Buju endures intense grilling in court
Reggae star Buju Banton underwent intense grilling during his cross examination from Assistant District Attorney James Preston, in the United States Sam Gibbons Federal Court in downtown Tampa, Florida today.
Banton was taken to task for a number of boasts he made about being involved in drug dealing to government informant Alexander Johnson today.
Preston asked the artiste why, if he was not a drug dealer, would he make statements that he was a financier of drug ventures being the successful entertainer he was.
But Banton shot back saying that he was just "talking crap" and that if he had been a drug dealer he would not have waited five months to meet up back with Johnson after their August 1, 2009 meeting.
Banton added that if had been a drug he would have jumped at the opportunity to invest in the drug venture or connect Johnson to other people in the drug business.
Throughout the grilling Banton, who lost his cool on several occasions, kept repeating that he was not a drug dealer.
At one point the entertainer said Johnson set him up to ruin his life but took responsibility. "It's my fault why I'm here. I'm too trusting. If I never let Alexander Johnson in my ears I would not have been here," he said.
On one occasion Preston said: "You never told him that you did not want to do a drug deal."
Banton responded: "I did not tell him I wanted to do one either."
Meanwhile:
United States government informant Alexander Johnson, complained in court today that his confidentiality has been compromised as a result of the Buju Banton Drug case.
The complaint was elicited through a series of questions by prosecutor James Preston.
Asked Preston: "What would you say about your confidentiality?"
"It's shattered," responded Johnson.
Preston said pictures have been shown in court, but David Markus, Banton's attorney, objected.
Yesterday, a picture was shown to the court of an expensive house a what appeared to be a luxury sports car in the driveway. The house belongs to Johnson. Johnson said that the car belonged to his son.
After the jurors were let out of court Markus complained strongly about Preston's questions, saying the erroneous impression is given that the defendant was responsible for the blowing of Johnson's confidentiality.
Johnson has been a Government informant since 1996 following his arrest his arrest in 1993 on drug trafficking charges.
Johnson has made over US$3.3 million as a Government informant, substantially more than he made as a drug trafficker, he told the court yesterday.
Buju Banton's lead attorney David Markus, earlier this afternoon applied to have charges against Buju dropped after the prosecution closed its case.
But magistrate James Moody, said he could not drop the conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine charges.
However Moody indicated that he would be dropping the charges of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offence; and using the wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence.
The trial has adjourned until tomorrow morning.
Blige, Songz, Kanye among Headliners for 2011 Essence Fest
Mary J. Blige, Trey Songz, Jill Scott and rapper Kanye West are among the headlines scheduled to take the stage at this year’s Essence Music Festival.
The 17th annual New Orleans festival, celebrating the roots of rhythm and blues, will take place July 1-3 at the Louisiana Superdome.
Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., says the lineup will also include Charlie Wilson, Fantasia, Boyz II Men, Stephanie Mills, Macy Gray, Dwele, Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle, Mint Condition, Kelly Price, M.C. Lyte and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.
A number of local stars, including Irma Thomas, Kourtney Heart, the Charmaine Neville Band and Rebirth Brass Band also are scheduled to perform.
Fantasia Ditches Grammys: Sour Over Aretha Tribute Snub
Did you know that Fantasia Barrino won a Grammy Sunday night for Best Female Vocal Performance for her hit song “Bittersweet?”
Did you also know that in the words of Cee Lo Green she told the Grammys, “F–k You!” Ok, maybe she used the G-rated version and said, “Forget You!”
Huh? “What’s that all about?” you’re no doubt saying to yourself. Here’s the deal. ‘Tasia decided to stay home because she wasn’t invited to participate in the Aretha Franklin tribute. Simply put, she didn’t like being left out.
