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(CNN) -- After the tea party's poor showing in the 2012 elections, many in the political world declared the movement dead. After all, it had lost one-sixth of its members in Congress and at least two Senate seats by running questionable candidates. Plus, the tea party didn't get its way on the debt ceiling, and the Paul Ryan budget failed to get much traction. Recent CNN polls, however, suggest that gaffes by the Obama administration are breathing new life into the tea party movement. In a CNN poll conducted in March, 28% of the voting-age public supported the tea party. Now, however, in the wake of the recent controversies involving the administration -- especially the one about the Internal Revenue Service -- support is on the rise. According to a CNN poll released May 20, 37% of the public now supports the movement, a level that approaches the high-water mark the tea party achieved in 2010. Why the increase in popularity? It's simple: The IRS scandal resonates with the tea party faithful because it fits so well the meme the movement has pushed since the early days of the administration: An Obama-led government is too big, too fiscally irresponsible. First, there was the movement's resistance to the stimulus package, claiming the government spent too much to revive the economy. Then, of course, was the tea party's opposition to health care reform: Again, government had grown too big, spending excessively. And that some people would be forced by the government to purchase insurance or else face a tax, for tea partiers, was further proof of Obama-led governmental tyranny. Now, the IRS scandal permits the tea party to highlight how the administration is overreaching and meddling in the lives of Americans. But here's the thing: Most political scandals don't last very long. Those involving the president, or officials in his administration, tend to have a shelf life of six months. As it stands, we're not even six months beyond the most recent election cycle. So the likelihood that the tea party -- and therefore Republicans -- can leverage the recent scandals to their political advantage isn't great if the next election cycle (2014) is the target. If the tea party and Republicans wish to make political hay that will carry them through 2014, they must return their gaze to the substantive policy issues that tend to mobilize their supporters: Immigration reform and same-sex marriage are two examples. Indeed, opposition to immigrant rights and same-sex rights has proven effective for rallying the base. The problem is that if the tea party returns to issues proven to fire up the base it will violate at least two of its major tenets: fiscal prudence and smaller government. For instance, the tea party's position on immigration reform would increase government spending to the tune of $28 billion per year to secure the border. In the case of same-sex rights, the state is called upon to regulate marriage. This would seem to contradict the tea party's claim that it's all about fiscal prudence and small government. How can this be? In other words, how can the tea party and its supporters favor small and large government? The paradox is easily resolved once we consider the motives of many tea party supporters. They see America changing too rapidly, both demographically and culturally. American identity is generally identified as white and heterosexual, among other things. Thus, it shouldn't come as a shock that despite their declared preference for small government, many in the tea party embrace big government when necessary. It's perhaps the most effective way to police what they perceive as encroachments upon the "American" way of life in which white racial identity and heterosexuality remain the norm. Like American reactionary movements of the past, the tea party resists change of any kind. For tea party loyalists, the long and short of it is as follows. In President Barack Obama's first term, the government spent too much; so far, in his second, the government is meddling too much. The problem for the tea party is that the benefits extracted from these missteps will likely be short-lived, certainly not enough to last until the next election cycle. Isn't it ironic that to sustain support through 2014, and to have a shot at the White House, the tea party will have to push policy solutions to important issues that rely upon bigger -- not smaller -- government? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Christopher S. Parker.
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Christopher Parker: Recent administration controversies have boosted tea party in polls . He says to maintain support, tea party must make dust-up last till 2014 elections . It could return to issues that fire base: immigration, opposition to same-sex marriage, he says . Parker: Stopping same-sex marriage, boosting border flout party's small government mantra .
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(CNN) -- Mount Redoubt volcano in southern Alaska has erupted again, shooting ash as high as 45,000 feet in the air on Saturday, experts said. A series of eruptions has been rattling Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano since Sunday. The eruption occurred at about 1:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey told CNN. Some of the ash fell around Anchorage, resulting in the airport to close, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The volcano erupted three times Friday, at times shooting ash as high as 51,000 feet. The eruptions are the latest in a series that began March 22. The Alaska Volcano Observatory has set the alert level at its highest possible designation -- red -- indicating that an eruption is under way or imminent and that the eruption will produce a "significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere." Friday's volcano activity prompted Alaska Airlines to limit flights to and from Anchorage, according to the airline's Web site. It canceled all its Thursday flights to and from Anchorage after an eruption earlier in the day sent an ash cloud 65,000 feet high. The eruptions are the latest in a series that began Sunday.
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NEW: Mount Redoubt volcano in southern Alaska erupted again on Saturday . NEW: Eruption sent ash as high as 45,000 feet in the air, experts said . NEW: FAA says ash falling around Anchorage resulted in closure of the airport . Mount Redoubt has been erupting since March 22 .
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Washington (CNN) -- CNN has reported President Obama has personally met with four leading candidates for the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy. The president is expected to announce his nominee in coming days so the Senate can complete the confirmation process in time for the new Supreme Court session in the fall. Justice John Paul Stevens, who turned 90 last month, announced that he will retire shortly after the Supreme Court's term ends in late June. Here are summaries of the four people believed to be finalists for the Stevens seat, and a list of arguments for and against their nominations: . Elena Kagan . U.S. Solicitor General . Year born: 1960 . Hometown: New York (Manhattan) Experience: Solicitor general; Harvard Law School dean; White House associate counsel . Education: Princeton University; Oxford University; J.D., Harvard Law School . Fun fact: Former law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall, who nicknamed her "Shorty" Top cases argued as solicitor general (in support of federal laws or executive action): . • Campaign finance reform (Citizens United v. FEC, 2009): Congressional efforts to restrict "independent spending" by corporations and unions in federal political campaigns. Supreme Court ruled against the government in January. • Terror support (Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 2010): Whether the government's power to criminalize "material support" of a terrorist organization goes too far in restricting civil liberties. Supreme Court ruling pending. • Religious monuments (Salazar v. Buono, 2009): Can a war memorial shaped like a cross remain on government parkland, or does it violate the constitutional separation of church and state? Justices ruled for the government, saying the cross should remain. Why she may be chosen: Her lack of a substantive paper trail on hot-button issues may blunt initial conservative criticism over where she stands on these topics. She has a reputation as a political pragmatist and consensus-builder who enjoys the support of liberal and conservative academics. That perceived ability to reach across the aisle could help Kagan on a divided high court. Her relative youth (she would be the youngest member of the court) could give Obama a longer judicial legacy. She also would provide greater gender diversity to the bench. Why she may be passed over: That lack of judicial experience may raise concerns about whether she would be a "reliable" vote on the left. Some liberal groups have also raised concerns that Kagan -- as solicitor general -- has articulated a more robust defense of executive power by the White House than many civil rights and human rights groups would like. Judge Diane Wood . 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Chicago, Illinois . Year born: 1950 . Hometowns: Plainfield, New Jersey; Houston, Texas . Experience: Federal appeals judge; University of Chicago law professor; government lawyer in the Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations . Education: B.A., J.D., University of Texas . Fun fact: Talented oboe player who plays in local orchestras . Top cases as federal appeals judge: . • Abortion protests (National Organization for Women vs. Scheidler, 2001): Wrote the opinion allowing extortion and anti-racketeering (RICO) laws to be used against a group of anti-abortion protesters. The case was reversed twice by the Supreme Court, 8-1 and 8-0. • First Amendment (Doe v. Lafayette, 2004) -- Dissented in a case that ruled a convicted sex offender could be banned from an Indiana city's parks. The offender admitted observing minors there but left without molesting them. • Religious displays (Bloch v. Frischolz and Shoreline Towers Condominium Association, 2008): Disagreed in a ruling allowing a condominium association to prevent a Chicago family from putting up a Jewish decoration on their doorpost. Her strong dissent prompted Wood's entire court to reconsider, which then reversed and adopted her views on the issue. Why she may be chosen: Sharp intellect and consensus-building skills have served her well on a court dominated by conservative judges. Her gender, Midwest base, non-Ivy league education and long academic record would bring diversity to the high court. She also would be the only Protestant on the bench. Wood's working mother status would be seen as a political plus for a White House courting female voters. Why she may be passed over: Her judicial record on abortion, religion and immigration cases could present serious roadblocks. Conservatives have privately said she would be the least acceptable of the top contenders, and vow a political fight over her nomination. Her age (she turns 60 on July 4) also could hurt her chances. Judge Merrick Garland . D.C. Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals, Washington . Year born: 1952 . Hometown: Chicago . Experience: Federal appeals judge; Justice Department lawyer in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations . Education: B.A., J.D., Harvard University Law School . Fun facts: Met President Richard Nixon as a 17-year-old high school student as part of Presidential Scholars program. Later, as a top government lawyer, supervised the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing and Unabomber defendants. Top cases as federal appeals judge: . • Terror detentions (Parhat v. Gates, 2008): Wrote opinion that concluded the government improperly classified a Guantanamo detainee as an enemy combatant. • Discrimination (Barbour v. WMATA, 2004): Allowed a Washington, D.C., government worker to sue for disability discrimination. He was supported in the ruling by then-colleague and good friend John Roberts, now chief justice. • Environment (Rancho Viejo v. Norton, 2003): Parted ways with Roberts by refusing to rehear a case over federal protection for the rare arroyo toad, and sided against a California developer who challenged the Endangered Species Act. Why he may be chosen: Little controversy is noted in his personal and professional lives. Colleagues call him a brilliant legal mind, well-respected by nearly everyone. He is viewed as a liberal moderate, and many conservative activists say they could support his nomination. That tacit endorsement could erase any protracted political fight, if the White House seeks a smooth, swift confirmation. Why he may be passed over: Many liberals question his ideological credentials, and fear that as the replacement for the left-leaning Stevens, Garland could move the court incrementally to the right on a number of key issues. He would add little diversity to the court, being a white male with an Ivy League background. Judge Sidney Thomas . 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, California; he is based in Billings, Montana . Year born: 1953 . Hometown: Bozeman, Montana . Experience: Federal appeals judge; private attorney . Education: Montana State University; J.D., University of Montana Law School . Fun fact: Enjoys skiing and hiking with his wife and two sons, friends say . Top cases as federal appeals judge: . • Strip searches (Bull v. City and County of San Francisco, 2006): Wrote opinion striking down San Francisco's body-cavity strip search policy for all newly arrested inmates. Full appeals court later reversed. • Student rights (Harper v. Poway Unified School District, 2006): Supported a San Diego high school that banned a student from wearing a T-shirt reading "Homosexuality is Shameful," saying such expressions are disruptive and that gay students and school personnel have a right to be free of such messages, especially in school campus settings. • Terror prevention (Public Citizen v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2009): Dissented in this national security case, where the majority said federal regulators could not be ordered to require greater safety measures at nuclear power plants. The commission "owes the public a rational and reasonable explanation why it would exclude from its [safety] rule consideration of terrorist air attacks," Thomas said. Why he may be chosen: Western roots would add real regional diversity to the court, and his home-state education may be seen as a plus for a bench dominated by Ivy leaguers. Little is known about him inside the Beltway, but colleagues praise his low-key demeanor, plain-talking intelligence and quiet sense of humor. Why he may be passed over: On a court with a majority of five white males, Thomas would not add much diversity, if the president deems that an important quality. His low profile may not give him many strong supporters among the president's closest aides. Friends privately say Thomas himself is downplaying his chances, and that he is surprised just to be considered among the finalists and to have had a personal meeting with Obama on the vacancy. CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon contributed to this report.
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Elena Kagan known as a political pragmatist, but lacks judicial record . Confirmation battle for Diane Wood might be tough . Merrick Garland viewed as a liberal moderate . Sidney Thomas' Western roots would add regional diversity to the court .
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(CNN) -- "If you build it, they will come." A very overused, but very apt quote for my take on Sochi following my first visit to the Russian host city of next year's Winter Olympics. The Sochi 2014 organizers have taken Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams quote literally, except their film has a soundtrack of constant drilling, banging, and the grinding of rocks. Russian rubble . The Black Sea resort seems a million miles from the one I'd read about. More the Russian Rubble Field than the Russian Riviera. I've never seen so much construction on such a large scale in one place. Hundreds of workers in orange bibs working in shifts on construction sites 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They're building roads, train lines, hotels, promenades, and harbors in the coastal Olympic Park area -- and in the mountain location in Krasnaya Polyana as well, which is 40 kilometers inland. As one local driver put it: "they build and build. There is no end to it. And then -- where is what they build?" CNN's Aiming for Gold team spent five days in Sochi, after which it's difficult not to have some sympathy with him. Traffic trouble . Every journey we took, the road layout changed around the construction. A journey from the hotel to Sochi took 45 minutes one way but took double on the way back after we were caught out by another diversion. The disruption to the lives of Sochi's residents is immense. It's dangerous to walk along many of the (alleged) roads, for danger of falling down an uncovered man hole. From inside my hotel room you couldn't fail to hear the nine nearby cranes going about their business night and day and leaving a thick layer of dust covering everything in sight. But this is all a means to an end -- an end which is just five months away. It's the biggest international sporting event to ever come to the region and many of the locals are acutely aware of its significance. Watching world . One lady told us: "it's a great thing that such a big thing will happen right in our yard. All these sportsmen will come -- the whole world will be here -- can you believe it?" The importance isn't lost on the organizers either. If it is the daily 1am progress report with the government is guaranteed to see to that. And in their mind there's no doubt things won't be ready. The man in charge Dmitry Chernyshenko told me that the Olympics would be "one of the brightest moments in the history of modern Russia." They're aiming to shatter stereotypes but says: "we're not over confident, we're just delivering what we promised in accordance with our commitment." On track . Although the Sochi airport upgrade has been completed we still had to wait over an hour for our bags at the carousel after our flight from Moscow. The brand new train line to link the coastal area with the mountains is still under construction -- as are a large number of the roads. However the buildings for the two athletes villages are in place. The 508 room hotel and Congress Center -- complete with three swimming pools, tennis court & spa, which will house the International Olympic Committee -- is finished. Twenty thousand new hotel rooms have been guaranteed, but the U.S. team planning representatives who we bumped into said they've been told five of the promised hotels will now not materialize. The many areas which looked like chaos to my untrained eye have been described by the organizing committee as simply requiring finishing touches. Ready for action . Across the building sites, pavements were emerging, walkways were being flattened, trees were being planted. Perhaps no surprise with 70,000 workers on the job. In terms of the sporting venues, there's no denying it seems they could host the Games tomorrow. All 10 of them have been newly built -- and they don't just look great, they've all successfully held a number of high profile test events already. The pre-Games test program has included more than 70 events in all Olympic and Paralympic sports -- with the press briefing notes proudly declaring their program has been three times bigger than the one in Vancouver four years ago. They're not tinpot events either. They have included the speed skating world championships, the FIS Alpine skiing European Cup and 12 World Cup stages. From our tour of the venues, it appears that the early preparation seems to have paid off. There was a medal podium, flags, a full ice rink and even pot plants inside the Adler arena, home to the speed skating events. Late decision . The tall structures and semi-permanent marquees were going up on the concourse of the Bolshoi Ice Dome. The only coastal venue with major construction still ongoing is the stadium for the opening & closing ceremony -- largely as a result of the late decision to build a roof. As manager of the Adler Arena Dmitry Grigoriev said: "We can only put our feet up when the Games end and the last athletes leave the village, but we are as ready as we can be." Up in the mountains, it's the same story. The Rosa Khutor alpine center, Sanki sliding center and Laura cross country and biathlon center have all held test events of their own with the structures firmly in place. However it doesn't take a genius to realize there's one vital ingredient missing from these venues. The white stuff. Much has been made of the madness of hosting a Winter Olympics at a seaside resort. Admittedly it's only September -- but our cameraman Andrew Waller had no problems filming at the highest point (2,300m) in just a t-shirt. Last February did organizers no favors either. It was the warmest on record, with some of the alpine test events canceled due to rain. Snow fears . It's for this reason Sochi has undertaken the biggest snow storage operation ever. They've got nine epic aluminum covered snow slugs resting on the rocky mountainsides, like something from an alien occupied lunar landscape. It's what's been stored from last winter -- just in case. Snow making equipment has also been installed on the mountains. Just in case. The team are resolute that they won't need it. We met the man in charge who hails from Finland -- Mikko Martikainen aka Mr Snow -- halfway up the mountain. He certainly doesn't look like he's having sleepless nights over it. "I'm not worried at all," he said. "I'm very confident. We guarantee we will have snow. There might be a lack of snow, but there may be too much snow. We are prepared for both scenarios." It's a good bet that the sun is set to shine on Sochi once again come February. But from what we've seen on our first trip here organizers are doing all they can to make sure this Black Sea resort does the same as it plays host to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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The Russian city of Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics in February . Hundreds of works still working on construction ahead of the Games . Organizers confident that all work will be ready on time . Snow storage operation underway to ensure alpine events will be fully prepared .
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(CNN) -- Five years from now, there's an excellent chance you won't have the same health insurance you have (or don't have) right now. That's because members of Congress are gearing up to reform the U.S. health care system, and unlike in 1993 when then-first lady Hillary Clinton tried her hand at changing the medical system, this time the important players -- doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers -- seem to be on board. You heard a lot about health care reform this week, and you'll be hearing even more in the months to come. It's an incredibly confusing, complex issue, so in this week's Empowered Patient, we break it down for you with 10 frequently asked questions about health care reform. Overhauling health care is key to U.S. economic stability, President Obama tells doctors Monday. 1. Why is health care reform such a hot issue right now? Fewer and fewer Americans have health insurance, and therefore cannot afford good medical care. Nearly 46 million Americans have no insurance, and 25 million more are underinsured. One major reason for this crisis is that many employers have stopped offering insurance to employees because of the high cost. In the United States, total health care spending was $2.4 trillion in 2007 -- or $7,900 per person -- according to an analysis published in the journal Health Affairs. The United States spends 52 percent more per person than the next most costly nation, Norway, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. There's little debate that health care reform is necessary -- President Obama, Republican and Democratic members of Congress, the American Medical Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents the insurance industry, all have agreed the system needs to be changed, although they disagree on how to do it. 2. So let's start with Obama. What are his plans for revamping the system? A central point of the president's plan is to create a government-sponsored health insurance program that would be an option for all Americans, similar to how Medicare is now an option for Americans over age 65. He has also said he'd "like to see" prohibitions against insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, and incentives for people to use preventive services and wellness plans. Obama outlined this plan last week at a town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and on his Web site. 3. How does the president plan to pay for this? Obama said he's already identified "hundreds of billions of dollars" worth of savings in the federal budget that could help finance health care reform, such as rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. He's also proposed reducing tax deductions for high-income Americans. 4. What do the Republicans think of Obama's plan? In particular, they don't like the idea of having a government-sponsored health insurance program for all Americans. They fear employers would opt for the government-run insurance over private insurance because the government option would most likely be less expensive, but Republicans say it would also be lower quality. For information, see House Minority Leader John Boehner's Web site. 5. Since they don't like Obama's ideas, how would Republicans like to reform health care? Republicans think Obama's plan is costly and will make health insurance more expensive, not less. In a plan outlined this week, House Republicans proposed individual tax breaks for buying health insurance and "pools" of states and small business to get lower-cost health care plans. They also proposed increasing incentives for people to build health savings accounts, allowing dependent children to stay on parents' policies until age 25 and encouraging employers to reward employees for improved health. 6. I'm happy with the insurance I receive from my employer. What would health care reform mean for me? If you receive high-quality health insurance from your employer, Obama said, his plan won't change that, and you can still keep your insurance and your doctors. Republicans, however, said that if Obama gets his way, there's a good chance your employer will stop buying the private insurance you have now and instead opt for the less-expensive government plan. 7. I have a pre-existing condition and can't get health insurance. Will health care reform help me? You have a terrible problem and you're in good company. Millions of people who don't get insurance through their employer try to get insurance on their own and are turned down because they have a pre-existing condition. Obama said at the Green Bay town hall meeting that under his reforms, no insurance plan "would be able to deny coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions," but he didn't explain how he would force insurance companies to insure people with pre-existing health problems. Similarly, Boehner wrote on his blog that "quality health coverage must exist for every American, regardless of pre-existing health conditions," but did not explain how he would pay to insure people with pre-existing conditions. 8. How do doctors feel about health care reform? The American Medical Association said while it believes in health care reform, "the AMA does not believe that creating a public health insurance option ... is the best way to expand health insurance coverage." The AMA has told members of Congress that doctors fear a new government-sponsored health insurance program would reimburse them at Medicare rates. "Medicare reimbursement rates have not kept pace with the cost of practice," AMA President Dr. Nancy Nielsen told CNN earlier this week. "Our Medicare rates are back at 2001 rates, and the reality is, that's not where our rent is, that's not where the electricity is. The system for paying doctors is a broken system, and everybody acknowledges it." Other doctors' groups, however, support the idea. The American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Physicians Alliance and other groups put out a statement of support this week for Obama's plan. "Having the choice of a public health insurance plan will help make health care more affordable for patients, foster greater competition in the insurance market and guarantee that quality, affordable coverage will be there for our patients no matter what happens," they wrote in a joint statement.. 9. Obama has mentioned high health care costs in McAllen, Texas, several times. What's up with that? According to research conducted at the Dartmouth Institute, the average per person health costs for McAllen are sky-high compared with costs in other cities. In McAllen, the average Medicare beneficiary spends $15,758 per year, while the average Medicare patient in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, spends $6,412 per year. Another comparison: The cost in Miami, Florida, is $18,170, compared with $7,478 in Portland, Oregon. Dartmouth researchers believe doctors in high-priced cities tend to refer to specialists more and are more likely to put patients in the hospital rather than handling their problems on an outpatient basis. 10. How do health care costs in the U.S. compare with costs in other countries? In the United States, every person spends on average $6,714 for health care. That's significantly higher than in the United Kingdom, where $2,760 per person is spent; or in France, where the cost is $3,449 per person; or in Canada, where medical costs are $3,678 per person, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. While some would argue that medical care is better in the United States than in these other countries, others would say the opposite is true. For example, the United States ranks 50th in life expectancy, and 180th infant mortality (meaning 179 countries have higher infant mortality rates such as Angola and Turkey and 43 countries have lower infant mortality rates such as France and Sweden) according to the CIA World Factbook. For more on international price comparisons, see this segment » on CNN Newsroom. CNN's Jennifer Pifer Bixler, Marcy Heard and Sabriya Rice contributed to this report .
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President Obama says health care reform is a priority; other stakeholders on board . U.S. spends 52 percent more per person than the next most costly nation . Obama wants government-sponsored health insurance program . Republicans think plan is costly, will make health insurance more expensive .
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(CNN) -- Rafael Benitez made a winning start to his career as Inter Milan coach as the European champions beat last season's domestic rivals Roma 3-1 in the Italian Super Cup at the San Siro on Saturday. Benitez, who replace treble winner Jose Mourinho after leaving English club Liverpool, saw his new team maintain their dominance over the capital outfit, who finished second in both Serie A and the Italian Cup in 2009-10. It was Inter's fourth trophy of the year, with Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o netting two goals to join Alessandro Del Piero and Andrei Shevchenko at the top of the all-time list of Super Cup scorers with three goals following last year's effort against Lazio in Beijing. "I am very happy because we showed character after going behind," Benitez told the Inter website after his side equaled city rivals AC Milan's record of five Super Cup wins. "It's a title won by the players -- a title for them, the club and the fans. It was our first competitive match. It wasn't easy but we did it. The players did well. My boys weren't fresh, but they worked hard. We're hoping to be a bit fresher for the European Super Cup next week." Inter take on Europa League winners Atletico Madrid of Spain in the European Super Cup next Friday, and kick off their Serie A season away to Bologna three days later. Claudio Ranieri's Roma took the lead in the 21st minute in front of the 65,000 crowd through Norwegian defender John-Arne Riise, whose first-time finish from the edge of the penalty area was set up by captain Francesco Totti. Goran Pandev equalized three minutes before halftime after a bad pass by Roma striker Mirko Vucinic left his teammate Juan exposed, allowing the Macedonian to score. Eto'o put Inter ahead with 20 minutes to go from Champions League final Diego Milito's cross, and sealed it 10 minutes later as he dispossessed substitute Rodrigo Taddei, exchanged passes with Wesley Sneijder and beat goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont. Meanwhile, Inter's Italian rivals Juventus boosted their squad with the signing of Serbia international winger Milos Krasic from Russian club CSKA Moscow. Krasic, 25, agreed a four-year contract and joins for a fee of $19 million. "I received some proposals by Manchester City, Fenerbahce and other teams, but when I knew about the opportunity to join Juventus, I preferred to wait," he told the Juventus website on Saturday. Juventus will also add Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani to their squad on Monday if the Italy international passes a medical, having agreed a season-long loan for the 26-year-old. Aquilani has struggled since leaving Roma while still recovering from injury, and new Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson said he hoped the player could restore his previous form. Hodgson also ruled out any move for Netherlands World Cup star Dirk Kuyt, who has been linked with a move to Inter. "I spoke to [Inter president] Massimo Moratti on Wednesday about the fact that they are not going to buy any Liverpool players, and Kuyt comes into that category," Hodgson told Liverpool's official website on Saturday. "I believe Inter were only interested in two of our players and they are not going to buy them. Moratti said they are not going to do that. Kuyt is not for sale." Liverpool's future is still uncertain after Chinese businessman Kenny Huang confirmed on Friday that he had pulled out of the race to buy the club from American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
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Inter Milan win fourth trophy this year with 3-1 win over Roma in Italian Super Cup . European champions come from behind with two goals from striker Samuel Eto'o . Italian rivals Juventus sign Serbia winger Milos Krasic from Russian club CSKA Moscow . Juve also agree season-long loan for Liverpool's Italy midfielder Alberto Aquilani .
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(CNN) -- Inter Milan are through to the semifinals of the Champions League after Wesley Sneijder's first-half free-kick gave them a 1-0 victory at CSKA Moscow, for a 2-0 aggregate win. Dutchman Sneidjer scored the only goal of the game in the sixth minute when his low-free-kick deceived goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev after his defensive wall jumped in unison -- allowing the shot to go underneath them. Following their 1-0 defeat at the San Siro last week, that meant the Russian champions needed to score three times to advance to the last four stage for the first time in their history. But their mission became impossible three minutes after the interval when substitute Chidi Odiah was sent off for a late challenge on Samuel Eto'o, resulting in a second yellow card. From then on, Italian champions Inter Milan were always in control. Sneijder and Dejan Stankovic both had shots well saved by Akinfeev, while the goalkeeper produced a superb save to keep out Diego Milito when the Argentine international went through on goal. The home side rarely threatened after being reduced to 10 men and Inter comfortably held on to reach the last four of the competition for the first time since 2003.
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Italian champions Inter Milan through to the semifinals of the Champions League . Wesley Sneijder scores the only goal as Inter defeat CSKA Moscow 1-0 . The 2-0 aggregate victory means Inter reach the last four for first time since 2003 .
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Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the demilitarized zone that splits the Korean Peninsula in two for the first time on Sunday. His planned visit to the heavily fortified border is part of a three-day trip to South Korea to participate in a summit meeting about nuclear security in Seoul. Top officials from 54 countries including China and Russia will attend the summit meeting next week, but its message of international cooperation has been overshadowed by North Korea's announcement last week that it is planning to carry out a rocket-powered satellite launch in April. South Korea has said it considers the satellite launch an attempt to develop a nuclear-armed missile, while the United States has warned the move would jeopardize a food-aid agreement reached with Pyongyang in early March. North Korea says it has a right to a peaceful space program and has invited international space experts and journalists to witness the launch. Against that tense backdrop, Obama will visit the demilitarized zone and meet with some of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, two of his top national security advisers said Tuesday during a conference call. The "fundamental message" of the visit is "underscoring the president's support for the American troops who are serving on the Korean Peninsula, and our support for the Republic of Korea, our very close and strong treaty ally," said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, using South Korea's official name. Although Obama himself has not been to the demilitarized zone during his two previous trips to South Korea as president, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the area in 2010. And Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, used binoculars to peer into North Korea from a sandbagged bunker on the southern side of the border in 2002. The date of Obama's visit " is virtually two years to the day" since the sinking of the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, which left 46 Southern sailors dead, said Daniel Russel, director for Japan, South Korea, and North Korea at the U.S. National Security Council. South Korea says a North Korean torpedo attack was to blame for the ship's sinking. The North has denied the accusation. In a dramatic reminder of the U.S. military presence in South Korea, an American F16 fighter jet crashed Wednesday near Kunsan airbase on the western coast of South Korea. The jet's pilot safely ejected before the crash, and no casualties were reported, said Maj. Eric Badger, public affairs officer of the 7th Air Force. CNN's Paula Hancocks, Jethro Mullen and Bob Kovach contributed to this report.
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NEW: U.S. fighter jet crashes in South Korea; pilot safely ejects . President Obama visits South Korea next week for a nuclear security summit . While there, he plans to make his first visit to the demilitarized zone . North Korea's announcement of a satellite launch has increased tensions in the region .
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(CNN) -- Nine men have been charged with hazing for their alleged part in an initiation rite into a University of Florida fraternity earlier this year. The defendants, between the ages of 21 and 26, are accused of "endangering the mental or physical health or safety" of five pledges to the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter, according to documents filed this week in Florida's 8th Judicial Circuit court. In that document, the nine are accused of "striking (the pledges) with paddles and/or striking with hands and/or requiring the performance of calisthenics" on January 22. No other details have been released. In February, days after the case came to light, university President Bernie Machen announced in an e-mail to students that Alpha Phi Alpha was being temporarily suspended in light of what he called a "serious physical hazing incident." Dave Kratzer, Florida's vice president for student affairs, added at the time that no one was hospitalized after the incident but that the school felt compelled to act, regardless. "It's not in the realm of seriousness on the far end of things, when you think about what could have occurred with hazing, and we want to stop it now," Kratzer told CNN. The executive director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. said at the time that a cease-and-desist order was issued against the local chapter and stressed that "hazing is dangerous and illegal and must stop!" The historically black fraternity dates back to 1906, when it was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. According to its website, Alpha Phi Alpha "has a zero tolerance level in regards to hazing/pledging and strongly prohibits these illegal activities in any form." The alleged hazing incident happened off the school's Gainesville campus, according to Machen's e-mail to students, which was obtained by CNN. The charges in the University of Florida case were filed Monday, two days before charges were announced against 13 people tied to an investigation into the case of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion -- whose November 2011 death, authorities have said, was a result of hazing. FAMU hazing suspects turning themselves in . Eleven of those individuals face one count of third-degree felony hazing resulting in death, which is punishable by up to six years in prison, according to officials. By contrast, the hazing charges in the University of Florida case are all misdemeanors, said Spencer Mann, a spokesman for 8th Judicial Circuit State Attorney William Cervone's office. If convicted, these men could be sentenced to one year in prison and be forced to pay as much as a $1,000 fine. The FAMU incident prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to order all state universities to examine their hazing and harassment policies in December. Scott also asked all university presidents to remind their students, faculty and staff "how detrimental hazing can be."
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NEW: The misdemeanor charges are punishable by up to one year in prison . Nine men, ages 21 to 26, are charged with hazing, a court document shows . They are accused of "striking" Alpha Phi Alpha pledges with paddles and their hands . The University of Florida and national fraternity have acted against the chapter .
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(CNN) -- A suspect fired his gun inside the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque Tuesday, but no one was injured, the university and police said. Police identified the apparent gunman as Cesar Dominguez-Garcia, 21. Witnesses told officers that a female patient was with her child when the woman's boyfriend entered the room, police said. The couple began to argue. During the altercation, the suspect pulled out a small handgun and purposefully fired it, according to a statement from the Albuquerque Police Department. He then fled. Video shows the man leaving the hospital about an hour later, said police, adding that the search for the suspect continues. "They confirm one person was in the hospital and shot his gun inside the hallway, but no one was injured," said Cindy Foster, a spokeswoman for the UNM Health Sciences Center. The university lifted a lockdown order it had previously issued for all personnel in the central and northern portions of the campus.
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NEW: Police identify the suspect as Cesar Dominguez-Garcia, 21 . The lockdown is lifted after the suspect leaves the hospital . Police say the search continues . No one is reported injured .
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(CNN) -- Every day, thousands of children are living and working on the streets of Vietnam's cities. Michael Brosowski is trying to give many of them a chance at a brighter future. Through Brosowski's Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, more than 350 Vietnamese children have been given safe shelter and enrolled in school. The organization has a network of programs in cities throughout Vietnam, and it recently broadened its efforts to combat child trafficking. So far, it has rescued more than 100 trafficked children. Brosowski recently spoke with CNN about the struggles facing Vietnam's street children. CNN: Who are Vietnam's street kids? Michael Brosowski: When we were starting out back in 2002, the kids were pretty much all boys coming from rural areas. And they were coming to make a little bit of money to supplement the family income. Mom and dad can hardly afford money to send the rest of the kids to school, can't afford to get enough food on the table, so they think, well, you might as well go to Hanoi and work. These days, we're mostly coming across runaway children, and it's where kids are having some kind of family problem. Poverty is usually part of the problem, but it's not the only problem. Very often, there might be alcoholism, sometimes drug use. It might be that one of the parents has died and the remaining parent has remarried and then that new husband and wife couple don't want the kids from the previous marriage. So kids are ending up now on the streets of Hanoi more because they feel unwanted at home rather than coming here to earn money to support the family. CNN: What dangers do the kids face on the streets in Vietnam? Brosowski: The dangers now are much greater, and there are more of them than when we started out. There's a lot more gang activity on the streets and a lot more cases of trafficking. One reason that street kids here in Vietnam are mostly boys is that the families have this view that the girls should be somewhere safe and secure, but the boys are fine (and) they can wander around at will. In reality, they're not fine. In reality, the boys are facing gangs, they're facing arrest. And the longer they're out on the street, the worse habits they learn. There are gangs selling heroin, and heroin here is very cheap, widely accessible and a lot of people's job is to get young people hooked on it so that then they've got to start buying it. Meanwhile, the girls ... they're going to end up in positions that can very often be exploitative or abusive. So we've also got to think about how to protect the girls. Watch Brosowski meet a girl who was almost trafficked . CNN: What are some of the challenges you and your group encounter when working with street kids? Brosowski: As satisfying as (this work) is, it's not easy. One of the things I always tell my staff is, "It's never the end of the story." Today, there might be a kid who is getting in trouble, has broken the law, he's had a fight in our center, he's told the staff to get lost. Tomorrow, that same kid might really start to make a change in their life. But equally there can be a kid doing really well today -- doing his best at school, behaving well. And tomorrow he might be out there stealing with a gang. So our work is never finished, in a sense. There's always something more that could happen, and I think that's the biggest frustration for us. Sometimes there are kids we've worked with for a year who've then come back at night, broken in and robbed us. That's what hurts us all the most, because we take that personally. We put so much of ourselves into the kids. But we've had kids do that and then come back to us later really sorry. And they've actually come back to make amends. And that's more powerful still to have someone who's been with us and then gone astray and then come back, because I think that shows the power of our work. See the full story on CNN Hero Michael Brosowski: Giving Vietnam's street kids a chance . CNN's Danielle Berger and Alex Zolbert contributed to this report.
