Mediterranean diet can ward off heart disease: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A Mediterranean diet high in olive oil, nuts, fish and fresh fruits and vegetables may help prevent heart disease and strokes, according to a new large study from Spain.

Past research suggested people who eat a Mediterranean-like diet have healthier hearts, but those studies couldn’t rule out that other health or lifestyle differences had made the difference.

For the new trial, researchers randomly assigned study volunteers at risk of heart disease to a Mediterranean or standard low-fat diet for five years, allowing the team to single out the effect of diet, in particular.

“This is good news, because we know how to prevent the main cause of deaths – that is cardiovascular disease – with a good diet,” said Dr. Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, who worked on the study at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona.

He and colleagues from across Spain assigned almost 7,500 older adults with diabetes or other heart risks to one of three groups.

Two groups were instructed to eat a Mediterranean diet – one supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and the other with nuts, both donated for the study – with help from personalized advice and group meetings. The third study group ate a “control” diet, which emphasized low-fat dairy products, grains and fruits and vegetables.

Over the next five years, 288 study participants had a heart attack or stroke or died of any type of cardiovascular disease.

People on both Mediterranean diets were 28 to 30 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those on the general low-fat diet, the researchers reported Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The new study is the first randomized trial of any diet pattern to show benefit among people initially without heart disease, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, who studies nutrition and cardiovascular disease at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

NOT DUE TO SINGLE INGREDIENT

It’s the blend of Mediterranean diet components – not one particular ingredient – that promotes heart health, according to Martinez-Gonzalez.

“The quality of fat in the Mediterranean diet is very good,” he told Reuters Health. “This good source of calories is replacing other bad sources of calories. In addition, there is a wide variety of plant foods in the Mediterranean diet,” including legumes and fruits as desserts, Martinez-Gonzalez added.

“I think it’s a combination of what’s eaten and what’s not eaten,” agreed Mozaffarian, who wasn’t involved in the new research.

“Things that are discouraged are refined breads and sweets, sodas and red meats and processed meats,” he told Reuters Health. “The combination of more of the good things and less of the bad things is important.”

Martinez-Gonzalez suggested people seeking to improve their diet start with small changes, such as forgoing meat one or two days per week, cooking with olive oil and drinking red wine with meals rather than hard alcohol.

Replacing a high-carbohydrate or high-saturated fat snack with a handful of nuts is also a helpful change, said Teresa Fung, a nutrition researcher at Simmons College in Boston who also wasn’t on the study team.

“All of these steps are making, at the end of the day, a big difference,” Martinez-Gonzalez said.

Fung pointed out many people in the new trial were already on medications, such as statins and diabetes drugs.

“The way I see it is, even if people are on medication already, diet has substantial additional benefit,” she told Reuters Health.

That’s likely the case for people without heart risks – including high blood pressure or cholesterol – as well, Fung added.

“This is a high-risk group, but I don’t think people should wait until they become high-risk in order to change,” she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YuyV7v New England Journal of Medicine, online February 25, 2013.

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Warning about student ‘money mules’

25 February 2013 Last updated at 19:03 ET

By Simon Gompertz Personal finance correspondent, BBC News

Fraud experts are warning that hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of being duped into laundering money for fraudsters.

They are being recruited as unwitting “money mules” who allow their own bank accounts to be used to disguise the proceeds of crime.

The study was carried out by Financial Fraud Action, which tackles fraud on behalf of banks.

It said that students and jobseekers could be especially vulnerable.

Some 19% of students who had been approached had agreed to become money mules.

“It’s a very serious problem,” warns DCI Dave Carter, an investigator from Financial Fraud Action.

“Almost every single criminal transaction that goes on depends on money mules, to turn the money from crime into something the criminals can spend themselves.”

How it works

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It just makes you feel sick. I don’t want it to happen again.”

End Quote Kayleigh Rance job-seeker

The fraudsters contact likely targets by sending out mass emails offering employment, or after sifting through CVs posted by job seekers on employment websites.

