Carrie Underwood triumphs at CMT awards
Country singer Carrie Underwood has won the top award at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville for the third time in six years.
The former American Idol winner picked up the coveted video of the year prize for her track Good Girl.
Underwood was the only multiple winner at the ceremony, also winning collaborative video of the year with Brad Paisley for Remind Me.
Other winners included Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Luke Bryan.
Bryan's I Don't Want This Night to End and Lambert's Over You were named male and female video of the year respectively, while Lady Antebellum won the group video category for We Owned The Night.
Jason Aldean won for CMT Performance of the Year - a special category for live performances featured on the music channel - for Tattoos on This Town from the 2011 CMT Artists of the Year special.
Thompson Square picked up duo video for I Got You and last year's American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, received the breakthrough video of the year award for The Trouble With Girls.
Despite receiving three nominations, Taylor Swift - who has also won three CMT video of the year prizes - came away empty-handed on the night.
The ceremony, hosted by singer Toby Keith and Kristen Bell, featured performances from acts including Lady Antebellum, Lambert, Underwood, Zac Brown Band, Rascal Flatts and Willie Nelson.
Radio deal sparks royalties row
The first deal allowing a record label and its performers to be paid for AM and FM radio airplay in the US has been welcomed by the record industry.
But the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said the deal between radio giant Clear Channel and the Big Machine label was not enough.
RIAA chairman Cary Sherman said an "industry-wide solution" was required.
The US radio industry has long resisted paying royalties for sound recordings, saying its airplay boosts record sales.
Songwriters and song publishers currently receive royalties when their compositions are played on US terrestrial radio, but there is no equivalent law for labels and performers to be paid for the sound recordings.
Speaking to a Congress committee hearing on the future of audio, Mr Sherman said: "We're obviously delighted that the biggest radio group has acknowledged that something should be done and has actually gone and done something.
"That's a breakthrough. We've been advocating for this for about 80 years. But we need an industry-wide solution, not a label-by-label piecemeal solution."
Big Machine's artists include country superstars Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw.
Jazz bassist and composer Ben Allison, speaking to the committee, said: "Terrestrial broadcasters have an inexplicable 'free ride' when it comes to performance royalties."
He described the radio industry as "the only business in America that can legally use another's intellectual property without permission or compensation".
But the National Association of Broadcasters [NAB], which represents radio stations, said there was no need for legislation.
"NAB remains steadfastly opposed to a government-mandated performance tax on local radio stations," a statement from NAB said.
Broadcasters have argued that their airplay provides promotion for musicians and the extra financial pressure could force many stations to close.
A law that would have entitled rights owners to compensation was proposed in Congress in 2009.
Attempts by broadcasters and the record industry to agree a framework for the payment broke down and the plan has not made it into legislation.
Kony’s LRA Still Recruits Chilren
The United Nations says that the Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continues to perpetrate violations against children, including recruiting them as soldiers.
A new report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the rebel group led by Joseph Kony has abducted close to 600 children, almost half of them girls, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and in South Sudan in recent years.
In his first report to the U.N. Security Council on the subject, Mr. Ban documents violations committed against children, and measures taken to address the LRA threat between July, 2009 and February, 2012.
The group has waged a 26-year reign of terror in Central Africa, attacking and looting villages, killing and abducting their inhabitants, and turning kidnap victims into child soldiers and sex slaves with the idea of turning Uganda into a Christian theocracy. Kony's initial popularity has waned over the years following reports of atrocities that led to thousands of deaths and displacement of close to 2 million people.
The latest U.N. report says that by 2004, the LRA had largely been driven from Uganda through a sustained military effort and Kony then exported its terror campaign to neighboring countries. In 2005, he was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture.
A U.N. report last month said the group managed to avoid capture by being constantly on the move between Uganda, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. It is believed that Kony currently has between 200 and 500 fighters.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, told reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York Wednesday that the LRA “continues to cast a long shadow across central Africa, causing enormous suffering for children.”
The Special Representative's office monitors six grave violations against children: recruitment and use of child soldiers; killing and maiming; sexual violence; denial of humanitarian access; abduction; and attacks on schools and hospitals.
A multinational force, including 100 U.S. Special Forces, has been searching for him in his native Uganda, neighboring South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
Kony was the subject of a Web video called Kony 2012 that intended to spread the word about his actions.
Report of First Doctor to Treat Wounded President Lincoln Found
Historians at the National Archives in Washington have made an astounding find — a written account by the first doctor to treat the mortally-wounded President Abraham Lincoln.
The long lost report was discovered in a box at the National Archives last month after being filed away 147 years ago.
The notes, soon to be available on line, give a unique first-hand account of what emergency treatment was available in 1865.