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CNN Hero Michael Brosowski is helping Vietnam's street children turn their lives around . Many of them are runaways who feel unwanted at home, Brosowski says . Among the dangers they face are gangs, drugs and child traffickers .
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter charges and other crimes stemming from a shooting incident in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead. Former Blackwater Worldwide security Donald Ball, center, leaves court after his arraignment Tuesday. Each of the former guards has been charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. The five defendants, seated in a row at a courtroom table, remained silent in court, and as they entered and departed the courthouse. A lawyer entered their plea on their behalf. Attorney David Schertler, speaking for all the defendants outside the courthouse, predicted they will be proved innocent. "We want to make it clear to everyone these men committed no crime. They were defending themselves on a battlefield in a war zone when this occurred," he said. If convicted, the defendants would face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each manslaughter count, seven years in prison for each count of attempted manslaughter, and a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence for the firearms charge. Judge Ricardo Urbina set a trial date for February 1, 2010. He agreed with defense attorneys that preparations for the complex case will require a full year, including the likely need for lawyers to travel to Baghdad to gather information and conduct interviews. "The United States government had a year and a half to investigate the case, and we did not. So we need a year to catch up," Schertler told reporters. Lead government prosecutor Kenneth Kohl did not comment outside court. The Baghdad incident, which occurred September 16, 2007, exacerbated the feelings of many Iraqis that private American security contractors have operated since 2003 with little regard for Iraqi law or life. It also created an extremely delicate political situation for the Bush administration and the Iraqi government. The five defendants are Donald Ball, 26, of West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, 27, of Knoxville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty, 26, of Rochester, New Hampshire; Nick Slatten, 25, of Sparta, Tennessee; and Paul Slough, 29, of Keller, Texas. A sixth former security guard, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, 35, of California, has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter. Prosecutors did not bring manslaughter charges for three of the 17 fatalities because they do not believe they have enough evidence to win a conviction in those deaths. The company of Blackwater Worldwide does not face any charges. The indictment of the five men represents the first prosecution of non-Defense Department contractors under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), which was amended in 2004 to allow the Justice Department to prosecute such personnel providing services "in support of the mission of the Department of Defense overseas." The attorneys for the defendants contend that Blackwater's employees in Iraq are exempt from the provisions of MEJA because the company has a contract in Iraq with the State Department, not the Defense Department. Also muddying the case are assurances of immunity initially given to the guards by State Department diplomatic security agents, who were investigating the incident before the FBI tried to interview them once it took over. The State Department maintains its agents did not offer blanket immunity from criminal prosecution, but promised only that the statements the guards made on the scene could not be used against them in any prosecution. But when the investigation was turned over to the Justice Department to examine possible criminal activity, FBI agents discovered some guards believed they were immune from prosecution and therefore refused to be interviewed again, complicating the FBI probe. A recently approved U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement pointedly specifies that U.S. civilian contractors will no longer be immune from Iraqi prosecution for crimes committed in that country. CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report.
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Five guards facing 14 counts of manslaughter, other charges . Charges stem from shooting in Baghdad square that left 17 Iraqis dead . Attorneys say men were defending themselves on a battlefield . Case is the first prosecution of non-Defense Department contractors .
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Washington (CNN) -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a joint resolution Tuesday supporting the limited use of U.S. military force in Libya for one year -- a move sought by the Obama administration as it works to win clear congressional backing of the controversial North African mission. The resolution, which explicitly rejects any introduction of U.S. ground troops, was approved 14-5. It now advances to the full Democratic-controlled Senate. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives rejected a similar measure last Friday, but also voted down a bill restricting U.S. involvement in the conflict. Deep congressional divisions over the mission stem from, among other things, a belief among some representatives and senators on both sides of the aisle that the White House has violated the War Powers Resolution. Passed in 1973, the law gives a president 60 days to get congressional approval for sending U.S. forces to war, followed by a 30-day extension to end hostilities. The combined 90-day period ended last week without any congressional expression of support for America's role in the NATO-led operation. Administration officials have repeatedly asserted that the U.S. role in Libya does not meet the law's definition of hostilities. The president reportedly overruled contrary legal opinions put forward by both the Pentagon and the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in declining to seek congressional authorization. Earlier Tuesday, top State Department legal adviser Harold Koh told members of the committee that the War Powers law does not apply to the U.S. military intervention. Koh argued that the measure is not applicable because the U.S. role in the mission is limited in terms of its scope, means, exposure of U.S. forces, and chances of escalation. "The precedent here has been narrowly drawn," Koh asserted. Republicans on the committee did not agree. Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the committee's top Republican, said President Barack Obama's decision to intervene without explicit congressional backing was a "fundamental failure of leadership that placed expedience" before constitutional responsibility. "There was no good reason why President Obama should have failed to seek authorization" by Congress, he added. There has been a "lack of constitutional discipline" in this case. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, told Koh he was "sticking a stick in the eyes of Congress," "I think you've undermined the integrity of the War Powers Act," Corker said. By refusing to take a tougher stance against the administration's actions, senators are "making ourselves irrelevant" to debates over military action, he added. Koh told committee members that a "major structural flaw" of the law is that, absent explicit congressional approval, it requires an automatic termination of military engagements after 60 days. "You cannot run these things by autopilot," he said. Executive and legislative branch judgment is required in each instance, he asserted. Koh, along with both Democrats and Republicans, acknowledged the act could be updated to reflect technological advances such as unmanned predator drone strikes -- something unheard of when the law was passed during the Vietnam War. The "language needs further clarification," said Kerry, the chairman of the committee. But for Congress to now "pull the rug out from under (America's NATO allies) would have far-reaching consequences," he warned. The allied military effort in Libya, which has formal United Nations support, was launched to protect civilians from violence stemming from a crackdown launched by longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. Western leaders have made clear that they believe the mission cannot be successfully completed without Gadhafi's ouster. The White House has promised not to use U.S. ground troops, but bipartisan congressional opposition to the military campaign has nevertheless been mounting over several weeks.
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NEW: The Foreign Relations Committee backs limited U.S. military action in Libya . State Department legal adviser says the Libya mission is limited in scope, exposure of forces . Key Republicans argue Obama has improperly circumvented the 1973 War Powers Resolution . It requires the president to get congressional approval within 60 days after deploying military .
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(CNN) -- Manchester United were dealt a serious blow Tuesday as captain and key central defender Nemanja Vidic was ruled out for at least two months with a knee problem. The Serbian star missed the final five months of last season after rupturing his cruciate ligament and a fresh problem has emerged on the same knee. "Nemanja Vidic has had a meniscus operation on his right knee and will be out for around eight weeks," read a statement on the club's official website. The new injury setback for the 31-year-old could not have come at a more unfavorable time for the English Premier League giants, who are also missing a number of key defenders ahead of vital league and Champions League clashes. England internationals Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are currently sidelined, the former with the same problem as Vidic, leaving manager Alex Ferguson with only two fit regular central defenders. That includes Jonny Evans, who picked up a minor injury in the 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield Sunday which left United in second place in the early standings. United's neighbors and EPL champions Manchester City suffered a shock 4-2 home defeat Tuesday to Aston Villa in the English League Cup. City were twice ahead through Mario Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov, but two goals from Gabriel Agbonlahor, allied to an own goal from Gareth Barry and an extra time strike from Charles N'Zogbia saw Villa into the fourth round. Meanwhile, league leaders Chelsea continued their fine start to the domestic campaign with a thumping 6-0 home win over second-flight Wolves. John Terry, who quit the England captaincy just ahead of his FA hearing into charges that he made a racial slur in an EPL match last season, lined up for the match at Stamford Bridge. Gary Cahill put Chelsea ahead after just four minutes and it was one-way traffic throughout with Fernando Torres scoring in the second half and new Victor Moses rounding off the scoring. In an all-EPL clash, Wigan won 4-1 at West Ham after the home side had taken an early lead while high flying Everton were shocked 2-1 at Leeds to make a surprise exit.
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Nemanja Vidic ruled out for two months with fresh knee injury . Leaves Manchester United short of defensive options . John Terry plays in Chelsea's English League Cup rout of Wolves . EPL champions Manchester City beaten by Aston Villa .
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Families of three U.S. hikers detained by Iran submitted a 2,500-signature petition to Tehran's U.N. mission Thursday, appealing for their release "as soon as possible." An undated family photo shows Sarah Shourd, one of three U.S. hikers detained in Iran since July 31. Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were detained July 31 after reportedly straying into Iran while hiking in northern Iraq. "The families, friends and supporters of Shane, Sarah and Josh share the deep hope that the Islamic Republic of Iran will show compassion in this unfortunate case and release them as soon as possible," the petition says. It was signed online at freethehikers.org and at vigils held across the nation. Switzerland's ambassador to Iran paid the three a consular visit last month and said they were in good condition, but they have had no direct contact with relatives, the families said in a news release. Switzerland handles U.S. consular matters in Tehran, as the United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said last month that the Americans entered his country illegally, "an act that is considered a crime everywhere." He insisted that he had no control over the case. "The judiciary handles these cases. The judiciary in Iran is completely independent and no one can interfere with the process of the law and work of the judge," he told The Associated Press. However, he added, "what I can ask is that the judiciary expedite the process and give it its full attention ... and basically look at the case with maximum leniency." Relatives of the hikers expressed gratitude for those comments. "President Ahmadinejad said he sympathizes with our plight, and we appreciate that," said Cindy Hickey, the mother of Shane Bauer and a spokeswoman for the families. "We urge the Iranian authorities to act on the president's words and let our children return to us as soon as possible," she said. "Our children have been detained for 11 weeks, and every hour they remain in detention brings us more heartache. The support we've received from so many people who hope like we do that Shane, Sarah and Josh will be allowed to get on with their lives has been an extraordinary source of strength." The Americans entered northern Iraq from Turkey on July 28 during a planned five-day hike. Bauer and Shourd had been living in Damascus, Syria; Fattal was visiting. They set out to hike in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region with a fourth friend, Shon Meckfessel, who has said he had a cold and decided to stay behind that day. He also said his friends did not know they were near the border and made "a simple and regrettable mistake" by crossing into Iran. Relatives have said the three accidentally strayed into Iran across an unmarked border. Authorities in Iran charged the three with illegally entering the country, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
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Families submit petitions with 2,500 signatures to Iran's U.N. mission . Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were detained July 31 . Petition seeks "compassion in this unfortunate case" Signatures gathered at freethehikers.org and at vigils .
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(CNN) -- Piracy off the coast of Somalia has more than doubled this year, threatening to make international trade more expensive and offering terrorists a new source of income, says a report released Wednesday. A photo from the destroyer USS Howard shows Somali pirates in small boats hijacking the MV Faina last week. As of late September, 60 ships had been attacked in 2008, said the report by Chatham House, a London-based institute that analyzes international issues. The report comes amid a standoff between officials and pirates demanding a $20 million ransom for the release of a Ukrainian ship captured off the coast of Somalia last week. Money from the $18 million to $30 million in ransoms paid this year is helping finance the war in Somalia, the report says. One of the groups reportedly receiving ransom money is Al-Shabaab, which the United States listed as a terrorist organization this year. Asked to rank the problem on a scale of one to 10, report author Roger Middleton said it's middle range but could quickly deteriorate. "At the moment, it's a five-six problem with the potential to be seven or eight," Middleton said. "You're looking at a nine, 10 if it starts to be co-opted by international terror organizations." About 16,000 ships a year navigate the Gulf of Aden, which, as the southern gateway to the Suez Canal, is one of the most important trade routes in the world. The ships mostly transport oil from the Middle East and goods from Asia to Europe and North America. Having to change routes would add weeks of travel time and increase fuel consumption, driving up the cost of shipping. Insurance premiums for the Gulf of Aden have already increased tenfold, says the report, "Piracy in Somalia: Threatening global trade, feeding local wars." Additionally, pirates are hampering relief efforts in Somalia. "As a result of piracy," the report says, "the World Food Programme has been forced to temporarily suspend food deliveries to drought-stricken Somalia. Canada is now escorting WFP deliveries but there are no plans in place to replace their escort when it ends later this year." Somalia's ambassador to Russia made the same point Wednesday. "This has been a great problem for the Somalian government," Ambassador Mohamed Handule said. "This hinders humanitarian aid a lot. The Somalian people are not getting it." Middleton noted that French officials are talking about offering a U.N. Security Council resolution to increase international presence in the area. "This new move by the European Union to put more ships into the Gulf of Aden could be quite positive," he said. "Some form of U.N.-sponsored coast guard might start to chip away at this. ... If America, Europe and Russia cooperate, it can be made much safer." He noted that France, Denmark, Netherlands and Canada offered escorts for World Food Programme ships that had been unable to enter Somali ports this year. "A more general approach has focused on Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150), a coalition naval task force covering the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean," the report states. "CTF 150's primary responsibility is to assist in the 'war on terror,' so piracy is lower on its list of priorities. However, some of the roughly 15 ships making up CTF150 have been involved in deterring pirate attacks." In addition, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1816 on June 2, giving foreign warships the right to enter Somali waters "for the purposes of repressing acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea" by "all necessary means." But none of these measures has stemmed the problem. "Piracy has been a problem in Somali waters for at least 10 years. However, the number of attempted and successful attacks has risen over the last three years," Middleton's report says. "With little functioning government, long, isolated, sandy beaches and a population that is both desperate and used to war, Somalia is a perfect environment for piracy to thrive." Handule stressed that the problem has gotten worse since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed 225,000 people in more than 10 nations, including Somalia. The problem is compounded, he said, because Somalia does not have a coast guard. "Pirates are mostly young unemployed men, many of them fishermen who lost their boats, tackle and their jobs following the tsunami," Handule said. "They started hunting on boats, and this process went our of control. They operate in groups of up to 12-15 people, however they all have associates ashore seeking information, negotiating about ransom, etc." Handule said officials estimate that there 25 groups with no central command. "We believe their total number stands at about 1,000 people, counting those who help them on the ground," he said. Middleton's report also notes that Somalia's fishing industry has collapsed in the past 15 years, particularly as European, Asian and African ships increase their fishing in the area. Middleton offers five possible solutions to the piracy plague, including organizing shipping into a safe lane, providing a coast guard for Somalia, having a large international naval presence and refusing to pay ransoms. But he noted that none of these solutions can be easily implemented. "It's not going to stop until Somalia has a stable government," he said. The CIA World Factbook notes that Somalia, a country about the size of Texas, does not have a permanent national government. "Although an interim government was created in 2004, other regional and local governing bodies continue to exist and control various regions of the country, including the self-declared Republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia and the semi-autonomous State of Puntland in northeastern Somalia," the Factbook says.
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Sixty ships had been attacked by pirates in 2008, according to institute report . Pirates want $20 million to release Ukrainian ship captured off Somalia . Institute says piracy has halted flow of much-needed food into Somalia .
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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The United Nations finds a tiny glimmer of good news in Afghanistan in a new report out Wednesday, saying that violence against civilians fell in the first half of the year. But even with attacks down 15% compared with the first six months of 2011, violence is taking a "devastating toll on civilians," the United Nations said. It cited the case of a father who brought his family to collect ID cards from a government office in Herat province, leaving his children and their mother by the gate while he went to find staff members. "I heard a loud explosion and I ran back to the gate. I saw people lying in blood on the ground. I saw one of my daughters dead on the ground and my other three daughters and their mother wounded," said the man, who was not named in the report. Another of his daughters later died of her wounds in the April attack that left 13 people dead and 57 wounded, the U.N. said. They were among 1,145 people killed and 1,954 injured in the first six months of the year, the report found. That's down from 1,510 killed and 2,144 injured in the same period a year earlier. But the drop does little more than to bring levels of violence down to what they were in 2010, says the report from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. Still, the drop marks the first time in five years there has been a fall rather than a rise in violence against civilians, the report said. Eighty percent of the attacks against civilians are by anti-government forces such as the Taliban, the U.N. said, while 10% are by government forces. The world body could not determine responsibility for the other 10%, the report said. The Taliban rejected the report as "baseless and untrue," saying its fighters were taking more care not to kill civilians. "Our freedom fighters are now more responsible and careful when it comes to civilian casualties. That is why, in general, civilian casualty has decreased," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said. He also disputed the U.N. definition of "civilian," saying: "The Kabul administration and whoever either works for them or supports them in one way or the other can be our target." He accused "the invaders" and the government of killing, injuring and jailing civilians, and said the U.N. report did not include them. "The Afghan people are our own people, and those who don't have any links with invaders will always be safe, and we would put our lives at great risk to keep them safe," he said.
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NEW: The Taliban rejects the report, saying it is trying not to target civilians . It's the first time in five years there has been a fall in violence against civilians . The drop brings the level down only to what it was two years ago . Attacks still take a "devastating toll on civilians," the U.N. mission in Afghanistan says .
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(CNN) -- A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed a female Canadian soldier and wounded four other troops, the Canadian military said Tuesday. Trooper Karine Blais, 21, is the second Canadian female soldier to die in Afghanistan. Trooper Karine Blais was killed Monday when the troops' armored vehicle struck the bomb. The attack occurred north of Kandahar in the Shah Wali Kowt District of Kandahar province. Blais' death was the 117th Canadian troop fatality in the Afghan war, and she is the second Canadian female soldier killed in Afghanistan. The first, Capt. Nichola Goddard, was killed in a May 2006 firefight with insurgents in Kandahar province, where Canadian troops have been based during the conflict. Brig. Gen. Jonathan Vance, commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, called the 21-year-old Blais "an energetic soldier who gave 100 percent to every challenge she faced using a unique sense of humor based on her honesty and frankness." Vance said Blais "demonstrated the qualities of a future leader" and was "respected by all members of her squadron." "Our thoughts are with the friends and family of our fallen comrade during this difficult time," the Canadian Forces said in a news release. "All members of Task Force Kandahar are thinking of the family and friends of our fallen comrades during this sad time. We will not forget their sacrifice as we continue to bring security and hope to the people of Kandahar province." Blais, from the 12th Canadian Armored Regiment at Valcartier, Quebec, near Quebec City, was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22th Regiment Battle Group. A chopper evacuated the four other troops to a medical facility at Kandahar airfield. Before Monday's attack, the last Canadian deaths in Afghanistan occurred March 20 when four soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings.
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Female soldier killed, four other troops wounded in roadside bombing . Karine Blais, 21, is second Canadian female soldier killed in Afghanistan . There have been 117 Canadian troop deaths in the Afghan war .
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(CNN) -- Slow-moving Tropical Storm Isaac continues to drench the central Gulf Coast region. Heading into Thursday, thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were under states of emergency. Get the latest Isaac updates on CNN.com's live blog . A summary of the latest situations in each state: . Louisiana . -- New Orleans on Wednesday declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew. -- Tulane University has canceled classes for the rest of the week and will resume on Tuesday after Labor Day, according to the university's website. -- Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, will be closed through Thursday, the school said on its website. -- Entergy officials said they are taking one of their nuclear power plants west of New Orleans offline. -- State government offices were closed Wednesday and will remain closed Thursday. -- New Orleans City Hall will reopen next Tuesday. -- The U.S. Geological Survey said that the Mississippi River flowed backward for nearly 24 hours on Tuesday. -- The new $165 million Seabrook Floodgate at the north end of the Industrial Canal was closed for the first time for a storm event. -- Fifty-six parishes have issued emergency declarations. -- Seven parishes announced mandatory evacuations in their jurisdictions. -- Plaquemines Parish officials issued a curfew until sunrise Wednesday. -- The Department of Corrections has moved prisoners from coastal parishes to state prison facilities. Open Story: Isaac makes landfall . -- Bus and street car service in New Orleans, and Amtrak and Greyhound service to and from the city have been shut down. -- President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency, and federal aid is on the way. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in charge of recovery operations, and more than 5,000 National Guard troops have been activated. -- The Louisiana National Guard has deployed 48 boat teams and 13 communications teams. -- New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu did not issue an evacuation order but called for people outside the city's protective levees to leave. -- The city's pump stations have backup generators ready in case of electrical outages. -- Crews have been evacuated from oil production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. -- The Coast Guard has closed the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico and will not respond to water emergencies until after the storm passes. -- Cargo terminals within the Port of New Orleans have ceased operations. -- The Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech football game, originally scheduled for Thursday in Shreveport, has been postponed until October 13. -- The New Orleans Saints football team moved its practices to Cincinnati. -- Gov. Bobby Jindal is skipping the GOP convention in Tampa, Florida, because of the storm. Florida . -- Coast Guard air crews were searching for a missing person who had been using a personal watercraft off the coast of Pensacola. -- Isaac caused minor damage as it skirted South Florida. -- Thirty members of the Florida National Guard were activated, the governor's office said. -- Aircraft at six military bases were relocated, the Defense Department said. Mississippi . -- All low-lying areas in Hancock County are flooding, according to local emergency management officials . -- There is "quite a bit of flooding" in Pass Christian, Harrison County emergency management said. -- There are more than 49,000 customers without power, according to utility companies. -- More than 2,100 people are in shelters in the state. -- Truckloads of water, generators and food were staged and ready for distribution. -- Two gas station owners were arrested for price gouging. The attorney general's office said it has received almost 160 calls related to gas price complaints. -- The president declared a state of emergency for southern Mississippi and ordered federal aid. -- Residents can call 211 for information on shelters, assistance and transportation. -- Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Hancock and Jackson counties. -- Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport has closed. -- A hurricane warning is in effect for the entire coast. -- About 1,500 National Guard troops have been deployed. -- Gulfport authorities ordered the port cleared of cargo vessels. -- More than 80,000 sandbags had been distributed. -- The Department of Environmental Quality asked residents to report any sightings of oil or oily material to 1-800-424-8802. Alabama . -- Some 3,000 customers were without power, according to Alabama Power. -- A tropical storm warning is in effect for the entire coast. -- Authorities are warning of strong winds, high water and storm surges. -- Gov. Robert Bentley ordered an evacuation of parts of Baldwin and Mobile counties. -- Residents in low-lying or flood-prone areas are urged to leave voluntarily. -- Mobile's airport reopened Wednesday afternoon. Share your videos and images of Isaac .
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Louisiana: 56 parishes under state of emergency . Florida: People are ordered to evacuate parts of downtown Pensacola . Mississippi: There are reports of flooding in Hancock and Harrison counties . Alabama: Authorities warm of strong winds, high water and storm surges .
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London (CNN) -- British Muslim groups voiced their horror and condemnation Thursday over the slaying of a soldier in a London street by attackers who said they were acting to avenge Muslim deaths overseas. But Muslim commentators also suggested there is more that the country's leaders can do to address issues within the Muslim community, particularly among alienated young men. Woolwich attack: Latest developments . According to 2011 census figures, Muslims make up the second-largest religious group in Britain, with 2.7 million people. That represents an increase of 1.2 million (from 3% to 5% of the population) since 2001. The suspected attackers in the Woolwich slaying, who are hospitalized under police guard, claimed to be acting for Islam, but it's not yet clear if they were affiliated with any group. "The only reasons we killed this man ... is because Muslims are dying daily," said one of the suspects, wielding a cleaver with bloody hands, in video aired by CNN affiliate ITN. "This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth," he said. "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone." The Muslim Council of Britain condemned what it called "a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam." Read more: London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier . It urged Muslims and non-Muslims alike "to come together in solidarity to ensure the forces of hatred do not prevail." Political and social commentator Mohammed Ansar also urged restraint. "What we have seen on the streets of London has been particularly sickening, a really, really heinous act of I would say criminality -- and I'm being careful to say criminality, not terrorism," he told CNN. The motivation for what happened in Woolwich remains unclear, he pointed out. "What we need at this time is a sense of calm, a sense of measure and a sense of perspective. What we don't need are knee-jerk reactions ... to really ratchet up tensions and really stoke and inflame anxieties within communities." Asghar Bukhari, of the UK Muslim Public Affairs Committee, described the attack as shocking, but said there had been failures by both the UK government and the Muslim community when it came to tackling extremism in Britain. London attack: Terrorist targeting soldiers at home again? The British government is "completely denying that it has anything to do with the political situation around the Muslim world," including its foreign policy, he said. Britain has been involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, Muslim organizations "have failed their own community by not teaching these young, angry men how to get a democratic change to this policy that's ruining so many lives," he said. He said Muslim leaders were unwilling to bring about change, saying they preferred to debate minor theological issues than take practical steps to educate young people about political action. As a result, young people's outrage over what is happening in the Muslim world is creating a "blow-back" effect as they take violent action in the West, he said, as seen with the Boston bombings. The attack in Britain is "very, very sad," he added, but reflects an anger bubbling under the surface that could boil over at any time. 'Heads in the sand' Shiraz Maher, of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London, said Wednesday's attack appeared to reflect a tactical shift by terror network al Qaeda toward targeted rather than mass casualty attacks. The suspects may have been radicalized online, he suggested, although police have as yet released no details in the Woolwich case. Authorities have been trying to counter radical websites and messages, but it's a difficult task, Maher said. Witness: Attackers 'were just animals' Alongside that, Maher said he believes Muslim leaders in Britain can and should do more to root out radicalization in the community. "A lot of Muslim leaders have had their heads in the sand for a very long time," he said. "A lot of Muslim leaders in this country weren't born here, they don't speak the language necessarily, they don't understand a lot of the pressures and debates and issues that young Muslims are having." There has been a sense of inertia in some cases, he said, and Muslim communities haven't always reacted as quickly as they should have. There has been a small shift in the right direction with the emergence of new community groups and civil society initiatives, he said, but changes need to happen faster. "We need to have a very strong counter-narrative to the ideas of al Qaeda," he said, which suggest that there is a war against Muslims led by non-Muslims. "We need a civic identity, we need to make people understand that we are all British citizens, we are all part of this society. Whether you disagree with a particular issue or not, there are ways to voice your feelings, and killing a serviceman is not one of those." There is apprehension across Britain, not just in London, in the face of demonstrations by groups like the far-right English Defence League, he said. As each side gets more radical, it fuels the other, he said -- and that has consequences for the vast majority of people who do not share those opposing views. "Ordinary people always get caught up in the crossfire of extremism," he said. CNN's Zain Verjee contributed to this report.
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Muslim Council of Britain condemns "a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam" "What we don't need are knee-jerk reactions," says commentator Mohammed Ansar . "A lot of Muslim leaders have had their heads in the sand," says analyst Shiraz Maher . A suspect in Wednesday's Woolwich killing claimed to be acting to avenge Muslim deaths .
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(CNN) -- For four days, an American sea captain and four Somali pirates rode the waves of the Indian Ocean in an enclosed lifeboat, far out of sight of most of the world. Capt. Richard Phillips, right, stands with U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frank Castellano after Phillips' rescue Sunday. But for those four days, they were on the minds of people around the globe, from the captain's hometown in Vermont, to the White House, to port cities and anywhere that families send their loved ones off to sea. "I actually was more concerned for his family," said Adm. Rick Gurnon, head of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where Capt. Richard Phillips had trained. "I was pretty sure he would be OK," Gurnon said of Phillips, adding, "as a captain at sea, in a lifeboat, he was in an environment he was comfortable with even if he was sharing it with four armed Somali pirates. "I was more worried for his family. They've been going through hell since Wednesday. This is truly a joyous day for them." Watch Gurnon praise Phillips' courage, professionalism » . The waiting ended Sunday with news that U.S. Navy snipers had shot and killed three of Phillips' captors, with the fourth pirate in custody onboard the nearby USS Bainbridge, and that Phillips had been rescued uninjured. The expressions of relief and praise flowed. Watch how SEALs took down pirates » . "I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Capt. Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew," President Obama said. "His courage is a model for all Americans." Phillips offered himself as a hostage after the pirates stormed the U.S.-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama on Wednesday morning, according to Maersk Line Limited, which owns the ship. The pirates eventually left the Alabama with Phillips that day aboard the lifeboat, where they would stay for four days. In Phillips' hometown of Underhill, Vermont, Maersk spokeswoman Alison McColl said Phillips' wife, Andrea, had spoken to her husband by phone after his rescue. "She was laughing while she was on the phone with him," McColl told reporters. "She was saying his trademark sense of humor was still very much intact, and he's in great spirits. If you guys could have seen her light up when she talked to him, it was really remarkable." McColl said Andrea Phillips and her family "have felt a tremendous amount of support from the entire nation." Watch statement from Andrea Phillips » . "The thoughts, the prayers, the sentiments, the support you've shown has really helped them endure this very difficult situation," McColl said. Still speaking for the captain's wife, McColl added: "She believes she can feel it, and she believes that her husband felt it out there in the middle of the ocean. So thanks to the entire nation, the local community, the state of Vermont, for all your help there." Phillips was being praised for his apparent willingness to put his own life in jeopardy to secure the release of his crew and his ship. But Gurnon, who described the captain as "the good shepherd who willingly exchanged his life for the lives of his flock," cautioned that the end of one hostage situation should not be taken as the end of the growing problem of piracy, especially with scores of other lives in peril from pirates who are holding ships and crews off the expansive Somali coast. "While this is a great day for Massachusetts Maritime Academy and for all of our alumni and all mariners around the world, we still have more than 200 men and women held hostage in Somalia," Gurnon said. "We should not let the spotlights, the TV cameras, the focus of the world be removed from that problem," he said.
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Captain's family had been "going through hell," head of maritime academy says . Capt. Richard Phillips, rescued from pirates Sunday, had been trained at academy . "I was pretty sure he would be OK," academy leader says . Wife talked to, laughed with Phillips on phone after rescue, spokeswoman says .
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(CNN) -- The cricket player who helped spark apartheid-era South Africa's sporting isolation has died at the age of 80. Basil D'Oliveira, a "colored" man of Indian-Portuguese heritage from Cape Town, was barred from playing first-class cricket in his home country. He caused a political storm when he was selected by his adopted nation England for the team's 1968-69 tour of South Africa. Having initially been left out of the squad after the South African government exerted pressure, he was called up when a teammate was injured -- and the tour was subsequently canceled amid international outrage. D'Oliveira, a powerful batsman known as "Dolly," went on to play 44 Tests for England, scoring 2,484 runs at an average of 40 and taking 47 wickets with his right-arm medium-pace bowling. He battled Parkinson's disease in his later years, but passed away "peacefully" according to his son -- who like his father played for Worcestershire and is now academy director at the county club. "It is a sad time for us as a family but, after a long battle against Parkinson's disease, dad passed away peacefully," Damian D'Oliveira told the England and Wales Cricket Board's official website on Saturday. "Although it is difficult, we will celebrate a great life rather than mourn a death." Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola said D'Oliveira was an "inspiration." "Dolly was a true legend and a son of whom all South Africans can be extremely proud," Majola said. "He was a man of true dignity and a wonderful role model as somebody who overcame the most extreme prejudices and circumstances to take his rightful place on the world stage." Having captained South Africa's non-white cricket team and played for the national non-white football side, a frustrated D'Oliveira emigrated to England in 1960 at the age of 29 after writing to renowned cricket commentator John Arlott and asking for help. He was well past his prime as a player when he finally made his debut for England six years later. "One can only imagine what he might have achieved had he made his debut as he should have done at the age of 20 on South Africa's tour of England in 1951," Majola said. "The circumstances surrounding his being prevented from touring the country of his birth with England in 1968 led directly to the intensification of opposition to apartheid around the world and contributed materially to the sports boycott that turned out to be an Achilles heel of the apartheid government. "Throughout this shameful period in South Africa's sporting history, Basil displayed a human dignity that earned him worldwide respect and admiration. His memory and inspiration will live on among all of us." D'Oliveira wrote about his arrival in England on his official website. "April 1st 1960 was probably one of the most astonishing days of my life. The plane landed at Heathrow Airport on a very gloomy and damp spring day. I was filled with misgivings and my inferiority complex was at a very low ebb," he said. "I'd left (my wife) Naomi behind. In a few months I would be a father for the first time, and what kind of future could I guarantee Naomi and my child? However as I left with the assurance that the family and friends would take great care of her, an old aunt pulled me to one side and told me to aim high, there's room for everyone up there -- a motto which has stayed with me always. "I am proud of my color, of what I've achieved for myself and non-whites all over the world, and I dearly love my fellow citizens of Cape Town. I often think back to those days in South Africa, when I was trying to break out of the social and sporting straitjacket imposed by the color of my skin." Meanwhile, South Africa ended the third day of the second Test against Australia with a lead of 199 runs after Hashim Amla and A.B. de Villiers took the home side to 229-3 in their second innings in Johannesburg. Amla was unbeaten on 89 and De Villiers was on 70 when bad light and rain ended play early on Saturday, having added 139. Captain Graeme Smith was the second man to fall after making 36, while Australia's 18-year-old fast-bowling debutant Pat Cummins took the wickets of Jacques Rudolph (24) and key batsman Jacques Kallis, who passed 12,000 Test runs with his first-innings 54 but this time could manage only two. South Africa won the first game of the two-match series by eight wickets in Cape Town.
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Basil D'Oliveira dies aged 80 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease . Born in South Africa, he emigrated to England in 1960 to escape apartheid . His selection for a tour of his homeland caused an international incident . South Africa's national sports teams were banned from competition soon after .
