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With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion -- about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall St. bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in. As the economy performs worse than...

The White House on Monday pushed up its forecast for the U.S. budget deficit for this year by $89 billion, reflecting the recession, a raft of new unemployment claims and corporate bailouts. A fresh estimate of the deficit showed it coming in at $1.84 trillion -- representing a massive 12.9 percent of gross domestic product -- in the current 2009 fiscal year that ends on September 30. A prior White House forecast released in February projected a deficit of $1.75 trillion, or 12.3 percent of GDP. The report may add to the political challenges facing President Barack Obama as he...

A quick tour of the internet shows that the England has NO PROBLEM WITH ALLOWING U.S. RAP/HIP HOP PERFORMERS enter UK territory for concerts, business deals, etc. despite their filthy lyrics including extremely racist and sexist as well as lewd and violence-inciting comments.

American gangster rapper 50 Cent made sure his arrival in London today did not go unnoticed. As his Rolls-Royce descended on the Mayfair Hotel, accompanied by his 15 strong entourage in a stretch Hummer, passers-by were in doubt that a superstar was in town. But things soon took a less glamorous turn when the keys got locked inside the car - forcing his security guard to break in with a coat hanger.

50 Cent believes his new album will outsell Kanye West's upcoming disc, and he's betting his solo career on it. Both 50 Cent and West have albums due out Sept. 11. 50 Cent, who has sold better than West, has been riled by forecasts that sales of West's "Graduation" could rival those for his "Curtis" CD. "Let's raise the stakes," the 31-year-old rapper told hip-hop Web site SOHH.com in an interview posted Friday. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but...

NEW YORK - He usually saves his beefs for other rappers; this time, 50 Cent is going after Oprah Winfrey. In an interview with The Associated Press, 50 complained that Winfrey rarely invites rappers on her talk show: "I think she caters to older white women." "Oprah's audience is my audience's parents," the 29-year-old rapper said. "So, I could care less about Oprah or her show."

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson will soon have more in common than just a last name, as they're both up for roles in "Home of the Brave," a wartime drama set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq. Written by first-time screenwriter Mark Friedman and directed by "Life as a House" helmer Irwin Winkler, the flick will follow three soldiers who return home from the conflict and find the readjustment difficult. Samuel L. Jackson has been cast as a middle-age doctor who is surprised to discover that his tour of duty at home is even more...

By SCOTT DEVEAU Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Posted at 8:54 PM EST The federal government has committed to holding a high-level summit over Toronto's gun violence, according to a coalition of Toronto's black leaders. The Coalition of African-Canadian Organizations met with Prime Minister Paul Martin in Ottawa Tuesday to urge him to recognize the issue as a national crisis. The group said Mr. Martin committed to the summit, which aims to bring together the federal, provincial, and municipal governments with community leaders in the new year to tackle the issue of gun violence head on. "This is a crisis," said...

Police here and across the country are stepping up patrols at movie theaters showing rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" following the fatal shooting of man inside the Loews Cineplex at The Waterfront. Shelton Flowers, 30, of Wilkinsburg, was gunned down Wednesday night after he got into an argument with another man inside the West Homestead theater. Flowers, who was carrying a gun, had just left the 9 p.m. screening of the film about Jackson's gangster background. Loews Corp. decided to stop showing the movie at that theater until the police finish their investigation, but...

NEW YORK -- Rap feuds aren't usually about differing opinions on President Bush. However, that appears to be the case between 50 Cent and Kanye West. 50 says he disagrees with West's infamous statement that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," proclaimed during a September telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. "I think people responded to it the best way they can," 50 told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from." Instead, 50 said, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God."

NEW YORK - Rap feuds aren't usually about differing opinions on President Bush. However, that appears to be the case between 50 Cent and Kanye West. 50 says he disagrees with West's infamous statement that " George Bush doesn't care about black people," proclaimed during a September telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. "I think people responded to it the best way they can," 50 told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from." Instead, 50 said, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God." It wouldn't be the first...

50 CENT SLAMS KANYE'S 'BUSH IS RACIST' COMMENT...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - They're probably not going to see the movie, either. Activists in a south Los Angeles neighborhood staged a rally to protest the billboard for the upcoming 50 Cent film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Paramount Pictures is removing some of the billboards as a result. The billboards depict the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone in his right. At least two were near schools. A studio spokesman said Friday that Paramount was evaluating the locations of the billboards and taking some down. He declined further...

