SYLVESTER STALLONE AND JENNIFER FLAVIN'S DIVORCE

Sylvester Stallone, 76, and wife Jennifer Flavin, 54, came up in a heated argument when Sly obtained a new dog that resulted Jennifer to file a divorce against him after 25 years of marriage. 

The Rocky star wanted a new Rottweiler dog for protection of his family but Jennifer opposed to have another one. Despite of that, Sly still got a dog named Dwight. It is Sly's name in his new show "Tulsa King". In his Instagram, he posted videos and photos of him and Dwight with the caption, "So incredibly happy with my newly acquired four-legged friend "DWIGHT" my character name from the series, keep punching and barking." Thank you very much to Trainer and Breeder Dave Smith and his wonderful wife."

"DWIGHT" definitely a true friend! Keep punching and barking!"

Sly was in Oklahoma shooting his show and was only shocked when he learned that Jennifer filed a divorce. Sly felt they could work out their differences.

Sly said that they are just having in a different directions but denies his 25-year marriage is ending over.

The Creed actor married Flavin in May 1997 and have three daughters named Sophia, 25, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20. 

 

 

See the tattoos in Sly arms? It's Jennifer and Dwight..

SALMAN RUSHDIE RENOWNED WORLD AUTHOR ATTACKED

New York - Friday, August 12, 2022. 

 

 

 

 

World-renowned Indian-born author Salman Rushdie was attacked Friday morning by a man who rushed to stage where the author was about to speak, New York Police said.  The 75-year old author was attending a lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution as guest speaker when a male suspect rushed to the stage and attacked him as an interviewer at approximate 11 a.m. ET. Rushdie sustained stab wound in his neck and rushed to local hospital by a helicopter.

 

The suspect was immediately taken into custody whose name was withheld, sustained minor head injury, police said.

 

Rushdie's condition at this time in unknown according to the police. 

 

A tweet from Chautauqua Institution also indicates that there was other victim, Henry Reese, co-founder of the City of Asylum, a residency program for writers in exile. 

 

"We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese and patience as we fully focus on coordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the Amphitheater today", the institution said.

 

Rushdie was visiting the institution to discuss with Reese how the United States serves as asylum for writers in exile, according to the Chautauqua Institution's event page. 

 

Rushdie wrote 14 novels, including The Satanic Verses, one of the most popular books that resulted to death threats against him from Iran's leader in the 1980's.

As a writer, he was long championed the importance of freedom and expression. He served as President of PEN America between 2004 and 2006. He became Chairman of PEN World Voices Literary Festival for 10 years.

In a statement by PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, the organization was shocked to learn the attacked. Rushdie just emailed her few hours before the attack to help writers from Ukraine seeking asylum.

Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered," Nossel said. "He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced."

 

 

AMANDA KNOX ACQUITTED FROM THE CONVICTION OF MURDER

Perugia, Central Italy - Monday, October 3, 2011, the Italian Court of Appeals rendered its judgment acquitting Amanda Knox from the conviction of Murder and finally freed her from jail after serving four years imprisonment when she was found guilty of killing her roommate Meredith Kercher on December 4, 2009.

Knox appealed the lower's court verdict  to the Court of Appeals and after consideration and careful review over the case and in its 10-month long trial, the Court of Appeals in its ruling,  overturned Knox conviction for lack of sufficient evidence when the DNA Test  failed to show its positive results. Hence, the Appellate Court rendered its judgment acquitting Knox from the charged.

During the promulgation of judgment, Amanda Knox stood up in court and pleaded with a jury to overturn her conviction.

"I am not what they say I am. I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal," Amanda Knox said, her voice trembling with emotion. She was making the most important speech in her life to possibly set her free from the crime she did not commit.

The ruling of the Appellate Court  might be harsh to the victim's family since the death of Meredith Kercher remains its mystery, but to let an innocent suffered a penalty for lifetime imprisonment or even 4 years in jail of the crime she did not commit is inhumane.  When the benefit of doubts are attendant to the case,  the prosecution has the remedy to appeal the case before the higher court in Italy.