Then they offer jobs as “money transfer agents”, “payment processing agents” or “administration assistants” for salaries of hundreds of pounds a week.

It looks like a proper job offer, but the real purpose is to channel cash from criminal activity through a person’s own bank account, making them the fraudster’s money mule.

Kayleigh Rance has been hunting for work for a year. She was taken in and even signed a contract. Then, luckily, she pulled out.

“It just makes you feel a bit sick,” she complains, “I feel like I’ve got to go through all the websites now and take my CV off because I don’t want it to happen again.”

The dirty cash comes from credit card fraud, money stolen from bank accounts and other rip-offs.

Paying it into the money mule’s account disguises where it comes from. The mule transfers it to an account in an overseas bank, controlled by the fraudster. It is classic money laundering.

Some money mules are paid by a straightforward cut of the cash being handled. A typical share would be 8%.

Campaign

The first mules tended to be new entrants to the UK, processing funds generated by crime within their own communities in London and other major cities.

But the power of the internet has allowed the perpetrators to start targeting other groups, including students desperate to earn some extra cash.

Financial Fraud Action commissioned ICM to question 2,000 adults along with separate groups exclusively made up of students, jobseekers and new entrants to the UK.

Around 15% had received the suspect job offers. Overall 6% of those who had been approached accepted the offers, rising to 13% of the unemployed, 19% of students and 20% of new entrants.

Crimestoppers is running a campaign in universities across the UK to warn students not to be fooled into becoming involved, telling them: “Don’t be a mule!”.

‘Colossal risk’

Megan Owen, who is studying criminology, volunteered to help at one recent event in Birmingham City University.

“Lots of students we approached said they’d been affected or their friends had been affected,” she said.

Extrapolating from its survey, Financial Fraud Action concludes that 380,000 people could have become unwitting money mules.

The figure is a stab in the dark, but it is clear that the problem is becoming worse and that few of those who become involved understand the risks they are running.

Their bank accounts could be frozen. If prosecuted, they could be sent to prison for up to 10 years.

“It’s a colossal risk,” warns DCI Carter. “In fact you are taking almost all the risk on behalf of the criminal. That’s why they ask – the money mules are the ones most likely to be caught.”

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Italy election forecasts point to political gridlock

ROME (Reuters) – Conflicting early forecasts of the result of Italy‘s election on Monday raised the specter of deadlock in parliament that could paralyze a new government and re-ignite the euro zone crisis.

Officials from both center and left warned that such gridlock could make Italy ungovernable and force new elections.

Opinion polls have long pointed to the center-left of Pier Luigi Bersani winning the lower house, but projections from RAI state television showed Silvio Berlusconi‘s center right in front in the Senate – which has equal lawmaking power – but unable to form a majority.

RAI showed the center-left well short of a majority in the Senate even in coalition with Monti, who was seen slumping to only 19 out of 315 elected Senators against a massive 65 for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo.

Senate votes are counted before the lower house.

The latest projections ran counter to earlier telephone polls that showed the center left taking a strong lead in the Senate as well as the lower house.

Italian financial markets took fright after rising earlier on hopes for a stable and strong center-left led government, probably backed by outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti.

Such government is seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in the euro zone’s third largest economy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.

Berlusconi’s declared aim is to win enough power in the Senate to paralyze a center-left administration.

The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 280 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains.

“These projections suggest that we are heading for an ungovernable situation”, said Mario Secchi, a candidate for Monti’s centrist movement.

Stefano Fassina, chief economic official for Bersani’s center-left, said: “The scenario from the projections we have seen so far suggest there will be no stable government and we would need to return to the polls.”

The earlier telephone polls on Sky and Rai television after voting ended at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT/9 a.m. ET) had shown the center left 5-6 points ahead of the center right in both Senate and lower house, with Grillo taking third place.

Adding to the confusion, official results from more than 50 percent of polling stations showed the center-left ahead with 32.7 percent against 29.5 for the center-right in the Senate race. The partial official count is often not representative because of the order in which votes are counted regionally.

Italy’s electoral laws guarantee a strong majority in the lower house to the party or coalition that wins the biggest share of the national vote.

