U.S. extends travel warning to Mexico

Washington ((News Today) - The U.S. State Department on Thursday extended a travel warning that had been issued for Mexico because of the region's high level of drug and gang violence.

The State Department warning also notes that the authorized departure of family members of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the northern Mexico border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros has been extended.

The State Department issued similar warnings in March and April.

The Mexican government said in April that more than 22,700 people have been killed in drug-related violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon declared war on narcotraffickers.

"While most victims of violence are Mexican citizens associated with criminal activity, the security situation poses serious risks for U.S. citizens, as well," the State Department warning says.

Much of the recent violence has occurred in northern Mexico, where two drug cartels have been waging a bloody war since January.

The area, which borders Texas, has seen ferocious fighting between the Zetas and Gulf cartels after a recent gangland slaying. Hours-long gun battles are common, and U.S. officials were forced earlier this year to temporarily close the consulate in Reynosa, a city in Tamaulipas state.

Ciudad Juarez remains the most violent city in the nation, though.

"Since 2006, three times as many people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, across from El Paso, Texas, than in any other city in Mexico," the State Department travel warning says. "More than half of all Americans killed in Mexico in FY 2009 whose deaths were reported to the U.S. Embassy were killed in the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana."

The State Department targets six Mexican states as particularly dangerous.

"Recent violent attacks and persistent security concerns have prompted the U.S. embassy to urge U.S. citizens to defer unnecessary travel to Michoacan and Tamaulipas, to parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila and to advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution," the warning says.

The latest trouble in Tamaulipas and neighboring Nuevo Leon state started January 18, when Gulf cartel members killed top Zeta lieutenant Victor Mendoza. The Zetas demanded that the Gulf cartel turn over the killers, but the narco group refused.

The Zetas, composed mostly of former elite military troops, had been the armed enforcers for the Gulf cartel since 2001. They have become more independent in recent years, and authorities say the all-out war between the two cartels indicates the split is permanent.

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Coroner: Corey Haim died of natural causes

Los Angeles, California (News Today) - Pneumonia, not drug abuse, killed actor Corey Haim, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled in an autopsy report released Tuesday.

Although the investigation into Haim's death began as a "suspected prescription medication overdose," toxicology tests "revealed no significant contributing factors" from drugs, the coroner reported.

The autopsy found "an extremely large amount" of swelling in Haim's lungs, it said.

The ruling that his death was not related to his well-publicized drug addiction confirmed what his mother and manager have insisted for weeks: that Haim, 38, did not overdose.

Haim died March 10 after collapsing at the Los Angeles apartment he shared with his mother.

Although the 1980s teen actor battled drug addiction for decades, his death came when Haim "was making major progress" with a program to wean him from pills, said his manager, Mark Heaslip.

Toxicology tests showed that Haim's blood did have "low levels" of a list of drugs, including an antidepressant (Prozac), an antipsychotic (Olanzapine), diazepam (Valium), a muscle relaxer (Carisoprodol), a tranquilizer (meprobamate) and THC (a chemical in marijuana).

Haim also was taking a cough suppressant, antihistamine and ibuprofen.

"These medications are present in low levels and are non-contributory to death," the autopsy report said. Read the autopsy report (PDF)

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has used Haim's death to publicize his enforcement efforts against illegal prescription drug use. At a news conference last month, Brown called Haim "the poster child" for the problem of addicts "doctor shopping" for dangerous drugs.

State investigators found that the former child actor obtained four dangerous drugs -- including Vicodin, Valium, Soma and Xanax -- just five days before he died, Brown said.

Brown launched an inquiry of what he said was Haim's "doctor shopping" for drugs. Seven doctors gave him prescriptions for four controlled substances in the last 10 weeks of his life, Brown said.

Haim sometimes threatened to find other doctors to prescribe him drugs when his primary physician wouldn't give him what he wanted, his manager said.

"I would be the only one who could talk him out of it," Heaslip said Monday night.

His doctor was providing pills only in one-day supplies in an effort to wean him, Heaslip said.

Haim began his acting career in 1982, with a television appearance on the Canadian series "The Edison Twins." His first film role was in the 1984 American movie "First Born."

Haim also won rave reviews for his title role in the 1986 film "Lucas."

Film critic Roger Ebert said at the time, "If he continues to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor."

His most famous role was in the 1987 movie "The Lost Boys," in which Haim played a fresh-faced teenager whose brother becomes a vampire.