Twenty-three year old Army doctor Charles Leale was sitting near Lincoln's box during the fateful performance of Our American Cousin in Ford's Theater in Washington, April 14, 1865.
Leale writes that he heard the shots, saw the assassin John Wilkes Booth jump to the stage, and immediately rushed to the president's box. Leale says he was met by Mary Todd Lincoln, who implored him to do whatever he could for the wounded president.
Leale writes he sent for brandy and water, broke up a blood clot on the president's head and stuck his finger in Lincoln's wound to examine it. He also resuscitated the president who had stopped breathing and restarted his pulse. Lincoln never regained consciousness.
Leale remained by the president's side as he was carried into a house across from the theater, where he died the next day.
Historians say Leale wrote his report for a Congressional investigation into Lincoln's murder.
At Least 78 Killed Near Syria’s Hama
Syrian activists said Wednesday pro-government militia and security forces killed at least 78 people, including women and children, in the central province of Hama. They said some of those killed in the villages of al-Kubeir and Maazarif were stabbed to death and at least 12 bodies were burned.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 'shabiha' militiamen armed with guns and knives carried out the attack after regular troops had shelled the area.
Activists called for an immediate investigation. There was no comment from the Syrian government, and events on the ground are difficult to verify as Syria tightly restricts access to international media.
Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials are warning Syria and its backers that tougher international action against President Bashar al-Assad's government could follow unless Damascus demonstrates “meaningful compliance” with U.N. efforts to end the violence.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday the administration and its allies could soon tighten sanctions against the Syrian government and its leaders. He spoke to representatives from 55 countries gathered in Washington to discuss increasing pressure on Mr. Assad and his top officials.
“Strong sanctions, effectively implemented, aggressively enforced, can help deprive the Syrian regime of the resources it needs to sustain itself and to continue its repression of the Syrian people. Strong sanctions make clear to the Syrian business community and other supporters of the regime, their future is bleak so long as the Assad regime remains in power.”
Geithner said the U.S. would ask, if necessary, to invoke “Chapter 7″ of the United Nations charter – a measure that could authorize the use of force.
“We, the United States, hope that all responsible nations will soon join in taking appropriate economic actions against the Syrian regime, including, if necessary, Chapter 7 action in the U.N. Security Council as called for by the Arab League last weekend.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Istanbul late Wednesday to co-chair a meeting on Syria with her Western and Arab colleagues.
A senior U.S. State Department official said after the meeting that Clinton made three points:
One: The international community has got to be united in understanding what needs to happen to make a political transition work in Syria. The transition must include President Bashar al-Assad leaving power, a fully inclusive interim government leading to free and fair elections, a ceasefire, and equality for all Syrians under the law.
Two: The international community must increase its pressure on the regime and its supporters both inside and outside the country. It must tighten existing sanctions and add more in the coming weeks to peal away the support of military and business community. Chapter 7 remains on the table “at an appropriate time.”
Three: The international community must improve coordination among those countries providing direct assistance to the Syrian opposition. Turkey will host a meeting in mid-June with the opposition and relevant governments.
The U.S. officials said special envoy for Syria Fred Hoff will go to Moscow Thursday, and France will host a Friends of Syria meeting in Paris on July 6, which Secretary Clinton is expected to attend.
Also Wednesday, U.N. diplomats said international envoy Kofi Annan will present the Security Council with a new proposal later this week to rescue his failing peace plan for Syria, where 15 months of violence have brought the country to the brink of civil war.
They said Annan's new plan would establish a “contact group” for Syria that would include the five permanent members of the Council and key regional players with influence on Damascus or the opposition, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran. The group would attempt to map out a “political transition” leading to Mr. Assad's departure and the holding of free elections.
In China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seemed to follow up on the contact group idea, saying nations exerting influence over Syrian opposition groups should join an international gathering to rescue Annan's faltering cease-fire deal. Russia is a longtime ally of the Assad government and has blamed his opponents for much of Syria's violence. China and Russia issued a statement Wednesday saying they are “decisively” against military intervention in Syria and regime change.
Secretary Clinton reacted cooly to Lavrov's proposal for a meeting on Syria that would include Iran, saying it is “a little hard to imagine inviting a country that is stage-managing the Assad regime's assault on its people.”
The State Department has said Iran's paramilitary Quds Force is training Syrian militia, like those who Washington believes responsible for last month's killing of civilians in Houla. Clinton meets with Kofi Annan on Friday.
As Western pressure continues, Mr. Assad appointed a loyalist Baath party member as the country's new prime minister Wednesday, the latest step of what the president has called a political reform process. State media said the prime minister-designate, Riad Farid Hijab, will form Syria's next government.
Snowiss reported from Washington and Stearns from Istanbul.
Bee Gee Robin Gibb's funeral to be held in Thame
Fans will be able to pay their respects to Robin Gibb when his funeral carriage travels through the Oxfordshire town he made his home on Friday.