However the Senate, elected on a region-by-region basis, is more complicated and the result will turn on four key battleground regions. Projections from LA 7 showed Berlusconi winning in three of them: Lombardy, Sicily and Campania.

A Sky television projection showed him strongly ahead in the rich northern region Lombardy, which returns the largest number of Senators, with 38.8 percent against 27.6 for the center left.

BITTER CAMPAIGN

A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, has made some investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, in 2011.

Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome’s borrowing costs were spiraling out of control, but the polls and projections suggested few Italians now see him as the savior of the country, in its longest recession for 20 years.

A surge in protest votes for Grillo’s 5-Star Movement had raised uncertainty about the chances of a stable government that could fend off the danger of a renewed euro zone crisis.

Grillo’s movement rode a huge wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti’s austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.

“I’m sick of the scandals and the stealing,” said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star.

“We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited.”

Bad weather, including heavy snow in some areas, was thought to have hampered the turnout in Italy’s first post-war election to be held in winter. This could have favored the center left, whose voters tend to be more committed than those on the right, which has strong support among older people.

Berlusconi, a 76-year-old media tycoon, pledged sweeping tax cuts and accused Monti of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a media blitz that halved the lead of the center left in opinion polls since the start of the year.

Whatever government emerges will inherit an economy that has been stagnant for much of the past two decades and problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.

(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Lisa Jucca in Milan; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Philippa Fletcher)

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‘Identity Thief’ tops box office with $14 million

NEW YORK (AP) — A week after losing the box office title to Bruce Willis, Melissa McCarthy took it back again.

McCarthy’s road trip comedy “Identity Thief” topped the box office in its third week of release on Oscar weekend with $ 14 million for Universal. 20th Century Fox‘s “A Good Day to Die Hard,” starring Willis, slid to fifth with $ 10.1 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. “Identity Thief,” Universal, $ 14,017,085, 3,222 locations, $ 4,350 average, $ 93,619,615, three weeks.

2. “Snitch,” Lionsgate, $ 13,167,607, 2,511 locations, $ 5,244 average, $ 13,167,607, one week.

3. “Escape From Planet Earth,” Weinstein Co., $ 10,682,037, 3,353 locations, $ 3,186 average, $ 34,812,699, two weeks.

4. “Safe Haven,” Relativity Media, $ 10,454,713, 3,223 locations, $ 3,244 average, $ 47,916,356, two weeks.

5. “A Good Day to Die Hard,” Fox, $ 10,165,633, 3,555 locations, $ 2,860 average, $ 51,967,897, two weeks.

6. “Dark Skies,” Weinstein Co., $ 8,189,166, 2,313 locations, $ 3,540 average, $ 8,189,166, one week.

7. “Silver Linings Playbook,” Weinstein Co., $ 5,750,866, 2,012 locations, $ 2,858 average, $ 107,176,012, 15 weeks.

8. “Warm Bodies,” Lionsgate, $ 4,825,388, 2,644 locations, $ 1,825 average, $ 58,243,441, four weeks.

9. “Beautiful Creatures,” Warner Bros., $ 3,608,333, 2,950 locations, $ 1,223 average, $ 16,570,598, two weeks.

10. “Side Effects,” Open Road Films, $ 3,357,039, 2,070 locations, $ 1,622 average, $ 25,099,555, three weeks.

11. “Zero Dark Thirty,” Sony, $ 2,230,084, 1,197 locations, $ 1,863 average, $ 91,539,075, 10 weeks.

12. “Argo,” Warner Bros., $ 1,827,165, 802 locations, $ 2,278 average, $ 129,653,502, 20 weeks.

13. “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” Paramount, $ 1,684,532, 1,425 locations, $ 1,182 average, $ 52,945,086, five weeks.

14. “Life of Pi,” Fox, $ 1,605,366, 572 locations, $ 2,807 average, $ 113,525,126, 14 weeks.

15. “Lincoln,” Disney, $ 1,481,081, 875 locations, $ 1,693 average, $ 178,603,571, 16 weeks.

