Kanye West Settles Lawsuit Over Illegal Sample
Kanye West has settled a lawsuit over a sample he used on his "Bound 2". According to Billboard, paperwork was filed earlier this month to discontinue the lawsuit brought by Ricky Spicer, whose voice is heard on the 2013 song.
Spicer is a former member of a group called The Ponderosa Twins Plus One. He sued West, Roc-A-Fella Records, Universal Music Group and Island Def Jam Music Group back in late 2013, claiming he and his group's 1971 song, also called "Bound", was used on the "Yeezus" track without his consent.
He also stated that he hadn't received any compensation despite the massive success of 'Ye's song. He was seeking an injunction as well as damages for alleged violations of New York civil right of publicity law (section 51), unjust enrichment and common law copyright infringement.
Spicer's voice can be heard in the "Bound 2" chorus as he sings, "Bound, bound/ Bound to fall in love." Details about the settlement are unavailable.
Taylor Swift Goes Wedding Dress Shopping
Did Calvin Harris pop the big question to Taylor Swift? The country/pop star revealed to PEOPLE that she was hunting for a wedding dress this week, but it's not for her nuptials. The singer said she just helped her childhood friend, Britany Maack.
Swift was asked to be the maid of honor by the bride-to-be back in February. "Taylor, you are more than a friend, you are more than a best friend, you are my sister. I cannot imagine having anyone else by my side on my wedding day... Will you be my maid of honor?" Maack wrote in a sweet note to her friend.
The "Bad Blood" singer took her maid of honor duties seriously. In between her hectic schedule traveling the globe for her world tour, she took time to make a couple calls and arranged a special visit to the showroom of famed designer Reem Acra in New York City to help Maack find her dream wedding dress.
"Reem does the most amazing bridal designs, and Britany and I were looking through Vogue, and she pointed to this one gown, and I was like, 'I wonder if we could go to the showroom...' " she explained. "And sure enough, it was the best day ever. It was so amazing."
"I've never been a maid of honor before," Swift said. "This is my first time, and it's really, really important to me because this is my best friend, who I've known since I was born. And she's marrying someone I've known since I was 4."
Source-AceShowbiz
Judge Delays Hearing After Suge Knight Claims illness
Suge Knight's court hearing in his robbery case that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 was delayed. Judge Ronald Coen of Los Angeles Superior Court postponed the hearing after the rapper claimed he's too sick to leave his jail cell.
Ronald said that he initially ordered officials to forcibly escort the music mogul out of his downtown Los Angeles cell for the hearing, but he changed his mind. Instead, he decided to postpone Wednesday's hearing until Friday, May 29, the same day Suge's another hearing in his murder case is scheduled.
Ronald also gave Suge a warning to appear at the hearing. If Suge failed to do so, Ronald would order deputies to physically remove him from his cell, as court officials reported.
Suge was accused along with comedian Katt Williams of stealing a celebrity photographer's camera in Beverly Hills in September last year. However, both of them had pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, Suge's murder charge stemmed from an accident that happened earlier this year when he unintentionally ran over two men with his pickup truck in Los Angeles' parking space. One victim was killed, while the other was said to suffer from serious injuries. Suge is being held on $10 million bail on the charge.
Source-AceShowbix
Jeffrey Webb suspended as CONCACAF President
The Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Football Association (CONCACAF) on Thursday (28 May) suspended embattled president Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Webb, 50, was arrested a day earlier in Zurich, Switzerland as part of a United States-led crackdown on alleged corruption in football’s world governing body, FIFA. He is accused of seeking millions of dollars in bribes related to television deals. This is part of a US indictment that alleges corrupt acts to the tune of US$150 million, which has seen 13 other people either arrested or implicated.
The confederation named Senior Vice President Alfredo Hawit as CONCACAF President and also announced that Eduardo Li, another of the persons arrested, has also been dismissed.
“While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF’s goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer,” said Mr. Hawit.
“We have now taken the appropriate steps to maintain our operations and continue to deliver on our commitments to all of our constituents, including our fans, members, as well as commercial and broadcast partners. We also continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by governmental authorities, which have not placed any restrictions on our ongoing activities,” the newly-installed president added.
Meantime, CONCACAF’s executive committee appointed Victor Montagliani, the president of the Canadian Soccer Association, Justino Compean, the president of the Mexican Soccer Federation and Sunil Gulati, the resident of U.S. Soccer Federation to a special committee charged with the duties of evaluating and sustaining all of the business operations of the confederation.
The executive committee also placed General Secretary Enrique Sanz on a leave of absence to begin immediately. In addition, the confederation’s Deputy General Secretary, Ted Howard has been appointed by the executive committee as acting General Secretary. Mr. Howard takes over the administrative functions of the day to day business of the Confederation in absence of Enrique Sanz.
