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.

Read More..

Saudi execution: Brutal and illegal?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Saudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan woman


• She was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaid


• This was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accident


• Becker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"

Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of 'Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice.' Follow Jo Becker on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Rizana Nafeek was a child herself -- 17 years old, according to her birth certificate -- when a four-month-old baby died in her care in Saudi Arabia. She had migrated from Sri Lanka only weeks earlier to be a domestic worker for a Saudi family.

Although Rizana said the baby died in a choking accident, Saudi courts convicted her of murder and sentenced her to death. On Wednesday, the Saudi government carried out the sentence in a gruesome fashion, by beheading Rizana.

Jo Becker

Read more: Outrage over beheading of Sri Lankan woman by Saudi Arabia

Rizana's case was rife with problems from the beginning. A recruitment agency in Sri Lanka knew she was legally too young to migrate, but she had falsified papers to say she was 23. After the baby died, Rizana gave a confession that she said was made under duress -- she later retracted it. She had no lawyer to defend her until after she was sentenced to death and no competent interpreter during her trial. Her sentence violated international law, which prohibits the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18.

Rizana's fate should arouse international outrage. But it should also spotlight the precarious existence of other domestic workers. At least 1.5 million work in Saudi Arabia alone and more than 50 million -- mainly women and girls -- are employed worldwide according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Read more: Indonesian maid escapes execution in Saudi Arabia

Again according to the ILO, the number of domestic workers worldwide has grown by more than 50% since the mid-1990s. Many, like Rizana, seek employment in foreign countries where they may be unfamiliar with the language and legal system and have few rights.

When Rizana traveled to Saudi Arabia, for example, she may not have known that many Saudi employers confiscate domestic workers' passports and confine them inside their home, cutting them off from the outside world and sources of help.

It is unlikely that anyone ever told her about Saudi Arabia's flawed criminal justice system or that while many domestic workers find kind employers who treat them well, others are forced to work for months or even years without pay and subjected to physical or sexual abuse.

Passport photo of Rizana Nafeek

Read more: Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

Conditions for migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are among some of the worst, but domestic workers in other countries rarely enjoy the same rights as other workers. In a new report this week, the International Labour Organization says that nearly 30% of the world's domestic workers are completely excluded from national labor laws. They typically earn only 40% of the average wage of other workers. Forty-five percent aren't even entitled by law to a weekly day off.

Last year, I interviewed young girls in Morocco who worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for a fraction of the minimum wage. One girl began working at age 12 and told me: "I don't mind working, but to be beaten and not to have enough food, this is the hardest part."

Many governments have finally begun to recognize the risks and exploitation domestic workers face. During 2012, dozens of countries took action to strengthen protections for domestic workers. Thailand, and Singapore approved measures to give domestic workers a weekly day off, while Venezuela and the Philippines adopted broad laws for domestic workers ensuring a minimum wage, paid holidays, and limits to their working hours. Brazil is amending its constitution to state that domestic workers have all the same rights as other workers. Bahrain codified access to mediation of labor disputes.

Read more: Convicted killer beheaded, put on display in Saudi Arabia

Perhaps most significantly, eight countries acted in 2012 to ratify -- and therefore be legally bound by -- the Domestic Workers Convention, with more poised to follow suit this year. The convention is a groundbreaking treaty adopted in 2011 to guarantee domestic workers the same protections available to other workers, including weekly days off, effective complaints procedures and protection from violence.

The Convention also has specific protections for domestic workers under the age of 18 and provisions for regulating and monitoring recruitment agencies. All governments should ratify the convention.

Many reforms are needed to prevent another tragic case like that of Rizana Nafeek. The obvious one is for Saudi Arabia to stop its use of the death penalty and end its outlier status as one of only three countries worldwide to execute people for crimes committed while a child.

Labor reforms are also critically important. They may have prevented the recruitment of a 17 year old for migration abroad in the first place. And they can protect millions of other domestic workers who labor with precariously few guarantees for their safety and rights.

