After attempts by community leaders, tenants and DJ Kool Herc failed to keep the sale of 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the South Bronx from being brought via a lawsuit against the building’s landlord and his group, Hip Hop’s birthplace 1520 Sedgwick Avenue will be sold to real estate developer Mark Karasick for an estimated $7.5 million as early as next week.

Friday the State Supreme Court ruled against DJ Kool Herc and his supporters in favor of greedy of developers in an all too familiar scenario. Though Hip Hop’s Eden no longer remains in it’s essence, the culture can never be brought.

Source: Google.Com – ThisIs50.Com

PARIS: France said on Wednesday it was banning all food items containing Chinese milk products as a precautionary move following a tainted milk scandal.

The European Union does not import milk or milk products from China. France’s measure targets foodstuffs that contain Chinese dairy products as an ingredient.

“The public authorities have decided … to adopt further precautionary measures for all products incorporating milk derivatives of Chinese origin,” the French agriculture and economy ministries said in a statement.

“These products will have to be withdrawn from the market and will not be able to be put on sale,” they added.

Many countries have restricted Chinese food imports since the emergence of tainted milk in China which has made more than 54,000 children sick.

The French statement was issued a day after Italy announced similar measures and shortly before Europe’s top food safety agency is due to say whether food products such as those targeted by the French are safe.

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By WILL WEISSERT

HAVANA (AP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made his second whirlwind visit to Cuba in less than a week and met behind closed doors for two and a half hours with ailing former leader Fidel Castro, state media reported Sunday.

Chavez’s stopover had not been previously announced, but the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde said he landed in Havana Saturday evening and left hours later. He was greeted at the airport by 77-year-old Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother as president in February.

The newspaper published a photo of Chavez shaking hands with a serious-faced Raul Castro. There were no images of the ailing, 82-year-old Fidel, who has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Juventud Rebelde said Chavez discussed his recent tour of China, Russia and Europe with the Castro brothers, but did not give specific details on what it described as a “fraternal” encounter.

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Mr. McCain supported tax breaks for casinos over the years, including one that helped Foxwoods in Connecticut. He has also gambled there.

Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.

The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.

As a two-time chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Mr. McCain has done more than any other member of Congress to shape the laws governing America’s casinos, helping to transform the once-sleepy Indian gambling business into a $26-billion-a-year behemoth with 423 casinos across the country. He has won praise as a champion of economic development and self-governance on reservations.

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