ESPN Reports
Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker has been arrested on criminal charges stemming from $822,500 in gambling debts in Las Vegas.
Douglas County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Halsey says Walker was arrested Thursday at a Harrah's Tahoe cabaret bar on Lake Tahoe's south shore.
Deputies were notified of his presence by an employee who had seen a television report about an arrest warrant issued for Walker two days before.
Walker is accused of three felony counts of writing bad checks. Clark County prosecutors say he failed to make good on 10 checks totaling $1 million to Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood and the Red Rock Resort.
Walker has repaid $178,000 of the debts that were incurred from last July to January.
Walker was released from jail after posting $135,000 cash bail.
Read more…
Telegraph.Co.UK Reports
Eleven of the 1009 people surveyed thought Buzz Lightyear was the first person on the Moon.
The Toy Story film character was named alongside Louis Armstrong. Eight of those taking part thought the late jazz musician made the first moon walk.
Not quite three quarters correctly answered that Neil Armstrong took the first step onto the Moon.
Eleven per cent of people polled thought the Apollo programme was a recent as the 1980s, with just 68 per cent knowing that the first moon landing took place in 1969.
A total of 44 per cent considered the missions to be a waste of money.
The survey was conducted for E&T magazine, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Editor in chief Dickon Ross said: "The Apollo moon landing is mankind's most outstanding engineering event so it's deeply worrying that such a large number of people should think the first moon walk never happened and that the public's belief in the legitimacy of science and technology seems to be declining over time."
Conspiracy theorists have pointed to a number of flaws in the pictures and footage from the Apollo missions as proof that the moon landings were staged.
For instance, the US flag planted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was said to be waving in a breeze, which should not have been possible on the airless moon.
Nasa's response was that the flag waved a little when deployed due to residual momentum from contact with the astronauts, not because of windy weather.
Alleged light and shadow anomalies were the result of the highly reflective surface of the Moon and the wide-angle cameras used by the astronauts, said the space agency.
Another question mark over the lack of dust kicked up by the lunar module was explained by the fact that the craft's rocket exhaust fired out sideways rather than straight down.
Leading space scientist Professor John Zarnecki, from the Open University, said: "I think it would have been a far greater achievement to have mocked the whole thing up AND to have kept it quiet for four decades.
"If one in four Britons today don't believe the moon landings ever happened, then I'm afraid that says a lot about one in four Britons. And what it says isn't very complimentary."
He pointed out that moon rocks brought back to Earth by the Apollo astronauts were very similar to those returned by a series of unmanned Soviet probes.
Veteran astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said about those who believe the moon landings were a hoax: "If ignorance is bliss they must be very happy.
Read more…
CNN Reports
Former figure skating champion and Olympian Nicole Bobek was free on bond Tuesday after New Jersey police accused her of being part of a drug ring.
Nicole Bobek waves after a routine at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1995.
Bobek, 31, who won the U.S. figure skating title in 1995, was arrested at her home in Jupiter, Florida, last week on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson County, New Jersey, according to Guy Gregory of the Hudson County prosecutor's office.
She waived extradition rights to face the charges in New Jersey and made her first appearance in court on Monday via video, entering a plea of not guilty, Gregory said.
Bobek was released Monday night on bond, according to Sean Wilkes of the Hudson County Jail.
According to the prosecutor's office, 20 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged drug ring, which police have been investigating for nearly a year.
Bobek could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Her attorney, Sam DeLuca, was not immediately available for comment.
Read more…
CNN Reports
A gunman wearing "priest clothing" sparked a shootout with police in Jersey City, New Jersey, early Thursday that ended with five officers wounded and the shooter and another suspect dead, authorities said.
Two of the officers sustained serious injuries, officials said.
The shootings began around 5 a.m. as two officers monitored a vehicle suspected of being involved in a recent armed robbery.
When a man went to the car, police approached him.
The man, dressed in what Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy described as "priest clothing," pulled out a shotgun and fired, grazing one officer in the leg, authorities said.
