Worshippers in safety hats attend Notre-Dame's first mass since fire

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PARIS (Reuters) - A small congregation in white hard hats attended mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday, the first service since fire devastated the Gothic landmark two months ago.

The Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit leads the first mass in a side chapel two months to the day after a devastating fire engulfed the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, in Paris, France June 15, 2019. Karine Perret/Pool via REUTERS

Church leaders are keen to show life goes on at the cathedral as donations for rebuilding trickle in.

Less than 10% of the 850 million euros ($953 million) pledged by billionaires, business leaders and others has been received so far, the French government said.

The mass, which commemorates the cathedral’s consecration as a place of worship, was held in a side-chapel left undamaged by the April 15 fire, with attendance limited to about 30 people wearing protective headgear.

Priests in ceremonial garb of white robes and yellow stoles briefly parted with their hard hats during the communion.

“It is with much emotion that we are here to celebrate the consecration of the cathedral,” said Paris’s archbishop Michel Aupetit, who led the service.

“It is a message of hope and thanks to all those who were moved by what happened to this cathedral,” he added, acknowledging afterwards it was “a bit strange” to celebrate mass with a helmet.

The service was broadcast live on a religious TV channel that showed poignant images of the blue sky through the collapsed roof and the black rubble still clogging the building.

On Friday, France’s Culture Minister Franck Riester said the cathedral was still in a fragile state, especially the vault.

The blaze caused the roof and spire of the architectural masterpiece to collapse, triggering worldwide sadness.

Among those who promised to donate to the rebuilding effort were luxury goods tycoons Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault.

“There could be people who promised to donate then in the end did not,” Riester told France 2 television, without giving further details. “But more importantly, and this is normal, the donations will be paid as restoration work progresses.”

President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of five years for restoring the cathedral, though Riester was more cautious.

“The president was right to give a target, an ambition,” he said. “But obviously what matters in the end is the quality of the work. So it does not mean that work will be totally finished in exactly five years.”

($1 = 0.8923 euros)

Editing by Helen Popper and Mike Harrison

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Worshippers in hard hats to attend Notre-Dame's first mass since fire

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PARIS (Reuters) - A small congregation wearing hard hats will attend mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday, the first service to be held since fire devastated the Gothic landmark two months ago.

FILE PHOTO: A picture shows bells gathered during preliminary work at the Notre-Dame Cathedral one month after it sustained major fire damage in Paris, France May 15, 2019. Philippe Lopez/Pool via REUTERS

Church leaders are keen to show life goes on at the cathedral as donations to help rebuild it trickle in. Less than 10% of the 850 million euros pledged by billionaires, business leaders and others has been received so far, the French government said.

Saturday’s mass, which commemorates the cathedral’s consecration as a place of worship, is due to be held at 1600 GMT in a side-chapel, with attendance limited to about 30 people who will wear the protective headgear for safety reasons.

“It is a nice symbol. A very small group of people will attend and one can understand why as there are still major safety issues,” Culture Minister Franck Riester told Europe 1 radio.

He told France 2 television on Friday the cathedral was still “in a fragile state, namely the vault, which has not yet been secured. It can still collapse”.

The April 15 blaze caused the roof and spire of the architectural masterpiece to collapse, triggering a worldwide outpouring of sadness as well as the multi-million-euro pledges for reconstruction work.

Among the high-profile people who promised to donate to the rebuilding effort were luxury goods tycoons Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault.

“There could be people who promised to donate then in the end did not,” Riester said, without giving further details. “But more importantly, and this is normal, the donations will be paid as restoration work progresses.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of five years for restoring the cathedral, though Riester was more cautious.

“The president was right to give a target, an ambition. But obviously what matters in the end is the quality of the work,” he said. “So it does not mean that work will be totally finished in exactly five years.”

The archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit will lead Saturday’s service, which will be broadcast live on a religious TV channel.

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Russia's Putin gives China's Xi ice cream on his 66th birthday

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) toasts with Chinese President Xi Jinping while congratulating him on his birthday before the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan June 15, 2019. Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping celebrated his 66th birthday on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Xi considers a close friend and who gave Xi ice cream as a present, Chinese state media reported.

The discussion of senior leaders’ private lives is extremely rare in China, and the exact birth dates of most of them are not revealed publicly, as they are considered a state secret.

State television showed pictures of Xi and Putin holding up champagne glasses to toast Xi’s birthday at the hotel he is staying at in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where they are both attending a regional summit.

While Putin gave Xi Russian ice cream - the flavor was not mentioned - Xi gave Putin back some Chinese tea, the report said.

Xi thanked Putin and said that in China Putin was extremely popular, it added.

Pictures on Chinese state television’s website showed the two men inspecting a white cake decorated with red and blue confectionary flowers with the words written on it, in somewhat shaky red-colored Chinese characters, “good fortune double six”.

It was not immediately clear if Xi ate any of the cake.

Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Christian Schmollinger

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Ancient Afghan citadel collapses, cultural heritage sites at risk

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An ancient tower dating back 2,000 years in the historic Afghan city of Ghazni collapsed this week, local officials said, raising concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s cultural heritage and the government’s ability to protect them.

