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ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- Michael and Steven Roberts didn't have two quarters to rub together a couple of decades ago. Now, the two African-American business leaders estimate their holdings -- from hotels to TV stations -- are worth $1 billion. One St. Louis hotel they own once barred black people. Steven Roberts, left, and his brother, Michael, own a St. Louis theater that once segregated African-Americans. "Black folks need legacy. We have to have examples of successes in order for us to be able to let the generations to come know that many of the successes that occurred by African-Americans in this country can be seen and pointed out and can be emulated," says Michael Roberts, the chairman and CEO of The Roberts Companies. Michael and his brother Steven, who is three years younger, stroll through their office, complete with wood-paneled doors, large leather chairs and a pool table fit for a king. Their office sits along a busy street in St. Louis called Kingshighway. "They used to call us the Kings of Kingshighway, because we own so much on this street," Michael Roberts says. Their office is the culmination of hard work and a can-do American business attitude to strive for greatness. They launched their business from a historically black neighborhood in north St. Louis. Roberts brothers share secrets of their success » . From a one-room office, they created an empire now made up of 76 companies and 1,100 employees, many of them minorities. They own commercial real estate, TV stations, hotels, telecommunication companies and more. The name Roberts adorns all their properties. "We weren't rich. We weren't poor, but we just never had any money," Michael says of their upbringing. They like to tell their story, encouraging people with new ideas to chase their dreams. If you don't have money, they say, don't let that stop you. "We tell folks, learn it, get your hands dirty -- you know, a little sweat equity," says Steven Roberts, the president of The Roberts Companies. "For that college student, for that future entrepreneur ... we're saying understand what your passion is, and understand what your product is, too." Michael Roberts chuckles. He notes that his younger brother has always been good at "putting the meat on the bone." He says he likes to tell youths and college students: "What would your life be like if you could eliminate the fear of failure, and where would you be at this point in life?" There will be times, he says, when you will stumble, but don't let those hiccups get you down. "If you eliminate the fear of failure and if you use every moment to its fullest extent -- a very existential concept -- then you are able to take your ideas, your dreams, your aspirations, and you can pursue them with courage and confidence and bravado." What are the challenges for black entrepreneurs, businesses? The brothers operate on a simple business philosophy: You diversify or die. And they don't believe in a full retirement. "What other animal retires?" Michael Roberts says. "If a lion retires today, tomorrow morning he becomes his brother's breakfast." They point to their father as exhibit A. At 86, he still comes to the office that his sons named after him, the Victor Roberts Building, a large complex complete with restaurants and retail stores. He worked 39 years in the Postal Service before retiring in the 1980s. He now keeps a keen eye on his now grown boys. He refuses a paycheck. "I suggest anyone who has a father," Michael says with a laugh, "please hire them, because you can get them for free." The two brothers also have served in public office, elected to the St. Louis Board of Alderman in the late 1970s. They recently walked through The Roberts Orpheum Theatre in downtown St. Louis. It symbolizes their quest for a legacy. Decades ago, their mother and other black people were only allowed to sit in the highest balcony. Now, the brothers own the theater. They stood on the stage and scanned the empty seats. Again, they laughed. "Mom can sit wherever she likes," Michael Roberts said.
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Michael and Steven Roberts, both African-Americans, built a $1 billion empire . Steven Roberts to youngsters: "Understand what your passion is" Lack of money shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams, they say . They don't believe in full retirement: "What other animal retires?"
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(CNN) -- If anyone deserves the death penalty, surely it is a man who meticulously plans a mass murder and mercilessly carries it out, shattering the lives of innocents and their loved ones, rending the very bonds of humanity. Surely such a man deserves this punishment -- if, that is, his grip on moral reasoning has not been eviscerated by mental illness so severe that he can't be responsible for the conduct that would render him guilty under criminal laws. (Such laws have for centuries demanded blameworthiness as a prerequisite to conviction and punishment.) And if the months of trial preparation, years of hearings, trials and appeals that devour millions of dollars is the best use of those precious resources because -- in the words of the prosecutor representing the people of the state of Colorado in the case against James Holmes -- "justice is death." There are questions to consider as well: . Will the victims and their families somehow be made whole? Would the time and money devoted to achieving this man's death not be better spent on services and law enforcement initiatives meant to repair and prevent the mindless devastation of criminal homicide? Would this man's execution serve an ineffable impulse for justice? Would it be necessary to ensure that he does not kill again or to prevent killings by others? A claim of innocence does not stalk Holmes' trial, nor does the legacy of race discrimination that has so long infected capital punishment. He will be represented by well-trained and competent lawyers. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 more, unassuming individuals whose misstep that fateful July evening was gathering to enjoy a movie. The wheels of his capital prosecution have now been set in motion after the offer made by Holmes' defense counsel to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment without the chance of parole was rejected by Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler. Judgments about Holmes' criminal responsibility and punishment now will be left to a jury. Under Colorado law, as in other states that authorize capital punishment, that jury will first be "death qualified," that is, purged of citizens whose faith or moral precepts would not permit them to sentence Holmes to death. But there is more to capital punishment than the moral precepts and more that explains why the death penalty is a dying institution throughout the United States -- certainly in Colorado -- and worldwide. In a country topping 300 million in population and plagued annually by in excess of 13,000 murders, 78 offenders were added to the nation's death rows last year, down 75% from the 326 sentenced to die in 1995. In 2012, 43 executions were carried out, less than half of the 98 nationwide in 1998. Three convicted murderers inhabit Colorado's death row, a state that has carried out a single execution in the past 45 years. Many factors account for the dramatic downturn in the country's historic affinity for capital punishment: a revulsion against the awful prospect of executing an innocent person; the racial and social class inequities imbued in the death penalty's administration; the enormous financial burden placed on state and local budgets in supporting capital prosecutions; the availability of life imprisonment without parole to keep the streets safe. These are coupled with the paucity of evidence that capital punishment deters murder and the growing recognition that the U.S. is sorely out of step with other democracies around the world that have long since renounced it as a violation of fundamental human rights. If Holmes is convicted in a trial now scheduled to begin not earlier than February 2014, if he is sentenced to die, if no error is found by the appellate courts that will review the proceedings, and if his case is typical of other capital cases in Colorado and elsewhere, he would likely not be executed until 2029. The murder victims' family members -- those who supported a death sentence in the first place (and many will not have) -- who seek justice or finality through his execution will gain neither until then. Holmes' parents, who were in court when Brauchler announced that the prosecution would seek their son's capital punishment, will also await that long-postponed resolution, sentenced in effect to suffer through those years as well. While debating the abolition of capital punishment in England in the 1960s, Lord Chancellor Gardiner reminded the House of Lords: "When we abolished the punishment for treason that you should be hanged, and then cut down while still alive, and then disemboweled while still alive, and then quartered, we did not abolish that punishment because we sympathized with traitors, but because we took the view that it was a punishment no longer consistent with our self-respect." Lethal injection is some steps removed from Lord Chancellor Gardiner's description of the British practice of drawing and quartering capital offenders. Some today will maintain that drawing and quartering would be a fate richly deserved by Holmes. Yet despite the deep emotions and other justifications that might be offered in support of Holmes' execution, we might ask what good would be accomplished through this ritual act -- whether the lives of the individual victims and Coloradoans generally will be made better, and justice served by his lethal injection. We might ask whether, ultimately, such punishment would be consistent with our own self-respect. The answer to whether James Holmes should be executed arguably is less dependent on what we think about him than what it says about us. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of James R. Acker.
