Meet the husband who battled breast cancer alongside his wife - but HE was the one to undergo a mastectomy

A man has told how he and his wife battled breast cancer at the same time, and adding to the unusual turn of events, he was the one to undergo a mastectomy.
Ron Bush, from Fort Mill, South Carolina, explained to WBTV that he was focused on looking after his wife, Phyllis, who was diagnosed with Paget's disease - a rare form of cancer in the skin around the nipple area - last fall.
But in the midst of her treatment, he developed a lump on the right side of his chest and a biopsy confirmed he had an 'aggressive' and 'invasive' form of breast cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes.

'I just didn't think it was something that men get,' he explained.
'It stung. It took something out of me. I went from being a caretaker for my wife, to her being the caretaker for me.'

Breast cancer in men is very rare and their lifetime risk of getting the disease is about one in 1,000, compared to one in eight for women.
It was Mr Bush's wife who first convinced him to go and seek help last December after she noticed a small lump on his right breast.

'I was just running my hand over my husband's chest and I felt this knot and I said: ''What's this?"' Mrs Bush recalled.
After much persuasion Mr Bush went to get a mammogram. Recounting the appointment he joked: 'They were trying to squeeze something that wasn't there!'
However, the results did not look good and he was sent on for an ultrasound and biopsy. Five days later, doctors broke the news that he also had breast cancer.
His wife of ten years had been diagnosed with the disease in her right breast just three months earlier.
Her treatment involved radiation and two lumpectomies, one in October and one in November, which meant she could keep her breast.
But Mr Bush was told because of the severity of his cancer, he would need immediate surgery to remove all of the skin over the breast, the lymph nodes underneath the arm, and the chest muscle.
Dr Sharon Giordano, a men's breast cancer specialist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas previously highlighted that in many cases men have a delayed diagnosis because they don't think they could be at risk.

'Men on average have an advanced disease because you have to have a lump to identify it. They don't examine their nipples,' she said.
Thankful that he caught his cancer early, Mr Bush is now raising awareness in his local church community about the importance of checking for symptoms.
'Men need to know.  It's not just a woman's disease. This is now my mission,' he said.
Mrs Bush, who is also back to health, concluded: 'This disease does not discriminate . . . on race, economic status or gender.'

WHAT IS BREAST CANCER IN MEN?
Many people do not realize that men have breast tissue and that they can develop breast cancer.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in the U.S. in 2012 about 2,190 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among men and about 410 men will die from the disease.
Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among men than among women, and the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000. The number of breast cancer cases in men, relative to the population, has been fairly stable over the last 30 years. The outlook for men with breast cancer was once thought to be worse than that for women, but recent studies have not found this to be true.
In fact, men and women with the same stage of breast cancer have fairly similar chances of survival.
SOURCE: www.cancer.org

Map shows world's 'most racist' countries (and the answers may surprise you)

An international poll has revealed the world's least tolerant countries - with Hong Kong at the top of the list and Britain near the bottom.
The global social attitudes study claims that the most racially intolerant populations are all in the developing world, with Bangladesh, Jordan and India in the top five.
By contrast, the study of 80 countries over three decades found Western countries were most accepting of other cultures with Britain, the U.S., Canada and Australia more tolerant than anywhere else.


The data come from the World Value Survey, which has long been measuring the social attitudes of people in different countries, as reported by the Washington Post.
The survey asked people what types of people they would refuse to live next to, and counted how many people chose the option 'people of a different race'.

Researchers have suggested that societies where more people do not want neighbours from other races can be considered less racially tolerant.
The country with the highest proportion of 'intolerant' people who wanted neighbours similar to them was Hong Kong, where 71.8 per cent of the population would refuse to live next to someone of a different race. Next were Bangladesh on 71.7 per cent, Jordan on 51.4 per cent and India with 43.5 per cent.

