Speaker Boehner renews vow to try to repeal Obama health law

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Rihanna Kisses Justin Bieber ... Cardboard Cutout

It's hard to blame Rihanna for wanting a piece of Justin Bieber.

She had to settle for a cardboard mask, rather than the real deal though. The star tweeted an Instagram photo of her kissing someone disguised as JB yesterday.

She followed it up with a shot of "Justin" dropping trou. Enjoy.

Rihanna wrote with the pics, “Me & the beebs yesterday! Shoutout to my photographer @jennnrosales.” That would be Jennifer Rosales, one of her best friends.

Could Rosales be the mystery person behind the mask?

It’s uncertain, but seems like a pretty good guess, as she is featured in lots of Rihanna photos, and hangs out with the singer quite frequently.

Next on our wish list? Rih kissing a faux Chris Brown.

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Jerry Sandusky Lawyers: We Tried To Quit

BELLEFONTE, Pa. ? Jerry Sandusky's lawyers said Saturday they tried to quit at the start of jury selection in his child sex abuse trial because they weren't given enough time to prepare, raising an argument on the trial's speed that could become the thrust of an appeal.

And one of the jurors who convicted Sandusky of 45 child sex abuse counts said Saturday he was swayed by the "very convincing" testimony of eight accusers who said the retired Penn State assistant football coach molested them for years.

"It's hard to judge character on the stand, because you don't know these kids," juror Joshua Harper told NBC's "Today" show. "But most were very credible ? I would say all."

A day after Sandusky's conviction, his lawyers disclosed they felt too unprepared to adequately defend him because of how quickly the case was brought to trial. Experts have said the seven months between Sandusky's November arrest and trial was fast-paced by Pennsylvania standards.

"We told the trial court, the Superior Court and the Supreme Court we were not prepared to proceed to trial in June due to numerous issues, and we asked to withdraw from the case for those reasons," attorney Joe Amendola told The Associated Press.

The issues included a scheduling conflict with a defense team member and the need to read a cache of documents produced by a lengthy grand jury investigation. Judge John Cleland denied their request.

The attorneys raised other issues that could be part of the future appeal, saying a mistrial was sought and denied over a repetition at trial of a brief part of a November interview Sandusky had with NBC's Bob Costas.

Jurors in the two-week trial convicted Sandusky of 45 of the 48 counts against him, meaning Sandusky, 68, likely will die in prison.

Harper said the accusers who testified one by one of horrific abuse at Sandusky's hands were each believable, "but then also the fact that we saw this corroborating story between all of them. It was very convincing."

Then Sandusky's impassive face when the verdict was read was confirmation for the jury, he said.

"I looked at him during the reading of the verdict and just the look on his face. No real emotion," he said, "because he knew it was true."

Harper said jurors had some issues with the testimony of Mike McQueary, a then-assistant who said he saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in the Penn State showers in 2001; jurors acquitted Sandusky on one count relating to the incident.

The case is poised to move to an investigation of university officials' role in reporting the charges; two ex-school administrators face trial on charges they didn't properly report McQueary's account of the suspected abuse in 2001.

Almost immediately after the verdict, Penn State President Rodney Erickson signaled an openness to quickly settle potential civil lawsuits arising from the convictions, saying the school "wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims' concerns and compensate them for claims."

The university recently reported a $1.8 billion endowment. But both sides have reasons not to want to go to court, said Jason Kutulakis, a Harrisburg-area lawyer who specializes in child welfare and juvenile law. Victims are reluctant to get on the stand and have their credibility attacked, he said.

But "Penn State's got so much egg on their face, they probably just want to make it all go away," he said.

For now, the school is facing one lawsuit from an accuser, Travis Weaver, who was not among those represented in the criminal case against Sandusky.

Lawyers for McQueary, who testified against Sandusky, have signaled their intent to sue, along with a lawyer for one accuser, so-called Victim 5.

Jeff Anderson, who represents Weaver, said that he represents more victims of Sandusky's and that he will ask the court to allow him to begin seeking information from Penn State in Weaver's case.

The next step is to determine the extent of Penn State's culpability, lawyers say. In part, that means finding out who in the university's upper ranks knew Sandusky was preying on boys and could have stopped it.

The former Penn State officials facing charges, athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz, are charged with lying to a grand jury about what they knew of a 2001 incident in which McQueary said he saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in a football team shower.