The old citadel known as Ghaznain Fort originally had 36 towers, but 14 of the towers had collapsed in recent years due to decades of war, heavy rain and neglect.

The fort is one of dozens of unique historic sites in Afghanistan - ranging from the pre-Islamic Buddhist center in the Bamyan valley to the 12th century minaret of Jam in a remote area of Ghor province - in urgent need of protection.

Officials in Ghazni, which nearly fell to the Taliban last year in some of the heaviest fighting seen in the war, said the tower collapsed on Tuesday following heavy rain. A short video posted on social media shows it crumbling but local residents say negligence also contributed to its collapse.

“The government paid no attention to the sites and didn’t build canals to divert flood water,” said Ghulam Sakhi, who lives near the citadel.

“We have warned the government about the dire condition of the citadel but no one visited,” Sakhi said.

Mahbubullah Rahmani, acting director of culture and information in Ghazni, said heavy rain and recent fighting had contributed to the tower’s collapse but said the government was working on a plan to protect the site from complete destruction.

He said a German archaeologist had worked at the site as recently as 2013.

Ghazni, a strategically vital center on the main highway between Kabul and southern Afghanistan and two hour drive from the capital, is home to a range of cultural and archeological artifacts, some of which date back to pre-Islamic period.

The province and its cultural heritage was officially declared as Asian Capital of Islamic Culture in 2013 by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a Morocco-based body created in 1981, supported by UNESCO.

The collapse of the tower in Ghazni follows concern over the condition of the 900-year-old Minaret of Jam, in Ghor, which has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Properties in Danger since 2002.

The Taliban during their austere regime from 1996-2001, before they were toppled by the U.S. and coalition force in late 2001, blew up two giant Buddha statues in central Bamiyan province, calling them idols.

Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in KABUL and Jalil Ahmad Rezayee in HERAT; Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Michael Perry

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Swiss women stage mass strike demanding overdue equality

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GENEVA/ZURICH (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of women across Switzerland held a strike on Friday to highlight their wealthy nation’s poor record on female rights, recreating the passion of the last such walkout 28 years ago.

In Zurich, the financial capital and the country’s biggest city, tens of thousands of protesters clogged the streets, blowing whistles and banging pots and pans. “Men, go do the ironing,” one sign read.

“It’s not just about wages. The equal opportunity is not there. At least for the next generation it needs to be there,” Zurich city councilwoman Karin Rykart said as hundreds of municipal workers and police officers demonstrated.

Despite its high quality of life, Switzerland lags other developed economies in female pay and workplace gender equality.

Friday’s event echoed a strike in 1991, five years before the Gender Equality Act came into force. That banned workplace discrimination and sexual harassment and protected women from bias or dismissal over pregnancy, marital status, or gender.

But more than 20 years later, women still earn less than men, face routine questioning of their competence, and encounter condescension on the job, they say.

Organisers say the strike draws attention to wages, violence against women, and the need for greater representation in positions of power and more equitable family policy.

Christine Lagarde, the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund, joined in while addressing an event in Geneva.

Protesters carry banners and placards at a demonstration during a women's strike (Frauenstreik) in Zurich, Switzerland June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

“At this point in time if I were true to my colors I would actually turn my back to you and express in that way the fact that I am actually on strike - but you might be disappointed,” she said.

“So instead of this I am actually wearing this (lapel pin) out of solidarity with the Swiss women who claim equality in terms of salaries and a few other things.”

The SGB labor union federation estimated 100,000 people joined the strike by midday, with more participating from 3:24 p.m., when women technically work for free given wage discrimination.

“THINGS DIDN’T CHANGE”

Swiss women earn roughly 20% less than men. While that is an improvement from about a third less in 1991, the discrimination gap — meaning differences that cannot be explained by rank or role — has actually worsened since 2000, government data show.

On June 14, 1991, women blocked trams during a sit-in in the heart of Zurich’s financial district and gathered outside schools, hospitals and across cities with purple balloons and banners to demand equal pay for equal work.

That came a decade after basic gender equality was enshrined in the Swiss constitution and less than three months after women for the first time were allowed to participate in a regional vote in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.

“We have realized that even after this first strike in 1991, things didn’t really change. Equality is enshrined in the constitution, but real, material, effective equality doesn’t exist for all women,” said organizer Tamara Knezevic, 24.

Slideshow (32 Images)

The World Economic Forum found Switzerland ranked 34th for economic participation and opportunity and 44th for wage equality in a 2018 study of 149 countries.

See Factbox on 9 leading Swiss women

Additional reporting by Denis Balibouse in Lausanne and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Raissa Kasolowsky

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Listening to music may ease cancer patients' pain

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(Reuters Health) - Listening to music at home may reduce cancer patients’ pain and fatigue and ease symptoms like loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating, according to research in Taiwan.

In the study, breast cancer patients assigned to 30 minutes of music listening five times a week had “noticeably” reduced side effects of cancer and its treatment over 24 weeks, researchers report in the European Journal of Cancer Care.