The suspect then fled and holed up in a nearby apartment, apparently with another person, Police Chief Thomas Comey told reporters at a news conference.
Police called in backup, including officers from the Port Authority, and evacuated other residents of the building. As they moved in for a tactical entry into the apartment, they were met with gunfire, officials said.
Four more officers were wounded and the two suspects were killed in an exchange of gunfire there.
One suspect was "ready to go to war" in the way he was armed, Comey said.
"This individual came fully ready to go to war with us," the chief said at a news conference. "This is not a normal shotgun ... and he decided to put these cops under fire." Watch chief describe suspect "ready for war" »
Of the five officers wounded, one has been released from the hospital, while the officers who sustained critical injuries have been stabilized and were undergoing surgery, according to Dr. Nathaniel Holmes, Chief of Surgery of Jersey City Medical Center.
Read more…
Former Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair has died according to News Channel 5 in Nashville.
Details on the incident are not known, however it has been reported that McNair suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. Also, it has been reported that an unidentified female victim was also found dead at the scene.
McNair, who was the 2003 NFL co-MVP, played for the Ravens from 2006-2007. This heartbreaking news is particularly painful for fans from the Baltimore and Nashville communities, because of the impact that McNair had on both fan bases. He was 36 years old.
Examiner.ComRead more…
CNN Reports
A 53-year-old French man was killed Thursday when a stage being built for a Madonna concert collapsed in Marseille, a fire department spokesman in the southern French city said.
Another two people, one British and one American, were severely injured in the accident at the Stade Velodrome, and four were lightly injured, officer David Goddin told CNN.
"At this point we don't know how it happened, but we are confident no one else is still under the rubble," Goddin said.
About 27 fire engines and 80 firefighters responded to the emergency when the stage collapsed at 5:15 p.m. (1515 GMT).
"There were a lot of open fractures, of injuries, it was a messy sight," one of the rescue workers told Agence-France Presse.
The deputy mayor of Marseille, Jose Allegrini, told the agency the 50-year-old U.S. singer's concert, planned for Sunday, had been cancelled.
Madonna had been due to play five concerts at the Stade Velodrome as part of her "Sticky and Sweet" tour.
Read more…
TimesOnline Reports
A powerful Mexican drug cartel has unleashed a killing spree against the authorities in a challenge to the leadership of the President in his home state.
The bodies of a dozen federal anti-drug agents were found on a mountain highway in Michoacán, the home state of Felipe Calderón, on Monday.
The killing of the agents was the worst loss of life in a single attack since President Calderón took office in 2006, taking the war between the narcotics gangs and the Government into uncharted territory.
Their murders were the boldest of at least ten reprisal attacks since Arnoldo Rueda Medina, nicknamed La Minsa, was arrested on Saturday. He is reputedly the second-in-command of La Familia cartel in Michoacán.
The surge in violence marks a potential shift in Mexico’s drug wars, which have claimed 11,000 lives during the presidency of Mr Calderón, who ordered the army to intervene.
Ciro Gomez Leyva, a columnist for the newspaper Milenio, described the killings as a Mexican version of the Tet offensive in Vietnam in 1968.
“In the war against the narcos, Saturday, July 11, seems like a kind of Tet offensive, the synchronised action by South Vietnamese guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army against US troops at the end of January 1968 that, despite being characterised as a military disaster, created the perception that the otherwise invincible US Army would never win in Vietnam,” he wrote.
The perception that the war against drugs is being lost is pervasive. A poll published in Milenio said that only 28 per cent of Mexicans believed that the Government was winning, and more than half thought that it was losing.
Mr Calderón said: “The criminals will not be able to intimidate the federal Government. In this battle we will not give up, we will not hesitate, because what is at stake is Mexico’s peace and safety.”
Michoacán, on the Pacific coast, has become a battleground because it controls routes into the United States. It is also one of Mexico’s main producers of marijuana, opium poppies and synthetic drugs.
