newsmakers

newsmakers

50 Cent released after car accident

NEW YORK

A representative for 50 Cent says the rapper is out of the hospital after being injured in a car accident in New York on Tuesday morning.

The rep says 50 Cent was taken to New York Hospital Queens where he was treated for “minor neck and back injuries” and is now “doing fine.”

His driver, Bruce Miller, also was injured.

Photos of the 36-year-old on a stretcher are posted on his website, www.ThisIs50.com . The Grammy winner, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, appears in a neck brace in two photos.

No other details were provided.

Tower housing Big Ben to get a new name

LONDON

The iconic Clock Tower of Britain’s Parliament — widely, though incorrectly, known as Big Ben — is being renamed in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, authorities said Tuesday.

The 315-foot-high structure, one of Britain’s most recognizable landmarks, will be known formally as Elizabeth Tower after a campaign by lawmakers to mark the monarch’s 60 years on the throne.

A House of Commons Commission statement said arrangements were being made for the “decision to be implemented in an appropriate manner in due course.”

The tower was completed in 1858. It houses a four-faced chiming clock and the famed 13.5-ton Big Ben bell. Over the years, people began calling the whole tower Big Ben.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who backed the campaign for a change, said the new name was a “fitting tribute to the queen and the service she has given our country.”

Vindicator wire services