Entertainment
US Rapper A$AP Rocky Takes Stand in Sweden Assault Trial
US rapper A$AP Rocky was set to appear in a Swedish court Thursday to give his account of a street brawl, in an assault case that has stirred diplomatic tensions and outraged fans.
The 30-year-old faces up to two years in prison over the incident, which took place in Stockholm on June 30.
Dozens of fans, along with reporters, lined up in the early morning outside the tribunal in the Swedish capital for a chance to hear the rapper testify. Some pleaded “please, please” for the limited tickets handed out by court security officers.
The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was arrested on July 3 along with three other people following the fight. His bodyguard was later released.
Prosecutors last week charged Mayers and two others with assault, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
At the trial’s opening on Tuesday, the rapper, who has spent weeks in custody, said he acted in self-defence and pleaded not guilty.
As the proceedings resumed on Thursday, the defence cross-examined the plaintiff. The 19-year-old has alleged that he was attacked by the rapper and his entourage when he followed them to ask about a pair of headphones that had broken in an earlier scuffle with the artist’s bodyguard.
Much of the trial has centred around video evidence and whether a bottle had been used as a weapon during the alleged assault.
One video published by US celebrity news outlet TMZ shows the rapper throwing a young man to the ground and apparently aiming several punches at him while he is down.
The court has also seen videos posted to the artist’s own Instagram, purporting to show the lead-up to the brawl, which the prosecution argued had been heavily edited.
– ‘Threatening’ –
Mayers’ lawyer Slobodan Jovicic has argued that the rapper’s actions were the result of the plaintiff and his friend displaying “a threatening, aggressive and deeply provoking behaviour”.
“He admits that he threw the plaintiff on the ground, that he stepped on his arm and punched or pushed his shoulder,” Jovicic told the court, arguing it had been “self-defence”.
The trial is scheduled to conclude on Friday. The court then has to announce a verdict date and rule on whether the accused should still be detained in the meantime.
Mayers was remanded in custody while the case was being investigated as he was considered a “flight risk”.
Fans, fellow artists and US Congress members have been campaigning for his release.
An online petition called #JusticeForRocky has garnered more than 640,000 signatures. Social media campaigns have urged fans to boycott Swedish brands such as IKEA.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the rapper to be freed, drawing complaints of interference from Swedish politicians.
Robert C. O’Brien, US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, has been sent to attend the trial.
“The president asked me to come here and support these American citizens and we’re working to bring them back as soon as possible,” O’Brien told AFP on Tuesday.
(AFP)
Entertainment
Davido to Perform at FIFA World Cup 2026 Concert in Los Angeles
Award-winning artiste – Davido – is scheduled to perform at FIFA’s World Cup 2026 Countdown Concert in Los Angeles, adding another major global platform to his career.
Davido will perform alongside Major Lazer, the music project led by producer Diplo.
FIFA announced the lineup on Instagram, noting that more special guests will be unveiled in the coming days.
The concert is part of FIFA’s first synchronised live entertainment series across the tournament’s three host nations: the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“Featuring Diplo’s Major Lazer and Davido, and more special guests to be announced soon,” FIFA wrote.
The Los Angeles show will open doors at 5:00pm PT, with the live broadcast beginning at 6:00pm PT.
The series is designed to link audiences across the host countries, with simultaneous live performances streamed from Mexico City and Toronto.
FIFA said the event will stream globally across its digital platforms, including an exclusive livestream on TikTok.
Full concert and behind-the-scenes footage will be available on VuMe Live the following day.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins June 11, 2026.
Entertainment
Renowned Singer of ‘A Whole New World’, Peabo Bryson, Dies at 75
Peabo Bryson has died at the age of 75. The singer was known for singing soul ballads, and particularly duets. In 1991, “Beauty and the Beast,” his duet of the title song from the Disney film with Céline Dion, became a massive hit. A year later, he and Regina Belle released “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, and it became the first song from an animated film to reach No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100.
Bryson died Tuesday, June 2 surrounded by family, just days after suffering a stroke.
“We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” Bryson’s family said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”
Bryson was born Robert Peapo Bryson in Greenville, S.C., in 1951. “And, as far back as I can remember, I’ve always been into music,” he told Soul magazine in 1978. “It’s all I ever wanted to really deal with, and of course, like everyone else, I had to make that decision — I guess when I was around 14 — as to what I was going to get into, career-wise. Well, I’d thought about being a doctor or something like that, but I really felt that music was my thing.”
His mother was concerned: “She figured I’d turn into a drug addict or something like that!” he told the outlet.
Bryson began performing professionally as a teenager, singing backup with a local group called Al Freeman and the Upsetters, an outfit he described as “terrible” in the Soul interview. Freeman had trouble pronouncing Peapo, and Bryson began using the name Peabo instead.
