We’re lifting off with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending Feb. 24, 2018.

Does our top song change this week? No. Do any songs change this week? No. So if you liked last week’s chart, you’ll love this one as well.

Number 5: Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage “Rockstar” 

Post Malone and 21 Savage hold in fifth place with their former champ “Rockstar.”

It seems to be the new trend: When two artists have a hit song, they take it on the road. Post and 21 Savage will tour together beginning on April 26 in Portland, Oregon. Twenty-eight dates later, it all ends on June 24 in San Francisco.

Number 4: Camila Cabello Featuring Young Thug “Havana”

Our fourth-place hit is “Havana” from Camila Cabello and Young Thug. Or should I say Camila Cabello and SEX. That’s right: This week, Young Thug took to Twitter to announce that he was changing his name to SEX — in capital letters. This may be a case of history repeating itself: Two years ago, he supposedly changed his name to “Jefferey,” which turned out to be the title of a mix tape.

Number 3: Bruno Mars & Cardi B. “Finesse”

Bruno Mars and Cardi B remain themselves this week, as “Finesse” stays put at No. 3.

Rumors have been swirling around a possible Cardi B pregnancy, but Offset of Migos just shut them down. Cardi B’s fiance tells TMZ that he already has three kids, and that Cardi is not expecting.

Number 2: Ed Sheeran “Perfect”

We all thought Ed Sheeran was Cherry Seaborn’s fiance — but is he much more?

Last month, Ed announced his engagement to his longtime girlfriend Seaborn, but now fans think they may already be married. On February 19, Ed performed at the O2 in London, where he sparked marriage rumors by wearing a gold band on his ring finger. So far, the singer has made no comment.

Number 1: Drake “God’s Plan”

Up at No. 1, Drake rules the roost for a third week with “God’s Plan.” The video features Drake making nearly $1 million in charitable donations in the Miami area. Drake calls it the most important thing he’s done in his career — and it also earned high praise from fellow chart star Justin Bieber. On February 19, Justin took to Instagram to hail it as the best video he’s ever seen.

Can Drake last an even month at the top? We’ll find out next week.
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A second Russian athlete has failed a doping test at the Pyeongchang Games, a day before the International Olympic Committee’s executive board is to decide whether to reinstate the country for Sunday’s closing ceremony.

 

Russian Bobsled Federation president Alexander Zubkov told The Associated Press on Friday that a drug-test sample that pilot Nadezhda Sergeeva gave on Sunday was positive.

 

The Russian delegation at the Pyeongchang Olympics said in a statement that the substance found was trimetazdine, a medication used for angina sufferers that is listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a banned substance affecting the metabolism.

 

“She confirms she took no such medication and the team confirms she was not issued any medication,” said Zubkov, a former bobsledder who himself was stripped of two Olympic gold medals for the Russian doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games. “Federation representatives at the Olympics” are starting to prepare a defense, he said.

 

Zubkov also said a sample she had given five days earlier was negative.

 

“I can tell you that on the 13th it was clean, but on the 18th it gave a positive result for the heart medication,” he said.

 

The IOC said later Friday it had been informed of the positive test by the Russian delegation.

 

Sergeeva’s crew finished 12th in the women’s bobsled competition on Wednesday, after she had given the sample that later came back positive.

 

The Russian team was barred from the Olympics in December for doping at the Sochi Games, but the IOC invited 168 athletes from the country to compete under the Olympic flag. The IOC set out the criteria for Russia to be reinstated, and the latest doping cases are a setback.

 

“This won’t win us any extra credit,” Russian delegation leader Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in comments reported by Russian media. “Unfortunately this case speaks to negligence by the athlete. She has let us down.”

 

A group of influential anti-doping organizations has called on the IOC not to reinstate Russia in time for the closing ceremony.

 

The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations says the IOC “can’t merely ‘wish away’ the most significant fraud in the history of sport,” adding that “by failing to impose a meaningful sanction on the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), the IOC would be culpable in this effort to defraud clean athletes of the world.”

 

Earlier this month, Sergeeva told the AP that competitors from other countries had warmed to her after she passed IOC vetting for Pyeongchang, which included an examination of her drug-testing history.