The patients said the music helped their physical and psychological wellbeing because it distanced them from negative thoughts about cancer.

“Music therapy is convenient, does not involve invasive procedures, and can easily be used by people in the comfort of their homes,” said senior study author Kuei-Ru Chou of Taipei Medical University.

“Home-based music interventions can also be used with no cost,” Chou told Reuters Health by email. “Healthcare services have become expensive in the present time.”

The researchers recruited 60 breast cancer patients and randomly assigned half of them to a group that would listen to music at home on an MP3 player provided by the study team with a selection of classical, parlor, popular, Taiwanese and religious music to choose from. The other patients were also given a player and the same instructions about how often to listen, but their selections were various types of ambient music, mainly consisting of environmental sounds, which research has shown does little to reduce pain or symptoms, the study team notes.

Before the women had surgery, and after six, 12 and 24 weeks of music listening, all patients rated the severity of 25 physical symptoms on a five-point scale, as well as rating five categories of fatigue on a separate five-point scale, and the level of pain they felt on a 100-point scale.

The average symptom severity scores of the music therapy group had dropped by five points at the six-week assessment, seven points at 12 weeks and nearly nine points after 24 weeks. Pain scores and overall fatigue scores fell at each assessment as well.

For those listening to music, physical and mental fatigue had also dropped at six weeks but not later.

In contrast, pain and symptom severity scores in the control group increased and remained higher than at the start of the trial.

Based on the results, music therapy may not relieve long-term physical and mental fatigue, the study authors caution. And future studies should use objective measures of pain and fatigue, in addition to the subjective measures used in this study, Chou said.

The researchers are also interested in learning how and why music therapy reduces symptoms and pain. Because listening to music promotes endorphins, dopamine and serotonin in the brain, the chemicals may spark joy and positive emotions that distract patients from the negative emotions, the study authors speculate.

Music could affect functions of the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, nervous and metabolic systems as well, relieving muscle tension and pain, they add.

“From the neurophysiological point of view,” said Tereza Alcantara-Silva of the Federal University of Goias in Brazil, music-evoked emotions can modulate activity in a variety of brain areas.

“Music plays a major role in self-regulation of emotional contexts,” said Alcantara-Silva, who wasn’t involved in the study, by email. “Music therapy can bring several benefits to cancer patients, helping them to find ways to deal with stress, fear, and loneliness.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/2Idu5cY European Journal of Cancer Care, online June 5, 2019.

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Country star Kenny Rogers dismisses 'wild misinformation' about his health

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FILE PHOTO: Kenny Rogers poses backstage after accepting the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award at the 47th Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee Nov . 6, 2013. REUTERS/Eric Henderson/File Photo

(This May 31 story corrects date in penultimate paragraph to 1983 from 1982)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country singer Kenny Rogers on Friday dismissed “wild misinformation and speculation” about his health and said he planned on “sticking around” for years to come.

A statement issued on his behalf by his representatives was published after a U.S. tabloid report claimed the “Lucille” singer had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and was dying.

Friday’s statement said Rogers, 80, was recently admitted to a hospital in Georgia and treated for dehydration.

“He will remain there to complete some physical therapy to get his strength back prior to discharge ... and can assure everyone he plans on sticking around through the years to come,” it added.

Rogers embarked on a world farewell tour in 2016 but in April 2018 he canceled the last few shows citing “a series of health challenges.”

Rogers, a three-time Grammy winner and a Country Music Hall of Famer, is best known for songs like “The Gambler” and his 1983 duet with Dolly Parton “Islands in the Stream.”

After beginning his career in the 1950s with a jazz group, Rogers went solo in the 1970s and released his break-through single “Lucille” in 1977.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish

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Experimental mobile app helps manage migraines

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(Reuters Health) - A smartphone-based relaxation app could help migraine sufferers reduce the number of headaches they get each month, a small study suggests.

Using the app twice a week was associated with an average of four fewer headache days per month, according to the report in Nature Digital Medicine.

“Migraine is now the second most disabling condition in terms of disability-adjusted years lost,” said lead author Dr. Mia Minen of NYU Langone Health in New York City.

Migraines affect about 1 in 6 adults in the U.S., with women most at risk.

“Previous research has shown that the best treatment for preventing migraine is a combination of migraine medication and behavioral therapy,” Minen told Reuters Health by email. However, “patients have significant difficulty accessing these safe, top evidence-based treatments.”

Minen and colleagues created RELAXaHEAD, an app based on the technique of progressive muscle relaxation, a proven method of migraine prevention, the authors note. The study team analyzed whether patients recruited from a neurology clinic would use the app regularly and whether they’d have fewer headache days.

During the study, 51 patients in their 30s and 40s who typically had 13 or more headache days per month were asked to complete a daily headache diary and to do progressive muscle relaxation with the app for 20 minutes a day for 90 days. Nearly one third of the participants were considered to have severe migraine disability when they enrolled, meaning they had missed considerable amounts of work, school and family activities due to the headaches.

