Rihanna shows support in court for Chris Brown
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Rihanna left no doubt about how she feels about Chris Brown and the probation he's serving for beating her up four years ago.
The pop star sat behind Brown in court Wednesday while a prosecutor asked a judge to order the singer to restart the community labor that is his punishment for the felony assault conviction.
It was Rihanna's second time in a courtroom with Brown. The first was the day in August 2009 when Brown was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to stay away from her. Then, she was a witness for the prosecution.
"She thinks it's utterly ridiculous what they're doing to him," Brown lawyer Mark Geragos said when a reporter asked why his assault victim was in court.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has "tortured" Brown during his probation worse than any client he's ever had, Geragos said.
In a court filing this week, prosecutors accused Brown of not completing the 180 days of community labor ordered when he pleaded guilty to the felony assault charge.
The paperwork Brown submitted to show he had completed community labor is "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting," District Attorney Jackie Lacey said. Brown wasn't in town on some of the dates reported, the motion said.
Geragos, however, angrily disputed the charges, calling them "absolutely false."
"And I don't mean just false, it is fraudulent," Geragos said after the hearing.
Brown's attorney said the prosecutor's filing was so fraudulent that he would ask the judge to punish the deputy district attorneys involved and call for a contempt of court hearing for filing false documents with the court.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Brandlin set a hearing for April 5 for Brown to return to court, but a full hearing on the allegations will be held later.
Brandlin ordered Brown to report to his probation officer within the next two days to be interviewed for a report that will be used at the hearing.
Despite the serious allegations outlined in the court filing, the prosecutor is not asking for Brown's probation to be revoked and the singer sent to jail. She is asking the judge to order him to restart his 1,400 hours of community service under the supervision of a Los Angeles probation officer.
Brown got an unusual deal when he pleaded guilty that allowed him to complete his court-ordered community service in Virginia, under the personal supervision of Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood. Normally, community service must be supervised by a probation office.
The district attorney alleged that investigators he sent to Virginia discovered that Brown's mother supervised most of it, and they found evidence it was never done.
In response, Geragos said he's received 10 e-mails in the past day from Richmond police officers and firefighters "who observed Chris doing his community service."
"I've got pictures, I've got witnesses," Geragos said. "I've got what they don't have. We have evidence that he did it."
The motion also accused Brown of violating probation by punching singer Frank Ocean at a Hollywood recording studio last month, threatening to "bust" -- or shoot -- the singer. It also notes a Miami incident during which Brown allegedly stole a fan's cell phone and a chair-throwing incident after a "Good Morning America" interview.
Also, Brown's claim to have medical marijuana license, which used to defend against a drug test result, was invalid because the acupuncturist who wrote it was not licensed to prescribe drugs, the motion said.
This Friday marks the fourth anniversary of the night Brown punched Rihanna inside a rented Lamborghini on a Hollywood street, leaving her face bruised and bloody.
Rihanna and Brown broke up after he was arrested for assaulting her, but they've made no secret in recent months that they are a couple again.
Mr. Vegas custody trial put off as ex-girlfriend fails to show
The child custody trial involving Dancehall/Reggae megastar, Mr. Vegas has been postponed.
Originally scheduled to commence on Monday last, the trial was set to begin the process of determining whether Vegas, or his ex-girlfriend, Shellian McBayne would win full custody of their two-year-old daughter. However, the case has now been postponed until April 23 after McBayne reportedly failed to show up for the hearing, which took place at the Bronx Family Court in New York.
Vegas has been campaigning in recent months that he should receive full custody of their young daughter after she allegedly witnessed her mother,McBayne, being intimate with another man inside the prominent singjay'sFlorida home. Vegas has since sold that home and is auctioning off furniture from the residence as part of his Turning Dust Into Brickscharity.
Later this month, Vegas is expected to release his first book, Bare Tingz, a cheating novel based on this alleged incident.
Chronixx and Goldy Create A Ruckus With 'Mini'
Members of theRastafarian community have been openly criticizing a new combination song byGoldy and Chronixxcalled 'Mini' where the artistes extol the virtues of women in short skirts. Some believe that such sentiments should not be expressed by anyone representing the Rastafarian faith.
