NEW YORK — Cuba Gooding Jr. has resolved allegations that he raped a woman at a New York City hotel ten years ago, according to court papers, it was disclosed Tuesday, just before a trial was about to start. The actor and the woman met at a nearby restaurant, and the actor had argued through lawyers that their interaction was consensual.

The Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” actor was accused of meeting the lady in Manhattan, getting her to go with him to a hotel, and stopping at his room so he could change clothes. The trial was set to begin with jury selection in New York federal court.

A calendar item in the official court record read: “Trial OFF,” minutes before jurors appear in a courtroom. The clause stated: “Reason for cancellation (on consent): The parties have resolved the matter.”

Before this week, when Judge Paul A. Crotty decided that the lady would have to give her name at trial, the woman had been proceeding anonymously. According to her claim, Gooding sexually assaulted her in his bedroom. However, his solicitors argued that it was consenting intercourse and that she boasted to others later.

In the complaint, $6 million in losses were demanded. One of several lawyers representing the woman, Gloria Allred, chose not to comment. Requests for a response from other solicitors, including those defending Gooding, were not promptly fulfilled.

According to the authorities, the claim was brought against a guy who has been accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior, such as groping, unwanted kissing, and other acts, with more than 30 additional women.

Cuba Gooding Jr. has resolved allegations that he raped a woman at a New York City hotel ten years ago.

By deciding to allow three women to testify that they, too, experienced sudden sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults after meeting Gooding in social settings like festivals, bars, nightclubs, and restaurants late last week, the judge appeared to strengthen the woman’s position at trial and in settlement talks.

Kelsey Harbert, who alleged that Gooding fondled her without her permission at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge close to Times Square in 2019, was one of the women who had intended to testify at the trial.

Last year, Gooding avoided jail time and a criminal record by entering a guilty plea in a New York state court, and Harbert stated that Gooding never having her day in court was “more disappointing than words can say.”

Gooding, who has starred in films like ‘Boyz n the Hood’ and ‘Radio’, was allowed to enter a guilty plea for a misdemeanor in April 2022 after admitting that he kissed a club employee violently in 2018.

Gooding was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and plead guilty to a non-criminal harassment offense, erasing his criminal record and avoiding further punishments. He also completed six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling.

SOURCE – (AP)

Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83. Her off-handed English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a recognized bossa nova icon worldwide.

Family friend and musician Paul Ricci confirmed her passing on Monday. He didn’t give any more information.

Gilberto was raised in Rio de Janeiro and was born in Salvador, Bahia. In 1964, she became an overnight, unanticipated star because the producers of “Getz/Gilberto,” the legendary bossa nova album featuring saxophonist Stan Getz and her then-husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Joo Gilberto, hired her because she knew just enough English to be hired.

Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes’ melancholy ballad, “The Girl from Ipanema,” was already well-known in South America. However, “s” producer Creed Taylor and others believed that adding vocals in both Portuguese and English would broaden the record’s appeal. Astrud Gilberto recalled her spouse telling her he had a surprise for her at the recording studio in a 2002 chat with friends published on her website, www.astrudgilberto.com.

I pleaded with him to tell me what it was, but he refused and kept saying, “Wait and see. Later, when Joao and Stan were rehearsing “The Girl from Ipanema,” Joao invited me to join in and sing a chorus in English after he had just finished singing the first chorus in Portuguese. So I did exactly that,” she said.

“After the song was finished, Joao turned to Stan and said something along the lines of, ‘Tomorrow Astrud sing on record.'” How do you feel? Stan was open to the concept and even expressed considerable enthusiasm for it. The rest, of course, is history, as they say.

Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83

Astrud Gilberto performs “The Girl from Ipanema” in a carefree, affectless manner that, among others, impacted Sade and Suzanne Vega. She has moved on to other topics. However, only some other words from the time would be as well remembered as hers, which Norman Gimbel had translated from Portuguese.

tall, youthful, and beautiful

The Ipanema girl strolls around.

And after she leaves

She says “Ah” to each person she passes.

More than 2 million copies of “Getz/Gilberto” were sold, and “The Girl from Ipanema,” released as a single and featured solely Astrud Gilberto as the vocalist quickly rose to fame. It is sometimes considered second only to “Yesterday” regarding the number of covers in the modern era.

Gilberto was nominated for best new artist and vocal performance, and “The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. De Moraes had penned the lyrics about a Brazilian adolescent named Helosa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, but the poised, dark-haired singer was so intimately connected with “The Girl from Ipanema” that several people assumed she was the inspiration.

Gilberto recorded eight albums (containing songs in English and Portuguese) throughout the following few years, including “The Astrud Gilberto Album,” “Beach Samba,” and “The Shadow of Your Smile.” He also went on tour with Getz and other musicians.

She only released seven albums after 1969, and by 2002 she had largely given up on the music industry and ceased doing interviews. Instead, she devoted her later years to animal rights activism and a career in the visual arts. She would claim that she was not paid for “The Girl from Ipanema” and that Taylor and Getz (who would describe her as “just a housewife”) improperly claimed credit for “discovering” her. In addition, she felt alienated from her home country since she said the press treated her with contempt and played there infrequently once she rose to fame.

In 2002, she remarked, “Isn’t there an old saying that goes, ‘No one is a prophet in his land’?” “I don’t have any issues with Brazilians, and I have a great time there. Of course, I don’t go there as a performer but as an anonymous tourist.