Later, Bryson toured the Chitlin’ Circuit with Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display. Bang Records heard them perform and was impressed with Bryson. He released one album, Peabo, with the label in 1976 before moving to Capitol Records.His first Top 10 hit on the R&B chart was 1978’s “Reaching for the Sky.” In 1979, “Gimme Some Time,” his duet with Natalie Cole, hit No. 8 on the chart, a preview of his duet success to come. They released “What You Won’t Do for Love” a year later, and it reached No. 16. Bryson also had a Top 20 hit with “Minute by Minute,” a cover of the Doobie Brothers song. In 1980, he released his first duet with Flack, “Make the World Stand Still.” It hit No. 13 on the R&B chart. They would also release the duets “Love Is a Waiting Game,” “You’re Lookin’ Like Love to Me,” “I Just Came Here to Dance” and their most successful, “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100. They also released the 1983 duets album Born to Love.
“I think the secret to a really good duet is that you have to fall a little bit in love with your duet partner,” Bryson told Tatler Asia in 2015. “I was very fortunate in finding a duet partner in Roberta Flack who really knew what a duet was and knew how to play to a person’s strengths and weaknesses equally. I learned how to do a great duet from working with Roberta Flack because she’s that great.”
In 1984, “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again” was Bryson’s first Top 10 single on the Hot 100. He released “Show & Tell” in 1989, and it hit No. 1 on the R&B chart; he scored another R&B chart-topper with 1991’s “Can You Stop the Rain.”
1991 also brought “Beauty and the Beast.” Initially, Dion had been chosen to sing the song solo, but execs worried that she was too new and wanted a more established artist. “When you’re a great singer like [Dion], oftentimes you find yourself in situations where you have to dial back,” Bryson told the CBC in 2017. “I learned that from doing duets. The key to it is to play to your duet partner’s strength and weaknesses equally. So essentially that renders into a situation where there are no weaknesses because you’re playing to them both equally.”
He said Dion was very tentative at first, but they slowly built a rapport in the studio.
He remembered: “I looked across at her, and she looked back at me and what went on from the point of becoming relaxed was extremely intimate. You can’t buy that. You can record it, though.”
Their duet became a massive success, reaching No. 9 on the Hot 100 and winning them both a Grammy. Bryson told the CBC, “I never ever got tired of listening to it.”
Disney turned to Bryson again for 1992’s “A Whole New World,” which he sang with Belle. Bryson and Belle had also worked together on the song “Without You” for the 1988 movie Leonard Part 6, and she wanted Bryson to join her on the track because she knew they worked well together.
“That ‘Whole New World’ concept… that is what really took us over the top,” Belle told ABC Radio in 2019. “Because when you think about it, a ‘whole new world’ can be ascribed to most… everything… that has made a difference in your life.”
Bryson added: “It’s a song that represents every hope and every promise that you will ever have. I sang it in South Africa for the first time they allowed Black South Africans to enter into the Miss South Africa beauty pageant.”
Their version of the song hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 and would remain the only song from an animated film to do so until “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto in 2022. Bryson and Belle also won a Grammy.
He returned to Disney again in 1997 and sang “As Long As There’s Christmas” with Flack during the end credits of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, a direct-to-video sequel.
Bryson at times felt dissatisfied with how the music industry prized youth over experience. He and singers like Flack were never played by MTV, which he believed was “detrimental” to the industry.
“I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “I see myself as a true Renaissance man. I don’t like one-dimensional concepts of myself.”In total, Bryson released 20 studio albums. He was an eight-time Grammy nominee.
Bryson suffered a heart attack in 2019 but made a full recovery.
Bryson welcomed a daughter, Linda, in 1968. He wed Tanya Boniface, a member of the British girl group The 411, in 2010, and they welcomed a son, Robert, in 2018.
Entertainment
Regina Daniels: I’m No Longer Interested in Marriage But I Must Have a Female Child
Nollywood actress Regina Daniels has said she is no longer interested in getting married again following her separation from her estranged husband, Senator Ned Nwoko, but remains determined to have a daughter.
The actress made the remarks during a livestream session with TikToker Jarvis at her Children’s Day carnival held in Asaba, Delta State.
Speaking on her current outlook on relationships and motherhood, Daniels said she has mentally moved away from the idea of marriage.
“But for some reason, I’ve checked my mind out of getting married. I’m yet to have a girl. And I must have a girl,” she said.
The mother of two explained that her desire for a daughter comes from what she described as the unique emotional bond between mothers and female children.
“I feel like motherhood starts better. Like you would understand motherhood when you have a girl child,” she said.
“So, having boys is easy because at least you can groom them to have a role model in a father figure. But for your girl child, you have to be that role model for them to emulate.”
Daniels also revealed that she initially never wanted a daughter before becoming a mother.
“Before I had my first son, I said no, never. I will never have a girl child. Never, ever. But after my first, after my second, I remember, for some reason, it’s female kids that remember,” she added.
Reflecting further on family dynamics, the actress said women tend to maintain stronger emotional ties to their homes than men.
“Men will grow, get married and focus more on building family. But for women, she will always remember home,” she said.
Daniels married Nwoko in 2019, a union that drew widespread attention because of their age difference. The couple share two sons.
Their relationship later became publicly strained in 2025 following allegations by Nwoko that the actress was battling substance abuse and required rehabilitation.
Daniels denied the claims and accused the senator of manipulation, psychological control and abuse before eventually leaving the marriage and moving into her own residence.