On average, participants used the app on 22 days per month, for about 11 minutes per day. Roughly half used it once per week and a third used it two or more times per week. Overall, those who used the app twice per week had four fewer headache days the following month, and those who used it once per week had two fewer headaches days. Use of the app tended to drop over time.

Patients with higher depression scores were less likely to use the daily headache diary, and those with higher anxiety scores were more likely to use it.

“The number of mobile health apps available in the iOS and Google Play stores has ballooned, and recent studies show that most people download an app but then rarely use it,” Minen said. “Importantly, we were able to get a considerable number of study participants to use the app.”

The researchers have received inquiries about the app from patients with migraines outside the NYU Langone system, she noted. Although it was created as a research tool, Minen’s team is exploring ways to expand access to the app or include it in office visits. They’re also studying whether the app can help healthcare providers who don’t know where to refer patients with migraines who want behavioral therapy.

“I would encourage people who live with migraines to consider a behavioral treatment,” said Alice Pressman of Sutter Health in Walnut Creek, California, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“The great thing about starting a (behavioral therapy) BT is that you don’t have to stop your other treatments if you feel they are effective,” Pressman said by email. “BTs can be used as add-ons with no added side effects.”

However, an in-person a mindfulness-based stress reduction program targeting migraines that was offered at her center was difficult for some patients to attend due to time and location, Pressman said, so an online program may help. At the same time, patients should know that apps are still new and not fully studied.

“Research here is important to enable therapeutically effective and safe smartphone apps. Lots of apps are offered that are not based on any scientific evidence,” said Thomas Dresler of the University of Tuebingen in Germany, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“There are a lot of migraine apps out there, but customers need to know that the availability of an app per se does not guarantee effectiveness, safety or the developers’ adherence to specific quality standards,” Dresler said by email.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2X9Iwa1 Nature Digital Medicine, online June 4, 2019.

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Leonard Cohen's love letters to Marianne fetch $876,000 at auction

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FILE PHOTO: Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen performs during the first night of the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland on July 4, 2013. REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud/File Photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A collection of more than 50 love letters written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen to the woman who inspired “So Long, Marianne” has sold for $876,000, with many going for more than five times their pre-sale estimates, Christie’s auction house said on Thursday.

The archive of letters from Cohen to Marianne Ihlen chronicles their 1960s love affair and the blossoming of Cohen’s career from struggling poet to famous musician.

The top letter, in which Cohen wrote in December 1960 about being “alone with the vast dictionaries of language,” fetched $56,250 compared to an original high estimate of $10,000.

A 1964 letter, in which Cohen wrote “I am famous but empty,” went for $35,000, Christie’s said.

Cohen and the Norwegian-born Ihlen met on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 and she became the inspiration for several of his best-known songs, including “Bird on a Wire,” “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” and the 1967 track “So Long, Marianne.”

Ihlen died of leukemia in Oslo in July 2016 at age 81. Cohen, who was also suffering from leukemia, died in November 2016 at the age of 82.

The letters were sold by Ihlen’s family. The buyers were not revealed.

The top lot in the five-day online auction was an Italian bronze bell dating from the 15th or 16th century that hung in the Hydra home that Cohen and Ihlen once shared. It realized $81,250 compared to a pre-sale estimate of up to $12,000.

The bell is believed to have inspired the lines, “There is a crack, a crack in everything” in Cohen’s 1992 release “Anthem.”

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler

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Mesh implants work for bladder leakage, long-term safety unclear

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(Reuters Health) - Several different types of mesh implant surgery may be effective for treating bladder leaks, but the long-term safety and effectiveness of the procedures isn’t yet clear, a new analysis suggests.

Researchers examined data from 175 clinical trials that randomly assigned a total of 21,598 women with stress urinary incontinence to receive different types of surgical treatments.

Over the short-term, three types of surgeries appeared most effective at curing the incontinence. Two newer procedures using slings to support the bladder had cure rates of about 89% and an older abdominal surgery to suture the bladder had a cure rate of about 77%.

“With regard to surgical treatments, there is limited evidence to suggest that there is one ‘best’ option for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. Rather there are several trade-offs and risks that women need to be aware of and consider alongside their clinician when making their treatment choice,” said study co-author Dawn Craig of Newcastle University in the UK.

“Based on our findings, the jury is still out on the long-term risks of vaginal mesh for stress urinary incontinence,” Craig said by email.

Up to half of adult women experience stress urinary incontinence, when the pelvic floor muscles are too weak to support the bladder. As a result, urine leaks during coughing, sneezing or exercise. Childbirth is a common reason for weak pelvic muscles, and obesity worsens the problem.

Surgical treatment for stress urinary incontinence has evolved over the past two decades from open abdominal operations to support the bladder with sutures to less invasive procedures that insert mesh slings instead. Recently, however, the safety of mesh implants for stress incontinence has come under scrutiny due to reports of severe complications, litigation and product withdrawals, researchers note in The BMJ.

One of the more effective mesh sling options in the study was a traditional suburethral sling, which involves placing a sling under the urethra and using one of a variety of techniques to secure it in place.

The other mesh sling option with similar effectiveness was the midurethral sling, a newer minimally-invasive procedure that enables surgeons to insert a narrow strip of synthetic mesh without the need to secure it in place.

In contrast, the older type of surgery known as an open coloposuspension requires cutting through the abdomen to reach the bladder and then using sutures to support the neck of the bladder, the group of muscles that connect the bladder to the urethra. These muscles tighten to hold urine in the bladder and relax to release urine.

Most of the available safety data was for the newer mesh sling procedures.

Mesh procedures done with one vaginal incision and two groin or thigh incisions - known as transobturator midurethral sling surgery - had more repeat surgeries and groin pain but fewer vascular complications, bladder or urethral perforations, or voiding difficulties than so-called retropubic midurethral surgery done with one vaginal incision and two abdominal incisions.

“We do not have good long-term follow up data for any of these surgeries as the trials analyzed lasted up to five years at most and mesh can cause problems many years after insertion,” said Rufus Cartwright of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust in the UK, who co-authored an accompanying editorial.

Some women might be able to address stress urinary incontinence without surgery, previous research has found. Lifestyle changes like avoiding caffeine, drinking small amounts of fluid, using the bathroom at scheduled times throughout the day and doing exercises that target the pelvic floor muscles can improve bladder control.

“Women should consider surgery for incontinence if their symptoms are severely affecting their quality of life, and they haven’t responded to conservative treatment (pelvic floor exercises),” Cartwright said by email. “The choice between the different procedures should be based on a process of shared decision making with the surgeon.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/31w78Jv and bit.ly/2KeSIIt The BMJ, online June 5, 2019.

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Cuba Gooding Jr. charged with groping woman in Manhattan bar

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. was charged on Thursday with groping a woman at a Manhattan bar last weekend, New York City police said.

The “Jerry Maguire” actor faces one misdemeanor account of forcible touching in an incident on Sunday when an unidentified woman said Gooding touched her breasts.

Gooding, who denies the accusation, emerged in handcuffs after being charged at a New York police facility. He did not speak to reporters.

He was the latest Hollywood figure to be swept up in a sexual misconduct scandal that has roiled the entertainment industry in the last two years.

Gooding’s attorney, Mark J. Heller, said he was “completely confident that (Gooding) will be totally exonerated.” He told reporters that Gooding will enter a not guilty plea at an initial court appearance.

“There is not a scintilla of criminal culpability that can be attributed to Cuba Gooding Jr.,” Heller told reporters.

Heller said he was “shocked and horrified” that the case was being prosecuted after he presented police with security video from the bar that the attorney said showed no criminal behavior by Gooding.

Gooding, 51, won a supporting actor Oscar in 1997 for “Jerry Maguire” and had roles in “A Few Good Men,” “The Butler” and the television miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

The actor, who is divorced, is one of dozens of men in politics, entertainment, sports and the business world who have been accused of sexual misconduct since allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein triggered the #MeToo movement.

Weinstein is to stand trial in New York later this year on charges of rape and forced oral sex involving two women. He has denied any non-consensual sex.

Former “House of Cards” actor Kevin Spacey in January pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man at a Massachusetts bar two years ago, while singer R. Kelly was charged in Chicago with sexually assaulting three teens and a woman.

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Heller accused the woman who lodged the complaint against Gooding last weekend of seeking “simply to get their 15 minutes of fame” and said he hoped she would herself be prosecuted once Gooding’s case is resolved.

New York media reported on Thursday that another woman had come forward this week alleging inappropriate touching by Gooding in 2008.

Heller said Gooding had “no knowledge” of the alleged 2008 incident, which falls outside the statute of limitations for any potential charges.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Leslie Adler, Susan Thomas and Richard Chang

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Female soldiers wanting to suppress periods face barriers

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(Reuters Health) - Military women wanting to stop menstruating while they are deployed may face a number of barriers, a new commentary suggests.

The majority of surveyed military women say they would like to suppress menstruation during deployment but very few are doing so, according to the paper in Obstetrics & Gynecology that explores why more military women are not accessing that option.

One answer may be that not enough military women and their health providers even know that hormonal contraceptives used continuously will suppress menstruation.

“Women are counseled to stop taking contraceptives before deployment and that negates all the valuable health benefits, including suppression, that come with them,” said the commentary’s author, Sheena Eagan, an assistant professor at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, and a specialist in military medicine ethics. “There’s a recurring theme in surveys: women want to access cycle control and they want to suppress menstruation before they are deployed.”

Unfortunately, there are many barriers blocking women’s access to menses suppression in the military, Eagan said, including the instructions to stop taking contraceptives before deployment because there is a rule against sexual intercourse while deployed. “I wanted to highlight the misconception I saw throughout the literature that equates contraceptive use with pregnancy prevention,” she said.

After reviewing the medical literature on the topic of menses suppression in the military, Eagan found that 66% to 86% of women surveyed wanted the ability to stop menstruating during deployment. In contrast, a mere 7% reported having done so.

