Polish leader, 96 others dead in Russia jet crash!

SMOLENSK, Russia – An aging Russian airliner carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and members of his country's military, political and church elites crashed in thick fog Saturday as it took them to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the slaughter of thousands of Polish military officers by Soviet secret police.

Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-staff and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, one of Poland's greatest national traumas.

Thousands of people, many in tears, placed candles and flowers at the presidential palace in central Warsaw. Many called the crash Poland's worst disaster since World War II.

Twenty monks rang the Zygmunt bell at Krakow's Wawel Cathedral — the burial spot of Polish kings — a tolling reserved for times of profound importance or grief.

The crash also shocked Russia. Sensing the depth of the tragedy for Poland, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin personally took charge of the investigation and very quickly and publicly offered condolences, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"On this difficult day the people of Russia stand with the Polish people," Medvedev said, according to the Kremlin press service.

Chunks of the plane were scattered widely amid leafless trees and small fires in woods shrouded with fog. A tail fin with the red and white national colors of Poland stuck up from the smoking debris. Early indications pointed to pilot error in heavy fog as a factor in the crash, officials said.

On board were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. Kaczyinski's wife, Maria, also died.

"This is unbelievable — this tragic, cursed Katyn," Kaczynski's predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on TVN24 television.

It is "a cursed place, horrible symbolism," he said. "It's hard to believe. You get chills down your spine."

The Polish military suffered the deepest losses. Among the dead were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces, who were all making the emotional trip to honor the Polish officers slain by the NKVD, the acronym for the Soviet secret police at the time of the murders in 1940.

Some on board were relatives of the officers slain in the Katyn massacre. Also among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the Solidarity freedom movement.

"This is a great tragedy, a great shock to us all," former president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said.

Russia's Emergency Ministry said there were 97 dead, 88 in the Polish state delegation. Poland's Foreign Ministry said there were 89 people on the passenger list but one had not shown up for the roughly 1 1/2-hour flight from Warsaw's main airport.

Poland called for two minutes of silence across the country Sunday and declared a week of mourning. Medevedev declared Monday a day of mourning in Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk flew to Smolensk from Warsaw. The president's twin brother, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, headed to the area in a chartered plane along with relatives, according to his party.

In the village of Gorzno, in northern Poland, the streets were largely empty as people stayed home to watch television.

"It is very symbolic that they were flying to pay homage to so many murdered Poles," said resident Waleria Gess, 73.

The deaths were not expected to directly affect the functioning of Polish government: Poland's president is commander in chief of its armed forces but the position's domestic duties are chiefly symbolic. No top government ministers were aboard the plane.

Polish-Russian relations had been improving recently after being poisoned for decades over the massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers in and around Katyn forest.

Russia never has formally apologized for the murders but Putin's decision to attend a memorial ceremony earlier this week in the forest was seen as a gesture of goodwill toward reconciliation. Kaczynski wasn't invited to that event because Putin, as prime minister, had invited his Polish counterpart, Tusk.

Rossiya-24 showed hundreds of people around the Katyn monument, many holding Polish flags, some weeping.

Kaczynski, 60, was the first serving Polish leader to die since exiled World War II-era leader Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski in a mysterious plane crash off Gibraltar in 1943.

The president was a conservative and a lifelong skeptic of Russia with many detractors at home and abroad. Condolences from world leaders paid tribute to his patriotism and defense of freedom during Communist rule in Poland.

Putin and Medvedev promised Tusk they would work closely with Poland in investigating the crash. Initial signs pointed to an accident, possibly due to the fog that is very common in the area in spring and fall, as well as pilot error.

Both black boxes have been found. Preliminary data indicated that the plane hit the treetops as it was making the approach to the airport in poor visibility, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Marina Gridneva, an official with the Russian general prosecutor's office, as saying.

Andrei Yevseyenkov, spokesman for the Smolensk regional government, said Russian dispatchers had asked the Polish crew to divert from the military airport in North Smolensk and land instead in Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, or in Moscow to the east because of the fog.

