Medical Tourism

Cuba is not expected to seek to rejoin the Organization of American States anytime soon despite the OAS vote to lift a decades-old suspension, the multinational group’s chief said Monday.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters it’s likely that “some years” and “a lot of changes in Cuba” will happen before the Cuban government asks to return to the 34-nation organization.

“We hope they will do so, but we don’t think that they will do so in the near future,” Insulza said in Barbados, where he was holding his first official meeting with the country’s new foreign minister.

As of Monday, Aug. 31, 2009, at least 4,337 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,468 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The AP count is two fewer than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.

The San Jose Sharks traded veteran defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for two prospects in a move to create space under the salary cap.

Vancouver also signed 40-year-old free agent defenseman Mathieu Schneider to a one-year contract on Friday. The Canucks are counting on their newest acquisitions to solidify a defense that lost Mattias Ohlund to free agency earlier this summer.

“Defense has been an area we wanted to add skill and depth to and this trade has strengthened our group considerably,” Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said in a statement.

David Zabriskie maintained his stranglehold on the US cycling pro time trial title on Saturday with his fourth straight victory.

Zabriskie finished the 11.1km course in 39min 37sec, with Tom Zirbel second in 40:21. Scott Zwizanski was third in 41:18. Zabriskie’s time on the twisting course in Greenville was more than a minute faster than his time on the same route last year.

Zabriskie has won every national pro time trial title since the event’s inception in 2006.

The University of Michigan announced Sunday that it has launched an investigation into allegations that its football program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time players can spend on training and practice.

The announcement from Michigan athletic director Bill Martin came after a Detroit Free Press article in which players from the 2008 and 2009 teams said the amount of time they spend on football during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeds NCAA limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

“We are committed to following both the letter and the intent of the NCAA rules and we take any allegations of violations seriously,” Martin said in a written statement.

Mark Teixeira and the New York Yankees are playing so well, they can focus on Joba Chamberlain’s future and still win big right now.

Teixeira homered and drove in four runs, Johnny Damon also went deep and New York polished off a three-game sweep of the struggling Chicago White Sox with an 8-3 victory Sunday.

Alfredo Aceves (9-1) provided stellar relief following an abbreviated outing for Chamberlain. With the Yankees determined to limit his workload, the 23-year-old right-hander was pulled after only three innings and 35 pitches.

Offensive tackle Andre Smith signed a contract Sunday with the Cincinnati Bengals, ending an impasse that dragged on a month into the preseason.

The Bengals originally planned to have Smith start at right tackle, but he has missed three preseason games. He was in Cincinnati and agreed to the deal shortly before the start of a late afternoon practice, allowing him to get back on the field.

The Bengals finish their preseason schedule with a home game against Indianapolis on Thursday. It’s unclear whether the rookie will be ready to play in that game.

Bruschi, an inside linebacker, played on all three Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams. The last championship game was on Feb. 6, 2005, against the Philadelphia Eagles. He played in his only Pro Bowl on Feb. 13.

Three days later, he was hospitalized after experiencing numbness in his left arm and left leg and blurry vision and was diagnosed with a mild stroke.

He recovered to play nine of the last 10 games that season, all starts, and was named The AP Comeback Player of the Year.

Before Randy Couture became a UFC pioneer, a multiple-belt champion and an inspiration to athletes in their 40s and beyond, he was an assistant wrestling coach at Oregon State with a burning competitive drive and no place to direct it.

Couture was training wrestlers in Corvallis when he saw his first mixed martial arts fight, and it put him on a winding, lucrative path that’s led him right back to Oregon.

The Pacific Northwest will welcome home an accomplished native athlete Saturday night when Couture (16-9) meets Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1) at Portland’s Rose Garden in the main event of UFC 102, the league’s first major show in Oregon.