"Yes, mi hear the critics dem a talk, dem a say how bobo ah sing bout mini and a bagga tings but even most of them have to admit that it has a great melody. I create music, I don't know about politics, Chronixx say the song good, but certain rasta ah lick out about rasta ah sing bout short skirt, but ah straight business mi a deal wid. Music is music, politics is politics and mi no see nothing wrong wid the song," engineer-singer-producer Goldy said.
The song samples an original song recorded by singer Willie Francis, 'Oh What a Mini', and which soared to the #1 position in the 1970s. Willie Francis is the father of Fabian 'Goldy' Francis so he is a second generation musician.
'Wild Thing' singer Reg Presley dies
Singer Reg Presley of British band The Troggs has died, CNN has confirmed. He was 71.
Famous for the 1966 song "Wild Thing," Presley and The Troggs were also behind other hits like "With a Girl Like You," "I Can't Control Myself" and "Love Is All Around."
The BBC reports that Presley died at his home in the U.K. surrounded by his family. The singer had reportedly been diagnosed with lung cancer the year before.
"Reg was an amazing man," Presley's manager told CNN in a statement. "He worked all over the world with The Troggs ... Even Jimi Hendrix copied the man from Andover."
He went on to describe Presley as "a warrior of the '60s boom and not afraid to travel outside the London West End bubble to spread Troggmania."
As Rolling Stone notes, The Troggs were part of music's "British Invasion wave" that included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who.
"Wild Thing," which you can listen to below, is No. 261 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. With singles like that one, Rolling Stone says, "the band helped to define garage rock in the '60s and inspired the architects of what would evolve into punk rock in the '70s, including Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones."
Mumford and Sons say Grammys are 'good for business'
British folk band Mumford and Sons say their six Grammy award nominations are "good for business".
They are in the running for the coveted album of the year prize this weekend, for their second record, Babel, which debuted at number one in the UK and US.
Guitarist Winston Marshall says the honours "mean we can keep on touring and doing all the stuff we love".
The quartet, who played with Bob Dylan at the 2011 Grammys, will have a solo slot at this year's show.
They have also announced a mini-festival, called "Stopover", over two nights in Sussex in July.
'Dry' event
The band's Grammy nominations include two for Babel, including best Americana album, and two for their single I Will Wait - which has sold more than a million copies in the US.
They are also up for four Brits, and hope to repeat the success of their debut album, Sigh More More, which won British album of the year in 2011.
The stream of accolades is, according to Marshall, "a bit mental".
Win or lose, "it's good for business," he tells the BBC from Boston, where the band have just kicked off a US tour.
"It does a lot for a band, it did a lot for us the first time we did it, its really helped our profile in America, so it's great honour.
"I don't want to be blase about the honour but it's not something that we aspired to and ever really want to enjoy too much or dwell on. It's amazing but we just want to make more music".
Oddly his biggest concern for Sunday is not the band's performance but that, unlike the booze-soaked Brit awards, the Grammys are completely dry.
"It's about four hours and you've got all these desperate musicians trying to go for a fag and they don't want you to leave your seats and it's kind of not fun," he explains.
"I don't want to sound spoilt 'cause it's awesome that we get to enjoy those surreal things but it's also kind of bizarre, 'cause you're walking around and Will Smith's there and Jennifer Lopez."
The six nominations mean Mumford and Sons have joined the rare group of British artists who have managed not only to break into the lucrative and notoriously insular American market, but to be actively embraced by the US.
Arguably, Adele, Coldplay, One Direction and Amy Winehouse are the only others who have managed such a feat in the last 10 years.
"We've been really warmly embraced," agrees Marshall. "We spent pretty much 18 months non-stop in America when we were recording Babel and, whenever we weren't in the studio at home, we'd fly over.
"We were so warmly embraced that, going home, we almost felt like were were on the back foot, that we had a lot of work to catch up on in the UK."And, you know, Americans are so extreme in their emotions, you feel it even more. It's an awesome experience to see this side of the country."
Stopovers
As a thank-you to fans on both sides of the Atlantic, Mumford and Sons have announced a wave of mini-festivals later this year.
The tour is visiting five towns - four of the in the US, and Lewes in Sussex - none of which are traditional tour destinations.