Read more: Malala, others on front lines in fight for women

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jo Becker.

Read More..

Shaken survivors remember Italy cruise disaster

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy: Shaken survivors and grieving relatives of the 32 victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster began arriving on the island of Giglio for a first anniversary commemoration of the tragedy on Sunday.

"It's terrible coming back here," one survivor, Clara Stara, said in the tiny Italian port where the giant hulk of a ship twice as big as the Titanic still lies keeled over on its side.

"I've been anxious since yesterday and I hadn't felt any fear for a whole year," she said.

Among the arrivals was the family of Erika Fani Soria Molina, a Peruvian waitress who died.

"This is very difficult for us," said her sister Maddelein Soria, 35, as her father held back tears.

"This is something that will stay with us our whole lives. I am here to pay tribute to my sister. I feel as if I am with her again," she told AFP.

Indian-born Kevin Rebello, whose brother worked as a waiter on the ship and is still officially reported missing, said: "It's not easy to return."

"I have still not found peace," he said.

The 290-metre (951-foot) liner crashed into a group of rocks just off Giglio, veered sharply and keeled over just as many passengers were sitting down for supper on the first night of a Mediterranean cruise.

There were 4,229 people from 70 countries on board.

Hundreds were forced to jump into the freezing waters after some of the lifeboats failed to deploy, while others climbed down a rope ladder across the hull in the dark to waiting boats.

Salvage workers have been labouring around the clock for months to stabilise the wreck and eventually refloat it and tow it away in an operation that has never been attempted before.

The removal has been hit by delays but the head of Italy's civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, said it would happen by September at the latest.

Franco Porcellacchia, an executive from ship owner Costa Crociere who is overseeing the project, said the budget had increased from $300 million to $400 million (300 million euros) and could rise further.

Mayor Sergio Ortelli said islanders were keen to welcome back those who lived through that night, even though Costa Crociere asked survivors to stay away from the commemoration because of logistics.

Many survivors sought shelter in local homes and a church in the port after being pulled shivering from the sea following a panicky evacuation.

"The idea is to exorcise a horrible episode, and to share the pain and drama of those who lost a loved one," Ortelli said.

"Many survivors and relatives of victims have returned to thank us, and share their memories with us. Some, a year on, still send us emails," he said.

The commemorations on Sunday will include replacing where it once stood the rock that the ship crashed into and tore away. There will then be a mass.

Father Lorenzo Pasquotti said he would display objects that survivors left behind -- life jackets, emergency blankets, even discarded rolls of bread -- next to the altar, underneath a Madonna statue salvaged from the ship's chapel.

Flowers and candles line the aisles of the church, where extra pews have been squeezed in for survivors, salvage workers and government officials.

Rebello said he hoped the ceremony would not be overshadowed by talk about the Concordia's infamous captain Francesco Schettino.

Schettino is accused of causing the crash through reckless seamanship and then abandoning ship before all the passengers had been rescued.

He is one of 10 people under investigation, including other crew members and three executives from Costa Crociere.

Rebello said he had spoken to Schettino by phone several times because the Italian captain knew his brother personally.

"I'm not expecting answers from him. I've forgiven him," he said.

-AFP/ac

Read More..

How the holidays gave you the flu

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• David Zich: This flu season definitely ranks as one of the worst I've seen


• Zich: This outbreak is worse than average due to, more than anything, poor timing


• He says the holiday period was the perfect storm for the spread of influenza


• Zich: The peak onset of the flu coincided with a time when our immunity was down

Editor's note: David Zich, an internist and emergency physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, is an assistant professor of medicine at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

(CNN) -- I started to see influenza-like illnesses starting roughly around mid-December, and within a week knew that 2013 was going to be a bad year. In my 12 years of practice in Chicago, this flu season definitely ranks as one of the worst I've seen. However, I also see no reason to be alarmed that we have a public health threat. What we are dealing with is a well-known virus. This outbreak is worse than average due to, more than anything, poor timing.

There are three main factors to consider in evaluating the intense flu activity across the country.