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James Acker: If anyone has death penalty coming, it would seem to be James Holmes . That's only if it's proved he's too mentally ill to be responsible in theater killings, Acker says . He says death penalty costs too much, accomplishes little and is used less and less . Acker: Does killing after murder make things better? Is it consistent with our self-respect?
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(CNN) -- In an escalation of its civil war, Syria is firing more Scud missiles in a desperate attempt to quash rebel gains, the NATO chief said Friday. The government has launched more missiles in recent days, according to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary-general of the alliance. Read more: Syrian fight now "overtly sectarian," U.N. says . "I can confirm that we have detected the launch of Scud-type missiles," he said. "I consider it an act of a desperate regime approaching collapse." Though the missiles have not hit Turkey, he said, the development highlights the need for a protection plan for the neighboring nation. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official told CNN on Friday that some Scuds had been fired from Damascus toward Aleppo early Thursday. "As far as I know, (there were) four, (landing) around Aleppo and/or close to our border, but not in Turkey," said the official, who spoke on condition that he not be named because he is not authorized to speak on the record for military matters. A NATO official told CNN that Syria had fired about half a dozen Scud-B missiles in the northern part of the country, one of which landed just 20 miles from the Turkish border. The preliminary assessment is the Scud launches were aimed at rebel munitions storage sites, said the official, who has direct knowledge of the latest intelligence but declined to be identified because of its sensitivity. Read more: U.N. announces $1.5 billion aid effort for refugees . Intelligence analysts believe the Syrian government now uses Scuds when the weather is bad and aircraft cannot launch ground attacks. This is the first acknowledgment of new Scud launches since an initial volley was confirmed by U.S. officials earlier this month. Using U.S. satellite imagery, along with U.S. and NATO radars and electronic signals intelligence, the United States and NATO can establish where the missiles were launched and where they landed. The official declined to offer specifics on the launch and aim points of the latest attacks, because of the sensitive nature of the information. But he said there was no indication the latest round of Scuds were armed with chemical munitions. He did not know if there were any casualties, as all the missiles landed inside Syria. The move is an escalation on the war, which has threatened to draw in neighboring countries and militant groups. Analysts say the government of President Bashar al-Assad maintains up to 400 of the short- and medium-range Russian-developed Scud missiles. Read more: Syrian refugees on run: "I want people to feel our pain" NATO is in the final stages of preparing for a deployment of Patriot missiles from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands to Turkey for defense against Syrian Scuds that might threaten its neighbor. Final site surveys are under way, and the deployment of six Patriot batteries in Turkey is expected to be completed by the end of January. The Syrian civil war started in March 2011 when a government crackdown on civilian demonstrators morphed into a fight between the regime and rebels. More than 40,000 people are estimated to have died in nearly two years of conflict. At least 148 people were killed across Syria Friday, according to the Local Coordination Committee in Syria, a Syria-based opposition activist network. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
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NEW: One missile landed only 20 miles from the Turkish border, a NATO official says . NATO chief describes Syria's launch of the missiles as "an act of a desperate regime" Development highlights the need for a protection plan for Turkey, NATO says . Scud missiles were fired from Damascus toward Aleppo, a Turkish official says .
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(CNN) -- Defending champion Serena Williams will miss the Australian Open in January to give herself more time to recover from foot surgery. The former world number one has not played competitively since winning her fourth Wimbledon crown in July. She sustained the original injury after standing on broken glass at a restaurant shortly after winning her second grand slam of the year and 13th of her glittering career. Williams attempted to come back ahead of the season-ending WTA Championships in Qatar, but had to abandon her attempts after aggravating the injury in training. The American was also due to compete in the Hopman Cup in Australia next month, but in a statement released Thursday said she had been left with no choice but to pull out. She said: "As I continue to rehabilitate my foot after the second surgery last month, it is with the utmost regret that I am withdrawing from the Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open Championships. "As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage. "While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first grand slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly." Williams dominated the early part of the 2010 season, with victories at the Australian Open and the grass of Wimbledon, but in her absence Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark claimed top spot in the global rankings. Belgian rival Kim Clijsters also claimed the final grand slam of the season at the U.S. Open and the WTA Championships, making her a warm favorite for the Australian Open which kicks off the 2011 season, particularly with Williams sidelined. Williams promised her fans to "be back better than ever as soon as I can be."
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Defending champion Serena Williams pulls out of Australian Open . Williams has not recovered from foot injury she picked up after stepping on broken glass . Williams has not played since winning Wimbledon for the fourth time in July .