16. “Mama,” Universal, $ 1,173,900, 1,163 locations, $ 1,009 average, $ 70,230,570, six weeks.

17. “Quartet,” Weinstein Co., $ 1,125,886, 356 locations, $ 3,163 average, $ 8,844,950, seven weeks.

18. “Django Unchained,” Weinstein Co., $ 971,655, 659 locations, $ 1,474 average, $ 158,783,430, nine weeks.

19. “Amour,” Sony Pictures Classics, $ 716,186, 328 locations, $ 2,183 average, $ 5,147,242, 10 weeks.

20. “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney, $ 645,870, 402 locations, $ 1,607 average, $ 186,676,411, 17 weeks.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

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More proof Mediterranean diet can ward off heart disease

(Reuters) – A Mediterranean diet high in olive oil, nuts, fish and fresh fruits and vegetables may help prevent heart disease and strokes, according to a large study from Spain.

Past research suggested people who eat this type of diet have healthier hearts, but those studies couldn’t rule out that other health or lifestyle differences had made the difference.

But for the new trial, written up in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers randomly assigned study volunteers at risk of heart disease to a Mediterranean or standard low-fat diet for five years, allowing the team to single out the effect of diet in particular.

“This is good news, because we know how to prevent the main cause of deaths – that is cardiovascular diseases – with a good diet,” said Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, who worked on the study at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona.

He and colleagues from across Spain assigned almost 7,500 older adults with diabetes or other heart risks to one of three groups.

Two groups were instructed to eat a Mediterranean diet – one supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and the other with nuts, both donated for the study – with help from personalized advice and group meetings. The third study group ate a “control” diet, which emphasized low-far dairy products, grains and fruits and vegetables.

Over the next five years, 288 study participants had a heart attack or stroke, or died of any type of cardiovascular disease.

People on both Mediterranean diets, though, were 28 to 30 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those on the general low-fat diet, the researchers said.

The new study is the first randomized trial of any diet pattern to show benefit among people initially without heart disease, said Dariush Mozaffarian, who studies nutrition and cardiovascular disease at the Harvard School of Public Health.

It’s the blend of Mediterranean diet components, and not one particular ingredient, that promotes heart health, according to Martinez-Gonzalez.

“The quality of fat in the Mediterranean diet is very good,” he told Reuters Health. “This good source of calories is replacing other bad sources of calories. In addition, there is a wide variety of plant foods in the Mediterranean diet,” he added, including legumes and fruits as desserts.

He suggested that people seeking to improve their diet start with small changes, such as forgoing meat one or two days a week, cooking with olive oil and drinking red wine with meals rather than hard alcohol.

Replacing a high-carbohydrate or high-saturated fat snack with a handful of nuts is also a helpful change, experts said.

“I think it’s a combination of what’s eaten and what’s not eaten,” said Mozaffarian, who wasn’t involved in the study. “Things that are discouraged are refined breads and sweets, sodas and red meats and processed meats.

“The combination of more of the good things and less of the bad things is important.”

Teresa Fung, a nutrition researcher at Simmons College in Boston, said that many people in the trial were already on medications, such as statins and diabetes drugs.

“The way I see it is, even if people are on medication already, diet has substantial additional benefit,” she added. “This is a high-risk group, but I don’t think people should wait until they become high-risk in order to change.” SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YuyV7v

(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

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Markets fall on Italy deadlock fear

25 February 2013 Last updated at 17:21 ET

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Markets have fallen in anticipation of political deadlock in Italy following parliamentary elections there.

Exit polls suggest the centre-left has won a lower house majority, while early count data gave Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right the lead in the Senate.

Global bank shares, the euro, and Italy’s bond and stock markets fell back on fear the results may unleash new financial stress in the eurozone.

Mr Berlusconi quit as Prime Minister in 2011 amid a major financial crisis.

At the time, markets had lost confidence in his ability to push through spending cuts and difficult labour market reforms deemed necessary to revive Italy’s economy.

