Perhaps one of the best things to emerge from the Sony email hacking debacle was word that Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal suggested that Idris Elba be the first black James Bond. Pascal’s idea, which surfaced last week, has garnered widespread praise from fans of the handsome British actor and haters alike. Conservative talk…

A vocal 19-year-old protester who rose to prominence this summer after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., was arrested this weekend on an arson charge in a neighboring community, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Joshua Williams, 19, was arrested Friday and charged Saturday with setting fire to a convenience store in Berkeley,…

Thousands of law-enforcement officers from across the nation gathered Saturday at a New York City funeral to mourn the death of an officer who was gunned down along with his partner Dec. 20, the Associated Press reports. A sea of blue uniforms stretched for blocks outside the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens as police helicopters…

Five black students have been selected as Rhodes scholars in one of the highest academic achievements for U.S. college students, according to the Rhodes Trust, which administers the program, and the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. The 2015 class of Rhodes scholars was chosen from a pool of 877 students who were endorsed by…

Sam Kass, the personal chef of President Barack Obama and also a senior adviser for nutrition policy at the White House, is leaving his post after a six-year stint, the Associated Press reports. Kass, who recently married MSNBC host Alex Wagner, said he has decided to leave the White House to be with his wife…

Owners of a bar in St. Joseph, Mo., apologized this month after offering a Michael Brown six-shot special, Fox 4 News reports. The unarmed Brown was fatally shot by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, with at least six bullets striking the 18-year-old. The killing touched off protests that continue across the…

Accusing the U.S. of shutting down the country’s Internet and angry over the release of the movie The Interview, North Korea has compared President Obama to a monkey, the Associated Press reports. The North’s National Defense Commission, which is headed by Kim Jong Un, the country’s leader, and is the country’s top governing body, blamed…

A former public relations executive, whose offensive tweet about AIDS went viral a year ago, is reportedly featured in a soon-to-be-released book in which she discusses the fallout, according to the Hollywood Reporter, citing a report at BuzzFeed News. Justine Sacco, the former IAC public relations executive, said the experience was traumatic, she tells Jon…

Muhammad Ali, the famed 72-year-old boxer and activist, was admitted to an undisclosed hospital Saturday with pneumonia, with a good prognosis for recovery, his spokesman, Bob Gunnell, said, according to CNN. “Ali, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is being treated by his team of doctors and is in stable condition,” Gunnell said in a statement.…