newsmakers

newsmakers

Child-snatching video creators admit hoax

MONTREAL

The creators of a video purporting to show an eagle swooping down and snatching a toddler from a Montreal park that went viral after being posted on YouTube earlier this week now say it was a hoax.

The four people behind the video said Thursday that the video was intentionally created as part of a class project to create a viral video hoax at a new-media training institute in Montreal.

The video has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and written about in various newspaper and websites around the globe.

Study: Rockers die younger than most

LONDON

Rock ’n’ roll will never die — but it’s a hazardous occupation.

An academic study published Thursday confirms that rock and pop musicians are more likely to die prematurely than the general population and finds that solo artists are twice as likely to die young as members of bands.

Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University and Britain’s Health Department studied 1,489 rock, pop, punk, R&B, rap, electronica and New Age stars who became famous between 1956 and 2006 — from Elvis Presley to the Arctic Monkeys.

They found that 137 of the stars, or 9.2 percent, had died, representing “higher levels of mortality than demographically matched individuals in the general population.”

Smallest state is big on Miss Universe pride

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

The nation’s smallest state has gone big on pride after Rhode Island native Olivia Culpo snagged the title of Miss Universe.

Allan Fung, the mayor of Culpo’s hometown of Cranston, calls her win Wednesday night in Las Vegas “a feel-good moment” for the city, state and nation.

Fung gave the 20-year-old Boston University student a key to the city after she was crowned Miss USA in June, the first time anyone from Rhode Island had won the title. He says she can have another key to the city — or whatever she wants — because “she is the center of the universe.”

Culpo beat out 88 other women. An American hadn’t won since 1997.

Vindicator wire services