In recent years, the actor was reunited with longtime friend and frequent co-star Corey Feldman in a reality show. "The Two Coreys" ran for two seasons on the A&E Network.

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Mexican drug violence claims 24 lives in 24 hours

(News Terupdate) - Drug violence in the Mexican state of Chihuahua left 24 people dead in the span of 24 hours this weekend, the state attorney general's office said Sunday.

The killings were scattered over four locations throughout the state, with eight dead in Juarez, 10 killed in the capital of Chihuahua, five killed in Cuauhtemuc and one killed in Parral.

All the slayings occurred in public places, with the killings in Cuauhtemuc occurring in a bar, said Carlos Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general.

The killings took place between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, Gonzalez said.

The victims -- all male -- ranged in age between 18 and 25 years old.

No other details about the killings or the victims were immediately available.

"This is an indicator of the incrementally increasing war between the two cartels battling for Juarez Plaza, the state's drug trafficking corridor," Gonzalez said, referring to an ongoing battle between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels for dominance in the area. Juarez Plaza is a major thoroughfare through the area.

"I can't give you a reason why the violence is picking up the last week of April going into this month," Gonzalez added.

Some Mexican news organizations have reported that the Sinaloa Cartel had defeated the rival Juarez organization but Gonzalez said, "There is no winner to this war."

The spate of weekend killings followed another bloody week in the Ciudad Juarez area.

On Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed in drug-related violence in Juarez, authorities said.

The slayings included four people whose bodies were found at one location, another three -- one of them a woman -- who were found slain at a second location, and another eight victims who were killed at a bar, police spokesman Jacinto Seguro said.

On Tuesday, 10 people were killed, Seguro said, including three who were shot outside a supermarket. Another victim was killed outside a shopping mall.

In all, 25 people were killed between Tuesday and Wednesday, Seguro said.

Ciudad Juarez is the most violent city in Mexico, with more than 2,600 drug-related deaths in 2009. No official numbers are available for this year, but more than 500 killings have been reported by local media. Some reports have the figures as high as 810 in Juarez this year.

According to a report released in April by the Mexican government, Chihuahua state is Mexico's hardest-hit state by drug violence, with 6,757 people killed since the start of the drug war at the end of 2006.

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Doctors: Sleep drug likely not cause of plane suspect's odd behavior

(News Terupdate) - A man accused of disrupting a trans-Atlantic flight by claiming he was carrying explosives also told the federal marshal onboard that he had taken the popular sleep aid Ambien, according to court documents.

Ambien, also known as zolpidem, can cause extreme side effects such as e-mailing, cooking and driving while asleep, according to the Food and Drug Administration and published medical research. However, sleep experts say the behavior exhibited by the suspect, Derek Stansberry, 27, is inconsistent with the known side effects of the sleep medication.

Ambien is a prescription drug used to treat insomnia. It belongs to a class of medication called sedative-hypnotics, which slow activity in the brain to allow sleep.

There have been reports of individuals making and eating food, talking on the phone and having sex while not fully awake after taking Ambien with alcohol or other medications, according to the FDA.

Doctors and Sanofi-aventis, the maker of Ambien, say it's imperative the medication be taken as prescribed, which includes not mixing Ambien with alcohol or other drugs.

Ambien can increase the likelihood for confusional arousal, a state when the brain is half asleep and half awake, say sleep doctors. Usually the person will speak in garble that doesn't fit the context of his or her environment, said Dr. Michel Cramer Bornemann, a lead investigator of Sleep Forensics Associates.

For example, a 30-year-old man might wake up saying "I don't want to go to school," although he was a student 10 years ago.

"The behaviors this individual described are not consistent with Ambien's side effects," Cramer Bornemann said regarding Stansberry's case.

"In a person experiencing confusional arousal because of Ambien, you wouldn't expect to hear comments from that person that seem to fit into the context of the environment that they are in," he said. "In this case, a man on board a plane is talking about false passports, bombs, dynamite and blowing up a plane. This seems really at first glance, inconsistent with what we know of Ambien's side effects."

This is because the suspect's comments were "oriented to time, location and place," Cramer Bornemann said.

Dr. Michael Breus agreed. Breus is the clinical director of the sleep division at Southwest Spine and Sports in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"If you took eight Ambien pills, you'd be slurring your speech. You'd sound like you're drunk. You wouldn't be coherent to say, 'There's a bomb in my backpack and I have a pressure switch,' " he said.

Breus expressed skepticism that Ambien alone could have triggered such a behavior.

