Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Video games take off as a spectator sport

Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"

EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.

The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.

And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.

League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.

But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.

Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.

Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.

"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.

David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."

Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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100 youth leaders engage in national conversation dialogue

SINGAPORE: Some 100 youth leaders and members from nine youth uniformed organisations engaged in an Our Singapore Conversation dialogue on Saturday morning.

The event is part of the Inaugural Young Leaders' Forum organised by the Singapore Scout Association.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat was also present to listen in and have an open dialogue with the participants.

Some of the topics discussed include what values and ideals Singaporeans should have in 2030, and what attributes Singaporeans need in order to succeed.

Organisers hope the forum will help develop young leaders and also contribute to the development of Singapore.

- CNA/xq

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ZTE readies itself for U.S. expansion in 2013

Lixin Cheng, the CEO of ZTE USA, at CES 2013.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

LAS VEGAS--Lixin Cheng and the rest of his division are determined to make it in America.

Cheng is the CEO of ZTE's U.S. division, and in addition to strengthening the company's carrier relationships, Cheng also has big plans in the near future to increase ZTE's presence in the U.S.

"There are a lot of things already in the pipeline," he said, referring to the devices planned through U.S. carriers.

But other than just spending money on developing handsets (though Cheng does refer to it as ZTE's "bread and butter"), the company also plans on using the $30 million that it recently announced to expanding its U.S. infrastructure, warehousing, and local research and development.

Of course, there are serious obstacles to face. Last fall, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee held a hearing expressing security concerns over alleged ties Huawei and ZTE had with the Chinese government.

Though both companies tried to reassure the lawmakers and the American public that there was nothing to worry about, a veil of suspicion from U.S. consumers remains.

For Cheng, the entire issue was troubling, but there were a few silver linings. First, it helped ZTE increase its transparency with the FCC. Secondly, as the old saying goes - any press is good press.

"From a branding point of view, it increased out brand awareness and a lot of people know ZTE more," he said. "I can't believe there is a positive side, but that's one, I think."

And as for concerns about competing with the tech giants already dominating the U.S. market, Cheng said there isn't any really.

He continued, saying he has full respect for Samsung and Apple, but because ZTE provides such a wide range of inexpensive and prepaid handsets, the company fulfills a niche role in the market that the other two do not satisfy.

"Honestly, I'm not focused on competitors," he said. "That's just our strategy. We're focused on our customers."

For now, what's important are the things that have a more immediate impact, like bringing the ZTE Grand S, the company's new flagship handset, to the U.S. after its initial Chinese launch.

The ZTE Grand S.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

Cheng is determined to have it available on our shores because it would mark a notable departure from ZTE's usual line of mid-range handsets in the U.S. With this smartphone, along with carrier branding, the Grand S could the company be the boost it needs to make a more positive name for itself.

Especially when considering the money that's at stake. Even though ZTE increased its U.S. market share five to six percent in the last two years, the financial gains from last year weren't so high. Cheng, however, remains steadfast.

"Last year was a very challenging year for us," he said. "But despite that, ZTE is committed to the U.S. market."

For more of CNET's CES 2013 coverage, click here.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan said. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

Read More..

Life will find a way, even in the midst of a hurricane

LIFE ahoy! Every hurricane that sweeps through the Gulf of Mexico carries a unique mix of bacteria in its clouds.

Much of our precipitation is likely caused by microbes in clouds. Their surfaces act as "seeds" to attract water and form ice crystals that fall through the cloud as rain or snow. To find out the nature of the bacteria, in 2010 researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta flew a jetliner through hurricanes Earl and Karl, 10 kilometres above the Earth's surface.

Twenty per cent of the small particles they collected turned out to be bacteria that could grow in the lab. Many were genetically similar to bacteria the researchers had earlier found in clouds over the US land mass and along the California coast. The similar bacteria could withstand UV radiation at high altitude, and use simple carbon compounds as their sole energy source, suggesting that they had adapted to survive in clouds.