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(CNN) -- The estranged wife of former football star Deion Sanders was released from custody Tuesday in suburban Dallas and said she hasn't been given a "fair shake" over allegations that she attacked him. Pilar Sanders was arrested on domestic violence-related charges Monday night, hours after Sanders sent a series of bizarre tweets saying she assaulted him. "I understand that I have very little chance at beating a Hall of Fame, two-sport man that everyone seems to love and adore," said Pilar Sanders, proclaiming her innocence. "I'm a full-time mom, 100% for my children," she said tearfully. "And I just haven't been given a fair shake." The Collin County Sheriff's Office said Pilar Sanders, under an emergency protective order, is forbidden from returning to the couple's home for 61 days and cannot threaten or harass any member of the family. In one of the messages posted on his verified Twitter account, Deion Sanders posted a picture of what he said were his children filling out complaints to give to police in Texas. "Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room," the first tweet, posted at 6:15 p.m., read. "She's going to jail n I'm pressing charges!" Two minutes later, Sanders tweeted again. "I'm sad my boys witnessed this mess but I warned the police department here that she was gone try n harm me and my boys. This is on my mama!" it said. Shortly after that, Sanders tweeted a picture that showed him and his two boys, 10 and 12, filling out paperwork. "Filling out police reports now! Thank God for this platform to issue the Truth," the caption read. Pilar Sanders was booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of assault family violence, a misdemeanor, according to booking records at the Collin County Jail. Bail was set at $264. "I can tell you that there are two sides to every story, and the truth will come out in court," Larry Friedman, an attorney for Pilar Sanders, said Tuesday. Deion Sanders played for several NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and works as an analyst for the NFL Network. During much of his NFL career, he also was an outfielder with four Major League Baseball teams and played in a World Series with the Atlanta Braves. The NFL Network and Sanders' business manager, Constance Schwartz, declined to comment about the incident. But a clearly emotional Sanders spoke to Dallas television station KXAS on Monday night and appealed for help. "My kids, they are scared for their life," Sanders told the station. "They just saw two women jump their dad in his own house, in his room, in my room. It's sad. "I got locks on my doors right now," he added. "Is somebody going to have to die? Is it going to be me before the court does something and get this woman out of my house? It's absurd." The couple has three children together. Sanders has two other children from an earlier relationship. The couple married in 1999 and starred in a reality show, "Deion & Pilar Prime Time Love," that aired on the Oxygen network. The marriage, soured, however, and the two are in the midst of a bitter divorce. In February, Pilar Sanders filed a suit against her husband and his aunt, Laura Jones. She said the aunt attacked her in their 10-bedroom, 29,000-square-foot home in Prosper, Texas, while Deion Sanders watched. At the time, the athlete tweeted that his wife was the aggressor and the aunt was in the home merely to fix his phone. Pilar Sanders also filed a separate suit against her husband and his daughter, Deiondra, after she called her stepmother a "gold-digging (expletive)" and "the number one gold digger of the year" in Twitter posts. In the second suit, Pilar Sanders demanded $200 million in damages for libelous and slanderous comments. She claims that her husband "endorsed Deiondra's false statements" and himself tweeted he was "tired of all (Pilar's) lies and foolishness." CNN's Jillian Martin, Jane Caffrey, Scott Thompson and Stephanie Gallman contributed to this report.
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NEW: Pilar Sanders barred from couple's home for 61 days . "There are two sides to every story," her attorney says . The football star alleges that his wife attacked him . "I'm sad my boys witnessed this mess," Sanders tweets .
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(Mental Floss) -- 1. Applebee's . The world's largest casual dining chain celebrated 30 years of eatin' good in the neighborhood in 2010. The original Applebee's, which was named T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles & Elixirs, opened in Atlanta in 1980. The founders of the original restaurant, including Bill and T.J. Palmer, wanted to name the restaurant Appleby's, but that spelling had already been registered. Cinnamon's and Peppers, two other names considered, were taken as well. The Palmers settled on T.J. Applebee's, which was just different enough from their first choice. "Menu items ranging from munchies to steak and quail are served at round, high-topped tables on platforms," read one newspaper review from 1981. A second location was opened in Atlanta before T.J. Palmer's ownership group sold the restaurant concept in 1983. The name was changed to Applebee's Neighborhood Bar & Grill in 1986 and became the first casual dining chain to hit 1,000 locations in 1998. 2. Bob Evans . Bob Evans began producing sausage on his farm in 1948 for a 12-stool diner he owned in southeastern Ohio. His patrons raved about the sausage, prompting Evans to enter the sausage-making business on a larger scale. Bob Evans Farms was launched in 1953, and when the number of visitors to his farm began to increase, Evans saw an opportunity. Evans opened a small restaurant called the Sausage Shop in front of his brick farmhouse in Rio Grande, Ohio, in 1962. The Sausage Shop is considered the first of Bob Evans' now-famous chain restaurants. Today, Evans' farmhouse, known as the Homestead, is on the National Register of Historic Places. 3. California Pizza Kitchen . In 1985, federal prosecutors Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax opened the first California Pizza Kitchen in Beverly Hills. Rosenfield and Flax, who were inspired by Wolfgang Puck's popular Spago restaurant in West Hollywood and hired Puck's original pizza chef at CPK, read Ray Kroc's autobiography prior to starting their business. Today, the chain has grown to more than 250 restaurants. Mental Floss: Why Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor ever . 4. Cheesecake Factory . In 1972, Oscar and Evelyn Overton moved from Detroit to a suburb of Los Angeles to launch a wholesale bakery specializing in cheesecakes. Six years later, the Overton's son, David, opened a salad and sandwich shop in Beverly Hills that featured 10 flavors of his mom's cheesecake. One of the main purposes of the shop was to get local restaurateurs to carry the Overton's cheesecake in their own establishments, but it turned into a booming business of its own. Overton opened a second restaurant in Marina Del Rey in 1983. The rest was history. 5. Cracker Barrel . In 1969, Dan Evins, who worked in his family's gasoline business, opened the first Cracker Barrel Old Country Store off Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tennessee. By 1977, 13 additional Cracker Barrel stores had opened. The goal of the original Cracker Barrel was to provide a place for motorists to fill their tanks and their stomachs, and the inspiration for the concept came from the general stores that Evins frequented as a child. According to the Cracker Barrel website, goods such as crackers were shipped to these stores in barrels, and when the barrels were empty, the base was often used for a checkerboard. The gift shop remains a staple of Cracker Barrels today. 6. Denny's . Harold Butler founded Denny's in Lakewood, Calif., in 1953 as Danny's Donuts. First-year earnings totaled $120,000. Butler opened 20 additional shops and expanded the menu to include sandwiches and other entrees over the next six years before renaming his restaurants Denny's. Butler began franchising Denny's in 1963 and introduced its signature Grand Slam breakfast in Atlanta in 1977. In 2000, Denny's opened a restaurant in Rhode Island, which was the only state without one. Mental Floss: How do you decaffeinate coffee? 7. IHOP . The first IHOP was opened by brothers Al and Jerry Lapin on July 7, 1958, in Toluca Lake, California. Part of the reason the Lapins chose Toluca Lake was to capitalize on the overflow crowd from Bob's Big Boy. Al Lapin had operated a series of coffee carts in Los Angeles when fast-food chains started to take off and saw the potential for a fast-food restaurant that specialized in breakfast. Today, IHOP boasts more than 1,500 restaurants in all 50 states. IHOP purchased Applebee's in 2007. 8. Red Lobster . Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968. The restaurant, which offered seafood at reasonable prices, was popular from the start and Darden soon opened four additional locations throughout Florida. In 1970, General Mills purchased Darden's chain. The original restaurant was closed in 1997 after Darden determined that Lakeland would be better served by only one location. Red Lobster wasn't the first color/animal restaurant Darden started. Decades earlier, he opened The Green Frog. 9. TGI Friday's . Alan Stillman opened the first T.G.I. Friday's at First Avenue and 63rd St. in New York City in 1965 -- partially as a means of meeting airline stewardesses. "The other thing is that my timing was exquisite, because I opened T.G.I. Friday's the exact year the pill was invented," Stillman told the New City Reader last year. "I happened to hit the sexual revolution on the head, and the result was that, without really intending it, I became the founder of the first singles bar." The first Friday's featured Tiffany lamps, sawdust on the floor, and distinctive red and white striped awnings. First year revenues at the original Friday's were $1 million. A second location opened in Memphis in 1970, and within 10 years, eight other T.G.I. Friday's had opened. Stillman eventually sold Friday's and launched Smith and Wollensky Steakhouse in 1977. Mental Floss: Who was the first stewardess? 10. Waffle House . The original Waffle House opened on Labor Day 1955 on East College Avenue in Decatur, Georgia. In 2008, the 13-stool diner that launched more than 1,500 Waffle Houses reopened as a Waffle House museum, with vintage equipment and memorabilia displays of old uniforms and place settings. "That was the year McDonald's and all the hamburger chains started doing takeout," Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2008 of his idea to open a restaurant with his neighbor, Tom Forkner. "We wanted to do sit-down, and we knew you couldn't take out a waffle or it'd become flimsy." For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.
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The creators of California Pizza Kitchen were inspired by Wolfgang Puck's Spago . Denny's introduced its signature Grand Slam breakfast in Atlanta in 1977 . TGI Friday's began as a popular singles bar . The original Waffle House opened on Labor Day 1955 .
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(CNN) -- Finnish authorities arrested a man Friday after he fired six shots through a school classroom door and shot an office worker in the hand in two separate incidents, police said. No one was injured in the school shooting, police said. The man first entered an office building in the Tampere area, in southern Finland, and shot a man in one hand with a hunting rifle, a police spokesman said. The injuries are not life-threatening. He then went into the school, where he fired through the door of a classroom, the spokesman said. Police arrested the man at the scene and took him to the Tampere police station, where he is being questioned. The man is believed to hold a permit for three guns, but police cannot confirm whether one of those three guns was used in the attacks, the spokesman said. Police are interviewing witnesses, the spokesman said.
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The suspect first shot a man in the hand in an office building, Finnish police say . He then entered a school, where he fired through a classroom door . No one was injured in the classroom shooting, police say . The man is being questioned in Tampere, in southern Finland .
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(CNN) -- An outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted neighboring Angola to close its border with that country, Angola's state news agency reported Tuesday. Angolan Health Minister Jose Van-Dunem announced the "suspension of migratory movements" at the country's north-eastern border Sunday, the Angop news agency reported. The World Health Organization reports 41 suspected cases of the deadly fever in Congo since November 27. Thirteen people have died, and 183 cases are under observation. Two people are being held in quarantine. The handling of dead monkeys may be the source of the outbreak, the WHO suspects, according to Angop. Diosdado Nsue-Micawg, the WHO representative in the Angolan capital of Luanda, said the health agency does not know the source of the virus, but fears that hunters and women who visit the forest might have been in contact with infected monkeys. The outbreak is centered in the western Kassi province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been reporting intermittent cases of the disease since 1976, according to Angop.
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Democratic Republic of Congo has reported intermittent cases of ebola since 1976 . World Health Organization reports 41 suspected cases, 13 deaths, since Nov. 27 . As a result of the outbreak, neighboring Angola has closed its northeastern border .
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(EW.com) -- Jessica Chastain is having a moment. Not only did the red-headed Oscar nominee win a Golden Globe last weekend for her work in "Zero Dark Thirty," which forced her to take a night off from her Broadway run — yes she's starring in Broadway's "The Heiress" during the thick of awards season — but she's now achieved something few actors have ever managed: she currently holds the number one and number two movies at the box office. Chastain's latest vehicle, "Mama," crushed the competition over the three-day weekend with a whopping $28.1 million. Universal, who produced the PG-13 film for only $15 million, opened "Mama" in 2,647 theaters, where it earned a terrific $10,624 average. The horror title played very well with young women — 61 percent of viewers were female, and 63 percent were below the age of 25. Unfortunately, most of those audiences weren't overly enthusiastic about what they saw, issuing "Mama" a lackluster "B-" CinemaScore grade. Chastain's other entry, "Zero Dark Thirty," fell only 28 percent in its sophomore weekend of wide release to $17.6 million, which brought the Osama Bin Laden huntdown's total to $55.9 million. Controversy continues to boost the Kathryn Bigelow-directed drama's profile, but great word-of-mouth seems to be playing just as big of a role in "Zero Dark Thirty's" success. 'Norbit' Effect: 9 Oscar killers? It's fair to say that Chastain's presence in both "Mama" and "Zero Dark Thirty" had little to do with each film's successful box office performance. Neither was marketed on her appeal, and yet, that doesn't take away from her achievement. "Silver Linings Playbook" performed very nicely in its nationwide expansion. Upon jumping from 810 to 2,523 theaters, "Playbook" increased 126 percent to $11.4 million, which brings its total to $55.3 million so far. (Kudos to the Weinstein Co. for its deftly executed platform strategy. If they had opened "Silver Linings Playbook" in wide release, as planned, we almost certainly wouldn't be talking about it 10 weeks later.) In the month leading up to Oscar season, good word-of-mouth may continue to carry "Silver Linings Playbook" to a total as high as $100 million. 'Mythbusters' vs. zombies: Can you help? In fourth place, Warner Bros.' crime drama "Gangster Squad" fell 47 percent to $9.1 million, giving the $60 million Sean Penn/Josh Brolin action flick an unremarkable $32.2 million total after ten days. Still, "Gangster Squad's" second weekend was better than the debuts of new releases "Broken City" and "The Last Stand," which both flopped out of the gate. Fox's $35 million "Broken City," which stars the usually reliable Mark Wahlberg alongside Russell Crowe, drew only $9.0 million worth of tickets from 2,620 theaters, while Lionsgate's $45 million "The Last Stand," an Arnold Schwarznegger film, fared even worse with a puny $6.3 million. Both films played primarily to older male audiences (who are also seeing "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Gangster Squad"), and they may have cannibalized each other over their first three days. 1. "Mama" -- $28.1 million . 2. "Zero Dark Thirty" -- $17.6 million . 3. "Silver Linings Playbook" -- $11.4 million . 4. "Gangster Squad" -- $9.1 million . 5. "Broken City" -- $9.0 million . See the original article at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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"Mama" crushed the competition over the three-day weekend with $28.1 million . "Zero Dark Thirty" fell only 28 percent in its sophomore weekend of wide release . "Silver Linings Playbook" performed very nicely in its nationwide expansion .
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(CNN) -- While there's plenty to be said in favor of the new, sometimes the best things stem from a solid original foundation. Industrial structures like warehouses and factories are finding new incarnations as luxury hotels, challenging designers to get creative with old bones and drawing in guests who seek a sense of history and character. In New York, the Wythe Hotel (Brooklyn) and the Refinery Hotel (Manhattan) were resurrected from a cooperage and a hat factory respectively. In Istanbul, the brand-new Shangri-La Bosphorus brings opulence to the banks of the river in the form of elegant rooms converted from a former tobacco warehouse. And the remote Fabriken Furillen, once a limestone refinery, is an isolated 16-room property on a Swedish island, where neighbors are few but the scenery is stunning. Here are seven cutting-edge hotels that come from humble origins. Your most spectacular travel photos . 1888 Hotel, Sydney . One of Sydney's trendiest accommodations, 1888 Hotel opened its doors in July, welcoming guests to its 90-room boutique property in the Pyrmont neighborhood. The guest rooms feature 10-foot ceilings; windows and desks constructed from recycled timber; and a lobby, an atrium and a bar studded with reclaimed wooden beams and exposed brick. Despite the vintage details, the five-story hotel takes a modern approach to technology: Each room comes with an iPad and Instagram users with more than 10,000 followers are entitled to one complimentary night's stay. The staff wears denim work shirts in a cheeky nod to the heritage-listed building's previous life as a woolshed. Rooms start at $150; 139 Murray St.; 61-2/8586-1888; 8hotels.com. Fabriken Furillen, Gotland, Sweden . While most former industrial buildings are found in ports or in cities, Fabriken Furillen is a rural outlier on the island of Gotland, off Sweden's southeastern coast. Once a limestone refinery, the 18-room hotel (including two cabins) is a haven of sharp-edged Scandinavian design in a stunningly scenic -- almost lunar -- setting. Rooms are painted in white or gray and feature luxury beds, Bang & Olufsen technology (some rooms have televisions, others have radios; the cabins are electronics-free) and bucolic touches like sheepskin rugs and blankets made from Gotland wool. The restaurant serves simple, elegant meals made with island-grown vegetables and herbs. Rooms start at $315; Rute Furillen, 624 58 Lärbro; 46-498/223-040; furillen.com. Top U.S. spots to visit in 2014 . Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn, New York . Brooklyn is home to plenty of reclaimed industrial spaces, but the Wythe Hotel is one of the newest (it opened in May 2012) and chicest. Floor-to-ceiling windows in many rooms look straight out onto the Manhattan skyline over the East River, letting in copious amounts of sunlight to play off the exposed-brick walls and custom-made wallpaper. Original cast-iron columns, masonry and 13-foot-high timber ceilings speak to the building's history as a cooperage. The concrete floors are heated (a detail the former tenants might have appreciated as they rolled out barrels on the Williamsburg waterfront); the furniture (beds were constructed from pine taken from the ceilings) and artwork is made locally. Rooms start at $180; 80 Wythe Ave.; 718-460-8000; wythehotel.com. Refinery Hotel, New York . A century-old neo-Gothic building in the heart of New York's Garment District, the Refinery started out as a millinery factory. It is now an elegant, eclectic 12-story hotel with amazing structural features and plenty of luxurious amenities. Opened in May 2013, it features lobby details (a 72-foot custom-designed runner, vaulted ceilings, plaid-patterened finished-walnut walls) that evoke an old New York feel. In the rooms, steel-and-leather headboards reinforce the industrial ambiance, while wooden bedside lockers add a touch of nostalgia. On occasion the hotel's loading dock becomes Hatbox, a gallery space hosting art exhibits and fashion shows. Rooms start at $460; 63 W. 38th St.; 646-664-0310; refineryhotelnewyork.com. Departures: World's best design hotels . Sir Albert, Amsterdam . Though Sir Albert may have a fictional host at its helm (the gentleman of its name is a made-up character), the hotel has a very real former life as a 19th-century diamond factory. Despite the space's original connection to gems, the decor has a distinctly masculine feel, thanks to brown curtains, dark wood furniture in the guest rooms and cowskin-patterned cubes for sitting in the study -- a cozy public space with deep leather armchairs and well-stocked bookshelves. Plenty of bright northern sunshine streams in through the high windows in most rooms, which harkens back to the legacy of the diamond workers, who needed the best possible light to practice their craft. Rooms start at $270; Albert Cuypstraat 2-6; 31-20/305-3020; siralberthotel.com. Departures: High-design airport terminals . Waterhouse, Shanghai . Formerly a dockyard warehouse on the Huangpu River, Waterhouse is now a high-design hotel. While plenty of its earliest features have been preserved -- the window frames are original metal and the wall behind the reception desk looks positively ancient -- the refurbished concept (by the lavishly praised Neri & Hu Design and Research Office) is a modern masterpiece. Playing with conventions of internal and external spaces, the design allows guests to peek into private quarters from public areas and vice versa. Gloriously sleek and minimalist, the 19 rooms contrast nicely with views onto the neon-lit Bund, which is crammed with unconventionally shaped skyscrapers. Rooms start at $195; Maojiayuan Road 1-3, Huangpu District; 86-21/6080-2988; waterhouseshanghai.com. Departures: Spectacular casino hotels . Shangri-La Bosphorus, Istanbul . Originally a tobacco warehouse in the 1930s, this Shangri-La property opened in May 2013 with the largest guestrooms in Istanbul. Situated on the European side of the city, with many rooms overlooking the Bosphorus Strait, the hotel pays homage to the opulence of its Bosphorus neighbor, Dolmabahçe Palace. Chandeliers glitter, specially commissioned artwork dazzles, and Turkish-marble bathrooms come stocked with Bulgari bath products. The hotel's architects even restored the Neoclassical façade of the original warehouse. For unparalleled views, check out the Shangri-La Suite, which has three private terraces and overlooks the Old City (the Asian bank of the strait) and the Bosphorus Bridge. Rooms start at $740; Sinanpasa Mah, Hayrettin Iskelesi Sok, No.1, Besiktas; 90-212/275-8888; shangri-la.com. See more industrial-chic hotels . © 2010 American Express Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Industrial structures like warehouses and factories are becoming luxury hotels . New York's Refinery Hotel started out as a millinery factory . In Amsterdam, the Sir Albert is housed in a 19th-century diamond factory .
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Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- The scene was horrific, the stench unmistakable. Sadly, it was nothing new here. But because it unfolded so many days after the earthquake that took at least 112,000 lives, it was shocking. Three bodies trapped in a crushed taxi. A man, two women. Set ablaze. Even for those who have witnessed so much these past 13 days, the torching of the Toyota in the capital's central plaza Monday was difficult to take in. It highlighted one of Haiti's many quandaries: how to dispose of bodies. The taxi had been smashed by collapsing concrete during the devastating earthquake, and the bodies were decomposing in tropical temperatures, the smell unbearable to the thousands who have temporarily sought shelter under tarpaulins and tents across the street at the Champs de Mars plaza. The foul smell prompted people to dig the car out of the rubble, but those living on the street in the area said disposal trucks never arrived to take the bodies away. "They couldn't find anyone to dispose of the bodies so they had to burn them," said Gidel Fellmon. In the days after the January 12 quake, Haitians and rescue and relief crews have struggled to find proper disposal methods for bodies. Thousands of corpses have been pulled from the rubble and burned. Bodies have been bulldozed and dumped into open pits. Find loved ones in Haiti | Full coverage . At one of the capital city's cemeteries, people opened up old crypts and shoved corpses into them before resealing them. Workers loaded bodies -- piled on the sides of roads -- into the basket of a front-loader tractor, which then deposited them into blood-stained dump trucks, according to CNN correspondents. On Monday, as the taxi burned, people stood stoically around the charred flesh and exposed bones. Two pairs of shoes lay in the car's twisted metal. Interactive map: Where to find aid .
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Three bodies trapped in a crushed taxi set ablaze in Port-au-Prince's central plaza . Odor had been unbearable; bodies had been decomposing since January 12 earthquake . Disposal trucks never arrived to take bodies away, bystanders say .
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(CNN) -- Baseball's League Championship Series' start Friday with the New York Yankees taking on the Texas Rangers for the American League title. The winner will go to the World Series against the victor in the National League Championship series between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants. The Phillies-Giants series starts Saturday and will be televised on Fox. TBS analyst Ron Darling spoke to CNN about compelling people and stories that will interest even the most casual fans and about how the baseball we'll be watching is radically different than the game we saw just a few years ago. This is an edited transcript: . CNN: Has this been an extraordinary post-season for pitching, or does it always improve in the playoffs? Ron Darling: I think what has been extraordinary is that all the pitchers, whether they came through trades (Phillies with Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt; Texas with Cliff Lee) or up through the farm system like the San Francisco Giants, or a free agent like CC Sabathia in New York, the great thing about it is they all deliver. Sometimes the great Braves pitchers would falter during the '90s, but none of these guys has faltered. In fact they're having some of the greatest games in the history of post-season play. Whether it's Tim Lincecum's 14 strikeouts, Cliff Lee and his ability to throw complete games and strike out hitters without walking anybody, and of course Roy Halladay's no-hitter. CNN: What were your thoughts on the Texas Rangers celebrating their division series win over Tampa Bay with ginger ale instead of champagne because their star, Josh Hamilton, is recovering from drug and alcohol abuse? Darling: I thought it was one of the special moments of the post-season. There are a lot of people affected by alcoholism and drug addiction in this country, and a lot of people feel alone in their battle against those two addictions. And to see an entire ball club get behind their player's problem and have empathy and sympathy for his problems was just one of the special things. Remember their manager (Ron Washington) tested positive last season (for cocaine). They could have abandoned the manager; instead, it brought them closer together. They've been one of the great stories and to know that they wanted one of their best players to celebrate in the clubhouse because they knew he could only do it with ginger ale to me is a just a beautiful gesture. CNN: You played with Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, who both struggled with addiction. How hard has it been for Josh Hamilton to overcome his addiction to play so well? Darling: I think trying to battle addictions is hard enough if you're working 9-5 and you've got a family and you're trying to stay out of harm's way. When you're a young athlete on the road with a lot of free time on your hands, I think it ups it exponentially. I know Hamilton has a caretaker who helps him out on the road, but I think it's taken a lot of stick-to-itiveness by Josh. You know he's had a second chance, had a couple of hiccups, but he's made the most of it. Addiction is a sickness; we should look at it like that. I think we should welcome what he's done. He's not only a great player, but he's also become a leader on that team and that's the most interesting part of that to me. CNN: Besides Hamilton, who are some other players people will enjoy watching if they flip on the game? Darling: In the National League, you have to look at the little guys, Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco, for the Phillies. Sometimes these games allow them to shine when most of the publicity goes to the home-run hitters. On San Francisco, Andres Torres, their centerfielder, had a remarkable season. He's a player who floundered and later in his career found his role and had a great season. The Giants closer Brian Wilson had a remarkable year. I know he has the funny hair and funny beard, but there's nothing funny about how he gets saves. The New York Yankees' Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson, batting at the bottom of the order, will have a big series. For Texas, the casual fan may not know about Nelson Cruz, but he has about as much pop in his bat as anyone in the game and he's a good fielder and throws well. (The playoffs) could be a good forum for the country to learn what a good player he is. CNN: Why have there been so many errors in this post-season? Darling: There have been 31 errors so far, and what we should read into it is that the game has changed. You can overlook an error when a lot of home runs are being hit and a lot of runs scored. That's not happening as much anymore. Every play is critical, and if you're talking about this being the season of the post-season pitcher, every time an error is made, it's going to be crucial in determining the game. There have been errors before, but over the last 10 seasons, you could overcome it with offensive output. But when the games are 3-1 every night, you can't afford those errors. And those players that in the past you put in the lineup because of their offensive abilities and you hoped they would catch the ball but figured they'd make up for it with their offense, those days are gone and those players are gone. If you are in the minor leagues and not working on your fielding, you're going to have a hard time getting to the major leagues. CNN: Because of steroid testing, do you think these lower-scoring, well-pitched games are going to be the norm going forward? Darling: Watch these series. There's going to be lots of steals, bunting and infield hits, all of those things that we saw a lot in the '70s and early '80s that went away. You're still going to have guys hit the ball out of the ballpark. But how many home runs are guys going to hit off Halladay, Lee, Lincecum and Sabathia? It's not gonna happen.
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Ron Darling says it's amazing how well so many pitchers have performed in playoffs . He says Rangers' celebration after winning division series was special moment . Rangers celebrated with ginger ale so star Josh Hamilton, a recovering addict, could join . Darling says players who can hit but not field well will have a hard time making major leagues .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The office of the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair refused to comment Thursday on UK media reports that she has swine flu. Cherie Blair, wife of former British premier Tony Blair, is reportedly suffering from swine flu. A spokeswoman for Cherie Blair told CNN: "This is a private matter and we will not be making a comment." Blair was reported to have contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, on Tuesday, according to the British Press Association and various media reports. PA reported that she has been given a course of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, and told to rest. Tony Blair and the couple's four children have not shown any signs of being infected, PA added. Cherie Blair, who is a human rights lawyer, had been due to pick up an honorary degree at the Liverpool Hope University in north-west England Thursday. With 29 deaths and a dramatic increase in the number of cases, Britain has the worst swine flu figures in Europe. Official figures released Thursday by the UK's Department of Health have revealed that swine flu will cause one in eight workers to stay off work in September, potentially crippling many businesses still struggling in the wake of the recession. General health practitioners in Britain have also reported a 50 percent increase in the number of people complaining from flu like symptoms. Doctors say they have also seen a significant rise in the number of children reported to be affected.
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Reports: Wife of ex British PM Tony Blair has suspected swine flu . Cherie Blair was prescribed Tamiflu and told to rest, British media says . She had been due to pick up an honorary degree Thursday . Britain's swine flu cases rising dramatically .
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(CNN) -- Roger Federer takes on Robin Soderling, who knocked out tournament favorite Rafael Nadal in a fourth-round stunner, in the men's final of the French Open on Sunday. Roger Federer screams in joy after beating Juan Martin del Potro to reach the French Open final. A victory in Roland Garros would give Federer 14 Grand Slams, tying his career wins to American Pete Sampras. The second-seed Federer lagged at first, but beat Argentine Juan Martin del Potro on Friday to make the final. Soderling advanced over Chilean Fernando Gonzalez. Federer, 27, has a 9-0 record over the 24-year-old Swede going into the final. The Swiss star has suffered emotional defeats recently. At England's Wimbledon last year, he lost to Rafael Nadal after a five-year reign. The game, which ran about seven hours with a few rain breaks, was the longest-ever Wimbledon men's final. Nadal also beat Federer in the Australian Open earlier this year. Soderling stunned the top-seed Nadal by handing him a loss in the fourth round of the French Open. The 23rd-seed Soderling was a rank outsider against the world number one who had never lost a match on the clay at Roland Garros and was a short-priced favorite to win a record fifth straight title. In women's tennis, number one Dinara Safina was beaten Saturday in straight sets by fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the French Open at Roland Garros. Safina, who has reached the top of the world rankings despite not having a major title to her name, looked completely out-of-sorts against her compatriot, who secured a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory in just over an hour. The defeat was a crushing blow to Safina, 23, who has long had to contend with the accusations that she is not a worthy world number one -- and this third grand slam final defeat will do nothing to silence the doubters. It was the second straight year she has lost in the final here, after going down in straight sets to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia last year. It was also her second successive grand slam final defeat, having lost to Serena Williams in the Australian Open in Melbourne earlier this year.
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A French Open win would give Federer 14 Grand Slams . That would tie his career wins to American Pete Sampras . Federer has a 9-0 record over the Swede going into the final . Soderling topples favorite Rafael Nadal in a fourth-round stunner .
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Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she took on the "complicated and difficult" task of trying to restart talks on Israeli-Palestinian peace during her talks with Egypt's leaders. Egypt is "an essential partner" in that effort, she said. "President Obama, special envoy [George] Mitchell -- who is here with me today -- and I are all deeply and personally committed to achieving a two-state solution and comprehensive peace between Israelis, Palestinians and all of their Arab neighbors," Clinton said at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit. She spoke on the final stop on her weeklong trip that stretched from Pakistan to the Middle East. Clinton met with Aboul Gheit and other Egyptian leaders before consulting Wednesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Clinton angered Palestinian leaders during her stop Saturday in Jerusalem when she praised Israel for what she called "unprecedented" steps to limit -- but not fully halt -- the construction of Jewish settlements. Egyptian leaders told Clinton her statement was perceived as "a sort of backtracking" and "listened with great interest" as she insisted the U.S. opposition to settlements has not changed, Aboul Gheit said. "We talked about this very clearly and very candidly," he said, noting that Egypt feels that Israel "is hindering the process" by continuing its settlement activities. Clinton again clarified the U.S. position at Wednesday's news conference in Cairo: "Our policy on settlements has not changed. I want to say that again: Our policy on settlement activity has not changed," she said. "We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity. And we have a very firm belief that ending all activity -- current and future -- would be preferable, and that is what we have put forth, and that is what we have continued to support." But Palestinian frustration over Clinton's statement in Jerusalem and the stalled peace process was still on display Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Saeb Erakat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, said that if Israeli settlement construction did not end, it may be "the moment of truth" for the Palestinian leadership. Erakat raised the possibility that "the two-state solution is no longer an option and maybe the Palestinian people should refocus their attention to the one-state solution where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live as equal." Israel is opposed to any notion of a "one-state solution," seeing it as a fundamental threat to the Jewish nature of the state. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been reluctant to embrace the idea of a two-state solution, something the United States and others see as the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Clinton returns to Washington later Wednesday. She said she felt "very satisfied by what we accomplished on this trip" despite the complex issues at hand. "Every issue that we touched on during this trip is complicated and difficult; each requires patience, perseverance and determination to see them through," Clinton said. "If these were easy questions with simple answers, I would not have made this trip." She said that a key part of getting the peace process back on track is improving the image of the United States in the region. "It is important to recognize that after a period of time in which the United States' position was rejected or was certainly questioned, what we are doing is very carefully and consistently rebuilding those bonds, creating those partnerships, finding common ground so we and our international partners will be able to make progress," she said. When asked for a timeline of the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, Clinton would only say, "We are working hard to see that happen. I'm not going to make predictions."
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Hillary Clinton: Egypt "essential partner" in helping restart Mideast talks . Clinton meets with Egyptians after angering Palestinians with praise for Israel . Egyptians reportedly tell Clinton her comments perceived as "a sort of backtracking" Clinton says U.S. position hasn't changed on Israeli settlement construction .
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(CNN) -- Heavy fighting between Islamist militants and government forces in Somalia's capital has left 18 people dead and dozens wounded, medical officials said Sunday. "The fighting is huge and is marked by heavy exchange of artillery," said Ali Musa, a head of a Mogadishu ambulance service. Of the 36 reported wounded, 11 were hurt when an artillery shell hit their bus near Mogadishu's Bakara Market. The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia said the fighting centered around attempts to destroy a network of tunnels and trenches that the jihadist movement Al-Shabaab used to move weapons and fighters around the capital. The dead included two peacekeepers and six rebel leaders that the Ugandan-led mission said were linked to al Qaeda. "The discovery and closure of this tunnel is a major step forward in the stabilization effort in the city," the Ugandan-led AMISOM mission said in a statement issued Sunday. AMISOM said the fighting erupted Saturday as Al-Shabaab tried to retake the tunnel network. Somalia's state-run radio network said 28 rebels were killed in Saturday's clashes. AMISOM's communique said foreign fighters have effectively taken over Al-Shabaab. It said five of the six rebel leaders killed in the recent fighting came from countries beyond Somalia -- Yemen, Pakistan, India, Kenya and Syria -- while the nationality of the sixth was unknown. AMISOM, which supports Somalia's transitional government, said the combined forces now control about 60 percent of the city. But the government has little influence beyond Mogadishu, and Al-Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia. The horn of Africa nation has not had an effective government since Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown two decades ago. Journalist Mohammed Amiin Adow contributed to this report for CNN.
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NEW: AMISOM says 5 of 6 slain rebels were non-Somalis . Ambulance crews report "huge" battles in Mogadishu . Peacekeepers claim success in battling Islamist militants .
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Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A blast hit near a building housing Pakistan's intelligence service, ISI, in the eastern city of Multan on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 20 others, police said. The explosion took place at a security checkpoint, said Jamshed Akram of the city police. Four soldiers and four children were among the dead, said Dr. Kaleem Ullah of Multan's emergency services. Pakistan has blamed the violence on Islamic militants who have vowed to avenge a intense military offensive to rout them from their haven along the country's border with Afghanistan. The nation has come under increasingly frequent attacks. On Monday, a blast at a crowded market in Lahore killed 54 and wounded more than 150 people. The same day two other bombing attacks -- in Peshawar and Quetta -- killed at least 11 and wounded at least 41. The attacks came three days after militants armed with guns and grenades stormed a mosque in Rawalpindi frequented by military personnel. At least 36 were killed and 75 wounded. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing, but there were no immediately claims for Monday's attacks. In an e-mail to CNN about the mosque attack, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan said: "We reconfirmed it, that the TTP has done it, and will do more which are already planned. We once again mention that we are not against the innocent people and the state of Pakistan but against those officers and ministers who are American by hearts and minds and Pakistani just by faces." The United States has pressed Pakistan to rout out Taliban militants. Fighting the war in Afghanistan is "inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan," President Barack Obama said Tuesday of U.S. strategy. "We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country," he said in a speech at West Point. "But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border." The United States says Pakistan looms large because Taliban and al Qaeda militants operating in Afghanistan also have had a presence in Pakistan's northwestern region near the Afghan border and have threatened the governments and troops in both countries.
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NEW: Four soldiers, four children among the dead, a doctor says . Attack comes a day after three deadly attacks in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta . Lahore attack targeted crowded market, killing 54 and wounding more than 150 .
