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Nadja Benaissa, a very popular German pop star has admitted that she kept it a secret to her lovers that she carried HIV. The 28-year-old pop star testified on Monday at the District Court of Darmstadt in Germany, apologizing for her carelessness. She admitted that when she was with sexual partners, she would keep it a secret that she was HIV positive. She has been charged with infecting 3 men with HIV, with the official charge being attempted aggravated assault for unprotected sex. She is best known as the singer with the popular band No Angels. The German pop star admitted that she became aware that she was HIV positive when she went for a pregnancy test back in the year 2000.

Deborrah Cooper, an advice columnist on dating-related issues, came up with the interesting premise that the black church is a large part of the reason that some black women are single and lonely. Deborrah Cooper citing a PEW study which found that 80 percent of black Americans report that religion is "very important" in their lives, compared with 57 percent of the general population. She also said that 57 percent of black Americans "interpret scripture literally," compared with just 32 percent of the general population. She goes on to say that men are significantly less likely to consider religion to be important in their lives, meaning that they aren't going to be in the churches that black women are attending every Sunday. Do...

Wyclef Jean, the hip-hop singer who stirred the pot by saying he’d run for the Haiti’s presidency after a devastating earthquake, is not qualified to run. Wyclef Jean The decision, confirmed by a Haitian government official, brings an end to the Wyclef Jean bid to campaign for the country’s top post which is up for election in November. The commission rejected Jean’s application, saying that he had not met residency requirements to run.

Just days after being recognized as the most popular dancehall artist in North America, based on on-line searches according to data from search engine Google, GYPTIAN has been added to the Damian “Jr Gong” Marley and NAS Distant Relatives 2010 Tour beginning August 24 in Charlotte, NC. Gyptian has been enjoying chart success with his new album, HOLD YOU, which continues to hold the #2 spot on Billboard’s Reggae Albums Chart. The title track, “Hold You,” has become a multi-chart hit worldwide and deemed a “2010 Summer Anthem.” According to Billboard Magazine “not since Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go," has an underground reggae artist garnered as much attention in the United States as Jamaica's own Gyptian.” In addition to the Distant...

Chris Brown reportedly will follow up his on-stage duet with Usher at the recent Jamaica's Reggae SumFest with a series of concerts. According to Bryan-Michael Cox, the two R&B performers are going to embark on a tour together. Beside rumored to do a tour together, Chris Brown and Usher are also reported to have recorded a duet track. They allegedly laid the song at a studio in Montego Bay, Jamaica while staying in the country last month for the summer festival.

A growing number of Chinese women mostly in their 20s and about to get married, are opting for a surgical procedure called "hymen restoration," which returns the hymen to its condition before it was ruptured, which typically occurs during first sexual contact but can also happen while playing sports or doing other strenuous activities. The surgery, known as hymenoplasty, has been around for years, although it is considered rare and is illegal in some countries. It is performed primarily in Muslim countries, where the traditionalists place a high value on a woman's virginity. For women who do not want to have surgery, a cheaper, faster path to "revirgination" is available in most sex novelty shops: a Chinese-made artificial hymen...

Gunmen in Jamaica killed eight people early on Friday Morning. Police later shot dead two of the suspected killers following the early morning murders in St. Catherine County, west of the capital Kingston. A church was set ablaze in the violence on the island, which has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. In the first attack, the gunmen killed a mother and her daughters aged 24 and 11 and a son aged 16 after kicking down the door of their home. They then attacked another house where they killed a grandfather, his son, his grandson and a nephew. Police said the two suspected gunmen killed by police were known members of the Clansman Gang, which operated near the old capital Spanish Town in an ongoing bitter...

Coming off a rare loss at 100 meters, Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt is cutting his season short, saying he won't race again in 2010 because of tightness in his lower back. Usain Bolt will have treatment to loosen his back and then rest, skipping IAAF Diamond League track and field meets in Zurich on Aug. 19, and in Brussels on Aug. 27. Bolt hadn't lost an individual race in two years until Friday, when Tyson Gay of the United States beat him at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm. Gay ran 9.84 seconds, and Bolt finished in 9.97

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, currently on an official visit to Colombia, met with outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, and a group of Jamaicans residing there, on Saturday August 7, 2010, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has reported. Mr. Golding discussed relations between the two countries and progress on bilateral agreements between Jamaica and Colombia, with President Uribe. He also thanked the Colombian President for his support in recent efforts to combat crime and violence in Jamaica, and briefed him on the achievements that have been made in the first two months. Yesturday afternoon, the Prime Minister attended the inauguration of Mr. Uribe's successor, President Juan Manuel Santos.

The Jamaica National Flag was first raised on Independence Day, August 6, 1962. It signifies the birth of our nation. Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 square kilometres (4,300 sq mi). It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs". Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, in 1655 it became an English, and later a...

One day after it was reported that Wyclef Jean would run in the next Haitian presidential election, The Smoking Gun reported Wednesday that the musician owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $2.1 million. The IRS reportedly hit Jean with a $724,332 tax lien this past May, one of multiple liens tied to Jean's individual 1040 returns dating back to 2006. The federal tax liens are against his current residence, a $1.85 million home at 8 Cameron Road in Saddle River. Jean, whose birth name was Nel Wyclef Jean, has lived in the home with his wife Claudinette and family since 1998 when he bought it.

