By Nicklaus Lovelady Hope for the safe return of missing Jackson State University student Latasha Norman ended in heartbreak for her family and friends Thursday when police discovered her body in a wooded area in north Jackson. Her ex-boyfriend, Stanley Cole, was arrested a short while later and charged with murder. The break in the Nov. 13 disappearance of the 20-year-old accounting major came when police took Cole into custody Thursday morning.

Information obtained from Cole during questioning by Jackson Police Department detectives led them to Norman’s decomposing body near Brown Street about 2 p.m., police said. “We have confirmed that the body found is that of Ms. Norman. I can’t elaborate how, but it is her,” JPD spokesman Sgt. Jeffery Scott said Thursday evening. Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said Norman has been dead for approximately two weeks and was found about 15 yards off Brown Street. Grisham-Stewart would not give any other details about the condition of the body.

Late Thursday, Grisham-Stewart said due to the body’s state of decomposition the autopsy performed Thursday night was not completed and did not immediately reveal a cause of death. She said the state medical examiner would resume the autopsy later today. “There were signs of trauma, but we have not concluded that’s what caused her death,” said Grisham-Stewart, who would not elaborate.

After the body was found, Cole, 24, also of Greenville, was charged. Cole is a sophomore criminal justice major at JSU. Earlier in the day, Cole was scheduled to appear in Pearl Municipal Court to face a simple-assault charge for allegedly hitting Norman in the face with his fist as they argued in a restaurant parking lot on Oct. 9. Before Cole could go before a judge, he was taken into custody by JPD. Cole originally had been questioned by JSU police in the days after Norman’s disappearance. Assistant Police Chief Lee Vance would not say what prompted police to question Cole again or whether he had confessed to killing Norman.

The wooded area where Norman’s body was found is about a half-mile south of County Line Road and just west of North State Street. Around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, dozens of residents from the nearby North Hills Apartments, including children, stood on Brown Street several yards from where investigators found the body. “I was coming out of my apartment trying to get on the interstate when I saw the crime tape and all these cars. I asked what had happened and they said they found the body of the JSU student,” Nakia Banks said.

Norman’s disappearance attracted attention from local and national media outlets. Her parents, Patricia and Danny Bolden of Greenwood, had temporarily moved to Jackson to aid in the search. They could not be reached for comment Thursday. Street poles, store windows and car windshields around town held pictures of Norman’s smiling face. “I kind of thought she might be dead, but I really hoped, for her and her family, that she was alive,” said Melanie Weaver, a resident of North Hill Apartments. “To kill her and just throw her away like some dog is just wrong.”

Cole is being held in Hinds County Detention Center without bond. Scott said Cole’s initial appearance could come as early as today and that the investigation has not been completed. Nearly 17 hours prior to the body being found, students at JSU had held a prayer vigil in hopes that she would be found alive and returned to her family and friends. To honor Norman, JSU classes have been canceled today. “I want to extend my deepest and most profound sympathy to the Norman/Bolden family, (Norman’s) friends and others who loved her,” said JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. in a written statement. “There are simply no words that can take away the anguish felt in the face of such a heinous and senseless act.”

Our deepest and most sincere prayers are sent to the relatives in the Norman family, as well as friends and colleagues.
[Source: Clarion Ledgar]

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Thursday said that it planned to launch a crackdown on rap music, complaining that the words used by rap artists were “obscene”, the state IRNA news agency reported. “There is nothing wrong with this type of music in itself,” the official for evaluation of music at the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, Mohammad Dashtgoli, was quoted as saying.

“But due to the use of obscene words by its singers this music has been categorised as illegal,” he said. “In coordination with the police, illegal studios producing this type of music will be sealed and the singers in this genre will be confronted,” he said.

Dashtgoli said a large number of illegal rap singers have been already identified. The Islamic republic’s hardline officials have repeatedly complained about a “cultural invasion” by “decadent” western music which they believe diminishes Islamic values. The culture ministry official expressed his frustration that rap artists were finding low-cost ways to publish their music on the Internet. “We should find a solution for this.”

Rap music has become increasingly popular amongst young urban males in Tehran, with explicit lyrics taking in social, political and sexual themes. Producing albums and holding concerts in Iran requires official permission from the culture ministry and, needless to say, rap music is an underground phenomenon in the Islamic republic.