But the bacterial communities in the two hurricanes were very different from one another - probably because the hurricanes began in different places. The team believe that the storms swept up species from the soil and ocean as they moved inland. This mix of bacteria could have increased the amount of rain from the hurricane by providing better "seeds" for the water to form around. The group presented their work at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in December.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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SIT hopes to make education system more robust

SINGAPORE : The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) hopes it can help to make the education system more robust and relevant by offering an industry-ready college education with good career prospects.

The institute's incoming president Professor Tan Thiam Soon said this will be its true challenge.

He was speaking at SIT's inaugural graduation ceremony.

Nearly 470 students received their degrees on Friday afternoon, after completing a two-year programme with partnering universities from the US, UK and Germany.

They include graduates of engineering, physiotherapy, game design and culinary arts.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said SIT, whose courses are designed with close links to the industry, has increased the diversity of programmes available in Singapore's university sector.

He said this is a mutually-beneficial model as its students are highly sought after, while the industry gains ready access to graduates with relevant skills.

Mr Heng said: "The industry support for this model is most evident in the 30 industry partners that currently offer scholarships across a range of areas, such as engineering and hospitality, with more than 10 per cent of the graduating cohort having won scholarships from the industry."

One of graduates studied IT at Ngee Ann Polytechnic but decided to pursue her interest in culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

Nurfarzanah Binte Mohamed Shariff said: "I actually sent out information regarding the CIA in Hyde Park (New York), so I was actually about to go there when SIT actually came up with this course.

"They have joint work with CIA, and I thought that SIT actually allowed me this opportunity to study here in Singapore while still having the courses I want to take in CIA Hyde Park."

- CNA/ms

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Nearly 1 million more Xbox 360s than Wii Us sold in December

What's up with the Wii U?

(Credit:
Nintendo)

Is the Wii U having some trouble getting off the ground?

Research firm NPD Group yesterday announced U.S. game sales for December. And although the research firm won't reveal hardware unit sales on its own, Microsoft reported that for the 24th month in a row, it has held the number one spot in the U.S. in console sales, with 1.4 million units sold. Nintendo, meanwhile, announced that its
Wii U could only muster 460,000 unit sales.

Historically, new consoles have generated massive demand, allowing them to beat out older competitors in unit sales. However, that's not proving to be the case this time around. The
Wii U -- despite being readily available both online and in many retail stores in December -- couldn't match the
Xbox 360, a device that's been on store shelves for several years.

Nintendo has been somewhat subdued in its assessment of Wii U sales. Earlier this week, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata characterized Wii U sales are "not bad," adding that he believes the console is "selling steadily."

NPD compared the Wii U's sales figures in December to those of its wildly popular predecessor, the Wii. According to the research firm, "sales of the Wii U were lower on a unit basis when compared to the original Wii in December 2006." That's perhaps saying something major, considering the Wii was hard to come by in December 2006 due to massive demand, and the Wii U is readily available.

Still, Nintendo was armed with an answer to the doubters. The company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement to CNET that in just 41 days on the market, Wii U sales have hit 890,000 unit sales. Moreover, Nintendo said that Wii U hardware sales have exceeded $300 million in the U.S. -- up from the $270 million the Wii generated at the same point in its lifecycle.

"While the Wii launch established new benchmarks in the United States, Wii U has surpassed its predecessor in perhaps the most important category: revenue generation," Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing said yesterday in a statement. "The demand for the Deluxe SKU, which was essentially sold out at retail this holiday, and the strong attach rate of New Super Mario Bros. U, shows that we have the value and the games to drive momentum in 2013."

While revenue might be up, that's the direct result of the Wii U being more expensive than its predecessor. The Wii U Basic set is available for $299.99. A Deluxe set featuring extra gear, like a copy of game Nintendo Land, goes for $349.99. The Wii, meanwhile, shipped in the U.S. in 2006 for $249.99. So, each Wii U sale is generating an additional $50 to $100 for Nintendo compared to the Wii.

