(Reuters) – Drug charges against the daughter of rock star Jon Bon Jovi were dropped on Thursday, a day after she suffered a suspected heroin overdose, officials in New York said.
Oneida County District Attorney Scott D. McNamara said in a statement that Stephanie Bongiovi could not be charged because New York law prohibits the prosecution of people who had overdosed and were in possession of small amounts of drugs.
Bongiovi, 19, was found unresponsive in a dormitory room at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, early on Wednesday and was later booked on misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance (heroin), marijuana possession and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, which were found in the room.
A message left with the singer’s representative was not immediately returned.
Heroin and marijuana charges against fellow student Ian S. Grant, 21, in connection with Bongiovi’s case were also dropped as a witness or victim to a drug or alcohol overdose cannot be prosecuted in New York.
Bongiovi is the oldest of four children of Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea Hurley.
(Reporting By Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Andre Grenon)
Scientists working on two unrelated studies have reported a link between Alzheimer’s disease and a rare gene that affects a person’s immune system. They add credibility to recent thinking about the role of the immune system in the development of this form of dementia.
According to Medical News Today, research teams from University College London (UCL) and the Iceland-based company deCode Genetics concluded that a rare mutation in the gene known as TREM2 increases the risk of getting Alzheimer’s. This gene helps signal the immune system to mount responses to inflammation.
The Alzheimer’s Association says this disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. Of the top 10 causes, it’s the only one that can’t be prevented, cured, or slowed. One in every eight U.S. seniors lives with the disorder.
There are two forms of the disease. Early-onset Alzheimer’s affects people younger than 60. The late-onset form is far more common, according to PubMed Health.
Scientists from 44 institutions participated in the UCL-led study, which followed 25,000 individuals. They found a set of rare mutations that appeared more frequently in 1,092 Alzheimer’s patients than in the 1,107 healthy control-group subjects. The most common mutation was one called R47H, which the researchers learned significantly increases the chance of developing the illness.
The study led by deCode also noted a strong link between the R47H mutation and the disease. The researchers also discovered that older individuals who had the mutation but not Alzheimer’s had poorer cognitive function than normal. They identified nearly 41 million markers in individuals from the United States, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands.
Earlier studies suggested that TREM2 is important in clearing cell debris and amyloid protein, a substance linked to Alzheimer’s brain plaques. The gene also helps control the body’s response to inflammation.
The results of these studies suggest that a TREM2 mutation raises the risk for developing Alzheimer’s between three- and four-fold. However, the researchers acknowledge the need for additional studies to clearly establish R47H as the culprit.
Like many individuals with a parent who suffered from Alzheimer’s, my husband has for years worried that each of his own memory lapses signaled the illness. His situation has been complicated by other conditions that cause short-term memory loss.
High-tech methods of studying genes like TREM2 bring with them a dilemma for individuals like him with a family history of certain illnesses. At the extreme, they face a quandary like that of individuals who had a parent with Huntington’s disease.
In the case of Alzheimer’s, knowing that not everyone with a mutation will develop the disease, should the offspring seek genetic testing? While the linking of a rare gene mutation to Alzheimer’s is a step forward, considerably more research is needed before at-risk individuals like my husband feel enthusiastic about the discovery.
Vonda J. Sines has published thousands of print and online health and medical articles. She specializes in diseases and other conditions that affect the quality of life.
The price of gold fell Thursday on growing worries about global economic growth with pending U.S. budget issues and Europe’s recession.
Gold for December delivery dropped $ 16.30 Thursday to finish at $ 1,713.80 per ounce.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the budget. Obama and Republican congressional leaders are at odds over the best way to resolve budget disagreements before tax hikes and spending cuts take effect Jan. 1. Many economists believe that without a compromise, the U.S. could wind up back in a recession.
Meanwhile, European Union statistics showed that the 17 countries that use the euro are in recession for the first time in three years as the region struggles with a three-year-old debt crisis. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Gold has a reputation as a relatively safe asset to hold during economic turmoil but investors are “in a quandary and conserving cash,” George Gero, vice president at RBC Global Futures, wrote in an email.