Mr Rueda was arrested in the Michoacán capital, Morelia. He is allegedly the right-hand-man to the reputed boss, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, known as El Mas Loco, or the Craziest One.
Within hours of the arrest, gunmen from La Familia, armed with rifles and grenades, ambushed federal forces in seven cities.
Some of the attacks took place near tourist sites such as the arts-and-crafts centre of Patzcuaro and Zitacuaro, which is famous for its monarch butterflies.
In the most brutal attack, eleven men and one woman agent were abducted while off duty.
Their bodies were found stacked on the highway with death threats that read: “La Familia, join its ranks or leave” and “Let’s see if you try to arrest another one”.
La Familia has penetrated the power structure, allegedly obtaining protection from police and politicians.
Seven mayors, one former mayor and a state prosecutor are being held after a federal police sweep of allegedly corrupt politicians in May.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Julio Godoy, the half brother of a state Governor. Mr Godoy was elected to Congress last week as a member of the Democratic Revolution Party.
Analysts said that the killings were not necessarily a sign of the cartel’s strength, but were an escalation of the battle to contain them.
“This marks an important change in the drug war in that they are attacking federal forces directly,” Jorge Chabat, a drug expert, said.
“It also suggests the capture of this person has affected the operations of the cartel. It was a major blow and this is a reaction out of weakness, not strength.”
In separate Mexican drug violence, six gunmen were killed on Tuesday in the northern city of Monterrey. Gunmen killed the mayor of Namiquipa in Coahuila and four police officers were kidnapped in Piedras Negras.
In Tabasco state on the Gulf coast, prosecutors charged five alleged Gulf cartel hitmen with allegedly killing two policemen and eighteen of their relatives in February and May.
A drugs trade worth billions and severed heads on the dance floor
• Every year Mexican cartels smuggle illegal drugs worth about $40 billion (£24 billion) into the United States, the world’s biggest market for narcotics. Mexico is a major source of heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana — and a key transit country for the vast amounts of cocaine that are transported over the border
• In 2008, 6,000 people died in drug violence in Mexico, according to President Calderón — almost double the 3,042 deaths that were recorded in 2007
• About 95 per cent of the killings were carried out using firearms from the US. Most of the drug violence takes place in a few cities near the US border, with drugs and people being trafficked to the north, and weapons to the south
• In December 2006, Mr Calderón announced the deployment of 36,000 troops to work with the federal police to fight the drug trade in nine states. The police are widely accused of corruption
• 53 per cent of Mexicans think the Government is losing the war with the drug cartels, according to a 2008 poll in a Mexican newspaper
• La Familia cartel achieved notoriety in 2006 when a member walked into a bar and threw five severed heads on to the dance floor
Sources: Reuters, Council on Foreign Relations
Read more…
FoxSports Reports
Authorities are hoping an autopsy on Wednesday can explain the death of French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt, who was found collapsed outside his Paris apartment by his girlfriend overnight.
Mathieu Montcourt reached his highest ranking ever last month by making the 2nd round in the French Open. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP / Getty Images)
The 24-year-old Montcourt's girlfriend found him lying next to his bicycle in the corridor leading to his front door, the French tennis federation's technical director Patrice Dominguez told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
"I have seen the police report and for the moment there is no cause of death, and only the autopsy (Wednesday morning) will eventually find an explanation," Dominguez said by telephone. "She (Montcourt's girlfriend) was staying at his place, and he was coming home on his bike around quarter past midnight, or half (past) midnight."
Montcourt's girlfriend, who was with a friend in the apartment, became alarmed when Montcourt failed to arrive.
"She was with a friend in Mathieu Montcourt's apartment," Dominguez said. "They came out after a while, having left him (phone) messages, and noticed that he was lying on the floor next to his bike ... They called the (ambulance), but unfortunately he was already dead."
Dominguez said the FFT will release a further statement on Wednesday afternoon if the autopsy proves conclusive.