A separate investigation by ex-FBI director Louis Freeh, who was hired by Penn State's board of trustees to investigate the university's handling of the Sandusky allegations, is due later this summer.

Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno was fired for a failure of leadership for not going to the police after McQueary told him about that incident. The scandal also caused the departure of university president Graham Spanier.

Philadelphia-based lawyer Fortunato Perri Jr., who followed the trial, said the jury's dismissal of the charge involving the 2001 shower incident could help Curley and Schultz' defense.

"You've now had a jury kind of preview your case with respect to the credibility of McQueary, and they didn't believe him," Perri said. "Who knows if the next jury would believe him or not believe him?"

But the administrators' attorneys would probably be precluded from introducing the acquittal evidence at the separate trial, Perri said.

Sandusky's sentencing is expected to occur in about three months; an exact date hasn't been set. Because of the severity of the charges and mandatory minimum sentences, he faces an effective life sentence.

Until his next court date, Sandusky is one of 272 inmates at the Centre County Correctional Facility, seven miles from the Penn State campus. He was kept under watch overnight and is allowed access to some personal items including a prayer book, and can get visits from family, friends and attorneys.

Rominger said he planned to visit him on Sunday.

___

Associated Press Writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

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Culture Shock: Culture's Impact on Social Marketing and Business ...

Guest post by Ekaterina Walter, a social media strategist at Intel. She was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

Culture is one of the largest components of how we communicate: not just how we say something but how we choose the tools we use to get a message across. This is as true for social media as it was for the telegraph.

For example, if you want to reach a Latino audience, going all out on a broad social media strategy isn?t going work. Only about two-thirds of Latinos reported going online in 2010, according to a 2010 Pew study. The same report shows that while Latinos are no more likely than whites to use a phone for internet access, six percent of Latinos use internet-enabled phones without having a home internet connection, compared to just one percent of whites. These numbers mean a lot for choosing how to connect with Latino audiences: mobile is far more important than in other communities.

The Culture Factor

Many of the numbers associated with race and social media ? or internet usage in general ? blur when you start considering how groups of the same socioeconomic levels but of different races compare. But certain trends, like the mobile usage in Latino communities, create spikes that can impact how you might plan a social media campaign.

There are also cultural factors that go much deeper than how a particular group accesses the web and which social media tools they choose. When you plan a campaign, you need to take as much demographic information into consideration as possible. Consider the 2010 U.S. Census results for the geographic distribution of the black population: 55 percent of the population lives in the South. But there are interesting clusters all over the country that can impact the content of the social media locals use. There is a growing community of Somali immigrants in Denver, for instance, as well as in other Colorado towns. The profile of this cultural group, while included in the Census as ?Black? is very different from African-American populations in cities like Atlanta. Their online activity starts in community centers like the East Africa Community Center in Greeley, with a much higher emphasis on job skills and using computers as a tool. Reaching them online requires a more targeted approach.

Wherever possible, it?s important to dig deeper than just the broadest strokes painted by demographics. Knowing numbers isn?t the same as knowing the community you?re trying to reach. You may not always have the resources to spend time with members of the audience you?re trying to reach through social media, but without even the basic insights of what tools that audience uses to communicate, you aren?t going to be able to effectively reach them.

Beyond Our Borders

This is just a picture of social media in the U.S. The moment you think about crossing international borders, the social media picture changes dramatically. One of the largest social networking sites in the world, Qzone, has an estimated 480 million users, the majority of whom live in China. The differences in how users interact with sites could greatly hamper certain websites on a fundamental basis.? Take a moment to reflect on the ?nymwars? affair experienced by Google when the company required users to sign up for Google+ using their actual names. There was an uproar ? but nothing like what the company would have faced if it had focused its launch in a country like Japan. Anonymity is the norm for social media users in that country ? most use avatars and nicknames on social networks, because of privacy concerns and cultural norms.

There are many international users on the social media sites you may rely on ? but they may use those same tools in very different ways. Different countries and cultures may have different concerns about sharing too much information online or different laws about how they can legally do business online. Studying the cultures behind the users on different social networking sites can require thinking about the way those sites work in ways you?ve never imagined.

How we get online is as important as why

But it?s not just a question of what sites users in other countries may access or what they do there: there are fundamental differences in how we get online. In Africa, there isn?t the type of infrastructure available to use computers on the scale that we see in the U.S. Instead, mobile is the main method of accessing the internet.