Part of the problem may be lack of education among both the women and their health providers, Eagan said. A 2009 report found that only a third of service women had received any pre-deployment counseling on menstrual regulation and suppression. Moreover, nearly 70% of women reported that their primary healthcare providers were medics or corpsmen. Although training varies depending on the branch of service, these types of providers normally do not hold professional or graduate degrees, Eagan noted.

Eagan said she isn’t suggesting that menses suppression be mandated for all female soldiers, but “it should be part of women’s autonomous choice.”

The issues of menses regulation and control aren’t limited to military women, said Dr. Charles Ascher-Walsh, director of gynecology for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. “Obviously, when women are deployed it’s more convenient not to be menstruating,” he said. “But there are many women who would have the same kinds of benefits, such as when they are traveling for work.”

In general, Ascher-Walsh said, “there’s a lack of education among women and their doctors that this is a possibility - and a safe possibility. And doctors don’t offer it as much as I think they should.”

Still, the article may have made the process sound more straightforward than it sometimes is, Ascher-Walsh said. “It’s not as simple as: do this and you are guaranteed not to bleed,” he explained.

That’s because not all women will stop cycling on hormonal contraceptives, Ascher-Walsh said. With some methods, “you can end up with spotting every day and that’s worse than having your period,” he added. “So you don’t want to do it right before you are deployed since that can make it worse rather than better.”

The best option if a female soldier wants to try a method to halt menstruation is to experiment with it well before deployment, Ascher-Walsh said. Among the possible options, continuous birth control is “the most likely to stop a woman’s periods and be reliable,” Ascher-Walsh said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2F89nsS Obstetrics & Gynecology, online June 11, 2019.

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Cuba Gooding Jr. charged in Manhattan groping incident

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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. arrives at New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Division (SVU) in the Harlem neighbourhood in New York, U.S., June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

(Reuters) - Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. was charged on Thursday with forcible touching after a woman accused him of groping her at a Manhattan bar last weekend, New York City police said.

The “Jerry Maguire” actor was charged after reporting to police on Thursday, the New York Police Department public affairs office said.

He faces one misdemeanor account of forcible touching in an incident that occurred on Sunday when an unidentified woman said Gooding touched her breasts at the bar.

Gooding’s attorney, Mark J. Heller, said he was “completely confident that (Gooding) will be totally exonerated.” He told reporters that Gooding will enter a not guilty plea at an initial court appearance.

“There is not a scintilla of criminal culpability that can be attributed to Cuba Gooding Jr.,” Heller said after the actor was charged.

Heller said he was “shocked and horrified” that the case was being prosecuted after he presented police with security video from the bar that the attorney said showed no criminal behavior by Gooding.

Gooding won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1997 for his portrayal of an athlete in the film “Jerry Maguire.” In 2016, he was nominated for an Emmy for playing O.J. Simpson in the miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

New York media reported on Thursday that another woman had come forward this week alleging inappropriate behavior by the actor in 2008.

Heller said Gooding had “no knowledge” of the alleged 2008 incident, which falls outside the statute of limitations for any potential charges.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Leslie Adler and Susan Thomas

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Cuba Gooding Jr. charged in Manhattan groping incident, police say

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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. arrives at New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Special Victims Division (SVU) in the Harlem neighbourhood in New York, U.S., June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

(Reuters) - Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. was charged on Thursday with forcible touching after a woman accused him of groping her at a Manhattan bar last weekend, New York City police said.

The “Jerry Maguire” actor was charged after reporting to police on Thursday, the New York Police Department public affairs office said.

He faces one misdemeanor account of forcible touching in an incident that occurred on Sunday.

Gooding has denied the accusation, which was made by an unidentified woman who said Gooding touched her breasts at the bar on Sunday night.

Gooding’s attorney said on Thursday, before the actor was charged, that security video from the bar showed no criminal conduct by Gooding.

Gooding won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1997 for his portrayal of an athlete in the film “Jerry Maguire.” In 2016, he was nominated for an Emmy for playing O.J. Simpson in the miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Leslie Adler and Susan Thomas

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Aston Martin built for James Bond heading to auction

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 1965 Aston Martin DB5 outfitted with special gadgets for James Bond, such as tire slashers, machine guns and a bulletproof shield, will go up for auction in August, the auction house announced on Wednesday.

The vehicle painted gray is expected to fetch between $4 million and $6 million, according to a statement from RM Sotheby’s.

The car was never seen in Bond films, but matches the one that “007” - the code number by which Bond was often known - drove in the movies “Goldfinger,” and “Thunderball.”

The vehicle was commissioned by filmmaker Eon Productions and used at promotional events for “Thunderball” in the United States, the auction house said.

It includes 13 modifications created for Bond, including a Browning .30 caliber machine gun in each fender, tire slashers mounted on its wheel hubs and a bulletproof rear screen that can be raised and lowered.

RM Sotheby’s said the Bond modifications had been “properly refurbished to function as originally built,” and has had three private owners over 50 years.

The auction will take place on Aug. 15 in Monterey, California.

Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by G Crosse

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Musicians lament reported loss of recordings in decade-old Universal fire

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Several big-name musicians voiced dismay on Wednesday that some of their recordings may have been among thousands of original masters that The New York Times Magazine reported were lost in the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot fire of 2008.