One is the virus itself. Both the medical community and the general public alike worry someday we will encounter a "superbug." We fear a virus that is extremely potent at causing disease, replicating, resisting our treatment and killing the host. Though the predominant strain this year may be slightly more potent than average based on the number of cases we are seeing, there is no indication that this virus is markedly different from what we've seen in other years.

David Zich

Opinion: Next time, get vaccinated earlier

The percentage of influenza-related deaths is not higher than in previous outbreaks. The CDC also has found no viral strains this season that are resistant to neuraminidase inhibitors, the drugs that we use to treat patients once they develop the flu. So, we need not worry too much about the virus.

The second factor to consider is the effectiveness of the flu shot. This year's flu vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu that have been circulating. According to the CDC, more than 90% of the identified viral types are covered by the current vaccine. In other words, we cannot blame an ineffective vaccine for the bad outbreak.

Finally, we need to look at environmental factors. The unusually warm weather this winter should not be contributing to the severity of the outbreak. Why? Because last year, it was also unusually warm, and at the time we hypothesized the weather was partly responsible for a milder than normal flu season. Clearly, warm weather can't both enhance and suppress the spread of influenza. Instead, we must focus on what's different from previous years.

Unlike last year, when the flu showed up late, this flu season came early. Most importantly, the peak incidence of illness happened to coincide almost exactly with the onset of the holiday season, which is critical to take into account.

If someone were trying to develop a way to disseminate an illness, he would first devise a way to weaken the population's immune system, and then bring people together to spread the disease. In essence, that is what the holiday season does.

Opinion: America flunks its health exam

Because of holiday preparations and parties, people tolerate less sleep. Stress around the holidays generally goes up. Combine those with poor eating habits and overindulgences that are typical in festive times, and the immune system gets weakened.

Once a person contracts the flu virus, he or she is contagious approximately 12 to 24 hours before the peak onset of symptoms, and is often contagious up to 24 hours after resolution of fever. During this very social time of year, many of these sick people are either tolerating their symptoms to join big groups of friends or family, or coming together honestly unaware that they are contagious. As a result, we have the perfect storm for the spread of influenza.

In sum, our flu season this year is simply a product of poor timing.

Health: Your top flu questions answered

The peak onset of the flu just happened to coincide with a period when we have weakened our immune system and congregated in large gatherings to, among other things, disseminate disease. There is no supervirus. The flu strains have been well anticipated and carry no resistance to our treatment. We have no reason to panic.

I recommend that everyone de-stress from the holiday stresses, wash their hands, eat healthy, exercise and get plenty of sleep. Stay home if you are sick. And in good time, this too shall pass.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Zich.

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Source: Armstrong will admit doping to Oprah

AUSTIN, Texas Lance Armstrong will make a limited confession to doping during his televised interview with Oprah Winfrey next week, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Play Video

Anti-doping chief: Armstrong bullied witnesses

38 Photos

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, who has long denied doping, will also offer an apology during the interview scheduled to be taped Monday at his home in Austin, Texas, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak publicly on the matter.

While not directly saying he would confess or apologize, Armstrong sent a text message to The Associated Press early Saturday that said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."

A confession would be a dramatic break from more than 13 years of vehement denials from Armstrong that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times.

The interview is scheduled to be taped broadcast Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Citing an anonymous source, USA Today reported that the disgraced cyclist plans to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, but likely will not get into details of the allegations outlined in a 2012 report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport.

The New York Times first reported last week that Armstrong was considering making a confession.

The 41-year-old Armstrong, who vehemently denied doping for years, has not spoken publicly about the USADA report that cast him as the leader of a sophisticated and brazen doping program on his U.S. Postal Service teams that included use of steroids, blood boosters and illegal blood transfusions.

Winfrey's network announced Tuesday that Armstrong agreed to a "no holds barred" interview with her.

A confession to Winfrey would come at a time when some of Armstrong's legal troubles appear to be clearing up.

1/2

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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.

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.

Read More..