Conclusion

As you?re developing a social media campaign (or even just interacting with someone from a different cultural background online), it?s crucial to consider the specific audience you?re talking to. You need to not only know the demographic data, but what that information means in terms of how they use the internet.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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Bizarre alien planets get cozy with each other

A duo of planets some 1,200 light years from earth have been spotted passing within 1.2 million miles of each other, closer than any other known pair of planets, a new study has found.?

By Mike Wall,?SPACE.com / June 21, 2012

An artist's conception shows the newfound alien planet Kepler-36c as it might look from the surface of Kepler-36b.

David Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Enlarge

It is science fiction made fact: Astronomers have discovered two alien planets around the same star whose orbits come so close together that each rises in the night sky of its sister world like an exotic full moon.

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The newfound planets are 1,200 light-years from Earth and an unprecedented find, researchers said. They differ greatly in size and composition but come within just 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) of each other, closer than any other pair of planets known, according to a new study.

One of the newly discovered?alien planets, called Kepler-36b, appears to be a rocky "super-Earth" 4.5 times as massive as our planet. The other, Kepler-36c, is a gaseous, Neptune-size world about eight times as massive as Earth. The two planets meet up every 97 days in a conjunction that would make each dramatically visible in the other's sky.

?These two worlds are having close encounters,? said co-lead author Josh Carter, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a statement.

At their closest approach, the two planets are separated by five times the distance between the Earth and the moon. How such different bodies ended up in such similar orbits may be tough for current theories of?planet formation?and migration to explain, researchers said.

"This is unprecedented," co-lead author Eric Agol, of the University of Washington, told SPACE.com via email. "They are as different in density as Earth and Saturn (the highest and lowest density planets in our solar system), yet they are 30 times closer than any pair of planets in our solar system." [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

Strange neighbors

The two known planets in the Kepler-36 system ? which is located in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan) ? were detected by NASA's?Kepler Space Telescope.

Kepler is staring continuously at more than 150,000 stars, watching for telltale brightness dips caused when planets cross in front of the stars from the telescope's perspective. Since its March 2009 launch, Kepler has flagged more than 2,300 potential alien planets; while only a small fraction have been confirmed to date, mission scientists think more than 80 percent of them will end up being the real deal.

Kepler-36c, which is about 3.7 times wider than Earth, likely has a rocky core surrounded by a substantial atmosphere filled with lots of hydrogen and helium, researchers said.

Kepler-36b, on the other hand, is a?super-Earth?just 1.5 times wider than our planet. Iron likely constitutes about 30 percent of its mass, water around 15 percent and atmospheric hydrogen and helium less than 1 percent, researchers said.

Though they're very different in size and makeup, the two planets travel on surprisingly similar paths around their host star. Kepler-36c orbits once every 16 days, at an average distance of 12 million miles (19 million km). Kepler-36b orbits each 14 days and sits about 11 million miles (18 million km) from the star.

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$150,000 Dali painting stolen from NYC gallery

By NBC New York and msnbc.com staff

A Salvador Dali painting worth an estimated $150,000 was stolen from a Manhattan gallery earlier this week, police sources told NBC 4 New York?on Thursday.

NYPD via AP

Salvador Dali's painting, 'Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio,' which was stolen from a New York art gallery on June 19.

The 1949 painting, known as "Cartel des Don Juan Tenorio," appears to have been stolen on Tuesday from The Venus Over Manhattan gallery on Madison Avenue, police sources said.

---

Surveillance cameras show a man wearing a dark shirt with white polka dots enter the gallery with a black cloth bag, police sources said. He is later seen on cameras leaving the gallery with the painting.

The New York Daily News reported that the man took an elevator from the third floor onto street level and fled down 77th Street.?

The painting was included in a display with other paintings as part of an exhibit at the gallery, which opened in May of this year, at 980 Madison Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets.

NYPD via AP

This image provided by the New York Police Department shows a surveillance camera image of a man suspected of stealing a $150,000 Salvador Dali painting from a Manhattan art gallery Thursday.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

NBC New York and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

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Video: Four Ways to Increase Pension Returns

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IMF head warns of 'acute stress' in Europe

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When thinking about doing a home improvement project, consider ...

