Shalit parents end protest as son's freedom promised

The parents of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for more than five years, left their protest tent outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office Wednesday, thanking their supporters before heading home.

"Our happiness will be filled with concern until Gilad returns," his mother Aviva said, a day after Netanyahu said a deal had been made to free him in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

"It is clear that we won't be getting back the same boy. But the best professional people in Israel will be made available to help us," she said after she and her husband Noam met President Shimon Peres.

They did not take down the protest tent they erected more than a year ago to draw attention to their son's plight.

Shalit is expected to return to Israel within a few days, Netanyahu said Tuesday night, before the Cabinet voted in emergency session 26-3 in support of the swap.

All Israelis feel powerful emotions about Shalit, said Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Daniel Taub.

"He really is the child of us all," Taub said, noting that almost all Israelis do military service.

Vitamin-E supplements linked to prostate cancer

If you’re a male taking vitamin E, consider tossing your supplements: According to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the antioxidant supplement increases the risk of prostate cancer.

The study, called SELECT (the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial), found that men who took 400 IU (international units) of vitamin E each day were 17 per cent more likely to develop prostate cancer than non-vitamin-E users.

Findings from earlier studies investigating supplements and the risk for other types of cancer had suggested that supplemental vitamin E and selenium guarded against prostate cancer. In 1998, a Finnish study of male smokers who took 50 IU of vitamin E daily in hopes of preventing lung cancer surprisingly found 32 per cent fewer prostate cancers among vitamin-E users.

In 2001, SELECT set out to substantiate these observations. The trial assigned 35,533 healthy men aged 50 and older to four treatment groups: 400 IU of vitamin E daily, 200 micrograms of selenium daily, both supplements daily, and placebo.

An earlier analysis, published in 2008, found no benefit – vitamin E and selenium, taken alone or in combination, did not prevent prostate cancer. And there were two worrisome trends: a small increase in the number of prostate cancers among vitamin-E users and a small rise in Type 2 diabetes among men taking selenium. Neither finding was statistically significant, meaning it may have been a coincidence.

US Issues Worldwide Travel Warning

The U.S. State Department has issued a worldwide alert for American citizens about possible "anti-U.S. actions" following charges against two Iranians accused of conspiring with Tehran to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

The State Department said late Tuesday that the alleged Iranian-backed assassination attempt may indicate the Iranian government could be taking a "more aggressive focus" on terrorist activity.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department charged Manssor Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen with an Iranian passport, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of the Iranian Quds force, with conspiring to kill Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the plot was "conceived, sponsored and directed" from Iran.  He promised Washington will hold the Iranian government accountable.

The Mideast - WORLD Colombian Soccer Player Reportedly Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Jesus Tattoo

A soccer player from Colombia reportedly was detained in Saudi Arabia for walking through a mall wearing a sleeveless shirt that revealed his religious tattoos, including one of Jesus.

Juan Pablo Pino, 24, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nasr soccer club, was taken into custody in Riyadh on Friday by Saudi moral police after mall customers complained about the tattoos. Pino was visiting the mall with his pregnant wife, the Catholic News Agency reports.

Nayimi Sheik Mohammed, a Saudi cleric, told Colombia Reports that the country respects Shariah law and that tattoos must be covered at all times.

ISP anger over Downing Street pornography control claims

David Cameron’s initiative to help parents stop their children viewing sexually explicit websites was mired in confusion yesterday after internet providers accused Downing Street of giving misleading briefings.

The top four broadband providers – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media – have agreed to give new subscribers the opportunity to block access to pornography at the point of subscription.

The measures were due to be announced on Tuesday by the Department of Education, to coincide with a meeting between David Cameron and anti-pornography campaigners.

However, Downing Street officials inaccurately briefed journalists on Monday that all customers would be required to “opt in” to access pornography.