Nevertheless, rap albums are widely available on the black market with artists drawing inspiration from the Persian-language rap of the Iranian diaspora based in Los Angeles. Iran is currently in the midst of its most severe moral crackdown in years, which has seen thousands of women warned for slack dressing, several bootleg music stores shut and “decadent” mixed-sex parties raided. Conservatives have applauded the crackdown as a bold move to promote virtue but some moderates have questioned the value of the drive at a time when Iran’s economic problems are hitting the poor hard.

[Source: AFP & Yahoo]

Throughout the week of November 26, “NBC News With Brian Williams” will take a look at the issues facing African-American women across our nation in a new series “African-American Women: Where They Stand.” The series will cover a wide-range of issues from their role in the ‘08 Presidential race, to the increased health-risks that they need to be concerned about.

Monday’s installment will discuss African-American women’s progress in the education field. Nearly two-thirds of African-American undergraduates are women. At black colleges, the ratio of women to men is 7 to 1. And that is leading to a disparity in the number of African-American women who go on to own their own businesses. Rehema Ellis will talk to educators, students and businesswomen about why this disparity exists.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman will discuss the increases risks for breast cancer for African-American women on Tuesday. Mortality rates for African-American women are higher than any other racial or ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death, including breast cancer. Black women with breast cancer are nearly 30% more likely to die from it than white women. Premenopausal black women are more than twice as likely to get a more aggressive form of the disease. And, not only are African-American women more likely to die from breast cancer, but they’re less likely to get life-saving treatments. Dr. Snyderman will profile one of the only oncologists in the world who specializes in the treatment of African-American women with breast cancer.

Wednesday, Ellis will look at relationships within the African-American female community. Many agree the gender disparity in education and business among African-Americans is having an effect on relationships that African American women have. Some even say the implications could redefine “Black America’s family and social structure.” In the past fifty years, the percentage of African-American women between 25-54 who have never been married has doubled from 20% to 40%. (Compared to just 16% of white women who have never been married today). Ellis sits down with the members of a Chicago book club and talk about this difference and how it impacts them.

On Thursday, Ron Allen will take viewers to South Carolina — the first southern primary state — and ask the question: Will race trump gender or gender trump race? In South Carolina , black women made up nearly 30 percent of all democratic primary voters in 2004. This year, polls show a significant number are undecided, torn between choosing the first African-American or first female Presidential candidate. Allen talks with the undecided, as well the state directors for the Clinton and Obama campaigns, who happen to be African-American women.

To close the series on Friday, Dr. Snyderman will raise the frightening statistic that African-American women are 85% more likely to get diabetes, a major complication for heart disease. And, like breast cancer, more black women die from heart disease than white women. Dr. Snyderman will profile a leading expert and a unique church-based outreach program in South Carolina that seeks to spread the word about heart disease risks to black women congregants.

Mara Schiavocampo, Digital Correspondent for “Nightly News,” will address two hot topics in the African - American community: interracial dating and the impact of hip hop music on black women (For those of you who attended NABJ this year, Ms. Schiavocampo won the Emerging Journalist of the Year Award). Interracial dating is a growing trend in the African - American community. An Essence.com poll found that 81% of participants approved of black women dating non- black men.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report in 2000, 95,000 black women were married to white men. In 2005, that number increased to 134,000. Schiavocampo will talk to experts about the trend and discuss how this defines the “Black family” of the future.

Schiavocampo will convene a panel of leading black men and women from the hip-hop industry for an engaging discussion on whether hip hop lyrics and videos positively or negatively affect black women. The roundtable also will address how these portrayals are affecting relationships between black women and black men.

Table Talk: An extended interview

[Source: MSNBC]

There has been an outcry in Tanzania over a woman who was badly injured by her husband after she took an HIV test which is being encouraged nationwide.

Tumaini Mbogela said her husband beat her when she returned from a voluntary counselling centre in the town of Makete where she took the HIV test. Rights activists say the attack was “uncalled for” and women do not need permission to check their HIV status. Half of the 1.6m Tanzanians living with HIV are women, recent figures show. Reports from Makete say the husband is on the run from the police. Relatives claim that he is mentally confused after the realising that the law-enforcers were looking for him.

Nationwide testing
Women’s rights activist Jostina Katunzi said 34-year-old Tamali Mbogella was responding to a nationwide drive when she went for an HIV test in Makete. “Women are so concerned about their health and she was free to go for the test - I do not think she had to consult her husband,” Ms Katunzi said.

