Golden Girl Rue McClanahan dies at 76

The award-winning performer played feisty Southern belle Blanche in the popular series.

McClanahan, who underwent heart bypass surgery last year, is the third of the main cast members to pass away.

Only Betty White remains, following the deaths of Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur, who died in 2008 and 2009.

Drag queen mother

White, 88, recently hosted Saturday Night Live, and fans are lobbying for her to present next year's Academy Awards.

"I treasured our relationship," she said. "It hurts more than I ever thought it would, if that's even possible."

McClanahan had a varied stage career before landing the role of Blanche Devereaux in 1985 when The Golden Girls hit the small screen.

The actress said of her seductive character: "She is in love with life and loves men.

"I think she has an attitude towards women that's competitive. I think basically she's insecure."

Blanche always referred to her father as "Big Daddy" and was the perpetual target of her housemates.

McClanahan won an Emmy for her role in 1987.

Five years later, after The Golden Girls ended, she co-starred alongside White and Getty in a short-lived spin-off called Golden Palace.

Earlier in her career, she had appeared with Arthur in the 1970s sitcom Maude as her best friend and sidekick.

In later years, she continued to appear on TV and on stage, playing the elderly mother of a drag queen in 2008 serial Sordid Lives, which included the filming of a sex scene.

The actress was recovering from knee surgery at the time, but still hung onto a window sill when the bed she was using broke.

McClanahan, who was born in Oklahoma, married six times and wrote a memoir in 2007 entitled My First Five Husbands... And The Ones Who Got Away.

Cyclone Phet takes new direction

The eye of cyclone Phet is 200 kilometers away from Masirah, an eastern Island of Oman which has been hit by heavy rains and strong winds.

According to Arab TV, the authorities have completed evacuation of the people from Masirah Island and areas on the eastern coast of Oman.

Heavy rains lashed Oman's areas along its east coast particularly Masirah Island.

The cyclone, rated at a factor of 3.5 on a scale of five, was moving northwestwardly at a speed of eight kilometres (five miles) an hour. Winds were blowing at a 180 kilometres (112 miles) an hour.

The capital Muscat further north could be affected by Saturday, authorities said.

But Muscat airport was still open with no intention to suspend flights, Transport Minister Salem al-Nuaimi said.

Phet was expected to veer towards the Indian and Pakistani coasts, sparing Oman a devastating impact similar to that of cyclone Gonu. It tore through Oman in 2007, killing at least 49 people and causing damage worth 3.9 billion dollars.

The cyclone is expected to hit Pakistan’s coastal areas on Sunday at a medium pace. It’s speed could touch 34 to 47 nautical miles with tides up to 3 to 5 meter high.

Heavy rains with strong winds are expected in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan in the next 84 hours.

Fort Hood shooting suspect makes 1st court appearance as defense attorney seeks to delay case

A military court hearing has begun for the Army psychiatrist accused of gunning down 13 people at Fort Hood, and his defense attorney is likely to seek a delay.

Maj. Nidal Hasan (nih-DAHL' hah-SAHN') made his first courtroom appearance Tuesday, but wasn't expected to speak at the hearing. Military prosecutors and defense attorneys instead were to discuss case preparations.Defense attorney John Galligan says he'll seek to delay Hasan's Article 32 hearing. That's similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding in which a judge hears witness testimony to determine whether the case should go to trial.The Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire at Fort Hood, killing 13 and wounding dozens more, was to make his first military courtroom appearance Tuesday as his attorney seeks to delay the case.

Neither Maj. Nidal Hasan nor any witnesses were expected to speak during the hearing, at which military prosecutors and defense attorneys planned to discuss case preparations and other basic matters.

Defense attorney John Galligan said he would seek to delay Hasan's Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding in which a judge hears witness testimony to determine whether the case should go to trial. No date has been set, but authorities have said the trial could be held as early as July 1.

Galligan said the Article 32 hearing should not proceed before Oct. 1 because he still needs key documents, including some of Hasan's military records, FBI files on Hasan's alleged contact with a radical Islamic cleric in Yemen months before the shooting, and some government reviews of the shooting rampage.

Officials increased security at the court building Tuesday, blocking off the road to the Lawrence J. Williams Judicial Center, bomb-sniffing dogs searched the parking lot and visitors were screened with hand-held metal detectors. Usually none of those precautions are taken.