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(CNN) -- A virulent strain of E. coli that has killed 18 people in Europe has not affected produce in the United States, according to food safety and health officials who conceded Friday there's much to learn about the organism. Even as efforts continue to determine what caused the outbreak, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce imported from Germany and Spain will be tested and cleared before they are sold in the United States, according to David Elder of the Food and Drug Administration, and the results will be shared with the European Union. "I want to emphasize that this outbreak has not affected the U.S.," Elder told reporters in a conference call. "Produce remains safe, and there is no reason for Americans to alter where they shop, where they buy or what they eat." Two adult women and an adult man who traveled last month to northern Germany remain hospitalized in the United States with hemolytic uremic syndrome -- a form of kidney failure -- said Chris Braden of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those three cases were reported in Massachusetts, Michigan and Wisconsin. A fourth person developed bloody diarrhea, but was not hospitalized, he added. Two U.S. service members in Germany also developed diarrhea, Braden said. "We have no expectation that this will spread in our country." The E. coli infection has spread to 12 countries and is blamed for at least 18 deaths -- all but one reported in Germany. About 1,800 people have been sickened. The European Food Safety Alert Network initially said enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), a strain of E. coli, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany and distributed to various countries. But authorities have said that the source of the contamination has not been pinpointed. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's federal unit responsible for disease control and prevention, has advised German consumers not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Germany and Spain account for a small fraction of produce that is sold in the United States in a given year. Officials said tracking the source of the illness could be difficult. If it, in fact, stems from the produce, the tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce could have been eaten together in a salad. "We don't know yet what is the cause and each of these (vegetables), individually or perhaps in some combination, appear as likely culprits, so I don't think we know enough to hypothesize at what point in the supply chain contamination may have occurred," said Don Kraemer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "We don't know which one that actually had the contamination in it." The CDC is warning any U.S. citizens who have recently traveled to Germany to seek immediate medical care if they begin to show symptoms of the bacterial infection. Braden said officials were unable to identify the source for an outbreak of this E. coli strain in the republic of Georgia in 2009. The strain is more common among women and adults, he said, and officials are not certain how it may be associated with produce. "We have a lot to learn about this particular organism," Braden said. The officials told reporters the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act signed by President Barack Obama this year provides steps that minimize the risk of E. coli at U.S. farms and production facilities. "We believe prevention is superior to responding to an outbreak such as this one," Kraemer said.
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Illnesses are traced to northern Germany . Three people have been hospitalized in the U.S. after visiting the region . Certain produce from Spain and Germany will be tested before going into U.S. stores .
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Jerusalem (CNN) -- Police who are investigating a major wildfire in northern Israel have detained a 14-year-old boy who admitted smoking a water pipe in the woods near his village, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The wildfire killed at least 42 people and forced the evacuation of thousands of others before it was extinguished Monday, police said. The boy said he threw coals from his pipe in the woods, but then panicked and ran to school after the fire started. Two other teenagers who had been detained Monday have been released, Rosenfeld said. About 1,500 firefighters are still in the area and on standby, police spokesman Rosenfeld said. The fire, which broke out Thursday, forced the evacuations of about 17,000 people and scorched over 10,000 acres around Haifa, Israel's third largest city, threatening businesses, tourism and one of Israel's greenest regions, Mount Carmel. The developments came a day after the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to speed aid to those affected. "I do not want delays," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. "I do not want bureaucracy. I want processes to be shortened. I want quick solutions. I want all of the people -- within days -- to be able to return to their homes or to alternative housing, until the reconstruction work is finished." The Cabinet has approved a series of steps aimed at kick-starting a quick response for victims. The Finance Ministry will allocate 60 million shekels ($16 million) in aid to local communities affected by the fire. Netanyahu instructed that more funding be considered if necessary. The plan will include compensating local governments for damages "in order to meet the costs of evacuating and absorbing populations, firefighting efforts, clean-up and dealing with infrastructures," according to a government statement. The government said Israel's Housing Administration will station mobile structures in the communities to stand in for homes and public structures that were destroyed. A plan will also be formulated to restore animal and plant life affected in the Carmel Nature Reserve. Most of the 42 victims were cadets in Israel's prison service who arrived Thursday to help evacuate 500 inmates from the Damon prison near Haifa. Among the dead, 40 were apparently burned alive when their bus, traveling along a narrow mountain road, was engulfed by the fast-moving blaze, the Jerusalem Post reported. Police said late Monday that a policewoman had died of her wounds, bringing the death toll to 42. In an interview with the newspaper, a firefighter spokesman said the bus was gone in less than three minutes. "The bus had no chance. They tried to escape but were burned alive," the spokesman said. "It was a horrific scene." The Israeli military said the victims would be buried with full honors in military ceremonies. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel about 50 miles north of Tel Aviv, Haifa's metropolitan area is also host to historical sites that date to Biblical times. The fire has also threatened a sensitive ecological area near the Hai Bar nature reserve. Known as Mount Carmel's "Little Switzerland," the reserve is home to a wildlife preservation project that seeks to bring back native species mentioned in the Old Testament. CNN's Paula Hancocks contributed to this report.
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NEW: Israeli policewoman dies, bringing death toll to 42 . A 14-year-old boy admits to throwing pipe coals into the woods . The wildfire forces the evacuation of some 17,000 people . The Israeli government approves funding for victims .
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Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Singer Chris Brown earned a glowing probation report six months after he was sentenced to "labor-oriented service" for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna, the judge said Thursday. Brown, 20, sat silently in court Thursday afternoon as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg reviewed his probation report. "It looks like you're doing really, really well," Schnegg said. The police chief in Richmond, Virginia -- where Brown is being allowed to complete his sentence -- reported that he had worked 32 days of hard labor, she said. Schnegg said when she sentenced Brown that she wanted to see him do "actual physical labor, as opposed to some type of community service." The report on his court-ordered domestic violence counseling said he had completed 17 out of 52 groups sessions, she said. The agency running the sessions reported "you are participating and doing a very good job," the judge said. The judge rewarded Brown by signing an order allowing him to again travel outside the United States for concerts. When Brown returns to court on May 11, 2010, for his next probation progress report, he will be "way over halfway there" to completing his sentence, she said. Brown was sentenced in August to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in "labor-oriented service" for the assault conviction. Schnegg also put a restraining order in place, requiring Brown to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna, 10 yards if the two are at the same industry event. The judge issued a strict warning to Brown not to violate the order, which remains in place until 2014. Brown was arrested after an early morning argument inside a rented Lamborghini on a Hollywood street on February 8, 2009. According to Brown's probation report, the February argument began over an incident at a Beverly Hills party. An earlier, sworn statement by Los Angeles Police Detective DeShon Andrews said the incident began when Rihanna found a text message on his cell phone from "a woman who Brown had a previous sexual relationship with." The pair argued while in the car driven by Brown, the police statement said. It went on to describe the assault in great detail, saying Brown punched Rihanna -- identified in the statement by her real first name, Robyn, and the first initial of her last name, Fenty -- numerous times and put her in a headlock, restricting her breathing and causing her to start to lose consciousness. He threatened to beat her and kill her, according to the statement, and he bit her ear and her fingers. Eventually, the statement said, "Robyn F. began screaming for help and Brown exited the vehicle and walked away. A resident in the neighborhood heard Robyn F.'s plea for help and called 911, causing a police response. An investigation was conducted and Robyn F. was issued a domestic violence emergency protective order." The detective said Brown sent a text message nine days later, apologizing. Rihanna's injuries included cuts and bruises inflicted by a large ring on Brown's right hand, which he used to punch her, the probation report said. "Officers at the scene observed numerous contusions and abrasions to the victim's face and forehead, as well as bruising to her left arm near the bicep," it said. "They also saw abrasions to her arms near both wrists and on her upper chest near her collarbone and around her neck. There were abrasions on her left leg and on the inside of her upper lips." Rihanna declined to speak to the probation investigator, so the probation report's details were gathered from police detectives who interviewed her soon after the attack. "He beat me up," Rihanna told the police, the report said. Brown made a public apology in July in a video statement posted on his personal Web site. "I have told Rihanna countless times, and I'm telling you today, that I'm truly, truly sorry in that I wasn't able to handle the situation both differently and better," Brown said in the Web site statement. "What I did was unacceptable, 100 percent. I can only ask and pray that you forgive me. Please."
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Brown has done 6 months of sentence for beating girlfriend Rihanna . Judge reads reports that he is doing well on "labor-oriented service" Brown also "participating and doing a very good job" in domestic violence counseling .
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(CNN) -- Somali pirates demanded a $7 million ransom for a British couple kidnapped aboard their yacht last week, a British agency said Friday. The British government says it won't pay. "The government will not make substantive concessions for hostage takers, including the payments of ransom," the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were snatched last week from their yacht in the Indian Ocean, had been held aboard a Singaporean cargo ship hijacked by pirates. They have been moved to a hijacked Spanish ship that pirates have stocked with more supplies and armed men, a local journalist in contact with the pirates said Friday. The pirates moved them to the Spanish vessel after elders in the Somali town of Haradhere refused a pirate request to allow the Chandlers ashore, the journalist said. The journalist's identity is not being disclosed for security reasons. After hours of negotiation, the couple spoke with Rachel Chandler's brother, Stephen Collett, on Friday -- a phone conversation that was videotaped by CNN's British affiliate ITN. In the conversation, Rachel Chandler confirmed only that they had been moved from the Singaporean cargo ship, but not their current location, the network reported. "We're managing. They tell us that we're safe and that we shouldn't worry and that if we want anything, they will provide it in terms of food and, you know, water," an emotional Rachel Chandler told Collett. "They're very hospitable people, so don't worry. ... Physically we're fine; physically, we're healthy." Paul Chandler spoke slowly and carefully in the interview: . "Rachel and I are here. We are fine," he told Collett. "We know nothing here. It is nice to speak to you. I can only say we are well and that's as far as I can say." Collett read a message to the captors, asking them to release his sister and her husband to show "your compassionate nature." ITN reporter Angus Walker noted that Paul Chandler's tone sounded more strained than during their conversation Thursday, when he laughed at one point and sounded more relaxed. In their Thursday conversation, Chandler told ITN that men with guns had boarded the couple's yacht, demanding money and taking everything of value. Paul Chandler spoke later with the BBC's Somali Service, reportedly saying, "We are well and being looked after OK." He said they were being fed and "food is OK at the moment." The pirates abandoned the Chandlers' yacht, the 38-foot Lynn Rival, which the British Royal Navy found drifting in international waters Thursday. The Chandlers set off from the Seychelles islands on October 21 bound for Tanzania, according to their blog. A distress beacon was activated on October 23, according to naval officials. Britain's Foreign Office said it has been in close contact with the couple's family. Pirates have been very active off the east coast of Africa in the past several years, operating out of lawless Somalia. Two vessels were attacked the day after the Chandlers set sail. One of them -- a cargo ship -- was successfully boarded and seized off the Seychelles, while the other fought off its attackers near the Kenyan coast. Thursday, pirates attacked and boarded a Thai-flagged fishing vessel about 200 miles north of the Seychelles, according to the European Union Naval Force. Attacks in the region have significantly increased this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. But successful attacks have gone down as a result of a strong presence of international monitors. The first nine months of this year has seen more pirate attacks than all of last year, the bureau reported October 21. From January 1 through September 30, pirates worldwide mounted 306 attacks, compared with 293 in all of 2008, it said. More than half of this year's attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route between Yemen and Somalia. Out of those attacks, Somali pirates successfully hijacked 32 vessels and took 533 hostages. Eight people were wounded, four were killed and one is missing, the bureau said.
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NEW: British government says it won't pay ransom . Pirates move kidnapped British couple to hijacked Spanish ship . Pirate source says ship has more men and weapons on board . British couple left Seychelles for Tanzania on October 21 .
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Tampa, Florida (CNN) -- Her family calls her the Mitt Stabilizer. Ann Romney, who is someone who is known to be able to calm her husband down when needed, is taking center stage in trying to paint a more personal picture of her husband of 43 years. "Whenever Mitt might start, you know, winding up and getting really -- highly energetic they're -- they know that I have, like, a very calming influence on him," Ann Romney told CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger in a wide-ranging and at times emotional interview at the family's New Hampshire lakeside home. When asked her secret, she couldn't really explain it. The couple met as high schoolers in Michigan. They were separated for 2½ years when Mitt Romney went off to France to serve as a Mormon missionary. During that period, he was involved in an accident while driving the mission president and his wife; they were hit by what is believed to have been a drunken driver. "He was thrown out of the car. And so you realize how close your brush with death was," she told Borger. Initially, the family got dire news. "I had word that he was killed ... On his passport it is stamped that he is dead," she said. "And so that was the first word we heard." He would have some serious injuries but would recover and stay in France, actually taking over the mission. When he returned to the United States, he immediately proposed to Ann. They would start a family in Utah and then move to Massachusetts. "We are each other's best friend in addition to being, you know, our, you know, loving relationship. We are each other's best friends as well," she said. She described their marriage as "a real partnership." Asked if she gave him advice, she said "of course" adding "we share everything. There's nothing we do not know about, you know, any struggle that either one of us is going through. We share everything. "Of course I give him advice, and of course he gives me advice. And I think we listen to each other more than we listen to anyone else." She described a job that her husband also talked about to CNN, but it is one the family rarely discusses publicly: He served as head of the Mormon congregation in Belmont, Massachusetts, because the church does not employ paid clergy. So Romney not only led services but counseled members of the congregation and helped them in whatever way he could. "I look at and see how -- how wonderful that was," she said. "When we're mothers and responsible for children, there's something that happens to us -- that service gene that's naturally there where we're taking care, we're watching over. We're nurturing. "And for men, they often don't get that experience. But when you serve in a way Mitt was serving at that time, that's exactly the experience he had: nurturing, caring, looking out for, being concerned." Ann Romney has had several health scares over the years and has come back from all of them: early stage breast cancer, a surgery for a growth in her abdomen, several miscarriages -- and a 1998 diagnosis of multiple sclerosis which rocked the family and she said made her "really dig deep." iReporters share their MS struggles, triumphs . "I was for a long time, after the diagnosis, trying to just struggle through on my own, not sharing with how hard of a time I was having. And so, you know, you kinda just wanna tough it out and not be a burden to anyone else. But then, finally, you just can't go on," she said. "I really just was having a very, very hard time, and was very depressed," she told Borger, "and had kind of given up a little bit in thinking that I was -- you know -- it was a little overwhelming." Her husband took over the household chores -- cooking, going to the grociery store -- and reassured her "that it wasn't fatal, we were gonna be OK," she said. "No matter what I went through, he was gonna be there next to me and he was gonna be helping me. "And he was like, 'I don't care how sick you get, I'm gonna take care of you. And I don't care if you . end up in a wheelchair, we'll be OK. I don't care.'" At that point, she said, "I wasn't able to do anything." "He's amazing," she said of Mitt Romney, "because he is so energetic and so on that, for me even when I was as sick as that he would curl up in the bed with me. "It was, like, he was gonna do anything he could to just say, "I'm here. You're OK. Just stay right there and we'll be OK." She said uncertainty about the disease, which has no cure, was very hard for her to face. "You don't know how much is it gonna chew me up and spit me out? ... How sick am I gonna get? Is this going to be progressive? Am I going to be in a wheelchair? Am I, you know, gonna lose all function? "There's this huge unknown. And it's a very, very frightening place to be." She tried various ways to deal with the symptoms, especially fatigue, including an alternative treatment called reflexology, in which pressure is applied to various parts of the body. She also tried horse riding. While she had not seen major problems from the disease in recent years, she did have a relapse around the Super Tuesday primaries in March. "I overdid and I knew I was overdoing," she said. Most people have "a reserve tank," she explained, but "with MS you go to empty and you go to empty." "It's like you can't take another step. You will fall over. And that's kinda what happened to me. ... I knew I was pushing the limit. But I also didn't say anything to anyone." Her husband didn't notice, she said, and "I don't blame him for not noticing. No one noticed. Everyone was so busy. And I don't think I was even . in the same states. I was going to my own states." She said she "just had to get past that mile mark and then I'd be OK, and I could rest. But I didn't quite make it to the mile mark. I kinda collapsed." As she heads into this fall's campaign and an increasing schedule of rallies and appearances, how does she deal with the sort of stress that can trigger the disease? The stress "is a great teacher," she said. "It really is. Because (I) can't absorb all this that's going on around me. There's a lot of noise and there's a lot of really negative noise that's going on around me, around my husband -- during this campaign. And . so I have to just learn how to not to let that just get into my psyche." She also described a different side of the Mitt Romney than the one seen by the public: "fun-loving, warm, spontaneous." "Get him out of the public eye (and) he is loose and funny and spontaneous as you'd ever want to be. And just so much fun to be with."
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The Romneys met as high schoolers; their relationship has withstood the test of time . Their shared faith and friendship has helped keep the marriage strong . Ann's struggles with MS, family's adjustment to campaigning are challenging .
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(CNN) -- As activists reported intense gunfire, mounting deaths and mass detentions Monday in Syria, regional leaders stepped up their criticism of the escalating violence. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain said they were recalling their ambassadors from Syria to discuss the situation. Officials announced the diplomatic moves after Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah condemned violence in Syria in a rare rebuke directed at a fellow Arab leader. "There is no justification for the bloodshed in Syria, and what is happening has nothing to do with religion or ethics," he said in remarks broadcast on state television early Monday. "The Syrian leadership could activate comprehensive reforms quickly." Activists inside and outside Syria said a government crackdown was continuing Monday. Three people died after security forces opened fire at a funeral procession in Daraa, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. And at least 65 people died during a military operation that began Sunday in Deir Ezzor, according to the activist network Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Tanks entered the town of Maaret al-Numan after more than a month stationed outside its borders, the Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian forces reportedly detained dozens of residents there. As some groups described increasing violence, Syrian state media reported that the military was pulling back in at least one city. SANA said troops were leaving Hama on Monday after accomplishing "their mission of protecting citizens." Earlier Monday an activist based in the city said clashes were continuing, with residents describing sounds of intense gunfire in at least one neighborhood. Markets were closed, tanks surrounded some hospitals, and doctors did not have enough medicine to treat the sick and wounded, according to an activist, who asked to remain anonymous because he feared for his safety. Syria: Understanding the unrest . Syria has restricted international journalists' access to the country, and CNN was unable to independently confirm the death toll and details of the situation. The reported crackdowns were the latest in months of unrest, which started when Syrian forces swiftly suppressed anti-government protests in the southern city of Daraa. Anti-government fervor caught on nationwide as more protests were met with tougher crackdowns. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency says government officials have pledged political reforms, and security forces are fighting dangerous armed gangs and "terrorist groups." It describes troops killed in clashes as "martyrs." SANA, citing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said in a report Monday that the country is "dealing with the outlaws ... who are blocking roads, closing cities and terrorizing citizens," adding that it "is the duty of state to protect the lives of citizens." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 2,000 people, primarily demonstrators, have died in the months-long unrest. In recent days, critical statements from regional leaders -- including the Arab League and a coalition of Gulf states -- have joined an international chorus calling on the Syrian government to end the violence. Saudi Arabia's king said the situation in Syria was "unacceptable," announcing his country's decision to recall its ambassador "for consultation on current events." "The brotherly Syrian government and people are aware of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's past support for them," Abdullah said, according to a transcript of his statement released by the Saudi government. "Today, Saudi Arabia stands up to its historical responsibility towards its brothers, demands an end to the killing machine and bloodshed, and (is) asking for reason to prevail before it is too late." The statement from the king -- who leads a nation with significant religious authority and symbolic status among Muslims -- comes at a significant time, during the holy month of Ramadan. Later Monday, foreign ministries in Bahrain and Kuwait announced that their countries' ambassadors to Syria also had been recalled for consultations on the situation. "This is a steady drum beat, an increasing drum beat ... The message is becoming clearer and clearer to Assad that he has fewer and fewer friends," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday. Turkey's foreign minister's scheduled visit to Syria Tuesday will be a chance "to send send yet another strong message" demanding that al-Assad stop the violence, Toner said. "His neighbors and other powerful countries and voices in the region need to chime in and get that message to him," Toner said. The Arab League issued a statement calling on Syrian authorities "to stop immediately all acts of violence and security campaigns against civilians and to speed up in executing reforms." On Sunday, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, a union of countries located on the Arabian Peninsula, called on Syria "to put an end to the bloodshed and resort to wisdom, and make serious reforms necessary." SANA, citing a Syrian official, reported that the government received the statement "with regret." The council "completely ignored the information and facts presented by Syria on the killing and sabotage acts committed by armed terrorist groups seeking to undermine the homeland's sovereignty and security," the SANA report said. Criticism of al-Assad's government appeared to take a new form Monday when the Syrian Ministry of Defense website was apparently hacked. For a brief period, the site showed the Syrian flag and a statement: "The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side." The statement was signed, "Anonymous" -- an apparent reference to the international hacking collective that has claimed credit for high-profile cyber-attacks in recent months targeting government websites and major corporations. Later Monday SANA reported that al-Assad named a new minister of defense to replace Gen. Ali Habib Hamoud, whose "health condition deteriorated recently." It was unclear how the reshuffling would impact the nation's military strategy. CNN's Nada Husseini, Mohammed Jamjoom, Yousuf Basil, Christine Theodorou, Arwa Damon, Amir Ahmed, Kamal Ghattas and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.
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NEW: U.S. State Department spokesman: Syrian president "has fewer and fewer friends" Bahrain recalls its ambassador to Syria for consultations amid mounting violence . Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are also recalling their ambassadors for discussions . Saudi Arabia's king says there is "no justification for the bloodshed" in Syria .
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Washington (CNN) -- In what have become known as the "Jesus pencil" and "candy cane" cases, the Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from the families of elementary school students over distribution of religious-themed gifts on campus. At issue was whether school officials can be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of what the students claimed was their "private, non-curricular speech based solely upon its religious viewpoint." A federal appeals court had ruled in favor of school officials in Plano, Texas,on the liability question, and the justices without comment let that decision stand. The full 16-judge panel from the New Orleans-based court last September concluded while the constitutional rights of the students were violated, school administrators could not be sued under the "qualified immunity" legal standard. The litigation continues on other aspects of two separate incidents nine years ago, both involving schools at the Plano Independent School District in the Dallas suburb. "Educators should not suffer personal monetary liability for making a mistake in this area of the law," said the appeals judges. In one instance, the principal of Thomas Elementary School blocked then-third-grader Jonathan Morgan from handing out "goody bags" at a winter party. The bags included a decorative pen in the shape of a candy cane with a Christian message that read in part: "Every time you see a candy cane, remember the message of the candy maker: Jesus is the Christ!" Parents had met with Principal Lynn Swanson, who offered a compromise: the laminated "Legend of the Candy Cane" pens would not be allowed at the classroom party, but could be distributed separately at a table in the school library. School district officials later clarified, saying students in general were not allowed to pass out "any written material, tapes, or other media" to classmates, whatever the message. The boy's mother and father nevertheless brought the pens to the party, and the principal then announced to the school by loudspeaker that all "outside materials" were banned from classroom distribution. The family claims Jonathan was the only student subsequently banned from distributing his "goody bags." A month later at Rasor Elementary School, the parents of then-second-grader Stephanie Versher complained the girl was forbidden from handing out tickets to a passion play, which was being performed at a local church, depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The student expressed her "sincere" religious conviction she "should share her beliefs with her friends." Days later, Stephanie was then stopped from distributing brownies at a party with two pencils attached, one of which was inscribed, "Jesus loves me this I know from the Bible." The other pencil had the word "Moon" on it. Her mother then angrily confronted school officials, including Principal Jackie Bomchill. Sherrie Versher later testified she left the school offices emotionally upset, and "she thought out loud to herself, 'Satan is in the building,'" according to the court transcript. It was unclear to whom she was referring. A disagreement developed over whether the school had given permission for the student to give the "Jesus" pencils after classes that day, outside the school building on the sidewalk. A legal question developed whether that distribution was on school property or nearby, and whether authorities would then have power to stop the pencils from being given away. The appeals court noted the difficulty government officials have ensuring schools and other public facilities remain free of religious proselytizing. "When educators encounter student religious speech in schools, they must balance broad constitutional imperatives from three areas of First Amendment jurisprudence: the Supreme Court's school-speech precedents, the general prohibition on viewpoint discrimination, and the murky waters of the Establishment Clause." said the judges. "They must maintain the delicate constitutional balance between students' free-speech rights and the Establishment Clause imperative to avoid endorsing religion." The court concluded the principals were entitled to qualified immunity "because clearly established law did not put the constitutionality of their actions beyond debate." School officials had said they are entrusted by parents with the education of children, and retain complete control over all aspects of a student's time and communications -- including parties and hallway discussions. The Constitution's First Amendment bars any government from passing laws "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The high court in the past has typically dealt with such church-state disputes by allowing Ten Commandment displays in public buildings; the mention of "God" on currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance; manger and menorah displays in public parks; and school and legislature prayer. A Texas-based legal group had represented the Versher and Morgan families in their appeals. "We are disappointed the Supreme Court denied review of this case," said Hiram Sasser, director of litigation of Liberty Institute. "We were hoping to finally put this issue to rest: that government school officials should be held accountable when they violate the law and students' First Amendment rights. No student should be subjected to religious discrimination by the government." While the students' "speech" in these cases involved a religious message, the high court has also established important precedent on the larger free speech issue. In the famous "Tinker" case from 1969, the Supreme Court ruled two Iowa high school students could continue wearing anti-Vietnam War armbands. The high court said students do not "shed their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse door." But school administrators do retain the authority to restrict any activity that would cause a "substantial disruption" of the school's educational mission. The current cases are Morgan v. Swanson (11-804), and Swanson v. Morgan (11-941).
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Texas school officials stopped distribution by students of religious-themed gifts on campus . Parents of the students said the school officials violated their children's constitutional rights . An appeals court ruled in favor of the school officials . The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals on behalf of the parents .
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(CNN) -- Talk about being a victim of your own success. Among several new initiatives announced by Marvel Entertainment at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival was a two-day giveaway of 700 issues of classic Marvel No. 1 issues via their app. The adventures, new and old, of the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Avengers would be available free, and the first issues would make it easier for new readers to follow. It was an unprecedented offer in the world of digital comics. But perhaps it was one that its technology partner, Comixology, was unprepared for: The servers crashed. One day after the freebies were announced at Marvel's SXSW panel in Austin, Texas, it was put to a halt -- at least temporarily -- by Comixology. The problem: too much interest. "We expected a high degree of excitement for the Marvel initiative -- and had believed ourselves prepared -- but unfortunately we became overwhelmed by the immense response," admitted Comixology's CEO and co-founder, David Steinberger. "We're still struggling to keep our systems up." Steinberger added, "We don't like letting you down. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve these issues so that you can have the experience you've come to expect." He said the promotion would be "pausing for the time being." Comics readers were told to post their e-mail addresses on a form to be notified when the offer would be back up and running. Marvel posted a statement to its website: "Marvel fans assembled in record numbers to take advantage of the landmark Marvel #1 digital comics sale! The demand has been so overwhelmingly positive, in fact, that a number of technical issues have arisen with our technology partner in getting the more than 700 free issues to each of you. When we have further updates from our partner, we will share them." The advent of reading comics digitally, especially on tablets, has been seen by some as the future of the comics industry, as print readership continues to decline. To that end, Marvel has increased its presence at SXSW, this year announcing products such as the weekly Infinite Comics, which are specifically designed with the digital reader in mind, and Project Gamma, which adds audio to the digital reading experience.
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As part of SXSW, Marvel offered 700 No. 1 issues free for digital download . Servers crashed; readers were unable to download their free issues . Comixology's CEO announced it is "pausing the promotion for the time being"
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Salado, Texas (CNN) -- Dan Wallrath spent 30 years as a homebuilder in Texas, but it wasn't until 2005 that he found his life's work. After helping renovate the home of a young Marine who had been severely wounded in Iraq, Wallrath realized there were thousands of other injured war veterans who needed a hand. So he decided to help them by doing what he knew best -- building homes -- and giving them away, mortgage-free. For his efforts, Wallrath was recognized in November as one of the year's top 10 CNN Heroes. The exposure has helped take his organization -- now known as Operation Finally Home -- to the next level. "It's just been incredible," Wallrath said last month. "We've been getting phone calls and e-mails and donations from all over the world." Since the airing of "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," Operation Finally Home has received more than $100,000 in contributions -- as well as three pieces of property that will be used for future homes. All told, being honored as a CNN Hero has enabled Wallrath to more than double his impact. So far, his group has completed nine homes, and it has 13 more planned or under construction. The spotlight also led "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to partner with Wallrath on a special project last month: building a home for one of the victims of the 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. "We had seen Dan on the CNN Heroes tribute, and we thought, 'That's a perfect guy we've got to team up with,' " said George Verschoor, executive producer of the ABC television show. The home was for Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler and his fiancée, Jessica Hansen. Zeigler, 29, had just returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was shot four times at Fort Hood, including once in the head. Although doctors had given him only a 5% chance to live -- at one point, Hansen started writing his eulogy -- Zeigler not only survived but learned to walk again. Wallrath said the couple's story and spirit is typical of the families that his group tries to help. "All of a sudden, their life has been turned upside down. And in spite of their injuries, they're moving forward," Wallrath said. "This is what our program's about. We give (families) a hand up, not a handout. ... They just need a little help in life to get them started." Usually about 200 people are involved in building a home for Wallrath's group, but more than 4,000 volunteers chipped in to help "Extreme Makeover" build Zeigler and Hansen's home in Salado, Texas. Salado is about 30 minutes away from Fort Hood. "We have tons of military folks coming out and helping us," Wallrath said. "That's one of the reasons this job has gone so well." It also means the home was completed at warp speed. The 2,800-square foot, three-bedroom, three-bath house was built in just 100 hours. Wallrath's projects normally take about six months. For Zeigler and Hansen, the home means stability and a fresh start. "It's really exciting to know that so much love and care went into this house," Hansen said. "I think every time we look around, we'll always feel that." In mid-December, at an event honoring Zeigler and Hansen, Wallrath announced that Operation Finally Home had established a Fort Hood Victims' Fund to help all of the families affected by the attack. The fund will assist with emergency financial needs and home renovations like wheelchair ramps and handicap-accessible bathrooms. "Now we know that all these families are not going to be forgotten," Wallrath said. "America's going to step up, and we're going to be able to help them." The "Extreme Makeover" episode featuring Wallrath will air February 20, but people can already donate to the fund on Wallrath's website. All in all, it was a breakthrough year for Wallrath and his work. And he's excited about having the chance to help even more people in 2011. "You know, sometimes I feel selfish because I feel so good all the time about seeing these lives changed," he said. "Now, we're going to be able to change a lot more."
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Dan Wallrath and his group, Operation Finally Home, build houses for injured U.S. veterans . For his efforts, Wallrath was named a top 10 CNN Hero in November . The exposure has helped Wallrath help more troops and their families . He just partnered with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to help a victim of the Fort Hood attack .
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(CNN) -- Agnieszka Radwanska faces a nervous wait to see if she will make the WTA Tour Championships after losing to Czech Lucie Safarova in the second round of the Kremlin Cup Wednesday. Victory for the pole would have seen her qualify as the eighth and final player, but Safarova battled to a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win in Moscow. France's Marion Bartoli, seeded fourth at the tournament, can now pip Radwanska if she takes the title Sunday. The 22-year-old Radwanska came into the event off the back of claiming titles in Japan and China, but continued her poor run against Safarova, who is now 4-1 in their clashes. Safarova will now play Russia's Vera Dushevina, who beat compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-2 7-6. Earlier, top seed and home favorite Vera Zvonareva cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-1 6-1 win over Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski in just 64 minutes. "I took into consideration all of the mistakes I made in my previous meeting with Jovanovski at this year's Australian Open," Zvonareva said. Zvonareva had taken three sets to win their clash at the opening grand slam of the season. But Italian Francesca Schiavone, the 2009 champion, went out, losing 6-4 5-7 7-6 to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi. In the men's ATP tournament being run at the same time, defending champion and second seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia cruised through his opening match with a 6-4 6-4 win over Spain's Pere Riba. Russia's fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a three-time champion, saw off compatriot Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5 6-2 and will next face Germany's Michael Berrer, who shocked Italy's eighth seed Andreas Seppi 4-6 6-3 6-2.
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Agnieszka Radwanska crashes out of Kremlin Cup to Lucie Safarova . Pole Radwanksa misses chance to seal spot in WTA Championsips . Marion Bartoli can claim final place if she wins Kremlin Cup . Defending men's champion Viktor Troicki eases to opening victory over Pere Riba .
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(CNN) -- For Liz McCartney, selection as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008 could not have come at a better time. Anderson Cooper will host "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," to air on Thanksgiving at 9 p.m. ET. "With the recent storms in Texas and southwest Louisiana, we have experienced a sudden drop in volunteers," said McCartney, whose St. Bernard Project helps Hurricane Katrina survivors rebuild their homes just outside New Orleans, Louisiana. "While other areas need help, this recognition is letting the American people know that the New Orleans area still matters," McCartney said. The diverse group of honorees includes a Cambodian activist who offers free schooling to children who work in Phnom Penh's trash dump; a Georgia prosthetist-orthotist who provides limbs and braces to hundreds of people in Mexico; and a Virginia woman who tapes video messages from incarcerated parents for their children. CNN's Anderson Cooper announced the 10 honorees Thursday on "American Morning." "Our Top 10 CNN Heroes are proof that you don't need superpowers -- or millions of dollars -- to change the world and even save lives," Cooper said. Watch Anderson Cooper name the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008 » . CNN launched its second annual global search for ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary deeds in February. The network has aired weekly CNN Hero profiles of those people, chosen from more than 3,700 nominations submitted by viewers in 75 countries. A panel made up of world leaders and luminaries recognized for their own dedication to public service selected the Top 10. The Blue Ribbon Panel includes humanitarians such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, Kristi Yamaguchi and Deepak Chopra. "What an incredible group of people and how difficult it was to select only 10," said Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a panel member. Archbishop Tutu added, "They all deserve to win. Thanks for saluting these remarkable human beings." Each of this year's Top 10 CNN Heroes will receive $25,000 and will be honored at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," airing from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on November 27. Hosted by Cooper, the Thanksgiving night broadcast will culminate with the announcement of the CNN Hero of the Year, selected by the public in an online poll that began Thursday morning. iReport.com: Tell us about your hero . Continuing through November 19, viewers can log on to CNN.com/Heroes to participate in the poll. The person receiving the most votes will receive an additional $100,000. In alphabetical order, the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008 are: . Tad Agoglia, Houston, Texas -- Agoglia's First Response Team provides immediate help to areas hit by natural disasters. In a little over a year, he and his crew have aided thousands of victims at more than 15 sites across the United States, free of charge. Yohannes Gebregeorgis, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- Moved by the lack of children's books and low literacy rates in his native Ethiopia, Gebregeorgis established Ethiopia Reads, bringing free public libraries and literacy programs to thousands of Ethiopian children. Carolyn LeCroy, Norfolk, Virginia -- After serving time in prison, LeCroy started The Messages Project to help children stay connected with their incarcerated parents. She and volunteer camera crews have taped roughly 3,000 messages from inmates to their children. Anne Mahlum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- On her daily morning jogs, Mahlum used to run past homeless men. Today, she's helping to transform lives by running with them, and others as part of her "Back On My Feet" program. Liz McCartney, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana -- McCartney moved to New Orleans to dedicate herself to helping Hurricane Katrina survivors move back into their homes. Her nonprofit St. Bernard Project has rebuilt the homes of more than 120 families for free. Phymean Noun, Toronto, Ontario -- Growing up in Cambodia, Noun struggled to complete high school. Today, she offers hundreds of Cambodian children who work in Phnom Penh's trash dump a way out -- through free schooling and job training. David Puckett, Savannah, Georgia -- Puckett started Positive Image Prosthetics and Orthotics Missions -- PIPO -- to provide artificial limbs and braces and care to people in southeastern Mexico. Since November 2000 his mission has helped more than 420 people, free of charge. Maria Ruiz, El Paso, Texas -- Several times a week, Ruiz crosses the border into Juarez, Mexico, to bring food, clothing and toys to hundreds of impoverished children and their families. Marie Da Silva, Los Angeles, California -- Having lost 14 family members to AIDS, the Los Angeles nanny funds a school in her native Malawi -- where half a million children have been orphaned by the disease. Viola Vaughn, Kaolack, Senegal -- The Detroit, Michigan, native moved to Senegal to retire. Instead, a group of failing schoolchildren asked her to help them pass their classes. Today, her "10,000 Girls" program is helping hundreds of girls succeed in school and run their own businesses. "It is very rewarding to be able to honor these amazing, often unheralded individuals who are making a tremendous difference in their communities and beyond," Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, said. "These stories of selfless achievement deserve to be told, and our multiple platforms around the world allow us to do that."
