Latest news with #NWA
Newsweek
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Ric Flair Makes Heartbreaking Confession Following Hulk Hogan's Death
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The recent passing of Hulk Hogan has forced his greatest rival, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, to confront his own mortality. In a candid and emotional new interview, the WWE Hall of Famer admitted to having growing fears that his own time could be running out. The world of professional wrestling was stunned last week when it was revealed that Hogan had passed away at the age of 71. In the days since, Flair, one of Hogan's closest contemporaries, shared his thoughts on the loss and his own life. "I think he just got tired. 11 back operations, hip replacements, now a neck surgery... How much can your body take? We've all put ourselves in ridiculous positions in the business, but I mean, I'm 5 years older than Hulk, and I don't hurt at all. I've had some serious health… — Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 28, 2025 "Anxiety That I Could Be Next" Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ric Flair reflected on the immense physical toll that a long career took on his friend. He believes the cumulative effect of dozens of surgeries is what ultimately wore down the legendary star. "I think he just got tired. Eleven back operations, hip replacements, and now a neck surgery. I mean, how much can your body take?" he said. Flair then turned to his own health. He noted the irony that despite his own serious health battles, he feels physically great, which now gives him a strange sense of unease. "Here I am, and I'm five years older than Hulk, and I don't have an ache or pain in my body," Flair said. "It bothers me, and of course, it gives me anxiety that I could be next." Ric Flair speaks onstage at The Roast of Ric Flair at Nashville Fairgrounds on July 29, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. Ric Flair speaks onstage at The Roast of Ric Flair at Nashville Fairgrounds on July 29, 2022 in Nashville, Two Pillars Of An Era For decades, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were the two biggest and most defining stars in professional wrestling. Flair was the multi-time NWA and WCW World Champion, the "Nature Boy" who represented swagger and technical excellence. Hogan was the larger-than-life WWE Champion, the face of the global "Hulkamania" phenomenon. Their rivalry defined an entire generation of wrestling, and their real-life friendship was a complex bond between the only two men who understood the pressure of being at the top of the industry for so long. A Lifetime Of Defying The Odds Flair's anxiety is particularly poignant given his own incredible history of surviving near-death experiences. In 1975, a plane crash broke his back, and doctors told him he would never wrestle again. In 2017, he was placed in a medically induced coma and given a slim chance of survival after suffering from kidney failure. He has also successfully battled skin cancer twice. Having defied the odds so many times himself, Flair's comments are a raw and honest look at a legend grappling with the loss of a peer. It is a reminder that behind the larger-than-life characters are real people dealing with grief and the realities of aging, and that even "The Nature Boy" is humbled by the fragility of life.
Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Northwest Arkansas outpaces U.S. in local journalism
About two-thirds of U.S. counties have a below-average number of local journalists, per an ambitious new project aiming to illustrate "the stunning collapse in local reporting" as old business models falter and newsrooms scramble for sustainability. Why it matters: Many American neighborhoods lack adequate news coverage for everything from school board meetings and elections to local sports and cultural events. Driving the news: The U.S. now has 8.2 "local journalist equivalents" (LJEs) for every 100,000 people, down 75% from 2002 on average. That's according to the Local Journalist Index 2025 from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, a local journalism nonprofit. By the numbers: NWA has a higher than average rate, with 16.1 LJEs in Washington County and 10.4 LJEs in Benton County. How it works: The findings are based on Muck Rack's data about journalists and media outlets nationwide as of the first quarter of 2025, used to show reporters "most likely covering local communities." Among other steps, the authors adjusted the number of overall journalists in each county to account for part-timers, plus those who work for big-city outlets but sometimes cover suburban affairs. The result is the "local journalist equivalent" — a metric similar to "full-time equivalent," which accounts for part-time employees when measuring the size of a workforce. (Read more about the methodology.) Zoom in: While newsrooms in shrinking towns are certainly hurting, even some growing areas have a below-average number of local journalists. "For example, Fort Bend County, a suburb of Houston, and Washington County, a suburb of Portland, Oregon — both areas with rapidly growing populations — have about five LJEs per 100,000 people," per the report. Between the lines: This isn't a purely rural phenomenon, either. "If you're in a big city like Los Angeles, which has a mere 3.6 LJEs per 100,000 people, your neighborhood might be covered if there's a serious crime but not much else," per the report. "You may get little reliable information on local candidates in many of L.A. County's cities, whether the schools in your neighborhood are improving, whether the hospital nearby has a bad mortality rate, or how inspiring people might be working to repair your playground." The other side: The report highlights a few communities running against the trend — like Hooker County, Nebraska, where "one intrepid journalist, Gerri Peterson, covers her community so deeply that, in a county of 679 people, the Hooker County Tribune has 726 paying subscribers."
