WORLD Links to mafia in Bulger’s demise
A NEW study suggests vegan diets may help in the management of diabetes.
Researchers found that predominantly plant- based or vegan diets can help manage blood sugar levels and weight among diabetes patients.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, found that such diets could also “significantly improve psychological health and quality of life” for patients.
The authors point out that in the UK there are 4.5 million people with diabetes, costing the NHS vast sums of money. THE robotic car company created by Google will put vehicles on the roads without a human on hand to take control in emergencies.
The regulatory approval announced yesterday allows Waymo’s driverless cars to cruise through California at speeds up to 104km/ h. The self- driving cars have travelled millions of miles on the state’s roads since Waymo began as a secretive project within Google nearly a decade ago. But a backup driver had been required until new regulations in April set the stage for the transition to true autonomy. TWO climbers have died while a third has managed to dig herself out of an avalanche in New Zealand as the three were climbing a mountain early yesterday morning.
Police say the two men who died on Mount Hicks on the South Island were mountain guides and their bodies have been recovered from the accident scene.
The climber who survived the ordeal, adventurer Jo Morgan, was completely buried in snow but managed to activate a locater beacon after 30 minutes and then managed to free herself after another 20 minutes. JAMES “Whitey” Bulger, the murderous Boston gangster who benefited from a corrupt relationship with the FBI, has died in federal prison at 89.
He gained notoriety after spending 16 years as one of America’s most wanted men.
Bulger was found unresponsive yesterday at the US penitentiary in West Virginia where he had just been transferred, and a medical examiner declared him dead shortly afterwards. Authorities did not immediately release a cause of death but said the FBI was notified and was investigating.
Reports circulated that the gangster had been killed.
A fellow inmate with mafia connections is being investigated in the homicide, three anonymous sources briefed on the investigation told the Boston Globe.
Bulger, the model for Jack Nicholson’s ruthless crime boss in the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie, The Departed, led a largely Irish mob that ran loansharking, gambling and drug rackets.
He also was an FBI informant who ratted on the New England mob, his gang’s rival, in an era when bringing down the mafia was a top national priority for the FBI.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr, warned him he would be indicted.
With a $ 2.8 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted criminals, just below Osama bin Laden.
When the extent of his crimes and the FBI’s role in overlooking them became public in the late 1990s, Bulger became a source of embarrassment for the FBI. During the years he was a fugitive, the FBI battled a public perception that it had not tried very hard to find him.
After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent- controlled apartment near the beach with his girlfriend.
In 2013, he was convicted of 11 murders, as well as extortion, and money- laundering after a sensational racketeering trial that included graphic testimony from three former Bulger cohorts: a hit man, a protege and a partner.
He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus five years.
Bulger had just been moved to USP Hazelton, a high- security prison with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.
He had been in a prison in Florida before a stopover at a transfer facility in Oklahoma City.
Federal Bureau of Prisons officials and his lawyer had declined to comment on why he was being moved.