Source- Caribbean27news
Jamaica, UK sign MOU to continue fight against illicit drug trade
Jamaica and the United Kingdom (UK) have intensified their fight against the transnational drug trade affecting both countries, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding of Cooperation.
Speaking at the signing at the Ministry of National Security’s head office on May 28, 2015, Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting said the “renewal of the MOU is yet another concrete demonstration of the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation that continue to exist between Jamaica and the UK,” adding that “their assistance over the years has played an important role in the successes achieved by Jamaica’s law enforcement authorities.”
The MOU will be in effect for three years, and will allow for the sharing of information, and the provision of human resources and equipment by the UK, aimed at combating the illicit drug trade between both countries.
The Minister further emphasised that the signing of the MOU is meant to “send a strong signal to drug dealers, would-be-drug dealers and would-be traffickers that there will no free passage through our ports,” pointing out that since 2010 the police have arrested 1200 Jamaicans at ports of entry, including 1, 136 at the island’s international airports, most of whom were headed to the United Kingdom.
Notwithstanding these successes, Minister Bunting said drug trafficking continues to pose a major challenge, and highlighted that it is partnerships with countries such as the UK, that will help Jamaica to stem this problem effectively.
In his remarks, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, His Excellency David Fitton, said the UK is pleased to enter into another agreement with Jamaica, indicating that the success of the last MOU has led the UK to increase its technical and human resource capacity to assist Jamaica in combating the transnational drug trade.
Source-Jamaica Gleaner
Fiat Chrysler, Honda and BMW expand airbag recall
Three big carmakers have expanded recalls of vehicles with faulty airbags.
The move from Fiat Chrysler, Honda and BMW comes after Takata Corp, the Japanese airbag maker last week said the number of vehicles affected was 53 million globally.
Of that figure, 34 million are in the US, making it the country's largest ever recall of cars.
The faulty airbags, when exposed to too much moisture, can explode.
Regulators have linked the problem to six deaths worldwide, all in Honda vehicles.
Honda has called back about 690,000 cars in the US and Japan.
Since 2008, Honda has recalled about 20 million vehicles around the world with Takata air bag parts.
Fiat Chrysler announced an expansion of its recalls of vehicles with Takata air bags to about 5.22 million worldwide, involving models from 2003 to 2011. About 4.5 million of those vehicles are in the US.
Most of the vehicles have been involved in previous recalls and are from the 2003 to 2011 model years, the car maker said.
BMW in North America is recalling 20 models from 2002 to 2006 that contain Takata driver-side front air bags. Regulators said the air bag module will be replaced.
Source-BBC
Blatter warns of 'more bad news' for tainted FIFA
Beleaguered FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Thursday warned of "more bad news" for football's scandal tainted world body but rejected calls to resign over a widening corruption scandal.
Blatter -- who faces a reelection vote Friday -- opened FIFA's annual congress by saying he could not be blamed for the corruption controversy which even drew Russia's President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron into the fray.
But after the arrest of seven top football officials at the FIFA hotel on Wednesday Blatter warned that the storm is not over.
"The next few months will not be easy for FIFA. I am sure more bad news will follow but it is necessary to begin to restore trust in our organisation," the 79-year-old said,
"We cannot allow the reputation of football and FIFA to be dragged through the mud any longer. It has to stop here," he added.
Blatter called the scandals "unprecedented" and said the "actions of individuals bring shame and humiliation on football and demand action and change from us all."
He spoke hours after a showdown with European football chief Michel Platini who called on Blatter to quit.
Platini said he confronted Blatter at an emergency meeting of the heads of the the six regional confederations.
The UEFA president said he was "sickened" and "disgusted" at the arrests and a raid by Swiss police on FIFA headquarters as part of a corruption inquiry into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
The seven arrested in Zurich are among 14 people accused by US authorities of taking more than $150 million in bribes.
"Today I have come to ask you to quit FIFA, to resign from FIFA, to leave FIFA because its image is bad and we can no longer go on like this," Platini said he told Blatter in front of the other presidents.
Blatter only replied in a private conversation after. "He told me: 'Michel we know each other well, but it's too late. I cannot leave today when the Congress starts this afternoon."
Blatter is remaining defiant despite mounting pressure over the scandals.
Sponsors like credit card giant Visa said it would "reassess" its sponsorship if FIFA does not clean up the sport.
Unless FIFA rebuilds a corporate culture with "strong ethical practices" at its heart, "we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship," Visa said.
Coca-Cola, Adidas, McDonald's and Budweiser also spoke out against the corruption scandal.
Even International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said in front of Blatter that FIFA must change.