It's an echo of the band's two-night event in Huddersfield last June, which featured some of their favourites artists, including Willy Mason and theBBC's Sound of 2012 winner Michael Kiwanuka.
Marshal says the inspiration came from relatively small events likeLoopallu in the tiny Scottish highland town of Ullapool and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, where - after the music stopped, "everyone went to the pub for a pint and music played all night long".
"The best ones were in the towns which really engaged with it. We bring the bands and they provide all the local food. Last year, in Huddersfield they had locals ales and it celebrated all the best things about the town.
"Lewes is amazing. It's a very cool town, we've been down a few times and seen the best bits."
However, Marshal admits the band weren't prepared for the amount of work that comes with hosting your own event in a public space.
"When we started it, we were all all like, 'yeah we can do it better than Reading and Glastonbury, we can do our own one,' and we were really cocky.
"Literally within two weeks of trying to organise it, we realised how hard it was and we had to eat humble pie and now we've got some great people working it to help us do it."
With bands on the bill for the Lewes gig including Vampire Weekend and The Vaccines, Marshall says the £75 price tag is reasonable.
"You do appreciate how everything costs something - things that I personally took for granted but we don't want to pass it on to people.
"I remember getting annoyed going to festivals and every year it was a tenner more expensive and it wasn't any better.
"The only problem is if we don't sell any tickets."
Source_BBC
Les Miserables tops UK box office as takings break £30m
Les Miserables has topped the UK and Ireland box office for the fourth week running, becoming the first film to pass the £30m mark this year.
Tom Hooper's musical took £2.78m - a drop of 31% from last week - for a cumulative total of £30.14m.
Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained remains in second spot after taking £1.69m for a total of £10.3m.
Denzel Washington's Flight debuted at number three with £1.4m, but Hyde Park On Hudson scraped into the top 15.
Roger Michell's portrayal of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's visit to New York ahead of the Second World War took just £136,783 in its opening week.
The film, which stars Bill Murray as US President Franklin D Roosevelt, averaged a paltry £882 across 155 screens.
Elsewhere, Steven Spielberg's epic Lincoln - nominated for 12 Oscars - fell one place to four after raking in £1.37m in its second week for a total of £4.2m.
Bullet to the Head, starring Sylvester Stallone, debuted at number nine with £429,317.
Les Miserables, already the second-highest-grossing musical in UK box office history, still has a long way to go to overhaul Mamma Mia!.
The movie, based on Abba songs, pulled in £32.1m at the same stage of its run and went on to total £69.2m.
In all, seven films last year broke the £30m barrier: Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Avengers Assemble, Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part 2, Ted and Ice Age 4.
EU leaders set for crucial budget summit
European Union leaders are due to begin a two-day summit in Brussels to try to strike a deal on the next seven years of EU spending.
High EU expenditure at a time of cutbacks and austerity across the continent is the main issue dividing the 27 member states.
They failed to reach a compromise at a similar summit last November.
The BBC's Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says the summit will almost certainly demand cuts in EU administration.
However, whatever is agreed still has to go to the European Parliament and MEPs are big backers of EU spending, he adds.
The EU Commission - the EU's executive body - had originally wanted a budget ceiling of 1.025tn euros (£885bn; $1.4tn) for 2014-2020, a 5% increase. In November that was trimmed back to 973bn euros and later revised down to 943bn euros.
However, with other EU spending commitments included, that would still give an overall budget of 1.011tn euros.
The UK, Germany and other northern European nations want to lower EU spending to mirror the cuts being made by national governments across the continent.
Hamas and Fatah in unity talks, says Khaled Meshaal
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has told the BBC he is in talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about forming a national unity government.
Mr Meshaal also said preparations were being made for presidential and parliamentary elections.
The split between the militant group and Mr Abbas's Fatah party has led to Palestinian elections being postponed for several years.
Hamas controls Gaza while Fatah remains dominant in the West Bank.
In May 2011 the two Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal but it has not yet been implemented.
However, in recent months there have been signs of a closer relationship between the two.
"We are forging ahead with the reconciliation," Mr Meshaal told the BBC'sHardtalk programme.
"We are consulting about forming a government of national accord. Preparations for presidential, parliamentary and executive council elections are under way. We are reinvigorating the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) and organising its meetings until new national council and executive committee are elected."