Why global labor reforms are vital

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Saudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan woman


• She was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaid


• This was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accident


• Becker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"

Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of 'Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice.' Follow Jo Becker on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Rizana Nafeek was a child herself -- 17 years old, according to her birth certificate -- when a four-month-old baby died in her care in Saudi Arabia. She had migrated from Sri Lanka only weeks earlier to be a domestic worker for a Saudi family.

Although Rizana said the baby died in a choking accident, Saudi courts convicted her of murder and sentenced her to death. On Wednesday, the Saudi government carried out the sentence in a gruesome fashion, by beheading Rizana.

Jo Becker

Read more: Outrage over beheading of Sri Lankan woman by Saudi Arabia

Rizana's case was rife with problems from the beginning. A recruitment agency in Sri Lanka knew she was legally too young to migrate, but she had falsified papers to say she was 23. After the baby died, Rizana gave a confession that she said was made under duress -- she later retracted it. She had no lawyer to defend her until after she was sentenced to death and no competent interpreter during her trial. Her sentence violated international law, which prohibits the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18.

Rizana's fate should arouse international outrage. But it should also spotlight the precarious existence of other domestic workers. At least 1.5 million work in Saudi Arabia alone and more than 50 million -- mainly women and girls -- are employed worldwide according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Read more: Indonesian maid escapes execution in Saudi Arabia

Again according to the ILO, the number of domestic workers worldwide has grown by more than 50% since the mid-1990s. Many, like Rizana, seek employment in foreign countries where they may be unfamiliar with the language and legal system and have few rights.

When Rizana traveled to Saudi Arabia, for example, she may not have known that many Saudi employers confiscate domestic workers' passports and confine them inside their home, cutting them off from the outside world and sources of help.

It is unlikely that anyone ever told her about Saudi Arabia's flawed criminal justice system or that while many domestic workers find kind employers who treat them well, others are forced to work for months or even years without pay and subjected to physical or sexual abuse.

Passport photo of Rizana Nafeek

Read more: Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

Conditions for migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are among some of the worst, but domestic workers in other countries rarely enjoy the same rights as other workers. In a new report this week, the International Labour Organization says that nearly 30% of the world's domestic workers are completely excluded from national labor laws. They typically earn only 40% of the average wage of other workers. Forty-five percent aren't even entitled by law to a weekly day off.

Last year, I interviewed young girls in Morocco who worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for a fraction of the minimum wage. One girl began working at age 12 and told me: "I don't mind working, but to be beaten and not to have enough food, this is the hardest part."

Many governments have finally begun to recognize the risks and exploitation domestic workers face. During 2012, dozens of countries took action to strengthen protections for domestic workers. Thailand, and Singapore approved measures to give domestic workers a weekly day off, while Venezuela and the Philippines adopted broad laws for domestic workers ensuring a minimum wage, paid holidays, and limits to their working hours. Brazil is amending its constitution to state that domestic workers have all the same rights as other workers. Bahrain codified access to mediation of labor disputes.

Read more: Convicted killer beheaded, put on display in Saudi Arabia

Perhaps most significantly, eight countries acted in 2012 to ratify -- and therefore be legally bound by -- the Domestic Workers Convention, with more poised to follow suit this year. The convention is a groundbreaking treaty adopted in 2011 to guarantee domestic workers the same protections available to other workers, including weekly days off, effective complaints procedures and protection from violence.

The Convention also has specific protections for domestic workers under the age of 18 and provisions for regulating and monitoring recruitment agencies. All governments should ratify the convention.

Many reforms are needed to prevent another tragic case like that of Rizana Nafeek. The obvious one is for Saudi Arabia to stop its use of the death penalty and end its outlier status as one of only three countries worldwide to execute people for crimes committed while a child.

Labor reforms are also critically important. They may have prevented the recruitment of a 17 year old for migration abroad in the first place. And they can protect millions of other domestic workers who labor with precariously few guarantees for their safety and rights.

Read more: Malala, others on front lines in fight for women

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jo Becker.

Read More..