Business Insider
22-07-2025
- Science
- Business Insider
The $5.3 million sale of a precious rock from Mars belonging to Niger spurs outrage
A rare Martian meteorite unearthed in Niger sold for a whopping $5.3 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York, prompting outrage from scientists and cultural heritage defenders who are now seeking answers and its return. A Martian meteorite weighing 24.6 kilograms and discovered in Niger was auctioned for $5.3 million at Sotheby's New York. The meteorite, known as NWA 16788, is the largest Martian rock ever found on Earth, estimated to have traveled 140 million miles. Concerns were raised about the legality and ethical implications of exporting this significant artifact from Niger. In November 2023, a meteorite hunter discovered NWA 16788 in the Agadez area of northern Niger. It weighs more than 24.6 kilograms (54 pounds) and is the biggest Martian rock ever recovered on Earth, according to Sotheby's. Experts estimate it traveled 140 million miles from Mars' surface, likely dislodged by an ancient asteroid impact, before landing in the Sahara sands. The auction started at $1.9 million and quickly jumped to $4.3 million, with premiums and fees bringing the total to $5.3 million. However, Sotheby's has not revealed the identity of either the buyer or the seller, heightening speculation over how such an important alien item departed its nation of origin. The auction took place during the auction house's "Geek Week," which features goods related to natural history, science, and space. A private gallery in Tuscany, Italy, and the Italian Space Agency had both previously exhibited the rock. Conversation on meteorites in Africa The specimen's provenance remains a matter of debate, however, as reported by Forbes. 'The NWA 16788 meteorite was shipped and transported in line with the standard procedure of all meteorites that come out of Niger. As with everything we sell, all relevant documentation was in order at each stage of its journey,' Sotheby's tells Forbes Africa. According to Giovanni Pratesi, a professor at the University of Florence in Italy and one of the authors of two of the three papers referenced in the Sotheby's catalogue, he was 'only involved in the characterization and study of this specimen (NWA 16788), without having received, for a while, any information about provenance.' 'In fact, the place of recovery of the meteorites is not so important for science because their real provenance, of course, is not the Earth but other bodies of the Solar System,' Pratesi says. 'Anyway, there is no doubt that the Sahara represents a very important reservoir of extraterrestrial material. 'A confirmation of this is given by the high number of meteorite specimens bearing the name NWA (North West Africa) that is used when the exact place of recovery is not known. In this respect, I believe that African countries should organize a network to recover and valorize these meteorites.' The sale has reignited concerns about the unregulated trade of meteorites, particularly those discovered in developing countries. Nigerien officials and international cultural watchdogs are now questioning the legality and ethics of the meteorite's export, with many demanding its immediate return. 'It was discovered in Niger? How come it ended up being sold in New York?' says Alia Baré, a fashion designer and daughter of former Nigerien president Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, to Forbes Africa. 'It is a crucial matter of sovereignty… This is a national treasure that shouldn't have been sold. Things have to change,' she added.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"Just became the biggest Magic Johnson fan" - Ice Cube said legendary 1979 NCAA final between Magic and Larry Bird made him fall in love with basketball
"Just became the biggest Magic Johnson fan" - Ice Cube said legendary 1979 NCAA final between Magic and Larry Bird made him fall in love with basketball originally appeared on Basketball Network. Los Angeles has always been a city of glamor, reserved for the biggest stars in sports and entertainment like Magic Johnson. However, the two most influential movements in both scenes emerged between the late '80s and early '90s. In the Forum arena, a new generation was rising and its face would become the ever-smiling kid – Magic. Johnson was made for the shine lights of the City of Angels and he had everything that the sparkle of this city demands. A few years later, one of the biggest icons of the rap scene, Ice Cube, started making waves with his group N.W.A, as gangsta rap became more popular than ever. Cube came from one of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles – Compton – where basketball was sacred. The young men from that neighborhood lived for the Los Angeles Lakers and promoted the West Coast through their rap in the heated battle against the East Coast. However, the moment that made him fall in love with basketball happened in the most-watched NCAA final ever, played in 1979. Michigan State and Indiana State faced off, led by Magic and Bird. Ice was there as he was only 10 years old then. That game sparked his love for basketball. "I never really watched college basketball, you know," Cube said on the "Games With Names" podcast. "I was like 10 years old and my brother CJ was like, 'You gotta watch tonight. You got to see this player, his name is Magic Johnson.' So the word Magic made me think of magic. Damn, I'm thinking he's gonna pull a rabbit out of his hat. And he's playing against some guy named Bird and I'm like, damn, I never heard of a person named Bird." "So I watched it and