The singer lived in Thame and his family said his "wish" was to say a "final goodbye" to fans and the town.
Gibb's glass-sided carriage, drawn by four horses, will travel through the town at about 13:30 BST on Friday.
The singer died from kidney failure last month after suffering from cancer and pneumonia.
The carriage will leave from Priests End and travel along the High Street to the town hall.
It will then return through the High Street to St Mary's Church where a private family service will be held.
Gibb's music will form a part of the service.
His son RJ said the Bee Gees hit I Started A Joke will be played at the church.
The track Don't Cry Alone, which is one of Gibb's final compositions from his Titanic Requiem - premiered only weeks before his death - will also be played.
Copyright guru dead
A memorial service for Paul G Marshall, the legendary American entertainment lawyer who introduced international copyright to the Jamaican music industry in the 1960s, takes place today in New York City.
Top music figures who have been associated with Marshall over the years, including former culture minister, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, will attend the service at the Church of St John the Divine in Manhattan.
Billboard magazine recalled Marshall's career as one filled with "one music industry benchmark after another".
Entertainment mogul Chris Blackwell noted meeting him in 1964 while travelling to the United States with singer Millie Small, whose My Boy Lollipop had just made it to number five on the US charts.
Blackwell was seeking a major label connection. Marshall introduced him to Atlantic Records founders Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and the deal was done. They remained friends until Marshall's passing on May 10, at the Aventura Hospital in Florida.
Marshall was closely associated with former Jamaica Prime Minister and head of West Indies Records Limited (WIRL), Edward Seaga, who invited him to assist with the drafting of the Jamaica's copyright legislation and the Motion Pictures Encouragement Act in the 1980s.
"He was of great assistance to me as a friend and a professional in helping to deal with artistes in the areas of performing and recording rights," said Seaga.
Marshall also had a close professional relationship with Grange, who was the government's culture boss in the 1980s.
She recalled she was in his office in New York City shortly after Bob Marley's death in 1981, when Stevie Wonder's manager called and told Marshall that the singer had just taken off to Jamaica.
Marshall urged her to hurry back to Jamaica and make arrangements for Wonder's stay which, eventually led to the superstar appearing on Reggae Sunsplash 1981 with the Third World band in a memorable tribute to Marley.
Wonder had met Marley in Jamaica when he performed with the Wailers at The Wonder Dream Concert on October 4, 1975, at the National Stadium. Wonder eventually recorded Master Blaster as tribute to Bob.
Marshall was also instrumental in working out copyright deals for a number of Jamaican artistes including Prince Buster, Jimmy Cliff and Ken Boothe in the 1960s. This was initiated by Seaga, under an arrangement which allowed the artistes/songwriters to collect royalties through the Social Development Commission (SDC). This arrangement continued until 1972 when the government changed.
Recently, Marshall was involved with legal arrangements for the promotion of Reggaeton in the United States.
An intellectual property/ copyright specialist, he had a history of heart and kidney problems but, despite the challenges, became one of the best known and most accomplished entertainment lawyers in the world.
He represented artistes such as Whitney Houston, Mary J Blige, Neil Diamond, MC Hammer, the Animals, KISS, LL Cool J and Lawrence Welk as well as chess grand master Bobby Fischer during his famous match with Boris Spassky in 1972.
Marshall represented labels like EMI, Polygram, United Artists and CBS (now Sony Music). He handled MCA's acquisition of Motown Records, Atlantic Records' sale to Warner Communications and the Bertelsmann Group's acquisition of Arista Records.
His firm advised African governments, as well as Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, on structuring radio and television and helped Swaziland establish a programme to combat AIDS.
He also served on boards of the Special Olympics International and the T J Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research, a music industry charity.
He is survived by his widow, Bette, a journalist who was in Jamaica during the 1980 general election; sons Robert Neal Marshall and Matthew Nathanial Marshall and his daughter Allison Leslie Marshall.
Source: jamaicaobserver
LIME, THE PREMIER SPONSOR OF THE MISS BODY BEAUTIFUL TCI PAGEANT
LIME, the longest serving telecommunications provider in the Turks & Caicos Islands has announced that it will be the premier sponsor for the annual Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant.
To this effect, LIME will provide the winner, first and second runner’s up of the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant with an opportunity of a lifetime – winning a chance to appear in a LIME advertising campaign. What is more, courtesy of LIME - the Miss Body Beautiful TCI contest winner will receive a high-end cellular phone with complementary post-paid service for one year. This, while the first and second runner’s up receive a high-end cellular phone with complementary service for six months.
Mr. Drexwell Seymour, LIME’s Country Manager said: “We are delighted to be the premier sponsor of Miss Body Beautiful, an avenue that will allow women to show case their beauty and talent which in turn will allow LIME to further promote the beauty of our women not only in Turks and Caicos Islands but throughout the World. We are excited about this venture.”