 

“I don’t know why, but they’ve started talking to us more than ever before. I feel it. Maybe it’s a sign to them that we’re clean,” Sergeeva said. “There’s a lot of people coming up and saying, ‘We’re happy you’re here.’”

 

At the time, she was training in a T-shirt with the words “I Don’t Do Doping.” Sergeeva used to compete in track and field as a heptathlete before switching sports in 2010.

 

It is the fourth doping case of the games. Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was stripped of his bronze medal Thursday after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. Slovenian hockey player Ziga Jeglic and Japanese speedskater Kei Saito also left the games after testing positive.

Trimetazidine, the substance found in Sergeeva’s sample, has been detected in previous doping cases. Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, an Olympic gold medalist, was banned for three months in 2014 by his country’s sports authorities after testing positive for the substance.

 

Sun said he had been prescribed the drug for a medical condition and hadn’t known it was banned. The perceived leniency of that three-month ban led to Sun receiving criticism from swimmers from other countries at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he won another gold medal.

 

Russia’s bobsled program has been in the spotlight for drug use for several years.

 

Zubkov and four other bobsledders were disqualified from the 2014 Sochi Games for doping, though four other bobsledders have been reinstated. Another gold medalist, Dmitry Trunenkov, was banned last year for failing a doping test.

 
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Malaysian police said a popular ethnic Chinese rapper has been detained over complaints that his latest music video featuring dancers wearing dog masks and performing “obscene” moves insulted Islam and could hurt racial harmony.

It was the second time in two years that Wee Meng Chee, popularly known as Namewee, has been investigated over his music videos.

Police said in a statement that Wee was detained Thursday after they received four public complaints that his video marking the Chinese year of the dog had “insulted Islam and could negatively impact racial unity and harmony.”

In the video entitled “Like a Dog,” Wee sits on a chair in a public square in the government administrative capital of Putrajaya with dancers wearing dog masks around him. Several of them mimic the “doggy-style” sex move. A green domed building in the background led some people to speculate it was filmed in front of a mosque, leading to criticism, but Wee later said it was the prime minister’s office.

The song includes the sounds of dog barks from various countries. In an apparent reference to government corruption, Wee sings that dogs in Malaysia go “mari mari, wang wang,” which in the Malay language means “come come, money money.”

Dogs are considered unclean by Muslims, who account for 60 percent of Malaysia’s 32 million people.

Several ministers have called for Wee to be arrested. He has defended the video as a form of entertainment and said he has no intention of disrespecting any race or religion.

Earlier Thursday, Wee posted a picture on Facebook of himself at the federal police headquarters as he was wanted by police for questioning.

“I am not afraid because I believe Malaysia has justice,” he said.

Previous controversies

In 2016, he was detained after enraged Malay Islamic activists lodged complaints that a video titled “Oh My God,” which was filmed in front of various places of worship and used the word “Allah,” which means God in the Malay language, was rude and disrespectful to Islam. He was not charged.

In one of his earliest videos, he mocked the national anthem and was criticized for racial slurs. He also produced a movie that was banned by the government in 2014 for portraying national agencies in a negative way.

Race and religion are sensitive issues in Malaysia, where the ethnic Malay majority has generally lived peacefully with large Chinese and Indian minorities since racial riots in 1969 left at least 200 people dead.
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Twenty years after winning the first Olympic gold medal in women’s ice hockey in Nagano, Japan, the United States defeated its rival, Canada, Feb. 22, 2018, in the gold medal game at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.
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Twenty years after winning the first Olympic gold medal in women’s ice hockey in Nagano, Japan, the United States defeated its archnemesis, Canada, in a 3-2 shootout Thursday in the gold medal game at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored the go-ahead goal in the sixth round of the shootout with a dazzling move against Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados, then watched as teammate and goalie Maddie Rooney stopped Meghan Agosta to snap Canada’s streak of four straight Olympic gold medals, as well as its 24-game Olympic winning streak. Thursday’s final was the first shootout in a women’s gold medal game, which has been dominated by the North American squads.

Finland won the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over the Russia on Wednesday.

The U.S. victory came 38 years to the day when the U.S. men’s team upset the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York, in the “Miracle on Ice” game.