In other metals trading, December silver fell 20.6 cents to end at $ 32.674 per ounce, December copper rose 0.9 cent to $ 3.4625 per pound, January platinum dropped $ 18.30 to $ 1,573.30 per ounce and December palladium fell $ 10.35 to $ 631.20 per ounce.
The economic uncertainty also pressured energy products. Benchmark oil dropped 87 cents to end at $ 85.45 per barrel, heating oil fell 1.47 cents to $ 2.9735 per gallon, gasoline futures rose 1.72 cents to $ 2.6962 per gallon and natural gas fell 5.7 cents to $ 3.703 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In agricultural contracts, orange juice futures rose 3.1 percent as traders bought contracts to get in position for the winter months, said Jack Scoville, vice president Price Futures Group. Florida crops are in good shape and the freeze season won’t begin for several weeks. Frozen orange juice concentrate for January delivery rose 3.45 cents to end at $ 1.1625 per pound.
December wheat fell 3.25 cents to end at $ 8.455 per bushel, December corn fell 4.5 cents to $ 7.2125 per bushel and January soybeans fell 17 cents to end at $ 14.02 per bushel.
PARIS (AP) — France‘s president called Thursday for stepped-up talks between Mali’s government and any leaders from its breakaway north “who reject terrorism,” even as African nations geared up for a possible military operation against Islamic extremists there.
President Francois Hollande‘s comments suggested a growing openness to dialogue with the extremists, but he remained committed to supporting the military planning effort.
Northern Mali fell to Islamic extremists in April, after coup leaders toppled the government in Bamako, Mali‘s capital. Fearing that northern Mali could become the latest hotbed of terrorism, France has been a driving force in international efforts to bolster Mali’s army to drive the Islamists from power.
Hollande spoke with interim Mali President Dioncounda Traore by phone on Thursday, partly to detail European efforts to help strengthen Mali’s army.
In recent days, representatives from the most moderate of three al-Qaida-linked groups that control northern Mali have been meeting with Burkina Faso‘s president, appointed as a mediator.
“France reiterates its wish that political dialogue will intensify between Malian authorities and representatives of northern populations who reject terrorism,” Hollande’s office said in a statement. “The acceleration of this dialogue must accompany the progress in African military-planning efforts.”
Earlier this week, the African Union approved a plan that calls for 3,300 African troops to be deployed in order to win back Mali’s north. European countries including France and Germany have expressed a willingness to provide military trainers and logistics support, but have stopped short of committing combat troops.
France, like many European countries, fears that the arid, northern Sahel region of Mali could become a breeding ground for terrorism, where al-Qaida and its allies could plot hostage-takings and attacks in Europe or beyond.
France has millions of people whose families hail from former French colonies in north and west Africa. Authorities have long been concerned that French-born militants could travel abroad for terrorism training and return home later to possibly carry out attacks.
French authorities are already investigating two French citizens who were arrested in Mali and neighboring Niger and are suspected of seeking to join up with the al-Qaida-linked extremists, a judicial official told The Associated Press.
Ibrahim Ouattara, a 24-year-old native of the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers who has dual French and Malian nationality, was arrested inside Mali this month and remains in custody there, the official said.
Separately, a 27-year-old Frenchman was arrested in August in Niger and has since been handed over to authorities in France, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss terrorism cases publicly.
(Reuters) – Chinese internet company Sina Corp eked out a profit in the third quarter that beat analysts’ estimates as strong advertising sales on its microblogging platform offset weaker website advertising but it forecast current-quarter revenue below expectations.
Shares of the company fell 6 percent to $ 49.72 in extended trading. They closed at $ 53.10 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
Sina expects adjusted net revenue to range between $ 132 million and $ 136 million in the fourth quarter, with advertising revenues forecast to increase between 6 percent and 8 percent from a year earlier.
Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $ 151.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sina, which makes most of its revenue from online advertising both on its website and through its microblogging platform, Weibo, is facing stiff headwinds this year as firms slash advertising budgets due to a worsening economic outlook.
Analysts said the spat between Japan and China over a few uninhabited islands in the East China Sea may have affected Sina’s website advertising sales as Japanese automakers cut back on advertising in China.