June 20th | Add a Comment

Even if we have been an consultant as well as home alleviation tasks, leave a plumbing to a professionals. With most people wanting to do a infancy of home improvements themselves, they get tempted to starting in to areas which have been meant for professionals. Plumbing is a single of those areas which should be left to a professionals since they can be distant as well formidable or even dangerous.

When meditative about we do a home alleviation project, cruise upgrading your appliances. Get absolved of your aged appliances. Nothing looks worse than carrying antiquated appliances in a home which additionally price a substantial volume of income since they have been not appetite efficient. Sleek latest appliances supplement worth to a home as well as will assistance save appetite too.

For a paint finish which unequivocally lasts, regularly sand, frame as well as prime, prior to to requesting a uninformed coat. Many people consider which skipping a basic stairs of portrayal will speed up a process, though down a highway aged paint will flay by a latest finish, ruining your paint pursuit as well as forcing we to frame off nonetheless an additional covering of paint prior to repainting again.

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Inmates to test new locks at Atlanta jail

ATLANTA (AP) ? Jailers in Atlanta have a challenge for inmates: Get past the new locks being tested on cell doors and win free food.

Officials have been trying to figure out what to do about hundreds of locks which can be jammed at the Fulton County Jail, allowing inmates to get to each other.

Fulton County's chief jailer, Col. Mark Adger, tells WSB-TV (http://bit.ly/KNZQHT) he's offering free food for any inmate who can defeat the new locks being tested in one cell block.

Adger says jailers are choosing experienced lock beaters, to try to beat the new locks.

County Commissioner Tom Lowe has said the lock issue has been blown out of proportion, but others say it puts inmates at risk of being attacked by other prisoners.

___

Information from: WSB-TV, http://www.wsbtv.com/index.html

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Video: Jamie Dimon Back in the Hot Seat on Capitol Hill

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Emma Roberts Thinks 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Role 'Sounds Awesome'

'I haven't read it, but yeah, anything racy, hot ... sure, let's get hot!' actress tells MTV News.
By Christina Garibaldi

Emma Roberts
Photo: MTV News

It seems that every young starlet in Hollywood has been mentioned for the role of Anastasia Steele in the upcoming film adaptation of E L James' hit erotic trilogy, "Fifty Shades of Grey." Many fans have opinions as to who they feel will be a perfect fit to play the naive, love-stricken character, whose story began as "Twilight" fan fiction.

Fan favorite Kristen Stewart, who we know has read at least part of the book, is certainly topping the list for some fan sites, while Nina Dobrev may pass on the opportunity to play the role if her "Vampire Diaries" co-star Ian Somerhalder lands the part of Christian Grey.

Most recently, Selena Gomez decided to take herself out of the race, calling the role "a little too much" for her and saying that someone a bit older should take it on.

Could that older someone be Emma Roberts?

MTV News caught up with Roberts at Seventeen magazine's Pretty Amazing Contest event in New York, and it seems that the young star might be putting herself into the competition for the role. There's just one problem: She still has to read the book.

"Everyone says read 'Fifty Shades of Grey.' I don't really understand," Roberts said. "But everyone on the plane was reading it, and I was like, 'I should probably just get it.' "

Roberts may be perfect to take on the part of Ana, since, at 21, she is around the same age and already has the dark hair to match. But would she be willing to do those steamy love scenes?

"I haven't read it, I don't even understand, but yeah, it sounds awesome. Anything racy, hot," Roberts said. "Sure, let's get hot."

Do you think Emma would be a perfect Anastasia Steele? Let us know in the comments!

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VHX Raises $1.25 Million From Lerer Ventures And Angels To Democratize Video Distribution Online

For years, independent video producers have waited for the time when it would finally make economic sense for them to cut out the middle man and distribute their content directly to their fans. Then a funny thing happened: Louis CK sold an hour-long comedy special online for just $5, DRM-free -- and it was a huge hit. Since then, a few others -- like fellow comedians Aziz Ansari and the indie producers behind Indie Game: The Movie -- have decided to try their hands at the same model, forgoing traditional delivery platforms and going straight to the consumer. It's a trend that is slowly gaining steam, and one that New York City- and San Francisco-based startup VHX is looking to take advantage of. To that end, it's raised a seed round of $1.25 million, which was led by Lerer Ventures and included participation from Bedrocket Media Ventures, indie film producer Keith Calder, Buzzfeed co-founder John S. Johnson, Wordpress' Matt Mullenweg, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, MTV founder and Clear Channel CEO Robert Pittman, and Chris Sacca.