While traffic controllers generally have the final word in whether it is safe for a plane to land, they can and do leave it to the pilots' discretion. Air Force Gen. Alexander Alyoshin confirmed that the pilot disregarded instructions to fly to another airfield. The Smolensk airfield is not equipped with an instrument landing system to guide planes to the ground.

"But they continued landing, and it ended, unfortunately, with a tragedy," Alyoshin said. He added that the pilot makes the final decision about whether to land.

The Tu-154 was the workhorse of East Bloc civil aviation in the 1970s and 1980s. Poland has long discussed replacing the planes that carry the country's leaders but said they lacked the funds.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s in the past four decades, including six in the past five years. The Russian carrier Aeroflot recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service, largely because the planes do not meet international noise restrictions and use too much fuel.

The presidential plane was fully overhauled in December, the general director of the Aviakor aviation maintenance plant in Samara, Russia told Rossiya-24. The plant repaired the plane's three engines, retrofitted electronic and navigation equipment and updated the interior, Alexei Gusev said. He said there could be no doubts that the plane was flightworthy.

Kacyznski became president in December 2005 after defeating Tusk in that year's presidential vote.

The nationalist conservative had said he would seek a second term in presidential elections this fall. He was expected to face an uphill struggle against Parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Tusk's governing Civic Platform party.

The constitution says the parliament speaker announce early elections within 14 days of the president's death. The vote must be held within another 60 days.

Poland has become a firm U.S. ally in the region since the fall of communism — a stance that crosses party lines.

The European Union member nation of 38 million people sent troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and recently boosted its contingent in Afghanistan to some 2,600 soldiers.

U.S. Patriot missiles are expected to be deployed in Poland this year. That was a Polish condition for a 2008 deal — backed by both Kaczynski and Tusk — to host long-range missile defense interceptors.

The deal, which was struck by the Bush administration, angered Russia and was later reconfigured under President Barack Obama's administration.

Under the Obama plan, Poland would host a different type of missile defense interceptors as part of a more mobile system and at a later date, probably not until 2018.

_____

Associated Press writers Deborah Seward in Paris, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Katarzyna Mala in Gorzno, Poland and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Source: Yahoo

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50 Cent Looking For New G-Unit Artists??

MTV Shows

It's been a while since we had Curtis Jackson around these parts in Mixtape Daily. Our fellow Queens native has been on the road for a while, making movies and touring overseas. While hollering at our colleagues at MTV UK, Fif revealed that he wants his Black Magic album to drop before summer is over — oh, and the title has nothing to do with witchcraft.

"I don't believe in voodoo," he said. "But it'll be very addictive. The first time you'll hear it, you'll remember the songs that's on there. It's designed for fun — for listening pleasure.

"I'm not in a hurry," he added about the recording process and release date. "I kind of planned on releasing Black Magic ... I gave myself a goal to try and put it out by the end of the summer, so I'll work that hard on the actual project. If I don't feel it's ready by the end of the summer, I'll just jeep it."

Fif is also going on tour this summer, but said members of his current G-Unit family, including Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, most likely won't make the trek.

"It's interesting because they probably won't be coming with me. In the U.S., Banks has momentum with the first single off his new album, 'Beamer, Benz or Bentley.' So he'll be out [on his own tour] with H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger For More 2). While he's doing that, it probably wouldn't make sense for Yayo to come with me because his record is almost done now — he should use that time to complete his record and release it shortly after. But I'll be running around."

No Banks or Yayo, but Fif says he will not be alone — he's recruiting new members to his camp now.

"You'll see new faces, because I'm looking for new artists now. I'll sign new artists and take them with me and kinda groom them. I don't specifically say, 'I want this kind of artist' — I look for talent that inspires me, that complements what I do with their own thing. Some of the stuff you can't teach a person; they gotta have it."

