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NEW YORK — Thousands of Michael Jackson fans danced the rain away in a Brooklyn park on Saturday at a party hosted by filmmaker Spike Lee, marking what would have been the 51st birthday of the late pop star. Crowds of partygoers streamed into Prospect Park late Saturday afternoon, many wearing fedoras, sporting white gloves and showing off other Jackson-esque outfits. DJs spun Jackson's hits one after the other as people danced and sang along. Dozens of hawkers wandered through the crowd with T-shirts, buttons, posters and homemade memorabilia. "I was just like everyone else. I loved his talent," said Lee, who directed two music videos for Jackson in 1996. He also reminisced how Jackson had visited him in his home in Brooklyn to talk about their music video collaboration. The day was also designated Michael "King of Pop" Jackson Memorial Day by Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz. "We all know Michael Jackson had fans around the world, but we all kn...

Sunday, August 09, 2009 NEW YORK: Nine people, including five Italian tourists were killed on Saturday when a small plane hit a helicopter over New York and crashed into the Hudson River, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.He said there were five Italian tourists and a pilot aboard the helicopter and three people on the plane including the pilot and a child. Two bodies had been recovered but there was no hope of finding survivors."This has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission," Bloomberg said. "There's not going to be a happy ending."Search and rescue craft had rushed to the area in the vicinity of West 14th Street in Lower Manhattan immediately after the midair collision at noon (1600 GMT). Police divers started looking for survivors and wreckage. The weather was clear and mild.Bloomberg said the plane, a Piper Saratoga, appeared to hit the back of the helicopter which immediately fell into the river. Police had found one piece of wreckage in murky w...

Monday, August 03, 2009 NEW YORK: It's a debilitating pain that affects over 10 percent of the population -- some 30 million people in this country. Nearly one in four households have someone afflicted by migraines. And no one knows that better than Theresa Schenk. "I had the migraine syndrome for 20 years, and it really did own my life," Schenk, 62, said. "It was depressing, it was debilitating; it was something of a nightmare." For two decades, no drug or treatment could help make the pain go away for the Willoughby, Ohio woman. And Schenk is far from alone; for many with migraines, standard treatment just doesn't work. "There's a subset of patients who have what we call chronic migraine," said Dr. Lawrence Newman, director of the Headache Institute at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. "Many of those people are quite treatment resistant. Why? We're not really sure. "I tell our patients it is a life-altering conditi...

Saturday, August 01, 2009 WASHINGTON: The main terminal of New York's La Guardia Airport was briefly evacuated Saturday after a man was detained carrying a suspicious package, US media reported.Televised images showed bag-laden travelers leaving the terminal and huddled outside while authorities cleared the building. They were later being allowed back in, the reports said.A US news channel reported that authorities detained a man behaving erratically and carrying a suspicious package. Spokesmen for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

July 31, 2009 NEW YORK: Things that grew rapidly in 2008 included home foreclosures, government deficits and the ranks of the jobless. More encouragingly, remittances to developing countries also expanded. The World Bank reckons that migrant workers sent $328 billion home to their families last year, 15% more than in 2007.This continued growth is particularly striking because it came in a year when other private financial flows into the developing world declined dramatically. The net inflows of private capital to these economies dropped by nearly two-fifths, from $1.16 trillion in 2007 to $707 billion, as panicky rich-world investors turned inward and foreign banks became increasingly reluctant to lend across borders. Dilip Ratha of the World Bank wryly remarks that migrants are being “thrust into the role of a sort of lender of last resort.”However, the chances that remittances will continue to hold up this year are slim. Some argue that these payments are less affected by downturns ...