UK police charge rapper HoodyBaby in case involving Chris Brown
Grammy Award-winner Chris Brown is one of the best-selling R&B artistes of all time. (Invision/AP pic)
LONDON : British police charged a second American musician today in connection with an alleged assault in London in 2023, a day after singer Chris Brown was charged over the same incident.
Omololu Akinlolu, 38, a rapper and producer who performs under the stage name HoodyBaby, was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the assault, alleged to have taken place in London on Feb 19, 2023.
He was due to appear in court in Manchester later today, police said in a statement.
Grammy Award-winner Brown, 36, one of the best-selling R&B artistes of all time, was denied bail by an English court over the charge, throwing his upcoming world tour into doubt.
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Free Malaysia Today
44 minutes ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82
Brian Wilson formed the Beach Boys with brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love, and his neighbour Al Jardine. (Reuters pic) NEW YORK : Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group's wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced Wednesday. He was 82. The statement on Instagram did not give a cause. Wilson was placed under a legal conservatorship last year due to a 'major neurocognitive disorder.' 'We are at a loss for words right now,' said his family. 'We realise that we are sharing our grief with the world.' The pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivaled The Beatles throughout the 1960s, a seemingly inexhaustible string of feel-good tracks including 'Surfin' USA,' 'I Get Around,' 'Fun, Fun, Fun' and 'Surfer Girl' that made the Beach Boys into America's biggest selling band. Wilson didn't surf but his prodigious pen and genius ear allowed him to fashion the boundary-pushing soundscape of beachside paradise. His lush productions were revered among his peers, with even Bob Dylan once telling Newsweek: 'That ear – I mean, Jesus, he's got to will that to the Smithsonian!' But after five years of extraordinary songwriting, in which he produced 200 odes to sun, surfing and suntanned girls, Wilson sank into a deep, drug-fuelled depression for decades. He would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys' unfinished album, 'Smile' – widely regarded as his masterpiece. 'Surfin' USA' John Lennon said he considered 'Pet Sounds' (1966) to be one of the best albums of all time, while Paul McCartney said Wilson was a 'genius' – who reduced him to tears with one song from the album, 'God Only Knows,' which Wilson wrote in 45 minutes. Its melancholic depths hinted at Wilson's own painful secret. Born on June 20, 1942 in a Los Angeles suburb, Wilson found music as a haven of safety and joy after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father, who would go on to manage the group. Music was his protection, and The Beach Boys was a family affair: he formed the band with his two brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love and neighbour Al Jardine. Wilson did all the songwriting, arranging and sang and played bass guitar; his bandmates just had to sing in harmony. Their first song 'Surfin,' in 1961, was a loose prototype for the unique sound that would become their signature, a fusion of the rock styles of Chuck Berry and Little Richard with the preppy vocal harmonies of 'The Four Freshmen.' By late 1962, there was hardly a teen who did not know them thanks to the eternal ode to youthful nonchalance, 'Surfin' USA.' Lost youth But Wilson was ill at ease on stage and did not like recording studios. In 1964 he had a panic attack on a plane to France, after which he stopped touring. He was deaf in his right ear and his mouth sagged when he sang – the result of the many beatings he received from his father. 'It was tough. My dad was quite the slave driver,' Wilson told Rolling Stone magazine in 2018. 'He made us mow the lawn and when we were done, he'd say, 'Mow it again.' The Beach Boys' early songs spoke of simple joys and innocence. But Wilson's writing became darker as he began to eulogise lost youth. He channeled the group towards the more psychedelic rock central to the hippie culture taking hold in California. In 1966 he brought out 'Good Vibrations,' a song recorded in four different studios that consumed over 90 hours of tape and included multiple keys, textures, moods and instrumentations. The single topped the charts and sold one million copies in the US, but Wilson was at the brink. In 1967, his mental health deteriorated, worn down by his enormous workload and his wild consumption of drugs. He abandoned 'Smile,' planted his grand piano in a sandbox, and took vast quantities of LSD and acid. Eventually diagnosed as schizophrenic, Wilson began hearing voices and thought the famed 'Wall of Sound' producer Phil Spector was spying on him and stealing his work. The group eventually parted ways. 'Gentlest revolutionary' The troubled artist had long stints of rehab and relapses as well as legal issues including a lengthy, eyebrow-raising relationship with a controlling psychotherapist who was eventually blocked by a court order from contact with Wilson. The artist credits his marriage to former model Melinda Ledbetter as helping him to rebuild his life. He revived and finished 'Smile,' releasing it in 2004. His brother Dennis drowned in 1983, while Carl died of cancer in 1998. Last year Wilson's family successfully pursued a legal conservatorship following the death of Melinda, with his longtime manager and publicist being put in charge of his affairs. Wilson's seven children were consulted by the conservators regarding major health decisions as a stipulation of the agreement. The musician's many accolades included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2007, when that committee dubbed him 'rock and roll's gentlest revolutionary.' 'There is real humanity in his body of work,' they said, 'vulnerable and sincere, authentic and unmistakably American.'