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Why Scientists Should Publicize Their Findings- for Purely Selfish Reasons

Recent debate over the role of scientists in public outreach efforts has been heated, to say the least. Some say scientists should make more of an effort to engage with the public on science-related issues, which is fair. Some say scientists have no business doing outreach work, because that?s not what they?re trained to do. Also fair. Some say it would be great to do outreach, but they just don?t have the time. You can?t argue with that.

I want to highlight some purely selfish reasons that scientists should engage in at least one kind of outreach ? publicizing their findings. And I?m focusing on selfish reasons because scientists are, we can all agree, human. We could talk about the need to inspire the next generation of scientists or addressing the paltry state of science literacy, but if we?re going to ask people to take time away from other obligations we?re going to have to do better than that. We need to explain what?s in it for them.

First off, what do I mean when I talk about publicizing research findings? I mean anything beyond publishing those findings in a peer-reviewed journal. This is important because, for most disciplines, there are multiple journals that publish work in the field. Each journal has multiple issues per year, consisting of multiple articles. From talking with researchers, it?s clear that it is virtually impossible to read all of the relevant literature in one?s field in any sort of timely way. That limits impact WITHIN the field, to say nothing of potential interdisciplinary work. Anything we can do to remedy this, by making research findings more broadly accessible (in terms of both language and visibility) would be a good thing. That?s the altruistic reason.

Here are a few reasons for the self-interested scientist to promote his or her work ? reasons that can support his or her work moving forward. To be clear, these are all things that have actually happened. While all of these things don?t happen every time someone makes an effort to promote his or her work, these are not purely hypothetical benefits.

Finding grad students. Good graduate students make your lab better. But those students won?t apply to be part of your program if they don?t know you exist ? or if they?re not aware of how their field of interest overlaps with your field of interest. I?ve worked with researchers who have told me how grad students have applied to work in their labs after first reading about the work those labs do in mainstream media outlets.

Making funding agencies happy. There?s a reason that most grant proposals include a section asking how you plan to disseminate your findings. Most federally-funded agencies want the public to know about the work they are supporting. It helps give agencies the political support they need to get additional funding in the future. The National Science Foundation (NSF), for example, uses its Science360 site to share a wide variety of science stories ? including stories about research findings that weren?t funded by NSF. Obviously the work that you do under a grant is paramount, but doing a good job of publicizing that work will also stand you in good stead with the agencies. Yes, program officers notice.

Informal networking. You want other people in your field, and in related fields, to know what you?re doing. I can think of dozens of examples of scientists who have been contacted by researchers at other institutions after publicizing their work. Sometimes it?s just a pat on the back, which is nice. But sometimes those contacts can include tangible benefits ? such as proposals to share data that will advance the efforts of all parties involved. These contacts can also include a lot of questions and ideas, which lead to the next potential benefit?

Creating opportunities for formal collaborations. I can think of several instances where publicizing the findings of one research project has led to an invitation for a researcher to be part of a new or emerging research project. Very often, these take the form of interinstitutional and/or interdisciplinary grant proposals. In case you haven?t noticed, words like ?interinstitutional? and ?interdisciplinary? are increasingly popular with the folks who review grant proposals these days. Funding is thin on the ground, and opportunities to participate in viable grant proposals are valuable.

Getting interest from the private sector, policy makers and non-governmental organizations. Not every research project will be of interest to these groups ? and not every researcher wants to work with them. But they can be valuable. For example, if new research findings have ramifications for bridge-builders, landfill operators or policy-making bodies that oversee those fields, it makes sense to get that information into the hands of people who can use it as quickly as possible. The findings may not be ready for immediate application. They may simply offer a glimmer of possibility, which needs to be explored further. But getting that information into the broader world creates opportunities for research partnerships (and potential funding) that may not otherwise come to light.

And publicizing your work doesn?t have to be particularly time-consuming. If you work for an institution that has public information officers (AKA press officers, flacks, etc.), let them know about forthcoming findings in a timely way. They can help. If you?re interested in social media or blogging (and many aren?t), that can be an effective way to take your science to the people. If you have friends or colleagues who have been successful in promoting their work, ask them how they did it. You?re scientists. You can figure this out.