"I would very much like to encourage you to continue and strengthen your co-operation with the relevant authorities to shed full light on the concerned methods and to take all necessary measures to address such grave allegations," Bach told the FIFA opening ceremony.
Blatter has not been personally implicated in the scandals and Swiss authorities said there were no immediate plans to question him.
Source-AFP
Charges Bring 'Shame, Humiliation' on Sport
FIFA President Sepp Blatter said corruption scandals that rocked the world soccer organization have brought "shame and humiliation" on the sport.
"The next few months will not be easy for FIFA. I am sure more bad news will follow but it is necessary to begin to restore trust," Blatter said, speaking publicly for the first time since U.S. and Swiss officials unveiled major corruption investigations of the organization and seven high-ranking current and former FIFA officials were arrested Wednesday.
Blatter, 79, who spoke at the opening of the FIFA Congress in Zurich, said, "Actions of individuals, if proven, bring shame and humiliation and demand action and change from us all. We cannot allow the reputation of football and FIFA to be dragged through the mud any longer. It has to stop here and now."
"I know many people hold me ultimately responsible for the actions and reputation for the global football community," Blatter said, adding, "I cannot monitor everyone all of the time. If people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it.
"But it must fall to me to be responsible for the reputation and well-being of our organization and to find a way forward to fix things," he said.
The president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), French football legend Michel Platini, spoke openly about the FIFA scandal and took issue with Blatter's refusal to resign.
"We went to his office and I renewed my advice to him to go and that he should resign," Platini said. "That he should realize the moment was not a good one and to have the courage, honesty and grandeur to realize that it wasn't good.”
According to Platini, Blatter refused, arguing that it was too late, since the electing congress was about to start.
The German Football Association (DFB) has also demanded Blatter's resignation, citing the credibility issue with him.
“It is time for a change, definitely, and that it is not a question of whether Blatter is guilty or not guilty,” DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said. “It is time for change because we need FIFA as an institution with credibility and that is difficult, maybe impossible without a change at the top,” he added.
Blatter rejected their demands.
Also, sponsors are calling for football's governing body FIFA to make changes while its regional federations debate the future of its often-criticized leader.
Credit card company Visa made the strongest statement after the U.S. Justice Department unveiled an indictment Wednesday charging 14 people with offenses that include racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.
Source-VOA
Time Warner Cable in $78.7bn takeover
Charter Communications has agreed to buy media giant Time Warner Cable in a cash and shares deal worth $78.7bn (£52bn).
The cash element is worth $55bn, with the rest covered by Charter shares.
The new company, which will also include Bright House networks, will be a broadband services and technology company serving 23.9 million customers in 41 states.
It aims to compete with US cable market leader Comcast.
Comcast, which has 27 million customers, owns NBCUniversal.
The deal comes a month after Comcast abandoned a plan to buy Time Warner Cable after heavy pressure from regulators.
US cable and internet companies are facing stiff competitive pressure and are trying to cut costs and attract new customers as users increasingly choose to stream viewing content on the internet at a time of their choosing.
Liberty Broadband is expected to own about 20% of the new company.
The deal values Time Warner Cable shares at $195.71.
In pre-market trading, Time Warner Cable's shares were up 11% at $190.5, while Charter Communications was up 3.2% at $181.
David Cameron says he won't 'cave in' on migration target
David Cameron says he will not give up on his immigration target despite net migration to the UK reaching its highest level for a decade.
Net migration rose by 50% to 318,000 last year - with sharp increases from inside and outside the EU.
A total of 641,000 people moved to the UK in 2014, the Office for National Statistics said.
But the PM said he would not "cave in" and abandon his target of reducing net migration below 100,000.
In a speech at the Home Office, he said the Liberal Democrats had held back Conservative attempts to reduce numbers during the last parliament and unveiled a string of measures aimed at curbing illegal working.
Central to these are new plans to seize the wages of illegal workers as proceeds of crime in an attempt to reduce the numbers.
However, the scale of the challenge facing ministers in reducing levels of legal immigration was highlighted again by a net migration rise the size of the population of Coventry.
The figures measure the difference between the numbers of people moving the UK for a year or more and those leaving the UK for a year or more.
They reveal:
641,000 people moved to the UK over the period, with 323,000 going the other way
284,000 people immigrated for work, a 70,000 increase
The number of Romanian and Bulgarians moving to the UK doubled to 46,000 in 2014
Employment of non-British EU nationals in the UK in January to March 2015 was 283,000 higher than the previous year
The Conservatives pledged before the 2010 election to reduce numbers to less than 100,000, a target they acknowledge they have failed to meet.
"There is no good news here for David Cameron," said BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith.
He said ministers were shifting the emphasis of the immigration debate away from numbers towards "blue collar concerns" like jobs, pay and housing.
Source-BBC