Smoking causes more cancers than once thought  It is known that tobacco-smoking leads to serious health complications. Smoking is a major risk factor for cancer. But a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links smoking to more cancers than most people realize. Get the details at BET.com/Body & Soul.

Infamous Klansman will rally troops in civil rights capital

Renowned ex-Klansman David Duke is uniting his troops in Memphis, the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. Duke, the Louisiana White supremacist politician who came a stone’s throw from landing in the U.S. Senate, has announced his Euro-International Conference to be held in the historic city on Nov. 8. But it is unclear exactly where the event will be held, according to Kevin Kane, an official with the convention and visitors bureau. At the convention, Duke will address the presidential election. “We will assemble to say clearly that neither Black radical, Barrack Obama, nor Mr. Amnesty, John McCain, truly represent the will of the American people,” says Duke, who left the Democratic Party several years ago to join the Republican ranks. Before his run for the Senate in 1990, Duke left the KKK – officially – and he formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People, NAAWP. He says he didn’t pick Memphis because it is the infamous site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the home of the National Civil Rights Museum, but because it is the most centrally located cities in the United States.

Police seek noose planter at Texas University. Police want to know who put a noose on the chair of the student body president at Abilene Christian University last week. When Daniel Paul Watkins, and African-American senior political science major, returned to his office on Wednesday, somebody had put the racially insensitive symbol there. University President Royce Money said the action is nothing short of a hate crime and campus cops are working to solve the case. Only about 13 percent of the student body at Abilene Christian, a campus of 4,700 students, is Black.

Victoria Osteen has been charged with causing a ruckus on the plane

A flight attendant whose psychiatrist says felt “disrespected as a Black woman” is suing the wife of the pastor of one of the nation’s largest evangelical churches, saying she was assaulted on a flight from Houston to Colorado. Sharon Brown is suing Victoria Osteen, who is married to televangelist Joel Osteen, with whom she co-pastors the Lakewood Church in Houston, a converted football stadium that draws some 42,000 members each week. Brown claims that Osteen threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in her breast before the start of a flight three years ago, The Associated Press reports. The fracas on the Continental Airlines flight apparently began over a spill about the size of a 50-cent piece on a seat in first class. Osteen allegedly was agitated that the spill wasn’t being cleaned up fast enough. Another flight attendant, Maria Johnson, testified Thursday that Osteen was out of control and corroborated Brown’s claims. “She was demanding that attention be given to her immediately,” Johnson said. Osteen kept saying: “This is ridiculous. I’m a first-class passenger,” Johnson added. She confirmed Brown’s assertion that Osteen was so upset that she tried to force her way into the cockpit. “She took Sharon by the shoulders and pushed her out of the way. Sharon stumbled,” Johnson testified. Johnson, who is White, suggested that race might have been a factor, noting that Osteen only wanted to deal with her and not the other two flight attendants, who are Black. But Rusty Hardin, Victoria Osteen’s attorney, said the lawsuit is all about money. “This is nothing more than an attempted extortion,” Hardin told jurors during opening statements. While admitting that Victoria Osteen is sometimes a “very excitable and expressive person,” Hardin said she was never out of control. AP reports that Brown’s psychiatrist, Shayna Lee, testified that “Brown has suffered depression and post-traumatic stress disorder because of the incident. She also felt disrespected in her role as a leader and as a Black woman, and had her faith affected.” Brown’s attorney, Reginald McKamie, told jurors that Brown was only doing her job. “Sharon was attacked by someone in the community who supposedly represents a higher degree of human decency,” he said. Brown is seeking an apology and 10 percent of Victoria Osteen’s net worth as part of her suit. Is this about money or did Victoria Osteen mess up in a major way?

Trial for Civil Rights Era suspect is delayed. James Bonard Fowler, the White Alabama trooper who will stand trial for killing a Black man at a civil rights rally a half century ago must wait another month or so before facing his accusers. The trial, originally scheduled for Sept. 11, will be held on Oct 20. Fowler allegedly shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in cold blood in Marion, Ala., in 1965 following civil rights demonstration. Fowler, who was indicted last year, says the shooting was self-defense.

Abercrombie is sued over a Muslim head scarf. Arguing that Abercrombie & Fitch violated the civil rights of a Muslim job applicant by denying her application because of her head scarf, a Muslim civil rights group has sued the popular clothing outlet. According to the lawsuit, filed at the Oklahoma City branch of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the district manager for the clothing store at Woodland Hills Mall told a young woman in late June that her hijab, a head scarf worn observant Muslim women, did not fit the Abercrombie image. “Employers have a clear legal duty to accommodate the religious practices of their workers,” said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma, which helped the girl file the complaint. “To deny someone employment because of apparent religious bias goes against long-standing American traditions of tolerance and inclusion.” The council declined to release the name of the plaintiff; she is younger than 18. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that employers must attempt to accommodate the religious practices of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer.