Names and faces
Rihanna plans to do something to mark her decade- long musical career at some point this year. “Definitely a very big deal for me. You know, I can’t believe it’s 10 years already, but we definitely have to celebrate this year,” the singer said during an interview. “There are a few things I have in mind, so you’ll have wait on that, but don’t think I’m forgetting because this means a lot to me that I made it to 10 years.” Rihanna released her debut album, Music of the Sun, in 2005. The 27- year- old has released seven albums, launched multiple Top 10 hits and won eight Grammy awards. This year, she’s produced three singles, including the Top 5 hit “FourFiveSeconds,” and says she’s busy working on her eighth album. Rihanna made the comments at Macy’s in downtown Brooklyn during the launch of her new fragrance called Ri Ri. Fans screamed inside the packed store, singing her lyrics to past hits and dancing as one of her songs blasted from speakers. “I know I made a great decision coming to Brooklyn because Brooklyn fans are on another level,” she said. “They are full of energy and they’re loud, and I like that. They’re going to turn up in here today.”
Oscar- winning actor and U. N. goodwill ambassador Forest Whitaker urged world lawmakers to speak up to help former child soldiers in Uganda, South Sudan and Myanmar, formerly Burma; gang members in Mexico and the United States; and orphans in Syria and other countries. He said many young people around the world feel marginalized because nobody listens to them, and they believe their only recourse is violence and extremism. Whitaker is the special envoy for peace and reconciliation for the U. N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and was the keynote speaker at the Inter- Parliamentary Union’s fourth World Conference of Parliament Speakers, which opened Monday. He said he found, during a decade of working with young people, that they share “deep and widespread discontentment with the political status quo” and are struggling “to define their identities and discover their purposes.” He added, “You have to help these people find their way so they can stand strong. Whitaker told parliament speakers from more than 120 countries, “You have to demonstrate that everyone matters, and that every person in a democracy has power and efficacy. You have to convince them to hope again.” Otherwise, he warned, extremism, intolerance, violence and racial bias will grow. “We can’t give up on the current generation and simply try again on the next one,” he said. “We have to nurture those young women and men now.”