“I’m going to be very honest with you. You know I wasn’t at the Grammys last night,” she told “106 & Park” hosts Terrence J and Rocsi on Monday evening. “I’m kind of going through my own thing … Last night they were honoring someone who is my idol, Aretha Franklin, and there is no way I could have sat there and not got the happy feet and wanting to jump on the mic because she is my favorite so I felt like, you know, at the end of the day I should have been on that stage so, I kind of did my own little thing last night.”
Because of her hurt feelings and maybe even anger, she missed out on the moment she’s been waiting for. If you were her, what would you have done?
Aretha Franklin Announces May Concert Date in Buffalo
Aretha Franklin says she’s back at “150 percent” and has announced the date of her first scheduled concert to take place since undergoing surgery.
Franklin said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press that she’s set to perform at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 28. It’s the same month that she said her new album “Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love” becomes available in Wal-Mart Stores.
The Queen of Soul had surgery in December for an undisclosed ailment. Some reports claimed it was a procedure to treat pancreatic cancer (reports she has outright denied) while other talk has suggested she suffered severe complications from gastric bypass surgery. Franklin has opted not to disclose the exact nature of her operation.
The 68-year-old has since revamped her diet, giving up her beloved chitterlings, pigs’ feet and ham hocks in favor of a Whole Foods-type diet, reports the AP.
As seen in her videotaped Grammy appearance, she’s lost weight and hopes to get down to a size 16.
Mickey Rooney granted restraining order against stepson
US actor Mickey Rooney has been granted a temporary restraining order that requires his stepson to stay at least 100 yards away from him and his home.
Lawyers for the 90-year-old star allege that Christopher Aber, 52, has been "verbally abusive" to him.
Court documents claim that Mr Aber "threatens, intimidates, bullies and harasses" the former child actor.
Rooney is "effectively a prisoner in his home", the order - approved by a Los Angeles judge on Monday - states.
Mr Aber is the son of Rooney's eighth wife, Jan Chamberlin, whom he married in 1978.
According to court documents, he has allegedly deprived Rooney of medication and food and has confiscated his passport and other identification cards.
'Extremely fearful'
"Mickey is extremely fearful that Chris will become physically threatening against Mickey and may even attempt to kidnap Mickey from his home," the actor's lawyers said.
Rooney also accuses Mr Aber of forcing him to make personal appearances and sign financial documents without reading them.
"All I want to do is live a peaceful life, to regain my life and be happy," Rooney said in a statement.
The actor, who rose to fame as a child star in the 1930s and 1940s, received an honorary Oscar in 1983 "in recognition of his 50 years of versatility".
Libya protests: Activists call for 'day of anger'
Anti-government activists in Libya have been using social networking sites to rally support for protests on what they are describing as a "day of anger".
There were reports of clashes in two cities late on Wednesday, with two people reported dead in the eastern city of Beyida.
Dozens of people were injured in violent demonstrations on Tuesday night in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The unrest there followed the detention of an outspoken government critic.
Pro-democracy protests have recently swept through several Arab nations, with the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt forced to resign amid growing unrest.
But this week's demonstrations were the first display of defiance in Libya, where dissent is rarely tolerated.
Jail massacre
Witnesses say that at one stage up to 2,000 people were involved in the protests early on Wednesday in Benghazi, which saw a march on government offices in the city.
The protesters are said to have thrown stones and petrol bombs, and set vehicles alight. Witnesses said police used rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse them.
The protests reportedly began after the arrest of Fathi Terbil, who represents relatives of more than 1,000 prisoners allegedly massacred by security forces in Tripoli's Abu Salim jail in 1996. He was later said to have been freed.
In a speech broadcast on Wednesday evening, Colonel Gaddafi made no mention of the unrest but said the "revolutionaries" would prevail.
"Down with the enemies, down with them everywhere; down with the puppets everywhere, the puppets are falling, the autumn leaves are falling!" Mr Gaddafi said.
"The puppets of the USA, the puppets of Zionism are falling."