FILE PHOTO: A fire truck and firefighters are seen at Gate 2 of Universal Studios as smoke rises (background) from a fire that rages out of control at the backlot filled with movie sets in Universal City, California June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/File Photo

The blaze, which gutted a popular “King Kong” attraction and a swath of the studio’s fabled outdoor lot, also destroyed nearly all the master recordings stored there in a Universal Music Group archive, a loss that has long gone undisclosed, the magazine reported on Tuesday.

Universal Music estimated in a confidential 2009 report that the loss encompassed about 500,000 song titles, the article said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the company called the incident “deeply unfortunate,” but said the Times story contained “numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident.”

The extent of the loss, documented in litigation and company records the article cited, was largely kept from the public eye through a concerted effort on the part of the music label, the magazine said.

Many of the artists whose own material was reported to have been destroyed expressed shock.

“Oh my Lord ... this makes me sick to my stomach,” singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow wrote on Twitter, posted with a link to the article. “And shame on those involved in the coverup.”

The rock band R.E.M said in a Twitter statement that concerned fans were making inquiries. “We are trying to get good information to find out what happened, and the effect on the band’s music, if any,” the group tweeted.

Original sound recordings of many of the greatest names in popular music since the 1940s - from Louis Armstrong and Judy Garland to Tom Petty and 50 Cent - are believed to have gone up in smoke in what the article described as “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business.”

Master recordings are typically owned and controlled by the music labels for the artists in their catalog. But they are seen as vital to musicians’ legacy as they are original, one-of-a-kind recordings considered the truest representation of sounds captured in the studio.

Masters are the source material for all reproductions, including re-releases and remixes, made for distribution, whether on digital medium or vinyl.

Universal Music Group, now owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi, said the fire “never affected the availability of the commercially released music nor impacted artists’ compensation.”

The New York Times article “ignores the tens of thousands of back catalog recordings that we have already issued in recent years, including master-quality, high-resolution, audiophile versions of many records that the story claims were ‘destroyed,’” Universal Music said.

Irving Azoff, manager for the group Steely Dan, said in a statement that the musicians had “been aware of ‘missing’ original Steely Dan tapes for a long time now.”

“We’ve never been given a plausible explanation,” Azoff said. “Maybe they burned up in the big fire. In any case, it’s certainly a lost treasure.”

Krist Novoselic, a founding member of the 1990s grunge band Nirvana, responded to a fan on Twitter asking whether the Times article meant that the masters for the group’s landmark “Nevermind” album were gone. He wrote: “I think they are gone forever.”

Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler

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New review suggests proven ways to cut back on sugary drinks

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(Reuters Health) - With sugary sodas and other sweetened drinks considered a key driver of the obesity epidemic worldwide, a new research review evaluates how well various measures work to reduce consumption of these calorie laden drinks.

Strategies including limited availability of sodas in schools, removal from children’s menus at restaurants and better labeling could help reduce consumption, according to the analysis published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

The authors of the new report did not respond to requests for an interview. Study coauthor Hans Hauner said in a statement, “Rates of obesity and diabetes are rising globally, and this trend will not be reversed without broad and effective action.” Hauner, a professor of nutritional medicine at the Technical University Munich, added, “Governments and industry in particular must do their part to make the healthy choice the easy choice for consumers. This review highlights key measures that can help accomplish this.”

The researchers pored through the literature seeking studies that evaluated so-called environmental strategies for reducing sugary drink consumption - meaning interventions that change the physical or social setting in which a person chooses what drink to consume or buy. Fifty-eight studies involving a total of more than 1 million adults, teens and children met their criteria. Most lasted about a year and were done in schools, stores or restaurants.

Some of the studies were less well designed, the researchers allowed, simply asking participants how much sugary soda they consumed, for example.

Ultimately, the researchers found moderate-to-low-certainty evidence supporting a number of measures that appeared to help people cut back on sugary drinks. These included: labels that were easy to understand and that rated the healthfulness of beverages; limits on availability of sugary sodas in schools; price increases on sugary sodas in restaurants, stores and leisure centers; inclusions of healthier beverages in children’s menus; and promotion of healthier beverages in supermarkets.

Strategies that raise the price of sugar-sweetened drinks were also supported by moderate-quality evidence while lowering prices on low-calorie drinks was not as well supported.

The new study “lays out evidence that there are things that actually do work,” said Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, executive director of the Global Obesity Center and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

What makes these sugary beverages especially bad for health is the fact that they represent “empty calories,” said Lee, who was not involved in the review. “So you’re essentially drinking sugar.”

While these strategies may not be the entire solution, “we are clearly having an obesity and diabetes epidemic,” said Dr. Robert Rapaport, a professor of pediatrics and director of the division of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai in New York City. “Anything that can be done to improve that would certainly be welcome.”

Rapaport welcomes strategies such as removing sugary drinks from schools and making labels easier to read. In general, he said, it makes sense to “tell children to drink water. If they want it with carbonation and flavors that’s fine. All are preferred to having drinks that contain high calories.”