50 Cent Escapes Jail by Paul Cashmere 16 May 2005 Rapper 50 Cent was granted a real life "get out jail free" card today when a judge failed to convict him on assault charges. The hip-hop star was accused of punching one woman and injuring two others during a concert at the Hippodrome in Springfield last May. Although the judge ruled that 50 Cent could have been convicted on the evidence, he decided to let him go free on the basis that he stays drug-free and avoids any further crime for the next 24 months. He will undergo random...

Former Korn guitarist and born again Christian Brian "Head" Welch says he wants to save rapper 50 Cent, according to MTV.com. Welch said in an email that while in Israel recently to be baptized, he wrote a song that he described as a "personal letter to 50 from God." Welch added that he will give the song to 50 privately and see how he reacts to it: "If it's a positive reaction and he's willing to talk to me, then I'm not gonna release it, but if the reaction is not positive, I'm going to share it with the world."...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR DOWN at the crossroads of Hudson and West Houston Streets, where the radio station WQHT, Hot 97, broadcasts hip-hop programming, music and violence seem inextricable. Last week there was a sidewalk gun battle between the entourages of the rising rap star known as the Game and his former mentor, 50 Cent, while the latter was in the studios doing an interview to promote his new CD. Meanwhile, in a Manhattan federal court, testimony continues in the trial of rap artist Lil' Kim, who has been charged with perjury and conspiracy for her responses to questioning on the matter...

Rap feud in 50 Cent's G-Unit crew US rap star 50 Cent has said he has thrown protege The Game out of his G-Unit gang in a feud that has apparently involved two shootings. In a radio interview on Monday, 50 Cent said the newcomer was disloyal in conflicts with other rappers. A man was shot in the thigh outside New York's Hot 97 studios while 50 Cent was on air. More shots were fired outside his management offices two hours later. 50 Cent appeared on The Game's debut album, which was number one in the US. 50 Cent, whose...

Fox News New York just announced that there has been a shooting at a studio in Manhattan where 50 Cent the rapper was recording.

The black rapper 50 Cent used several anti-gay slurs in an April interview with Playboy magazine, but even so, a homosexual advocacy group has restrained its criticism of him -- even inviting him to "get to know the LGBT community." The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) offered a relatively mild response to words uttered by rapper 50 Cent, in marked contrast to GLAAD's relentless attack on a conservative radio talk-show host several years ago. That talk show host - Dr. Laura Schlessinger - never said the words that 50 Cent did. "I ain't into faggots," 50 Cent told...

50 CENT SLAMS 'FAGGOTS' 50 CENT is risking the wrath of gay rights supporters following a controversial interview with PLAYBOY magazine. The rapper is likely to follow in the footsteps of his mentors Dr Dre and Eminem, who have both come under fire in the past for anti-homosexual comments. In the interview, 50 Cent is quoted as saying: "I ain't into faggots, I don't like gay people around me, because I'm not comfortable with what their thoughts are. I'm not prejudiced. I just don't go with gay people and kick it - we don't have that much in common. I'd...

<p>A POST photographer assaulted by 50 Cent's goons has slapped the rap superstar with a $21 million lawsuit.</p> <p>Jim Alcorn was knocked down by 50 Cent's hulking heavies on Aug. 27 while he was taking pictures of the hip-hopper leaving Jacob the Jeweler's diamond district shop, where 50 Cent had just bought an $18,000 watch. Alcorn was rushed to the emergency room after the street-corner smackdown. Hospital X-rays revealed injuries to his neck and jaw.</p>

Lowlife Rappers Get Some Love Exclusive commentary by Patrick Rooney Director of Special Projects BOND June 10, 2003 “Hip-hop” record mogul Russell Simmons was running around New York last week meeting with Gov. Pataki and other top Empire State politicos in an ignoble effort to relax drug sentencing laws in the state. Following the success of Detroit’s recent Rap Summit, the genre has been gaining long-coveted respect. Meanwhile at the “Summer Jam” in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 50,000 fans cheered as rap’s biggest names cussed, threatened rivals, and displayed the kind of parenting skills that would embarrass Ozzie Osbourne. We...