1. Oprah

   With her aptly acronymed television network, Oprah, in a word, OWNs. America’s most beloved talk-show host, book club president, actress, producer, magazine owner, satellite radio station owner, philanthropist, lifestyle guru, and single-handed president picker, Oprah was raised being taunted for having to wear potato-sack dresses because of her poverty. Now, if she sneezes, the market moves. Not only the best businesswoman and alpha-female in the entire world, Oprah revolutionizes every industry that she touches, including politics — her unwavering support of President Obama absolutely helped to influence his 2008 election. People everywhere know her truth: if Oprah likes it, it’s good.

2. Kenneth Frazier

   Here’s something good to come out of Penn State: Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck & Co., Inc. He’s the first African-American CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and only the second lawyer to become a CEO of big pharma. A champion of innovation and an all-around good guy, Frazier is also a successful pro bono lawyer, and the man responsible for the release of a wrongly accused Alabama man from death row. While at Penn State, he worked in a local aquarium, selling newts and tadpoles; now he’s in charge of one of the distributors of birth control and tetanus shots. All in all, not a bad move.

3. Ursula Burns

   Women have it hard. African-American women have it harder. African-American businesswomen have it triple tough, and that’s just the truth. A first-generation American citizen and raised in the housing projects of New York City, Ursula Burns defied many odds and, as of 2009, is the CEO of paper and copy giant Xerox. Ranked as the 14th most powerful woman in the world, Ursula Burns is no stranger to back-breaking work as a means of rising through the ranks — she began her tenure with Xerox as a summer intern in 1980. Contrasting fearlessness with recklessness, she is passionately focused on growth for the company.

4. Robert L. Johnson

   Not only is he named after one of the most prolific blues musicians of all time, Robert L. Johnson is a true influencer of American culture and the first African-American billionaire. The former CEO of Black Entertainment Television provided for the world a voice and a vehicle for all things African-American: television shows, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and movies. Additionally, Johnson was the first African-American to head a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, along with rapper Nelly and basketball giant Michael Jordan, his life and style beg the question: with friends like those, who needs…other friends?

5. Aliko Dangote

   The CEO of the eponymous Dangote group, this Nigerian businessman is the richest person of African descent in the world. Contributing to the development of Nigeria with the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa, the Dangote Group employs upwards of 11,000 people, dealing with industries such as sugar refining, flour mills, food distribution, and cement. Also a heavy contributor to political parties in the region, Dangote’s businesses account for one-fourth of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

6. Russell Simmons

   Give it up for the man who produced the The Beastie Boys, Will Smith, LL Cool J, and everyone else that you can think of from the annals of rap history. The original hip-hop mogul and pioneer of the genre and its subsequent entrepreneurial spin-offs, Russell Simmons is as much activist and spiritual practitioner as he is CEO. Whether he’s founding Def Jam records, marrying a super model, and seeking enlightenment, Russell Simmons has his hands in much of the entertainment that we hold dear today.

7. Sean “Puff Daddy” “Puffy” “P. Diddy” “Diddy” Combs

   The Artist Formerly known as Prince’s radical name-to-symbol has got nothing on this guy. The richest and one of the most successful figures in hip-hop, unless you’re as B.I.G. as him, he won’t be missing you. From the projects to his own projects as CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment and Sean John Clothing, Combs has been a recording executive, producer, rapper, actor, entrepreneur, and a man of many names.

8. Madam C. J. Walker

   Also known as Sarah Breedlove, Madam Walker was the first American woman to become a millionaire for her own achievements. Experiencing hair loss at an early age, she experimented with home products until she developed a workable salve. Parlaying her $1.50-a-day job as a washer into a hair-care empire in only 12 years time, this fascinating 19th-20th century mogul is a true inspiration and pioneer for African-Americans and businesswomen everywhere. Walker used her money to forward anti-lynching campaigns and black education, dying in 1919 at the age of 51.