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(CNN) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook expects China, the world's most populous country, to become the No. 1 market for the company. Equally heavyweight tech companies Google or Facebook can only watch with envy. It is not because of lack of effort that they are nowhere near the success of Apple in China. Their businesses are just too different. The Chinese government's tight control on freedom of information flow applies especially to the Internet. Web access is filtered on a regular basis. Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked because the government deems them as potential hot spots for facilitating politically sensitive or socially inappropriate content. Meanwhile, Google is operational in China but has to route all searches to its Hong Kong site, and the access is often interrupted. So, it is fair to say that the Chinese government is the reason why companies such as Google and Facebook are not doing well in China. In contrast, Apple mainly sells hardware, so it has not run into any censorship problems. Chinese consumers love electronic gadgets. Mobile phones are ubiquitous. Apple is doing incredibly well because its products are so much more attractive and pricy. The iPhone quickly become a status symbol product in Chinese social circles since its debut. Likewise, the iPad also joined the must-have list as soon as it was launched. If someone wants to lubricate his "guanxi" -- relationship -- with an important person, these two products are often the gift of choice. Before the iPad reached China, a businessman in Shanghai told me that in the back of his car trunk, he had stocked at least 20 iPads, all bought in Hong Kong. "It is the most-loved present for government officials," he claimed. The social pressure of having an Apple product is strong, especially as the wealthy elites set the trend. If a middle class Chinese consumer cannot afford an expensive car or watch, sporting an iPhone may be just as good. Even the bad press surrounding Foxconn, the main manufacturer of Apple products, did not make too much of a dent on the company's sales. There is no doubt that China will be an important market for Apple in the coming years. Among the three main telecommunications companies in the country, China Mobile is the only one without Apple's iPhone support despite the fact that it is the largest operator with nearly 700 million subscribers. Many high-end China Mobile customers still stay in 2G network because China Mobile's 3G network does not have iPhones. If China Mobile gets its own version of iPhone, as rumor has it recently, then it would be a shot in the arm for Apple. Interestingly enough, Apple's growth in China is all from its hardware. Its iTunes store sales from music, videos, books or apps downloads are almost negligible. This has nothing to do with the government. There is no censorship of iTunes other than Apple's own self-screening mechanism. Poor sales from iTunes store owe more to the fact that the Chinese are habitually reluctant to pay for intellectual properties. To make things worse, there are so many websites that offer "jailbreak" tips so that people can easily bypass Apple and get free downloads elsewhere. There are rumors that Apple might consider adding a cheaper version of the iPhone for the Chinese market. In light of the fast growing smartphone market, cheaper phones seem to make sense especially since there are still millions of Chinese who cannot afford a pricy iPhone of 5000 yuan (roughly $800 dollars). But Apple should stay away from the idea. It does not make sense to sacrifice profit margin just for a greater market share. Doing so would tarnish the premium image of Apple and erode the love and loyalty of the elites. One lesson that Apple can learn is that not long ago, Nokia used to own the Chinese market but it became so popular that it lost its appeal to the elites. Nokia ended up trying a new brand, Vertu, to entice consumers, but it was not very successful. By building more retail stores in China, Apple would certainly accelerate its growth. But the challenge is to maintain its prestige so that consumers would not lose interest and crave for a new elite brand. Apple might also want to rethink its iTunes Store business model in China so that it can generate sales in other ways. Hardware comes and goes. One day, Apple products can and will be replaced. But demand for books, movies, music, and apps is ongoing. Will Apple find a way to tap into the Chinese consumption for content? We'll just have to see. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeongwen Chiang.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook expects China to become the No. 1 market for the company . Jeongwen Chiang: Google or Facebook can only watch with envy . He says Apple mainly sells hardware, which doesn't run into censorship problems . Chiang: iPhones and iPads are also considered status symbols among elites .
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(CNN) -- A California lettuce grower has recalled 2,498 cartons of chopped or shredded romaine lettuce shipped to wholesale food service distributors in 19 states and Canada over concerns the produce may be contaminated with the same bacteria that caused 13 deaths in an outbreak traced to tainted cantaloupes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and True Leaf Farms initially reported the recall of 90 cartons of chopped and shredded romaine lettuce on Thursday, saying a random sample detected listeria monocytogenes in one bag pulled from a lot shopped on September 12 and September 13. Later Thursday, True Leaf issued a statement saying the FDA asked the company to expand the recall. No illnesses have been reported, the FDA said. The affected lettuce was available for direct purchase at Cash & Carry Smart Foodservice warehouses in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, It also shipped to food service distributors in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont. It also was sent to a distributor in Alberta and British Columbia. The recalled lettuce carries a use by date of "9/29/11" and the bag and box code B256-46438-8. The FDA said anyone who has the lettuce should destroy it or contact the company to come pick it up. Listeria can cause fever, muscle aches and gastrointestinal problems. It usually causes only mild illness for healthy people, but it can be extremely dangerous for older adults, people with weakened immune systems, newborns and pregnant women, in whom listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The listeria bacteria recently was blamed in a multi-state outbreak associated with tainted cantaloupes. At last count, 13 people had died and 72 had been made ill in 18 states after consuming cantaloupes grown by a Colorado farm.
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Chopped and shredded romaine lettuce is recalled over contamination concerns, the FDA says . The recall involves the same bacteria that caused 13 deaths from tainted cantaloupes . No illnesses have been reported from the lettuce, the FDA says .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Seven emergency medics in England have been suspended from work for playing an Internet game that involves being photographed lying down in unusual places. The lying down should be as public as possible and as many people as possible should be involved. Bosses at a hospital in Swindon, western England, were angered after photographs of the doctors and nurses lying face down on resuscitation trolleys, ward floors and an air ambulance helipad were posted on social networking site Facebook. The photographs have been removed from the site and the members of the hospital's accident and emergency staff now face a disciplinary hearing. Partipants in the "lying down game" must lie face down with the palms of their hands against their sides and the tips of their toes touching the ground. Should the medics have been suspended? Send us your views . There are two aims to the challenge: that the lying down should be as public as possible and that as many people as possible should be involved. But Dr. Alf Troughton, medical director of Great Western Hospital NHS Trust, was unamused by the alleged incident, which he said took place during a night shift last month. "This did not involve patients and we are satisfied that at no time was patient care compromised," Dr. Troughton said in a statement. "The Great Western Hospital sets high standards for staff behaviour at all times and therefore takes any such breaches extremely seriously. It is important to reassure patients and our workforce that this was an isolated incident and staff cover was maintained at all times. "The allegations have been thoroughly investigated and seven members of staff remain suspended pending formal disciplinary hearings."
