High-dose multivitamins linked to prostate cancer

High-dose multivitaminslinked to prostate cancer
WASHINGTON -- There's more worrisome news about vitamins: Taking too many may increase men's risk of dying from prostate cancer. The study, being published today, doesn't settle the issue. But it is the biggest yet to suggest high-dose multivitamins may harm the prostate, and the latest chapter in the confusing quest to tell whether taking various vitamins really helps a variety of conditions -- or is a waste of money, or worse. Government scientists turned to a study tracking the diet and health of almost 300,000 men. About a third reported taking a daily multivitamin, and 5 percent were heavy users, swallowing the pills more than seven times a week. Within five years of the study's start, 10,241 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some 1,476 had advanced cancer; 179 died. Heavy multivitamin users were almost twice as likely to get fatal prostate cancer as men who never took the pills, concludes the study in today's Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Man held in teller deaths
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A man was charged with fatally shooting two bank tellers during a robbery and faces the death penalty if convicted, authorities said Tuesday. William Merriweather Jr., 30, is being held without bail in the deaths of Eva Hudson and Sheila Prevo, said prosecutor Ted Mills. Merriweather also was accused of attempted murder in the wounding of two other tellers, Mills said, and kidnapping on suspicion of taking a bank manager hostage during the holdup Monday at a Bessemer branch of Wachovia Corp. Merriweather had not been charged with bank robbery Tuesday, but the state's capital murder charges accuse him of killing someone during the course of a robbery.
Toddler sought in flood
DENVER -- Rescuers in wet suits and fins searched the South Platte River on Tuesday for a 2-year-old boy swept away in his stroller and a young man who disappeared in flash flooding during a sudden thunderstorm. The boy's mother had been out for a stroll with her son Monday evening along a bike path that follows the river downtown. A thunderstorm developed quickly, dumping more than an inch of rain and sending a torrent of water down the river. The mother put the toddler in his stroller to protect him from hail, but torrential rain pushed the stream over its banks. The flood knocked the woman down and tore the stroller, with Jose inside, from her hands, Fire Department spokesman Phil Champagne said. About eight miles away, a police officer jumped into a swollen creek to try to rescue a teenager or young man but could not reach him, fire spokeswoman Heather Green said.
Board meets on chief
WASHINGTON -- The White House said Tuesday that "all options are on the table" about the leadership of the World Bank, even as it defended embattled President Paul Wolfowitz as he fights conflict-of-interest charges. Wolfowitz maintains that he acted in good faith in arranging a generous pay package for his girlfriend and is waging a vigorous fight to keep running the institution. The bank's 24-member board, which met behind closed doors with Wolfowitz, ultimately will decide what actions to take against him.
Constable missing
LADSON, S.C. -- Dozens of police officers and bloodhounds searched for a missing constable Tuesday after his empty cruiser was found in flames several miles from where he was last seen at a traffic stop, authorities said. Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said authorities had identified a "person of interest" who was being sought on an unrelated weapons charge. But he said officials don't know what happened to Robert Lee Bailey, a 67-year-old constable who works for the Lincolnville Police Department. Bailey was last seen when he pulled a vehicle over about 10:30 p.m. Monday in Lincolnville. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots a few minutes later, and Bailey's cap, two guns, bullet casings and blood were found in a yard. About an hour later, a highway patrol officer spotted Bailey's burning car in the parking lot of a church off Interstate 26.
Conference on terrorism
LONDON -- Al-Qaida is changing its tactics and new strategies are needed to combat it, Richard Dearlove, the former head of Britain's intelligence agency said Tuesday, warning that Iraq has become the new epicenter for terror cells in exporting radical ideology. He spoke at a business conference on terrorist threats. Another al-Qaida expert told the conference that Iraq is becoming a "Disneyland" for the terror group -- the new focus of its "holy war" against the West. "The epicenter has shifted from Afghanistan to Iraq," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.
Associated Press