AP - A nightclub where the rapper Proof, a protege of Eminem, died in a shootout that also killed another man will close for a year under a deal with authorities.

Reuters - The youngest film director at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, 21-year-old Ash Christian, is living proof that being a chubby gay kid from Paris, Texas, doesn't mean you can't direct and star in a movie.

Reuters - The youngest film director at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, 21-year-old Ash Christian, is living proof that being a chubby gay kid from Paris, Texas, doesn't mean you can't direct and star in a movie.

The family of the man who was allegedly shot by Proof is now suing the slain rapper's estate. Police say D12's Proof pistol-whipped and then shot Keith Bender Jr., 35, in the face just before he was shot to death himself. The Associated Press reports...

AP - Big Hawk, a rapper whose 2001 album reached No. 45 on Billboard's rap chart, was shot to death, police said Tuesday.

AP - The family of 35-year-old Army veteran Keith Bender have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of rapper Proof, who police say shot Bender before he was killed.

Parts of audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired today on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government. The speaker on says "the opposition to the Hamas government is proof of the crusade against Muslims." The remarks suggest the tape is relatively recent.

Parts of audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired tonday on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government. The speaker on says "the opposition to the Hamas government is proof of the crusade against Muslims." The remarks suggest the tape is relatively recent.

AFP - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden said the international isolation of the Hamas-led Palestinian government is proof of a "war by crusaders and Zionists against Islam," according to an audiotape attributed to him and aired on Arabic television.

AFP - Russia ruled out sanctions on Iran without proof Tehran is hiding a nuclear arms program, dealing a blow to US efforts to forge a united international front against Iran.

AP - Rap musician Swift was jailed on a probation violation after missing a court hearing while he attended the funeral of his friend Proof, a fellow member of the Eminem-led hip-hop group D12.

Reuters - Hardening its opposition to sanctions against Iran, Russia said on Friday only proof that the Islamic Republic was seeking atom bombs could justify consideration of such measures by the U.N. Security Council.

AP - Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday the U.N. Security Council cannot consider levying sanctions against Iran until it's proven Tehran's nuclear program is not exclusively for peaceful purposes, a Russian news agency reported.

Russia rules out sanctions against Iran without proof that its nuclear programme is not peaceful, a spokesman says.

Reuters - Russia would approve sanctions on Iran only if it saw hard evidence that Tehran's nuclear program was not peaceful, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying on Friday.

AFP - The US government admitted there was no proof to back Zacarias Moussaoui's dramatic courtroom confession that he was to have been a key player in the September 11 attacks.

AP - Researchers on Wednesday unearthed geometrically cut stone slabs that they said could form part of the sloping surface of what they believe is an ancient pyramid lying beneath a huge hill.

Defense attorneys for Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty say they have proof the Duke University lacrosse players are innocent of charges they raped a woman hired to dance at an off-campus team party.

Defense attorneys for two Duke University lacrosse players charged with raping a woman hired to dance at a team party say they have proof of their innocence.

E! Online - Eminem, 50 Cent and about 2,000 other people crowded a Detroit chapel Wednesday to pay their last respects to slain D12 rapper Proof, who was shot to death in a nightclub last week.