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Seven medics in England suspended for playing "lying down game" Internet game involves being photographed lying down in unusual places . Members of hospital's accident and emergency staff await disciplinary hearing . They were allegedly photographed lying on trolleys and emergency helipad .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Protesters draped themselves in the colorful flag of Tibet and shouted slogans at the Chinese embassy in London on Saturday at the start of a demonstration to mark the 50th anniversary since the Tibetan uprising against China. Protesters have gathered in London to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tibet uprising. "Tibetans in Tibet -- we are with you!" they shouted. "China, China, China -- out, out, out!" The small but fervent group marched from the embassy through west London to Trafalgar Square, where they were due to hear a speech by Thomas Shao Jiang, a Chinese dissident who was one of the student organizers of the Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing in 1989. "I think it's important that Tibet is kept in the world's eye," protester Chris Last told CNN amid placards declaring "50 years too long" and "We are Tibetans, not Chinese." While Tibet is technically autonomous from the central Chinese government, its current government is directed from Beijing. The Dalai Lama, traditionally the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, lives in exile in India. Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Beijing's rule that sent the Dalai Lama into exile. Protest organizers said the march was meant to draw public attention to what they say is a deepening crisis a year after China cracked down on protests across Tibet. "(British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown and other world leaders must respond urgently and publicly to the Tibet crisis by taking immediate action," said Stephanie Brigden, director of Free Tibet. "They should demand that China calls off its security stranglehold in Tibet as an essential first step towards backing the Dalai Lama's initiative in finding a long-term and negotiated settlement to China's occupation." Tibetan Buddhists say they resent the slow erosion of their culture amid an influx of Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in China. That resentment spilled over last March, when Buddhist monks initiated peaceful anti-Chinese protests in the regional capital, Lhasa, on the 49th anniversary of the uprising. The protests soon turned violent, with demonstrators burning vehicles and shops. Some protesters advocated independence from China, while others demonstrated against the growing influence of the Han Chinese in the area and other regions of China with ethnic Tibetan populations. The subsequent crackdown left 18 civilians and one police officer dead, according to the Chinese government. Tibet's self-proclaimed government-in-exile put the death toll from the protests at 140. China accuses the Dalai Lama of fomenting the discord in his homeland -- a charge he denies. "The Dalai Lama demanded the establishment of the so-called 'Greater Tibetan area' on a quarter of the Chinese territory, to drive away Chinese army stationed there guarding the Chinese territory, and to drive away Chinese people of other ethnic groups who lived there for generations. Is such a person a religious figure?" Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday. "The conflict between him and us is not religious conflict, human rights conflict, ethnic conflict, nor cultural conflict," Yang said. "The conflict is whether or not to maintain China's unification, and whether or not to permit Tibet to be separated from the Chinese territory." The Dalai Lama has said he does not advocate violence or a separate and independent Tibet. He has said he wants a genuine autonomy that preserves the cultural heritage of the region. "I'm just disgusted with the way the Chinese behave towards the Tibetans. Even if you accept that Tibet has been swallowed up by China, why can't they give to them autonomy, respect their religion, their culture?" protester Bob Hunt said Saturday. "These are peaceable people, one of the most peaceable people in the world." Protester Shobha Trivedi said she hoped the protest march would make people more aware of the situation inside Tibet. "I feel as a human being, what (the) Chinese are doing for 50 years, nobody's bothering with it," she said. "And it's a real shame on everyone."
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London protesters marking 50th anniversary of Tibetan uprising against China . Dalai Lama, traditional spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists, in exile . Protesters claim situation in Tibet is getting worse .
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(RollingStone.com) -- "Sing it if you know it," Pavement's Stephen Malkmus told the crowd Sunday night in Brooklyn, on the Williamsburg Waterfront, as the band prepared to play "Stop Breathing." Then he added, "I tell myself that before every song. 'Sing it like you know it! Be the ball! Be the snare, Steve!'" He didn't need to worry. In the group's first New York gig since 1999, Malkmus not only remembered all the words to the old Pavement songs, he and the rest of the band brought new flair to them. The 90s indie princes buzzed through their insanely fat songbook, 27 brilliant tunes in 90 minutes, without letting the energy level dip, lurching into each song with all their boyish enthusiasm. It was like a mix tape of the livelier moments from their 90s shows, except more so. All year long, on their first tour since they fell apart in 1999, Pavement have shown other bands how you do the reunion thing right: no new songs, no pompous gestures, just a celebration of the catalog that made them the great guitar band of the 90s. The audience on Sunday night was surprisingly young, and unsurprisingly baked, but they were there to celebrate the 90s as well. Malkmus got one of the night's biggest cheers when he looked around at the Brooklyn waterfront and mused, "We saw a Bikini Kill show around here." Rolling Stone: See vintage shots of Stephen Malkmus and more nineties rockers . Pavement hopped from songs everybody likes ("Gold Soundz," "Summer Babe") to songs hardly anybody ever notices ("No More Absolutes," "Starlings in the Slipstream"), dipping into psychedelic jams like "Grounded" between sing-along raves like "Silence Kid" and "Unfair." Malkmus and Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg traded guitar leads in the countryfied ballad "Father to a Sister of Thought," giving it a whole new flavor. Drummer Steve West and bassist Mark Ibold were nimbler than ever, while percussionist/hype man Bob Nastanovich banged the tambourine, sang back-up, blew harmonica, and played a mean slide whistle solo on "Fight This Generation." He also slow-danced with a lucky lady as Malkmus crooned "We Dance." Rolling Stone: Pavement's Album Guide by Rob Sheffield . That song was a reminder of how much musical ground Pavement covered. They were the band who could do it all, mixing up New York noise with California stoner vibes, Euro art-punk with suburban American hardcore, yet make it all flow like rock & roll, and make it all seem like a breeze. They combined the elements of indie rock that fans were used to getting in half-assed dribbles and drabs. So "Loretta's Scars" was the best Dinosaur Jr. song ever, just as "Zurich Is Stained" was the best Nikki Sudden song ever -- yet these were just another couple of great Pavement songs. Sunday night they blasted through "Silence Kid," with a melody swiped from Buddy Holly ("Everyday," to be exact), plus a throwaway guitar hook swiped from Jimi Hendrix ("Bold As Love," to be exact), and made it crest and surge for three wildly emotional minutes of punk rock. Who else wrote songs like this? Everybody tried to. But only Pavement pulled it off. Wily bastards, these guys. The show ended on a high note with "Range Life," a wittily poignant ballad about the passing of youth. As he walked offstage after "Range Life," Malkmus indulged in his only cornball rock-star gesture of the night--he tried to toss a guitar pick into the crowd. But it missed, and plopped pitifully onto the stage. Malkmus shrugged, laughed, and kept walking. Set List: . Cut Your Hair . Date With IKEA . Rattled By The Rush . Elevate Me Later . Grounded . Frontwards . Shady Lane . Unfair . Perfum-V . Fight This Generation . Silence Kid . Box Elder . Stop Breathing . Two States . Father To A Sister of Thought . Heckler Spray . In The Mouth A Desert . We Dance . Summer Babe . No More Absolutes (Fin) Stereo . Encore: . Spit on a Stranger . Trigger Cut . Starlings in the Slipstream . Gold Soundz . Kennel District . Range Life . Copyright © 2010 Rolling Stone.