The Rome government was faced with spiralling borrowing costs in the bond markets, while the country’s banks were forced to turn to the European Central Bank for emergency loans.

The elections follow the end of the caretaker premiership of technocratic Prime Minister Mario Monti, who took over from Mr Berlusconi and pushed through a plethora of unpopular economic reforms, that helped regain the markets’ trust.

Deadlock concerns

The Milan bourse, which had been up 4% for the day in mid-afternoon trading, gave up its gains as the early Senate results came through, ending the day only 0.7% higher.

Italian bank stocks, which had surged more than 7% on hopes of a stable centre-left coalition government under Pier Luigi Bersani, also gave up most of their gains.

The negative tone continued into US trading hours, with the Dow Jones falling steadily from mid-morning, to finish the day 1.6% lower.

US banks were also badly hit by concern that a failure by the new Italian government to get to grips with the country’s heavy debt burden could lead to renewed stress in the international banking system.

Morgan Stanley fell 6.6%, Citigroup 3.8%, Bank of America 3.6% and JP Morgan 2.5%.

On the bond markets, Italy’s cost of borrowing ended Monday fractionally higher at 4.49% per year, from 4.33% at the end of Friday, as the perceived riskiness of lending to the government rose.

The implied yearly cost of borrowing had fallen to 4.17% at one point, before news of the Senate results arrived.

Meanwhile, on the currency markets, the euro – which had gained a cent against the dollar to $ 1.33 at one point – fell back again to $ 1.306, as hopes for greater political stability evaporated.

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RPT-UPDATE 1-Cricket-NZ name uncapped trio for first England test

(Repeats with no changes)

* Rutherford, Latham to battle for opening spot

* Uncapped Martin likely to make debut at 32

WELLINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – New Zealand will head into their first test against England on March 6 with an new opening partnership after the recall of Peter Fulton and inclusion of the uncapped Hamish Rutherford and Tom Latham in their squad on Sunday.

New Zealand’s opening batsmen have struggled against the England new ball attack of James Anderson and Steve Finn in the lost limited over series and the selection panel were forced to look elsewhere after a thumb injury to Martin Guptill.

Fulton, who has played 10 tests as a top or middle order batsmen but averaged just 20.93 with one half century, went to South Africa last year before a knee injury forced him home, though a strong first class season where he has averaged more than 50 had prompted his recall.

“We picked Peter to tour South Africa and he would have played there if he hadn’t been injured,” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said.

Rutherford, the son of former New Zealand captain Ken, is expected to join Fulton for his debut on his home ground at Dunedin’s University Oval, though Latham is also in contention for the spot, Hesson said.

Rutherford and Latham have both played limited overs cricket for New Zealand but never played a test match.

Left arm spinner Bruce Martin is also expected to make his debut after the 32-year-old toured South Africa late last year but did not play in the test series.

Martin, who replaces the dropped Jeetan Patel in the squad, is likely to play due to an Achilles’ injury to Daniel Vettori that is expected to keep him out of action until the tour of England in May.

Tim Southee, who missed the South African tour due to a thumb injury but was recalled to play the final two one-day internationals against England after a side strain to Mitchell McClenaghan, will again link up with Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell in a young pace attack.

Captain Brendon McCullum, who suffered a side strain in the final one-day match in Auckland on Saturday, will bat at number five with BJ Watling to resume the wicketkeeping role in the longer form of the game and bat at seven.

A fast bowler will be added to the squad after the match in Queenstown between a New Zealand XI and England, which starts on Wednesday.

Squad: Brendon McCullum (captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Peter Fulton, Tom Latham, Bruce Martin, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Mark Meadows)

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Stretches that Make you Look and Feel Taller

Feb 24, 2013 9:11am

Katie’s Take

“Sit up straight!”  A meme that is easier said than done! But the benefits of straightening up can have a lasting effect on our bodies and minds.

Katie Couric sat down with Tara Stiles, named “Yoga Rebel” by the New York Times and owner of Strala Yoga, to talk about how simple stretches can help our bodies, minds and make us feel and look taller.

