range.
The Argentine celebrated his third strike with a golf swing, perhaps mocking those who questioned his desire during his unauthorised leave of absence in his home country where he was pictured on the golf course.
But after a fractious period in his Manchester City career, his performance and the result showed that his team's title challenge was back on track.
For all boss Roberto Mancini's claims that his team have no chance of overtaking rivals United, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, the Italian's players showed they have not given up.
Aguero, who was also a menace and scored two fine goals, came inches away from matching his countryman's tally when he hit the post late on.
It was a deadly exhibition of finishing from the front two, and City look to have recovered their former fluency, but the scoreline was harsh on Norwich, who pressured the visitors early on, and tested them again after reducing the deficit to 2-1.
Four goals in the last 17 minutes swept their challenge aside to give Manchester City their first away league win since 12 February but before the visitors could take control, they had to withstand an early barrage from the in-form Canaries.
Paul Lambert's side almost led when Joleon Lescott cleared Grant Holt's header off the line following a corner, the visiting defenders protesting as Anthony Pilkington appeared to block Hart.
The Manchester City players had already made their feelings known to referee Chris Foy when Tevez was booked for diving, after he appeared to be caught by Ryan Bennett.
But soon after, Tevez's recent rehabilitation continued when he was fed down the right by a re-energised David Silva and struck a swerving shot that beat Ruddy at his near post.
The second goal was a gem as Aguero supplied Tevez in the inside left channel and then picked up his fellow countryman's backheel to fire past Ruddy.
That strike knocked the wind out of Norwich, with Grant Holt's effort on the half-turn the only significant return before the break.
In 2005, Norwich director Delia Smith issued her infamous "Let's be 'aving you" rallying cry during the interval in a Premiership game between these two teams. But the Canaries - who had won seven of their previous eight home league games - are a different proposition under Lambert, and the Scot settled for a double substitution to rouse his side.
The move quickly brought reward when one of the replacements, Surman, steered the ball in after Hart had punched Adam Drury's cross clear.
And the other replacement, Wes Hoolahan, helped improve Norwich's midfield as they supported the advanced Aaron Wilbraham.
But as Norwich pressed, the visitors almost caught them on the break twice and Yaya Toure's arrival from the bench proved pivotal as three goals then flew in during the space of seven minutes.
It fell to another substitute Johnson to complete the rout after a sweeping move, and with City to face bottom-of-the-table Wolves before they travel to Old Trafford on 30 April, their confidence could by then be sky high.
Norwich boss Paul Lambert: "I think for 70-odd minutes we were well in the game. At 2-1 we looked really good and in the second half we played really well but if you're losing four goals in that space of time it was poor from our point of view. The effort was there in abundance, as it always is, but maybe the scoreline was severe.
"You can't legislate for losing three goals in seven minutes, and we'll learn from it. You take your medicine and you bounce back. Their strike force is incredible, the first two goals were world class. [Our] team have done brilliant, I can't be too harsh on them."
Obama: 'Drug legalisation not the answer to drug war'
US President Barack Obama has said that legalising drugs is not the answer to the problems caused by the trafficking of illegal narcotics in the Americas.
Mr Obama told a gathering of leading executives in Colombia ahead of the Summit of the Americas that legalisation could worsen the problem.
But he said that he was open to a debate about the issue.
The US president was responding to demands by regional leaders for a new drug war strategy.
On Friday, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told BBC Mundo that the current strategies against drug trafficking were making the war on drugs unwinnable.
"We call for a responsible, serious dialogue in which we scientifically analyse what is happening with the war on drugs", he said.
Divisive issue
President Obama said the answer to the increasing power of drug cartels in the hemisphere was to encourage societies with strong economics, rule of law, and a sound law enforcement infrastructure.
"I personally and my administration's position is that legalisation is not the answer, that in fact if you think about how it would end up operating, the capacity of a large-scale drug trade to dominate certain countries, if they were allowed to operate legally without any constraint could be just as corrupting, if not more corrupting than the status quo," he said.
He was speaking hours before the leaders of more than 30 countries in the Western Hemisphere met at the Convention Centre in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Americas Summit.