"(It is) totally surprising. He's a player we have been training for more than 10 years and who has always been irreproachable. He had a healthy lifestyle, he didn't drink (and) he's not someone who went out partying," Dominguez added. "For the moment it's inexplicable ... the autopsy tomorrow may reveal something we hadn't noticed."
Dominguez had hopes that Montcourt, ranked 119, would eventually challenge for a place in the top 50.
"He is a player we considered could get into he top 50 or 60 within the next two years," Dominguez said. "He was someone who was really well liked. He was someone who was always one of the best under 12s, best under 16s, best juniors. He was always a fighter, and was a player we liked to watch."
Last month, Montcourt achieved his highest career ranking of 104 after reaching the second round at Roland Garros, where he lost to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in four sets.
Four-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, who grew up playing regularly against Montcourt on the junior circuit, said he was shocked by the news.
"This morning I woke up with one of the worst news anyone can receive," Nadal said on his Web site. "I heard about the death of our friend Mathieu Montcourt. I am still under shock for this. I can't believe it."
Recalling their junior days, the 23-year-old Nadal added: "I knew Mathieu since we were kids. We competed together at all the events at an international level there is (when) you are a kid."
In May, Montcourt was handed a five-week ban and fined $12,000 for betting on other matches. That ban took effect Monday.
Montcourt complained during the French Open that the punishment was too harsh, saying that he never bet more than $3 at any time, and never on his own matches — a fact confirmed by the ATP which oversees the men's Tour.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Montcourt had wagered a total of $192 on 36 tennis events in 2005. It reduced his suspension on appeal from eight weeks to five.
The issue of betting in tennis drew increased attention from the sport's governing bodies after an online bookmaker voided all wagers on a 2007 match involving Nikolay Davydenko. About $7 million was bet — 10 times the usual amount for a similar-level match — and most of the money backed Davydenko's lower-ranked opponent.
Davydenko was cleared in September after a yearlong investigation
Read more…
Singer Chris Brown may have scared off some women by beating up his ex, Rihanna, but Kanye West's on-and-off girlfriend, Amber Rose, apparently isn't one of them.
Brown and Rose locked lips at the July 4 White Party thrown by Sean (Diddy) Combs and Ashton Kutcher in Beverly Hills, spies tell the Daily News.
Brown, 20, arrived at the party with singer Teyana Taylor, an 18-year-old Rihanna look-alike, but is said to have hooked up quickly with Rose.
"Diddy announced the deejay would do a tribute to Michael Jackson," said a guest. "Chris did an amazing impression of Michael's moonwalk. It wasn't long before he was dancing with Amber."
Later, as the party wound down, the pair nestled on a couch in the backyard of the Beverly Hills mansion.
"They were holding hands and making out in the shadows," said a witness. "She had her hand on his leg."
Taylor is said to have been irked by the amount of time Brown spent with Rose, but still accompanied him to an after-party at the club Guys.
There, Brown again got upclose and personal with Rose, who is 26.
"They were kissing on the dance floor in front of Teyana," said a witness. "But he and Amber left separately."
Some wondered whether the flagrant display was a defiant message both to Rihanna and West. Rihanna dumped Brown, who last month pleaded guilty to assaulting the Grammy winner.
West, who has said he was "devastated" by Brown's attack on a woman who was like "my little sister," has run hot and cold on Rose lately. Although he reportedly broke up with her last month, they came together at last week's BET Awards show.
A rep for Brown had no comment. Reps for Rose and West couldn't be reached.
Source: NewYorkDailyNewsRead more…
Two professional midget wrestlers found dead in a low-rent hotel room may have been drugged by female robbers, according to Mexican authorities.
Post mortems are being carried out on La Parkita - or Little Death - who wore a skeleton costume in the ring and Espectrito Jr.
The twin brothers, real names Alberto and Alejandro Jimenez, reportedly had been entertaining two prostitutes on the night of their deaths.
Relatives pay their last respects to the twins at their funeral in Mexico City
Police said two women were seen leaving the men's hotel room shortly before the bodies were discovered by a cleaner.
Prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said gangs of female robbers are experienced at using drugs to knock men out and rob them but they may have used too strong a dose.
The wrestlers' small stature means they may have succumbed to the drugs more easily, although larger men have also died in similar crimes.
The bodies of the two men, both aged 35, were found at a hotel a short distance from the Arena Mexico wrestling venue in Mexico City.
Midget wrestling had a huge following in the 50s and 60s but its popularity has waned across the world.
But the sport is still enormously popular in Mexico and fans are said to be mourning its two most famous stars.
Source : News.Sky.ComRead more…
NYDailyNews Reports
Brazilian cops put the bloody purse strap and knife that killed Arturo Gatti on display Monday as his wife's lawyer insisted she's too "fragile, young and skinny" to kill a boxing champ.
Police said there's no way anyone but Gatti's 23-year-old wife, ex-stripper Amanda Rodrigues, was inside the couple's luxurious rental apartment when the former champ was killed.
"It was technically impossible for a third person to have been in the flat," lead investigator Moises Teixeira said Monday. "She did this alone."
There were no signs of forced entry. Electronic locks indicated no one else had entered the room.
Rodrigues' lawyer Celio Avelino said her client "is fragile, young and skinny. How could she kill a boxing champion?"
Police believe Rodrigues was capable of strangling her husband because he was drunk - and she stabbed him in the back of the head with a knife.
She then used her nylon purse strap to strangle the passed-out fighter, cops said.
Gatti's distraught sister Anna-Maria Gatti told CTV News Montreal that Rodrigues always provoked fights. "She always said, 'I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you,'" said Gatti.
"My mother told him to leave her. The only reason that he didn't want to leave her was the boy," she added, referring to the couple's 10-month-old son.
The boxer, his wife and Arturo Jr. were to fly to Florida this week for Anna-Maria Gatti's wedding.
Rodrigues was arrested Sunday. She is being held near Porto de Galinhas, the seaside resort town where the couple went for a second honeymoon.
Rodrigues told cops she and Gatti had a fight Friday night at a bar, and that her husband pushed her, causing minor injuries to her elbow and chin.
Later on Friday night, they both made it back to the rental apartment, where they slept in separate rooms.
Rodrigues told police she slept in the bedroom with her son, while Gatti slept in the living room.
She said she awoke at 6 a.m. to feed her son and three hours later realized Gatti was dead. He had been dead for hours.
"When [Rodrigues] awoke, she presumed he had committed suicide. But she had nothing to do with it," her lawyer said.
Witnesses told a different story.
They said Gatti left his son to sleep in the apartment, then returned to the city center to find his wife.
She arrived at the apartment before he returned and waited for him, cops said, and they went upstairs together.
Gatti's brother Fabrizzio was on his way to Brazil yesterday to claim the body, the boxer's former manager said.
"They were getting divorced around a year ago, and somehow she lured him back in," Pat Lynch said.
"They were having problems from the beginning, almost from day one. I saw it, his family saw it, everyone saw it except him. It was just horrible.
"She was an evil person. She has no soul. Someone who's capable of doing this - I hope she rots in hell."
Read more…
LiveSteez Reports
LiveSteez research shows that Black churches, in aggregate, have collected more than $420 billion in tithes and donations since 1980. With a Senate investigation into the finances of several mega churches underway, the “Prosperity Movement” has been the target of mounting criticism from inside and outside the Black Church. Specifically, the affluent ministries of The Reverend Creflo Dollar, Bishop Eddie Long and others have drawn the attention – and ire – of some clergy and laypeople alike.
Researcher Henry E. Felder’s study of Blacks’ donation habits demonstrated per capita spending of $508 per year in 2009 dollars. Another source, Tyler Media Services, estimated that Black Church revenue approached $17 billion in 2006.