Racist views are strikingly rare in the U.S., according to the survey, which claims that only 3.8 per cent of residents are reluctant to have a neighbour of another race.
Other English-speaking countries once part of the British Empire shared the same tolerant attitude - fewer than five per cent of Britons, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders showed signs of racism.
People in the UK are also tolerant of other differences such as speaking a foreign language or practising an alternative religion - for example, fewer than two per cent of Britons would object to having neighbours of a different faith to them.
Similarly, fewer than one in 20 people in most South American countries admitted harbouring prejudice against other races.


The Middle East, which is currently dealing with large numbers of low-skilled immigrants from south Asia, seems to be a hotbed of racial tension, however.
Europe is remarkably split - the west of the continent is generally more tolerant than the east, but France is a striking outlier with 22.7 per cent of the French rejecting neighbourhood diversity.
Some have pointed out problems in the survey data, claiming that because the polls span a long period of time they are an unreliable guide to current attitudes.
However, a more serious flaw could be the fact that in most Western countries racism is so taboo than many people will hide their intolerant views and lie to the questioners.
Max Fisher of the Washington Post suggested that maybe 'Americans are conditioned by their education and media to keep these sorts of racial preferences private, i.e. to lie about them on surveys, in a way that Indians might not be'.


THE LEAST TOLERANT COUNTRIES...
1) Hong Kong - 71.8% of people do not want to live next to someone of a different race
2) Bangladesh - 71.7%
3) Jordan - 51.4%
4) India - 43.5%
5) Saudi Arabia - 37.7%


...AND THE MOST OPEN-MINDED
1) Sweden - 1.4% of people do not want to live next to someone of a different race
2) Argentina - 2.0%
3) Norway - 2.8%
4) Canada - 2.9%
5) U.S. - 3.8%

England star David Beckham brings to an end his glittering football career as he retires at 38

The ex-England captain, who has played 115 times for his country, has decided to call it a day after winning the French league title with Paris St Germain, starring in his last game at the weekend, right. Beckham said: 'I'm thankful to PSG for giving me the opportunity to continue but I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level.' Whatever his connections to Manchester United, England fans will be forever grateful for his last-minute free-kick against Greece, above centre, in 2001 which secured a place in the 2002 World Cup. Becks will now be able to spend more time with his family, wife Victoria, daughter Harper and sons Brooklyn, Cruz and Romeo, all pictured left. Pictured right he is shown holding the Champions League trophy after Man Utd defeated Bayern Munich in 1999, then, clockwise with Real Madrid's Spanish SuperCup in 2003, winning the French Ligue 1 title with PSG and the MLS championship with LA Galaxy in 2012. He also played for AC Milan on loan and, way back in 1994, Preston North End.

Kenyans release pigs in front of the parliament to protest members’ greed

A policeman tries to control pigs left by protestors outside the parliament buildings during a demonstration in Nairobi. (Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

A group of Kenyans unhappy with the members of parliament who demanded a reversal of the government’s decision to slash their pay found an unusual way to protest Tuesday.

Protesters said the parliamentarians are greedy to demand the higher pay and they released three dozen pigs and spilled pig’s blood at the entrance of the Kenyan parliament, referring to the MPs as “MPigs.” According to the Associated Press, about 250 protesters marched through Nairobi and staged a sit-in at the parliament entrance. One of the protesters interviewed by the AP said they protested with the pigs to show the MPs what they have become.

Kenya’s MPs, who are said to have among the highest salaries in the world, are demanding a salary of $10,000 per month, says the BBC, following a decision by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to bring down the pay to $6,300.

The idea of releasing pigs with painted message on their bodies was met with sarcasm as well as criticism on the web. Here are some reactions:

Angelina Jolie has a double mastectomy: Film star takes agonising decision to have both breasts removed after learning she had an 87% risk of getting cancer

Angelina Jolie today revealed that she was forced to make the agonizing decision to have a preventative double mastectomy, after tests showed she had an 87 per cent chance of contracting cancer.
The actress opened up about her traumatic experience in the New York Times, saying that she made the decision to undergo the procedure in February after learning that she is a carrier of the deadly BRCA1 cancer gene.
The 37-year-old's mother Marcheline Bertrand died at the age of 56 from ovarian cancer, which Angelina revealed she had a high chance of contracting.
But the Hollywood star has not let the life-changing operation interfere with public engagements - she visited the Republic of Congo on March 26 on humanitarian duties and attended the G8 summit in London on April 11 with William Hague, after her initial operations but before the all the procedures had finished.