Wyclef Jean, the former Fugees singer, formally announce his candidacy for president of Haiti yesturday. In the eight months since Haiti's devastating earthquakes, Jean has become a high-profile spokesman for the country. In 2007, Haitian president René Préval named Wyclef Jean the country's ambassador-at-large, after his help in a 2006 election campaign. Préval is not permitted to run for a third consecutive term as president. Instead, Jean's likely rivals include former mayors, prime ministers and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, another Haitian musical star. Perhaps the most formidable opponent is Jean's uncle, Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the United States, who has already announced that he is running.

Intelcan Technosystems has received a contract for the construction of air traffic control (ATC) towers at Norman Manley International Airport and Sangster International Airport in Jamaica. The new ATC towers are being built to support the increased traffic expected in Kingston and Montego Bay. The (US$19.3m) contract was approved by the Jamaican Cabinet in July and the work will be carried out in two phases over the next two years. Construction of the ATC tower at Sangster is expected to be complete in 2011, while the tower at Norman Manley should be finished in 2012.

Hulk Hogan's daughter, Brooke Hogan, used a song written by two Jamaican producers on her debut album, "The Redemption," without crediting or paying them, the producers claim in a $200,000 federal lawsuit. In early 2006, Jam 2 Productions claims Hogan and Sobe Entertainment asked Jam 2's owners, Jammy James and Camar Doyal, to write music for Hogan's upcoming album. Jam 2 says James and Doyal submitted a CD of songs, and Hogan agreed to pay and credit them if she ended up using their music. Hogan decided to use one of Jam 2's songs, "Come On, Come On," which Doyle and James wrote in 2001, according to the complaint. Jam 2 says Hogan sent it a rough version of the song, overlaid with her own lyrics and re-titled "Trust Me." Sobe...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Citing national security concerns, the United Arab Emirates said Sunday that it will block key features on BlackBerry smartphones because the devices operate beyond the government's ability to monitor. An official in neighboring Saudi Arabia indicated that it will follow suit. The decision could prevent hundreds of thousands of users in the UAE from accessing e-mail and the Web on their devices starting Oct. 11, putting the Middle Eastern federation's reputation as a business-friendly commercial and tourism hub at risk. BlackBerry transmissions are encrypted and routed overseas, and the measure could be motivated in part by government fears that the messaging system might be exploited by terrorists...

There was no yacht or over-the-top festivities just family and close friends as Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz tied the knot in a private ceremony Saturday in a private home on the Mediterranean Sea. The bride wore a Grecian-inspired Vera Wang dress and carried a bouquet of purple calla lilies. The groom was decked out in a Tom Ford tuxedo. The couple's friend Dr. Deepak Chopra presided over the nuptials. The couple, who are also expecting their first child together, have been together since fall 2008. It's the first marriage for Alicia Keys, who is 29 years old, and the couple's first child together: Beatz who real name is Kasseem Dean, is 31 years old, has two sons, Kasseem Jr., 3, and son Prince Nasir, 9, from previous...

After a whirlwind week Gyptian’s new album Hold You comes in at #2 on the Reggae Billboard charts. The smash hit single “Hold You” maintains at #1 on iTunes. The album has received high praises. Spin magazine gave it three stars and The New York Times said “like his big hit, this record is spare, woozy and gently enchanting, all breezy, loping love songs.” Gyptian is currently touring internationally in support of the worldwide release Tour Info: July 29 LOS ANGELES July 30 MONTEREY August 1st- Canada (Caribana) August 5th- Jamaica Album Release Party August 6th- Miami (Album Release Party) August 7th- Mandeville, Jamaica August 14 St. Croix (USVI) August 20 POUGHKEEPSIE August 21 TAMPA, Fl. August 22nd York...

This is the black couple who have amazed medical experts after their baby daughter was born with white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. Benjamin and Angela Ihegboro's daughter, Nmachi, has flummoxed genetic experts who are unable to explain why she looks they way she does. Doctors say the white-skinned newborn is not an albino. The blonde, blue-eyed girl's Nigerian parents say they don't know of any white ancestry in either of their families. Doctors say baby Nmachi Ihegboro is not an albino and attribute her appearance to an unknown genetic mutation. Nmachi, whose name means "Beauty of God" in the Nigerian couple's homeland, has confused genetics experts because neither of her parents has any mixed-race family history. Source...

Chaka Demus & Pliers are suing Universal Music Group for unpaid royalties. Chaka Demus & Pliers, known for their smash hit "Murder She Wrote", has filed a lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages. The lawsuit claims that Universal withheld money owed them and participated in trademark infringement. Chaka Demus & Pliers signed a contract with Universal back in 1992 giving them full rights to the trademark Chaka Demus & Pliers, but Universal has not held up to their end of the agreement. Chaka Demus & Pliers have also filed an injunction to stop the sale of their music by Universal Music.

Queens, NY: Irie Jamboree, North America’s premier reggae festival will not be held this year. The executive team made the agonizing decision to forgo the seventh annual staging this year. We will instead focus our resources on planning for the 2011 festival on Labor Day Sunday and promise another spectacular, exciting presentation then. To set the record straight about why this beloved annual concert was forced into hiatus this year, we list 5 reasons that are the cold facts. There’s a well known adage in the Caribbean that “if America sneezes, the Caribbean gets a cold”. This has never been more severely evidenced than over the past few years as the economic recession being experienced by the U.S. economy has had a grueling...