One church, the Reverend Dollar’s World Changers, reported $69 million in 2006 income, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Mainstream politicians and Black community leaders are demanding a better accounting of the “return on investment” offered by churches to the communities that fund them. Meanwhile, legions of faithful churchgoers defend their pastors and accuse their detractors of applying a double standard that ignores the largesse of wealthy, white televangelists, while underplaying the economic development and social service functions provided by the Black Church.
“The church has gotten caught up in materialism and greed, a lifestyle. Many ministers today want to live like celebrities and they want to be treated like celebrities. In other words, instead of the church standing with the community, the church has become self-serving. It has strayed away from its mission” according to Dr.Love Henry Whelchel, professor of church history at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
Few people – not even the ongoing Congressional investigation by Senator Chuck Grassley accuse the mega church pastors of outright larceny, and congregants generally approve of their pastors’ luxurious lifestyles. However, in a blatant recent example, a father-son pastor team, 76-year-old Richard Cunningham of Moreno Valley and his son, 52-year-old Philip Cunningham of Laurinburg, N.C., pleaded guilty to felony grand theft and fraud charges. The younger Cunningham also pleaded guilty to forgery. Over five years, prosecutors say, the Cunninghams stole from Calvary Baptist Yorba Linda Church and School bank accounts and used the money to buy time shares in Hawaii and Palm Springs, golf club memberships and a Cadillac. Prosecutors say the men have paid $3.1 million in restitution to the church.
LiveSteez’s investigative series will take a forensic editorial approach to quantifying the return to Black America for the $350 billion in tax-favored donations it has given to the Black Church, examining the arguments on both sides of the pulpit. In this series we will seek answers and advisory to the following questions:
How often and how much do church leaders take advantage of the faith of poor black people?
We will investigate and indentify the churches they are showing a strong return on investment that goes beyond inspiration.
What does the black community have to show for the $350 billion in tax free dollars?
Expert analysis on what could potentially be done with such a huge amount of money and how it could improve the state of our communities.
Why do some church leaders refuse to participate in the Grassley congressional Investigation, which requested the financial records of several mega-churches.
Read more…
KTLA Reports
SAO PAULO -- The wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti was detained as a suspect by Brazilian authorities Sunday following his death at a posh seaside resort.
Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation. Gatti's body was found early Saturday in a hotel room at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil.
The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police. She told The Associated Press that the Canadian also had a head injury.
The investigation was not complete, but Saraiva said authorities were preparing to present a formal accusation against Rodrigues, who denied being involved in her husband's death.
Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that Gatti was already dead.
Police were investigating witness reports that the couple fought and Gatti was drunk when he returned to his room Friday night, Saraiva said, adding that police were told the pair were extremely jealous of each other and that he constantly complained of her clothing when she traveled to Brazil.
Acelino "Popo" Freitas, a four-time world champion Brazilian boxer, told Globo TV's Web site on Saturday that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife and that he "knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate."
The couple's 1-year-old son, who was unhurt, was with Rodrigues' sister, Saraiva said.
The 37-year-old Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward branded him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, retired in 2007 with a career record of 40-9 and 31 knockouts.
Known for his straightforward punching and granite-like chin, Gatti captured the junior welterweight title in 1995, when he defeated Tracy Harris Patterson in Atlantic City.
Read more…
Two of the most popular and promising dietary supplements — vitamin D and fish oil — will be tested in a large, government-sponsored study to see whether either nutrient can lower a healthy person's risk of getting cancer, heart disease or having a stroke.
It will be one of the first big nutrition studies ever to target a specific racial group — blacks, who will comprise one quarter of the participants.
People with dark skin are unable to make much vitamin D from sunlight, and researchers think this deficiency may help explain why blacks have higher rates of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
"If something as simple as taking a vitamin D pill could help lower these risks and eliminate these health disparities, that would be extraordinarily exciting," said Dr. JoAnn Manson. She and Dr. Julie Buring, of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, will co-lead the study.
"But we should be cautious before jumping on the bandwagon to take mega-doses of these supplements," Manson warned. "We know from history that many of these nutrients that looked promising in observational studies didn't pan out."