9. Kenneth Chenault

   The third African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Kenneth Chenault has been the CEO of American Express since 2001. Another lawyer turned CEO, Chenault worked his way through the ranks at American Express — beginning in 1981. Also an active public servant and recipient of the prestigious Third Lantern Award, Kenneth Chenault has been likened to perennially successful business magnate, Jack Welch.

10. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter

    Rap and hip-hop can’t be stopped! Producing some of the most financially successful CEOs of all time, you also have to give the industry credit for producing some of the greatest stories of all time. Another African-American born into impoverished American housing projects, Jay-Z is the current CEO of Roc Nation and his net worth is an estimated $450 million. Also, he’s married to one of the hottest female entertainers of all time, and they just had a new baby. Rumor also has it that he and Beyonce are planning to shoot a music video…in space.

     

    http://www.businessinsurance.org/10-most-successful-african-american-ceos-of-all-time/

This could mean, for instance, that when users search via Google, the company will use their activities on sister sites like Gmail and YouTube to influence those users’ search results. Google has not done that before.

Google’s move — which was disclosed in a privacy policy that will take effect on March 1 — is a sign of the fierce competition between Google and Facebook over personal data. Facebook has amassed an unprecedented amount of data about the lives of its more than 800 million members — information that is coveted by advertisers.

Google traditionally has not had the same amount of personal data about its users, and has kept much of its personal data separate. But as Facebook gears up for its planned initial public offering this spring, Google has amped up the competition.

Last year, Google launched its own social network, called Google+, and earlier this month Google started including data from Google+ in members’ search results. Google’s latest move would allow the company to include insights from services such as Gmail and YouTube to search results as well. This could effectively rewrite the relationship between users and the world’s most-popular search engine.

Read more on Google’s sweeping privacy changes at The Wall Street Journal.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/25/as-google-updates-privacy-policy-anonymity-could-be-threatened/#ixzz1kcAg1gKB

Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables said Bailey banged on the front and back doors of a Waller County sheriff deputy’s home in the Bridgestone subdivision in Spring about 10 a.m.

Bailey then crawled through a window and the sheriff’s deputy pulled out his gun, investigators said.

“When the kid got in the house, (the sheriff’s deputy) grabbed him, was able to put him in handcuffs without incident,” Lt. Ronnie Glaze said.

Investigators said they do not know if Bailey knew the homeowner was a sheriff’s deputy.

“Ha ha! That was dumb,” a neighbor said.

Residents said there have been several car and home break-ins recently.

“If someone broke into my house they’d get shot,” resident Christine Stout said. “There’s no doubt about it. It’s my property and I’ve posted no trespassing (signs).”

Detectives said Bailey was released from jail last week on a felony theft charge.

Such was the case in Bridgeport, a Chicago neighborhood, where six teens filmed themselves assaulting a 17-year-old Asian boy in an alley. The video shows them bashing the guy’s head with ice, dragging him around and choking and beating him relentlessly as he covers his face and protests. Finally, they take his shoes and his wallet, stealing $180.

They then uploaded the video to YouTube — brilliant, you guys! — then took it down, but it was re-posted (and removed) several times.

According to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, Brooke Ashton Royston was charged after she followed 20-year-old Mary Beyer through Rockwell to the gas station.

Royston is accused of sending Beyer threatening messages on Facebook before the clash started about 4:30 p.m.

Once Royston confronted Beyer in the parking lot, an arrest report said, Royston “made several attempts to hit her with her car.”

But after jumping out of the way, deputies said, Beyer walked to the window of the Nissan Altima and punched Royston several times.

A passing North Carolina State Highway Patrol officer spotted the skirmish at 3005 N.C. 152 East and separated the two women.

After deputies arrived, both were taken into custody.

Royston was charged with simple assault, underage consumption, cyber stalking, misdemeanor stalking and misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon.

Beyer was charged with communicating threats and misdemeanor simple assault.