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The public will select "Hero of the Year" in an online poll at CNN.com/Heroes . Distinguished panel of world leaders and luminaries chose Top 10 finalists . "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" to be hosted by Anderson Cooper . To air Thanksgiving, November 27, 9 p.m. ET ( November 28, 0200 GMT)
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(CNN) -- Narain Karthikeyan says India is brimming with excitement on the eve of the country's first ever Formula One grand prix. The Buddh International Circuit, 50km outside the capital New Delhi, is set to welcome the world's fastest drivers at the weekend as it makes its Formula One debut and Karthikeyan thinks the event could spark a huge boom in the sport's popularity. As the only native driver in the race, Karthikeyan believes Sunday's Grand Prix is an important landmark both for himself and his country. "It is an historic and symbolic moment that an Indian driver is on the grid and, of course, there is a lot following Formula One for a long time," the Hispania Racing Team driver told F1's official website. "There will be a lot of fans here. It will be hard to explain but it is what it is. I want to enjoy the weekend, have a lot of fun, and try and do the best I can do. "I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere. My family, everyone is coming. It is a huge day for Indian motorsport." Karthikeyan, who became India's first ever F1 driver in 2004, says a solid following has built up for the sport since the races were televised in 1993. And he thinks India's maiden grand prix will only increase the country's thirst for motorsport. He added: "Once Formula One is here the exposure will create a big opportunity for the young drivers and for the whole motorsport infrastructure to grow. We are all looking forward to it. India is different to China. "There has been a lot of interest in Formula One for a long time. It has been that long, since 1993, that it has been on TV live here and I think it is going to be very good for the sport and all the motorsport fraternity here is very, very excited." Karthikeyan also said the track at the Buddh International Circuit should make for an exciting race. "With the circuit, again like everybody else, it is wide in some places, I am sure lots of different lines you are going to see, lots of overtaking," he said. "It is definitely a very challenging circuit, with lots of run off areas and so on, so they have done a very good job, no doubt."
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Narain Karthikeyan says the Indian Grand Prix is huge for his country . Indian Formula One driver says the race can boost the sport's popularity . Sunday's Indian Grand Prix is the first to be held in the country . Karthikeyan calls it a historic moment for himself and for India .
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(CNN) -- Two issues -- security and immigration -- often get too much attention when it comes to talking about the U.S.-Mexico relationship, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday. Now, Obama said, it's time to forge deeper economic connections to create more jobs and more trade on both sides of the border. "That's the focus of my visit," he told reporters after meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in the country's capital. But even as Obama and Peña Nieto pushed to shift the tone more toward trade and economics, security issues loomed large over Thursday's meeting. Peña Nieto said his government remains committed to fighting organized crime, but that the United States and Mexico must "cooperate on the basis of mutual respect, to be more efficient in our security strategy that we are implementing in Mexico." Obama stressed that the countries will continue to cooperate closely on security, but he didn't specify how. "I agreed to continue our close cooperation on security, even as that nature of that close cooperation will evolve," he said. It's up to the Mexican people, Obama said, "to determine their security structures and how it engages with other nations, including the United States." In the meantime, he said, the United States remains committed to reducing the demand for drugs north of the border, and the southward flow of illegal guns and cash that help fuel violence. "I think it's natural that a new administration here in Mexico is looking carefully at how it's going to approach what is obviously a serious problem," Obama said, "and we are very much looking forward to cooperating in any ways that we can to battle organized crime." High-profile cartel takedowns were a hallmark of former President Felipe Calderon's tenure. Peña Nieto has vowed to take a different approach, focusing more on education problems and social inequality that he says fuel drug violence. The details of his policies are still coming into focus, and analysts say his government has deliberately tried to shift drug violence out of the spotlight. Before Obama's arrival, a spate of news reports this week on both sides of the border detailed changes in how Mexico cooperates with the United States. Under the new rules, all U.S. requests for collaboration with Mexican agencies will flow through a single office, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency. It is a drastic change from recent years, when U.S. agents enjoyed widespread access to their Mexican counterparts. Critics have expressed concerns that Peña Nieto's government will turn a blind eye to cartels or negotiate with them -- something he repeatedly denied on the campaign trail last year. On Tuesday -- two days before Obama's arrival -- his government arrested the father-in-law of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and one of the country's most-wanted drug lords. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Obama on Thursday, Peña Nieto emphasized the importance of reducing violence, and also the importance of Mexico's relationship with the United States extending beyond the drug war. "We don't want to make this relationship targeted on one single issue," he said. "We want to place particular emphasis on the potential in the economic relationship between Mexico and the United States." To achieve that goal, Peña Nieto said, the presidents agreed to create a new high-level group to discuss economic and trade relations between the two nations. The group, which will include Cabinet ministers from both countries and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, will have its first meeting this fall, Peña Nieto said. Imports and exports between the United States and Mexico totaled nearly $500 billion last year, and before Obama's arrival officials on both sides of the border said economic relations would be a focal point during the U.S. president's visit. "When the economy in Mexico has grown, and people have opportunity, a lot of our problems are solved, or we have the resources to solve them," Obama said Thursday. The emphasis on the economy Thursday was a significant shift, said Jason Marczak, director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. "The conversations between Mexico and the United States are changing," he told CNN en Español. Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City on Friday morning. In the afternoon, he will travel to Costa Rica, where he will meet President Laura Chinchilla and other regional leaders. CNN's Mariano Castillo and CNN en Español's Juan Carlos Lopez and Mario Gonzalez contributed to this report.
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A new high-level group to discuss economic cooperation will convene in the fall . Obama says ties between the U.S. and Mexico go beyond security and immigration . Mexico's president says his administration is committed to fighting organized crime . The U.S. president will travel to Costa Rica on Friday to meet with Central American leaders .
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran announced Wednesday that it successfully tested another "Sajil" missile, a surface-to-surface missile with a range that makes it capable of reaching parts of Europe. Image purportedly shows the test launch of Iran's new Sajil surface-to-surface missile. A similar test was carried out in November. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he understood Wednesday's test of the missile, with an approximate range of 1,200 miles, was successful. State media reported that the missile, a Sajil-2, was launched Wednesday morning from the northern Iranian city of Semnan and reached its target. The report did not say where it landed. The missile was test-fired successfully, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a group of residents in Semnan province, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Ahmadinejad said the missile "met the predetermined target," according to the news agency. Gates said he could not confirm that it had hit the intended target. A White House official said the test is noteworthy. "I think it is a significant technical development," said Gary Samore, special assistant to the president on nonproliferation, in a Washington speech Wednesday. "Of course, this is just a test, and obviously there is much work to be done before it can be built and deployed. But I see it as a significant step forward in terms of Iran's capacity to deliver weapons," Samore said. "And I think it actually helps us in terms of making a case to countries like Russia, which were skeptical in the past whether Iran actually poses a threat. This is a very clear demonstration that Iran is moving in the direction of longer-range missiles." An Israeli official, meanwhile, said the test should be more of a concern to Europe than to Israel, since previous missiles tested by Iran could already reach the Jewish state. "If anyone had any doubt, it is now clear that the Iranians are playing with fire," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday in an interview on Kol Israel Radio. "We know that the Iranians are developing capabilities of thousands of kilometers, that could reach the coasts of the United States." "The Iranian clock is ticking fast and it must be stopped," Ayalon said. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama "expressed ... his great concern, his continued concern, about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability and nuclear weapons technology." The Sajil is a new generation of surface-to-surface Iranian-made missiles that "demonstrates a significant leap in Iran's missile capabilities," Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israel's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, told Jane's Information Group after the November test. "Regardless of the success of the test, this missile places Iran in the realm of multiple-stage missiles, which means that they are on the way to having intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities," he said. Sajil missiles are powered by solid fuel, which uses smaller containers and helps the rockets travel longer distances, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the semiofficial Fars News Agency. Iran says the missiles have a range of almost 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles). If that is true, the missile brings Moscow, Russia, Athens, Greece, and southern Italy within striking distance from Iran, according to Jane's, which provides information on defense issues. Gates said the missile was probably "on the low end of that range." After the November launch, the United States restated its objection to such tests, saying they violate Iran's obligations under United Nations Security Council resolutions. U.S. officials have cast doubt on the success of past missile test launches by Iran, including a rocket launch in August and a series of missile tests in July. Wednesday's reported test comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. officials in Washington to discuss how to deal with the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran. He met Tuesday with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner. Obama, who met with Netanyahu on Monday, stuck by his refusal to commit to an "artificial deadline" for Iranian negotiations on its nuclear program. But he also warned that he would not allow such talks, which he expects to accelerate after the Iranian presidential election in June, to be used as an excuse for delay. He said the United States is not "foreclosing a range of steps, including much stronger international sanctions, in assuring that Iran understands that we are serious." Netanyahu wanted a time limit for negotiations relating to such ambitions, with the threat of military action if no resolution is reached. Asked if the missile launch will dampen Obama's efforts to reach out diplomatically to Iran, Gibbs said, "The president and the prime minister [Netanyahu] both agreed on Monday that engaging the people and the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, something that hasn't been tried for the past many years, is something that makes sense." Both Israel and the United States believe that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program; Tehran denies the accusation. Israeli leaders have pointed to Ahmadinejad's calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish state, and argue that quick action is needed. Netanyahu called Iran the biggest threat to peace in the region. "If Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, it could give a nuclear umbrella to terrorists, or worse, could actually give [them] nuclear weapons. And that would put us all in great peril," he said. Obama is considered to have a more conciliatory approach to the Arab and Muslim world than Netanyahu. CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr, Pam Benson, Charley Keyes and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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Iran says it fired a Sajil missile, which uses solid fuel and travels long distances . Missiles have range that can reach Russia, Greece and southern Italy, Iran says . U.S. official: Iran looking to increase sophistication of its missile program . Israel: "It is now clear that the Iranians are playing with fire"
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Beijing (CNN) -- Apple halted sales of its iPhone 4S in Beijing and Shanghai on Friday after scuffles broke out over a delayed launch of the device, sending a shopper hurling eggs at one of its stores in the capital. Hundreds of devout fans -- along with scalpers -- braved subfreezing temperatures and camped out overnight, awaiting the phone's debut near the trendy Sanlitun Village shopping mall in Beijing. As dawn broke Friday, the mood turned sour when the store's doors remained shut beyond 7 a.m., when the sale was scheduled to start. "Open! Open!" people chanted and booed at the employees inside. After the scuffle, the bad news came via a megaphone that the phone would be unavailable at this Apple Store on its first day of sale. A large contingent of police officers arrived and put yellow tape around the plaza. Dozens of police and guards slowly pushed people out of the perimeter, dragging away those who resisted, despite their screaming protests. The tech giant -- based in Cupertino, California -- said it is halting sales in Beijing and Shanghai for customers' safety. It launched the iPhone 4S in mainland China on Friday. "The demand for iPhone 4S has been incredible, and our stores in China have already sold out," the company said in a statement. "Unfortunately we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being." Apple has seen phenomenal sales growth in mainland China and opened Asia's largest Apple Store in Shanghai in September. The company announced in July that its revenue from the Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, reached $8.8 billion for the first three quarters of the fiscal year, a more than sixfold increase compared with the same period in the previous year. While many in the crowd criticized Apple for not opening the store when it said it would, others turned nationalistic, blasting the United States in general. The plaza was soon cleared, leaving iPhone fans standing outside the police tape as a giant screen teased them with Apple commercials.
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An Apple store in a trendy Beijing district fails to open amid unruly crowds . Friday is the date of the introduction of the iPhone 4S in mainland China . Apple says it won't sell the new model in Beijing and Shanghai retail stores for now . The police clear away crowds of disgruntled consumers .
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(CNN) -- Lizzie Armitstead won the first medal of the London Games for the hosts but had to settle for silver behind Dutchwoman Marianne Vos in cycling's women's road race Sunday. Vos proved the stronger in the sprint for the line on The Mall to win her second Olympic gold medal after claiming the track points title in Beijing four years ago. Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya, the third member of a decisive breakaway, took the bronze. Defending Olympic champion Nicole Cook of Britain finished in the main bunch, just under 30 seconds behind the trio. With American Shelley Olds, the medalists took their chance after the second circuit of Box Hill and they quickly opened a good advantage. Olds dropped away after a puncture and with the peloton failing to eat into the lead of the breakaway, it all boiled down to a sprint finish after 140km racing in mostly wet conditions. The 25-year-old Vos, runner-up for the past five years in the world road race championships, finally went one better as she had too much strength for Armitstead. "We gave everything in the breakaway. There were so many people. It was The Mall. It was like a wall of sound. I just sprinted to the line," Vos told gathered reports. "After Beijing, that was the only thing that was on my mind for four years. Now that it's happened, it's incredible. Now the gold is mine." Armitstead's performance was a welcome boost for home fans after the bitter disappointment of Mark Cavendish's failure to win the men's road race Saturday. The 23-year-old from northern England received superb support from teammate Emma Pooley on the testing two laps of Box Hill and took her chance when it emerged. "I'm a bit shocked. I was so glad I committed to that break, but I should have jumped early, but never mind," she said. "We discussed before what happened in the men's race that once a group is committed in front, it's hard to be in the back. "It's the most special thing I've experienced in my life. It's crazy and so inspiring," she added. The cycling events continue Wednesday with time trial events for men and women.
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Marianne Vos of the Netherlands wins women's road race . She outsprints Lizzie Armitstead of Britain to take gold . Armitstead winning first medal of London Games for hosts . Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia claims bronze medal .
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(CNN) -- Five people in southern China have been charged with intentional injury after illegally buying one of the kidneys of a teenage boy, who used the money at least in part for an iPhone and an iPad, according to state media. The five, including a surgeon, removed the organ in April 2011 from the 17-year-old high school student from China's Anhui province. The teenager is now suffering from renal insufficiency, Xinhua reported. The boy's condition is deteriorating, it said. One of the defendants, a man named He Wei, was described as "penniless and frustrated over gambling debts" and allegedly "sought to make enormous earnings through illegal kidney trading," the news agency reported. It said the men identified donors through online chat rooms and conducted the operation at a hospital. A man named Song Zhongyu, a surgeon from a provincial hospital in Yunnan province, received nearly $35,000 in the deal, while the boy was given about $3,500, Xinhua said. Wang later confessed to his mother when she confronted him about where he got the money for the Apple products, the news agency said. According to China's Ministry of Health, about 1.5 million people in the country are in need of transplants, and yet only 10,000 transplants are performed each year, Xinhua reported.
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A surgeon removed the organ in April 2011 from a high school student, Xinhua says . The boy is now suffering from renal insufficiency, it says . The surgeon, from a provincial hospital, received nearly $35,000 in the deal, it says . The boy was given about $3,500, the news agency reports .
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Moscow (CNN) -- A friend of mine who grew up in a small Soviet town realized he was gay by age 15. He did not know the word but he could no longer deny that he was sexually attracted to boys, not girls. He had no idea what it meant and felt rather lost. So, he went to see a kind, elderly doctor and hesitantly asked the question. After a stretch of uncomfortable silence, the doctor said quietly, "Take a lot of vitamin C and hopefully it'll get better with time. ... But most importantly, don't ever mention this to anyone." Homosexuality was a criminal offense under the Soviets, and the doctor was trying to protect his stammering teenage patient. When my friend told me this story many years later, we had a good laugh, agreeing that though things weren't easy for gay people in Russia, you did not have to stay shut in that closet for life. This was before disgraceful homophobic legislation was adopted in June. The new law bans dissemination among minors of information promoting the "attractiveness of nontraditional sexual relationships" and providing a "distorted notion of social equivalence of traditional and nontraditional sexual relationships." It does not define "nontraditional" but it is widely understood to mean "homosexual." And it basically means that you cannot publicly say anything positive about being gay or tell a child that there is nothing wrong with being gay or being raised by gay parents. It seems that the Kremlin underestimated the prominence of the international LGBT rights movement and the damage the law would do to Russia's image, especially with the Sochi Olympics just months away, the host country being so much in the spotlight. Russia's failure to honor the Olympic Charter's requirement of nondiscrimination came under scrutiny as the International Olympic Committee continued to seek assurances that enforcement of the law would not affect the games. Russian officials at the highest level have been trying to smooth over the scandal. President Vladamir Putin himself said in a recent interview that in Russia "people of nontraditional sexual orientation are not discriminated against" and that they are valued and equal citizens of the Russian Federation. Putin even noted that he was open to a discussion with LGBT organizations. That's welcome, but is he to be trusted? As is often the case here, it's one step forward and two steps backward. So far no meeting with LGBT activists has been convened and there have been no efforts to have the heinous law repealed. Worse, several legislators have just introduced a bill to deny parental rights to one or both parents of "nontraditional sexual orientation." The main author of the bill and a member of the ruling party's faction in the State Duma, Alexei Zhuravlev, explained that the bill aims to "protect" children from psychological trauma and pertains to those parents who "do not conceal their same-sex sexual relationships." The message sent to LGBT people is clear: If you don't want your kids taken away from you you'd better keep your mouth shut. And it is particularly ironic that just days later in his much discussed New York Times op-ed on Syria, Vladimir Putin urged the Americans not to forget that "God created us all equal." People in Russia would've laughed if only things weren't getting bad enough to cry. When questioned about the discriminatory legislation, Russian officials often chide critics for exaggerating -- this is not the Soviet Union, and gay people live in Russia freely. Indeed, you will not be thrown behind bars for being gay. But the advice given to my friend by that doctor some 40 years ago has become very relevant once again: "...don't you ever mention this to anyone!" In other words, if you want to have a life, don't you dare poke your nose out of that closet. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tanya Lokshina.
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Tanya Lokshina's friend told of being gay youth in Soviet town. Doctor told him to keep it quiet . But she says in modern Russia being gay did not mean being closeted until new law passed . Law bans promoting gay relationships; this flouts charter of Olympics, she says . Lokshina: Putin denies discrimination, but message to LGBT people is clear .
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Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- Seen from the perspective of 2012, the stunning Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman" offers a powerful reminder that economic policy and family values go hand-in-hand. Although many current politicians like to separate these two issues, the economic foundation of the family is central to its long-term health.
In this classic play by Arthur Miller, premiered in 1949 to mesmerized audiences that had lived through the Great Depression, the protagonist is salesman Willy Loman, who is mentally broken down from his constant travel and struggle to make ends meet. "A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man," says Loman's wife, Linda. Loman's son Biff is unable to find a job and fulfill his father's hopes. Biff and his brother, Happy, are worried about their father's mental health, which is rapidly deteriorating. When Willy tries to find a job where he can stay in town to take better care of himself and his family, he ends up losing his job. The story disintegrates from there, culminating with Willy tragically committing suicide with the hope that Biff will use the life insurance money to start his own business. Too often, politicians ignore the kinds of strains that economic problems cause for families. As the historian Matt Lassiter argued in an essay in "Rightward Bound," a book I co-edited, the rhetoric about family values is rooted in conservative politics in the 1970s when political activists on the right and popular culture blamed sexuality and feminism, rather than unemployment and inflation, for problems at home. The rhetoric from the 1970s has stuck. Many conservative Republicans such as former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum still define "family values" as having to do with matters of popular culture, abortion or sexuality. When the Republican primaries were still being actively contested, it was common to hear pundits argue that Mitt Romney represented the "economic conservative" in the contest and Santorum was the champion of "family values." Indeed Republicans often attack Democrats as having little interest in family values while many Democrats shy away from too much talk about the family for fear of looking as if they are trying to appease the right. But as Willy Loman's story makes clear, family values are as much about economics as culture. Today, we're living with economic problems that have a direct correlation on our ability to nurture strong families. The first and most obvious is job growth. The current sluggish recovery has left more than 8% of the work force without jobs, and millions of other Americans feeling that their futures are not secure. When the men and women who run households don't feel that their jobs are stable, or they don't have jobs, tensions quickly mount over basic issues such as paying the rent or mortgage and buying food. According to a Rasmussen poll in 2011, 67% of Americans said that the economy was causing strains on their family. The second economic source of instability comes from taking care of the old. Many Americans are struggling to deal with the generational squeeze of taking care of their younger children while helping their elderly parents as well. These pressures are greatly affected by the health of Social Security and Medicare, two programs that play a vital role for middle-class families. While these policies are often discussed as programs for the "elderly," they have always been conceived as programs to help working families by providing them some relief from the basic costs faced by older members of their families. In coming years, there will be a very big debate over the costs of these programs and the need for reform. It will be essential that policymakers in both parties do what is necessary to protect and strengthen the programs. The third source of economic strain on the family comes from health care. Health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs have been a continually rising burden on family income that few people talk about. If President Barack Obama's health care reform stands, then it will be essential that policymakers figure out how to make it successful. Central will be the need for the states to set up strong and functional health exchange systems and to make sure that the regulatory provisions in the bill are containing costs. If the program is deemed unconstitutional, policymakers in both parties need to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to improve the system. Finally, there is education. Families are been run ragged by the challenges of higher education. The costs continue to rise even as income stagnates. Millions of Americans feel that the costs of higher education make college degrees impossible to earn. In this economy, a college education is vital to economic success. Public policy most keep the interest rates on student loans at a reasonable level to make sure that families are not crushed by the pressures to finance college costs. The federal government must also make sure that states are financially healthy enough to support state colleges and universities. Americans who are in their 20s and 30s struggling to pay off massive college loans are at a major disadvantage when it comes to setting up their own households. This is one area where Obama and Mitt Romney seem to be in agreement, with both parties promising that they won't allow the rates on student loans to increase on July 1. During the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt always understood that family security could only result from economic security. This was a central theme of his presidency. As Roosevelt said upon signing Social Security in 1935: "We have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age." But over the past few decades, we've lost sight of Roosevelt's words. It's time to rethink the notion of family values and remember, as the story of Willy Loman reminds us, that a strong family starts with a strong economy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.
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Julian Zelizer: Too often family values are viewed as separate from economics . He says 'Death of a Salesman' shows how families can be undermined by money woes . Some politicians argue that family values are about sexuality and pop culture, Zelizer says . He says government must preserve programs that support families .
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(CNN) -- With the holy month of Ramadan approaching, lawyers for four Guantanamo Bay captives are trying to end forced-feeding at the U.S. detention facility in Cuba. Shaker Aamer, Ahmed Belbacha, Nabil Hadjarab and Abu Wa'el Dhiab seek a speedy hearing to have their complaint heard because Ramadan begins on the evening of July 8. The timing is urgent because Muslims who observe Ramadan fast daily from dawn to sunset. The lawyers for the four filed the federal lawsuit in Washington on Sunday. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler set a deadline of noon ET Wednesday for the government to respond. Navy Capt. Robert Durand of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo said it would be "inappropriate to comment on that current litigation at this time." Gitmo hunger strikers: 'What more can they do to me?' Addressing the religious requirements of Muslims during Ramadan, he said, "we essentially invert our schedule to accommodate these religious practices, including involuntary feeding." The lawsuit says Aamer is a Saudi national and British citizen cleared by the Obama administration for release in 2009. Belbacha and Hadjarab, who are Algerian citizens, were first cleared for release in 2007 during the Bush administration and reauthorized for release by the Obama administration in 2009, the suit says. Dhiab is a Syrian national cleared for release in 2009, the lawsuit says. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, repeated its call Monday for the force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to stop. Daily life at Gitmo: Hunger strikes, sprays of filth . Ibrahim Hooper, the national director of communications at the council, said the practice of forced-feeding is always wrong and is particularly offensive during Ramadan. "We've asked for the forced-feeding to be stopped in any case. ... It sends a very negative message to the Muslim world." Because of security measures in place, it's difficult to determine how many detainees are on hunger strikes. As of Tuesday, 166 detainees were at Guantanamo. Durand said 106 of them are being tracked as hunger strikers. Of those, 45 are being fed through tubes directly to the stomach or intestinal tract, he said. The number could be higher: The Joint Task Force does not comment on the 15 "high-value detainees" being held in a separate camp at Guantanamo. Some of them could be on hunger strikes, as well. More on the captives at Guantanamo Bay . CNN's Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
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Lawyers for four detainees at Guantanamo Bay file a federal lawsuit . They ask for a speedy hearing as Islam's fasting month of Ramadan approaches . They seek an end to the forced feedings of captives who are on hunger strikes .
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(CNN) -- The mayor of Gary, Indiana, and Michael Jackson's father, Joe, on Wednesday will announce "a major move forward" to bring a museum and performance arts center bearing the singer's name to the city. Mayor Rudy Clay has said the project has the potential to bring 500,000 to 750,000 visitors to Gary and an annual income of $100 million to $150 million dollars to the community. In addition, the Jackson Family Museum and a Michael Jackson Performing Arts Center will generate hundreds of construction jobs and thousands of full-time jobs for the community when the project is completed, the mayor said in a press release. Joe and Katherine Jackson started their large family in a two-bedroom house in a working-class neighborhood in Gary. All 10 Jackson children were born in Gary between 1950 and 1966, including one who was stillborn. The Jacksons moved from Gary to Los Angeles, California, in 1971 amid the success of the Jackson 5 group, which featured Michael Jackson and four older brothers. Their home at 2300 Jackson Street is still a shrine for the occasional tourist. Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
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Joe Jackson and Gary, Indiana, mayor pushing for Jackson tourist site . Idea calls for museum and performing arts center . Michael Jackson and siblings were born in Gary, moved to Los Angeles .
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(CNN) -- A man shot this month when a gunman opened fire inside a busy Toronto shopping mall died as a result of his injuries Monday, raising the death toll from that shooting to two, police said. The name of the second victim, a 22-year-old man, cannot be released because of a court-ordered publication ban, Toronto police said in a statement. The first victim, Ahmed Hassan, 24, died the day of the shooting, June 2. Gunfire started around 6:25 p.m. that day, as people were eating dinner in the crowded food court area of the Eaton Centre mall in downtown Toronto. Seven people were shot, while a pregnant woman was "stomped on" in the resulting frenzy, Detective Sgt. Brian Borg, the lead investigator in the case, has said. A suspect, Christopher Husbands, surrendered to authorities and is currently in custody. He faces one count of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder, according to police. Husbands, 23, was supposed to be under house arrest when police say he went to the mall and opened fire.
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A 22-year-old man dies as a result of his injuries, police say . Christopher Husbands is accused of opening fire in a busy Toronto mall this month . He was supposed to be under house arrest at the time of the shooting .
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(CNN) -- Two French advisers helping the Somali government with security were kidnapped in Mogadishu on Tuesday morning, according to the French Foreign Ministry. Young al-Shabaab militants with a heavy machine gun in Mogadishu on July 13. The two French citizens were on an official mission in the Somali capital when they were seized by armed men, the ministry said in a statement. Eyewitnesses said a group of gunmen stormed into Mogadishu's Sahafi hotel, which is frequented by foreigners, and seized the two French citizens. Somali government officials confirmed that about 10 gunmen forced their way into the hotel, but had no details on the reported kidnapping. Witnesses said the gunmen took the two blindfolded and bound hostages on foot towards Mogadishu's Bakara market, a stronghold for Islamist insurgents fighting against the Somali government. The Islamist insurgency in Somalia is led by Al-Shabaab -- an al Qaeda-linked group that is on the United States' terror list. It wants to overthrow Somalia's weak, transitional government and implement a radical version of sharia, or Islamic law. Watch exclusive footage of militant attack on presidential palace » . Fighting in Somalia's capital city has displaced 200,000 Mogadishu residents since early May, according to the United Nations. Journalist Mohamed Amin Adow contributed to this report.
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Officials: Two French citizens were on an official mission in the Somali capital . Eyewitnesses said a group of gunmen stormed into Mogadishu's Sahafi hotel . Witnesses say they were taken to Bakara market, a stronghold for militants .
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Washington (CNN) -- Three Somali men pleaded guilty on Friday to piracy and hostage-taking charges involving the yacht Quest, a February hijacking that ended with the death of four American citizens. Mohamud Hirs Issa Ali, Mohamud Salad Ali and Ali Abdi Mohamed -- all in their 30s -- entered guilty pleas in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. The piracy and hostage-taking charges carry mandatory life sentences. In their plea agreements, the three men said, "They played no role in the murder of the four United States citizens," according to a news release. Americans Scott and Jean Adams, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle were found shot to death when U.S. forces boarded the yacht. The guilty pleas are an important step, said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk of the New York Field Office. "Modern piracy isn't swordplay and derring-do; it's armed robbery and cold-blooded murder at sea. The FBI remains determined to see pirates brought to justice," she said. U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said, "If you pirate an American ship, you will be caught and you'll face severe consequences in an American courtroom."
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The hijacking of the yacht Quest in February ended with four deaths . The piracy and hostage-taking charges carry mandatory life sentences . The three Somali men deny any role in the deaths .
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(CNN) -- As a young freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela stepped out of a farmhouse hideout in South Africa, took 20 strides and dug a hole on the sprawling land. He leaned over, put in a semiautomatic pistol and 200 rounds of ammunition, and carefully put a khaki uniform over them. After covering them with heaps of soil, he sauntered back into his rural hideout in northern Johannesburg -- hoping to retrieve them soon. He never got a chance to fire a shot with the Makarov pistol. A few weeks after he buried it at the farm in Rivonia, he was hurled into prison for the next 27 years. That was in 1962, and the whereabouts of the gun -- now estimated at $3 million -- remain a mystery, said Nicholas Wolpe, the chief executive of Liliesleaf Farm, the former hideout now converted into a museum. A scramble to find the gun has sparked a frenzy among collectors, historians and Mandela fans. 'It's interesting how we came to find out about the gun," Wolpe said. "Mandela visited Liliesleaf in 2003, and as we were walking around, he turned to me and asked, 'By the way, did you find my gun?" Wolpe said he was stunned. "I turned to him and said, 'Gun, what gun?' " Mandela then asked him to pinpoint where the main kitchen once stood. "He then made a 45-degree angle and said, '20 paces from here, I buried a gun,' " Wolpe said. During the visit, the two tried to retrace his steps using the paces as a guide, but the farm had undergone some changes, making it hard to determine the original location of the kitchen with certainty. Wolpe later realized that the former South African president had talked about the gun during an interview with a journalist in the 1990s right after he was freed from prison. During the interview, Mandela indicated that he buried the pistol, ammunition and the uniform at the site in case there was a raid at the house, according to Wolpe. Mandela and the military wing of the African National Congress used the secret location -- now Liliesleaf Farm -- to plan the toppling of the South African apartheid government. It is the first gun Mandela owned and the first weapon linked to the anti-apartheid fight in South Africa, Wolpe said. The gun was a gift by Ethiopian Col. General Biru Tadesse, whom Mandela visited in the early 1960s for military advice on fighting apartheid. Despite its hefty price tag, Wolpe hastily makes it clear that it's not about the money or glorifying violence. "It is all about the historical significance of the gun and who it belongs to," Wolpe said. "The 1960s were a defining moment in South Africa's struggle ... The gun has a special link to a very significant period and epoch to our liberation struggle." A scramble to find the gun has prompted Wolpe to take extreme measures. He hired searchers to demolish a home on Liliesleaf's property, carefully ripping up chunks of concrete and turning over a yard to find it. He also dispatched military experts to try and pinpoint its exact location based on Mandela's information. His trust owns about five acres of the original 20-acre hideout. "The expert identified three possible locations, two of which are on our site," Wolpe said. The third location is on neighboring property, which was put up for auction last week. Historians, collectors and potential international bidders were among the 400 people who participated. Despite the frenzy surrounding the potential site of the gun, the property worth about $350,000 did not sell. "I'm still shocked, I don't understand why it did not sell," said lead auctioneer Joff van Reenen, who speculated that potential buyers may have been scared off by the publicity surrounding the gun. Unlike Wolpe, the owner of the neighboring property did not make an effort to find the gun. The property includes a modern Spanish-style house, under which the military expert believes is the potential third location of the gun. And the mystery continues as both Wolpe and the owner of the neighboring home hope the gun is on their land. "Obviously, it would be totally inappropriate to ask him for help now," Wolpe said of the ailing 92-year-old Mandela. "And there is no new information he can give us that would make finding it easier."
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He buries the gun before he is thrown into prison in 1962 . The Makarov pistol was a gift to him by an Ethiopian colonel . It's worth about $3 million, according to a museum official . Group hires military experts to try and pinpoint its exact location .
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(CNN) -- Five-time winner Roger Federer opened his U.S. Open account Monday with a straight sets win over Santiago Giraldo in New York. Despite surrendering his serve three times, the 30-year-old Swiss enjoyed a relatively comfortable match against the Colombian, ranked 54 in the world, winning 6-4 6-3 6-2 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Leading 5-1 in the opening set, a number of uncharacteristic errors from Federer saw him squander a double-break advantage before he finally rallied to win 6-4. The second and third sets were more straight-forward, though the world number three will be concerned about his winners-to-unforced errors ratio -- he finished with 36 winners and 35 unforced errors. "It was quite up and down, getting used to the conditions," admitted Federer, in quotes carried by usopen.org. "I don't think I've ever played my best in the first round but it's important to come through them and come up with a good feeling." Home favorite Mardy Fish was ruthlessly efficient as he easily dispatched Germany's Tobias Kamke 6-2 6-2 6-1. However fellow American Ryan Harrison was not so fortunate. The 19-year old lost out to big-serving Croat Marin Cilic, 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6). Seventh seed Gael Monfils ruined the U.S. Open debut of Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria with a battling 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory, while Czech Tomas Berdych, the number nine seed, beat French qualifier Romain Jouan 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Elsewhere, French 13th seed Richard Gasquet trounced Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4 6-4 6-0, Serbian Janko Tipsarevic ousted France's Augustin Gensse 6-2 7-5 6-0, while Czech Radek Stepanek beat Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-1 6-3. Fifteenth seed Viktor Troicki became the first seed to fall at this year's tournament when he was beaten in five sets 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-5 7-5 by Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
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Roger Federer beats Santiago Giraldo 6-4 6-3 6-2 in first round of U.S. Open . The 30-year old Swiss finishes with 36 winners and 35 unforced errors . Other noted winners include Mardy Fish, Marin Cilic, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet .
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(CNN) -- Eddie Murphy announced Wednesday he would not host next year's Academy Awards, one day after colleague and show producer Brett Ratner quit over an anti-gay remark he made over the weekend. "I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well," said Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 84th Academy Awards program is scheduled for February 26. Murphy worked with Ratner, a director, in the newly released action comedy "Tower Heist." "First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony," Murphy said in a statement. "I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job." Ratner met with the representatives of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation before announcing his resignation, GLAAD said in a news release Tuesday. When asked during a question-and-answer session whether he rehearses with his actors before shooting a scene, Ratner replied, "Rehearsing is for f*gs," GLAAD said in its release, citing New York Magazine's Vulture blog. "Over the last few days, I've gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances," Ratner said in a letter about this resignation, which was given to CNN by his representative, Allan Mayer. "To them, and to everyone I've hurt and offended, I'd like to apologize publicly and unreservedly."
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Eddie Murphy decides not to host the 84th Academy Awards . Brett Ratner, who worked with Murphy on a recent film, made a demeaning remark . "Rehearsing is for f*gs," New York Magazine's Vulture Blog quoted Ratner as saying .
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(CNN Student News) -- October 30, 2013 . How did President Vladimir Putin respond to concerns about a controversial Russian law's possible impact on the 2014 Winter Olympics? Why is a U.S. senator planning to block White House nominations? Which continents are connected by a new, undersea railway tunnel? Get all the answers in Wednesday's edition of CNN Student News! On this page you will find today's show Transcript, the Daily Curriculum, Maps pertaining to today's show, and a place for you to leave feedback. TRANSCRIPT . Click here to access the transcript of today's CNN Student News program. Please note that there may be a delay between the time when the video is available and when the transcript is published. DAILY CURRICULUM . Click here for a printable version of the Daily Curriculum (PDF). Media Literacy Question of the Day: . When might a statement by a world leader make international news? What criteria might news producers use in deciding whether to cover it? Key Concepts: Identify or explain these subjects you heard about in today's show: . 1. advice and consent . 2. Silk Road . 3. vital signs . Fast Facts: How well were you listening to today's program? 1. How does "advice and consent" apply in the U.S. government? What action is a U.S. senator threatening to take regarding presidential nominees? Why? 2. Why was a tunnel built under the Bosphorus Strait? According to the report, what features of this tunnel help reduce the effects of seismic activity? 3. How does the trauma patient simulator seen in the video work? Discussion Questions: . 1. Do you think that the controversy surrounding Russia's anti-gay propaganda law will have an impact on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games? Why or why not? 2. Why do you think the U.S. Founding Fathers gave the Senate oversight of presidential appointments? What differing perspectives might people have on a senator's plans regarding Senate confirmation hearings? What is your opinion? 3. In what ways might the medical simulation seen in the report be similar to a real-life situation? How might it be different? Can you think of other fields in which a real-time simulator might be useful? CNN Student News is created by a team of journalists and educators who consider the Common Core State Standards, national standards in different subject areas, and state standards when producing the show and curriculum. We hope you use our free daily materials along with the program, and we welcome your feedback on them. MAPS . Download PDF maps related to today's show: . Europe . Russia . Turkey . FEEDBACK . We're looking for your feedback about CNN Student News. Please use this page to leave us comments about today's program, including what you think about our stories and our resources. Also, feel free to tell us how you use them in your classroom. The educators on our staff will monitor this page and may respond to your comments as well. Thank you for using CNN Student News! Click here to submit your Roll Call request.
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This page includes the show Transcript, the Daily Curriculum, and Maps . Use the Transcript to help students with reading comprehension and vocabulary . The Daily Curriculum offers the Media Literacy Question of the Day, Key Concepts, Fast Facts and Discussion Questions . At the bottom of the page, please share your feedback about our show and curriculum .
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan has arrested a suspected al Qaeda militant who intelligence officials say is tied to the London subway bombings in 2005, authorities there said Thursday. The double-decker bus damaged by a bomb in central London on July 7, 2005. Zabih al-Taifi was arrested in a village near Peshawar on Wednesday as part of ongoing security operations in the area, police and intelligence officials told CNN. Six others, both Afghans and Pakistanis, were also arrested. The Metropolitan Police Service in London, also known as Scotland Yard, issued a statement refusing to comment on the arrest. "Speculation around this reported arrest with alleged links to an ongoing terrorist trial is unhelpful and may be prejudicial to current criminal proceedings," it said. The London blasts killed 52 people and wounded at least 900 others when bombs went off on three subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005. Security analysts say the village where al-Taifi was arrested in the North West Frontier Province has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants. CNN's Zein Basravi contributed to this report.
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Officials say arrested al Qaeda militant has ties to 2005 London subway bombings . 52 killed, 900 wounded from bombs on 3 subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005 . Zabih al-Taifi arrested in village near Peshawar in ongoing security operations .
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Los Angeles (CNN) -- The co-author of a study on propofol addiction funded by AEG Live and used in their defense in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial lost his medical license for writing illegal drug prescriptions, according to testimony. Dr. Torin Finver was hired to help with the AEG Live study after he lost his job at a pizza parlor and took a job driving a Goodwill truck, said Dr. Paul Earley, who testified Wednesday as an expert witness for the concert promoter. Finver was "destitute, dead broke, and I wanted to help him," Earley, himself a recovering heroin addict, testified. The revelation was a bizarre twist in the trial of the billion-dollar lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother and three children, which is being heard by a Los Angeles jury. The four-month-long trial is nearing a conclusion. AEG Live lawyers will announce if they have any more witnesses to call before playing the video depositions of three more doctors on Friday. Jackson lawyers would then take several days to call rebuttal witnesses before closing arguments are heard, which is likely to happened around September 23. Earley testified that he never disclosed to AEG Live lawyers that his co-author had lost his medical license. Ironically, the company is being accused of the negligent hiring of Dr. Conrad Murray, convicted in Jackson's death because it allegedly failed to check Murray's background before hiring him. Jackson lawyer Kevin Boyle also grilled Earley over his nondisclosure that he was working as a paid consultant in AEG Live's defense when he submitted the study for publication in a medical journal. He said the concert promoter did not try to influence his findings, which were published in March in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. Nurse details Michael Jackson's fatal search for sleep . Jackson lawyers are hoping the controversy over Earley's work for AEG Live will distract jurors from his conclusion that Michael Jackson was a drug addict with a "grave prognosis" that would have shortened his life had he not died of an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009. Each dose of an anesthetic his doctor gave him to help him sleep was like playing "Russian roulette," Earley said. Murray told investigators he gave Jackson infusions of propofol for 60 nights to treat his insomnia as the entertainer prepared for his comeback concerts. Lawyers for the concert promoter hired Earley in their effort to downplay damages the company might have to pay if found liable in the pop icon's death. How much longer Jackson might have lived -- and earned money touring -- will be important if the jury decides AEG Live is liable for damages in Jackson's death. Jackson lawyers contend he would have earned more than $1.5 billion touring the world over the next several years. Katherine Jackson and her three grandchildren sued Michael Jackson's last concert promoter, contending the company is liable in his death because it hired, retained or supervised the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter. AEG Live lawyers contend it was Jackson, not the promoter, who chose and controlled Murray, and say AEG executives had no way of knowing about the dangerous treatments the doctor was giving Jackson in the privacy of his bedroom. Jackson's mom remembers her 'sweet little boy' Earley: Jackson went 'doctor shopping' Despite writing a blog six weeks after Jackson's death titled "Michael Jackson: Addiction in the Privileged," Earley testified Tuesday that there "was insufficient evidence that he was addicted to propofol." "He was given propofol initially for appropriate medical procedures, but at some point, he began seeking out physicians who would administer propofol to him," Earley testified. The last two instances of "doctor shopping" for propofol were late March and April of 2009, when Jackson asked an anesthesiologist to go on tour with him and then asked a nurse to help him find an anesthesiologist, he said. Earley said there was no evidence Jackson's search for a doctor to give him propofol continued after AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongaware sent an e-mail to the singer's assistant on May 6, 2009, telling him Murray had agreed to take the job as his personal physician for the "This Is It" tour. "Done at $150k a month," Gongaware wrote. "Sounds like he got it," Earley testified. The Jackson family's lawyers contend that AEG Live executives ignored warning signs that Jackson's health began deteriorating after Murray began attending to him on a daily basis. Show workers sent e-mails describing a paranoid and frail Jackson who couldn't perform his standard dances or remember words to songs he had sung for decades. A Harvard Medical School sleep expert, testifying in June for the Jacksons, concluded that the 60 nights of propofol infusions apparently robbed Jackson of rapid eye movement sleep, which is vital to keep the brain and body alive. "The symptoms that Mr. Jackson was exhibiting were consistent with what someone might expect to see of someone suffering from total sleep deprivation over a chronic period," Dr. Charles Czeisler testified. AEG expert: Jackson was a drug addict . Expert's conflict? Soon after AEG Live's lawyers hired Earley as a consultant on propofol addiction in 2011, they agreed to fund his scientific research, which resulted in his paper titled "Addiction to Propofol: A Study of 22 Treatment Cases." The American Society of Addiction Medicine published the study in March. Earley insisted in his testimony that AEG Live's funding did not influence the conclusions of his study or his testimony in the trial. But the Jackson lawyer hammered the doctor about the lack of disclosure to the scientific journal and his collaborator that he was being paid to be an expert witness in the trial. He informed them that he was doing research for the company, but the trial aspect was "irrelevant," Earley said. "It's irrelevant to health care professionals," he said. "It wouldn't affect their understanding of the paper."
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NEW: Co-author of AEG Live propofol study was hired after losing pizza parlor job . NEW: Study co-author was "destitute, dead broke," AEG Live expert testifies . AEG Live funded the expert's propofol research paper . The wrongful death case is nearing an end after four months .
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Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration could be in violation of the War Powers Resolution if it fails to get congressional authorization by Sunday for U.S. participation in the Libya military mission, House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday. In a letter to President Barack Obama that his aides made public, Boehner, R-Ohio, complained that the administration has failed to address questions about the mission that were in a House resolution passed June 3. That resolution set a two-week deadline for a response. Boehner's letter reiterated the Friday deadline and took the additional step of warning that a failure to respond could violate the War Powers Resolution. According to Boehner, a 90-day deadline for congressional authorization of the Libya mission expires Sunday. "It would appear that, in five days, the administration will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution unless it asks for and receives authorization from Congress or withdraws all U.S. troops and resources from the mission," Boehner's letter said. The White House has previously said it was complying with the War Powers Resolution through frequent briefings on the Libya mission. Boehner's letter contested that assertion. "Since the mission began, the administration has provided tactical operational briefings to the House of Representatives, but the White House has systematically avoided requesting a formal authorization for its action," Boehner's letter said. "It has simultaneously sought, however, to portray that its actions are consistent with the War Powers Resolution. The combination of these actions has left many members of Congress, as well as the American people, frustrated by the lack of clarity over the administration's strategic policies, by a refusal to acknowledge and respect the role of the Congress, and by a refusal to comply with the basic tenets of the War Powers Resolution." Such political wrangling over war powers is common in Washington, with presidents frequently seeking to expand their freedom to commit U.S. forces and Congress battling to exert influence on the process. Boehner's letter said that, in this case, "the ongoing, deeply divisive debate originated with a lack of genuine consultation prior to commencement of operations and has been further exacerbated by the lack of visibility and leadership from you and your administration." With his letter, Boehner raised the stakes on an issue that could prove politically embarrassing to Obama, with increasing numbers of Republicans and Democrats opposing the Libya mission. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who supports the Libya mission, said Tuesday that he expected the White House to provide Congress with details on the Libya mission this week. "My understanding is the White House will be sending over a report and lots of information about what we've done," McCain said, adding that the Senate could then vote on a resolution backing the mission that would be intended to satisfy questions over the War Powers Resolution requirement. To McCain, the delay in a White House response made the issue more challenging than necessary. "I can assure you that it's gonna be much more difficult, with a lot more amendments and a lot more debates, than if we would have done this a couple months ago," McCain said. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said late Tuesday that the information would probably be delivered to members of Congress on Wednesday. "We are in the final stages of preparing extensive information for the House and Senate that will address a whole host of issues about our ongoing efforts in Libya, including those raised in the House resolution as well as our legal analysis with regard to the War Powers Resolution," he said. Since March 1, administration witnesses have testified at more than 10 hearings that included a "substantial discussion of Libya" and participated in more than 30 member or staff briefings on the matter, he said. In announcing the mission in March, Obama said U.S. forces would take the early lead in establishing a no-fly zone over the country in order to enforce a U.N. resolution calling for the protection of Libyan civilians from forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi. The U.S. forces eventually assumed a supporting role as NATO took over the mission. Congressional opponents of the mission say that its objective of civilian protection fails to match the stated U.S. goal of Gadhafi's resignation or ouster and that the Libya situation could become a stalemate. The White House says incremental progress is occurring through increasing diplomatic, political and military pressure on Gadhafi to step down. In a coincidence of scheduling, Obama and Boehner are set to play golf together for the first time Saturday, a day after Boehner's deadline for information from the administration and the day before he says it could be in violation of the War Powers Resolution. CNN's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.
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NEW: McCain says White House will provide information on Libya mission . The House speaker sets a Friday deadline for President Obama's response . A House resolution passed June 3 asked for more details on the mission . The White House has said it is complying with the War Powers Resolution .
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(Entertainment Weekly) -- Once upon a time -- oh, let's just call it North America in the mid-'90s, shall we? -- Weezer and Alanis Morissette were an inescapable part of the cultural landscape, churning out buoyant rock-radio hits (Weezer), wordy, eccentric anthems (Alanis), and MTV-friendly videos (both) with impressive consistency. Alanis Morissette struggled to find a way to stay current after her last album failed to do well. Each act's follow-ups, however, have failed to yield quite the success of their initial impact. So how, in the face of a never-ending rush of fresh industry blood, does an already established act stay relevant? For Morissette, the answer on new CD "Flavors of Entanglement" seems to lie, for better or worse, in going through a really, really bad breakup. The same kind of passion that fueled the 15-million-selling '95 smash "Jagged Little Pill" (was there ever a woman more excellently scorned than the Alanis who excoriated her lover on "You Oughta Know"?) is all over "Entanglement" -- thanks to a well-publicized split with actor fiance Ryan Reynolds. Granted, at 34, she still writes too often in the histrionic, no-one-has-ever-felt-what-I-feel style of a feverishly journaling liberal-arts major. Even so, the rawness of her hurt adds heft to eff-you screeds like the thunderous "Versions of Violence," and she's found an able partner in producer and co-writer Guy Sigsworth, a onetime Björk collaborator. His dense, swirling compositions seem to push Morissette's boundaries, conjuring her inner Princess of Darkness on the glitchy, gothy "Straitjacket" and exploring Far Eastern exotica on the tabla-tinged opener "Citizen of the Planet." But her most affecting moment may be the most stripped down. A barely-there piano is all the accompaniment needed on the broken, fragile ballad "Not as We," on which her voice cracks heartbreakingly over the lines "From scratch begin again, but this time, I as I/And not as we." Somehow, a devastating personal experience has galvanized her songwriting in a way that domestic bliss, as showcased on 2004's disappointing "So-Called Chaos," could not. EW Grade: B+ . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . Copyright 2009 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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Breakup with actor fiance Ryan Reynolds part of "Flavors of Entanglement" Alanis Morissette's most affecting moment on the album is sparest . Morissette partners with producer, co-writer Guy Sigsworth .
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(CNN) -- Incumbent leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a third term in office after a landslide victory in Algeria's presidential election, media reports said Friday. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrives to cast his vote at a school in Algiers. Bouteflika's victory came despite calls from his political opponents for voters to boycott the polls. They claim the election was a charade, with the other presidential candidates -- from left-wing parties to Islamists -- standing no real chance. The 72-year-old was elected with over 90 percent of the vote, Reuters.com quoted the official in charge of organizing Thursday's presidential election as saying. "Bouteflika has won ... 90.24 percent of the votes cast," Interior Minister Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni told a news conference. Algerian lawmakers, most of them loyal to the president, cleared the way for him to stand for re-election last year by abolishing constitutional term limits. Critics said that would allow him to serve as president-for-life. Supporters of Bouteflika say he deserves credit for steering the North African country, an oil and gas producer, back to stability after a bloody civil conflict in the 1990s that killed an estimated 150,000 people. But critics say he is using the threat of renewed violence from Islamic militants to mask the country's deepening economic problems. "I continue to regard the restoration of civil peace as a national priority, as long as hotbeds of tension and pockets of subversion survive," Bouteflika, running for a third term, said in his final campaign speech on Monday, Reuters.com reported. He has also promised to spend $150 billion on development projects and create 3 million jobs, his remedy for an economy in which energy accounts for about 96 percent of exports but where other sectors have been choked by red tape and under-investment.
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Bouteflika, 72, win third term comfortably with 90 percent of vote . Lawmakers abolished constitutional term limits last year . Political opponents claim vote was a charade . Algeria is fighting an Islamic insurgency and an ailing economy .
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(CNN) -- After years plagued by injuries and scandal, Tiger Woods pulled away from his competition Sunday to capture his first PGA Tour win since September 2009. Months after capturing the BMW Championship, Woods became a tabloid fixture for his affairs with several women that led to the end of his marriage. His golf game also suffered significantly in the 3 1/2 years since, thanks in large part to various injuries. Yet he had proved successful in the past at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, having won six times before this weekend at the course in his long-time hometown of Orlando, Florida. He walked up toward the 18th green Sunday to fervent applause, tipping his hat to fans. He ended up tapping in on that hole for par, to finish five strokes ahead of second-place finisher Graeme McDowell. Palmer: The old Tiger will be back . "It feels really good," Woods told NBC, which covered the event. "(It was) a lot of hard work, I'm so thankful for a lot of people helping me out along the way. It's been tough." The tournament's namesake, Arnold Palmer, did not congratulate the winner as expected because of a health problem that led to his going to Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando. Alastair Johnston, chief operating officer of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, explained in a statement that the 83-year-old golf giant's blood pressure -- when checked 15 minutes before Woods wrapped up the contest -- was "at a level where the doctor involved suggested that he go immediately to get more intensive evaluation at the hospital." "I think the blood pressure situation is starting to ameliorate," Johnston said after talking with Palmer's daughter. "Nobody is overly concerned about the prognosis, although he is going to remain in the hospital overnight for observation." After his victory Sunday, Woods took to Twitter to express his joy and also send out well wishes to Palmer. "Heading home now and I can't stop smiling. Thanks to Otown fans and everyone watching for all the love. Get well soon, Arnie," he wrote. Woods, who has won 14 Grand Slam titles, had won the 2011 edition of the World Challenge tournament that he hosts. But until Sunday, he had been still searching for a comeback win in an event with a full field. His next big tournament will be next month's Masters, the Grand Slam event held each year in Augusta, Georgia. Despite earlier concerns that he may be hindered once again by injuries, Woods expressed optimism and enthusiasm Sunday that he'd do well. "I am excited. It's always fun to get there, and it's always fun to play," he said. "(It is) all coming together at the right time."
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NEW: Woods writes on Twitter, "Heading home now and I can't stop smiling" He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, by five strokes . It's the golfer's first PGA Tour victory since September 2009 . Arnold Palmer didn't congratulate Woods due to a blood pressure problem .
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(CNN) -- Are Democrats beginning to reconsider their vote in the 2008 Democratic primary? With the nation's economy -- and arguably its politics -- in shambles, it is not very surprising to find in a recent Bloomberg poll that 34% of respondents think it would have been better for the country if Hillary Clinton hadn't lost the battle for the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. A CNN poll released last week put Clinton's favorability rating at a tremendous 69%. Perhaps no one is questioning the 2008 results more than Democratic politicians who must face the voters next year. Right now, it looks like President Obama, rather than offering coattails to those below him on the ticket, may instead be serving up an anchor. This is ironic, when you look back at what actually happened during the Democrats' 2008 primary, and at who made Obama the party's nominee. It is often assumed that Barack Obama used his gifts as an orator and his aspirational rhetoric to energize young and minority voters in a way that allowed him to wrest the nomination from Clinton, the candidate favored by the Democratic establishment. This is a nice story, but it is not completely true. For one thing, Clinton actually defeated Obama in the popular vote. Still, one has to be careful not to read too much into this, since Clinton's very narrow lead depends on counting votes from Michigan. Because Michigan refused to abide by Democratic Party rules when scheduling its primary, Obama had pulled his name off that state's ballot. It does not really matter who won the popular vote, however, because the Democratic Party does not select its nominee only through a direct election. To become the party's standard-bearer, a candidate must capture the votes of a majority of the more than 4,000 delegates who are selected to attend the party's national convention. Although delegates are awarded in part based on the votes that they receive, neither Clinton nor Obama captured enough delegates through their primary and caucus showings to secure the nomination. Indeed, in 2008, Democratic Party rules made such a feat almost impossible. Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats don't allow states to award their delegates on a winner-take-all basis. This makes it difficult for candidates who are neck-and-neck to pull away from each other in delegate counts. Adding to this problem is that approximately 20% of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are not tied to the results of primary contests. Party rules stipulate that more than 800 seats at the convention belong to a group defined as "Party Leaders and Elected Officials." These so-called "superdelegates" are not formally pledged to any candidates and attend the convention regardless of primary and caucus results. Indeed, it appears that the real brilliance of the Obama campaign was to realize fairly early that a true majority was not achievable. In response to this fact, and having an edge in the early caucus states due to superior grass-roots organizing, the Obama campaign subtly changed the understanding of the rules. It acted as if the nomination would be determined by the delegate count after the caucuses and primaries, regardless of whether an absolute majority had been achieved. What this did was to lower the overall number by more than 800 votes (the superdelegates), and consequently change the threshold of victory. Since most Americans are unfamiliar with how the nominating process works, this was a fairly easy story to sell. The press for the most part cooperated. Once this fiction was accepted, any other result would be seen as undemocratic. Indeed, Clinton's complaints about this unofficial after-the-fact rules change were portrayed as a divisive form of sour grapes. After all, following Sen. Obama's post-Super Tuesday February romp through 10 states, it became obvious that Sen. Clinton would not be able to win under this new threshold. Ultimately, and most importantly, the elected and unelected leaders of the Democratic Party accepted the Obama campaign's spin. This was crucial to Obama's success, since a real victory at the convention depended on these superdelegates ignoring the fact that Clinton was the stronger general election candidate in swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio. In the end, it was the endorsement of these superdelegates -- again, party leaders and elected officials -- that forced Clinton to concede the nomination. The irony of all this should now be clear. According to a recent CNN poll, only Republican Mitt Romney appears to be in a position to offer a strong challenge to Obama in 2012. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, Romney's nomination is anything but certain. The results of the 2010 midterms, however, when combined with recent special election results, indicate that, with Obama at the top of the ticket, the prospects for many other Democratic elected officials are rather dismal. Of course, a lot of these politicians have no one to blame but themselves. I suspect, nonetheless, that they are feeling more than a twinge of buyer's remorse. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Sracic.
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Paul Sracic: Are Democrats now reconsidering their vote in the 2008 Democratic primary? Hillary Clinton's favorability rating is now sky-high at 69%, Sracic says . Prospects for many Democratic elected officials in 2012 are now rather dismal, he says . Still, only Mitt Romney appears to be a significant challenge to Obama, Sracic says .
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(CNN) -- A federal grand jury indicted a man arrested last week in connection with a mysterious case of exposure to the deadly biological agent ricin, prosecutors said. Authorities found ricin, weapons and an anarchist manual in Roger Von Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room. Roger Von Bergendorff, 57, was indicted on charges of possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, said Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bergendorff was hospitalized for two months with suspected ricin poisoning, and was discharged before his arrest. His initial court appearance was last week, Collins said, and he did not enter a plea. An arraignment is scheduled for May 2. Bergendorff was hospitalized in February complaining of breathing difficulties. Two weeks later, Thomas Tholen, a cousin who went to Bergendorff's Las Vegas hotel room to recover his belongings, discovered what turned out to be ricin. Authorities also said a search of the room found four guns, the book "Anarchist's Cookbook," a collection of instructions on poisons and other dangerous recipes and castor beans, syringes and beakers. Ricin is extracted from ground-up castor beans. Tholen was charged earlier in April with failing to report the commission of a crime. A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly concealing the knowledge that production and possession of a biological agent -- a felony -- was being committed. Bergendorff previously lived in Tholen's home in Riverton, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. After the ricin was discovered, the FBI searched that home as well as storage units Bergendorff used in Utah. Authorities said FBI agents searching the storage units found castor beans, chemicals used in the production of ricin, a respirator, filters, laboratory glassware, syringes and a notebook on ricin production. If convicted as charged, Bergendorff would face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. E-mail to a friend .
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Roger Von Bergendorff indicted on ricin possession charges . Bergendorff had been hospitalized with suspected ricin poisoning . Authorities found ricin, guns in Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room . Thomas Tholen, Bergendorff's cousin, also faces charges .
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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Kabul's police chief and chief of criminal investigations have submitted their resignations to the Afghan Interior Ministry, but the ministry ordered them to complete their probe into Friday's suicide attacks first, a ministry spokesman told CNN. The ministry has not yet approved the resignations of Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahman and investigations chief Abdul Ghafar Sayed Zada, spokesman Ezmary Bashari said. The two were ordered to continue their investigation into deadly blasts that targeted foreigners in the capital city Friday. At least 17 people were killed and many others wounded. Once the investigation into the bombings is complete, the minister of interior will make a decision on the resignations, Bashari said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks near the Safi Landmark Hotel in the Shahr-E-Naw neighborhood of Kabul. A number of government and United Nations offices are located there, as well as supermarkets, banks, diplomatic facilities and villas for well-to-do Afghans. An employee at a Kabul hospital said eight Indians and one Pakistani were among the dead. Interior Ministry officials said an Italian was killed, and the Indian embassy said four Indians were killed. The attack started with a suicide car bomb and four suicide bombers with explosive-laden vests, said Taliban spokesman Zaidullah Mujahid. Three of the bombers were killed, he said. About 20 minutes later, a second large explosion occurred. Journalist Matiullah Mati and CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.
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Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahman, investigations chief Abdul Ghafar Sayed Zada quit . Both to continue investigation into Friday's deadly blasts that targeted foreigners . Taliban claimed responsibility for attacks near the Safi Landmark Hotel in Kabul .
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Montgomery, Alabama (CNN) -- I'm an attorney and I represent incarcerated people, both in my home state of Alabama and across the United States. I spend every day with people who are poor, disadvantaged, condemned and marginalized. I am persuaded that we can and should do better to create more hopeful and encouraging solutions to poverty, crime and inequality in this country. In the last 40 years, our society has witnessed unprecedented technological change, incredible innovation and a great deal of promise and success in many areas. Watch Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk . We have also seen growing inequality, increased levels of poverty and unprecedented rates of imprisonment. I have come to believe that, for all the things we have accomplished, injustice, poverty and mass incarceration are stains on our society. They cannot be ignored. In 1970 there were roughly 350,000 people in our jails and prisons. Today there are more than 2.2 million. That's not counting the nearly 5 million people who are on probation or parole. One in every 31 Americans is subject to some form of correctional control. This policy of mass incarceration did not come out of nowhere. It was born out of a politics of fear and anger based on now discredited theories. It was our response to problems in our society that we were not creative enough -- or perhaps not courageous enough -- to solve. Public safety is a legitimate priority for any nation, but it does not explain the fact that the United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. TED.com: America's native prisoners of war . Mass incarceration has been our response to poverty. The boom in imprisonment coincided with a retraction of programs intended to pull Americans out of poverty. And incarceration itself has a lasting impact, not just on the economic mobility of former prisoners, but on the mobility of their children and families. There are now more than 46 million people living below the federal poverty line in the United States. Mass incarceration has been our response to mental illness. More than half the people in our jails and prisons have mental health problems and most are not receiving treatment. Many of these individuals also have substance abuse disorders. Veterans, suffering from PTSD from their combat experience, are at increased risk of suicide in prison. Mass incarceration has been our response to the oldest and most enduring problem of our nation: the problem of race. While more than one in 100 adults in America are behind bars, that number is one in 15 for African-American men. We frequently target communities of color with unequal enforcement of the law and subject too many young black and brown people to a presumption of guilt that results in disproportionate sentences and mistreatment. But the numbers alone don't tell the full story. Our sentencing practices in individual cases reveal the gross excesses of our system. TED.com: Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty . As we've locked up more and more people, sentences have gotten harsher. Misguided three-strikes laws have had the perverse result of sending people to prison for the rest of their lives for petty crimes like stealing a set of golf clubs. We are the only nation in the world that sentences children as young as 13 to die in prison. And we continue to have a death penalty that not only costs billions, but also produces unfair and unreliable results. For every nine people we have executed in the last 40 years, we have found one person on death row who was innocent. This error rate would be intolerable in any industry, yet where the difference is that of life or death, we are unwilling to speak up. Why? How has a problem that affects one in 31 Americans (not to speak of their children, families, and communities) been ignored for so long? The answer is that mass incarceration impacts mostly the poor, the historically disfavored, the racial minority: those whose voices are rarely heard. Spending on jails and prisons has required taking money away from education, public benefits and social welfare in too many states. Some conservatives and progressives have begun to recognize that it's time to dismantle the policies of mass incarceration. More of us must speak up. We must take responsibility for human suffering and despair even when we are conditioned not to see it. We need to challenge ourselves to work toward meaningful solutions, like rehabilitation and reform. We need to talk about the ugliest chapters of our history; we need to talk about race and poverty. Most of all we need to talk about injustice. Because until we confront injustice, I believe its stain will shadow all of our accomplishments. We need to talk about injustice, because who we are as a society cannot be accurately defined by our wealth, our technology, or our celebrities. We will be ultimately defined instead by our treatment of the poor, our compassion for the condemned, our commitment to our own humanity. We need to talk about injustice, so that we can create justice. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bryan Stevenson.
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Bryan Stevenson: The number of Americans in prisons has grown tremendously . He says mass incarceration is an injustice that stains America . Stevenson says justice system incarcerates minor criminals, locks up children for life . He says America will be judged for its compassion for poor and condemned .
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(CNN) -- If laughter is the best medicine then few are more qualified to offer a prescription than Riaad Moosa. The South African comic-turned-movie-actor is a fully trained doctor, but it's his Indian heritage and Muslim faith that provide the basis for his stand-up material. "I'm a comedian who happens to be Muslim [and] my comedy stems on all forms of my identity," he says. Moosa came to prominence on the comedy-club circuit of his native Cape Town around the turn of the century and became known for poking fun at Islamic stereotypes. He believes this serves to highlight the prejudices many people have developed about Muslims due to fears of terrorism or violent extremism. "When I started out it was around the whole 9/11, Islamophobia was just sort of hitting a second wind," he says. "Obviously that informed a lot of my humor and it influenced a lot of what I was talking about on stage because it was extremely relevant at the time. "I would just speak about how people perceived Muslims and how scared they are of Muslims." See also: South African comic duo stir up stereotypes . Moosa however says that Islam is a religion which is tolerant and open to comedy, especially in South Africa. "I'm sure in certain parts of the world it still sounds a bit strange [being a Muslim comedian]," he says. "In the Cape, in fact, it's completely the opposite. The Muslims in the Cape are associated with having a very good sense of humor." Moosa has been known to crack jokes on the death of Osama bin Laden and European perceptions of Islam. In one routine he jokes: "Europeans ridicule Muslim culture because they don't understand the wisdom behind it. Take swine flu for instance: all the sudden you've got Europeans scared of pigs -- we've been saying that for years!" Watch video: Riaad Moosa, doctor turned comedian . Moosa describes such gags as "hard jokes" but says he should able to extract humor from every aspect of his life. He draws a line however at insulting or demeaning his religious beliefs. "I would never want to disrespect my beliefs," he says. "There are certain, obviously different, areas you wouldn't go. It's not congruent to who I am as a person and it would be insincere and it wouldn't be based on truth." Despite being a natural comedian, Moosa says he always wanted to be a doctor. "Both my parents are doctors, so from the time I was a child I wanted to do medicine," he says. "It just so happened that I also had this other talent for making voices -- that's how my mom put it -- I used to always impersonate people." Having qualified as a doctor, Moosa admits that his new career is something of a departure. "It's a very different type of work -- I mean, I never got applause with the medicine. I never got: 'That's an amazing prostate exam doctor, do you have any DVDs of your prostate exams?'" Moosa's latest film project, Material, has already been released in South Africa. In the movie he plays an aspiring young Muslim comedian challenging his family's expectations of what it means to be successful in modern South Africa. In many ways, Material has more than a whiff of Moosa's own life-story about it. He has been heavily involved throughout the project, helping write the script, being cast in the starring roll and even having a financial stake in the film. "The challenges that I have of being a South African comedian as a Muslim ... does get dramatized in the story," he says. "It's not specifically my story because my family is very supportive. There was no moment where I had to challenge my parents specifically to try and achieve my dream, which is what happens in the movie." Moosa hopes the underlying themes portrayed in the film of an underdog fighting against the odds and tradition will make it a hit outside South Africa. See also: Muslim comedian branches out . Like his comedic routines, Moosa has tried to create a piece of art that will resonate with his audience on multiple levels. He says there are plans to take the film to India and the Middle East and has already visited London to promote the movie at the 2012 BFI London Film Festival. He adds: "It is a universal tale and I think many communities or people around the world will connect with that story. "That's the trick, to not make it a South African story but a story about an ordinary person trying to follow their dreams."
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Riaad Moosa is a comedian, movie star and a qualified doctor . He uses his religious identity to poke fun at Islamic stereotypes . Moosa believes Islam is a religion that is open to comedy . His latest movie tells the story of a Muslim comedian challenging his community's expectations .
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Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A motorcycle bomb killed 20 people and injured 117 others south of Baghdad on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said. The bombing in the holy city of Karbala was one of four attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims as they headed toward the shrine of Imam Hussein on Wednesday morning, a ministry official said. Three people died and 23 were injured in the other attacks. In those explosions, a roadside bomb in western Baghdad killed one person, and a roadside bomb in the city of Hilla in Babil province, south of Baghdad, killed two people. A roadside bomb in southwestern Baghdad caused only injuries. Wednesday's attacks came two days after a suicide bomber killed 41 people and wounded 106 others in an assault on pilgrims in northeastern Baghdad. Iraqi authorities are trying to provide security to thousands of Shiite worshipers who are making their way to Karbala to mark the Arbaeen -- the end of the 40-day mourning period at the close of Ashura. Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680 A.D. That event helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements. CNN's Yousif Bassil contributed to this report.