Speaking of the Wii, it actually had a better November than its successor. According to Nintendo, the console tallied 475,000 unit sales during the month.

Despite the Wii's staying power, it was hard to find much to be happy about in the gaming industry last month. Total game industry sales hit $3.2 billion, a 22 percent decline compared to December 2011. Software sales, meanwhile, fell 27 percent to $1.6 billion. Overall hardware sales were down 20 percent to land at $1.1 billion.

December's top-selling game was Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The Xbox 360 version proved most popular.

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Google and Twitter Help Track Influenza Outbreaks

This flu season could be the longest and worst in years. So far 18 children have died from flu-related symptoms, and 2,257 people have been hospitalized.

Yesterday Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a citywide public health emergency, with roughly 700 confirmed flu cases—ten times the number the city saw last year.

"It arrived five weeks early, and it's shaping up to be a pretty bad flu season," said Lyn Finelli, who heads the Influenza Outbreak Response Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Boston isn't alone. According to the CDC, 41 states have reported widespread influenza activity, and in the last week of 2012, 5.6 percent of doctor's office visits across the country were for influenza-like illnesses. The severity likely stems from this year's predominant virus: H3N2, a strain known to severely affect children and the elderly. Finelli notes that the 2003-2004 flu season, also dominated by H3N2, produced similar numbers. (See "Are You Prepped? The Influenza Roundup.")

In tracking the flu, physicians and public health officials have a host of new surveillance tools at their disposal thanks to crowdsourcing and social media. Such tools let them get a sense of the flu's reach in real time rather than wait weeks for doctor's offices and state health departments to report in.

Pulling data from online sources "is no different than getting information on over-the-counter medication or thermometer purchases [to track against an outbreak]," said Philip Polgreen, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa.

The most successful of these endeavors, Google Flu Trends, analyzes flu-related Internet search terms like "flu symptoms" or "flu medication" to estimate flu activity in different areas. It tracks flu outbreaks globally.

Another tool, HealthMap, which is sponsored by Boston Children's Hospital, mines online news reports to track outbreaks in real time. Sickweather draws from posts on Twitter and Facebook that mention the flu for its data.

People can be flu-hunters themselves with Flu Near You, a project that asks people to report their symptoms once a week. So far more than 38,000 people have signed up for this crowdsourced virus tracker. And of course, there's an app for that.

Both Finelli, a Flu Near You user, and Polgreen find the new tools exciting but agree that they have limits. "It's not as if we can replace traditional surveillance. It's really just a supplement, but it's timely," said Polgreen.

When people have timely warning that there's flu in the community, they can get vaccinated, and hospitals can plan ahead. According to a 2012 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Google Flu Trends has shown promise predicting emergency room flu traffic. Some researchers are even using a combination of the web database and weather data to predict when outbreaks will peak.

As for the current flu season, it's still impossible to predict week-to-week peaks and troughs. "We expect that it will last a few more weeks, but we can never tell how bad it's going to get," said Finelli.

Hospitals are already taking precautionary measures. One Pennsylvania hospital erected a separate emergency room tent for additional flu patients. This week, several Illinois hospitals went on "bypass," alerting local first responders that they're at capacity—due to an uptick in both flu and non-flu cases—so that patients will be taken to alternative facilities, if possible.

In the meantime, the CDC advises vaccination, first and foremost. On the bright side, the flu vaccine being used this year is a good match for the H3N2 strain. Though Finelli cautions, "Sometimes drifted strains pop up toward the end of the season."

It looks like there won't be shortages of seasonal flu vaccine like there have been in past years. HealthMap sports a Flu Vaccine Finder to make it a snap to find a dose nearby. And if the flu-shot line at the neighborhood pharmacy seems overwhelming, more health departments and clinics are offering drive-through options.

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