Writing in an editorial piece entitled 'My Medical Choice' in the New York Times, Angelina explained her decision, revealing that she had the initial procedure on February 16th before having the reconstruction operation on April 20th.
She wrote: 'My doctors estimated that I had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.
'Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 per cent risk of getting it, on average.
'Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.
'I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.
'On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.'
The star's surgery was successful and doctors say Angelina's chances of developing breast cancer have now lowered to less than 5 per cent.
'I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy,' she wrote. 'But it is one I am very happy that I made.
'My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.'


'I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries.
'We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.'
Angelina assured that having the double mastectomy hasn't changed the way she feels about herself and her womanliness, and added that results of reconstructive surgery 'can be beautiful'.
'On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman,' she said. 'I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.'
In addition, the brave star hopes that she can encourage other women to be informed and consider their options.


'I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness.
'But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.'
Angelina added: 'For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.
'I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be will able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.
'Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.'


Foreign Secretary William Hague, who in March visited refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Jolie as part of a campaign to highlight the problem of mass rape in conflict areas, said she was 'a brave lady' who would be 'an inspiration to many'.
Mr Hague told Sky News: 'She is a courageous lady and a very professional lady. She’s done a lot of work with me in recent months.
'She also came over to the G8 foreign ministers’ summit in London to work with me on our initiative on preventing sexual violence in conflict and travelled with me through some difficult places in the Congo.
'She gave no sign that she was undergoing such treatment and I think she’s a very brave lady, not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment, but also to write about it now and talk about it. I think that she’s a brave lady and will be an inspiration to many.'


Angelina isn't the only celebrity to make the difficult decision to have a preventative mastectomy after discovering she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene.
Sharon Osbourne revealed last year that she had undergone the procedure after previously battling colon cancer back in 2002.
Explaining the decision, Sharon said at the time: 'As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought, "The odds are not in my favour."
'I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud. I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy.'
Former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton also underwent a preventative double mastectomy after discovering she carried the BRCA2 gene, meaning she had up to an 80% chance of getting breast cancer.
Speaking about Angelina's decision on Daybreak on Tuesday morning, Michelle said: 'I can't even stress how much of an impact that I had talking to women to say that I was going through this, it was such a huge impact. Imagine what impact somebody as huge as Angelina Jolie can have on this.'
And E! News presenter Giuliana Rancic, who had a double mastectomy in December 2012 after being diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2011, was quick to tweet her support for Angelina, writing: 'Proud of her for using her incredible platform to educate women.'

Video: "If they arrest me, Nigeria will be history' - says Asari Dokubo

The founder of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force says Nigeria will be history if he's ever arrested again. He said the last time he was arrested, his arrest reduced Nigeria's oil production to 700 per thousand barrel, this time it will be zero. Wow! Watch the video

Meet Jacob Barnett, a 14-year old with a higher IQ than Albert Einstein (Video)

At the age of 2, Jacob Barnett’s parents were told their son was autistic and might never be able to read or write.

12 years later, and Jacob has an IQ of 170, is on his way to getting a Ph. D in Quantum Physics, and has been tipped as a future Nobel Prize winner.

The doctors could not have been more baffled.

Since enrolling at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) at the age of 10, Barnett has flourished — astounding his professors, peers and family with his spectacular intelligence.

The teen tutors other college students in subjects like calculus and is a published scientific researcher, with an IQ that is believed to be higher than that of Albert Einstein. In fact, according to a 2011 TIME report, Barnett, who frequently tops his college classes, has asserted that he may one day disprove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. See the video below.

At the age of 2, Jacob Barnett’s parents were told their son was autistic and might never be able to read or write.

