Nigerian man who married 86 wives is arrested. A Nigerian man, who has 86 wives, was arrested for refusing to divorce all but four. Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, a Muslim preacher, was charged by the country’s Niger state (a government that operates under Muslim law) with “insulting religious creed” and “unlawful marriages.” But Abubakar, who has 170 children with his wives, insists that the Koran does not state any punishment for having over four wives.  According to Muslim scholars, up to four wives are allowed providing that they are all treated equally. He is being held without bail until a hearing on October 6. Local authorities previously told Abubakar he had to divorce 82 of his wives by the end of August, or he will face eviction from his home. But last week he won an injunction that stopped them for evicting him for that reason. They will hold a hearing Thursday to determine whether or not that order was a violation of his human rights.

Share your PEACE with the world. Ever wished for a chance to spread peace around the world? Well, the United Nations is giving anyone with a cell phone that opportunity. In honor of the International Day of Peace on September 21, cell phone users in the United States are being encouraged to create a 160-character message on peace beginning with the word “PEACE,” according to a press release. Peace wishers should text their messages to the number 69866. After receiving them, the United Nations Department of Public Information will collect the messages and post them on the Web site. They will also give the messages to leaders from around the world when they come to the General Assembly meeting on September 23. The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 and every year the U.N. looks forward to this “day of ceasefire and non-violence.” People all over the world, including in war torn areas like Sudan and Afghanistan, will participate in this year’s celebrations.

No one injured at The Boss’ “Be Out Day.”

One man was arrested and another was being sought by police after gunshots disrupted a Florida charity event hosted by rapper Rick Ross. The Boss held his annual “Be Out Day” celebration this week, an event where he distributes food and school supplies, and encourages voter registration. Flo-Rida had performed and Ross had just taken the stage when the suspects began shooting and sending participants diving for cover. “The shots happened near the event … across the street, but it was close enough that it seemed as if it happened in the park (where the show was taking place),” says Elora Mason, publicist for Rick Ross Charities, Inc. “It’s not clear what brought it on, but police said the person shooting appeared to be shooting in the air.” The investigation is ongoing. Police cleared the stage, but Ross later returned to do a short performance and then sign autographs for some of those who remained. Ross says 2,000 backpacks were distributed.

Morgan Freeman reportedly “resting comfortably.”

Having undergone surgery for injuries connected to a weekend car crash, actor Morgan Freeman is back at home. A spokesman for the veteran actor says he left Memphis’ Regional Medical Center on Thursday. “He was released today at noon local time and is now resting comfortably,” Ken Sunshine says. Freeman and his passenger Demaris Meyer, who reportedly gave the hospital a phony name to hide her relationship with the married-but-separated star, were traveling in Mississippi when he lost control of the vehicle. Both occupants had to be cut out of the Nissan. Freeman later revealed that he and his long-time wife Myrna have been separated since December, apparently to quell speculation about Meyer’s identity. She was also treated for her injuries.

Remy Ma hopes legal eagle can come to rescue.

Just three months into an eight-year sentence for felonious assault, weapons possession and attempted coercion, rapper Remy Ma has hired a lawyer who she hopes will help her appeal her way to freedom. William “Billy” Murphy Jr. won an acquittal on behalf of boxing promoter Don King in 1998 after he’d been charged with defrauding Lloyd’s of London. Murphy has also represented DMX and Mary J. Blige, among other celebrities. “With the addition of Mr. Murphy…I now believe I have assembled a team that will have the might and expertise to tell my side of the story,” Remy says in a statement. “I am confident that after hearing everything, my side will prevail.” Remy was convicted this spring in the shooting of her former friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph in a dispute over money.

