(Photo: MPI/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, President Obama will declare a new national monument for Harriet Tubman, Obama has arrived in Jordan to meet with King Abdullah and Nigerian author Chinua Achebe is dead at 82.

President Obama will declare five new national monuments on Monday, including one for Harriet Tubman. [Washington Post]

Obama arrived in Jordan today where he will meet with King Abdullah. [Voice of America]

Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author and one of Africa’s most widely-known novelists, is dead at 82. [NYTimes]

Gen. Lloyd Austin became the first African-American to lead the U.S. Central Command. [BET]

The stop-and-frisk trial in New York City revealed a new tape recording of an officer demanding racially biased stop-and-frisk searches. [Village Voice]

Chicago parents are slamming 13-year-old rapper Lil Mouse’s appearance at a club that was recently shot up. [TheGrio]

The Sapphires, a Dreamgirls-like film about an Australian Aboriginal singing group, hits U.S. theaters. [LA Times]

A Marine shot and killed two of his fellow service members at a Virginia base Thursday night and then killed himself. [CNN]

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, is stepping down. [AP]

President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Friday to purge Syria of “extremist forces.” [Reuters]

In today’s top news, 20 years later, Rodney King speaks on the L.A. riots, the attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin says George Zimmerman misled the court about money he raised and a new secret service scandal has emerged involving prostitutes in El Salvador.

20 years later, Rodney King speaks on the L.A. riots. [BET]

The attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin says George Zimmerman misled the court about money. [CNN]

A new secret service scandal has emerged involving prostitutes in El Salvador. [BBC]

Black secret service agent revealed the Colombian prostitute scandal. [AFRO]

The U.S. economy grew at slower pace in the first quarter of 2012. [MSNBC]

Administration officials seek federal law banning cell phone use while driving. [Reuters]

Rapper Lil Boosie’s lyrics to be used in his murder trial. [BET]

Gabrielle Union gives her opinion on the state of health care. [BET]

KFC must pay $8.3 million to an Australian girl who became severely brain damaged after eating a chicken wrap. [BBC]

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram takes responsibly for bombing newspaper offices. [Vanguard]

Renown jazz musician Harry Connick Jr.did not sit idly by when a group of Australian performers dawned black face and afro wigs. He put them in their place.

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Rapper remains in Florida custody

DMX has been denied bond and the ability to return to his home in Arizona, angering a judge with his reported profanity. The rapper, who’s been held in Miami-Dade County on a bench warrant arrest since Aug. 12, hoped to get bond Tuesday. But Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Schwartz upheld X’s no-bond status, citing the fact that the rapper faces drug charges in Florida. X appeared via video monitor before reportedly stating under his breath “I ain’t going back to no f***ing jail” as he heard the judge’s decision. Schwartz told DMX that he heard the obscenity, as the rapper walked away from a podium. The judge warned a lawyer representing the 37-year-old performer and film star. He’s expected to remain in custody until October. 

Brother of R&B singer explains fainting spell

The man who is shown in Web footage singing dutifully as his brother lay passed out on an Australia concert stage says neither member of the R&B duo was under the influence. K-Ci and JoJo, who recently performed without their Jodeci band mates, are shown crooning live when JoJo walks toward the back of the stage and abruptly crumbles to the floor, loudly dropping his microphone. A stagehand walks out and picks up the mic, ignoring JoJo on the floor as audience members express shock. K-Ci has taken to the airwaves to explain that JoJo suffered an epileptic seizure, and that rumors about the duo’s drug addiction are false. Footage shows JoJo regaining consciousness on his own after about a minute, eventually getting to his feet and waving to the crowd before he’s helped off the stage. K-Ci says JoJo is feeling much better.

“Run’s House” stars write about parental success. Take Back Your Family, a book written by Rev. Run, formerly of rap group Run-DMC, and his wife Justine Simmons is a hit. The self-help guide has reached No. 15 on the New York Times best-selling hard-cover advice list. The book features principles applied within the family whose lives are shown weekly on MTV’s hit reality show “Run’s House.” Take Back Your Family is the first book jointly written by Rev. Run and his wife.

Stalking’s not sexy, but can be inspiring, Terrence Howard says

He once rapped in the movie Hustle & Flow that it was hard out here for a pimp. But Terrence Howard knows from personal experience that it can also be hard for an ex, like it was when he separated from his wife. Howard, whose acclaimed acting will soon be compared with his music, wrote about the experience of stalking the mom of his three children after the couple split up. The song “No. 1 Fan” from his debut CD Shine It Through discusses the experience. “It was raining, and I was sitting there in front of the house, watching her come home from a date after we were divorced,” Howard tells the New York Times. “I was imagining what she did on this date, and watching her giving him a kiss. I went home and wrote this song.” Howard hopes his next big hit will be on the song charts, not in an appearance on “Cops.”

Rapper will tour with Ice Cube

Snoop Dogg will appear in concert in Australia with Ice Cube this fall after a ban against him was lifted. Snoop’s criminal record resulted in his being blocked from entering the continent by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews last spring. But now he’s set to perform in the country for a 17-day tour beginning Oct. 21. The lift of Snoop’s ban has been met with anger by local activists who wanted the punishment to remain.