Astrud Weinert, the youngest of three sisters, came from a musical and linguistically literate household. Her mother was a singer and violinist, while her father was a linguistics professor. By the time she was in her teens, she had already met rising bossa nova artist Joo Gilberto and was part of a group of musical pals.

When she first met him, “The clan grew larger, to include ‘older’ folks” like Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Bené Nunes, Luis Bonfá, and Joo Donato, as well as their respective “‘ other halves,'” she recalled. “(Joo Gilberto) and I used to sing duets together, or he’d play guitar and play along with me. When friends visited us, they always wanted me to sing at these events and in our house.

Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83

She had two sons, Joo Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, who would both work with her. She was twice married. She continued to be a famous live performer even after her commercial zenith, her voice growing warmer and jazzier as she sang covers and songs.

As a recording artist, she also had several memorable performances, including backing trumpeter Chet Baker on “Fly Me to the Moon” and duet with George Michael on the bossa nova classic “Desafinado.” She was awarded a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2008.

“Occasionally, a dissatisfied journalist has called me ‘a recluse.’ According to the dictionary, a recluse is “a person who withdraws from the world to live in seclusion and frequently in solitude.” Why should someone think an artist is a loner just because they prefer not to participate in interviews? she said in 2002.

“I firmly believe that any artist who achieves fame through their work, whether it be music, film, or any other medium, has no moral obligation to satiate the curiosity of journalists, fans, or any other members of the public about their personal lives or anything else that does not directly relate to their work. My work speaks for itself, regardless of how well or poorly it is received.

SOURCE – (AP)

LONDON — Because WhatsApp is popular among lawmakers and government employees, detractors claim the British government runs “government by WhatsApp.”

Therefore, it only makes sense that the main focus of Britain’s official investigation into how the nation handled the COVID-19 outbreak is a dispute over WhatsApp communications.

The investigation run by retired judge Heather Hallett included a lot of communications between then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and cabinet members, advisors, and officials during the pandemic. Since some of the messages are private and unrelated to the investigation, the Conservative administration, currently under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wants the ability to modify them before turning them over. It has challenged Hallett’s directive to turn over the unredacted messages in court.

What is the investigation looking into?
One of the greatest death rates in Europe, more than 200,000 people have died in Britain after testing positive for COVID-19, and Johnson’s government’s choices have been hotly contested. Johnson gave in to pressure from bereaved families in late 2021 and decided to launch an investigation.

The scope of Hallett’s investigation will focus on the United Kingdom’s pandemic preparedness, the government’s response, and whether or not the “level of loss was inevitable or whether things could have been done better.”

The former prime minister and many other top government officials are expected to testify during public hearings starting on June 13 and going through 2026.

WHY IS WHATSAPP Johnson OFF?

The texting service, owned by Meta, has grown to be a favorite among British government officials and the journalists who cover them. Users may feel secure knowing their conversations will remain private because of its end-to-end encryption and ease of use for solo and group chats.

This confidence has occasionally shown to be misplaced. Tens of thousands of his texts were given to a writer who was assisting Matt Hancock, a former health secretary who helped lead Britain’s response to the epidemic, in writing a memoir. The journalist gave them to a newspaper, which ran a series of front-page pieces with unpleasant details.

Johnson’s correspondence with more than thirty scientists and government representatives over two years beginning in early 2020 has been requested by Hallett. She also requests access to Johnson’s contemporaneous journals and notebooks.

WHAT IS THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT?

According to the Sunak administration, some texts that took over after Johnson resigned amid scandals in the middle of 2022 are “unambiguously irrelevant” to the COVID-19 investigation. According to the statement, making them public would violate the public’s “legitimate expectations of privacy and protection of their personal information” and other areas of government activity.

The government’s Cabinet Office challenged Hallett’s request for the documents in court papers filed on Thursday. In the upcoming weeks, a hearing in the High Court will be the next step.

Hallett has the authority to call witnesses and subpoena them to testify per the investigation’s rules established at the outset with the government’s consent.

The former head of the government legal service Jonathan Jones stated, “The government has an uphill task,” in a blog post for the Institute for Government. The court will likely rule that the inquiry chair should choose how to proceed and what materials she needs to review.

WHAT SUGGESTS BORIS JOHNSON?

Johnson and his successor Sunak have a history of conflict; Sunak’s resignation from the administration in July 2022 assisted in Johnson’s overthrow.

Johnson has stated that he is happy to turn over his texts, separating himself from the government’s position. He claimed to have sent Hallett’s inquiry the WhatsApp exchanges on Friday.

However, they only cover a portion of the requested time period in another twist. There are no communications from Johnson that date back before April 2021. That period covers the early stages of the pandemic, during which the government made crucial decisions that are still debated today, three periods of the national lockdown, and the dates of the unlawful parties that took place in government buildings and resulted in a large number of people, including Johnson, receiving fines from the police.

Johnson claims that the messages are on a phone that he has been told not to use after the media discovered that his number had been listed online for 15 years.

According to Johnson, the security services ordered him to stop using the phone and never switch it on again. On Friday, he informed Hallett that he had “requested the Cabinet Office for assistance turning it on securely so I could search it for all pertinent documents. I suggest sending you all of this information directly.

SOURCE – (AP)