The BBC’s John Ngahyoma in Dar es Salaam says the Makete area is one of the worst-affected regions in Tanzania with a 24% HIV prevalence rate compared to 7% nationally. When the health ministry launched a nationwide testing campaign in July, Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete was one of the first to take the HIV test.

Following the Makete case, the head of Tanzania’s Commission for Aids, Taj Liundi, has advised married couples to consult each other before going for the test. “This is an isolated case of a violent man and does not represent all men in Tanzania,” Mr Liundi said. “But we shall intensify our efforts to raise awareness of the importance of going for a test.” Mrs Mbogela has now been discharged from hospital, our correspondent says.

[Source: BBC News]

Republican candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination expressed support this evening for the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law which bans openly lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel from the armed forces. The candidates were queried on the topic by retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr, CSMR (Ret.), a member of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network’s (SLDN) military advisory council who ‘came out’ in 2003 and identified as a Republican voter. General Kerr served for 43 years in the military, including as Commanding General of the Northern Area Command of the California State Military Reserve. His question was part of this evening’s CNN/YouTube debate of Republican presidential contenders.

“I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians,” General Kerr asked the candidates.

“Most Americans [who enter the military] are conservative and have conservative values … and to force those people to work in a small, tight unit with someone openly homosexual and goes against their principles is a disservice,” Congressman Duncan Hunter (D-CA) said in response. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) also endorsed maintaining the law, saying that “… leaders almost unanimously tell me that the present policy is working.”

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told Kerr that, “People have a right to whatever feelings and attitudes they wish, but when conduct puts cohesion at risk, I think that is what is at issue. That is why we have the policy we have right now.” Former Governor Mitt Romney, who acknowledged supporting open service early in his career, told the General he now opposes that idea, saying that the law “has been there for 15 years and it seems to be working.” Romney added that he would listen to the counsel of military leaders in the future and “listen to what they have to say.”

In response to the candidates, General Kerr noted that he did not believe they addressed his initial question, saying that, “Every day the Department of Defense discharges two people, not for misconduct or issues of cohesion, but simply because they happen to be gay.”

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of SLDN, pointed to growing support among Republican voters, and some GOP lawmakers, for repealing the law. “Republicans and Democrats alike should be able to agree that our national security and military readiness are not partisan political matters,” Sarvis said. “Republican voters increasingly understand that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ deprives our armed forces of the talent and skills of patriotic Americans who have important contributions to make to our national defense. Those voters want leaders who will reach across party lines and build consensus to repeal this law.”

A March 2006 Pew Research Poll found that 62% of self-identified moderate Republicans support open service. A May 2005 Boston Globe poll also found that “Large majorities of Republicans, regular church-goers and even those with negative attitudes toward gays think gays and lesbian should be able to serve openly in the military.”

Republican Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has also questioned the law, telling Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen that she “recently met with a retired admiral in Maine who urged me to urge you to reexamine the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.” Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming has also endorsed repealing the law.

“Despite the statements by candidates this evening, a growing majority of Americans in both parties want ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repealed,” said Sarvis. “Lawmakers should follow the public’s lead and lift this ban.”

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and related forms of intolerance. For more information, visit www.sldn.org.

[Source: Reuters & Miami Herald]

A British teacher has been charged in Sudan with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that charges have been laid against Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool. She was arrested in Khartoum after allowing her class of primary school pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he will summon the Sudanese ambassador “as a matter of urgency”.

In a statement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “surprised and disappointed” at the charges. A spokesman said the first step was to “understand the rationale behind the charge”, something which would be discussed by Mr Miliband and the ambassador as soon as possible.

‘Shameful ordeal’
“We will consider our response in the light of that,” he added. Lawyers say Mrs Gibbons faces six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine if convicted. Sudanese state media said prosecutors had completed their investigation and decided to charge Mrs Gibbons under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code. The BBC’s Amber Henshaw, in Khartoum, said Mrs Gibbons was expected to appear in court on Thursday.

The Muslim Council of Britain reacted angrily to the news, saying it was “appalled” and demanded Mrs Gibbons’ immediate release. “This is a disgraceful decision and defies common sense. There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith,” said Secretary-General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, in a strongly-worded statement. “We call upon the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to intervene in this case without delay to ensure that Ms Gibbons is freed from this quite shameful ordeal,” said Dr Bari.