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The 90s indie princes buzzed through their songbook, 27 brilliant tunes in 90 minutes . Bob Nastanovich slow-danced with a lucky lady as Malkmus crooned "We Dance" The show ended with "Range Life," a wittily poignant ballad about the passing of youth .
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(CNN) -- The order was to be followed immediately. The entire school was to be put on lockdown. Students, teachers and even administrators were to stay inside; no excuses, no exceptions. The year was 1988. The place; a small mining town in northern Mexico called Cananea. Inside the classrooms, dozens of puzzled high school students were quietly wondering, if they were in danger. I was one of those students. Cananea, in the state of Sonora, just south of Arizona, was back then a quiet town where one could leave doors unlocked without fear. As class president, I felt it was my obligation and duty to my fellow students to find out what was happening. Leading a group of about a half dozen of my classmates, we ventured out, with the acquiescence of our history teacher. Nobody stopped us. As we approached the school's front gate, we heard what sounded like a sizable group of people chanting. The gate was padlocked, so we did what rambunctious children would do in that kind of situation: We jumped over the fence. We walked slowly towards the crowd surrounding a man who appeared to be their leader. He was a balding, chubby man in his 50s with white hair and beard. "Thanks for coming out to welcome me," he told me as he shook my hand. "You're welcome," I replied, probably with a blank stare. I had no idea who the man was. I later learned that his name was Manuel Clouthier. In that presidential election year, the then-53-year-old businessman was running for the highest office in the country as the opposition candidate with the PAN, the National Action Party. Until then, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) had ruled Mexico with an iron fist for nearly 60 years and it would remain in power for another 12. The party, formed in the wake of the bloody Mexican revolution that ended in 1917, had forged allegiances with unions, business sectors and power brokers so effectively that virtually no one in the country could move a finger without the PRI's blessing. Indeed, the outgoing president selected his successor through a practice known as "el dedazo," roughly meaning "the finger point." For all practical purposes, the Mexican media was back then the government's propaganda arm. Clouthier had to leave my town only a few hours after his arrival. No hotel would allow him to stay there. No restaurant would serve him and his people. No business wanted anything to do with him or any opposition party. Doing so would have meant financial ruin or banishment. Fear in those days was highly contagious. That year in July, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the PRI's candidate, won the presidency in one of the most controversial elections in Mexican history. Some Mexican historians still claim that another opposition candidate, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas from the PRD (the Party of the Democratic Revolution), was the real winner of those elections. Manuel Clouthier died a year later in a car crash in his home state of Sinaloa. I've been thinking a lot about that time in my life growing up in Mexico, especially as the country is getting ready to inaugurate a new president Saturday. Much has changed since then. Electoral reforms brought about during the 1990s opened up democracy in Mexico. Clouthier's party, the PAN, finally came to power in 2000 when Vicente Fox won the elections. It was the first time in 71 years that Mexico was going to be governed by a party that was not the PRI. Fox was succeeded by the PAN's Felipe Calderon, who finished his six-year term Saturday. I was in Mexico this July as a CNN correspondent covering this year's presidential elections and, as far as I could see, the process was fair and transparent. I went to multiple polling places around Mexico City. Mexicans were voting openly and without fear. The ghosts of the past, including manipulation, coercion, threats and "pregnant" ballot boxes (those already filled with votes), seemed missing. And so Enrique Pena Nieto, a charismatic attorney and former governor of Mexico state, the most populous state in the country and adjacent to Mexico City, won the election this year. He only garnered 38% of the vote, less than the combined total of his three opponents, but that's the way elections work sometimes. As far as I and an army of international observers and journalists could see, he's the legitimate winner. His victory is historically significant because for the first time in 12 years the PRI is back in power. Many in Mexico wonder if Pena Nieto is the new face of an old party. Will he try to forge the same alliances of the past? Will he use unions as coercion arms as the PRI's political machine did in the past? The good news is that, as I said before, much has changed in Mexico. There was no social media in 1988. Today's media, as irresponsible and sensationalist as it can be sometimes, is not driven by the government's agenda. Hope, rather than fear, was the driving factor as Mexicans went to the polls this year. The bad news is that much in Mexico hasn't changed since 1988. Corrupt union leaders remain as powerful as they were back then, if not more. Inequality is painfully omnipresent. Abject poverty makes millions of young people vulnerable to organized crime. And national industries that used to be controlled by the federal government, i.e., the PRI, are now crippling monopolies that inhibit competition and keep prices artificially inflated. Enrique Pena Nieto's six-year presidency is an opportunity for him and a second chance for his party to take Mexico to the next level. Will Mexico remain the country of untapped potential, being almost there, but never quite joining the First World? Or will Pena Nieto and his party capitalize on this historic opportunity to break with old habits of the past for the benefit of the country? Only manana will tell.