Vitamins C, E, folic acid, beta carotene, selenium and even menopause hormone pills once seemed to lower the risk of cancer or heart disease — until they were tested in big studies that sometimes revealed risks instead of benefits.
In October, the government stopped a big study of vitamin E and selenium pills for prostate cancer prevention after seeing no evidence of benefit and hints of harm.
Vitamin D is one of the last major nutrients to be put to a rigorous test.
For years, evidence has been building that many people are deficient in "the sunshine vitamin." It is tough to get enough from dietary sources like milk and oily fish. Cancer rates are higher in many northern regions where sunlight is weak in the winter, and some studies have found that people with lower blood levels of vitamin D are more likely to develop cancer.
Fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acid, is widely recommended for heart health. However, studies of it so far have mostly involved people who already have heart problems or who eat a lot of fish, such as in Japan. Foods also increasingly are fortified with omega-3, so it is important to establish its safety and benefit.
"Vitamin D and omega-3s have powerful anti-inflammatory effects that may be key factors in preventing many diseases. They may also work through other pathways that influence cancer and cardiovascular risk," Manson said.
However, getting nutrients from a pill is different than getting them from foods, and correcting a deficiency is not the same as healthy people taking large doses from a supplement.
The new study, which will start later this year, will enroll 20,000 people with no history of heart attacks, stroke or a major cancer — women 65 or older and men 60 or older. They will be randomly assigned to take vitamin D, fish oil, both nutrients or dummy pills for five years.
The daily dose of vitamin D will be about 2,000 international units of D-3, also known as cholecalciferol, the most active form. For fish oil, the daily dose will be about one gram — five to 10 times what the average American gets.
Participants' health will be monitored through questionnaires, medical records and in some cases, periodic in-person exams.
"We're hoping to see a result during the trial, that we won't have to wait five years" to find out if supplements help, Manson said.
Researchers also plan to study whether these nutrients help prevent memory loss, depression, diabetes, osteoporosis and other problems, Buring said.
The $20 million study will be sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and other federal agencies. Pharmavite LLC of Northridge, Calif., is providing the vitamin D pills, and Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is providing the omega-3 fish oil capsules.
Source: BlackNewsRead more…
SAN'A, Yemen - A passenger jet carrying 153 people crashed into the Indian Ocean in bad weather early Tuesday while trying to land at the island nation of Comoros. Search teams rescued a child from the sea, officials said, but there was no word on other survivors.
The Airbus 310 operated by Yemenia was flying the last leg of a journey taking passengers from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen. Most of the passengers were from Comoros, returning from Paris. Sixty-six on board were French nationals.
The rescued child was 5 years old and the flight also carried at least three babies, Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said. He said the flight data recorder had not been found.
A Yemeni aviation official said there were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen on the plane.
'Strong wind and high seas'
Reuters reported that five bodies were retrieved along with debris from the plane.
Mohammad al-Sumairi, deputy general manager for operations at airline Yemenia, told Reuters that "weather conditions were rough" at the time of the crash with "strong wind and high seas" reported.
"The wind speed recorded on land at the airport was 61 kph (38 mph)," al-Sumairi said.
The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 1,800 miles south of Yemen, between Africa's southeastern coast and the island of Madagascar.
Gen. Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about 9 miles north of the Comoran coast and 21 miles from the Moroni airport.
French aviation inspectors found a "number of faults" during a 2007 inspection of the plane that went down, French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said on i-Tele television Tuesday. He said the jet had not flown to France since.
An Airbus statement said the plane that crashed went into service 19 years ago, in 1990, and had accumulated 51,900 flight hours. It has been operated by Yemenia since 1999. Airbus said it was sending a team of specialists to the Comoros.
The A310-300 is a twin-engine widebody jet that can seat up to 220 passengers. There are 214 A310s in service worldwide with 41 operators.
Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman, said a patrol boat and reconnaissance ship were being sent to the crash site as well a military transport plane. The French were sending divers as well as medical personnel, he said.