Possible acquittal
Mrs Gibbons taught at the fee-paying Unity High School in Khartoum and the school’s director, Robert Boulos, said earlier: “This is a very sensitive issue. We are very worried about her safety. Earlier, the Sudanese Embassy in London said the situation was a “storm in a teacup” and signalled that the teacher could be released soon, attributing the incident to a cultural misunderstanding.

But Sudan’s top clerics have called for the full measure of the law to be used against Mrs Gibbons and labelled her actions part of a Western plot against Islam. “What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam,” the Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas said in a statement. The semi-official clerics body is considered relatively moderate and is believed to have the ear of the Sudanese government. A Sudanese human rights lawyer and Member of Parliament countered that Mrs Gibbons may be acquitted or simply fined under the discretion of the magistrate.

“It is not imperative to lash her, it is not imperative to send her to prison,” said Ghazi Suleiman. “But I think the lady, she hasn’t got any intention to insult the Islamic religion, therefore I am sure, very sure that if she went to the court she might be acquitted.” Mrs Gibbons was arrested on Sunday after several parents made complaints to Sudan’s Ministry of Education. The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner said the situation could potentially become a very serious diplomatic incident. Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad, told BBC News 24 that getting fair legal representation for Mrs Gibbons is a priority: “We are shocked and dismayed as I think many people are.”

[Source: BBC News]

The leading Republican presidential candidates will debate on CNN tonight with some questions coming from Americans on YouTube. About 40 of more than 3,500 video submissions are expected to be played at the debate. The snowman who asked the Democrats about global warming will be back. Others submitting questions included the parents of a slain gay man and actor Kirk Douglas, who poses a question about education.

With the Iowa Caucus fast approaching, all the candidates are expected to attend tonight’s debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, even though some have expressed reservations about the format. Polls show the race in Iowa is a dead heat between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, while former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani Is leading nationally.

[Source: NY1]

(CBS/AP) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton picked up endorsements from dozens of black ministers Tuesday in South Carolina, an early voting state where she and rival Barack Obama have been courting the critical black vote.

The clergy were drawn to the New York senator for her views on health care, jobs and other issues, said a state representative who helped organize the endorsements. “They felt this was the best candidate addressing their concerns,” said state Rep. Harold Mitchell, a Democrat from this northern part of the state. Nearly half of South Carolina’s Democratic primary voters are black, and ministers can play a huge role in shaping the political direction of their congregations. More than 60 ministers gathered with Clinton on a stage at a hotel and her campaign said 88 were in the room where the endorsements were announced.

Clinton, in a wide-ranging speech to a crowd of more than 450, touched on her plans to expand health care, better public education and improve the image of the U.S. She said she would send emissaries around the globe - and mentioned former Secretary of State Colin Powell as “someone I know very well” - to send a message the era of “cowboy diplomacy is over.”

“I understand we’ve got to take on health insurance companies and the drug companies,” she said. “Don’t you think it is time for us to do that?” The Rev. Timothy Brown, of Cleveland Chapel in Spartanburg, said Clinton will get government to a “better plateau.” He also referenced Obama, a first-term senator who wrote a book called “The Audacity of Hope.” “We need to look for a leader that is ready to lead right now,” Brown said. “We don’t need to be filling our heads with hopes and dreams.”

Also Tuesday, Clinton’s campaign released her proposal to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS, which in part focuses on fighting the spread of the illness in minority communities. Clinton would double the HIV/AIDS research budget at the National Institutes of Health to $5.2 billion annually and spend at least $50 billion within five years around the globe, according to an e-mail from her campaign.

Clinton did not focus on the proposal in her first two of three appearances in South Carolina. In Aiken, she was asked by one man about whether gays should be able to openly serve in the military. “I don’t believe ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ worked,” she said.

The endorsements from the South Carolina ministers came as Clinton tries to widen what one recent poll showed was as much as a 10 percentage point lead in the state over Obama, an Illinois senator. “This is just the beginning,” said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, a Columbia minister working for Clinton. Similar announcements are in the works in other regions of the state, he said.

Another state senator, Harold Mitchell, told CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that his heart had him backing Obama early on, but he switched to Clinton last month. “We’ve got to get away from these emotional feelings,” Mitchell said. “If you put that aside and look at the candidates… it’s a no-brainer.” Obama has pulpit endorsements of his own. He’s visited churches in the state and his campaign has organized forums on faith at churches and community centers. It also sponsored a recent gospel music tour.