12 years later, and Jacob has an IQ of 170, is on his way to getting a Ph. D in Quantum Physics, and has been tipped as a future Nobel Prize winner.

The doctors could not have been more baffled.

Since enrolling at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) at the age of 10, Barnett has flourished — astounding his professors, peers and family with his spectacular intelligence.

The teen tutors other college students in subjects like calculus and is a published scientific researcher, with an IQ that is believed to be higher than that of Albert Einstein. In fact, according to a 2011 TIME report, Barnett, who frequently tops his college classes, has asserted that he may one day disprove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. See the video Below.

Extremism in Nigeria: Africa's great unreported bloodletting

The Independent

At first, the Islamic extremists in Nigeria's dusty north-east rode on the backs of motorcycles, firing on government officials and other perceived enemies with worn Kalashnikovs hidden beneath their flowing robes. Now, they come prepared for war.

When Islamic fighters drove into a town in north-eastern Nigeria last week, they used anti-aircraft guns, mounted on the backs of trucks, to destroy nearly every landmark of the nation's federal government. Fighters also rode in on at least one bus, the military said, while in other assaults insurgents have fired rocket-propelled grenades.

The militarisation of Islamic radicals in the north comes after witnesses saw Nigerian fighters mingle with the extremists who took over northern Mali in the weeks following a coup there. It also comes after fighters seized massive deposits of Nigerian military equipment and have gained access to arms smuggled out of the lawlessness of Libya.

Those new arms, and the willingness of extremists to use them, highlight the increasing instability in Nigeria's north and the ever-growing dangers facing the nation's weak central government. With dozens dead in other incidents in the past few days, the violence in this country is mounting, but has yet to make headlines in the West. This is, in ways that Mali – with the intervention of French troops – was not, Africa's great silent bloodletting.

"Each year, they grow in prominence and sophistication," said David Zounmenou, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa. "That's what's making the fighting that much more difficult for the Nigerian security forces."

The sophistication of the fighters, who are most likely from the extremist network Boko Haram, could be seen in their assault on Bama, a town some 40 miles south-east of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. The military said some 200 fighters in buses and pickup trucks laid siege to the town. In their arsenal were truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns, weapons seen during the civil war in Libya and the recent fighting in northern Mali.

That attack in Bama killed at least 42 people, as well as 13 others that authorities described as Boko Haram fighters. The insurgents' heavy weapons helped them overrun the barracks of the Nigerian army's 202nd Battalion, as well as a police station, a police barracks, a magistrate's court, local government offices and a federal prison. The extremist fighters freed 105 prisoners during their assault, a Nigerian military spokesman, Lt-Col Sagir Musa, said.

The use of such weapons marks a transformation of Nigeria's Islamist insurgency, which grew out of a riot in 2009 led by Boko Haram members in Maiduguri. That ended in a military and police crackdown that killed 700 people. The group's leader died in police custody in an apparent execution-style murder, fuelling dissent that broke into the open in 2010 with the targeted killings of government officials, security agents and religious leaders who spoke out against Boko Haram.

Since then, Islamists have engaged in hit-and-run shootings and suicide bombings, attacks that have killed at least 1,618 people, according to an Associated Press count. That number doesn't include the killing in April this year of at least 187 people in the fishing village of Baga during fighting between extremists and security forces, as witnesses and human rights activists said Nigeria's military killed civilians and burned thousands of homes and businesses.

Casualties are expected to rise as the extremists now have access to sophisticated weaponry. While in the past decade Nigeria's military has fought against heavily armed militants and criminal gangs operating in the creeks of its oil-rich southern delta, analysts and security officials say those groups never had access to anti-aircraft weapons. Nor did those groups launch attacks on military barracks, or level towns.

Where the weaponry has come from also remains unclear. A propaganda video released in March by Boko Haram, featuring its leader, Abubakar Shekau, showed fighters gathered around weapons they said they had stolen from an attack on an army barracks. Those weapons included what appeared to be heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and possibly anti-aircraft weapons, as well as ammunition and brand-new bulletproof vests.