They were both released after posting bond

Joshua Payne was arrested Saturday on suspicion of domestic violence, felony stalking and felony to commit stalking. Police also arrested Madison Greenfield, 21, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit stalking.

Jail records show Payne posted $40,000 bail and was released Wednesday. A hometown for Payne was not immediately available. Messages sent to his Longmont-based attorney, Brian Bagley, were not immediately returned.

The Longmont Daily Times-Call reports (http://bit.ly/zwMEv3 ) that a witness told police Greenfield had offered to deliver Payne’s son to him in exchange for the money.

Police say Payne’s girlfriend had moved to Longmont with the boy and that Greenfield befriended the ex-girlfriend and took the woman’s son to and from school. A woman who answered the phone at a Longmont number listed for Greenfield said there was nobody there by that name.

After befriending the ex-girlfriend, police say Greenfield researched the woman on the Internet and found Payne on Facebook.

Police determined that Greenfield and Payne had been in contact. Police tracked Payne as he flew into Denver International Airport and placed him under surveillance.

He had been parked outside the home where the woman lived with her son, according to police.

Police have now said they are cracking down on the phenomenon and have warned pupils to start removing their names and comments – many of them sexual – off the pages.

Officers estimate as many as 700 students are involved in the sites – which are inspired by the cult film Mean Girls – in which students write hurtful and often fabricated gossip in a ‘burn book’.

So far eight of the pages in the Portsmouth area of Hampshire have been shut down after police and schools contacted Facebook.

However many, including Portsmouth Burn which has 712 friends, are still being used.

Police have warned pupils who continue to post messages on the pages that they could face investigation and prosecution.

At Park Community School in Leigh Park, near Havant, Hampshire, 50 students were members of a ‘Hampshire burn’ page.

Three students – a former male pupil, a year 11 boy and a year 10 girl – were victims of particularly depraved sexual comments.

Sue Walker, deputy head, said: ‘Last week it came to my attention there were a number of ‘burn’ sites – ‘Hampshire Burn’, ‘Leigh Park Burn’ and others.

‘I had 178 pages of the Hampshire Burn site downloaded and it was deeply unpleasant stuff.

‘I knew immediately this was something that could get out of control and that we had to act quickly.’

Miss Walker called on schools officer PC Justine Lewis, who has since been talking to pupils about the consequences of being involved in such sites.

In particular, students could face charges of harassment and assault that could result in up to two years’ imprisonment.

“Online, a scammer can pose as your neighbor, or someone from your bank, the IRS, the FBI, or even the BBB,” said BBB President Tom Bartholomy. “When the person who contacts you pretends to be someone you think you know, you let your guard down and miss red flags that spell scam.”

The BBB’s top 10 scams of 2011 includes:

1. Fake checks/wire transfer scams – The most successful scams in history use fake checks. The BBB received calls every day last year from people who got fake checks for a variety of reasons – for work at home jobs, to pay taxes on ‘winnings’, or to pay ‘collateral’ to get a loan. Regardless of the scam, the fake check always came with the same instructions: deposit the check and wire the money to someone in a foreign country. Within a few days, the check was returned as counterfeit and the money sent via wire transfer was gone.

2. Identity theft – Identity theft occurred at home and online, but the fastest growing method was by ‘friendly fraud’ where a person’s credit cards or social security number were used by a friend, roommate or family member, without their permission.

3. Phishing scams – Phishing scams disguised as emails from a variety of ‘authorities’ such as banks or the IRS, tricked millions of people into clicking on links and downloading attachments that infected their computers with viruses to steal their personal information.

4. Home improvement fraud/storm chasers – Homeowners are victimized by unscrupulous contractors, including ‘storm chasers’ and local contractors, who took deposits for home repair or home improvement jobs, but never returned to do the work.

5. Online shopping scams – Last year was a record year for online sales, and online sales scams. Shoppers were scammed by counterfeit merchandise, unfilled orders, misleading shipping and handling fees, unauthorized credit card charges, unsecure payment processing, fake shipping emails and more.