Hasan is awaiting a mental evaluation, which is to be conducted sometime after the Article 32 hearing. A panel of doctors will determine whether Hasan had a severe mental illness at the time of the shooting. If so, the doctors will offer a clinical psychological diagnosis and determine whether it prevented Hasan from knowing his alleged actions were wrong at the time, and if he is competent to stand trial, according to military law.

Prosecutors have not announced if they will seek the death penalty against Hasan, who faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military post.

If convicted, Hasan could be sentenced to death only if the military jurors determine there is an aggravating factor, according to military law. Last month, prosecutors sent a notice to Galligan listing one aggravating factor in the case: that more than one person was killed in the same incident.

Experts have said prosecutors would not send such a notice unless they planned to seek the death penalty.

While Tuesday's hearing is the second for Hasan, it is the first time he will appear in a Fort Hood courtroom. His initial hearing — two weeks after the Nov. 5 shootings — was held in his hospital room at San Antonio's Brooke Army Medical Center. He was paralyzed from the chest down after being wounded that day by military police officers.

8 Ways Faith Can Heal

Here are 8 ways faith can heal.

1. Faith provides social support.

Not surprisingly, a major reason why regular churchgoers have half the risk of dying over the next eight years as people who skip religious services is due to the social support gained by a church community. One consistent happiness key is weaving a network of support for yourself. We all need a security net. If you go to church regularly, and especially if you get involved in your parish or church community, that social support is provided. Also, regular churchgoers are more likely to GIVE support to others, and this act of generosity--any altruistic activity, really--promotes better health.

2. Faith engages the senses.

I never thought about it this way until reading the quote by Ted Kaptchuk, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School . He says, "Religious belief is not just a mind question but involves the commitment of one's body as well. The sensory organs, tastes, smells, sounds, music, the architecture of religious buildings [are involved]."

He's so right. That's why, when I'm in a bad place, I often go sit in an empty church and find comfort there, looking at the stained-glass windows, the sapphire ceiling with stars, the wooden stations of the cross, and the statues of the saints. I will light a few votive candles, for all my intentions, and also for those whose intentions got accidentally blown out last Sunday by my kids. This sensory experience is also why I'm brought to tears at Christmas time when I hear a beautiful version of "O Holy Night."

3. Faith reinforces a belief system.

Did you know that you're happier and healthier when you think that you're right (regardless of whether or not you really are).

Think about the last fight you had with your family. If you and your sister "won" it (your brother got down on his knees ... "I was so very wrong"), you know that primal feeling of superiority that I'm talking about: the one that apes experience, and insecure people like myself. But the apes and immature folks are merely confirming a theory that positive psychologists have known for a long time: that people bond when they hold common opinions and beliefs, and this kind of bonding leads to happiness. It's like a positive gossip session.

Church is all about this kind of bonding. You believe that God sent his only son so that we might have life and have it more abundantly? ME TOO! Get out!

4. Faith provides good laws to live by.

Religion and spirituality do what a parent or supervisor at work does: give you 10 laws to abide by. And, although you may stick out your tongue at those regulations and try to break a few of them, you are actually glad that they exist, because, for the most part, your life runs more smoothly when you follow them. These expectations, or dogmas, keep you on track. In an interview with Beliefnet, Dr. Harold Koenig, co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at Duke University Medical Center said this:

Some of the things we'd like to get rid of in religion--the dogma, the laws--may be the ingredients that result in better health. You should have only one spouse, you shouldn't cheat on your spouse, you shouldn't get involved in Internet pornography--all that's forbidden. We learned that if people get involved in doing those things they risk their health. Whether it's a sin in a spiritual sense or not, it's bad for them. So these rules and regulations and laws--love your neighbor and help your neighbor and give your neighbor--are good for us.

5. Faith attaches meaning to events.

Here's how scripture benefits my health: it offers me plenty of examples of how some very bad situations (think Job) were redeemed in the end, and that all the suffering actually had a purpose, that there was some greater good that came out of it. I cling to that very message on my darker days. I have to trust that my night won't last forever, that there will always be a light in the distance, and that God will carry me there if I get too weak to walk.

My faith gives me hope.

And hope, doctors say, is about the best thing you can do for your body. It's better than a placebo.

6. Faith inspires gratitude.

Doctors have always said the optimists fare better in surgery and combating any type of illness than pessimists. Gratitude, like humor, boosts your immune system, make you more resilient to stress, counters depression and anxiety, and helps to lower your production of cortisol, the hormone that is bad news all around.