Maybe you find these arguments compelling. Maybe you don?t. But the fact remains that outreach is important, and that obstacles exist that make it difficult for scientists who WANT to do outreach to act on that impulse. So let?s stop finger-pointing and start proposing solutions.

~~~

Photos: North Carolina State University

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Birdman Wants Oklahoma City Thunder To Pay For Lil Wayne Disrespect

Cash Money CEO is rooting for Miami Heat in the NBA finals and blasts Thunder officials for disrespecting Weezy.
By Rob Markman

Birdman
Photo:

Birdman hails from New Orleans, but his favorite basketball team is from Miami, where he now resides. So when it comes to picking a favorite for this year's NBA Finals matchup between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cash Money CEO is very clear. "It's Miami Heat all day in every kinda way," Baby told MTV News on Friday.

We caught up with Bird and Cash Money's newest signee, DJ Greg Street, in Atlanta while Street was broadcasting live from V-103. In anticipation of Sunday night's Game 3, Street urged OKC star Kevin Durant to put on a show, but Birdman was taking things just a bit more personally. "OKC gotta pay for their disrespect that they did with my son — that never would be honored," he said with a smirk.

Back in May, Birdman's "son" (and #1 selling artist on Cash Money) Lil Wayne wanted to take in an NBA Western Conference Finals game in Oklahoma City, but team officials refused to give Weezy any special treatment; they wouldn't provide any escorts or special parking, forcing the rap megastar to walk in with the rest of the fans. Wayne then became worried about his safety and the safety of the fans. "Why would you actually want to cause pandemonium? That's gonna make it harder for your security," Young Money president Mack Maine told RapFix in an interview after the incident.

Thunder spokesman Dan Mahoney would later confirm that Wayne's people reached out to the team for a front-row ticket, but because it was a last-minute request they weren't able to accommodate the multiplatinum MC.

Tunechi eventually did catch a Thunder game live in Oklahoma City when he attended Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 12, but still he was left unhappy. "Again I was treated like sh-- by the Thunder arena staff ... dam I hope da Heat beat da dog sh-- out em," he tweeted.

The Thunder took Game 1, but the Heat won the next two games, including Sunday's 91-85 victory in Miami. LeBron James' Heat currently lead the best-of-seven game series 2-1.

Baby, who regularly attends Heat games, makes it clear that his issue isn't with the people of Oklahoma City or the team's individual players. "The arena, just the arena because I love the people of OKC — it's the arena and how they been disrespectful," he said.

"F--- them, I have no respect for them and the way they just disrespected another black man who tryin' to come to their arena that happens to be my son. It's Miami Heat all day every day anyway, but that's just how I feel personally."

Who are you rooting for in the NBA Finals? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

• Lil Wayne
• Birdman

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Voyager 1 to become first man-made object to leave solar system (+video)

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is now poised to become the first craft to enter interstellar space.

By Space.com Staff,?Space.com / June 18, 2012

Artist's concept of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 at the edge of the solar system.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Enlarge

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a new environment more than 11 billion miles from Earth, suggesting that the venerable probe is on the cusp of leaving the solar system.

Skip to next paragraph

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> More than 30 years after they were launched, NASA's two Voyager probes have traveled to the edge of the solar system and are on the doorstep of interstellar space.

The Voyager 1 probe has entered a region of space with a markedly higher flow of charged particles from beyond our solar system, researchers said. Mission scientists suspect this increased flow indicates that the spacecraft ? currently 11.1 billion miles (17.8 billion kilometers) from its home planet ? may be poised to cross the boundary into interstellar space.

"The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that someday will be," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.

"The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly," Stone added. "It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier." [Photos From NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 Probes]

Far-flung spacecraft

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, launched in 1977, tasked chiefly with studying Saturn, Jupiter and the gas giants' moons. The two spacecraft made many interesting discoveries about these far-flung bodies, and then they just kept going, checking out Uranus and Neptune on their way toward interstellar space.

They're not quite out of the solar system yet, however. Both are still within a huge bubble called the heliosphere, which is made of solar plasma and solar magnetic fields. This gigantic structure is about three times wider than the orbit of Pluto, researchers have said.

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Questions swirl as Saudi Arabia set to bury crown prince

Fayez Nureldine / AFP - Getty Images