Yoga, an exercise that allows increased blood flow through stretching and deep breathing, has been practiced for over 5000 years and practiced by 11 million Americans. Yoga isn’t just for the contortionists; according to Stiles all it requires is deep breathing.

By taking in large breaths, tension in our muscles is released which Stiles says helps aids in overall health from in the inside out. She calls yoga a ‘massage for our organs’ that encourages us to live a healthier and happier lifestyle while increasing our flexibility and strengthening our muscles.

And the great thing is, you don’t have to seek out a yoga studio to take advantage of the benefits. Stiles showed Katie’s some simple stretches that people can do while sitting at their desks or even watching TV.  By taking a few minutes to stretch throughout the day, you can release tension in your body and lengthen your muscles so you can look and feel taller. So straighten up and take a deep breath, you will feel and see a difference immediately.

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Cult star seeks to resolve lost SAfrican royalties

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The story of Sixto Rodriguez, the greatest protest singer and songwriter that most people never heard of, is a real-life fairytale with a Hollywood finale.

In his latest incarnation, the guitarist has unwittingly become a champion for the rights of wronged musicians.

The Detroit construction worker whose albums flopped in the United States in the 1970s wants to know what happened to royalties in South Africa, where he unknowingly was elevated to rock star status.

While Rodriguez toiled in the Motor City, white liberals thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean burdened by the horrors of the apartheid regime were inspired by his songs protesting the Vietnam War, racial inequality, abuse of women and social mores.

Songs composed half a century ago that some equate to “inner-city poetry” still are relevant today: Like his poke at the pope’s stance on birth control, and his plaints about corrupt politicians and bored housewives.

In South Africa, they were massive and enduring hits that still sell today, considered standards like Paul Simon’s “Bridge over Troubled Waters,” according to Stephen “Sugar” Segerman, a Cape Town record store owner whose nickname comes from the Rodriguez song “Sugarman.”

“He’s more popular than Elvis” in South Africa, Segerman said in an interview.

For decades, Rodriguez remained in the dark. Now the heartwarming documentary “Searching for Sugar Man,” which tells of two South Africans’ mission to seek out the fate of their musical hero, has been nominated for an Oscar.

The film by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and the story behind it have proved transformative for several people, not least Rodriguez, who is on a worldwide tour that has included New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Even after the extent of his fame was brought home to him when he first toured South Africa to sold-out concerts 15 years ago, Rodriguez had said he had no interest in pursuing the money, holding true to his lyrics “And you can keep your symbols of success, Then I’ll pursue my own happiness.”

Now, he is not so sure: that people were profiting off his music doesn’t sit well with him. He plans to seek legal resolution for the lost royalties, though he’s not certain where to start.

“I think omission is a sin. Withholding evidence is unethical to say the least, but I’ll resolve that,” Rodriguez said in an interview with The Associated Press in a Detroit bar, months before the documentary was nominated. “These were licensed releases, not just bootlegs. … It’s in the process, but I have to get to a position to see what jurisdiction I approach. I’m ignorant. … How do you do this?”

How, indeed? South Africa was under U.N. economic and cultural sanctions from the 1960s. While some Rodriguez songs were banned by the apartheid regime and many bootlegged copies were made on tapes and later CDs, three local labels reproduced Rodriguez’s two albums under license, the 1970 “Cold Fact” and 1972 “Coming from Reality: After the Fact.”

No one knows how many sold. In the documentary, Robbie Mann of RPM Records estimates that, under his father, the South African company sold “maybe half a million copies.” Some estimate more than 1 million were sold in all.

South Africans interviewed in the documentary said they sent royalty checks to the United States, to the now-defunct Sussex Records label of former Motown executive Clarence Avant. The Hollywood record producer starts off emotional in the documentary, calling Rodriguez “my boy” and “greater than Bob Dylan.”

But he’s short-tempered when asked about the royalties, saying he cannot be expected to remember details of a 1970s contract and album that he suggests didn’t sell more than three copies in the United States.