In a statement issued after the Benghazi clashes, a senior Libyan official warned that the authorities "will not allow a group of people to move around at night and play with the security of Libya".
It added: "The clashes last night were between small groups of people - up to 150. Some outsiders infiltrated that group. They were trying to corrupt the local legal process which has long been in place.
"We will not permit that at all, and we call on Libyans to voice their issues through existing channels, even if it is to call for the downfall of the government," said the official, who was not identified.
More than 100 members of a banned Islamist militant group were freed from Abu Salim on Wednesday. It is not clear if the Benghazi clashes and the release of the inmates were connected.
The European Union, meanwhile, has urged Libya to allow "free expression".
"We also call for calm and for all violence to be avoided," said a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton.
'Police state'
Colonel Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-serving leader, having ruled oil-rich Libya since a coup in 1969.
He has always insisted that the country is run by a series of peoples' committees, though most outside observers believe it is a police state with him firmly in control, the BBC's Jon Leyne reports.
The Middle East has recently seen a wave of protests fuelled by discontent over unemployment, rising living costs, corruption and autocratic leaderships.
This began with the overthrow of Tunisia's leader, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in January. Last week, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned.
In recent days there have also been anti-government demonstrations in Yemen, Bahrain, and Iran.
Bahrain protests: Police break up Pearl Square crowd
Security forces in Bahrain have dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters in Pearl Square in the centre of capital, Manama.
Hundreds of riot police using tear gas and batons moved into the square before dawn on Thursday.
At least two people were killed in the police operation, the opposition says.
The protesters are calling for wide-ranging political reforms and had been camped out since Tuesday.
Clashes earlier in the week left two dead and dozens injured in the country.
Tear gas
Ibrahim Sherif, of the secular Waad party, told the BBC that the police had acted without any warning at about 0300 (0000 GMT).
"Throughout the day there were rumours that we would have another 24 hours, but the attack has come without warning.
"You have hundreds of women and children already camping there. People are sleeping in the tents [...] there is a dense fog of tear gas, these people could be trapped there and inhaling this tear gas," he said.
He said that he had seen at least 100 riot police on one side of the square and hundreds of people running away from the square down the side roads.
"We have two confirmed dead - one 65-year-old and another younger person, a third is in critical condition," he said, adding that ambulances with injured people were arriving almost every minute at Manama's main hospital.
Some children, he said, had become separated from their parents as police stormed the square.
Nick Frei, a Swiss businessman who lives in a flat above Pearl Square, told the BBC he woke to hear "raised voices and shots being fired - not the shots of bullets but the dull thud of tear gas canisters... dozens were being shot, saturating the square with gas. Even 34 storeys up I could smell the gas.
"Within 20 or 30 minutes the police had moved in and the show was over. They had gained control of the square and most of the protesters had gone."
'Watching closely'
The US has expressed concern at the violence and called for restraint. Bahrain is a key US ally, hosting the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
"Bahrain, like all the countries in the region, needs to respect the universal rights of its citizens, their right to protest, their right to have their grievances heard," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday.
"They should refrain from violence on both sides. We are obviously watching events from Bahrain and around the region very closely."
The disturbances in Bahrain - where the Shia Muslim majority has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim royal family since the 18th Century - are part of a wave of anti-government unrest that has swept the Middle East.
The Bahraini demonstrators say they want:
- political prisoners to be released
- more jobs and housing
- the creation of a more representative and empowered parliament
- a new constitution written by the people
- a new cabinet that does not include Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, who has been in office for 40 years
In a rare TV appearance on Tuesday, Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, expressed regret about the deaths of protesters and said he would continue reforms begun in 2002 when the emirate became a constitutional monarchy.
On Wednesday more than 1,000 people attend the funeral in Manama of a man who was killed on Tuesday during clashes with police at the funeral of another protester. Mourners chanted slogans calling for the removal of the government.
Sun unleashes huge solar flare towards Earth
The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say.