A man in Jeddah reads a newspaper on Sunday with an article about Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz's death as the country prepared to bury the former heir to the throne.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- As Saudi Arabia prepared to bury its former crown prince in Mecca on Sunday, questions swirled about how the world's largest oil producer would pass the baton to a younger generation of leaders. ?

Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz's death on Saturday meant that for the second time in less than 12 months the important U.S. ally has to choose a successor to 88-year-old King Abdullah.?

---

Unlike in European monarchies, the Saudi succession does not pass from father to eldest son, but has moved along a line of brothers born to Abdul-Aziz bin Saud. A previous crown prince, Sultan, died last October. ?The likely candidate is Prince Salman, 76.?

'Powerful conservative force': Saudi Arabia's next in line to throne dies

"There will be a meeting where the next crown prince will be decided. If you take a historical perspective it has always been done in an orderly and organized manner. Prince Salman fits the profile in many ways," said Khaled Almaeena, editor in chief of the Saudi Gazette.?

The appointment of a new crown prince is not likely to change the kingdom's position on foreign or domestic policy, but King Abdullah's new heir will face a range of major challenges when he one day becomes king.

Salman, who is seen as a pragmatist with a strong grasp of the intricate balance of competing princely and clerical interests that dominate Saudi politics, was named defense minister last year.?

Saudi prince Alwaleed's deal for Twitter is not a traditional investment, says Dan Primack, senior editor at Fortune Magazine.

Saudi Arabia-Bahrain union plan set to inflame tensions with Iran?

Salman is the current defense minister and was?governor of Riyadh, the country's capital, for more than four decades.

Analysts believe he shares many of Nayef's conservative views and is unlikely to challenge the religious establishment if made king. But he also has played more of a mediator role in Saudi politics while in charge of Riyadh.?

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will allow women to vote and run for public office at the next election cycle in 2015. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

"There has been an impression that Nayef is more conservative because he was the guy dealing with threats and terrorism as interior minister and Salman was meeting with businessman and intellectuals as governor of Riyadh," said Sami al-Faraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.?

"The reality is there is very little difference. Both are conservative and won't rock the boat," he added. "Nayef was just a behind-the-scenes guy and Salman is more public. One was implicit; the other explicit."?

But it is unclear whether Nayef's death will bring about the shift to put a younger member of the royal family in a traditional role as No. 3 in line for the throne. Among the possible contenders mentioned include King Abdullah's son Mitab, the head of the National Guard, and Nayef's son Mohammad, a senior official in the interior ministry.

Report: Saudi woman dies after campus protest

Grooming a next generation as potential rulers would mark an important shift in Saudi affairs by acknowledging that the country is moving toward a new era under the stewardship of a group raised with deeper Western connections and understandings.?

"The house of Saud will need to think about what would happen in the event the king became unwell, and there is no way on earth you would hand the crown prince role to a grandson in 48 hours time. You have to find an older prince," said Michael Stephens, researcher at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in Qatar.?

Whoever takes the helm in the coming years, Saudi Arabia will have to grapple with Tehran's regional ambitions as well as its nuclear program. Iran insists it does not seek nuclear weapons, but Saudi officials and their Western allies fear the country could develop an arsenal and significantly shift the balance of power in the region. One possible outcome could be a regional nuclear arms race with Saudi Arabia also seeking atomic weapons.?

Saudi Arabia is also facing Arab Spring-inspired internal pressures for political reforms and greater openness. King Abdullah has pledged billions of dollars to create more state jobs and offer other government-backed programs to try to appease calls for change.?

Neighboring Bahrain, meanwhile, has become a central issue for Saudi Arabia since a Shiite-led uprising last year against the ruling Sunni monarchy. Saudi forces led a Gulf military intervention to help prop up the dynasty in the strategic island nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Saudi Arabia is now leading efforts for closer union with the country that would effectively unify key policies such as security and foreign relations. More than 50 people have died in Bahrain's unrest since February 2011.?

Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.?

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

?

?

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Bendtner gets 1-match ban for underwear stunt

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Summit lets Obama, Putin size up the competition

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) ? President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin need one another, an uncomfortable truth for the superpower leader waging a tough re-election campaign and the newly elected Russian leader who is deeply suspicious of the United States.