Meanwhile, Knox should now enjoy the freedom she achieved from a horrible ordeal and she is now home in Seattle, Washington, US to spend her time with her family which she miss in a long time.

Knox tearfully told her supporters in front of a crowd of international reporters, "Thank you for being there for me."

"I'm really overwhelmed right now." she said at a news conference minutes after she was escorted off a British Airways flight out of London.

"I was looking down from the airplane, and it seems like everything wasn't real."

The U.S. State Department Spokeswoman said the following regarding the Knox verdict.

"The United States appreciates the careful consideration of this matter within the Italian judicial system. Our Embassy in Rome will continue to provide appropriate consular assistance to Ms. Knox and her family."

Amanda's sister Deanna Knox told reporters, "We are thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and overturn this conviction." She also asked that Amanda Knox and her family be given the privacy to recover from this horrible ordeal.

LEA SALONGA FIRST FILIPINA DISNEY LEGEND

Anaheim, CA - Lea Salonga has been awarded as Disney Legend during a 3-day event held by Disney company at the D23 which was witnessed by Disney fans all over the world.

She was the first Filipina to receive the award and was greeted with a round of applause by the audience in standing ovation. 

During the program, there are twelve outstanding talents were recognized by the company for their lasting contributions to the Disney's legacy.  The Disney Legends program was established in 1987 and continue to grow  where recipients are chosen by top Disney executives. 

Tom Hanks, Elton John and Barbara Walters were among the awardees of Disney legends.  If we could remember, Salonga was the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in "Aladdin". She also performed in Mulan.

"I'm really usually great shooting from the hip, but right now I've just been rendered speechless by this," Salonga said when she received her award.

"This is a really big deal. It's wonderful for all these princesses to be honored in such a wonderful way by the Walt Disney Company," she added. "To the Walt Disney Company, thank you so much."

She further added, "It's pretty amazing." "I'd like to think that my trip through my life and my career hasn't stopped yet."

It's every little girl that's grown ups fantasy to be able to see one of the most iconic voices when it comes to women's empowerment and cartoon movies. It's phenomenal," said Alyssa Label. 

This is a notable success of Salonga because she achieved it when time is difficult for Filipino talents to be recognized as a world class talent. 

____________________________

/The Author

GOOGLE ACQUIRED MOTOROLA FOR $12.5 BILLION

 

Hello guys, did you know that Google already acquires Motorola for $12.5 Billion?

Google announced Monday morning that the company will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion where 63% premium on Motorola shares was closed Friday.

Google said in a statement, "the acquisition will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem. The company will continue to be run as a separate business."

Larry Page said, "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. "Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."

Google is now moving toward an expansion of its company from software to hardware. 

HACKIVIST GROUP ANONYMOUS ATTACKED BART WEBSITE

San Francisco, CA - Sunday, another attacked made by the Hackivist group Anonymous who destroyed San Francisco's  Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) website, myBART.org.   As of Monday, the site is still down, with a message that reads, "This site  is currently under renovation."

The  attack resulted when BART blocked cell service to thwart a protest on Thursday. 

BART'S decision on act of cellphone censorship, Anonymous launched its #OpBART campaign and used Twitter to rally supporters. 

Anonymous promised last Saturday, that BART's website will shut down on 12 p.m. PT the following day, Sunday. Making good of its promise, myBART.org, was shut down,  a satellite site used for marketing purposes. The group defaced the site with Anonymous logos and released personal contact information for at least 2,400 of the sites' 55,000 users, including names, addresses, phone number and email accounts. 

SUGARLAND SHOW 4 DEAD AND 40 INJURED WHEN STAGE COLLAPSED

Before the famous country band Sugarland could perform on stage at the Indiana State Fair tonight, the stage has been struck by strong winds causing the stage to collapse and killed 4 persons while 40 were injured, reports said.