​On the slopes

In Alpine skiing, Sweden’s Andre Myhrer was the surprise gold medalist in the men’s slalom, finishing 0.34 seconds ahead of silver medalist Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland. The 35-year-old Myhrer became the oldest man to win Olympic gold in the slalom after the favorites, Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen and Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, failed to complete their first runs. Austria’s Michael Matt, whose brother Mario won gold in the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, took the bronze medal.

Twenty-four-year-old Michelle Giffin of Switzerland took the gold medal in the women’s combined, with Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States finishing nearly a second behind to win the silver medal, and compatriot Wendy Holdener taking home the bronze. American Lindsey Vonn, the leader in the downhill section, failed the finish the slalom portion in her final Winter Olympics.

Elsewhere, American freestyle skier David Wise won his second consecutive gold medal in the men’s half-pipe event, his score of 97.20 edging out compatriot Alex Ferreira, who took the silver. Sixteen-year-old Nico Porteous of New Zealand won the bronze.

Austrian snowboarder Anna Gasser won the gold medal in the Olympic debut of the women’s Big Air snowboarding event, with American Jamie Anderson, who won gold last week in the slopestyle, coming in second. Another 16-year-old New Zealander, Zoi Sadowski Synnott, took home the bronze medal.

Doping violation

Away from the ice rinks and ski slopes, Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been stripped of his bronze medal after admitting to a doping violation. Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium after winning the mixed doubles bronze with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

Meldonium is a drug designed for people with heart problems and some believe it can help athletes increase stamina. It was banned in sports in 2016.

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was suspended for 15 months after testing positive for meldonium at the Australian Open in 2016.

Russia’s national team was banned from Pyeongchang over a major doping scandal dating back to the Sochi Games, but 168 Russian athletes have been allowed to compete under the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russian banner. The latest incident could keep the Russians from being reinstated and marching under the national flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
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African-American moviegoers flocked into theaters across the country to watch the latest installment in Marvel’s cinematic universe, “Black Panther.” The film, featuring an African prince who becomes a superhero after his father’s death, shattered box office expectations, earning $242 million in its first four days. For many in the black community, the film has become an affirmation of pride in their African roots. Jesusemen Oni reports.
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Jennifer Lawrence on Wednesday blasted a controversy over a photo of her wearing a plunging black dress outside on a cold London day as sexist, ridiculous and “not feminism.”

The Oscar-winning star, 27, said in a Facebook posting that she was also “extremely offended” by what she called the “utterly ridiculous” reaction on social and mainstream media to the photo, taken as part of promotions for her upcoming movie “Red Sparrow.”

The picture, taken outdoors on a bitter winter’s day in London earlier this week, showed a bare-shouldered Lawrence wearing a black gown, while actor Jeremy Irons and three fellow cast members donned thick wool coats.

Many commentators saw the photo as a reflection of the pressure on women in Hollywood to look good, particularly given Lawrence’s previous outspoken criticism of the gender pay gap in the movie industry.

“True equality means either Jennifer Lawrence getting a coat, or Jeremy Irons having to pose for a photo call in assless chaps,” tweeted London journalist Helen Lewis.

Australian journalist Stephanie Peatling remarked on Twitter that it was “cold enough that the bloke actors have to wear coats and scarves to their press call and yet poor Jennifer Lawrence is wearing a small amount of fabric some might call a dress.”

Lawrence, one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood, was having none of it.

“That Versace dress was fabulous, you think I’m going to cover that gorgeous dress up with a coat and a scarf? I was outside for 5 minutes. I would have stood in the snow for that dress because I love fashion and that was my choice,” she wrote on Facebook.

“This is sexist, this is ridiculous, this is not feminism,” she added. “It’s creating silly distractions from real issues. Get a grip people.”

“Red Sparrow,” a thriller in which Lawrence plays a Russian spy, opens worldwide next week.

 
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Award-winning chef Jose Andres is working on a book about his efforts to help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Ecco told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it has acquired We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time. The book is scheduled for Sept. 11 and is co-written by Richard Wolffe. A portion of proceeds will be given to the Chef Relief Network of Andres’ nonprofit World Central Kitchen. We Fed an Island will be released through Anthony Bourdain’s imprint at Ecco.

Andres says he wanted to provide the “inside story” of the relief work by himself and World Central Kitchen last fall.
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