I'm happy Magic won 'cause he got a cooler name. And then my brother came a few months later, 'Guess who we got on our team, the Lakers? Magic Johnson.' Wow. I was like all the way turned on to the game and just became the biggest Magic Johnson fan," he added. Ice became a megastar, while Magic was already at his peak About a decade later, Cube became a mega-popular star, while Magic was already at his peak. It didn't take long before Ice found himself courtside again, this time at a Lakers game, watching his idol Magic. Cube was still a kid and he had a moment that left a childhood memory when Magic slapped his hand. "I was like, 'Hey Magic!' He was like, 'Hey, young dude,' and he slapped my hand and kept going. I just remember he had the softest hands I'd ever felt from a man. I was used to feeling my daddy's rough-a—s, hard-working calloused hands. Magic's hands were soft as a baby," the rapper in the making Two icons of L.A. were, in those moments, legends in the making. They elevated L.A. culture to a new level after that. But their styles were completely different. Magic was playful and always smiling and his game was flashy and elegant. Cube, on the other hand, brought something never-before-seen to the scene – raw reality that directly confronted the political system through his lyrics, at a time when the African American community was facing heavy oppression. He and his group gave a voice to the Black working class, a complete contrast to what Los Angeles represented. But everything that followed became history. Some things started to shift, and Cube became a legend, just like story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
John Torode's sacking ‘over a rap lyric' puts all middle-aged men like me at risk
To my unoffendable sensibilities (just don't say toilet, moist, perfume, vomit, diarrhoea, lounge or couch) John Torode's alleged crime, for which he was sacked from MasterChef where we worked together, appears to be that he was in a bar singing along to a Kanye West hit. The tune in question by the US rapper features the actor Jamie Foxx singing a refrain ('I got a woman') originally written by Ray Charles in 1954. It's a clever, mesmerising record and rather than discuss its provenance (which may have been more sensible), Torode is said to have been singing along. The song is called Gold Digger so you can see why its rhyming nature might have got him into trouble. I say 'singing' but it's actually rapping. And, to my mind, the idea of a middle-aged man in a bar rapping along to Kanye West is a crime worth a sacking. Get your quote-hungry teeth into that one, Downing Street. The likes of near-60-something Torode should be safely at home after work with some Puccini playing in the background. Or, if he insists, doing karaoke in his shed with headphones on. And don't I know it, because some of us middle-aged blokes grew up with the greatest, most violently lyrical rappers in history. And God forbid they pop up in the queue at the karaoke when it's our turn. NWA long being one of my favourite late Eighties and Nineties hip-hop groups. The lyrics are tricky stepping stones across the fruitiest nuggets of the English language and don't ask what their name stands for. But their songs aren't my fault. Someone put them out into the ether in Compton, south Los Angeles. Perhaps it was the contrast that partly excited me, lying in the spring sunshine on the south front of my grandfather Sacheverell's home of Weston Hall, Towcester, Northamptonshire, my headphones filled with the verbiage of Dr Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren spoken from some of the most violent streets in America. 'It's a treatise on excessive policing, Mother,' was how I dealt with inquiries. But little did I know of the dangerous end that this path could bring. The genre of hip-hop practically celebrates the use of foul, culturally sensitive language yet spoken from the mouths of artists this parlance is par for the course. From the lips of a middle-aged bloke, a TV presenter no less, and it becomes a crime for which the penalty is the loss of a job and a very public rinsing. And it's a very clear example of cultural two-tier policing. Which was once highlighted, brilliantly, in 2020 by the US comedian Tom Cotter who contrasted the cultural cancelling of the 1940s song Baby It's Cold Outside (offending, toxic masculinity-soaked lyrics include 'My mother will start to worry/Beautiful, what's your hurry?') with the then number-one hit WAP (Wet-A-- P---y). Now these songs, and those by NWA, Kanye West, 50 Cent and thousands more, are not banned. We don't do that anymore. Broadcasters and governments know that if you want to see a song race up the charts you just need to ban it. Which, famously, was the case in 1984 when Radio One DJ Mike Read persuaded the BBC to ban Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and it promptly became one of the biggest-selling singles in the UK. So bars, pubs and clubs pump this stuff out, wooing the after-work crowd and the likes of John Torode and TV crew looking for distraction after another day of tasting parfaits of venison liver and self-saucing chocolate fondants. As the music thumps and pulsates, drinks are sipped, the feet start to tap and the middle-aged chap attempts to impress the young folk around him as he sings along to the purposefully confrontational lyrics. The hangover is bad enough, but imagine waking up to discover – or being alerted to the fact some seven years later – that the undercover lyrics police were patrolling that night and noting down which dastardly fools had the temerity to sing along to Gold Digger.