The 81-year-old Avant, who could not be reached for this article, still owns the rights to the music and is now being paid for them by Light In The Attic Records, which gives a new life to old recordings, according to Segerman, who acts as an unofficial publicist for Rodriguez. He said the 2008 and 2009 releases were the first time Rodriguez was paid royalties.

Now you can buy Rodriguez songs on iTunes, and the documentary soundtrack released by Light In The Attic in conjunction with Sony Legacy.

Segerman said Rodriguez has “created a whole new consciousness about robbing an artist.” People coming into his Malibu Vinyl shop and sending him emails say “I want to buy it, not download it for free, but please, I want to make sure he’s going to get the money.”

“Here’s the irony: His music came into South Africa through bootlegging but it’s South Africa that’s given him the voice to say ‘This is wrong!’ and people get that, they understand now.”

He said at least 200,000 copies of both albums have sold in the last year or so.

But Rodriguez appears untouched by the money, Segerman said. Now in his 70s with failing eyesight, Rodriguez continues to live in the same old house he’s occupied for decades in Detroit, and gives most of the money away to relatives and friends, said Segerman.

In South Africa in the old days, his fans isolated by sanctions and censorship believed Rodriguez was as famous at home as he was in their country. They heard stories that the musician had died dramatically: He’d shot himself in the head onstage in Moscow; He’d set himself aflame and burned to death before an audience someplace else; He’d died of a drug overdose, was in a mental institution, was incarcerated for murdering his girlfriend.

In 1996, in the newly liberated South Africa, Segerman and journalist Carl Bartholomew-Strydom set out separately to find out the truth and then got together to solve the mystery. Nearly two years of frustration and dead ends finally led to Detroit, where they found Rodriguez — sane, free and working on construction sites in his home town.

“It’s rock-and-roll history now. Who would-a thought?” Rodriguez said, struggling to explain his improbable tale even several months before the documentary was nominated for an Oscar. How does an anonymous laborer in the Motor City who failed to make it in folk music unknowingly became a mysterious musical prophet in South Africa? And how does the persistence of two fans thousands of miles and an ocean away lead to redemption and a Hollywood-style victory for his long-ignored talent?

Those who produced his records could not believe they flopped. “This guy was like a wise man, a prophet, I’ve never worked with anyone as talented,” Steve Rowland, who produced hits for Jerry Lee Lewis and Peter Frampton, says in the documentary. He produced Rodriguez’s second and last album.

Rodriguez was the first artist signed to Sussex Records. Its second was Bill Withers.

Rodriguez said he wasn’t wallowing in self-pity after his music career fizzled — he just “went back to work.” He raised a family that includes three daughters, launched several unsuccessful campaigns for public office, obtained a philosophy degree and reverted to manual labor in Detroit. He gave up the dream of living off his music but never stopped playing it.

“I felt I was ready for the world, but the world wasn’t ready for me,” Rodriguez said. “I feel we all have a mission — we have obligations,” he said. “Those turns on the journey, different twists — life is not linear.”

___

Karoub reported from Detroit.

Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Lady Gaga has hip surgery, calls injury “bump in the road”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lady Gaga said she has undergone surgery to repair an injured hip that forced the pop singer last week to cancel the remainder of her concert tour.

The “Born This Way” singer thanked fans in a blog post on her littlemonsters.com fan website on Thursday, saying the setback was “just a bump in the road.”

“As they wheeled me into surgery…I thought about all of your pain and perseverance, your unique family situations, school environments, health issues, homelessness, identity struggles,” wrote Lady Gaga, who often engages with her fans about their personal problems.

“So I thought to myself, ‘I’m alive; I’m living my dream, and this is just a bump in the road,’” she added.

The 26-year-old singer tweeted on Wednesday that she was heading into surgery to treat a labral tear of her right hip.

No timetable has been set for Lady Gaga to return to performing, and her tour operator said last week that she would need “strict downtime.”

Lady Gaga has been on the road for two years, performing concerts on six continents.

The injury forced her to cancel some two dozen concerts in the United States as part of her “Born This Way Ball” tour.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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