culture

Somali rebels and the government they are trying to remove have taken their bloody battle to the streets of Mogadishu. From Al Jazeera: At least 24 people have been killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu after Islamist rebels fought Somali government and African Union troops for a second day. Residents hid in their homes as mortar…

Like nearly all NFL fans, I’m eagerly awaiting opening kickoff on Sept. 10. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans will launch the regular season in what figures to be a good, old-fashioned battle, where you can feel the hits in your living room and hear the impact echo into the next day. Until then. unlike…

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt continues to defy logic on what seems like a daily basis. From ESPN: BERLIN — Usain Bolt has set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the world championships, adding to the gold he won in the 100. Exactly one year after taking gold at the Beijing Games…

According to Paul Bedard of US News & World Report, former Department of Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge has come clean about certain activities in the Bush White House. Ridge is deciding to spill some of the beans in his forthcoming tell-all ‘The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe…

From the NY Times: ANTHONY DICKEY’S much anticipated salon, Hair Rules New York — an earthy-industrial space with high ceilings and oversize windows — opened last month in Hell’s Kitchen. The salon, which Mr. Dickey operates with his business partner, Kara Young Georgiopoulos, specializes in curly, frizzy and otherwise texture-challenged hair. It is the kind…

If you’re unfamiliar with gossip of the rap underworld and don’t read tabloid coverage of Bill Maher, you probably don’t even know who Karrine Steffans is, even though she’s sold three popular books and appeared on Oprah, Bill O’Reilly, and Geraldo. Her first two best-selling publications were juicy hip-hop tell-alls, but with her latest book,…

From Al Jazeera: Pro-government forces in Somalia have recaptured the southwestern town of Luq, which had been controlled by al-Shabab, officials say. The town, claimed on Wednesday, is the second taken by government troops as Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Somalia’s president, seeks to crush opposition fighters. Colonel Mohamed Osman Weli told the AFP news agency that…

From the AP: NEW YORK — Former New York Giant Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub. The ex-wide receiver pleaded guilty Thursday morning to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he…

From CNN: Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi is to be released and allowed to return to Libya on compassionate grounds, Scotland’s justice minister said Thursday. Al Megrahi, 57, is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. He was serving a life sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland,…

You know you need a reality check when, on the one show meant to highlight the lives of women such as yourself—young(ish), glamorous and black—it’s the white chick with Mattel hair that you end up feeling sorry for. (Or better yet, sympathizing with.) And the women with the airbrushed smiles and the loud mouths seem…