Net profit was $ 9.9 million for the September quarter, compared to a loss of $ 336.3 million a year earlier. The profit beat analysts’ expectations of $ 7.5 million.
Sina’s advertising revenue rose 19 percent to $ 120.6 million in the third quarter, while non-advertising revenue rose 9 percent to $ 31.8 million. Overall net revenue was $ 152.4 million, up from $ 130.3 million, a year earlier.
The company started monetizing Weibo by offering special services to business accounts and selling VIP memberships to regular users earlier this year.
Weibo contributed about 10 percent to total advertising revenue in the second quarter and had 368 million registered accounts.
(Reporting By Melanie Lee in Shanghai & Aurindom Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News is staying in-house in its effort to turn around the “Today” show.
The network on Wednesday appointed a 23-year veteran of the morning news show as its new executive producer. Don Nash began working for “Today” as a production assistant in NBC’s Burbank office in 1989 and will now run the four-hour broadcast.
Nash was most recently senior broadcast producer in the show’s control room. He replaces Jim Bell, who shifted to NBC Sports to run its Olympics broadcasts.
After nearly two decades of dominance, “Today” has slipped behind ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the ratings.
NBC also added another layer of management for the show, appointing Alexandra Wallace as the network’s executive in charge of the program.
President Obama said his approach was that ”the wealthiest Americans pay a little bit more”
US President Obama has reiterated his call for high earners in the US to pay more in taxes, in his first news conference since winning re-election.
He called for quick legislation to rule out tax rises on the first $ 250,000 (£158,000) of income, but refused to extend cuts for the wealthiest 2%.
“We should not hold the middle class hostage while we debate tax cuts for the wealthy,” Mr Obama said.
The US faces an end-of-year “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax rises.
The fiscal cliff would see the George W Bush-era tax cuts expire in combination with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
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Some $ 607bn (£380bn) of savings and tax rises are planned, including reductions in the defence budget, the end of an employee tax holiday, changes to Medicare allowances and higher personal taxes.
The lower paid are set to lose some child and income credits, but Mr Obama has made fewer references to other portions of the stimulus deal set to expire beyond the tax cuts.
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The fiscal cliff is due to take effect because Congress failed to reach a deal on deficit reduction after a stand-off over the US debt ceiling in mid-2011.
Congressional Republicans have said since last week’s US elections that they are open to raising revenue through tax reform and closure of loopholes, but oppose tax rises on the wealthy.
Glenn Hubbard, an economic adviser to Republican Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid, writing in the Financial Times, called on fellow Republicans to accept the need for the rich to pay more tax, albeit through closing loopholes such as tax deductions.
Other Republicans favour ending the right of Americans to deduct mortgage interest payments from their taxable income – something analysts say is likely to hurt the middle classes far more than top earners.
During his news conference on Wednesday, Mr Obama was dismissive of a loophole-only reform, telling reporters that “the math tends not to work” in helping to cut the deficit.
“It really is arithmetic, not calculus,” he said.
The president has long opposed extending the Bush-era tax cuts for earnings above $ 250,000 a year, but gave into Republican demands in 2010 when the cuts were last up for renewal.
On Wednesday, Mr Obama said that would not happen this time.
“A modest tax increase on the wealthy is not going to break their backs,” he said. “They’ll still be wealthy.”
But the president said he was confident that the White House and Congress could reach a deal before 1 January to avoid the “fiscal cliff”, as the US economy could not afford it coming to pass.
He suggested the immediate extension of all the expiring tax cuts except the top rate, followed by a more comprehensive reform of the tax code as well as some of the US’ largest benefits programmes, including Social Security in 2013.
In doing so, he distanced himself from some in his own party who want the combined tax rises and cuts to happen, in order to give Mr Obama a better negotiating position.
‘Great distance’
On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned against extending all of the tax breaks that are due to expire in January as a way of giving Washington more time to broker a deal on the deficit.
Mr Geithner claimed doing this would create more uncertainty in the financial markets.
House Speaker John Boehner has scheduled a response to Mr Obama on Wednesday, as the White House planned to meet with congressional leaders on Friday, when both sides are expected to designate aides in search of a compromise.
Mr Obama met on Tuesday with allies from labour and liberal groups, and also invited a group of chief executives to the White House.