In October, Obama stood in front of the pulpit of a Greenville church and told a mostly full, 4,200 seat sanctuary that faith was everything to him. “It’s what keeps me grounded. It’s what keeps my eyes set on the greatest of heights,” he said. Clinton’s husband remains popular with blacks in South Carolina, and the former president apparently helped get the support that was announced Tuesday during a visit to the state last month.

Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said courting the pulpit is key for the black vote here. “The church and individual members play an extremely important role in black politics,” Fowlers said in an interview last month. “There’s very stiff, intense competition for the hearts and minds of the African-American clergy,” he said. “Collectively, they have huge influence.”

Obama’s campaign said it has held forums educating people about his faith across the state and recruited 180 volunteers who are organizers in their “faith communities.” “Senator Obama is proud of the tremendous support he has from South Carolina congregations and ministers. The successful Obama Faith Forums have allowed us to capture enthusiasm among voters who are interested in how Obama’s faith impacts his vision to transform our nation and have a positive impact on issues like healthcare, poverty and education,” the campaign said in a statement.

[Source: CBS/AP]

image source: Riceandbeansvintage.com

There’s nothing we love more than a great vintage find, so after squealing with delight with each click of the mouse we knew that we had to share our newest discovery Rice and Beans Vintage. Owner Sarah Korsiak Cellier shops the local market (she’s based in Maine) for vintage and designer treasures from the likes of Christian Dior, Chanel, and YSL. The site has a great mix of high end and affordably priced merchandise, which is always a plus in our book. We liken the shopping experience to raiding your mother’s closet for all her great back in the day clothing ….if only my mom hadn’t thrown away that Aigner jacket and Pucci scarf! For more information on Rice and Beans Vintage please log-on www.riceandbeansvintage.com

By Carol Costello WASHINGTON (CNN) — Does a good role model talk about using illegal drugs? Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama started the debate when he admitted to a high school audience in New Hampshire that he had experimented with drugs while he was in high school. “There were times when I got into drinking, experimenting with drugs. There was a stretch of time where I did not really apply myself,” Obama said. He added that when he left for college he realized he wasted a lot of time using drugs. “It’s not something I’m proud of,” Obama said. “It was a mistake as a young man.”

What a change from Bill Clinton’s 1992 admission that he had smoked marijuana a time or two and didn’t like it. “And I didn’t inhale and didn’t try it again.” “I never understood that line,” Obama said, who said he did inhale marijuana when asked by a student. “The point was to inhale. That was the point.” Clinton’s admission has become a cultural joke. Obama’s comments? If you ask Republican rival Mitt Romney, Obama’s comments were too honest.

“I think in order to leave the best possible example for our kids, we’re probably wisest not to talk about our own indiscretions in great detail,” Romney said. Romney isn’t alone in that belief. When George W. Bush was governor of Texas in 1999, he talked briefly about his use of alcohol, but refused to talk about other drugs because he feared kids might think what he did was “cool.”

Bush said at the time, “It is irrelevant what I did 20 or 30 years ago. What’s relevant is that I have learned from the mistakes that I made.” So what’s a role model to do? Should he be discreet or open about past indiscretions? According to Steve Pasierb, president of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Obama is right on the money. Pasierb says kids are not naive; they know people in high places have experimented with drugs.

“The key is to be honest and to put it the context of saying I did this and it was a dumb choice,” Pasierb said. “Obama talked about how it wasn’t the right thing to do. When he got serious about his life, he left it behind. If he were to lie, I think most kids would know.”

Pasierb says the worst thing to do is feed kids a story they’re not likely to believe. In other words, never tell them that you tried it, but didn’t inhale. “Most kids are going to see right through that and will ask themselves, ‘How could you know if you didn’t like it if you didn’t inhale?’” Pasierb said. “Clearly not recognizing something when you did it is probably not the best course.”

Pasierb says role models and parents should not be afraid to admit they did the deed. “Really the truth works best. You owe your kids honesty,” he said. “But you don’t need to tell them every little detail. You don’t have to give them blow by blow.” Is talking about past drug use the best thing for a someone running for president? That’s a question much harder to answer.

According to a 2007 Pew Research poll, 45 percent of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate for president who had used drugs. Obama has to hope his honesty with kids translates in a good way to the adults deciding whether to vote for him.

[Source: CNN]

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died Tuesday, a day after he was shot by “an intruder who forcibly entered his residence,” Miami police said. Sean Taylor never regained consciousness after being taken to a hospital, his ex-attorney says. Police said in a statement that Taylor, 24, died at 3:30 a.m. at a Miami hospital and they were treating the case as a homicide.