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Bombers target Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala . Twenty people killed, more than 100 injured in a motorbike blast . Attack was one of four carried out Wednesday . Three people died and 23 were injured in the other attacks .
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(CNN) -- When the MotoGP season began, not many would have picked Marc Marquez to win the individual title. He was a rookie making the transition from Moto2 and replacing one of the sport's greats, Casey Stoner, at Honda. He also had to contend with reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo and perennial contender Dani Pedrosa. According to British oddsmaker William Hill, Marquez was merely the joint third favorite at 7/2, behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa and tied with motorcycling legend Valentino Rossi. But Marquez's brash style -- along with shoulder injuries to Lorenzo and Pedrosa -- saw the Spaniard move into contention and it appears nothing can stop the 20-year-old from becoming the first rookie to claim the MotoGP crown in 35 years. His odds of winning the title now stand at a miniscule 1/9. "There are no excuses," Lorenzo said. "Marc was faster than us and he was better. I can only congratulate him and look forward to the next race." Lorenzo was speaking to reporters Sunday, after Marquez captured Spain's Aragon Grand Prix -- but they were words he could have uttered for much of the campaign. Marquez chased down Yamaha's Lorenzo -- it wasn't the first time this season that happened -- before easing to the finish line. It ended Lorenzo's two-race winning streak and boosted Marquez's overall advantage to a substantial 39 points with only four races remaining. "I didn't expect this before the start of the season," Marquez was quoted as saying by Australian news agency AAP this month. "My goal was just to take some podiums and try to fight for some victories in the end of the season. "At the moment I want to go race by race but for sure we have some possibility (to win the crown). "We don't have any pressure because we have already done better than what we expected." Pedrosa probably wasn't all that impressed with Marquez, his teammate, on Sunday. They touched on lap 6 as Marquez seemed to out-brake himself and Pedrosa crashed seconds later, hurting his hip and groin. "Marc went in too wide on the corner entry, clipped me from the outside and I went flying when I got on the gas," Pedrosa told the team website. "My mechanics told me later that the traction-control cable had been cut by the contact." Marquez apologized. "The team told me I caused his traction-control cable to snap and I'm sorry for that," Marquez told the team website. "It's something very unusual to see." But seeing Marquez atop the standings has become commonplace.
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With four races remaining, Marc Marquez leads the MotoGP standings by 39 points . Marquez won the Aragon Grand Prix on Sunday after catching Jorge Lorenzo . Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa made contact and Pedrosa later crashed . The next three races are in Malaysia, Australia and Japan before the Valencia finale .
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Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel declared a Friday test of its Arrow weapon system a "major milestone" in the development of a system to defend against medium range missiles that could be fired from countries like Iran. In a statement the Israeli Defense Ministry said the test "provides confidence in operational Israeli capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat." The successful test of the joint American and Israeli weapon system was held over the Mediterranean Sea Friday morning and sought to track a simulated incoming ballistic missile via radar and pass the information back to what is known as the battle management controller. The Defense Ministry described the test as a "target-only tracking exercise," meaning the missile was not intercepted. The ministry said the test demonstrated that the Arrow Weapon System and the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System could successfully work together in what it termed "interoperability." U.S. Missile Defense Agency personnel participated in the test, the ministry said. The missile defense test comes amid fevered speculation that Israel may soon launch a unilateral attack against Iran's nuclear program, though Israeli defense officials said the timing of Friday's exercise were planned a year in advance and was not connected to recent events. Both countries were supposed to hold a massive joint missile defense exercise in April, but the drills were postponed until the second half of the year with both sides citing technical reasons. Israel and the United States have been jointly developing the multi-billion dollar Arrow missile defense system since 1986. The goal of the project is to provide Israel with a defense for medium range missiles fired toward it from the region.
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Israel declares test a "major milestone" in development of anti-missile system . Arrow could protect Israel from medium range missiles fired from countries like Iran . The U.S. participated in the test described as "target-only tracking"
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(CNN) -- Police have ratcheted up charges against the girlfriend of an Alabama father, days after searchers found fragmented remains they say are of the second of the man's young children, tossed along the side of a remote highway. Mobile, Alabama, police spokesman Christopher Levy said Monday that Heather Keaton would be charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of abuse of a corpse -- one count each for the deaths of Jonathan DeBlase, 3, and his sister Natalie, 4. The children's father, John Joseph DeBlase, 27, was arrested December 3 and is now charged with two counts of murder and two counts of abuse of a corpse. John DeBlase's lawyer, Jim Sears, said Monday that his client maintains "his innocence in regards to the death of the children." Sears added that DeBlase might consider pleading not guilty by reason of disease or mental defect (equivalent to an insanity plea in other jurisdictions). The investigation kicked off November 18, when Keaton told Louisville, Kentucky, police that she needed protection from DeBlase, who she claimed was holding her against her will. She was arrested in early December and charged, at the time, with two counts of willful abuse and neglect of a child. Around 1 a.m. Monday, Keaton arrived from Kentucky to face the four additional charges, according Levy. By early in the afternoon, she had not been questioned by Mobile police. Her arrest followed the discovery Saturday morning of remains that authorities believe are those of young Natalie DeBlase. Searchers had planned to canvas woods abutting a six-mile stretch of highway just northwest of Citronelle, Alabama, about 50 miles north of Mobile, based on information provided by John DeBlase. But they found the remains -- less than half of a young body, including a skull and miscellaneous bones -- around 9 a.m., within 30 minutes of starting the search. "We didn't cover hardly any of it, because we found her so quickly," said Levy. "She was where he said she would be." Levy said the girl was not buried, but had been laid "in the woods, not far from the roadway," just as DeBlase had told authorities. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences is examining the remains to confirm that they belonged to Natalie. The girl was last seen in March, when authorities believe she was killed. Jonathan DeBlase had not been seen since June, police said. Investigators believe he was slain around that time. Remains that police believe are those of the young boy were found last Wednesday near Vancleave, Mississippi. The cause of death for both sets of remains has not yet been determined, police said. DeBlase and Keaton blame each other for the siblings' deaths, authorities said. Police, who did not know the children were missing until November 19, contend that DeBlase allowed Keaton to abuse the children by restraining them with tape, putting socks in their mouths and confining them. A day earlier, Keaton signed a domestic violence petition in Louisville that said, "I feel he may have murdered his children, because he said they were non-responsive. He would not let me check on them." She said DeBlase had told her "choices were made ... and he had to do what he had to do." According to a police complaint, DeBlase between March 1 and November 19 allowed Keaton to tape Natalie's hands and feet, put a sock in her mouth and place her in a suitcase that was put in a closet for 14 hours. He also allowed Keaton to tape Jonathan's hands to the side of his legs, tape a broom handle to his back, place a sock in his mouth and then make the child stand in a corner all night when the couple went to bed, according to the complaint. DeBlase and Keaton have one infant daughter together, according to Keaton's account in the Kentucky police report. Police said one reason Keaton claimed she needed protection from DeBlase was that she feared for the safety of the infant, who was with her in Kentucky. HLN's Natisha Lance contributed to this report.
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NEW: John DeBlase maintains his innocence in his children's deaths, his lawyer says . Heather Keaton is being charged Monday with two counts of abuse of a corpse . Alabama police say they believe the remains of both children have been found . The case opened in November, though the children hadn't been seen for months .
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(CNN) -- The U.S. Senate unanimously voted to tighten sanctions on Iran on Monday, three days after a dispute over whether to include the threat of American force stalled the legislation. The new sanctions would target Iran's oil and banking industries, as well as other sectors. The measure passed the Senate on a voice vote Monday evening, two days before a new round of talks between Iran and leading U.N. members in Baghdad. "Today the Senate has showed we can still act in a bipartisan way on important priorities," said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Passage came after senators agreed to add language warning that military force would be an option available to the United States if Iran seeks to build a nuclear weapon. But the measure also states that nothing in the legislation authorizes military action. Missile shield in place, NATO chief says . The House of Representatives passed a similar bill in December, but demands for those competing messages stalled the bill in the Senate last week. Republicans blocked passage after complaints that the language wasn't tough enough, leading Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, to complain that he was being "jerked around." Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the legislation now makes clear that "all options" could be considered, echoing previous statements by President Barack Obama. "I hope sanctions will work," Graham said. "But this is a clear statement by the United States Senate, backing up our president, that when it comes to Iran having a nuclear capability, there will be more than sanctions on the table -- and the Iranians need to know that." Meanwhile, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul insisted on language that explicitly noted that nothing in the bill "shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force" against either Iran or Syria, an Iranian ally now fighting a popular uprising against its government. Paul, the son of two-time GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, was pleased by the bill's passage, spokeswoman Moira Bagley told CNN. Security Clearance: Iran propping up Syria's cash reserves . And Reid said after the vote, "Iranians need to know we mean business." Aides from both parties said the House and Senate bills will need to be reconciled after the Senate amendments. Iran has insisted that its production of enriched uranium is meant to fuel civilian nuclear power plants, and U.S. intelligence believes any previous weapons-related research was halted in 2003. But the Islamic republic has refused international demands to halt its nuclear fuel program, and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in November that it was up to Iran to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its atomic research. Iran says U.N. talks pave way for negotiations . Meanwhile, Iran's economy has been crippled by existing sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. Eighty percent of Iran's foreign revenues are derived from oil exports, and an embargo by the EU set to go into effect in July will put further pressure on its economy. CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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NEW: "Iranians need to know we mean business," Sen. Harry Reid says . The new sanctions would take aim at Iran's oil and banking industries . A dispute over including a threat of U.S. force stalled the bill last week . Iran says its nuclear work is peaceful; new talks are scheduled for Wednesday .
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DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) -- Eric Mace says he thought he was giving his daughter good advice by asking her to sit up front in class. Ryanne Mace was 19 when she was killed last year in a shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University. "I'd like you to sit in the front row of every class that you're in and constantly drag information out of these people, and if you don't understand what they're talking about, raise your hand and say, 'I don't get it' until you get it," Mace recalled telling her. His daughter, 19-year-old Ryanne, took that advice. Now, he wishes she would have sat somewhere else. Mace believes that Ryanne was probably one of the first to be killed in the Northern Illinois University shootings a year ago, because she was in the front row in the lecture at Cole Hall. "She was, from what I understand, in the front row of that room and was probably the first one that had shots fired at her after the gentleman that was on stage," Mace said. "It's not an easy thing to carry, but I shouldn't have to carry it, either." Ryanne was Eric and Mary Kay Mace's only child. She was one of five NIU students killed on Valentine's Day last year by Steven Kazmierczak, a former NIU student who was attending graduate school at the University of Illinois in Champaign. "It's difficult. There's always an ache, loneliness and a longing. We're going to miss her every day for the rest of our lives," Mary Kay Mace said. Her husband added, "I go to bed thinking about her. I wake up in the morning thinking about her. Any time that I've a free moment, it will pop up." The Maces said they would like to know more about the police investigation into the shooting and Kazmierczak's history of mental illness. Police records provided to CNN indicate that he had a long history of mental problems, including several suicide attempts. The parents also are angry that he was able to buy guns. Because Kazmierczak had not been in a mental facility for more than five years, he was legally able to purchase those weapons in Illinois -- and on the firearms application form Kazmierczak filled out, he stated that he had never been adjudicated "mentally defective" and had never been "committed to a mental institution." See some of Kazmierczak's mental health records » . "I don't know if they don't report it if he's a juvenile with the mental illness on his record or what. But somewhere along the line, the pertinent information didn't get into the right database, and he could waltz out of a store with a legally purchased weapon," Mary Kay Mace said. "And I don't get that. That is what makes me angry." Now, the Maces have started a scholarship foundation for psychology majors in honor of their daughter. And they hope that what happened a year ago is never forgotten. "I don't want them to forget a single detail about it, because the details aren't going to change just by forgetting about them," Eric Mace said.
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Steven Kazmierczak carried out shooting spree at Northern Illinois February 14, 2008 . Father of Ryanne Mace told his daughter to always sit on the front row of class . "There's always an ache, loneliness and a longing," says Ryanne Mace's mother . Parents want to know more details about the shooting and the killer .
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(CNN) -- Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said Thursday that three Occupy Denver activists have been charged with felonies -- including inciting a riot and second-degree assault on an officer. While Occupy Wall Street protests began in New York two months ago, the movement has spread to several other cities -- as have reports of activists clashing with police. Some of the most high-profile incidents have taken place in Denver, including two tied to the filing of felony charges. A pair of men who were arrested on Sunday were charged with felonies. The previous night, police in riot gear arrested 17 people as they cleared furniture and tents from an Occupy encampment near the city's civic center, police spokesman Sonny Jackson told CNN. The main issue, he said, was that the items were blocking a right of way. On Sunday afternoon, two police officers were injured when protesters became upset when police began removing a food table from a park. Some of the protesters surrounded a police car. One woman then pushed a Denver police officer, according to an earlier Denver police statement. She and a male who came to her aid were arrested. The district attorney's office announced Thursday that a 28-year-old man has been charged with two felony counts of inciting a riot and one misdemeanor count of obstruction for allegedly blocking a police car and and telling others to riot. He has two other cases pending from two different dates in October -- unlawful conduct on public property and unlawful sexual contact -- according to the press release. Another 30-year-old man was charged with a felony count of second-degree assault on a police officer -- as well as misdemeanor charges of obstruction, resisting arrest and engaging in a riot -- from the same day. The district attorney claimed this man grabbed a law enforcement officer from behind and tried to hit him and wrestle him to the ground. A third man, who is 26 years old, also was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer. That charge stems from an October 29 incident in which the man allegedly tried to use a stick to hit an officer who was trying to arrest him. That day, demonstrators tried to occupy the Colorado Capitol -- which is not allowed -- and officers pushed them back, police spokesman Matt Murray said at the time. Pepper spray and pepper-ball guns were used against demonstrators. The man charged, Sean Drigger, told CNN affiliate KUSA soon after the incident, "All we're trying to do is have a peaceful protest and (the police) are attacking us." CNN's Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.
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Denver's district attorney says 3 will face felony charges related to 2 incidents . The charges including inciting a riot and assaulting a police officer . One had accused police of "attacking us" during demonstrations .
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New York (CNN) -- A New York judge Friday postponed a decision on a proposed $657 million settlement for people who became ill after working on the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The settlement, announced Thursday, would cover about 10,000 plaintiffs, said Marc Bern, one of the lawyers representing the workers. The postponement appeared to take attorneys -- and Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- by surprise. Attorneys for both sides and the mayor earlier made statements assuming the proposal would be approved by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The judge is particularly interested in making sure the attorneys' cut of the settlement is equitable for all parties. "This will not be a giveaway," Hellerstein said Friday. "This will be a fair and just settlement." Christine LaSala, president of WTC Captive Insurance Co., which announced the settlement, repeated after the judge's announcement a statement issued Thursday night. "This agreement enables workers and volunteers claiming injury from the WTC site operations to obtain compensation commensurate with the nature of their injuries and the strength of their claims, while offering added protection against possible future illness," she said. The agreement comes after six years of legal wrangling -- a sometimes excruciating wait for his clients, Bern said. Many of his clients worked rescuing victims from the terrorist attacks or removing debris after the World Trade Center toppled. After the work, some found their health deteriorated, with many suffering from asthma, other respiratory issues and blood cancer, Bern told CNN Radio. "I am quite gratified that we been able to reach a settlement for the heroes of 9/11," said Bern. "The men and women who were exposed at the site have waited a long time for some type of resolution." The WTC Captive Insurance Co. announced the settlement on Thursday. "This agreement enables workers and volunteers claiming injury from the WTC site operations to obtain compensation commensurate with the nature of their injuries and the strength of their claims, while offering added protection against possible future illness," the organization said in a statement. WTC Captive was created with a $1 billion FEMA grant and provides insurance coverage to the City of New York and its debris-removal contractors. In the aftermath of 9/11, New York was unable to get adequate amounts of liability insurance for the rescue, recovery and debris-removal work done at the World Trade Center site. The settlement would provide a system to pay for the compensation of the injury claims made by workers. This would include construction workers, firefighters, police officers and other workers and volunteers. The settlement would also fund a special insurance policy, which provides additional compensation to any plaintiff contracting certain types of cancer in the future. The settlement agreement will be presented to a judge Friday morning who then could give preliminary approval of it by afternoon, Bern said. If the judge gives his OK, Bern's law firm will send letters to the plaintiffs to tell them what money they are eligible for. "The payments could range from thousands of dollars to nearly $2 million for clients," Bern said. In order to make a claim, plaintiffs will have to submit proof they were present and participated in the post-9/11 efforts. They will also have to present specific medical documentation, including a diagnosis confirming their illness or injury. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said of the resolution, "This settlement is a fair and reasonable resolution to a complex set of circumstances. Since September 11th, the city has moved aggressively to provide medical treatment to those who were present at Ground Zero, and we will continue our commitment to treatment and monitoring." A spokesman for the mayor declined further comment. After the 9/11 attacks, individuals who worked or volunteered in the rescue, recovery and debris-removal project were entitled to and have received free medical care, which has been funded by the City of New York and the federal government. Participating in the settlement would not deter access to that care. Former New York firefighter Kenny Specht told CNN's Campbell Brown, "You really can't put a price on your health, so I hope that this settlement was done the right way and I hope that it was done with people's health and safety and future in mind." Specht, 37, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2008. CNN's Jamie Guzzardo and Patty Lane contributed to this report.
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NEW: . WTC Captive Insurance Co. announced settlements with more than 10,000 plaintiffs . WTC Captive provides coverage to the city and its debris-removal contractors . Settlement would provide system to pay for compensation of injury claims .
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(CNN) -- Around 4:30 a.m. the first beams of summer sunlight finish crossing the Bay of Fundy and arrive at West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine, the easternmost point of the continental United States. It takes about seven minutes for the same rays to travel about 65 miles as the crow flies down the rocky coast and start flickering on Mount Desert Island's pink granite at Acadia National Park. Visitors have to be dedicated to make it out in time to see the early sunrise at Acadia, says park ranger Charlie Jacobi. But it's worth it. The new day's light slowly envelops the landscape, creating a kaleidoscope of colors that is perfectly reminiscent of a desert Southwest sunset. "The first five to 10 minutes of the sun coming up, that granite is just phenomenal," he says. "It'll blow from pink to gold." The Wabanaki people lived on Maine's coast for 5,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans sometime during in the 16th century. Originally colonized by the French, the federal government established it as Lafayette National Park in 1919. Katmai: See Alaska's brown bears . The park was renamed Acadia in 1929 and kept alive during the Depression through the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, it is celebrated as the first national park east of the Mississippi and is the easternmost National Park in the continental United States. Park stats: Nearly 2.5 million people visited Acadia National Park last year, making it the ninth most-visited national park. The location: Acadia National Park encompasses more than 47,000 acres starting on the Schoodic Peninsula south of Maine State Route 186 and spreading out over parts of 19 islands. Only five of the islands have public access -- Mount Desert Island, Isle au Haut, Bar Island, Baker Island and Little Cranberry Island, which is home to the one-acre Isleford Historical Museum. The other 14 islands can be observed by boat tours. Many of them are unsafe for landing or are reserved for nesting birds. Many islands have private land and park rangers request visitors respect those boundaries. Click here to view a park map and ways to access islands. The park is about an hour's drive from Bangor and a five-hour drive from Boston. Flights are available to Bangor International Airport and from Boston to Hancock County-Bar Airport, about 10 miles from the park. Dig in: Top sand sculpture events . If you go: Visitors to Acadia must pay an entrance fee from May 1 through October 31. A private vehicle pass (15 people or fewer) is $20. Motorcycle passes (one person) are $5, and individual passes (including cyclists and hikers) are $5. Entrance fees are reduced when the Island Explorer system doesn't run between May 1 through June 22 and between the day after Columbus Day and October 31. The Island Explorers are seasonal propane-powered buses that are free of charge and offer access across Mount Desert Island. They also connect to neighboring villages, restaurants, campgrounds and hotels. Annual passes are available for $40 and all other passes are valid for seven days. Seniors 62 and older can purchase a lifetime pass for $10. Admission is free from November 1 through April 30, when there are limited services due to decreased access to certain areas of the park. Camping at Acadia is available year-round, but be sure to check the website before planning a trip as some campgrounds are closed from November through April. Click here for a full list of outdoor activities offered at Acadia. Go prepared for changing weather as summer temperatures can range from 45 to 90 degrees. Fog is common during the spring. Isle Royale: An isolated paradise . Meet our ranger: Charlie Jacobi is the natural resource and visitor use specialist at Acadia. He was born and raised in Connecticut, but wasn't exposed to nature until a post-college summer road trip with friends to 16 national parks. "It wasn't like my family was a gigantic group of hiking and outdoors people," says Jacobi, 59. Jacobi developed an interest in hiking and canoeing and worked as an outfitter and guide before entering grad school at Virginia Tech. After graduation, he worked seven years as a seasonal employee for the park service before getting a full-time gig at Acadia in 1984. He has been in his current position since 1992. Acadia still lives up to the reason it was made a national park -- spectacular beauty made up of diverse geographical vistas and wildlife habitats, he says. "Acadia is a day hiker's paradise. The trails meander and amble seemingly aimlessly, constantly changing directions. You could spend a lifetime exploring." For a day trip, don't miss: Park Loop Road's 27-mile drive. The loop starts at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center on Mount Desert Island. It will take you past Acadia's major sites: Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, Jordan Pond and Cadillac Mountain. Portions of Park Loop Road close every year from December 1 through April 15. Favorite less-traveled spot: A series of trails that complete a 4.5- to 5-mile loop that connects Penobscot Mountain and Sargent Mountain. Start at the Jordan Pond House and take Spring Trail to Jordan Cliffs Trail to the Sargent East Cliffs Trail to the Sargent South Ridge Trail to the Penobscot Mountain Trail, which will reconnect with Spring Trail. Sargent Mountain is Acadia's second tallest peak and the hike offers panoramic views of granite domes on mountains to the east, Jacobi says. "I find myself going there a lot," he says. "If you pick your times and days, you can avoid the crowd." Favorite spot to view wildlife: Sieur de Monts Spring and Isle au Haut. While the park is home to deer, otters, bald eagles, coyotes, lynx, foxes and fisher, Jacobi says Acadia is really a bird-watcher's paradise. He recommends Sieur de Monts Spring for listening to singing birds, and Isle au Haut for watching migrating flocks in the fall. Most magical moment in the park: the dozen times each spring when a combination of heavy rain and snow-melt create unseen waterfalls. Jacobi discovered this in 1988 while hiking with a friend during a storm. "It's another little secret," he says." There are a dozen waterfalls at Tarn after a heavy rain. It only lasts a couple of hours but it's really neat." Oddest moment at the park: Watching a helicopter take off from a yacht in Bar Harbor and land on top of different Acadia mountains so the owner could pick blueberries. While Acadia's blueberries are fair game to all, landing a helicopter on national park land isn't. "They didn't bother to give him a ticket," he says. "You can pick them (blueberries) for personal consumption," A ranger's request: Always keep your dog on a leash. Click here for a list of Acadia's pet-restricted areas. "It not only protects wildlife, but it also protects your dog from getting porcupined," he says. Another park he'd like to visit: Chiricahua National Monument in Cochise County, Arizona. Tucked along Arizona's southeastern border with New Mexico, the Chiricahua Mountains were a stronghold during the 19th century for Apache tribes who were wedged between the U.S. Army in the north and east and Mexico to the south. Parts of the park flood every year during summer monsoons and the best times to visit are in the fall or spring. "I went there once and found it to be positively charming," says Jacobi. "I thought the trails were wonderful." What national park would you like to visit? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Acadia was the first national park east of the Mississippi River . Its 47,000 acres spread from the Schoodic Peninsula to many islands . Cadillac Mountain is the tallest peak on the Atlantic Coast . More than 300 bird species can be seen at Acadia National Park .
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(CNN) -- A new peace conference aimed at ending Syria's civil war convenes Wednesday in Switzerland, where the international community hopes to apply a tourniquet to the Middle East's worst open wound. Here's a quick thumbnail guide to the conference: . What's at stake in Geneva? Ending a war that has killed more than 100,000 people, spread to Syria's neighbors and become an increasingly sectarian proxy battle among regional powers. Nearly three years since the beginning of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the war has fueled new rounds of violence in neighboring Lebanon and Iraq. In Syria itself, secular and Islamist rebel factions are battling each other in the country's north. What are the prospects for a deal? Under the circumstances, few appear to expect much to come out of the talks. "We have little hope that the Assad regime would come with good will to these negotiations," coalition spokesman Louay Safi told CNN. Al-Assad's government "is not interested in a political solution, and they will continue to kill the Syrian people." The relief group Save the Children urged the parties to at least agree on steps to help the youngest victims of the conflict -- allowing aid to reach children, protecting schools and health facilities and stopping the use of explosives in populated areas. Save the Children says 11,000 children have died and another 4 million are in danger. "Even if they can't agree on the big picture, surely they can agree on this one fundamental thing, which is that children should not be targeted in war," said George Graham, the group's humanitarian policy director. Middle East expert Rami Khouri told CNN that he expected limited results from the talks. "It may have a very small incremental gain, step by step -- humanitarian issues, refugee issues, something else," Khouri said. But he added, "It is worth being there to test it out." Haven't we been here before? Sort of, yes. This is the second Geneva conference on the Syrian war, the first having been held in mid-2012. What's now called "Geneva I" in diplomatic shorthand didn't end the war, but it produced a framework for a settlement that calls for the establishment of a transitional government and eventually, free and fair elections under a new constitution. Who's coming this time? Along with the Syrian government, those invited include the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, France, China, the United States and Russia, Syria's biggest backer -- and more than 25 other countries. Representatives of the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union are coming as well. The leading Syrian opposition movement, the Syrian National Coalition, agreed to attend only Saturday in a vote that exposed deep rifts within its ranks. One of the groups under the coalition umbrella blasted it for agreeing to join the talks at all, accusing it of heading to Geneva with "a folder of concessions and withdrawals." The late addition of Iran to the guest list created a new hurdle Monday, since the Islamic Republic hadn't agreed to a set of goals laid out in 2012. The National Coalition called Iran's participation a "deal-breaker" and threatened to leave the talks. The United States urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to withdraw the invitation unless Iran signed onto the Geneva I goals. Iran eventually announced that it would not agree to any preconditions for the conference, and the United Nations rescinded its invitation Monday evening. What's on the agenda? The talks are expected to focus on the Geneva I plan for a transitional government, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said last week. But al-Assad, whose forces have regained momentum against a now-fractured opposition, has said he's not looking at the talks as a way to transition out of power. Syrian officials have talked instead about the conference as a way to arrange a cease-fire in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with hopes of extending that truce to other parts of the country. Over the weekend, al-Assad told the French news agency AFP that the conference should focus on fighting "terrorists" -- his government's usual description of rebel forces -- and the outside powers he said provide them "political cover." "Any political solution that is reached without fighting terrorism has no value. There can be no political action when there is terrorism everywhere," he said. Then what's the point? Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told CNN the conference could offer "at least a pathway" to bring an end to the killing in Syria. "It is essential, however difficult and however challenging, that people try to come together and try to set out at least some broad principles for a framework that allows us to move from here," Blair said in an interview that aired Tuesday on CNN's Amanpour. How did this all start again? Protests against al-Assad, who took power after his father died in 2000, began in March 2011. In the wake of the "Arab Spring" revolts around the Middle East and North Africa, residents of the southern city of Daraa turned out to criticize the government's treatment of 15 children arrested for painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school. Syrian authorities responded by opening fire, killing dozens. Demonstrations spread to other cities, mass arrests unfolded and tales of torture spread across the country. While al-Assad tried to dismiss the protests at first, his government soon was dispatching police and troops to put down what had become a full-fledged revolt against his rule. The war has drawn in Syrian allies Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah; a variety of Islamic jihadist groups, who have battled government troops and other rebel factions; and Iranian rivals across the Persian Gulf like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are believed to be providing arms to rebel forces. By 2013, the United Nations estimated more than 100,000 had been killed. Large portions of Syrian cities have been left in ruins, more than 4 million have been left homeless inside the country and nearly 2 million have fled Syria altogether, U.N. officials say. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and Samira Said contributed to this report.
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What's at stake? Ending a bloodbath in Syria and capping a spread of violence to neighbors . What's on the agenda? A cease-fire and establishing a transitional government . What's the outlook? It's poor; President Bashar al-Assad intends to cling to power .
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(CNN) -- Victoria Azarenka has been forced to withdraw from the Dubai Open for the second successive year after suffering an injured heel. Azarenka, who surrendered the World No.1 spot Monday to Serena Williams, was hoping to build on her title win at the Qatar Open where she defeated the U.S. star. The Belorussian would have regained the No.1 ranking had she won the tournament, but Williams is set to remain at the summit until the Indian Wells tournament next month. "I'm very disappointed, but I have to listen to my body," Azarenka told reporters. "The injury happened last week when I played a lot of tennis, so going on to a new tournament is just too much. The heel kept getting worse, and I needed to re-evaluate. "Sometimes the schedule is just too difficult. Unfortunately you can't know when you plan it in November what will happen in February. "I didn't want to continue taking painkillers because sometimes it's better to feel the pain. so that you can control the injury. Otherwise it can cause something which is much worse. "This is just a warning that I have to take care of myself." Azarenka, who has a 14-0 record this year, revealed that the physical demands of the schedule has become a growing concern since she won the Australian Open last month. "I never realised before just how much it takes out of you," she said. "Physically and mentally it just drains you out - and then you realise." Meanwhile, Williams, who is the oldest woman to ever hold top spot in the rankings, is the big favorite for the $2 million tournament. And the 31-year-old says she's feeling in rude health going into the competition. She told reporters: "I was really, really, really, really sick last week and physically I just wasn't at my best, considering I couldn't train, and I didn't practice. "I practised only one or two days before playing because I had the ankle problems. "But I didn't want to not show up and not play. So at least if I could show up and play my way into shape I would be able to compete and that's what I did. "I feel so much better this week already. I feel like a completely different athlete, and a completely different person, compared with last week."
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Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Dubai Open with injury . The Qatar Open winner has been suffering with a heel problem . Serena Williams the overwhelming favorite to win $2 million tournament .
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(CNN) -- Self-help guru James Ray was arrested Wednesday after a grand jury indictment charging him with three counts of manslaughter in the deaths of three participants at an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony he organized last year. Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh said Ray was arrested at his attorney's office in Prescott, Arizona, Wednesday afternoon. He will eventually be housed at the Camp Verde Detention Center, the sheriff's office said, and his bond has been set at $5 million. Ray is charged with the deaths of Kirby Brown, James Shore and Liz Neuman. Ray's attorney, Luis Li, said that the charges were unjust and that Ray would be exonerated in court. "This was a terrible accident -- but it was an accident, not a criminal act," Li said. "James Ray cooperated at every step of the way, providing information and witnesses to the authorities showing that no one could have foreseen this accident." As many as 65 visitors, ranging in age from 30 to 60, attended Ray's "Spiritual Warrior" program at the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona in October. They spent as long as two hours inside a dome-like structure called a sweat lodge, which was covered with tarps and blankets and had hot rocks and water inside to create steam. Three people died after spending time in the sweat lodge October 8 and nearly 20 others were sickened. Brown and Shore were pronounced dead shortly after they arrived at a local hospital, and Neuman died October 17 after being hospitalized since the incident. Native Americans used sweat lodges in spiritual and physical purification ceremonies. Ray is widely known for programs that claim to teach people how to create wealth from all aspects of their lives -- financially, mentally, physically and spiritually. He has appeared on various national programs in the United States, including CNN's "Larry King Live."
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Self-help guru James Ray was arrested Wednesday after a grand jury indictment . He's charged with manslaughter in deaths of three at Arizona sweat lodge ceremony . As many as 65 people spent as long as two hours inside the sweat lodge . Ray's attorney says charges are unjust and Ray would be exonerated in court.
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Tokyo (CNN) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday described as "dangerous" and "regrettable" the actions of a Chinese navy ship that Tokyo says put a radar-lock on a Japanese vessel last week. His comments come amid severely strained relations between the two Asian powers over a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea. The tensions over the islands -- which Japan currently administers but both countries claim sovereignty over -- have resulted in maritime standoffs and the scrambling of Japanese fighter jets in recent months. In the latest incident, Japan accused the Chinese navy ship of using radar to gather information on the location of a Japanese warship in the East China Sea. That type of radar could be used to produce data needed to fire upon the Japanese vessel. "This is dangerous action that could have brought about an unexpected situation," Abe, who took office in December, said in parliament Wednesday. The prime minister, seen as more hawkish than his predecessor, Yoshihiko Noda, urged Beijing to show restraint "so that the situation doesn't escalate." Dispute explained: How a remote rock split China and Japan . The Japanese foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador for a meeting Tuesday to lodge a formal protest regarding the accusations. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Tuesday that Tokyo also suspects that China put a radar-lock on a Japanese navy helicopter on January 19. Japan repels Taiwan activists near disputed islands . China accuses Japan of provocations . China countered on Tuesday that it has been conducting regular patrols in Chinese waters and asked Japan not to interfere. "We think the top priority for now is for Japan to stop all provocative actions it has been doing as sending ships and flights into Diaoyu islands sea and air space," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said, using the Chinese name for the disputed islands. The Japanese call the small, uninhabited islands the Senkakus. Near them are important shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds and possible oil deposits. The United States is "concerned" about the latest maritime incident between China and Japan, according to Victoria Nuland, the spokeswoman for the State Department. "Actions such as this escalate tensions and increase the risk of an incident or a miscalculation, and they could undermine peace, stability and economic growth in this vital region," Nuland said at a regular news briefing Tuesday. The United States has tried to avoid getting dragged into the dispute, saying it doesn't take sides on such competing claims of sovereignty. But officials have admitted that the islands fall under a mutual security treaty between Washington and Tokyo. Asia's disputed islands -- who claims what? Relations soured by a sale . Disagreement over who owns the remote, rocky islands soured diplomatic and economic relations between Japan and China since September, soon after Japan announced it had bought several of the disputed islands from private Japanese owners. The deal was struck in part to prevent the islands from being bought by the controversial Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who had called for donations for a public fund to buy them. China was outraged, as were protesters who marched through several Chinese cities calling for boycotts of Japanese products and asserting Beijing's sovereignty over the islands. Some of the protests turned violent and damage to Japanese offices and businesses was reported. Dangerous Rocks: Can both sides back off peacefully? In December, the dispute escalated when Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese plane was seen near the islands. A number of Chinese ships have also entered contested waters despite warnings from the Japanese Coast Guard. China says its claim extends back hundreds of years. Japan says it saw no trace of Chinese control of the islands in an 1885 survey, so formally recognized them as Japanese sovereign territory in 1895. Japan then sold the islands in 1932 to descendants of the original settlers. The Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945 only served to cloud the issue further. The islands were administered by the U.S. occupation force after the war. But in 1972, Washington returned them to Japan as part of its withdrawal from Okinawa. Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province, also lays claim to the islands. But the self-governing island has seldom rigorously advanced its claims because of an unwillingness to risk its good relationship with Japan, said Alan Dupont, a strategic analyst at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He said last year that Taiwan's decision to become more assertive was a response to actions taken by China and Japan in the second half of 2012, as well as concerns over access to fishing and marine resources. Last week, Japanese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons and shouted warnings at a boat carrying activists from Taiwan who were attempting to land on the islands.