Another source of tactics and weapons may come from northern Mali, where Nigerian extremists had joined the fighting.

"Boko Haram will also likely recruit militants who fought and obtained new skills from warfare in Mali," wrote the analyst Jacob Zenn in a recent publication by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Army's West Point. "The Boko Haram attack on an army barracks in Monguno... in which the militants mounted weapons on four-wheel drive vehicles, and the discovery of improvised fighting vehicles in a raid on a Boko Haram hideout in Maiduguri... suggest that Boko Haram has already learned new methods of fighting from the Islamist militants in Mali."

Abubakar Shekau is a shadowy figure, now seen mainly in propaganda footage released by the group. Part theorist and part hoodlum, the former theology student is known to be taciturn, but other details remain murky. Even his age – said sometimes to be 34, on other occasions to be nearer 43 – is a matter of conjecture. And even his very existence has been disputed, as Nigerian authorities believed that he had been killed in 2009, only for him to re-emerge in Boko Haram videos.

Meanwhile, arms are likely to continue to come out of Libya from heavily armed militias there, Mr Zounmenou said. He explained that arms can be transported quickly through the Sahara and into West Africa's Sahel to Nigeria, a major shipment stop for illegal weapons.

While Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has spoken before about the need to control arms shipments throughout West Africa, the trade continues largely unhindered. And as more of those weapons end up in the hands of Islamists in Nigeria's north, more violence can be expected.

"They are now really going to war," Mr Zounmenou said. It is not surprising that on Thursday, the Nigerian President abandoned a much-heralded diplomatic visit to southern Africa to return home to speak to security services about the increased body counts from violence across his nation.

FBI surrounds house of Saudi student following sightings of him with pressure cooker pot, only to find he was cooking rice

A Saudi student living in Michigan was questioned in his home by FBI agents after neighbours saw him carrying a pressure cooker and called the police.
Talal al Rouki had been cooking a traditional Saudi Arabian rice dish called kabsah and was carrying it to a friend's house.
According to reports in a Saudi newspaper on Friday, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about 'pressure cooker' home-made bombs after the Boston bombers used one to make an explosive.

The Saudi journal, Oukaz reported on the story of the Saudi student who had FBI agents come to his home, following a tip-off from neighbours that he was seen moving about with a pressure cooker bomb.
While armed agents surrounded his apartment block, other agents, asked a 'nervous' Mr al Rouki if they could come in to question him.

'They asked me about my major, when I arrived in the US and what I do in my spare time' he told the Saudi newspaper.
Officers said that two days earlier that a woman had seen him walking out of his apartment carrying the pressure cooker pot, which was described as ‘bullet coloured’.

A pressure cooker bomb, similar to the ones used by the Boston bombers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev

The young student showed them his pressure cooker and explained to them he used to make a rice dish.
An FBI agent said: 'You need to be more careful moving around with such things, Sir'
Mr al Rouki has become a focus of attention now in the Saudi press.
According to reports in a Saudi newspaper, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about ‘pressure cooker’ home-made bombs and have a keen eye on Arabs who reside in the US.

One of Britain's most wanted arrested in spectacular police raid on his Spanish villa as he sunbathed with his girlfriend

 One of Britain's most wanted criminals has been arrested in a police raid of his Spanish home.
Convicted armed robber Andrew Moran, 31, was sunbathing with his girlfriend at his swimming pool when officers stormed his house.
Moran was named in a top 10 most wanted list in October 2011 and was described by police as a 'violent thug'.


He took part in a gang raid on a Royal Mail vehicle in Lancashire in May 2005.
The gang threatened a security guard at gunpoint in Lancashire and stole £25,000.
Moran has been on the run since he fled from the dock at Burnley Crown Court during a trial in February 2009.
He assaulted four dock officers and escaped. The jury later returned a guilty verdict and Moran was convicted in his absence.