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Enrique Pena Nieto presidential victory in Mexico is a return to an old, once-corrupt party . The PRI says it has changed even though its old tools of corruption remain . As Pena Nieto is inaugurated many are asking: Is he a new man or just a new face? Success may be measured in his ability to tap Mexico's potential .
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Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner and other conservatives shot down a proposal from a senior congressional Republican who suggested that his GOP colleagues break from their firm anti-tax position and agree to a demand from Democrats to immediately renew middle-class tax cuts. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a member of the leadership team that helps round up House votes, told fellow GOP lawmakers that he thought they should, as a matter of political strategy, extend just the tax-rate cuts for those making $250,000 or less before the end of the year -- a position being pushed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. Cole first floated the idea at a closed-door meeting of the Republican whip team on Tuesday and his comments were first reported by Politico. Cole told reporters after another meeting on Wednesday with House Republicans that he believed giving certainty to the majority of American taxpayers now was important. But he emphasized that he still opposed increasing tax rates for upper-income Americans. "In my view, we all agree that we're not going to raise taxes on people who make less than $250,000. We should just take them out of this discussion right now, continue to fight against any rate increases, continue to work honestly for a much bigger deal," Cole said. New Poll: Majority support taxing wealthier Americans . Cole added that major issues should be worked out in the debate next year. "We need to deal with entitlement spending. We need to deal with job creation. Rates are intimately tied to that. So let's have that discussion. But I think it's easier to have without a lot of people whose taxes we don't intend to raise being worried they might get raised." Cole's Tuesday comments were reported and distributed broadly by Democrats as a major development in the fiscal cliff talks. But they were quickly rejected by Boehner, who is negotiating with the White House and Democratic leaders on a way to avert the combination of spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect without an agreement by year's end. "I told Tom earlier in our conference meeting that I disagreed with him," Boehner told reporters after meeting with GOP rank and file. "He's a wonderful friend of mine and a great supporter of mine but raising taxes on the so-called top 2 percent -- half of those taxpayers are small business owners that pay their taxes through personal income tax filing every year." At the Wednesday meeting in the Capitol, Boehner also made a point in his opening remarks to tell members he disagreed with Cole, according to two GOP sources who were in the meeting. CNNMoney: Fiscal battle over mortgage deduction . One of these sources said Cole brought up his idea with GOP members in the meeting, saying he did not support raising any rates. Conservatives immediately rejected Cole's idea, and seemed annoyed that the attention on his comments was taking away from their focus to press Democrats to agree to some major entitlement reforms as part of a broad agreement to address tax rates and the automatic spending cuts. Idaho Republican Rep. Raul Labrador didn't mince words when asked by CNN about Cole's idea. "I think he's wrong and I think most of the conference thinks that he's wrong," Labrador said. "I think he's, you know, he's a good man who's served here for a long time. But he's also a man who has voted for a lot of the increased spending in Washington, D.C., and that's the problem." CNNMoney: It's time to fix the charitable deduction . "I think this is a false choice between running off the fiscal cliff and damaging the economy, or raising rates on small businesses and professionals that also damages the economy," Texas Republican Kevin Brady, a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said. Cole said he would continue to discuss his suggestion with colleagues, and predicted that if it came up for a vote, it would pass the Republican-led House. But GOP aides made it clear there are no plans for any vote on a bill to separate the middle-class tax cuts from those for higher-income earners. Even though Republicans criticized the idea, Democrats praised Cole. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, highlighted his shift in a speech on the Senate floor. "I applaud Representative Cole for that common-sense and brave position. I am hopeful that he can persuade other Republicans to do the right thing for our families, small business owners and communities across the country who have so much at stake and who are looking to us to solve this problem," Murray said. Norquist's no-tax pledge has survived challenges before . That kind of endorsement probably won't help Cole make his case with fellow Republicans. Asked about potential backlash to his idea from anti-tax groups focused on enforcing a "pledge" not to raise taxes, Cole seemed nonplussed. "My job is to get the best deal from the American taxpayers that I can get," he said. "If by keeping the pledge taxes go up on everybody, then I don't know if that's a very good idea. If, on the other hand, we can negotiate a deal, which I think we can, which keeps rates where they are but provides revenue and certainly protects people below $250,000, I think we have a responsibility to try and do that." After the meeting with the rank and file, House Republican leaders were sitting down in the Capitol with several CEOs who are part of the "Fix the Debt" coalition chaired by Erskine Bowles, the former head of Obama's deficit reduction committee. Boehner delivered a message to his members that he planned to reiterate to the CEOs, "We won't be party to a deal that protects big businesses and preserves special-interest tax breaks while raising tax rates on the small businesses we're counting on to create jobs." After the meeting Bowles told reporters he did not see the GOP showing any flexibility in their opposition to any tax rate increases.
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Rep. Tom Cole floated idea of negotiating tax cuts leaving out earners over $250,000 . House Speaker John Boehner and other conservatives reject his idea . Cole says major issues should be worked out in the debate next year .
