newsmakers

newsmakers

Judge rejects request to dismiss Chris Brown case

WASHINGTON

Singer Chris Brown’s assault case is going forward after a judge in Washington on Monday rejected a request to dismiss it.

Lawyers for the Grammy-award-winning singer had argued the case should be dismissed because prosecutors abused the grand-jury process to prepare for trial. Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said prosecutors used the grand jury to “freeze” the testimony of the purported victim in the case, a man who says Brown and his bodyguard punched him outside a Washington hotel in October.

But Judge Patricia Wynn agreed with prosecutors that they had a right to use the grand jury to assess the strength of their case.

Bob Geldof’s daughter dies unexpectedly at age 25

LONDON

Model and media personality Peaches Geldof, the second daughter of Irish singer Bob Geldof and member of a talented, troubled family who grew up in the glare of Britain’s tabloid press, was found dead Monday at age 25.

There was no immediate word on the cause of Geldof’s death at her home in Wrotham, Kent, southeast England, but police called it “unexplained and sudden.”

In a family statement, Bob Geldof said: “Peaches has died. We are beyond pain.”

Peaches Geldof had acknowledged using drugs in the past but said in a 2009 interview that she had quit.

The news of her death came as a shock to Britain’s entertainment and fashion circles, where Geldof had been active as a model, television presenter and fashion writer.

Associated Press