Video footage shows Moran was caught and handcuffed on the ground in a pair of red shorts after a botched attempt to escape from his home in the Costa Blanca resort of Denia near Alicante.
It emerged today that Moran narrowly escaped capture last November after driving the wrong way up a motorway to flee police.
Spanish officers revealed he had smashed into two police cars in a 4x4 after being tracked down to the spa town of Los Alcazares in Murcia, south east Spain, before escaping up the wrong way of the busy AP7 motorway which runs along the Mediterranean coast.


His arrest was carried out by elite police from Spain's Special Group of Operations, who protect VIPs as well as deal with terrorist attacks.
Video footage released by police shows officers surrounding Moran's home before chasing him into bushes round his pool after he spotted one of the officers and tried to escape dressed in red shorts and a T-shirt.
Two guns, cartridges and several mobile phones were seized during a search of the property.


He was taken straight to Madrid after his capture for an extradition hearing at Spain's Central Criminal Court.
It is thought the hearing will take place tomorrow.
Lancashire Police Detective Inspector Simon Cheyte said of Moran's crime after he was placed on the most wanted list: 'This is a very serious offence and we are determined to get Moran back before the courts to serve the time for his crime.'

He's still her little boy! Drake, 6ft, goes for a stroll with his tiny mother Sandi in Toronto

He will always be her little boy.
But that did not stop RnB star Drake dwarfing his mother Sandi when they went for a stroll in Toronto on Wednesday.
They looked like they were having a great time as they enjoyed the brisk morning air in the native Canada.


Drake, who his mother no doubt still calls by his first name Aubrey, looked in good shape in a black and white pullover, cream trousers and boots.
The 26-year-old's teacher mother, who is at least a foot shorter than her strapping six-foot tall son, wore a black jacket, trousers and trainers.
However it seems she is still something of a fashionista herself, as she brightened up the ensemble with a leopard print scarf.
The singer, whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham was born in 1986 and his father Dennis Graham is a drummer who worked with rock and roll trailblazer Jerry Lee Lewis.

Drake's father is an African American from Memphis, Tennessee, while his mother is a Jewish Canadian.
They divorced when he was five years old, and he was raised by Sandi in Toronto, attending a Jewish day school and even having a Bar Mitzvah

Talking about his mother and his how he had a tough childhood despite growing up in an affluent neighbourhood, he previously said: 'My mother happens to be a Jewish woman. She wanted the best for her family. She found us a half of a house we could live in.

'The other people had the top half, we had the bottom half. I lived in the basement, my mom lived on the first floor. It was not big, it was not luxurious. It was what we could afford.'
They are certainly not struggling anymore, with Drake now one of the world's top entertainers, his last album Take Care debuted at the top of the charts and has sold millions of copies.

Grandson of Malcolm X 'beaten to death in robbery' in Mexico 15 years after he was jailed for starting fire which killed his grandmother

Malcolm X's grandson Malcolm Shabazz died in Mexico on Thursday.

The 28-year-old was reportedly beaten to death during a robbery but the circumstances surrounding the death are unclear. 

The son of Malcolm X's second daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, had a troubled childhood and at the age of 12 pleaded guilty in 1997 to setting a fire that killed his grandmother, Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz.

The man is believed to have died early on Thursday after sustaining serious injuries from an assault, with The Amsterdam News reporting he was either thrown from a building or was shot in the course of a robbery.

The location of the rumored attack has not yet been confirmed, as some websites have claimed he died in Tijuana and other news outlets have listed the place of death as Mexico City. 

Shabazz was reportedly in Mexico to meet with labor movement organizers, Talking Points Memo said.

Juan Ruiz, part of the California-based labor group Rumec, told the website that Shabazz was in Mexico City to meet with one of Rumec's leaders, Miguel Suarez. 

Suarez had been deported from the United States last month. 

'He’s a supporter of our organization. He went to Mexico to meet with Miguel,' Mr Ruiz told TPM.

'He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didn't allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital. This is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime,' he added. 

Imam Dawud Walid, an acquaintance of Shabazz and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, told NBC Newns, 'I do know that Malcolm was involved in human rights and that he had a relationship with a gentleman named Suarez in Mexico.'