“The blood loss was too much. He didn’t make it,” said Taylor’s former attorney, Richard Sharpstein, on CNN’s “American Morning.” Redskins owner Daniel Snyder said Tuesday that team members will wear a special patch on their uniforms, and Taylor’s number, 21, on their helmets, during this weekend’s game. Watch a vigil outside hospital Monday night » Many of Taylor’s fans “loved him because [of] the way he played football,” said his father, Florida City Police Chief Pedro Taylor, in a statement to the news media.

“Many of his opponents feared him, the way he approached the game. Others misunderstood him, many appreciated him and his family loved him. I can only hope and pray that Sean’s life was not in vain that it might touch others in a special way,” Chief Taylor said. His father said funeral arrangements would be announced soon, while a makeshift memorial was already sprouting up outside the Redskins Park, where fans have been leaving flowers and other mementoes.

“We’re going to miss him,” Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said Tuesday. “I’m not talking about as a player, I’m talking about as a person. I think he was a real leader for us.” “We have never dealt with this,” Gibbs said, adding that the situation was not something a team could prepare for. “I don’t know how we’ll deal with it, except that we’re going to all do it together, and I know we’ve got a great, high-quality bunch of guys here,” he said.

“The thing that I take great heart in is … the way our team fights and the kind of people we’ve got on our football team. We’ve gone through some tough things, everybody knows, this year. But what I’ve admired about our guys, they come out swinging every week.” “It’s just an incredibly difficult time,” Snyder said. “It’s a shock. And this is a terrible, terrible tragedy. It’s pretty rough.”

The Redskins painted Taylor’s jersey number, “21,” in a grassy area along the road leading into Redskins Park, and his number will be painted outside the Redskins Hall of Fame store at FedExField. Sharpstein said that from the time of the attack, Taylor never regained consciousness. “There was a brief moment where a nurse felt him squeeze her hand, but that was false hope,” the attorney said. He called Taylor’s death “completely tragic and unnecessary violence” and said the player would be sorely missed. Watch fans mourn Taylor’s death »

“People loved him, and he will be long missed by many, many people — not just his fans, but the family and friends that knew him well,” Sharpstein said. At 1:45 a.m. Monday, a woman identified as Taylor’s girlfriend called 911 and said someone had been shot. Taylor was airlifted to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. Sharpstein said Taylor’s girlfriend told police what happened as she was hiding under bedcovers during the attack.

“Sean was awakened with his girlfriend and 18-month-old baby,” Sharpstein said. There were “noises, thumps in the living room.” Taylor “got up and locked the bedroom door. Before he could do anything, the door was kicked in and two shots were fired — one hit him in the leg, one went into the wall.” Taylor “was on the floor, nonresponsive, bleeding out and chest heaving, eyes rolled back, and he was pretty much gone from that point on,” Sharpstein said.

(Continue Reading…)

Usher and his wife, Tameka Foster, welcomed a baby boy on Monday night, multiple sources tell PEOPLE. While reps for Usher and Foster were not immediately available for comment, one source says Usher was with his wife and new child Tuesday at an Atlanta hospital, and the family is expected to head home on Wednesday.

Multiple sources told PEOPLE before the birth that the couple planned to name their son Usher Raymond V. No other details were available. Usher, 29, and Foster, 36, announced the pregnancy in June. In September, Usher told PEOPLE that they were expecting a boy, and added, “I just want my son to fully be coherent and to be healthy, first and foremost.” The couple were married in a quiet civil ceremony in Atlanta on Sept. 1.

[Source: People]

By Jeremy Clarke MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64. They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is “just full of big young boys who like us older girls”. Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.

Allie and Bethan — who both declined to give their full names — said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya’s palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country’s tourism officials. “It’s not evil,” said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practice of older rich women traveling for sex with young Kenyan men. “But it’s certainly something we frown upon.”

Also, the health risks are stark in a country with an AIDS prevalence of 6.9 percent. Although condom use can only be guessed at, Julia Davidson, an academic at Nottingham University who writes on sex tourism, said that in the course of her research she had met women who shunned condoms — finding them too “businesslike” for their exotic fantasies.

The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe. He wore new sunglasses he said were a gift from her.