Faith motivates gratitude in that it reminds a person to count her blessings and to thank God often for them. Spirituality and religion also encourage a broader perspective of the world--of global needs--and in doing so foster a deeper appreciation of our circumstances.

7. Faith encourages fasting.

Most religious traditions incorporate some cleansing fast as a ritual: Catholics have Lent, Jews have Yom Kippur, Muslims have Ramadan, and so forth. Fasting has spiritual benefits, of course--some believers can achieve a temporary state of clarity and peace by abstaining from certain foods or limiting their caloric intake--but the physiological impact is profound, as well, because these fasts are a way for the body to purge toxins.

8. Faith changes the brain.

Engaging in prayer and meditation can actually change your brain.

Long-term meditators--those with 15 years of practice or more--appear to have thicker frontal lobes than nonmeditators. People who describe themselves as highly spiritual tend to exhibit an asymmetry in the thalamus--a feature that other people can develop after just eight weeks of training in meditation skills.

Government Scientists Are Consulting But Unable to Stop BP Oil Spill

In what is measuring up to be the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the government is nearly helpless to stop the oil flowing from the Deepwater Horizon well that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.The White House said Sunday that it expects the spill to grow by 20 percent after BP gets started with its latest effort to contain the spill, beginning Monday or Tuesday. The White House also said it is tripling its environmental cleanup crew.

But the additional spillage is opposite what BP Managing Director Bob Dudley said on "Fox News Sunday" -- that the decision to cut open the pipes in order to put a cap on the well will likely not add to the amount of oil flowing into the water.

"What we need is a clean cut across the top of that riser package at the bottom of the sea. The amount of oil will not change. The oil was coming out anyway from just above it at a broken area of the pipe at the end of the pipe. So that is not going to change the flow," he said.

President Obama's top environmental adviser Carol Browner said Sunday the government is responding with what she called the largest environmental mobilization effort ever, but it looks like it could be up to BP to dig a new well before the gushing spill stops pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.There's not just one being dug, there are two. Because we insisted -- the government insisted that there be a second one in case something went wrong with the first one," Browner said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

That's after BP's "top kill" effort to plug the hole with hundreds of thousands of pounds of mud failed. BP is looking at the next alternative -- trying to grab the oil that's spilling into the water and move it onto a vessel that will pull the oil onshore.

"Obviously that's not the preferred scenario. We always knew that the relief well was the permanent way to close this, to get it killed so there wasn't oil coming up while the relief well was being drilled was the second option. Now we move to the third option which is to contain it," Browner said.

The federal government has placed 150 scientists on the case, and concerns have been raised to BP about putting additional pressure on the leaking well that could make the spill worse.

The government estimates that 12,000-19,000 barrels of oil are being released daily from 5,000 feet below the sea. Estimates are at about 18 million to 40 million gallons have been dumped into the Gulf since the explosion.

Dudley said after the last containment dome failed because ice crystals formed in the pipe, scientists learned to pump warm sea water down the column of the pipe to prevent the same kind of problems while trying to get the oil up into the vessel.

Dudley said he was hopeful the odds of success are greater than the 60 to 70 percent odds put on the top kill method.

"We feel like the percentages are better that we'll be able to contain the oil. The question is how much of the oil we'll be able to contain, and the objective is to try to collect the majority of it through this vessel," he said.David Vitter and other lawmakers and state officials have complained that not enough booms have been put up to shield Louisiana's shores, where 150 miles of coastline are already affected. He said he is very dissatisfied with the administration's response.

"The state and locals came up with a plan on emergency dredging barrier islands well over two weeks ago. For over two weeks, the corps and other federal agencies dragged their feet. 9:16:49 Then, they approved moving forward with 2 percent of that plan," he told CNN.

Vitter said the disaster has not turned him against offshore drilling -- that would be like saying he's opposed to air travel after a plane crash. More importantly, Vitter said, the key is to finding out what went wrong and making sure it doesn't happen again.

To that extent the Republican senator is on the same page as the administration, though Vitter and Browner part ways on stopping deep water drilling until that investigation is complete, a situation Browner acknowledged only compounds economic troubles for the region and the country.