The U.S. State Department confirmed on Friday that a U.S. citizen had been killed in Mexico City but said it was not releasing the individual's name at the family's request.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City is closed on Friday as Mexico celebrates Mother's Day.

The Amsterdam News first reported the man's death and later stated that the U.S. Embassy had confirmed the death. 

A family friend of the Shabazz family, Terrie M. Williams, wrote in a Facebook posting, 'I'm confirming, per US Embassy, on behalf of the family, the tragic death of Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of Malcolm X. Statement from family to come.'

Malcolm Shabazz was born in 1984 and never met his activist grandfather, who was assassinated in 1965 in New York. 

Malcom Shabazz's father was an Algerian man, his mother had a relationship with when she studied in Paris.

His mother struggled with alcohol and drug addiction so during his childhood Malcolm Shabazz lived with various relatives. 

Tragedy struck with the youth set fire to his grandmother's apartment in Yonkers, New York in 1997. The woman, Betty Shabazz, sustained burns over 80 per cent of her body and died

Malcom Shabazz, then aged 12, was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for pleading guilty to manslaughter and arson.

At a court hearing in the case, experts described Shabazz as psychotic and schizophrenic.

After his release, he returned to jail in 2002 for a robbery charge and was arrested again in 2006. 

He claimed earlier in 2013 that he was being harassed by the FBI, in an impassioned blog posting. 

Shabazz described himself as the 'first male heir of the greatest revolutionary leader of the 20th century,' on his Twitter profile. 

On his Twitter profile he lists Washington D.C. as his hometown but was said to be attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York before his death.

He suggested on his blog that he was an aspiring writer and was in the process of working on the manuscripts for two books. 

'Malcolm is a humble, passionate and forceful speaker who’s emerging as a voice for our generation as a writer,' his biography states. 

He is survived by his mother and two daughters.

Seven cyber hackers 'stole $45 million in just 10 hours' by draining cash machines in one of world's biggest ever bank heists

Seven cyber hackers have been charged with stealing $45 million from 27 countries worldwide in one of the world's biggest ever bank heists.
The sophisticated cyber criminals are said to have stolen the cash from thousands of bank automated teller machines in just 10 hours.
They used hacked debit-card data to make 40,500 transactions worldwide, U.S. prosecutors said today.
Authorities said they arrested these seven U.S. citizens and residents of Yonkers, New York: Jael Mejia Collado, Joan Luis Minier Lara, Evan Jose Peña, Jose Familia Reyes, Elvis Rafael Rodriguez, Emir Yasser Yeje and Chung Yu-Holguin.
The eighth defendant charged in the indictment, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Peña, also known as 'Prime' and 'Albertico,' was murdered on April 27 in the Dominican Republic, according to prosecutors.
Lynch said it was unclear whether the murder was related to the cybercrime case.
Members of the global criminal organization hacked into two credit card processors and used stolen data to make the withdrawals, during two separate coordinated incidents in December 2012 and February 2013, the Justice Department said.

The government charged eight individuals in New York with participating in the larger scheme by withdrawing $2.8 million in thousands of ATM transactions, in what U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said was the second-biggest bank robbery in the history of New York City.

Lynch said it was likely that the headquarters of the global scheme was located outside the United States and that the current charges focused only on the New York-based cell.
Investigators were examining whether other cells were operating elsewhere in the United States, she said.
'In the place of guns and masks, this cyber crime organization used laptops and the Internet.
'Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York City, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours,' said Lynch, whose office in Brooklyn, New York, brought the case.

The case demonstrates the major threat that cyber crime poses to banks around the world.
Security experts frequently identify electronic fraud as one of the key challenges facing banks today.
'Hackers only need to find one vulnerability to cause millions of dollars of damage,' said Mark Rasch, a former federal cyber crimes prosecutor, based in Bethesda, Maryland.
In the December attack, hackers gained access to an Indian credit card processor that handled prepaid Mastercard Inc debit cards for National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC, or RAKBANK, according to a criminal indictment.
In February, the hackers broke into the system of a U.S.-based credit card processor to steal account numbers for prepaid Mastercard debit cards issued by Bank of Muscat, the indictment said.
The second operation was far larger than the first attack, eventually totaling $40 million in losses to Bank of Muscat.


