Common Signs Deal With HBO

The good news keeps coming Common’s way. After landing a major role in in the upcoming Keanu Reeves film John Wick 2, Common has inked a two-year deal with HBO. According to Deadline, the deal gives HBO exclusive first-look rights at any projects that Common develops through his Freedom Road Productions. Common’s Freedom Road Productions is a venture with his manager Derek Dudley and head development and production Nicole Dow.This is a particularly interesting move for Common as a Chicago-based drama he is producing recently received a script order from Showtime, HBO’s rival network. If all goes well, Common could potentially have concurrent projects with both of the major premium cable networks.

Most Controversial Rap Album Covers

Twenty-five years ago today, Miami hip-hop group 2 Live Crew was arrested in Florida after a U.S. District Court Judge decided that their third album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, was actually too nasty for the state of Florida. Despite having been on shelves since February 1989, ANAIWB became the first album to be declared legally obscene, a ruling that seems extraordinarily ridiculous in retrospect but was a landmark decision at the time. The album's cover, featuring four bikini-clad women standing over each of the group's four members,

Biker feared he was 'going to die' after being impaled through neck by iron rods

A motorcyclist says he's "lucky to be alive" after he was speared through the neck by two iron rods in a freak accident.

Hamar Singh Rajput was riding through Rajasthan, India, when he lost control of his bike which rammed into the back of a truck carrying building materials.

The 26-year-old crashed into the iron rods dangling off the back of the truck.

In a horrifying moment, two 3ft-long metal poles impaled Hamar through his neck, piercing his skin and emerging out of the middle section of his back.

And he's relived his terrifying ordeal, telling how he thought he was going to die.

Caters

Speared through: Hamar Singh Rajput with the iron rods impaled through his neck

Hamar said: "Two rods pierced into my neck as I rammed into the truck.

"I could feel that something had badly injured me.

"But then I felt the rods in my neck and the the feeling of death overtook me."

Manchester City stars Sergio Aguero and Toni Duggan dating, according to Argentine TV

All smiles: Duggan and Aguero are believed to have a close bond

Sergio Aguero could be hooking up with fellow Manchester City star Toni Duggan.

An Argentine television show has reported that the Premier League hit man is dating England international Duggan, who plays for City's Women's side.

Aguero and Duggan both sit as top goalscorer for their respective City teams.

Earlier this year, Aguero ended his relationship with South American singer Karina Tejeda and it has now been claimed that he has looked closer to his adopted home for his new love.

Horrific moment crane collapses onto car wiping out entire family captured on dashboard camera

A tragic accident in which a whole family were killed has been captured in disturbing dash-cam footage.

The Bogdanov family were wiped out when their car was crushed by a falling crane in the Siberian city of Omsk.

Father Dmitry, 31, his wife Yulia, 33 and their several month old son Egor all perished in the accident- captured on a fellow motorist's dash-cam.

A second vehicle was also struck by the huge structure, killing 41-year-old driver Pavel Bakashev.

Vancouver whale watching accident: Family pays tribute to "vibrant, outgoing" 29-year-old killed in tragedy

Victim: Katie Taylor, 29, was resort of Whistler, one of the five victims of the whale watching tragedy

The family of one of the British victims of the Vancover whale-watching tragedy have paid tribute to her as a "vibrant, outgoing and lovely young woman".

Katie Taylor, 29, was among five Britons who died after the Leviathan II cruiser capsized off Vancouver Island, Canada on Sunday.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Office, her family paid tribute to her: "Katie was a vibrant, outgoing and lovely young woman. She will be very much missed by all of her family and many friends.

"We would ask that you respect our privacy at such a difficult time."

Saudi prince held over record Beirut airport drug bust

A Saudi prince and four other people have been detained in Lebanon in the largest drug seizure in the history of Beirut airport, a security source has said.
Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz was among those detained by airport security while allegedly "attempting to smuggle about two tonnes of Captagon pills and some cocaine," the security source said.

"The smuggling operation is the largest one that has been foiled through the Beirut International Airport," the source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity. 

Captagon is the brand name for the amphetamine phenethylline, a synthetic stimulant.
Manufacturing of the substance thrives in Lebanon and war-torn Syria, which have become a gateway for the drug to the Middle East and particularly the Gulf.