"There had to be an interaction effect or he drank alcohol or there was some other drug," he said. "We also don't know his mental health history. If he had significant history of mental health problems, he could have had a psychotic break."

Stansberry, of Riverview, Florida, has been charged with two felony counts of interfering with flight crew members and knowingly giving false information about possession of an explosive device. Stansberry told authorities he was carrying dynamite and a detonation device.

On a Delta flight from Paris, France, to Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, Stansberry allegedly made threats of a bomb and told the air marshal he had taken eight tablets of Ambien. After the plane landed, he told FBI investigators he had taken one Ambien pill, a change from his earlier comment, according to court documents.

Stansberry, a former Air Force intelligence specialist, was ordered Wednesday to undergo a competency evaluation.

Competency tests ordered for suspect in airline flight diversion

Like other sedative-hypnotic sleep aids, including Lunesta and Sonata, Ambien mimics neurotransmitters and binds to a specific brain chemical receptor, promoting sleep.

Sleep doctors do not recommend taking sleep aids like Ambien before a flight, although it is a common practice. Breus recommended taking the pill in a predictable environment, such as one's bedroom, rather than an airplane.

"Ambien and all the medications like it are serious medications," he said. "You're supposed to take them and turn out the lights."

Sanofi-aventis, in a statement e-mailed to CNN.com, said:

"Sanofi-aventis is committed to patient health and safety [and] treats these matters with the highest degree of importance. It is important to note that Ambien or Ambien CR is not appropriate for every individual.

"Patients should fully disclose alcohol and drug use with their health care professional, and not consume alcohol while they are taking a prescription sleep medication."

Since the introduction of Ambien in 1992, more than 230 million prescriptions have been filled.

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Osmond son's autopsy finds no drugs before suicide

Los Angeles, California (News Terupdate) - Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son did not have drugs in his system when he jumped from a Los Angeles apartment balcony to his death in February, his autopsy revealed.

Michael Bryan's death was ruled a suicide in the autopsy report released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Coroner.

Bryan suffered "multiple blunt trauma" when he "jumped from height" on February 28, the coroner wrote.

"The toxicology report was completely negative," the autopsy report said.

His close friend Ruthann Clawson told "Entertainment Tonight" that she found a note Bryan left on his bed.

"He wanted me to tell his family that he loves them, that he loves each and every one of them, because he was scared to do it himself," Clawson said.

Bryan's note said he killed himself because he wanted to be at peace, she said.

Bryan was one of five children adopted by Osmond and ex-husband Brian Blosil, who divorced in 2007 after 20 years of marriage.

Osmond announced in 2007 that Bryan had entered a rehab facility but did not reveal his reasons for treatment.

Osmond and her brother Donny hosted the national television variety show "The Donny & Marie Show" from 1976 to 1981.

Afterward, she had acting and singing careers. She recently competed in a season of "Dancing With the Stars."

In 2001, she wrote "Behind the Smile," about her experience with postpartum depression.

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Mo'Nique's brother apologizes for sexually abusing his sister

(News Terupdate) - The brother of Oscar-winning actress Mo'Nique admitted to Oprah Winfrey on Monday that he repeatedly molested his little sister starting when she was only 7 years old.

Mo'Nique, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire," has spoken publicly about the abuse at the hands of Gerald Imes, saying she channeled "that monster" when she played the brutal mother in the film.

"I'm sorry, Mo'Nique. I'm sorry," Imes said Monday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." "I betrayed everybody's trust. I broke that trust. I broke that bond." Mo'Nique declined to be involved in Imes's interview or respond to his apology.

Imes blamed the sexual abuse, which happened over a period of two years mostly while Imes believed Mo'Nique was sleeping, on the fact that he too had been molested and was masking his pain with drugs.

"I started using cocaine, heroin, alcohol at the age of 11," he told Winfrey. "I used these drugs to hide my own pain, to hide my own fears ... The drugs allowed me and afforded me the opportunity to hurt my sister."

He said he hid the shame he felt at having been sexually abused himself and took it out on his sister, who is now 42.

Imes was later sentenced to 12 years in prison for molesting another girl. But now he wants to repair his relationship with his sister and move forward.

"I can only hope by coming forth today ... that somewhere down the line ... we can come back together as siblings," he said. "I understand your pain. I truly think, let's share this together and move on."

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Adoptive parents can feel overwhelmed during transition

(News Terupdate) - Melissa Fay Greene woke up at night crying and wondering if she had "ruined our life."