“We both get something we want — where’s the negative?” Allie asked in a bar later, nursing a strong, golden cocktail. She was still wearing her bikini top, having just pulled on a pair of jeans and a necklace of traditional African beads. Bethan sipped the same local drink: a powerful mix of honey, fresh limes and vodka known locally as “Dawa”, or “medicine”. She kept one eye on her date — a 20-year-old playing pool, a red bandana tying back dreadlocks and new-looking sports shoes on his feet. He looked up and came to join her at the table, kissing her, then collecting more coins for the pool game.

“JUST UNWHOLESOME”
Grieves-Cook and many hotel managers say they are doing all they can to discourage the practice of older women picking up local boys, arguing it is far from the type of tourism they want to encourage in the east African nation. “The head of a local hoteliers’ association told me they have begun taking measures — like refusing guests who want to change from a single to a double room,” Grieves-Cook said. “It’s about trying to make those guests feel as uncomfortable as possible … But it’s a fine line. We are 100 percent against anything illegal, such as prostitution. But it’s different with something like this — it’s just unwholesome.”

These same beaches have long been notorious for attracting another type of sex tourists — those who abuse children. As many as 15,000 girls in four coastal districts — about a third of all 12-18 year-olds girls there — are involved in casual sex for cash, a joint study by Kenya’s government and U.N. children’s charity UNICEF reported late last year. Up to 3,000 more girls and boys are in full-time sex work, it said, some paid for the “most horrific and abnormal acts”.

“PREYING ON POVERTY?”
Emerging alongside this black market trade — and obvious in the bars and on the sand once the sun goes down — are thousands of elderly white women hoping for romantic, and legal, encounters with much younger Kenyan men. They go dining at fine restaurants, then dancing, and back to expensive hotel rooms overlooking the coast. “One type of sex tourist attracted the other,” said one manager at a shorefront bar on Mombasa’s Bamburi beach.

“Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty … But these old women followed … they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries.” Experts say some thrive on the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers. “This is what is sold to tourists by tourism companies — a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions,” said Nottinghan University’s Davidson.

“LIVE LIKE THE RICH”
Many of the visitors are on the lookout for men like Joseph. Flashing a dazzling smile and built like an Olympic basketball star, the 22-year-old said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior. “When I go into the clubs, those are the only women I look for now,” he told Reuters. “I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun.” At one club, a group of about 25 dancing men — most of them Joseph look-alikes — edge closer and closer to a crowd of more than a dozen white women, all in their autumn years.

“It’s not love, obviously. I didn’t come here looking for a husband,” Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers. “It’s a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn’t pay for anything, and I get what I want — a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?”

[Source: Reuters]

The Voice of New York City, Angie Martinez along with Covergirl® Queen Collection, Akademiks and Hot 97 presented the First Annual Angie Martinez Hair Show & Beauty Expo last Saturday. The event brought together hair, make-up, beauty, music, and fashion, this groundbreaking event marked the country’s premiere celebrity driven hair & beauty convention for the multi-cultural woman. Top beauty experts, stylists, makeup artists and industry insiders all came together for the first time to give Angie’s listeners tips on what products work best for their hair, complexion and lifestyle.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to bring an event of this caliber to NYC,” says Angie, “This is the perfect opportunity for my listeners to meet industry insiders and learn a bit about beauty; and of course have fun with the artists they listen to everyday!”

By Dana Ford LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In May, Alvin Clavon received a foreclosure notice on the simple, Spanish-style house in South Los Angeles that he shares with his wife and three boys. Clavon bought the place in 2003 with a fixed-rate loan. They painted the walls, fixed the yard and made friends with the neighbors, who let the Clavon boys pick their basil.

In 2005, he worked with a mortgage broker to refinance his home with another fixed-rate loan. But on the night before signing, the family was offered an interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage. Clavon, a 35-year-old executive assistant at a bank, said he felt stuck. The ball was rolling, he trusted his broker and so the next day, he signed the loan. “Turned out to be the worst thing I could have done,” said Clavon, who like so many others in danger of losing their home to the U.S. housing crisis, is African American.

The Clavons live in a zip code, 90047, with one of the largest black populations in the city, and also one of the highest rates of foreclosure — a common combination. Researchers agree minorities are more likely than whites to get high-cost mortgages, but analysts can’t agree why. Does the 90047 zip code have a high foreclosure rate because African Americans were forced into high-cost loans? Or is the area’s foreclosure rate the result of economics?

Either way, say some minority and housing activists, the fact that minorities are disproportionately hurt by lending practices in the United States is real — and so are its consequences.

(Continue Reading…)