In late February, Bank Muscat disclosed that it would take an impairment charge of up to 15 million rials ($39 million) because it had been defrauded overseas using 12 prepaid debit cards used for travel.
That charge was equal to more than half of the 25 million rials profit it posted in its first quarter ended March 31.
The indictment does not identify the processor companies.
Bank representatives could not be reached for comment outside of regular business hours.
In both cases, the hackers boosted the available balance for each card and eliminated the withdrawal limits, allowing them to take out huge sums of money from ATMs in what prosecutors called an 'unlimited operation.'
A single account number, for instance, yielded nearly $9 million in profits, including $2.4 million in New York City alone, prosecutors said.
The hackers distributed the account numbers to coordinated 'casher' crews stationed across the globe, who siphoned millions of dollars from ATMs within a span of hours in December 2012 and February 2013.


One of the New York defendants was caught in surveillance footage from ATMs in Manhattan during the February operation, prosecutors said.  
After the cards were shut down, cashers laundered the proceeds, often by purchasing luxury goods, and sent a portion of the money back to the organization's leaders, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and bank accounts, as well as two Rolex watches and a Mercedes SUV, from the New York defendants.
No individual bank accounts were compromised by the scheme, Lynch said.
It wasn't immediately known which lawyers were representing the defendants.

Fake nuns arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine through airport dressed in religious disguise

Three women have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs through an airport dressed as nuns.
The smugglers were stopped as they arrived at a popular Colombian holiday destination, because police thought that their outfits did not look real.
Officers found that each of the women had more than 4lb of cocaine strapped to her legs.


Adding insult to injury, the smugglers were paraded in front of cameras still dressed in their bizarre disguise.
The three women, aged 20, 32 and 37, had landed on the island of San Andres on a flight from Bogota on Saturday morning.


Police captain Oscar Davila said the women appeared to be nervous, and added that the fabric of their habits did not look right.
When the fake nuns were stopped and searched, they were found to have a huge haul of cocaine strapped to their bodies.


All three burst into tears and insisted they had only taken to smuggling because of their financial problems, Mr Davila said.
The women were arrested and jailed on charges of drug trafficking.
The drugs had an estimated street value of around $35,000 (£23,000), according to local police commissioner Jorge Gomez.


'They weren't really religious, they weren't nuns,' he said. 'On the contrary, they were taking advantage of this situation.'
San Andres, located in the Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua, is one of Colombia's most popular resorts for residents and tourists.
However, it is also located on a major drug-smuggling route for transporting cocaine between mainland Colombia and Central America.

Nigeria Moves Three Places Up In May FIFA Rankings....

The Super Eagles of Nigeria has moved up three places in the latest FIFA rankings released Thursday by the World football governing body.

Uganda has also moved up one place to 91st in the latest Coca-Cola FIFA World Rankings despite a lack of International games for the Cranes.

Tanzania and Kenya remain rooted in 116th and 122th respectively while Rwanda have dropped 1 place to 135th on the standings.

Ivory Coast remains the top ranked African team in 12th place while Ghana, Mali, 2013 AFCON champions Nigeria and Algeria round off the top five sides on the continent.

Heavyweights South Africa are the biggest gainers, jumping 6 places to 56th and now sit in 9th place on the continent; their first top 10 placing since January.

With little changes, the top three in the World rankings remained the same from last month’s as champions, Spain hold onto the number one spot ahead of Germany and Argentina.

The May edition of the world ranking recorded very few changes compared to the previous month.

According to FIFA, more movement is to be expected in the table in June, when the World Cup qualifiers resume in Africa and teams that qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup play their first warm-up matches.

Africa has eight teams in the top 50 – (UEFA: 26; CONMEBOL: 9; CAF: 8; AFC: 3; OFC: 0).