The new study highlights the importance of education, especially for kids, said Shelly Kendra, clinical nutrition manager at the Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who also wasn’t involved in the review. “What we learn as kids is what we’re going to carry with us into adulthood,” Kendra said. “Having an environment to help support that is potentially creating the building blocks to healthier choices.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/2IbuoVp The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, online June 12, 2019.

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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. to turn himself in after groping allegation: NBC

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. intends to turn himself in to New York City police after a woman accused him of groping her at a Manhattan bar over the weekend, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing Gooding’s representative.

The Oscar-wining actor plans to present himself to the NYPD’s sex crimes unit on Thursday, according to NBC News.

The woman, who has not been identified, alleged that Gooding touched her breasts at the bar on Sunday night, the network said, citing law enforcement sources.

In a video posted on TMZ.com, Gooding denied that he had groped anyone. The actor said he went to a bar, talked and took pictures with people, and left.

“I trust the system,” he said as he walked through Los Angeles International Airport, adding that there was a tape “that shows what really happened.”

Asked if “there was any groping involved,” Gooding said “no, nothing.” He also said “absolutely not” when asked if he was guilty.

Attorneys for Gooding did not immediately respond to requests for comment or confirmation.

FILE PHOTO: Cuba Gooding Jr. attends the 69th annual DGA Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Phil McCarten

NYPD spokeswoman Detective Sophia Mason said she had seen the news report, but had no information on it.

Asked about the reported allegation on Monday, NYPD spokesman Detective Martin Brown said, “We don’t really have anything official to say about it other than that there’s been an allegation and that it is currently under investigation.”

Gooding won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1997 for his portrayal of an athlete in the film “Jerry Maguire.” In 2016, he was nominated for an Emmy for playing O.J. Simpson in the miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

Reporting by Peter Szekely and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Bill Rigby

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Samoa bans 'Rocketman' over gay scenes: media

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FILE PHOTO: Cast member Taron Egerton attends the UK premiere of the Elton John biopic 'Rocketman' in London, Britain, May 20, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Samoa has banned “Rocketman”, the movie-musical based on the life of British musician Elton John, over its depiction of homosexuality, the South Pacific island’s censor has said.

The film was banned last week because it clashed with Samoa’s “culture and our Christian beliefs”, the censor, Leiataua Niuapu Faaui, told the Samoa Observer newspaper on Monday.

About 97 percent of Samoa’s nearly 200,000 people are Christians and sodomy is a crime in the island nation.

“Rocketman” starring Taron Egerton, tracks Elton John’s first steps in the music business, from his piano playing as a child to his explosion onto the U.S. scene and its drug and alcohol-fueled party world.

Scenes involving gay sex and drug taking were cut from a screening in Russia, drawing criticism from John and the film’s makers.

The movie, which has won warm reviews, began its worldwide rollout late in May.

“Unfortunately due to censoring issues we have had to cancel ‘Rocketman’,” Apollo Cinemas, in the Samoan capital Apia, said on its Facebook page.

Reporting by Tom Westbrook; editing by Darren Schuettler

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Woodstock 50 loses NY site for anniversary music festival

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(Reuters) - The troubled Woodstock 50 music festival on Monday lost the site of a planned anniversary event in August, the latest setback for the weekend marking the famed 1969 “peace and music” festival, but organizers said they were pursuing a new location.

The Aug. 16-19 festival was to have taken place at the Watkins Glen motor racing venue in upstate New York with a line-up including Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus.

On Monday, Watkins Glen said in a statement it had “terminated the site license for Woodstock pursuant to provisions of the contract. As such, (it) will not be hosting the Woodstock 50 Festival,” the site owners said in a statement.

Watkins Glen did not say why it had decided to pull out.

Gregory Peck, one of the organizers of Woodstock 50, said the team behind the festival was “in discussions with another venue” to host the event and looked “forward to sharing the new location when tickets go on sale in the coming weeks.”

Woodstock 50 is backed by the co-producer of the original 1969 Woodstock festival, which was billed as “three days of peace and music” and is regarded as one of the pivotal moments in music history.

The anniversary festival was thrown into chaos in April after the lead Japanese investors abruptly pulled out. It has been plagued with other problems, including obtaining permits and arranging security and sanitation.

Tickets for the festival, expected to attract about 60,000 people, have not gone on sale.

Organizers said last month they had obtained new funding and expressed confidence that the show would go on.

Woodstock 50 announced in March that more than 80 musical acts, including 1969 festival veterans John Fogerty, Canned Heat and Santana, would take part. Some 100,000 fans, including campers, were originally expected to attend, but that number was later reduced to 60,000.

The nonprofit Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the current owner of the field where the 1969 Woodstock festival took place, has also scaled back plans for a three-day anniversary event. It said in February it will instead host separate concerts by Ringo Starr, Santana and the Doobie Brothers.

Watkins Glen has a larger crowd capacity and is some 150 miles (240 km) distant from Bethel and about 250 miles (400 km) north of New York City.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Tom Brown, Cynthia Osterman and Dan Grebler

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