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(RealSimple.com) -- A lengthy separation -- and a surprise trip to Paris -- caused this husband and wife to realize that their marriage could be saved. Mary L. Tabor and Del Persinger Washington, D.C. Married 26 years . Mary was still in her nightgown and robe, sipping a cappuccino in the kitchen of the Washington, D.C., brownstone she shared with her husband, Del, when he walked in and announced he wanted to live alone. They had been married for 21 years. "I didn't know what had hit me," Mary, 64, recalls of that fall morning in 2005. "I wondered, does he have a girlfriend? A boyfriend? I had no idea what was wrong." Although the couple's relationship had been strained for a few months, Mary simply assumed they were going through a rough patch. She attributed Del's loss of interest in sex and his suddenly quick temper to stress from his high-pressure job as a financial analyst. "Del was so on edge that he would yell at me about every little thing -- like a knife accidentally placed in the dishwasher with the point up," says Mary, a writer and a teacher. Still, she figured that things would soon return to normal. RealSimple.com: How to break bad habits . For Del, the decision had been a long time coming. Increasingly restless within his marriage, he wondered whether it was holding him back from leading a more exciting life. "I knew the problem wasn't Mary -- it was me," he says. "And I felt I needed to work through my mixed emotions alone." To Mary's frustration, Del couldn't articulate any of these concerns -- all she knew was that he wanted a separation. She and Del took turns sleeping in the guest room for a few months until she moved into an apartment of her own. By January 2006, the couple had hired attorneys. Their home, which they had spent the previous seven years painstakingly renovating, was put up for sale. Mary felt "broken" without Del, who had helped her raise two children from her first marriage and supported her through the deaths of her parents and sister. "He understood me better than anyone," she says. She tried to move on and began dating other men -- to little avail. "I was still in love with my husband." For Del, the bachelor lifestyle lost its luster rather quickly. "I thought the separation would allow me to make all those friends I never had, do all the things I never did," says Del, 61. But in reality his days were fairly mundane. "I went to work, went to the gym, and spent the rest of my time reading." He also found himself stalling on the divorce negotiations, bringing up smaller and smaller details. In retrospect, he realizes he probably did that to prolong the process indefinitely. By August 2009, the couple had cautiously started spending time together again, even venturing out on a few dates. "It wasn't the dinners or dances that made me feel in love, but the conversations," says Mary. Del, who had been seeing a therapist, finally opened up to her about his worries and fears. "To me, the most seductive thing a man can do is be truly honest," says Mary. Del had clearly experienced a change of heart. But Mary, concerned it wouldn't last, wanted time to think. In the winter of 2009, she took an extended trip alone to Paris. One morning, as she was having her breakfast, her cell phone rang. It was Del. He had flown in from D.C. and was outside her building. Could he come up? Mary buzzed him in, and when he reached her doorway, suitcase in hand, he told her how much he loved her. That grand romantic gesture, so out of character for Del, "moved me deeply," says Mary. "At that moment, I thought our marriage could be saved." RealSimple.com: Things worth admitting to . A few weeks later, the pair flew home together. Del sold his apartment and moved in with Mary. Divorce proceedings were halted. Their "new" relationship is free of the stressful arguments that were so commonplace back in 2005, the couple report. "I'm not confused anymore, so I'm a more contented person," says Del. "Del is at ease with himself, and that makes him at ease in the world," Mary explains. "When people hear that Del left me, they say, 'You were betrayed!' But I don't feel that way. Look, life is messy. I'm happy we got this second shot." Get a FREE TRIAL issue of Real Simple - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2010 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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After 21 years of marriage, Del announced to his wife that he wanted to live alone . Mary felt "broken" without Del, who had helped raise her two children . Mary and Del say open communication repaired their marriage .
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Washington (CNN) -- It's a familiar refrain from the media-shy U.S. Supreme Court: Judge us by what we write in our rulings, not in oral arguments, speeches or interviews. But the court term that ended this week in dramatic fashion reveals how difficult it can be to create a coherent picture of this dynamic bench, one that moves easily, if stealthily, across ideological lines on a range of hot-button cases. This body, led by a relatively youthful 58-year-old chief justice, is one that is thinking long-term: conservative and cautious. The drama that played out over three days looked like a ping-pong match: . • On Monday the court allowed affirmative action to continue in college admissions, while making it tougher in the future for public institutions to promote diversity in the classroom. Two liberal justices agreed with the five conservatives. Supreme Court sidesteps big ruling on Texas affirmative action . • Tuesday, it was back to a familiar 5-4, conservative-liberal split when the majority struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, leaving the federal government without its major enforcement tool to fight discrimination against minority voters. Court strikes down part of historic voting rights law . • And the finale Wednesday, giving gay rights supporters a major political and social boost by striking down part of a federal law that did not recognize same-sex marriage in states where it was legal and essentially clearing the way for homosexuals to wed in California. Same-sex marriage rulings hailed as historic victory . One case was split along ideological lines, with moderate-conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy the "swing," or deciding, vote; the other produced an unusual coalition in the 5-4 divide. Missing was an overarching "equal protection" right allowing gays and lesbians to marry in all states. The court is nowhere near that legal destination. So anyone in the political branches hoping for reliability from the current court, especially on social issues, may be disappointed. "This is a conservative court -- conservative ideologically and conservative in the sense that they like to take baby steps," said Thomas Goldstein, publisher of the well-respected SCOTUSblog.com. "There are times when the court decides to act aggressively over time, for example limiting the use of race in government decision-making like affirmative action. Then there are other times when the court is more uncertain and wants to move more modestly. In the same-sex marriage cases it doesn't want to force the entire country in one direction or another." By the numbers . It may surprise some, but the nine justices, despite their ideological differences, do like each other personally. And they readily find room for agreement. Sometimes. Half the 78 decisions from argued cases this his term were unanimous, 9-0. But 30% were split 5-4, including voting rights, the two same-sex marriage cases, DNA testing for arrested criminal suspects, government electronic surveillance, and Native American adoptions. That is a higher percentage than in past years, according to SCOTUSblog, which annually compiles the numbers. Ten of the 23 cases decided by one vote had the familiar five conservatives prevailing: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. But six times Kennedy sided with his more progressive colleagues: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. In probably a first for this court: Thomas -- perhaps the most right-leaning -- was the decisive vote when he joined the four liberals in a criminal sentencing appeal. Scalia, too, was a friend of the left on several other criminal procedure cases. Cockeyed coalitions seem almost routine. But the figures overall show what court watchers have long known: Roberts, and especially Kennedy, played the greatest behind-the-scenes roles. Kennedy was in the majority 91% of the time this term, and in the majority 87% of the time in the 5-4 cases. That includes the three blockbusters this week, a display of the power he wields. Kennedy often high court's swing vote and power broker . Kennedy, who turns 77 next month, separately offered a broad embrace of gay