Celebs are lining up for HIV testing
On National HIV Testing Awareness Day, Hollywood celebrities and activists are lining up to touch 1 million lives. That’s the number of people Hollywood’s Black elite hope to encourage to take an HIV test so they know their status. Led by the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, The Sentinel newspaper, the NAACP, SCLC and other groups and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, “Test 1 Million” campaign participants also include, Jimmy Jean-Louis (”Heroes”), Tasha Smith (”Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married”), rapper Coolio, Harold Perrineau (”Lost”), Al Reynolds, Darius McCrary (”Family Matters”), Erica Hubbard (”Lincoln Heights”), Oren Williams (”Lincoln Heights”), Zachary Williams (”Roswell,” “The Parkers”), Nicki Micheaux (”Lincoln Heights”), Tequan Richmond (”Everybody Hates Chris”), Landon Brown (”Rock the Cradle”), Nicole Lyons (first female to race professionally in the NHRA Pro Stock and NASCAR Busch Series), recording artist Bobby Tinsley, Brian White (”The Family Stone”, “Stomp the Yard” and “The Game Plan”), NBA veteran Doug Christie & his wife Jackie, Terrel Tilford, Victoria Platt-Tilford, singer Jody Watley, Tasha Smith (”Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married”), Jazmin Lewis (”Barber Shop,” “Good News”), Trenyce (”American Idol” Season 2), Melvin Jackson Jr. Frantz St. Louis (”The Shield,” “Law & Order”), comedian Geoff Brown and : “Eric “Lil E” Wright.” The group will call on 1 million Black Americans to get tested for HIV in the next year. So, what will you do to stamp out HIV/AIDS? And, can you really tell if someone has the disease? Read more at Vital Signs.

Men, Especially Blacks, more often miss their own hypertension
Sure, you think you’re in good health, and that you’ve got it going on. But American men are much more likely than women to be unaware that they suffer from high blood pressure, a new study suggests. And African-American men with the condition are at the highest risk, with only one in seven aware of their illness and able to control it through medication. “The explanation of the disparity, while not clear, isn’t closely associated with perceived discrimination at the doctor’s office, which is a good thing,” said study lead author Ronald Victor, M.D. “The differences also don’t appear to be associated with lack of knowledge about the disease.” Instead, other factors appear to be at work, reports HealthDay.com. Both Whites and Blacks who think they are in good health are especially likely to fail to treat their high blood pressure or even realize they have it, said Victor, chief of the hypertension division at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Researchers have long known that African Americans are at higher risk of developing high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, Victor said. The condition can lead to a variety of ills, including heart attacks, stroke and kidney failure. Still, many have long referred to high blood pressure as the “silent killer” because it often has no outward symptoms. In the new study, designed to examine the causes of the racial disparity, researchers interviewed 1,194 African-American and 320 White adults from the Dallas area between 2000 and 2002 and took consecutive measurements of their blood pressures. No Latinos or members of other racial groups took part in the study. Compared to those without regular doctors, study participants who had a regular physician were almost four times more likely to be aware of their high blood pressure, eight times more likely to undergo related treatment and five times more likely to have the condition under control. Among people with high blood pressure, those who believed they were healthy were “one-third as likely to know they’ve got the condition, half as likely to be treated and two-thirds as likely to have their blood pressure controlled” compared to those who did not believe they were healthy, Victor said. Among both sexes and races, African-American women with hypertension were the most likely to know they had the condition, Victor said. Eighty percent of them were aware, and a third had their condition under control. The findings make sense to Dawn Wilson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina who studies hypertension. Ethnic minorities and the poor often have misperceptions about the health-care system and might actually be aware that they are unhealthy, but deny it because they do not have enough money, she said. Study author Victor suggested doing more to educate men about the importance of regular health checkups. “There’s no such thing as a ‘well-man’ exam, and maybe that’s the issue,” he said. “In our society, women learn to become health conscious in terms of preventive health care, and men don’t have that kind of emphasis from a young age.” The study appears in the June 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A mother’s obesity could hurt her child’s chance of survival. Infants of Black overweight women have higher death rates, according to a new study by the University of South Florida. While maternal obesity appears to have no impact on the early survival of infants born to White women, the situation is different for Black women, researchers report in the June 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Infants of obese Black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese White mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this Black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI). “Even if the infant of an obese Black woman survives pregnancy, labor and delivery, that baby is at greater risk of dying than a baby born to an obese white woman,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health. The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997. The database linked Black and White mother-infant pairs. Among all women, the likelihood of death in infants from 6 to 27 days after their birth was 20 percent greater in Black women who were overweight than for non-overweight women, the researcher found. The Black-White disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in Black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia. “This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among Blacks but not Whites,” Dr. Salihu said. The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among Blacks than Whites.

Vital Signs: What gift can you give the men in your life that keeps giving long after Father’s Day? Here’s a hint: it has something to do with his health. Check Vital Signs for more.