“We are very grateful that LIME has agreed to partner with us, and be our premier sponsor – that, along with bringing new faces to the Turks & Caicos Islands advertising landscape,” said Courtney Robinson, the event’s Executive Producer. “This is an ingenious idea and a fantastic way for a diverse group of women to have such an privilege. LIME have always striven to place local and fresh faces at the forefront of their marketing campaigns and we hare indeed happy that they are doing through our event.”
The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant recognizes that beauty, health and strength come in all ages and sizes. The pageant is open to ladies 18 years of age and older, has no restriction on height, body shape, marital status or nationality – will see contestants of diversity compete for the LIME advertising campaign, cash and fabulous prizes. To enter, registration will be held on Saturday, June 23rd at The Culture & Arts Commission in Turtle Cove, Providenciales from 10AM to 12Noon.
With ‘Stronger, Confident, Beautiful’ as its motto, Contestants will be judged during four segments - a pre-show interview round, and over the course of the event - Introduction, Swimwear and Fantasy Swimwear/Active-wear. After the Fantasy Swimwear/Active-wear round, Contestants will be invited to answer a question posed by the judges on health, fitness and/or the body beautiful. From there, the judges will decide, 2nd Runner’s up, 1st Runner’s up and the Winner!
The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant will take place on Saturday, July 28th at The William’s Auditorium, South Dock Rd, Providenciales. There will be performances by today’s leading singers, rappers, dancers and other headliners! Advanced ticket purchase: General admission $40.00 and VIP $65.00; with $10.00 added to the cost at the door.
For more information, contact Courtney Robinson, Executive Producer on (649) 232-6796 or email: msbodybeautifultci@gmail.com.
GOVERNOR TODD TO SPEND FIVE DAYS IN UK
His Excellency Governor Ric Todd departs the Turks and Caicos Islands for a series of meetings in the UK today, Tue, 5 June 2012.
Following his arrival in London he will meet with senior officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development on 6 and 7 June. This will include a meeting where Governor Todd will provide an update to Minister Duncan on progress against the milestones and other recent development in the TCI. His Excellency will then be on leave before returning to TCI on Mon, 11 Jun 2012.
TCI Government Chief Executive Officer Patrick Boyle will be sworn in as acting Governor until Mr Todd’s return.
Syrian Troops Kill 7 in Coastal Area
A Syrian rights group says government troops have killed at least seven people in a second day of fighting with rebels in a previously calm coastal region where no U.N. observers have been deployed.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said military helicopters and tanks opened fire on several towns in the northwestern province of Latakia on Wednesday. It said the dead include several civilians and at least one rebel.
Fighting across Syria on Tuesday killed more than 30 people, many of them in Latakia, the Observatory said. The casualties could not be independently confirmed.
Damascus-based U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh told VOA that the U.N. observer mission in Syria does not have any observers in Latakia. She said the U.N. confirmed clashes in the area by speaking to representatives of both sides and will not send unarmed observers into harm's way.
But Ghosheh said the mission plans to set up a base in the southwestern coastal city of Tartus by the end of the week and send a patrol to Latakia as soon as possible.
Free Syrian Army rebels appear to have intensified attacks on security forces in recent days after some rebel commanders declared they will no longer be bound by a U.N.-backed truce agreement because of repeated government violations. Damascus denies violating the cease-fire and blames the rebels for continued fighting.
Lebanese security officials said Wednesday Syrian troops have shot and killed a Lebanese man and wounded two others in a gun battle along the two nations' poorly-demarcated border. They said the fighting erupted near the Lebanese town of Arsal as a small group of Lebanese were trying to cross into Syria through an area known as a smuggling route.
Several shootings have happened on the Lebanon-Syria border since the start of a 15-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, raising concerns that Syria's conflict may spread to its smaller neighbor.
As violence continues, Mr. Assad appointed the agriculture minister from his outgoing Cabinet as the country's new prime minister on Wednesday, in the latest step of what the president has called a political reform process.
State media said prime minister-designate Riad Farid Hijab will form Syria's next government.
The Assad government held a parliamentary election on May 7. But Syrian opposition activists said few people voted in the country's rebellious towns and villages.
In a meeting in China on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said nations exerting influence over Syrian opposition groups should join an international gathering to rescue the faltering cease-fire deal brokered by U.N.-Arab League joint envoy Kofi Annan.
Russia is a longtime ally of the Assad government and has blamed his opponents for much of Syria's violence.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was headed to Istanbul Wednesday to discuss the Syrian conflict with her counterparts from other nations demanding Mr. Assad leave office including Turkey, Britain, France, and several Arab states.