According to Paris Airports press service, 67 of the passengers on board the Airbus 310 had flown from France on Monday on an Airbus 330.
Most of them were from the French city of Marseille, which has a large Comoros community and where the plane briefly landed to pick up more crew and passengers.
French television showed pictures of friends and relatives of the passengers weeping at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, many of them railing at the airline.
A crisis center had also been established in Marseille, according to Stephane Salord, the consul general of the Comoros in the Provence-Alps-Cote d'Azur region of France.
"There is considerable dismay," Salord said. "These are families that, each year on the eve of summer, leave Marseille and the region to rejoin their families in the Comoros and spend their holidays."
In France, this week is the start of annual summer school vacations.
Yemenia airline officials say the 11-member crew was made up of six Yemenis, including the pilot, two Moroccans, one Indonesian, one Ethiopian and 1 Filipino. The officials asked that their named not be used because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
It is the second Airbus to plunge into the sea this month, following an Air France Airbus A330-200 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people on board on June 1. A preliminary report on that crash is due on Thursday.
Source: MSNBCRead more…
A Brooklyn man is accused of donning a wig, nail polish and dresses to impersonate his dead mom and collect $115,000 in Social Security and rent subsidies.
For six years, Thomas Prusik-Parkin hoodwinked a stunning array of government agencies with his elaborate charade - using a cane, heavy makeup, fake ID and a phony "nephew," law enforcement sources said.
The 49-year-old was busted late Monday and will be arraigned today on grand larceny, forgery and conspiracy charges linked to a deed and mortgage fraud scheme.
"I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," Prusik-Parkin said when he was arrested, according to detectives.
The mother, Irene Prusik, died in 2003 at age 73. The flimflam, which the Daily News learned of during a mortgage fraud probe, began immediately.
Her son allegedly gave the funeral director the wrong Social Security number and date of birth for his mother so that her death would not be registered in government databases.
He began collecting $700 a month in Social Security in her name, in addition to his own disability checks, sources said.
He's accused of posing as Irene to file for bankruptcy so "she" would be eligible for $39,000 in city subsidies to help pay rent on a Park Slope apartment.
To help in the ruse, Prusik-Parkin allegedly enlisted a close friend, Mhilton Rimolo, 47, to pose as Irene's nephew, help the "ailing aunt" get around town, cash government checks and assist in property transactions.
On April 29, for example, Rimolo was with "Irene" when she renewed a driver's license in Coney Island.
Banks, courts and federal and city agencies were taken in again and again - but the Brooklyn district attorney's rackets squad wasn't fooled.
When DA investigators showed up to interview Irene Prusik in May, they encountered an elderly "woman" in a red dress and dark sunglasses who answered all their questions, sources said.
Rimolo, who is also being charged, was at "her" side and told investigators Irene's son couldn't speak to them because he wasn't home.
The DA was tipped by the man who actually owns the home where Prusik-Parkin lives, a $2.2million brownstone building that appears to be at the center of a massive fraud.
In 1996, Irene Prusik deeded the home at 492 Sixth Ave. to her son, according to city records.
He took out a $200,000 mortgage to bankroll a real estate investment business that failed. He stopped making mortgage payments, the house went into foreclosure and it was bought by Samir Chopra in 2003.
To hold onto the brownstone and avoid eviction, Prusik-Parkin posed as his mother to file a suit alleging that he had forged the 1996 deed transfer, investigators allege. He even filed an affidavit from a nonexistent son.
In essence, investigators say, he sued himself to prove that he didn't have the title to the home and that Chopra - who also thought Irene Prusik was still alive - couldn't have legally bought it.
Prusik-Parkin deeded the house back to his mother last year. Then he took out a mortgage for almost a million dollars in her name in April, collecting some $300,000 of the loan.
That same month, Chopra convinced a Brooklyn judge the home really did belong to him, and the Prusik "family" was evicted in May.
Source : New York Daily NewsRead more…
}