"In the Arctic they've been shut down. In the Gulf of Mexico they've been shut down, including 33 rigs that were out there drilling right now, which we understand is going to be hard on those people," she said. "We have to learn from this accident. In the interim we have shut down all deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico until we have an answer to, one, how can you make sure that these operations are safe, that there are redundancies in place? ... Secondly, what happens when those redundancies don't work?"

In the meantime, the nation's top environmental advocate acknowledged that the devastation is beyond any scope the U.S. has ever seen.

"More oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico than as any other time in our history. It means there's more and more -- more oil than the Exxon Valdez," she said.

Brush teeth to 'prevent' heart disease

People who fail to brush their teeth twice a day are putting themselves at risk of heart disease, research suggests.

The Scottish study of more than 11,000 adults backs previous research linking gum disease with heart problems.

The researchers said more work is needed to confirm if poor oral health directly causes heart disease or is a marker of risk.

A charity added that oral hygiene was just one factor in good heart health.

It is known that inflammation in the body, including in the mouth and gums, has an important role in the build up of clogged arteries, which can lead to a heart attack.

But this is the first time that researchers have looked at whether the frequency of teeth brushing has any bearing on the risk of developing heart disease.

Then nurses collected information on medical history and family history of heart disease, took blood pressure and blood samples.

Overall, six out of 10 people said they visited the dentist every six months and seven out 10 reported brushing their teeth twice a day.

Over the eight-year study there were 555 "cardiovascular events" such as heart attacks, 170 of which were fatal.

Cause and effect

Study leader Professor Richard Watt, from University College London, said future studies will be needed to confirm whether the link between oral health behaviour and cardiovascular disease "is in fact causal or merely a risk marker".

Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at British Heart Foundation, said: "If you don't brush your teeth, your mouth can become infected with bacteria which can cause inflammation.

"However, it is complicated by the fact that poor oral hygiene is often associated with other well known risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking and poor diet."

She added: "Good personal hygiene is a basic element of a healthy lifestyle.

"But if you want to help your heart, you should eat a balanced diet, avoid smoking and take part in regular physical activity."

Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the British Dental Association, added it was still unclear whether there was a definite cause and effect between oral hygiene and heart disease.

"Whatever the true position is, we can say with certainty that if people brush teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, visit the dentist regularly and restrict sugary snacks to mealtimes; that this will go a long way towards keeping the teeth and gums in a healthy state for life."

Bee stripes may not keep predators away

Bumblebees' distinctive bright yellow and black stripes may not be what keeps them safe from their enemies, scientists say.

A UK study has shown that other aspects of bees' behaviour may matter more than the classic bee colour to keep predators away.

This could be the way bumblebees fly or perhaps the buzzing sound they make, say the scientists.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Zoology.

Scientists have long believed that once flying predators get stung by a bee, they remember their experience and in the future rely strongly on colour cues to identify their prey.

"The first time a bird eats a brightly coloured bumblebee it gets a nasty surprise. Remembering the bee's bright colours may help the bird to avoid making the same mistake again," said Dr Nigel Raine from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, a researcher on the study.

Birds perceive the world differently to humans, being able to see light in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. But they can still distinguish between different species of bees, explained the scientist.

So the researchers wanted to check if bees' colours were the only thing that helped to warn off predators.

'Unexpected' results Dr Raine and his colleagues from the University of London set up a number of colonies from different populations of bumblebees in the UK, Germany and Sardinia.

Though some insects had similar colour patterns - bands of bright yellow, white, orange or red and regions of black, others looked quite different from one another.

"In the UK, they are yellow-and-black-striped with a white tip on the abdomen, but in the Canary Islands for example they don't have any yellow bands at all - they're just black and white," said Dr Raine.

The scientists expected birds to rely on visual clues, meaning they would be more likely to attack bees that looked different from the ones they were used to.

"All our bees were individually numbered with tags on the back of the thorax, so that we could keep track of each individual that left and entered the nest," said the researcher.

The scientists then counted how many bees did not return to their nest and compared the loss rate of different Bombus terrestris populations with different colour patterns in the same environment.

They got some rather unexpected results, said Dr Raine.

"Predators didn't seem to target the unusually coloured bees more than the native populations we tested. Perhaps the bumbling way in which all bumblebees fly or their distinctive deep buzzing are more important clues to help would-be predators avoid a nasty sting," he said.

His colleague Ralph Stelzer, the main author of the study and a PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London, called the findings surprising.

"The results mean that the explanation for the bumblebees' colouration patterns is not as simple as previously thought,"