Long before her decision to adopt a boy from Bulgaria, she did her research and learned that raising an adopted child could be challenging. It wasn't going to be a fairy tale to raise a child who had spent most of his life in an orphanage, but she wanted to do it.

"It's terrifying," Greene said. "It's like meeting the man or woman you're marrying at the altar. There's no turning back. It's a lifelong commitment. It's really scary."

After she and her husband brought Jesse, 4, home to Atlanta, Georgia, she lamented the decision. The boy immediately latched onto Greene, never allowing her to disappear from his sight. He threw temper tantrums when she wasn't in his line of vision and once tried to run through a glass door to stop her from leaving the house.

It wasn't the boy's fault, as he behaved well, Greene said. But she felt depressed and overwhelmed just the same.

While Jesse's transition into his adoptive home was rocky, other adoptive parents can witness even more severe emotional trauma in their children.

Children who are adopted may be at elevated risk for mental health disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, major depression and separation anxiety disorders, according to a wide body of research. There's also evidence to suggest that children adopted internationally could have much higher rates of fetal alcohol syndrome, autism and brain damage, said Dr. Ronald Federici, a clinical neuropsychologist who works with adopted children.

In some cases, "the kids coming from the Eastern bloc and other countries, they've been languishing in deprived, neglected orphanages without proper care or education. So they come here with years of institutional damage -- alcohol, drug exposure, developmental delays, neglect, abandonment and all these issues that were never treated there," he said.

The longer a child has been institutionalized increases the potential for behavioral and other problems, Federici said. If a child is adopted earlier in his or her life, this reduces some of the risks.

But some adopted children can exhibit disturbing behavior -- as in a case described by a Tennessee family. They sent their 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia alone because of what they described as his violent behavior. The family's action has been widely criticized and triggered an international dispute, with Russia threatening to end adoptions to the United States.

The boy, Justin Artyem, compiled a hit list, threatened to kill his adoptive American mom for her house and tried to start a fire in the home, his adoptive grandmother said.

In such cases, families discover their adopted children have psychological issues and can feel overwhelmed by these needs.

To Russia, for love: Adoptive parents on edge as suspension threatened

"This is a well-known problem," said Dr. Robert Marion, chief of genetics and developmental medicine at the Children's Hospital in Montefiore, New York. "These kids are in orphanages because they were taken away from their parents or the parents couldn't take care of them. Many of them are born to parents who are alcoholics, drug users or have mental health problems."

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders describe the range of physical, mental, behavioral and learning disabilities that can affect children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy. The severity of symptoms varies, but can include low IQ, learning disabilities, social problems, attention deficit, cognitive impairment and more.

Marion said he encountered a family a few weeks ago with an adopted child from Russia. The child did not want to go to school or participate in activities and threatened to burn the house, he said.

"Counseling can sometimes help and medication can sometimes help," he said. "Kids can mature and grow out of it, but the family needs a lot of support. The kid needs support and counseling and therapy through this period."

A 2008 study comparing about 500 adopted and nonadopted children found that the odds of having an ADHD or oppositional defiant disorder diagnosis were approximately twice as high in adoptees compared with nonadoptees.

"Families that adopt kids from Russia and elsewhere need to be prepared for the possibility that the child is going to come with problems like this or other problems," Marion said. "If that's the case, they need to know to ask for help and help needs to be available for them."

The problem also occurs because adoption agencies can hide information and mislead prospective parents, said Federici.

Parents sometimes don't know how to handle behavioral and psychological problems, he said. They may sue the adoption agency or abuse or relinquish their children.

Federici said he hopes the publicity surrounding Artyem will encourage prospective parents to get better informed, receive counseling and work more closely with adoption specialists.

Greene felt anxious about adopting her son in 1999. More than 10 years after the adoption, she looked back at her family life and said, "We've been infinitely enriched. We've been really lucky."

After the tumultuous first few months after adopting Jesse from Bulgaria, she reached out to her doctor and friends. Greene said she believes she had post-adoptive depression syndrome (which is like postpartum depression for adoptive parents) and now dispenses advice for parents who adopt.

Greene's Web site

More than 10 years later, Jesse is a 15-year-old, straight-A student and star basketball player.

Greene adopted four more children -- all are from Ethiopia and were orphaned after their parents died from complications of HIV/AIDS. In all, her family is made up of four biological and five adopted children -- large enough for a sports team. They all get along, but family life takes work, she said.

"It's misleading to think it's a pathway covered with rose petals," Greene said. "None of it is a Disney World ride, but it's wonderful. It's hard and serious work."

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