While 50 didn't name any specific prospects, but did say he wouldn't mind adding movie heartthrob Robert Pattinson to the Unit's fold. The star of the "Twilight" franchise (50 said he's seen "New Moon") has dabbled in singing in addition to his acting.

"Robert Pattinson. He has a big enough following to be the frontline," 50 laughed. " 'Twilight' ain't no joke."

Source: MTV

What rapper or singer would you like to see join 50 Cent's G-Unit? Let us know in the comments below!

M.I.A. Goes In On Lady Gaga "She Models Herself After Grace Jones & Madonna. She's Not Progressive, She's A Good Mimic"

Not everyone is gaga over Lady Gaga. M.I.A. is not holding her tongue about the pop superstar in a new interview.

“People say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same,” the “Paper Planes” hitmaker told NME magazine. “None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is.”

Both artists are signed to Interscope Records, but that didn’t stop M.I.A. from lambasting her labelmate. “She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza music, you know? She’s not progressive, but she’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I fucking do! That’s a talent and she’s got a great team behind her, but she’s the industry’s last stab at making itself important—saying, ‘You need our money behind you, the endorsements, the stadiums.’ Respect to her, she’s keeping a hundred thousand people in work, but my belief is: Do it yourself.”

While the Oscar-nominated rapper, who will release her third album this summer, admitted visuals were important, don’t expect to see her dancing in a prison yard or decked out in caution tape. “It’s not like Haus of Gaga,” she laughed. “Me blindfolded with naked men feeding me apples and shit.”

Gaga wasn’t M.I.A.’s only victim. Ke$ha also bore the brunt of her comments. “I’m more concerned by how someone like Ke$ha can so blatantly copy [electro-rapper] Uffie,” she said. “Everyone’s fine with it. Not a fucking lawsuit in sight.”


Source: Rap-Up.com

50 Cent Talks About Lady Gaga 'Telephone' Video and Censorship Double Standards

MTV Shows

While on tour in the UK recently, 50 Cent talked about Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's recent "Telephone" video and used it as a jumping-off point to talk about what he feels are double standards in video censorship.

"I think it's hot," he told MTV UK of the video. "It's interesting how [the censors] let things go. Standards on each artist are held completely different. The 'P---y [Wagon].' I'd like to see them leave that [license plate] clear and not blur it out when I make my next vehicle and it has the 'P---y Wagon' in it. You know? It's interesting they let that fly. 'It's Britney, bitch!' Nobody has a problem with that, but if I say, 'It's 50, bitch,' they say, 'Oh my God! You gotta edit that.'

"It's their personal perception of your intentions," 50 added about censors. "There's actually a shot [in 'Telephone'] at the table in the diner where it's just [breasts]. It looks great. But if I shot the same shot in my music video, they would make me edit it immediately. Even if I had a female talent that was a recognizable talent that I asked to be a part of the project, they wouldn't let that go. They'd think in some way you are taking advantage of a woman for marketing purposes. It's different standards. They'll ask [me] to ask tell the girl to not turn around ... if she's dancing, for her to not turn around [in my video]. That's the whole J.Lo show! It's interesting, the standards they place on each artists."

50 says even though some broadcast standards may not be fair, he does have love for Gaga and some of other queens of popular music. In a lighthearted part of the interview, Fif was asked whether he'd "kiss, marry or avoid?" Gaga, Beyoncé or Rihanna.

"I would kiss Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Rihanna," he replied with a laugh. "I'd marry Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Rihanna — in Africa. I'd have three wives! I would avoid wearing condoms and make really big families."

Source: MTV

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Usher Scores Third Straight No. 1 On Billboard 200

Usher scores his third straight No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as "Raymond v Raymond" bumps Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" out of the top slot, selling 329,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. He previously led the tally with 2008's "Here I Stand" and 2004's "Confessions." That's the third-best sales week of the year, following the debuts of Sade's "Soldier of Love" (502,000) and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (481,000).

Usher topped the Billboard 200 his last time out in 2008 with "Here I Stand," selling 443,000 in its opening frame. The star's No. 1 streak started with his first chart-topper -- 2004's "Confessions."