A WANE-TV reporter who was present when the incident took place described the incident and said, "The wind just picked up and the stage just caught and the roof just caught and it went up like a sail and then it crashed forward into the people standing in the front. There were people trapped underneath and everyone was running and screaming. They were asking any medics or nurses not to leave."

FORMER WARRANT LEAD SINGER JANI LANE WAS FOUND DEAD

 

Former lead singer of Warrant Rock Band, Jani Lane was found dead at the Comfort Inn, Woodland Hills, California. No cause of the death have as yet been reported. 

Lane penned the famous hit of the band "Cherry Pie" back in 1989 before he separated from the group to pursue a solo career. 

The former lead singer was involved in alcohol-related issues where he was detained for 120 days last year.

"BIG 3" FOUNDERS OF ONLINE POKER WERE INDICTED AND ARRESTED

Online Poker, the "THE BIG THREE" who founded PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were charged by the US Department of Justice of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. Restraining Orders were issued against over 75 accounts used by the online companies and their payment processors including FIVE Internet domains. 

The indicted were Isai Scheinberg, Raymond Bitar, Scott Tom, Brent Beckley, Nelson Burtnick, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie and John Campos who, each of them  will be facing  four counts of every offense. 

Scheinberg and Tate are indicted for representing PokerStars while Bitar and Burtnick represents Full Tilt Poker and Tom and Beckley represents Absolute Poker. Lang, Rubin, Lang, Franzen and Elie are identified as the persons who ran payment processors.  

 

Probable cause were found against the 11 defendants for and in  violation  of Illegal Gambling Business Act of 1955 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 by operating  an Illegal Gambling Business and for conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud including conspiracy of money laundering. 

These charges carry hefty penalties and the maximum penalty for violation of the UIGEA  and operating a gambling business is  5 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss for each charge while 30 years imprisonment and a fine of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss for conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud and 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $500,000 or twice of the amount laundered for money laundering. 

The same charged were also previously brought against payment processors used by the sites that have been shut down.

  

These poker companies are using fraudulent methods to circumvent federal law and trick U.S. banks into processing payments which is in violation of UIGEA.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud. Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don't like simply because they can't bear to be parted from their profits."

Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk of the FBI said, "These defendants, knowing full well that their business with U.S. customers and U.S. banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck. they lied to banks about the true nature of their business. Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to flout the law for a fee. The defendants bet the house that they could continue their scheme, and they lost."

Both of these poker companies and defendants are being sought of $3 billion penalties  in civil money-laundering. Defendants Campos and Elie were arrested Friday morning in Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada, respectively, while Franzen is expected to appear in court on April 19, 2011 for his arraignment.

Defendants Scheinberg Bitar, Burtnick, Tate, Tom, Beckley, Rubin and Lang, who are not in the U.S., have not been arrested and remain at large. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Southern District, New York is now working with foreign law enforcement agencies and INTERPOL to arrest the above-mentioned defendants.

At 11:55 a.m. PDT, PokerNews has attempted to contact all three online poker sites but only UB/AP replied to it and has no comment for the moment.

At 12:26 p.m. PDT, PokerStars blocked U.S. players from playing real money games and at 2:00 p.m. PDT, Courier-Mail Newspaper, Australia reported that it is believed that Daniel Tzvetkoff is behind the today's DOJ affront by assisting federal lawyers of Southern District, New York.

Tzvetkoff was arrested last April 16, 2010 in Las Vegas and was charged of the same counts of offenses by allegedly processing $523 million in Internet gambling earnings through his payment processing company, INTABILL.

Tzvetkoff was originally denied bail being a flight risk however, released on bail in August after coordinating with federal authorities and is now living in a secret location of New York City.

The arrests today of the people who allegedly ran payment processors could be a move to let others knowledgeable of the business transactions of these Internet Poker Sites and to cooperate the Federal authorities against these people and the Internet Poker Sites. 

Don't miss to keep an eye on this issue since we are giving more updates or follow us in Twitter.