In relation to Syria - a long-time ally of Hamas - Mr Meshaal said the party had been forced out of Damascus because it disagreed with how President Bashar al-Assad was dealing with the conflict.
But he said President Assad still supported Hamas.
"There is no doubt that we have disagreed with the Syrian regime on the manner with which they managed the crisis, and their resorting to the security-military option," he said.
"The massacre taking place in Syria pains us very much. We were forced to leave Damascus even though the regime used to support us. We also had differences with Iran on what goes on in Syria."
He added: "We are keen on having good relations with all countries of the Arab and Muslim community, and the international community, with those who support our cause."
In 2006 Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections, sparking a bitter conflict with Fatah.
Clashes erupted in Gaza between the two factions and Hamas violently forced Fatah from Gaza in June 2007.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US and EU due to its long record of attacks and its refusal to renounce violence.
But its supporters say it is a legitimate resistance movement and a democratically elected government.
Teams start assessing tsunami-hit Solomon Islands
Aftershocks continued to rock the Solomon Islands, a day after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that left at least six people dead.
A metre-high wave swamped several villages on Santa Cruz island, in the far east of the Pacific nation, after the quake early on Wednesday.
Dozens of houses were damaged or swept away in at least five affected villages.
An official said several people were thought to be missing.
A number of aftershocks have struck since the initial magnitude 8.0 earthquake. One, on Thursday morning, had a magnitude of 6.2, the US Geological Survey said.
Six people - five elderly villagers and a child who were sucked under by the water - have been confirmed dead.
"There are signs that there might be increases in the number of casualties," Red Cross disaster manager Cameron Vudi told AFP news agency.
"There are still reports coming in. Most of the reports are confined to areas that are accessible by road but there are a lot more communities that have been damaged."
The National Disaster Management Office said up to 3,000 people were believed to have been displaced.
Santa Cruz island, also known as Nendo, is the largest island in the Santa Cruz island chain which lies more than 600km (370 miles) from the Solomons capital, Honiara.
The airstrip in Lata, the island's main town, was swamped by the tsunami and left littered with debris.
"The airport is being cleared by some workers, by the end of today the airport would be clear of all the debris so people are now working on it and any time tomorrow or the following day airplanes should be landing," said Temotu Province Premier Father Charles Brown Beu.
Boats carrying supplies are expected to leave Honiara later in the day but are not due to arrive at the island until the weekend, AFP news agency said.
Police teams based in Lata were also trying to reach areas to assess damage, a government statement said.
India child sex victims 'humiliated' - Human Rights Watch
Child victims of sexual abuse in India are often mistreated and humiliated by police, says the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a new report.
Government systems to deal with the issue of abuse are inadequate, it says.
The report says sexual abuse is "disturbingly common" in Indian homes, schools and care homes.
Reports say more than 7,200 children, including infants, are raped every year in India. Child rights activists believe many more cases go unreported.
A government study in 2007 reported that two out of every three children in India were physically abused and that 53% of the nearly 12,300 surveyed children reported one or more forms of sexual abuse.
'Dismissed, ignored, mistreated'
The 82-page report - Breaking the Silence: Child Sexual Abuse in India - was released in the Indian capital, Delhi, on Thursday morning.
It says that the authorities are failing to protect children both from sexual abuse and also when it comes to treating victims.
"Children who bravely complain of sexual abuse are often dismissed or ignored by the police, medical staff, and other authorities," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of HRW.
The report says that many children are "mistreated a second time by traumatic medical examinations and by police and other authorities who do not want to hear or believe their accounts".
It says that government efforts to tackle the problem, including new legislation to protect children from sexual abuse, will also fail "unless protection mechanisms are properly implemented and the justice system reformed to ensure that abuse is reported and fully prosecuted".
Campaigners say children are sexually abused by relatives, neighbours, at school and at care homes for orphans and that most of the cases go unreported because in India's traditional system, parents and families are afraid of attracting social stigma.
In May last year, India's parliament passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act which, for the first time ever in the country, made all forms of child sexual abuse a criminal offence.
But campaigners say that better laws alone will not help - what is needed is a change in the prevailing social attitudes and the way the police, medical officials and the judiciary deal with cases of sexual abuse of children.