Earlier, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said that “many Republicans believe now is the time to sit down and talk more revenue”, saying up to 20 Republican senators are willing to work towards accommodation.
But Sen Durbin said “there is a great distance” between Republicans in the House and Senate.
“Basically it comes down to the question of whether Speaker Boehner is willing to look for a bipartisan solution.”
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Israel after an Israeli airstrike killed the military commander of Gaza‘s ruling Hamas.
In a statement read on state TV late Wednesday, spokesman Yasser Ali said that President Mohammed Morsi recalled the ambassador and asked the Arab League‘s Secretary General to convene an emergency ministerial meeting in the wake of the Gaza violence.
Morsi also called for an immediate cease fire between Israel and Hamas, an offshoot of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Israel says it struck in response to rocket attacks from Gaza.
Hours earlier, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group denounced the Israeli airstrike as a “crime that requires a quick Arab and international response to stem these massacres.”
Relations between Israel and Egypt have deteriorated since longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – When it comes to the iPhone, Steve Jobs created it, but Steve Wozniak got game.
The Apple co-founder will appear as a playable character in an upcoming iOS video game “Danny Trejo‘s Vengeance: Woz with a Coz.”
The game, slated to be released around November 22, puts Wozniak alongside “Machete” star Trejo in an 8-bit mobile game, fighting a city full of enemies with an assortment of weapons.
The plot is simple: “Woz” is forced to save his wife, J-Woz, after she is kidnapped by street thugs. Teaming up with Vengence, Woz tears up Fusion City in his quest to rescue her.
“Featuring an over-the-top, old school inspired action combined with a retro 8-bit and exciting gritty art style, players will enjoy Woz’s brain power, translator apps, Danny Trejo’s machetes, guns and other crazy upgrades,” a Facebook fan page devoted to the game says.
Other playable characters will include musician Baby Bash and MMA World Champion “Suga” Rashad Evans.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of screaming fans lined the black carpet late on Monday for the final “Twilight” film premiere as the cast of “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ bid farewell to the franchise and its loyal followers.
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and other cast members greeted fans known as “Twi-hards,” many of whom had camped out for days in downtown Los Angeles to catch a glimpse of their favorite actors and see the film before it is released in theaters on Friday.
Breaking Dawn – Part 2 will see the love story of human Bella Swan (Stewart), vampire Edward Cullen (Pattinson) and werewolf Jacob Black (Lautner) come to a tantalizing end, when Bella and Edward are forced to protect their child from an ancient vampire coven.
Stewart, who was finally able to embrace her wild side by playing Bella as a vampire, hoped people would enjoy the ultimate transformation of her character in the film.
“Bella has worked pretty hard to get to the point where they can have it all, and it’s fun to be there. She’s always been human, but now that she’s not, you’re just in full blown vampire land and it feels funny in a great way,” Stewart told Reuters.
More than 2,200 fans from all over the world came to camp out on a concrete plaza in downtown Los Angeles last week, where Twilight movie studio Summit laid out activities and marathon screenings of the previous movies.
All of the film’s main actors spent time signing autographs and posing for photographs with the loyal fans who had camped out in chilly November weather over five days.
Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen, said he hoped the fans would like the franchise’s swan song.
“I hope they feel it kind of respects them, because I think in a lot of ways that’s what we were thinking when we were making it,” the actor said.
Lautner, who plays werewolf Jacob, said he’d be sad to say goodbye to the films and his character and hoped fans would be happy with the conclusion of the final film.
“I’m feeling fantastic, sad, emotional, there’s a lot of things going on inside of me right now but I’m just trying to soak up every moment because this means the world to me,” Lautner said.
The three lead stars were joined by fellow cast members including Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning, as well as director Bill Condon and author Stephenie Meyer, whose Twilight novels kicked off the franchise and phenomenon.
Meyer said she would miss watching the three lead cast members evolve as actors and characters in the films.
“It’s really been great to watch them grow up, particularly Kristen because her character gets to evolve so much in this film, and to watch her be all powerful and really get to where the character was always meant to go, to be the fiercest of the fierce, was really rewarding for me,” the author said.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Paul Casciato)