6. Social media scams – With more than 800 million users, Facebook was the largest social media community for scammers to target victims last year. Fake friends, clickjacking, cyber stalking, and viruses linked to clicking on ‘LIKE’ buttons, were just a few of the scams that lurked online.

7. Fake lotteries, sweepstakes and prizes – ‘Winners’ were required to provide money, a credit card or social security number to claim their ‘prize’ which led to unauthorized charges or identity theft.

8. Employment/job scams – Work-at-home job scams snared many job hunters because they promised full-time pay for part-time hours, with little or no experience needed for jobs that involved fraudulent activities like money laundering and shipping stolen goods.

9. Credit repair scams – Credit repair scams promised to fix bad credit for a price and required up front payment, in violation of state debt adjusting laws.

10. Advance fee loan scams – Online ‘lenders’ promised loans, but then required an advance fee as ‘insurance’ or ‘collateral’ via wire transfer. After the money was wired, the consumer was told they didn’t qualify for the loan and they had no way to get their money back.

For more information about how to avoid becoming the victim of a scam, please visit www.bbb.org.

Shauntel Mayo, 29, the ringleader of this unthinkable abuse, made her three kids (then age 5, 6, and 7) and her own 6-year-old baby sister perform sex acts if they wanted dinner. “The unthinkable,” said Smith County assistant district attorney Joe Murphy. “She had her kids have sex with each other and taught them to masturbate. She taught them how to strip. She withheld food from them. All so she could make money.”

According to prosecutors, the kids were groomed for sex shows in what Mayo called “kindergarten” classes. At “kindergarten,” they said they learned how to strip, dance and perform sexual acts–first on dolls, then on each other. Upon “graduating” from “kindergarten,” they were forced to have sex with each other in front of 50 to 100 adult members of a swingers’ club once a week. Before going on stage, they were given the painkiller Vicodin  — which their abusers called “silly pills” — to loosen them up for their performances. The children were forced to have sex with each other or perform sexual acts for club members who paid a fee to watch. Investigators believe up to 15 other children were victimized, and are still trying to locate them.

According to the Associated Press, the police department first investigated a complaint in June 2005 in which the siblings’ foster mother said one of the girls described dancing toward men and another child said that “everybody does nasty stuff in there.”

“We learned to strip (at ‘kindergarten’),” said the 7-year-old. ” I had to touch my privates with my sister’s and brother’s privates for the people in the club.”

The mother of the three siblings and her live-in boyfriend have already been convicted in the case and were sentenced to life in prison. A third person goes on trial today to face charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, tampering with physical evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity. Four others are awaiting trial.

The siblings, who have been adopted and have gone through intense therapy, are now doing better, the welfare agency said. However, the man who gained permanent custody of the children, John Orville Cantrell, 64, of Mineola, was arrested last week for aggravated sexual assault of a child on a California case from 18 years ago.

His wife, Margie Cantrell, who has been a foster mom for 36 years, said Thursday she believes the accusations are in retaliation for their roles in the Mineola sex ring case. “What John and I want to do is continue to seek justice for the kids in this case,” she told the Tyler Paper. “And if we have to climb a few mountains to get there, it will be worth it. And at the end of all this, John will absolutely be proven innocent.”

Their mixed-race parents Dean Durrant and Alison Spooner repeated the miracle after a seven-year gap.

When the first set of twins arrived in 2001, the couple was astonished to see that Lauren took after her white mom, with blue eyes and red hair, while Hayleigh had black skin and hair like dad Dean.

Then this year Alison, 27, found she was expecting again — and lightning struck twice.

She had twin girls again. And little Miya was born with dark skin like her dad and Leah is white like former recruitment consultant Alison.

“The girls just love Miya and Leah to bits. We didn’t think it was even possible when we had Lauren and Hayleigh — and it didn’t cross our minds that it could happen again. But we are just delighted that it has,” Dean, 33, of Fleet, Hants, said.