The eruption is a so-called X-flare, the strongest type; such flares can affect communications on Earth.
Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation emanating from a sunspot.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has issued a geomagnetic storm warning, and says observers might be able to see aurorae from the northern UK.
The eruptions are expected to hit the Earth's magnetic field field over the next couple of days, causing an increase in geomagnetic activity.
The monster flare was recorded at 0156 GMT on 15 February and directed at the Earth. According to the US space agency, the source of this activity - sunspot 1158 - is growing rapidly.
Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the Sun's atmosphere.
Preliminary data from the Stereo-B and Soho spacecraft suggest that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright coronal mass ejection (CME) - a burst of charged particles released into space.
The unpredictable activity on the Sun can interfere with modern technology on Earth, such as electrical power grids, communications systems and satellites - including the satellite navigation (or sat-nav) signals used on Earth.
On Wednesday, the BGS released a rarely seen archive of geomagnetic records that provide an insight into "space weather" stretching back to the Victorian era.
BGS scientists says that studying past solar activity could inform the prediction of future space weather and help mitigate threats to national infrastructure.
In 1972, geomagnetic storm provoked by a solar flare knocked out long-distance telephone communication across the US state of Illinois.
And in 1989, another storm plunged six million people into darkness across the Canadian province of Quebec.
Displays of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) have already been seen further south than usual in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK. And further activity is expected over the next few days.
Researchers say the Sun has been awakening after a period of several years of low activity.
House votes down controversial fighter funding
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to strip $450 million from funds slated for a controversial program to build an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter second engine, a next-generation aircraft development program that has been riddled with cost overruns and labeled unnecessary by critics.
The amendment to strip the funds passed 233-198 with bipartisan support. It was added to a bill that would fund the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Neither the House nor the Senate has the passed the full spending package yet.
President Barack Obama has urged Congress to eliminate funding for the Joint Strike Fighter program. House Speaker John Boehner, however, is a key supporter. The vote was a setback for the Ohio Republican.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told members of the House Armed Services Committee earlier Wednesday that he considers the program "an unnecessary and extravagant expense, particularly during a period of fiscal contraction."
Congress has often proven reluctant to end major Pentagon projects, which can be an important source of local jobs and revenue.
Former airline agent admits scamming travelers
A former Continental Airlines sales agent pleaded guilty Tuesday to a $1 million fake voucher scheme that could result in a maximum of two decades in jail.
Victoria Scardigno, 33, of Weehawken, New Jersey, sold more than 2,000 fake travel vouchers for $500 to $600 each, according to the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York. Scardigno pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
"Victoria Scardigno's low-rent Ponzi scheme took advantage of unsuspecting air travelers who thought they were buying vouchers for plane tickets when they were really buying worthless pieces of paper," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
"Now the only trip she will be taking is to federal prison," Bharara said.
Scardigno deposited more than $1 million in her personal bank account from the sale of fake vouchers for round-trip tickets anywhere in the world, according to court documents.
The vouchers, which the airline uses to compensate customers in cases of bumping for overbooking and other inconveniences, were taken from Continental Airlines offices. Scardigno was a sales agent for the airline at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Scardigno sold the vouchers over about an eight-month period in 2009, authorities say. To keep the scheme going, Scardigno purchased real airline tickets for some voucher holders using her own credit card, other people's credit cards or cash, according to an affidavit from an FBI special agent who investigated the case.
But the purchase of real tickets, which were far more expensive than the false vouchers, soon became too costly, and Scardigno was no longer able to keep up with the demand for tickets from voucher holders, the affidavit said.
Continental terminated Scardigno's employment in late 2009 after an internal investigation, according to court documents.
In addition to buying $587,000 worth of airline tickets with her credit card, Scardigno spent approximately $15,000 at Louis Vuitton stores and more than $700 at Coach stores, authorities say.
Scardigno will have to pay restitution to the victims of the fraudulent scheme and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.