He supported the new set's release last week with stops on "American Idol" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and on both he performed his new single "OMG." The single is expected to make a handsome debut on the Billboard Hot 100 when the new chart is unveiled tomorrow (Apr. 8).

Bieber's "My World 2.0" falls to No. 2 with 291,000 though it's up 3% in sales. There's no doubt that Easter basket shopping helped sales of Bieber's album in its second week, as the bunny holiday fell on Sunday, April 4, the final day of the sales tracking week. That second-week gain (from a No. 1 debut) is incredibly rare. It marks the first time a No. 1-debuting album -- issued on a traditional Tuesday release schedule -- has posted an increase in its second week since 2002. Back in the week ending March 31 -- also Easter week of that year -- the "Now 9" compilation fell from No. 1 to No. 2 but with an 11% gain (moving from 419,000 to 463,000).

The last time an artist or group's album, released on a Tuesday, had a second-week increase from a No. 1 debut was even earlier -- during Thanksgiving week of 2000. That's when the Beatles' hits set "1" claimed an 11% increase in its second frame, moving from No. 1 the previous week (595,000) to No. 2 that week (662,000).

Hot on the heels of the release of her much-blogged-about music video for "Window Seat," Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah, Part Two: Return of the Ankh" enters the Billboard 200 at No. 4 with 110,000. It's the follow up to 2008's "New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)," which bowed at No. 2 with 124,000. Over on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, the new album debuts at No. 2 and is her sixth straight set to reach the top three -- her entire career-output. She previously notched No. 1s with "Baduizm" and "Live," a pair of No. 2s with "World Wide Underground (EP)" and "New Amerykah: Part One" and a No. 3 hit with "Mama's Gun."

Country king Alan Jackson rolls in with the Billboard 200's third-highest debut at No. 7 with his latest set, "Freight Train," shifting 72,000 copies in its first week. It's Jackson's 11th top 10 effort on the big chart, while over on the Top Country Albums list, where it enters at No. 2, it's his 21st top 10 album. His last album, 2008's "Good Time," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 119,000 sold in its premiere week.

As for the rest of the top 10: the "Now 33" compilation holds at No. 3 with 123,000 (down 9%) while Lady Antebellum's sturdy "Need You Now" falls one spot to No. 5 with 87,000 (up 11%). The set has spent its entire 11-week chart run lodged inside the top five of the chart. Monica's "Still Standing" slips four spaces to No. 6 with 81,000 (down 56%) while Justin Bieber's first "My World" drops three rungs to No. 8 with 63,000 (up 26%). Rounding out the top 10 are Lady Gaga's "The Fame" -- down one spot -- at No. 9 with 49,000 (up 21%) and the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." holding steady at No. 10 with 43,000 (but up a sizable 25%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 4) totaled 6.84 million units, up 13% compared to the sum last week (6.03 million) and down 4% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009 (7.11 million). Year to date album sales stand at 81.95 million, down 8% compared to the same total at this point last year (89.02 million).

Source: Billboard

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2 UK Women Arrested After Trying To Sneak Dead Relative On Plane & Telling Staff He Was Asleep!

Two women have been arrested after being suspected of trying to smuggle the body of a dead relative onto a flight to Germany.
The pair were reported to have told staff at Liverpool John Lennon airport that the 91-year-old man was asleep, after pushing him into the terminal in a wheelchair and covering his face with sunglasses.
But their attempt to get the man on board a flight to Berlin ended in their arrest on suspicion of failing to give notification of death.

Police are investigating claims the women had ferried the man's body in a taxi from their home in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
A statement from Greater Manchester police said: "At 11am on Saturday 3 April 2010, police at Liverpool John Lennon airport were alerted to the death of a 91-year-old man in the terminal building. Two women aged 41 and 66 were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death.

"They have been released on bail until 1 June 2010. The coroner has been informed and police are continuing with their inquiries."

Source: UK Guardian