Former FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb, appearing Saturday in federal court in New York, pleaded not guilty to racketeering and bribery charges in a corruption case that has rocked the international soccer federation. Webb was released on $10 million bond following his arraignment; his wife, a U.S. citizen, and her relatives signed the bond papers […]readmore
Bookshops in many parts of the world opened Tuesday to lines of shoppers waiting to purchase one particular book: Harper Lee’s «Go Set a Watchman.» Watchman is the much ballyhooed and long awaited second book from Lee, who is famous for having written the classic, «To Kill a Mockingbird» first published in 1960 – and […]readmore
LOS ANGELES—Veteran blues musician B.B. King died of natural causes primarily stemming from Alzheimer’s disease, Nevada officials said Monday, putting to rest accusations by his two daughters that he was murdered. King’s death at age 89 in May was also attributed to coronary artery disease, diabetes, heart failure, high blood pressure and brain damage from […]readmore
We’re counting down the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending July 11, 2015. Last Saturday was July 4, U-S Independence Day. Every act in this week’s Top Five is from the United States, with one exception…and that’s fitting because we are a nation of immigrants. Let’s open […]readmore
BATON ROUGE, LA. —Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, wearing a hot pink strapless dress as she deftly fielded the interview portion of the competition by saying the country needed to improve race relations to beat out 50 other contestants. After weeks of controversy generated by pageant co-owner Donald Trump’s critical comments about […]readmore
Jazz superstar Amy Winehouse rocketed to fame, and disappeared just as suddenly and surprisingly. Her rise and fall is chronicled in a new documentary called simply, Amy, by filmmaker Asif Kapadia. Using anecdotal home videos shot by Winehouse’s friends and producers, concert material, public interviews and recording sessions, Kapadia creates a delightful and haunting portrait of […]readmore
CAIRO—Omar Sharif, the Egyptian-born actor with the dark, soulful eyes who soared to international stardom in movie epics, «Lawrence of Arabia» and «Doctor Zhivago,» died Friday. He was 83. FILE – Sharif arrives for the ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ premiere in Hollywood in 1962. Sharif died of a heart attack in a Cairo hospital, his longtime […]readmore
NEW YORK—«Go Set a Watchman,» the much-anticipated second novel by «To Kill a Mockingbird» author Harper Lee, is the most pre-ordered print title on Amazon.com since the last book in the «Harry Potter» series, Amazon said on Thursday. The online retailer said the novel, to be published on July 14, 55 years after Lee’s classic […]readmore
WASHINGTON—Willie Nelson will receive the national library’s pop music prize this year, the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, as the Library of Congress cited Nelson’s six decades in music Thursday. Nelson will receive the prize in November when he will be feted with a concert and other honors in Washington, the library said. Nelson’s songwriting includes country-music […]readmore
LOS ANGELES—The World Cup-winning U.S. women’s soccer team got a tumultuous welcome in Los Angeles on Tuesday, after its 5-2 victory in a match against Japan in Vancouver, British Columbia. The 23 team members got a rousing welcome at the Staples Center, where fan Karen Mosce came to celebrate the U.S. women’s third World Cup […]readmore