I WILL BE A HARSH JUDGE: J- LO

Jennifer Lopez will be a new judge on American Idol this season, along with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, and she's not going easy on the pop star hopefuls.

Jennifer, 41, described her judging style as “tough, easy and fair,” adding: “I really want to put them through the wringer in the sense that I don't want to let anybody really great go because they're nervous or whatever and not get to see what they could've been.

"We working with them a little more than maybe you’ve seen in the past. We give them more of a chance.”

MY KID WILL LIVE LIKE ME: ALICIA KEYS

Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz made a red carpet appearance at the Keep a Child Alive fundraiser in NYC last night, and the happy, expectant new couple couldn't help but gush about the arrival of their baby later this fall.

"I'm happy she's glowing. She's always glowing though," he said about his wifey (via PopEater). "She helps me glow so that's an amazing thing."

USHER ENCOURAGE JUSTIN BIERBER TO DATE MORE

R&B singer Usher has encouraged Justin Bieber to go on lots of dates. The 16-year-old’s mentor has given some brotherly advice to his protégé.
Usher, 31, told his wise words to Etonline.com at yesterday’s Keep a Child Alive Black Ball in New York. He said: “Dating is good – keep dating, lots of dating!”

Dr. Dre and LeBron James teamed up!

(AllHipHop News) Dr. Dre and LeBron James have teamed up to promote their new venture, LeBron's Power Beats headphones by Dr. Dre and Monster Cable.

James' headphones, which retails for $169.95 per-pair, are designed with the fitness enthusiast in mind.

"We worked with LeBron to make sure these would be the ultimate headphones for athletes. I'm always about the performance, the sound, and LeBron brought what he needed in terms of function to the table," Dr. Dre said of the headphones. "I've been wearing the prototype for PowerBeats in the gym every day for the last few months so I can honestly say they're the best headphones for working out."

US apologises for syphilis tests on Guatemalan prisoners

AP - American scientists deliberately infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis 60 years ago, a recently unearthed experiment that prompted U.S. officials to apologize Friday and declare outrage over “such reprehensible research.”

The U.S. government-funded experiment, which ran from 1946 to 1948, was discovered by a Wellesley College medical historian. It apparently was conducted to test whether penicillin, then relatively new, could prevent infection with sexually transmitted diseases. The study came up with no useful information and was hidden for decades.

 

TRAIN CRASH IN INDONESIA

AP - A train crash in central Indonesia on Saturday killed at least 36 people and injured dozens, several with severe burns and broken bones, officials and witnesses said.

As most passengers slept on the train, which was sitting idle at the station in Petarukan, a northern coastal city in Central Java province, a train from the capital slammed into it around 3 a.m., according to Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan. He added that investigators were trying to determine if human error was to blame.

 

BOMB BLAST KILLS 8 ON INDEPENDENCE DAY- NIGERIA

REUTERS - Eight people were killed and three injured in car bomb explosions that hit Nigeria's capital on Friday near a parade marking the 50th anniversary of independence, police said.

Two explosions, which also destroyed three cars, came an hour after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Nigeria's biggest rebel militia, issued an email warning saying it had planted several bombs and telling people to evacuate the area.

Strong Rains Drench Morning Commuters in Manhattan, NY

Full service on the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 subway lines in Manhattan, which had been suspended from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. because of flooding, was restored by 7:20 a.m., according to a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The spokesman, Kevin Ortiz, said that crews were able to pump water that had flooded the street and onto the tracks on Broadway between 72nd and 79th Streets. “Everything is back with residual delays,” he said.