The summit's official theme is "connecting the Americas" but the host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and other regional leaders have expressed their desire to discuss a new strategy in the war on drugs.
President Obama's arrival in Cartagena on Friday was overshadowed by news that around a dozen US Secret Service agents had been recalled from the city amid allegations of misconduct, with reports suggesting accusations of prostitution had been levelled against at least one of the agents.
On Saturday, the US military confirmed five of its members staying at the same hotel in Colombia may have been involved in misconduct as well.
Cardi to revive Haiti’s agricultural sector
The Caribbean Agriculture and Research Development Institute (Cardi), through donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and the European Union, has pledged to resuscitate Haiti’s struggling agriculture sector. The resuscitation comes in the form of three projects, which Cardi will use to rebuild the sector which was ravaged by the January 12, 2010, catastrophic 7.0 earthquake.
Cardi’s aim is to not only revive agriculture but to assist in the development of a sustainable sector to get the impoverished nation back on its feet. The three projects are being executed in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture, with support and active participation from Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, said Cardi’s executive director Dr Arlington Chesney.
Chesney explained that in 2010 a mandate was given by the 33rd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development in Suriname for Cardi to embark on a US$ 1.6 million initiative with donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and European Union.
Project One involves the support for re-vegetation, a key component of the resuscitation of agriculture in Haiti. Last July, Cardi sent its first shipment of 16,000 kilogrammes of red kidney beans, corn and black peas to Haiti. The first beneficiaries were farmers in the Leogane area near the epicentre of the 2010 earthquake. The second shipment of 25,000 kilogrammes of yellow corn arrived in February.
The second project, Chesney said, will increase Caribbean production of roots and tuber crops through the introduction of improved marketing and production technologies. Particular focus will be on training interventions in sweet potato and yam production. The third project is geared toward increased production of vegetables and herbs through use of protected agriculture. To assist Haitian farmers, Chesney said a protected agriculture training plan had been developed, with the hosting of a workshop last August 2011 and establishment of a cluster embryo. This was followed by a conference on protected agriculture last December.
“This project will seek to demonstrate the economic advantages commensurate with use of protected agriculture systems in vegetable and herb production,” Chesney explained. Ultimately, one of the objectives, he said is to create transparent business linkages with benefits for smallholders, producer groups and co-operatives involved in protected agriculture. It is expected that activities in projects two and three will be accelerated this year. Chesney said this support shows the region’s helping hand to Haiti.
Peru troops free Shining Path hostages
The Peruvian government says a group of gas workers kidnapped by Shining Path rebels on Monday has been freed.
Officials said hundreds of troops surrounded the rebels, forcing them into a hasty retreat, during which they left their captives behind.
The government said all 36 hostages were safe.
There had been conflicting reports about the number of workers abducted, with some reports putting the number as high as 43, and others as low as 7.
"As a result of the energetic pressure and the tactical and intelligence operations carried out by the Armed Forces and the National Police, the criminal narco-terrorists were surrounded and forced to flee, freeing their hostages in the process," a statement by the Ministry of Defence said.
The government said it had not paid any ransom for the hostages' release.
No negotiation
The rebels had reportedly demanded a one-off payment of $10m plus an annual "war contribution" of $1.2m, as well as explosives.
But Justice Minister Juan Jimenez told a local TV station on Thursday that the government did "not negotiate with terrorists, the government acts within the law".
The authorities sent 1,500 troops to the area.
A policewoman was killed on Thursday during the search for the rebels, when the helicopter she co-piloted came under fire by alleged rebels.
Two other crew members were injured.
The workers were abducted on Monday morning in the Apurimac and Ene valleys, the last remaining stronghold of the Shining Path rebels.
'Totally defeated'
The Maoist group posed a major challenge to the Peruvian state in the 1980s and early 1990s, but is now reduced to small gangs involved in cocaine trafficking.
Last week, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said the Shining Path had been "totally defeated" in the Alto Huallaga Valley, once one of its key regions.
The hostages were building a new plant for gas from the huge Camisea field.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, said he would fly to the area to meet the released hostages as soon as he returned to Peru.