Guilty pleasures

By NewsPress Now

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine strikes

deal to end jail stint

NEW YORK | Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine struck a deal to end his current jail stint, agreeing to serve a month behind bars for violating the terms of his release after a felony conviction, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The deal with federal prosecutors was described in a letter partially endorsed by a Manhattan federal judge. It calls for the entertainer to be sentenced to a month in jail, followed by a month of home incarceration, a month of home detention and a month of curfew. He would also be subject to electronic monitoring.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said he will sentence the performer whose real name is Daniel Hernandez immediately after he admits to the violations at a Nov. 12 hearing. He said he will require each side to explain why a one-month jail sentence followed by three months of home incarceration, detention or curfew are sufficient for repeated violations of probation.

The terms of the deal also call for Tekashi 6ix9ine to submit to supervision from the court’s Probation Department for another year.

Tekashi 6ix9ine, 28, was within a few months of being free from court supervision when he was arrested on Oct. 29 after his probation officer complained that he wasn’t following rules about obtaining permission in advance to travel and that he had failed drug tests.

In 2019, Engelmayer sentenced him to two years in prison in a racketeering case after the musician pleaded guilty that same year to charges accusing him of joining and directing violence by the gang known as the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.

In April 2020, Tekashi 6ix9ine was freed months early from his prison sentence after complaining that his ailments made him particularly susceptible to the coronavirus, which was spreading through the nation’s jails and prisons.

Engelmayer, expressing dismay at the artist’s apparent failure to follow the rules, noted at a hearing last month that he had granted compassionate release to him during the coronavirus crisis.

The rapper apologized and told the judge he was “not a bad person.”

Algeria book fair opens without winner of top French language literary prize

ALGIERS, Algeria | As one of the Arab world’s largest book fairs opens in Algeria on Wednesday, there is one conspicuous absence. French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, who won France’s most prestigious literary award earlier this week, was not invited to this year’s event.

This year’s Prix Goncourt winner and his French publisher Gallimard — a regular participant — are among those who won’t be welcomed at the Algiers International Book Fair. The exclusion of several prominent authors and publishers from this year’s event reflects the ongoing limitations on freedom of expression in Algeria.

Daoud’s novels and their subject matter often polarize opinions in both France, where he lives, and Algeria, where he was born. His Goncourt-winning third novel Houris (Virgins, in English) centers on the memories of victims of Algeria’s “Black Decade.” After Islamists won the first round of legislative elections in 1990, Algeria descended into civil war after the second round was canceled by the military-backed government.

Though memories of that history loom large, Houris will not be among the more than 300,000 titles available at the book fair, which is being marketed under the slogan “Read to Triumph” and billed for having a special focus on history.

Ali Bey, the owner of Algiers’ Librarie du Tiers Monde, said he was “delighted” to see Daoud’s international recognition but lamented that Algerian readers would not be able to purchase his novels.

The censorship extends beyond Daoud and Gallimard. Koukou Publishing, an independent Algerian house led by former political activist Arezki Ait Larbi, has also been excluded from this year’s festival. Koukou — known for publishing works by essayists, novelists and journalists whose writings often challenge official narratives — wasn’t invited either, Ait Larbi wrote in a Facebook post.

“Our house is under threat of a complete ban from publishing,” Ait Larbi said, accusing the Ministry of Culture’s censors of targeting his books.

Tito Jackson’s funeral is held at cemetery where brother Michael is buried

GLENDALE, Calif. | A funeral was held for Tito Jackson at the same Southern California cemetery where his brother Michael Jackson and his father Joe Jackson are buried.

Family and friends gathered Monday to mourn the singer and guitarist for the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, about seven weeks after his death at age 70. He lived in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Photos from several media outlets showed that mourners included siblings Marlon and La Toya Jackson, as well as Michael’s children Paris and Bigi Jackson.

Tito Jackson’s sons said on Instagram that after the service, a smaller family ceremony was held a few miles away at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, where he was laid to rest.

Tito Jackson’s Sept. 15 death was the second among the nine Jackson siblings after Michael Jackson died at age 50 in 2009. Tito Jackson was the third child of Joe and Katherine Jackson. His mother is among his survivors and is now 94.

Michael Jackson was laid to rest 15 years ago in a mausoleum at the Glendale cemetery near Los Angeles, which is also the burial place of Elizabeth Taylor and Walt Disney. Joe Jackson was buried there in 2018.

—From AP reports