Malay Mail
21 hours ago
- Malay Mail
When the powerful fear justice — Che Ran
JUNE 11 — It's always the same playbook. When justice starts sniffing too close to the men with blood under their fingernails, they don't argue facts. They don't invite transparency. They threaten. They bully. They pick up the phone and speak slowly, like they're doing you a favour by not tearing the whole thing down. And that's exactly what David Cameron did. The former Prime Minister—Britain's once-chosen steward of democracy and human rights—called the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and told him that holding Israeli leaders accountable for alleged war crimes would be like 'dropping a hydrogen bomb.' Let that sink in. Not a court ruling. Not a verdict. A bomb. This wasn't diplomacy. This was a warning shot dressed up in a suit and tie. What Cameron said wasn't just inappropriate—it was an act of sabotage. A deliberate attempt to undermine the last scraps of credibility that international law still clings to. Because if the ICC can't investigate crimes when the accused are politically powerful or deemed 'friends' of the West, then what's the point of any of it? Why have a court at all if the people who need to be judged the most are immune? There is a deeper sickness here. A double standard so naked, it burns. When the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, the Western world applauded. Justice, finally. Accountability, finally. But when the same court looked toward Tel Aviv, everything changed. Suddenly, the court became 'unhelpful,' 'biased,' 'a threat to peace.' The same nations that trumpet the rule of law from their podiums at the UN started hurling stones at the very institution they once helped build. You cannot cherry-pick justice. You cannot hold it high when it suits you, and gut it when it challenges your allies. That isn't justice—it's empire in drag. It's colonialism wrapped in legalese. And it's killing any hope that the law can protect the weak from the strong. The story doesn't end with Cameron. He was just the loudest voice on the line. Across the Atlantic, American lawmakers have been snarling too. Threats of sanctions, visa bans, financial strangulation—all aimed at shutting down an investigation into Israeli actions in Gaza. And behind the scenes, there are reports of intimidation, surveillance, even smear campaigns against court officials. A full-scale assault, not just on the investigation, but on the very idea that no one is above the law. The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. — Reuters pic It should chill us to the bone. Because once justice becomes conditional—once we allow politics to decide who gets prosecuted and who doesn't—we are no longer in a world of law. We are back in the jungle, clawing and snarling, where might is right and innocence is irrelevant. And still, amid this storm, one man stood his ground. Karim Khan, the British prosecutor at the ICC, didn't back down. He didn't cave. He didn't roll over for the threats of former prime ministers or the pressure of global superpowers. He just said, calmly: 'I don't like being threatened.' In that moment, something rare happened. A flicker of integrity, flickering stubbornly in the dark. But flickers don't last forever. They need fuel. They need public outrage. They need people to care. Because if we let this go—if we let the Camerons of the world silence investigations with threats and handshakes—then we are saying, loud and clear, that war crimes only matter when poor men commit them. That starving civilians, bombing hospitals, or reducing entire neighbourhoods to ash is forgivable, so long as the pilot's accent is Western and the missiles are paid for in dollars or sterling. We cannot let this stand. If international law means anything, it must mean something when it's hard. It must mean something when the accused are rich, powerful, and uncomfortably close. Otherwise, it's just theatre. And we've all seen enough performances. What Cameron did was not a slip. It was not a moment of poor judgment. It was a deliberate act to protect power from accountability. And we must call it what it is: an assault on justice. Because the moment we start excusing the inexcusable, the moment we let politics decide who gets to face the scales and who walks free—we lose something essential. Not just as nations. Not just as institutions. But as human beings. We lose our claim to conscience. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Malay Mail
21 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Petrol bombs, fires and fear as racial tensions explode in Northern Ireland town following teen rape charges
BALLYMENA, June 11 — Violence flared for a second yesterday night in a Northern Irish town after 'racially motivated' attacks sparked by the arrest of two teenagers accused of attempting to rape a young girl. Hundreds of protestors, many of them masked, took to the streets of Ballymena, throwing petrol bombs, bottles and masonry as police responded with water cannon, an AFP journalist said. There was a heavy police presence in one area of the town, some 30 miles (48 kilometres) northwest of Belfast, as the protesters set fire to a car and barricades. Police also fired plastic baton rounds to disperse the crowds, an AFP journalist saw. Later as night fell, crowds began to disperse in Ballymena although smaller groups still milled around the town centre. And local media reported that protestors were also blocking roads in Belfast. The unrest first erupted Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood where an alleged serious sexual assault happened on Saturday. 'This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,' Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said Tuesday. He told a press conference: 'It was racist thuggery, pure and simply, and any attempt to justify it or explain it as something else is misplaced.' Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout the day on Tuesday, as residents described the scenes as 'terrifying' and told AFP those involved were targeting 'foreigners'. Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court Monday, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said. The trouble began when masked people 'broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties', police said. Houses and businesses were attacked, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said, adding it was investigating 'hate attacks'. Security forces also came under 'sustained attack' with petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks thrown by rioters, injuring 15 officers including some who required hospital treatment, according to the force. One 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police. Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors of homes and businesses smashed. Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother-of-two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks, said her family had been 'very scared'. 'Last night it was crazy because too many people came here and tried to put the house on fire,' Albu, who works in a factory, told AFP. She said she would now have to move, but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian. This handout photo taken and released by the US Marine Corps on June 10, 2025 shows US Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, who were placed in an alert status over the weekend to support US Northern Command mission, rehearsing nonlethal tactics in the greater Los Angeles area. — AFP pic 'Scared as hell' A 22-year-old woman who lives next door to a burnt-out house in the same Clonavon neighbourhood said the night had been 'terrifying'. 'People were going after foreigners, whoever they were, or how innocent they were,' the woman, who did not want to share her name for security reasons, told AFP. 'But there were local people indoors down the street scared as hell.' Northern Ireland saw racism-fuelled disorder in August after similar riots in English towns and cities triggered by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, northwest England. According to Mark, 24, who did not share his last name, the alleged rape on the weekend was 'just a spark'. 'The foreigners around here don't show respect to the locals, they come here, don't integrate,' said Mark. Another man was halfway up a ladder, hanging a Union Jack flag in front of his house as a 'precaution—so people know it's not a foreigner living here'. 'Ballymena has a large migrant population, a lot of people actually work in the town and provide excellent work,' Mayor Jackson Minford told AFP. 'Last night unfortunately has probably scared a lot of people. We are actively working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,' said Henderson. A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the 'disorder' in Ballymena was 'very concerning'. — AFP