The two men will use their meeting Monday, the first since Putin returned to Russia's top job, to claim leverage. Much of the rest of the Group of 20 economic meeting will be devoted to the European fiscal crisis and the fate of Greece as a part of the euro zone. A pro-euro candidate is trying to form a Greek coalition government following elections Sunday, but the anti-austerity second-place party has refused.

"I expect that it will be a candid discussion, it will get down to business," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said ahead of the lengthy morning meeting between Obama and Putin.

"We'll be able to sustain cooperation in some areas, we'll have differences in other areas, and we'll work to try to bridge those differences."

Obama was also meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel later Monday. Germany is playing a leading role brokering a solution to Europe's debt crisis.

The G-20 gathering is a natural forum for sideline discussions of the urgent crisis in Syria as well as diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran. Russia is a linchpin in world efforts to resolve both crises, and to U.S. goals for the smooth shutdown of the war in Afghanistan. In the longer term, Obama wants Russia's continued cooperation in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

Obama made a special project of Russia in his first term and arguably needs Moscow's help even more if he wins a second one. He is trying to avoid a distracting public spat with Russia during this election year, as suggested by an overheard remark to outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in March. Obama told Medvedev he would have more flexibility to answer Russian complaints about a U.S.-built missile defense shield in Europe after the November election.

Things got off to a rocky start with Putin, when Obama pointedly withheld a customary congratulatory phone call to Putin until days after his May election. Putin appeared to snub Obama by skipping the smaller and weightier Group of Eight meeting that Obama hosted later that month at Camp David.

The rescheduled Obama-Putin meeting comes the same day as Moscow hosts an international negotiating session with Iran. Russia has gone along with U.N. Security Council efforts to tighten some penalties against Iran because of questions about its nuclear weapons ambitions, but has blocked the harshest punishments. Still, the United States needs Russia's participation to lend legitimacy to the argument that Iran faces broad international condemnation. Iran usually paints the dispute over its nuclear program as a confrontation with the U.S. and its ally Israel.

Brutal attacks on anti-government protesters in Syria and the threat of civil war in the Mideast nation pose the most immediate crisis.

Diplomatic hopes have rested on Washington and Moscow agreeing on a transition plan that would end the four-decade Assad family rule. Russia, as Syria's longtime ally and trading partner, is seen as the best broker for a deal that could give Syrian President Bashar Assad political refuge. So far, Moscow has said no.

Pressure increased on Russia over the weekend, when the United Nations suspended its unarmed monitoring mission in Syria out of concern for the monitors' safety. The move was widely interpreted as a challenge to Russia to intervene with Assad to preserve a U.N. role Moscow sees as a brake on any armed foreign intervention.

The Interfax news agency reported Monday that two Russian navy ships were preparing to sail to Syria with a unit of marines on a mission to protect Russian citizens and a Russian naval base there. The report didn't give a give a precise date for the departure of the two amphibious landing vessels.

The United States has refused to arm anti-Assad rebels in part to avoid a proxy fight in which Iran, Russia and others arm one side and the U.S. and Sunni Arab states arm the other. Opposition groups estimate 14,000 people have died in violence that the U.S. fears is sliding into civil war.

Putin's campaign included some of the strongest anti-American rhetoric from Moscow in a decade and he openly accused Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of inciting protests against him. The Obama administration mostly tried to shrug it off, but Putin's return to the presidency makes it more likely that any help Russia provides in Syria, Iran or other matters will come at a cost.

Russia's membership in numerous world bodies and its veto power at the U.N. Security Council give it leverage beyond its economic or military power. Obama holds far greater power and both leaders know it, but Putin can be a spoiler and irritant.

"President Putin clearly is somebody who can articulate where he has differences with the United States, but we can also articulate where we have differences with Russia," Rhodes said. "And I think our assessment is that being candid with one another and clear with one another is in the best interest of the relationship."

The White House tried to soften the blow of Clinton's accusation days before the G-20 meeting that Russia was equipping the Syrian government with attack helicopters that could be used against civilians. She later acknowledged they were only helicopters already owned by Syria that had been sent back to Russia for repairs, but Russia was already annoyed.

Russia insists that any arms it supplies to Syria are not being used to quell anti-government dissent that began more than a year ago, and has rebuffed efforts to impose an international arms embargo.

"Putin is in a petulant sort of mood," said Russia scholar Mark N. Katz of George Mason University. "He's got all these grievances about American foreign policy and he's looking for us to satisfy him, and I don't think we're going to do that. No amount of bonhomie or talking nicely is going to fix that."

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