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China rejects complaints about its navy patrols by Japan . Japan had accused China of using radar to track a Japanese ship and helicopter . Taiwan, China and Japan are disputing a group of islands . China says it is patrolling its waters near the islands .
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Christina Aguilar sits in a converted storage room of a Las Vegas medical center, the best hope for underinsured cancer patients to get the treatment they need. Christina Aguilar, 28, is being treated for advanced-stage ovarian cancer in Nevada. Drip by drip, Aguilar, 28, watches as chemo enters her body to fight advanced-stage ovarian cancer. She is here because her insurance company wouldn't pay for her chemotherapy or her surgeries. "I thought, 'Why am I getting insurance if it's not going to pay for the most important thing?' " she says, recalling the day she learned her insurance wouldn't cover treatment. Getting chemo in an old storage space isn't the most ideal situation, but it's her only choice. Watch chemo in a closet » . Earlier this year, state budget cuts in Nevada resulted in the slashing of the outpatient cancer center at the University Medical Center's oncology clinic, forcing patients to find treatment on their own. "We're supposed to be the safety net for patients, and yet obviously the safety net has holes in it," says Kathleen Silver, the CEO of University Medical Center. Oncologist Nick Spirtos found a solution. He persuaded his partners to take on the patients pro bono, converted a storage area in his office into a chemotherapy room and got Clark County to pay for the expensive chemo drugs. One treatment can cost upwards of $10,000. He's also sought more primitive ways to cover costs. He holds up a clear plastic box bearing the label "Cash for Chemotherapy." Dollar bills and loose change jingle. There are 380 boxes placed throughout the county. "It helps," says Spirtos, the director of the Women's Cancer Center of Nevada. "If these boxes pay for one more patient's chemo, that's one lady who in the overall context wouldn't be able to have her treatment." With the nation debating health care reform, Spirtos says he does favor universal health care, but not without trepidation. Learn more about America's health care debate » . He says Medicaid reimburses doctors at a fraction of their costs, and he believes other government programs are poorly run. He wrote an open letter to President Obama and Congress earlier this month. "[I] respectfully suggest that instead of rushing headlong into ill-thought out proposals, you and your staff along with Congress take some time and thoughtfully review the issues facing us and formulate a plan that might actually meet our needs," Spirtos said. But on this day, he's focused on his patients. Decked out in a blue doctor's gown, Spirtos makes the rounds to see the women at his clinic. Aguilar's ovaries were recently removed and she is getting her latest chemo regimen. She's reclined in a chair, a red blanket draped over her legs. She opens a laptop and flips through digital pictures of her mother, who died of lymphatic cancer 10 years ago. Aguilar says her cancer was detected almost by accident. She went in for a checkup and a small acorn-sized cyst was discovered. A month later, it was the size of a grapefruit. She broke down in tears just after her ovaries were removed. "I started crying. I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm not going to be able to have kids,' " she says. Aguilar was a cashier at Toys R Us, making $8.76 an hour. She had insurance through work, but it wouldn't cover her costs. Her salary made her inelgible for Medicaid. With the slashing of the county hospital's oncology unit, her bills were racking up and she had few options. Luckily, her doctor referred her to Spirtos. Spirtos says cases like hers are becoming all too common, especially in the down economy. He treats 75 to 85 women per month; about 20 percent are in a similar situation as Aguilar. "If you're recently unemployed, you have no insurance benefits and you don't qualify for any of the public aids," he says. "So amazingly, the people who've been working and supporting the system, the moment they're out of work they don't fit in any of the round holes -- they're square pegs." If Aguilar wasn't getting treatment from him, he says, "Over time, her cancer would progress and she'd pass away." The doctor, who is bald, stops at her side. Aguilar rubs the doctor's golden dome. "The great part about this is Christina's hair is going to grow back and mine won't," he says. The two laugh and smile. Outside the room, the doctor says he's doing all he can to make sure the women who come to him have the best treatment possible. "I get to hug my patients, I get my head rubbed and I get an incredible amount of gratification," he says. He pauses. "Getting a hug from one of these ladies is like my kids running up and saying, 'I love you.'" He turns and walks down the hall. More patients await his help. CNN's Traci Tamura and Gregg Canes contributed to this report.
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Dr. Nick Spirtos of Nevada treats cancer patients pro bono after state funds slashed . Christina Aguilar, 28, is getting treated for ovarian cancer . If Aguilar went untreated, "her cancer would progress and she'd pass away"
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Barcelona, Spain (CNN) -- Not content with revolutionizing smart phones, mobile apps now appear to be in the driving seat of the auto industry as manufacturers increasingly surrender control of their vehicles to technology. Signs of the increasing dominance of the app came on Monday with Ford's decision to launch its newest B-Max compact at Mobile World Congress -- a phone industry gathering in Barcelona -- rather than a motor show. Read more: Powerful camera phone unveiled . Bill Ford, the U.S. auto giant's executive chairman, told CNN his company chose the event to debut its tech-filled car as a statement of its intention to work with app developers in shaping the vehicles of the future. The B-Max is the first car in Europe to feature SYNC, a voice-recognition system developed by Ford and already available in some U.S. cars. The system links audio, phone and GPS systems and will also call emergency services in the event of a crash. The increasing dependence of vehicles on computers has raised concerns that manufacturers are trading technology for safety, exposing drivers to hazardous distractions and malicious hackers. But Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford, insisted SYNC would "allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel," and said his company was working with app makers to further improve security. "Today, often, drivers are looking down and we know that they're playing with their cell phone and texting and we want to stop all that," he told CNN. "We want them to be looking at the road with their hands on the wheel, and our tech is allowing them to do that, knowing they also want to be connected." Ford said his firm's current crop of hi-tech cars were capable of utilizing offboard "cloud computing" to expand their abilities, performing tasks like directing drivers to the nearest coffee shops, checking their health and keeping tabs on their daily diary. He acknowledged this raised the prospect of potential breaches that could put valuable personal data in the hands of criminals but said the technology was currently being rolled out on an "opt-in, opt-out" basis. The carmaker said the B-Max would eventually run its AppLink system, which will add control of smartphone apps to voice-operated commands. Among currently available apps are programs that read out Twitter updates and pick and choose radio stations. More functions will follow as it partners with app developers, the company said in a statement. "Ford aims to deliver voice-control compatibility with apps for a wide range of services, and is now actively seeking to partner with app developers on future opportunities," it said in a statement. Ford hopes the B-Max, which goes on sale in Europe later this year, will help expand its current 4 million U.S. SYNC users to 13 million worldwide by 2015. It says the car should appeal to drivers previously priced out of the hi-tech market. "The all-new B-MAX is going to be a game-changer in the European compact family vehicle segment. No other vehicle in its class offers such an attractive combination of style, versatility and technology," Ford Europe's chairman and CEO Stephen Odell said in a statement. "We think it will be among the most technologically advanced small cars you can buy at any price." Barry Neild contributed to this story from London.
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Ford chooses to launch compact car at mobile phone event rather than a motor show . B-Max features Ford's latest voice-activated technology . Ford says it wants to work with app developers in shaping its future vehicles .
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(CNN) -- ZipRealty is a full-service residential real estate brokerage firm which uses the Internet, proprietary technology and employee real estate agents to provide home buyers and sellers with value-added online service. ZipRealty's Web site provides users with access to comprehensive home listings data. ZipRealty's Web site provides users with access to comprehensive local Multiple Listing Services home listings data, as well as other relevant market and neighborhood information. Its proprietary business management system and technology platform help to reduce costs, allowing the company to pass on savings to consumers. ZipRealty was launched on August 29, 1999. Three weeks later, on September 21, the company celebrated the acceptance of its first real estate offer. ZipRealty completed its initial public offering on November 10, 2004. It currently operates in 34 major metropolitan areas in 19 states and the District of Columbia with over 2,000 sales agents.
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ZipRealty uses Internet, proprietary technology, employee real estate agents . Web site provides users with home listings, market and neighborhood info . ZipRealty completed its initial public offering on November 10, 2004 .
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(CNN) -- Entering this season Petra Kvitova had reached the quarterfinals at every grand slam except for the U.S. Open. She memorably won Wimbledon in 2011 to open her account at majors, sweeping past Maria Sharapova in the final, and achieved semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open last year. Her drought, however, in New York persists after the Czech managed just three games in the third round against little-known American Alison Riske and exited 6-3 6-0. The outcome was better for another Wimbledon champion, Rafael Nadal, who cruised in straight sets against Ivan Dodig. Kvitova has found it difficult playing in hot and humid conditions in the U.S. in the past because she suffers from asthma and this week the lefty revealed she had been battling a virus and fever. Following a close first set, Kvitova claimed a mere 15 points in the second. "My body wouldn't let me fight," Kvitova told reporters. Riske, ranked at a career-best 81st, reached the fourth round at a grand slam for the first time, much to the delight of her home crowd. Her best results previously had come on grass, advancing to the semifinals at a tour event in Birmingham, England in 2010 and 2013 -- both times as a qualifier. But she was in good form ahead of the meeting with Kvitova, upsetting former Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round and German Mona Barthel in the second. Christina McHale almost joined her compatriot Riske in the fourth round, serving for the match against former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. But Ivanovic broke back and prevailed 4-6 7-5 6-4. Second-seed Victoria Azarenka dropped the first set to France's Alize Cornet in a tiebreak before going through 6-7 6-3 6-2. Simona Halep, whose four titles in 2013 place her second behind only Serena Williams on the WTA tour, produced the most emphatic score in the women's draw Saturday when she thumped former top-10 player Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-0 in under an hour. Kirilenko wasn't only disappointed with her performance -- she didn't like having to provide a sample to drug testers post match. "I just can (laugh) about my game today!" Kirilenko, engaged to National Hockey League superstar Alex Ovechkin, began on Twitter. "Going to the doping control, maybe I have something after a 0-6! Haha sick of it!!! 1000 times doping doping." Nadal lost on hard courts to the big-serving Dodig in Canada two years ago but wasn't broken in his 6-4 6-3 6-3 win Saturday. In remaining unbeaten on hard courts in 2013, he moved closer to a potential quarterfinal showdown with Roger Federer. Nada's fellow Spaniard, David Ferrer, was slumping before the U.S. Open but the tenacious fourth seed progressed to the fourth round after a four-set win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.
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Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, won three games in the third round . Kvitova has been suffering from a virus and said her body wouldn't let her "fight" Ana Ivanovic rallied from a set down to beat young American Christina McHale . Men's favorite Rafael Nadal wins in straight sets to reach the men's fourth round .
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(CNN) -- Shark attacks on humans were at the lowest levels in half a decade last year, and a Florida researcher says hard economic times may be to blame. Fewer people in the water means less chance for sharks to attack, ichthyologist George Burgess says. Sharks attacked 59 people in 2008, the lowest number of attacks since 57 in 2003, according to George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, part of the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. There were 71 attacks in 2007. "One can't help but think that the downturn in the economy played a part in it," Burgess said. Fewer people, especially outside of the United States, have the resources to go to the beach, he said. "To have a shark attack, you have to have humans and sharks in the water at the same time," Burgess said. "If you have a reduction in the number of people in the water, you're going to have a reduction in the opportunities for people and sharks to get together." "We noticed similar declines during the recession that followed the events of 2001, despite the fact that human populations continued to rise," the ichthyologist said. Sharks killed four people in 2008, Burgess said: one in California, one in Australia and two in Mexico. Forty-one of the 59 attacks worldwide came in the United States, and 32 of those occurred in Florida. Surfers accounted for 57 percent of shark attacks, swimmers and waders were the targets in 36 percent of the attacks, and divers the rest, he said. Burgess said the U.S. tends to see more attacks because of a large number of surfers, who are a favorite target of sharks. And neither the economy nor the attacks tend to keep American surfers from practicing their sport. "All they have to do is drive to the beach with the board and get into the water, and the rest is free," he said. And while an attack may make them a bit more wary, he said, "I've yet to find a surfer who says he or she won't go back into the water after a bite or a nip." When the economy improves, shark attack numbers are likely to go up again, according to Burgess, predicting the number of attacks in the next decade will surpass those of the past 10 years. "We're putting so many people in the water that humans are dictating the shark attack situation," he said.
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Sharks attacked 59 people worldwide in 2008, Florida researcher reports . Four people killed by sharks last year . Economic downturn means fewer people hitting beaches, researcher says . Surfers account for 57 percent of shark attacks .
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(CNN) -- Worries about high tides overwhelming parts of Thailand in recent days have morphed into fears about water- and insect-borne diseases in the flood-ravaged country. Bangkok's central business district has avoided major flooding so far, but outlying areas are chest- or waist-deep in water. "The water in those parts is a filthy black color containing sewage, garbage and dead animals with a nasty smell. Mosquitoes are also breeding rapidly," said Igor Prahin of Bangkok. More than 370 people have died since the flooding began after heavy monsoon rains. U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Kristie A. Kenney said Monday that "the worst may be over for central Bangkok," but about 2 million people are still affected by the flooding. The United States has pledged a total of $1.1 million in aid. CNNGo: Updated travel information for tourists . Charities working in the country have warned of diseases such as diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria in the coming days and weeks. "There are places on the outskirts of Bangkok and in other parts of the country which have been flooded for nearly two weeks," said Matthew Cochrane of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "The country's prime minister has said that the city has 'dodged a bullet' -- the economic impact of central Bangkok being flooded would have been huge, and thankfully that did not happen -- but a huge part of the country is still under water," Cochrane said. "Outside the city it is certainly a humanitarian crisis, because there are people who have been cut off for weeks without any aid, supplies or food." UNICEF said it was providing 20,000 mosquito nets and handing out 20,000 pamphlets explaining how to stay safe and healthy in flood-stricken regions. Supatra (Jenstitvong) Assavasuke, who lives east of central Bangkok, took in two friends whose house on the west side of the city is submerged under 1 to 2 meters (3 to 7 feet) of water. It's unclear how long they will need to stay. She and her family have helped donate about 3,000 liters (almost 800 gallons) of drinking water to those in worse-off areas. "Those who got affected, they lose their houses, they lose their jobs, their cars -- many things," she said. But even those in the capital faced possible shortages of water. The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority said it had reduced the amount of tap water processed for residents from 900,000 to 400,000 cubic meters per day, because of high algae counts at one of its plants. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said authorities would speed up the process of draining water into Bangkok's canals and into the sea, raising hopes that water levels in the city could start to sink. However, the government has warned it may take more than a month for the floods to recede. Already, the flooding has caused an estimated $6 billion in damages, the Thai Finance Ministry has said. The Thai government has set up more than 1,700 shelters across the country, where more than 113,000 people have taken refuge. Yet many are trying to push through with their daily routines. In Bangkok's Chinatown area, a food vendor up to her knees in murky water continued to serve patrons at her small cart. One resident traveled down a street by row boat as a nearby bicyclist pedaled through thigh-deep flooding. And a man walked his dog near Bangkok's Grand Palace, the dog chest-deep in water. CNN's Bryony Jones, Kocha Olarn and Germain Perez contributed to this report.
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2 million people are affected by the flooding, a U.S. diplomat to Thailand says . Bangkok resident: Water in outlying areas has "sewage, garbage and dead animals" Relief agency: Places outside Bangkok cut off from supplies endure a humanitarian crisis . Charities working in the country warn about diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria in the coming weeks .
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(CNN) -- Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who had a storied career in professional football as a coach, commissioner and owner, died Saturday, the team said. He was 82. In a brief post on their website, the Raiders said a statement would be issued later in the day. The cause of death was not immediately released. Much of Davis' career was spent in Oakland, where he first arrived as a coach in 1963 -- tasked with turning around a team that was picked to be at the bottom of the standings. The results were almost immediate, finishing 10-4 that season, and Davis was selected as coach of the year. At 33, he was both the coach and general manager of the Raiders, the website said, making him the youngest person to hold that dual position. His career started in 1950 as a line coach at Adelphi College in New York, the Raiders website said. He also coached at The Citadel, Southern California and for the then-Los Angeles Chargers before going to the Raiders. According to the Raiders website, by the time he arrived in Oakland, Davis had already been labeled a "young coaching genius" by Sports Illustrated. As commissioner of the American Football League in 1966, he played a role in the merger of that league with the National Football League. Davis' story, the Raiders website said, "is a standard that no one in the history of professional football can match for winning and excellence." He was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1992. "Al Davis's passion for football and his influence on the game were extraordinary," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on his Twitter account. "The respect he commanded was evident in the way that people listened carefully every time he spoke. He is a true legend of the game whose impact and legacy will forever be part of the NFL." New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson also shared his sympathy on the news of Davis' death. "Al Davis was one of the most innovative and dynamic pioneers in the history of the National Football League. He was passionate about his team and about the game of professional football and he personified the legacy of the Raiders," he said.
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Al Davis was "a true legend," NFL commissioner says . Al Davis was the owner of the Oakland Raiders . He had a six-decade career in professional football . The cause of death was not immediately known .
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(CNN) -- The United States offers millions for information leading to the capture of the world's most wanted terrorists. A Somali militant group has purportedly countered with an offer of camels for U.S. officials. Al-Shabaab has placed a bounty of 10 camels for President Barack Obama and two camels for information on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. An audio statement posted on jihadist websites purportedly from Al-Shabaab jeered news that the United States is offering millions of dollars for information on seven key members of al-Shabaab through its Rewards for Justice program. The man on the audio claimed to be Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, considered by the State Department to be Al-Shabaab's leading fundraiser. The United States has offered $5 million for information of his whereabouts. "Whoever brings the mujahidin information about the whereabouts of infidel Obama and the lady of Bill Clinton, the woman named Hillary Clinton, I will give a reward," the man said. A study by Galkayo University, which looked at the effects of drought on livestock, said the average cost of a camel in Somalia is $700. CNN can not independently verify the authenticity of the audio recording, which was purportedly made by Khalaf during a speech to followers in the southern port city of Merca. The U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering $7 million for information on the location of Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, the founder of the Islamist group in Somalia. This year, he and al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a joint video formally announcing a merger between the terror groups. In announcing the bounties on Mohamed and his key associates Thursday, the State Department called al-Shabaab "a threat to the stability of East Africa and to the national security interests of the United States." The State Department said it is also offering up to $5 million each for information leading to the location of four of Aw-Mohamed's associates, including Khalaf. In addition, it is offering up to $3 million each for two of the terror group's other leaders. Journalist Mohamed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.
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The militant Al-Shabaab jeered a U.S. reward offered for seven of its key members . A man purporting to one of those wanted by the United States makes a counter offer . He offers 10 camels as a reward for information on the whereabouts of President Obama . Hillary Clinton's bounty is two camels .
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BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Consumers in Beijing's malls and shops are shunning the milk and poultry sections -- for good reasons. Poultry products, including eggs, may be contaminated with melamine through animal food. They are shocked and scared by the news headlines: some food produced in China is tainted with melamine. "Of course I'm worried," says a woman shopping in Nanxiaojie Market. Stop eating eggs? "That's not possible," she tells CNN. "If there's a problem with eggs, it should be solved fundamentally." Chinese premier Wen Jiabao says China will take steps to win back consumers. "We will use our actions and high quality of our food products to win the trust and confidence of Chinese people and people around the world," he told reporters at the end of a two-day summit of Asian and European leaders in Beijing last weekend. Watch more about the tainted food scandal » . "Three minister-level officials have resigned and a government investigation is going on. Whoever is responsible must be brought to justice. We need to protect the Made in China brand," said Chinese analyst Victor Gao. But the problem could be more pervasive. The state-run Nanfang Daily published an investigative story saying that adding melamine into animal feed has become an "open secret." The report said adding melamine into feed started in the aquatic farming industry five years ago, as a way of faking higher protein levels. Learn more about chemical melamine » . It then spread into other agro-industries such as poultry. Even more shocking is the allegation that the melamine added is from industrial waste material. CNN contacted the Ministry of Agriculture about the story, but got no immediate response. Two years ago, reports revealed pet food exported from China to the United States was spiked with melamine and had sickened and killed dogs. Several weeks ago, the food scandal spread to milk, biscuits and candies. Now, it is tainted eggs. So far, no illnesses or deaths have been linked to eggs. Tests in Hong Kong last week showed eggs exported by a Chinese company are contaminated with excessive levels of melamine. In recent days three other brands of eggs have also been found to contain the chemical. Small wonder egg sales at the Xinfadi, a wholesale market in Beijing, dropped by 10 percent this week, according to the state-run China Daily. Chinese officials say the source of the problem is melamine, an industrial chemical used to produce plastics and fertilizer. Melamine is high in nitrogen. Unscrupulous milk suppliers would water down milk and spike it with melamine -- but in amounts that allowed it to still pass quality tests. Agriculture experts speculate that eggs tainted with melamine may be the result of tainted feed given to hens. That begs the question: if melamine was in the animal feed, will it make into the meat, and into consumers' bodies? Ingesting melamine in large doses over an extended period of time could cause kidney stones and other illnesses, agriculture and health experts say. But taking in a small amount of melamine poses no such danger. "If it's taken over a long period of time, maybe, but if it's ingested only for short period of time it does not pose harm on animals," says He Jiguo, a professor of food science and nutrition at the China Agriculture University. He says the animals that end up being slaughtered do not live that long and do not actually ingest enough melamine for it to build up in their systems. The dogs and cats that were sickened in the United States were probably eating treats and meals tainted with melamine over a long period of time, he explains. Until the situation is resolved, worried grocery shoppers in Beijing say they'll just have to eat fewer eggs and more bean-products, like soybeans.
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Chinese premier Wen Jiabao says China will try to win back consumers . Melamine is said to have been added to animal food products . Report: Adding melamine to feed started in aquatic farming 5 years ago . Some grocery shoppers say to eat fewer eggs and more bean-products .
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(CNN) -- Coast Guard aircraft have found no sign of a spill from a Royal Dutch Shell oil drilling barge that ran aground off a southern Alaska island during a fierce winter storm, authorities reported Tuesday. The 266-foot Kulluk "is sound. There is no sign of a breach of the hull. There is no sign of a release of any product," Coast Guard Capt. Paul Mehler III told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Mehler said the Kulluk had about 143,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 12,000 gallons of combined lube oil and hydraulic fluid on board. The rig -- a key part in Shell's controversial Arctic oil exploration project -- ran aground off uninhabited Sitkalidak Island, about 200 miles south of Anchorage, on Monday night. The Kulluk had been working in the Beaufort Sea, off Alaska's North Slope, until October. It was being towed back to its winter home in Seattle when it ran into a severe storm off the Alaskan coast. The Coast Guard evacuated its 18-man crew Saturday night, and it drifted for 10 hours on Sunday after the tug that was towing it lost power. Monday night, tug crews had to cut the rig loose during a storm that whipped up 24-foot waves, leading to its grounding. Crews battle harsh weather trying to tow drilling unit to Alaska harbor . Sean Churchfield, Shell's Alaska operations manager, said Tuesday that the rig "is upright, rocking with a slow motion, and is stable" -- but he added, "There is still a lot of work to be done to bring this to a safe conclusion." Three people suffered minor injuries over the past few days, but have already returned to work, Churchfield said. The rig was aground in an area of Ocean Bay, where water depth is 32 feet to 48 feet. A joint command has been set up to handle salvage efforts, but ongoing bad weather has kept crews from getting aboard the vessel, Mehler said. Weather conditions were expected to improve through the rest of the week, with seas subsiding from 24 feet Tuesday to 11 feet by Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the nearby shore is owned by a native Alaskan corporation on adjacent Kodiak Island, said Steven Russell, of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation. State officials are working with residents to watch out for any environmental damage from the grounding, he said. As of Tuesday, "we have no indications of environmental or wildlife impact," Russell said. Shell's Arctic exploration plans caused widespread concern among environmentalists and were held up after BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Eskimo activist Caroline Cannon, one of Shell's toughest critics, said she fears a spill from the Kulluk could harm fish and wildlife in the area. Shell rig accident off Alaska shows dangers of drilling in Arctic . "It's a scary thought you know, because our food chain is out there. Our people rely on our food," she said. Shell says it's working at far less depth and lower pressures than the BP well that erupted off Louisiana, killing 11 men aboard and unleashing an undersea gusher that took three months to cap. The fuel on board the rig is used to power equipment and is not the result of the drilling operations Shell conducted off the North Slope, on the opposite side of the vast state from where the Kulluk now rests. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates more than 90 billion barrels of oil and nearly 1,700 trillion cubic feet of natural gas may be recoverable by drilling. And the shrinking of the region's sea ice -- which hit record lows in 2012 -- has created new opportunities for energy exploration in the region. Climate researchers say that a decrease in sea ice is a symptom of a warming climate, caused largely by the combustion of carbon-rich fossil fuels. The science is politically controversial but generally accepted as fact by most scientists. CNN's Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.
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NEW: Alaska official says the state is looking for signs of environmental damage . The grounded drilling barge Kulluk shows no sign of leaking fuel, the Coast Guard says . A tug had to set the rig free during a severe storm Monday . The rig's crew of 18 evacuated on Saturday .
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Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an international flight into Atlanta's major airport landed on a taxiway instead of a runway early Monday. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Delta Flight 60, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was cleared to land about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Runway 27R but landed instead on Taxiway M, which runs parallel to the runway. The flight had 194 passengers and crew aboard, according to CNN affiliate WXIA. No other aircraft were on the taxiway, and there was no damage to either the taxiway or the plane, a Boeing 767, Bergen said. A runway or taxiway collision, particularly with one plane preparing to take off and carrying a full fuel load, would be catastrophic. Bergen said she isn't sure whether or when other aircraft have ever landed on the taxiway at Hartsfield. Both Runway 27R and Taxiway M are 11,890 feet long, Bergen said, but the runway is marked with white lights while the taxiway is marked with blue lights. Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the airline is cooperating with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation, as well as conducting an internal investigation. The pilots of the flight have been relieved from active flying pending the completion of these investigations, Black said. Bergen and Black said a medical emergency was reported on the plane, but neither offered any details. The incursion came just two weeks after the FAA announced that serious runway incursions were down 50 percent from the year that ended September 30, 2008, over the year ending on the same date this year. The FAA said there were 12 serious incursions in 2009 and 25 in 2008. Only two of the serious incursions involved commercial airliners in 2009, compared with nine in 2008. The FAA defines a serious incursion as one in which a collision is narrowly avoided, or there was a significant potential for collision that resulted in the need to take quick corrective action.
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Plane landed on taxiway instead of runway Monday morning, FAA says . No other plane was on the taxiway; aircraft wasn't damaged . The taxiway is parallel to a runway, but they're marked differently .
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b05f4536c1b43f71ae1471f5732a3726c4e1eca2
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(CNN) -- On the morning of August 5, my uncle, Satwant Singh Kaleka, and five other innocent people were gunned down in our place of worship, the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The tragedy left us wondering what it will take to stem the growing tide of hate crimes and violence plaguing our nation. The Senate is holding a hearing on domestic terrorism on Wednesday, and I hope it will do more than simply offer my community a chance to vent frustrations and appeal for sympathy. My hope is that the hearing provides an opportunity for Americans to come together and identify solutions. We need to be aware that the killings in Oak Creek, as well as recent attacks on the mosque in Joplin, Missouri, and more than a dozen others across the country, will continue if we turn a blind eye to domestic terrorism. It is a significant, growing threat to our safety and freedom as Americans. We must ensure our safety within our own borders before we can hope to address violence elsewhere. According to the FBI, between 1980 and 2001, two-thirds of terrorist attacks in America were carried out by non-Islamic American extremists. That rose to 95% between 2002 and 2005. A recent study by the New America Foundation found that non-Islamic U.S. citizens were behind 10 attacks from 9/11 through 2011, while jihadists carried out four. During the same time, 11 white supremacist, anarchist or right-wing extremists were caught with biological or chemical weapons -- anthrax, cyanide, ricin or sarin -- and four attempted to acquire them. The study found not a single jihadist terrorist possessed or tried to acquire chemical or biological weapons. Eleven years after 9/11, who are the terrorists? Even more worrying is that radical right groups are growing explosively, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Yet appallingly, our government has not only failed to increase its efforts to monitor this threat, but in 2009, it decreased efforts, leaving only one staffer in the Department of Homeland Security's domestic terrorism unit, according to Daryl Johnson, a senior domestic terrorism analyst from 2004 to 2010. We know there are at least 1,018 domestic hate groups in the United States today, many of which promote and explicitly call for violence against those of a different skin color, religion or ideology. How long can we keep our heads in the sand, and how long must we sit by as more innocent people die because a person decides that he won't tolerate the cultural or religious diversity of our nation -- our melting pot? A coward killed my uncle. A coward, not because he went into a place of worship and took the lives of six unarmed people, and not because he took his own life rather than facing the consequences of his actions. He was a coward because he didn't have the courage to see the humanity of the people around him. He -- like all terrorists -- killed people because they were not like him, because they were different. The reality is we are all different from one another, and that means we are all potential targets for such violence. This problem affects each and every one of us, so it's imperative that we act decisively, and act now. This is not a problem that is simply going to go away. The government agencies charged with defending our freedom and safety must make it a priority to fight terrorism not just abroad, but right here at home. And we as the citizens must rid ourselves of the hate speech and the xenophobia -- including Islamophobia -- that divides us. This is particularly true of our leaders. Opinion: What if U.S. stops policing the world? We cannot give into the cowardice of prejudice. As the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions -- bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality." Together we can -- together we must -- address this challenge by calling on our elected officials to do their duty: defend the safety and freedom we as all Americans cherish. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kanwardeep Singh Kaleka.
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Kanwardeep Kaleka: Sikh community optimistic about hearing on domestic terrorism . Kaleka's uncle was killed in the Sikh temple massacre carried out by American . Kaleka: Homegrown terror groups are growing fast and present a real threat . The government must make it a priority to fight terrorism at home, he writes .
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(CNN) -- Circles Robinson is a 55-year-old American who has lived in Havana with his family since 2001. He works revising English translations for official Cuban media online publications and in his spare time he writes his own blog and manages the Havana Times Web site. Circles Robinson: "There are fantastic cultural opportunities in Havana." CNN: What makes Havana special to you? Circles: Havana is the only capital city I've seen that I would want to live in. One big reason is that there are relatively few cars, making the city pedestrian-friendly. Another is that it's quite safe for a capital and you feel like the night is your ally instead of your adversary. Havana is full of contrasts that make life interesting: buildings being restored amid others collapsing. There's an amazing array of cultural activities but it can be hard to buy a nail or cat food or even a roll of toilet paper sometimes. I love the parks, the Malecon seawall and the ever-expanding network of museums that give you the feeling there is always something new to see on a weekend stroll. And Havana is virtually free of commercial advertising. The TV and other media are ad-free as well, and I love that. CNN: What are your favorite parts of the city? Circles: The Malecon seawall is a great place to think, relax and observe, because of its majestic views, sea breeze and mix of characters from all walks of life. I also love the sprawling grounds, stone walls and magnificent view of the city at the San Carlos de la Cabana Fortress across Havana Bay. The Latinoamericano baseball stadium is also special for a fan like me. Out on the east side of the city the beaches are fantastic. We try to go once every few months and more often in the summer. Vedado is my favorite district. It has many large parks, beautiful tree-lined streets and a mix of extremely interesting 20th-century architecture. Of course, Old Havana is gorgeous, with all the excellent restoration work and many museums. I usually find myself going there when I have visitors to show around. CNN: What do you dislike about life in Havana? Circles: The overcrowded housing situation and deteriorated buildings in some parts of the city make for some difficult living situations and many things only work halfway. There's a thick bureaucratic maze to accomplish many simple tasks. Most people need to do something under-the-table to get by and there are some seemingly ridiculous prohibitions. What makes Havana special to you? Let us know. CNN: What's a typical weekend in the city? Circles: There are fantastic cultural opportunities in Havana and they are very accessible to all, normally costing from 10 to 50 U.S. cents for a ticket. My wife and I often go to the theater, to movies, dance performances and concerts. I like jazz a lot and this Friday there's an outdoor jam session around the time when people get off work. On Saturday there's an early evening informal free concert on the porch of an art gallery. There's also a film festival offering young filmmakers' works and there are numerous venues for stand up comedians, which are a big favorite of the general population. CNN: Cuban music is known throughout the world. Where are the best places in Havana to hear real Cuban music? Circles: I much prefer what they call the "penas" -- more intimate sessions where friends and followers show up. Many groups have regular "penas" once or twice a month, where you might hear folk, rumba or jazz. These performances are held at a variety of places, outdoor and indoor, and most are free. For more formal concerts I particularly like the theater at the Cuban Fine Arts Museum and the smaller hall at the Amadeo Roldan Theater. The Teatro America also offers a good variety of musical presentations. Some of the best venues for salsa are the outdoor ones. There are outdoor auditoriums in most neighborhoods, like the Tropical's Salon Rosada in Buena Vista, La Bereda in La Lisa, and El Patio de la Salsa in La Virgen del Camino, where you can see the top salsa bands for under a dollar. You can also see top salsa bands for free at the weekend at venues set up in squares or plazas. CNN: What do you think the future has in store for Havana? Circles: The potential is awesome. If the hostile policy of the U.S. towards Cuba could turn into a good-neighbor policy, or at least more normal ties, the economy of the city would no doubt improve. If the travel ban was lifted people from the U.S. could appreciate all that Havana has to offer. Likewise, if the rest of the blockade was lifted it would present a great challenge to the city's government to get beyond a virtual state of siege and be able to confront its serious infrastructural needs, housing deficit and, in some areas, highly deficient public works and utilities. An onslaught of visitors would also put services to the test and most likely require improvements. CNN: If Havana was a person what would he or she be like? Circles: He or she would be casually sensuous, timeless, sassy and either 'tranquillo' or combative depending on how the day's going.
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Circles Robinson is an American who has lived in Havana since 2001 . "Havana is the only capital city I've seen that I would want to live in," he says . He says the Malecon seawall is a great place to "think, relax and observe" You can hear authentic Cuban music at "penas" -- intimate music sessions .
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7759ef54bda5f80423f964b21561aecf0f461311
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