rights, but a limited endorsement of federal authority in voting rights. Colleagues on the losing sides of the biggest cases spared no rhetoric slamming Kennedy's personal views of the court's "primary role in determining the constitutionality of a law" as he wrote in the federal Defense of Marriage Act case, overriding the will of Congress. In supporting DOMA, Scalia said Kennedy was promoting "judicial supremacy" over the other branches of government. In supporting the Voting Rights Act and the power of Congress to oversee states with a history of minority discrimination, Ginsburg noted the "sad irony" when she said, "Hubris is a fit word for today's demolition of the VRA. ... Where is the court's usual restraint?" Even lawmakers have learned to accept the you-can't-win-them-all reality of the court's jurisprudence. "As disappointed as I was yesterday, I am happy today," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said when the same-sex marriage decisions were announced. Roberts rules . If Kennedy is on the winning side more than any of his bench mates, the chief justice is not too far behind. Roberts' key role crafting the opinion striking down part of the Voting Rights Act came after years of careful, incremental strategizing to limit the effect of racial classifications. In 2006, with just months on the job, Roberts lamented, "It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race." A year later discussing a case that struck down a voluntary school integration plan, he said firmly, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Then in 2009, Roberts and the conservatives on the court sent a clear message to Congress: Fix the Voting Rights Act and its federal enforcement scheme or the court would have "no choice" but to act as the constitutional arbiter. When lawmakers did not respond, the court in large measure did as it promised this week, in stunning fashion. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply disappointed" in the decision, quite a shift from a year ago when Roberts led the court in upholding the Affordable Care Act, the president's signature health care reform effort. Back then the president called that decision "a victory for people all over this country." While Kennedy dominates the 5-4 decisions, Roberts was in the majority only 61% of the time. But many conservative legal scholars say the chief justice has a years-long view of the law and of his own power. That gives them hope for the future, even when they do not prevail today. "It's disappointing to see the representatives of the people in Congress having been overruled here," said Carrie Severino, chief counsel at the Judicial Crisis Network, about the DOMA ruling. "But I think the silver lining is that we see, as the chief justice pointed out, that actually this is a somewhat narrow decision in terms of leaving it to the states to be worked out there in the future." What worries many progressive activists is the conservative court's consistently united voice on business-related cases, which typically dominate the docket. These disputes don't generate the same political pulse as race and marriage, but carry a hefty legal consequence. "As opposed to issues like the dismantling of affirmative action, where the court's conservative bloc is divided and has trouble agreeing about how far and how fast to take the law, the court's conservatives are completely united" on this front, said Doug Kendall, head of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "Corporate America wins; workers, consumers, mom and pop shops, and other individual Americans asserting their rights in federal court lose. Again and again." The excitement of this term will spill over when the justices resume their work in October. Among the closely watched petitions: . • Another affirmative action dispute and a Michigan voter referendum that bans racial preferences in public university admissions, state employment and government contracting. • Public prayers in town council meetings. • The validity of Obama's recess appointments to a federal agency when the Senate was in a "pro forma" session. Each member of the court at some point in their tenure begins to think about a personal legacy. Some of the (relatively) younger ones may think long-term; the elder justices may realize they only have a few more years to make their mark. Three of the justices are in their 50s, three are in their 60s or early 70s; three are 75 or older. That and the shaky ideological makeup create a court with subtly different agendas and demands. The tension over the 5-4 cases, the mixed-result efforts by Roberts to forge consensus, and the fact each of the chambers operates essentially as their own independent judicial shop means fixing a unified adjective on these nine justices is impossible. Several of the justices privately acknowledge this unique relationship among themselves. As one told CNN a few years ago, "If we can agree, we will. If we can't, we don't. That's how we look at it, and that really is how it has been, at least as long as I have been on the court. And I expect it will continue."
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Supreme Court term ends this week in dramatic fashion with rulings on three hot-button topics . Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy are power players on the court . Expert: The court is conservative ideologically and in that "they like to take baby steps" Next term the court will consider the validity of some of President Obama's recess appointments .
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(CNN) -- Andy Murray's first match since undergoing back surgery in September ended in a straight sets defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi Thursday. The reigning Wimbledon champion went down 7-5 6-3 to the Frenchman, who himself was plagued by injury at the back end of this year. Murray, who has dropped to No.4 in the rankings, lacked sharpness after his layoff and was broken in the 12th game of the opening set to fall behind. The British star has been training at his base in Florida to prepare for the upcoming season and looked set to even the match up when he gained an early break of service in the second set. But Tsonga hit back with two breaks of his own to wrap up victory in 72 minutes at the Zayed Sports City complex. "The courts here are very fast and you have to react quickly," said 26-year-old Murray. "Jo was sharper than me today, he served very well. "It's always good fun here. It's great preparation for the season as you have to play against the best in the world." The organizers of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship have indeed attracted a stellar field with the top two ranked players, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, in the line-up. David Ferrer of Spain won the opening match Thursday as he beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5 6-1 to set up a semifinal clash against compatriot Nadal. Tsonga's win over Murray has earned him a match against Serbia's Djokovic, while Murray will gain much-needed match practice against Wawrinka in the fifth place playoff. Murray, recently voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year back in the UK, became the first British man to win the Wimbledon title in 77 years when he triumphed at the All England Club back in July, but his season took a turn for the worse as he became troubled by a long-standing back problem.
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Andy Murray falls to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi . Wimbledon champion Murray loses 7-5 6-3 to the hard-hitting Frenchman . It was Murray's first match since undergoing back surgery in September . David Ferrer defeats Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets in the other match .
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(CNN) -- Novak Djokovic walked on to the court in a Darth Vader mask -- but it was the world No. 1 elect who was spooked after crashing out of the Paris Masters in his opening match. The Serbian tennis star, who is known for his pre-match antics, suffered a Halloween horror show as he lost 0-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to Sam Querrey in the second-round clash. Federer to surrender world No. 1 ranking . The U.S. player, ranked 23rd, hit 18 aces on his way to grinding out victory in two hours, meaning Andy Murray is the highest-ranked player left in a field weakened by the absence of current No. 1 Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Murray secured his place in the next round following a comfortable 7-5 6-3 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu of France and will now face Poland's Jerzy Janowicz. At least Djokovic will now have a sufficient recovery period ahead of the World Tour Finals, which begin in London on Monday -- when he officially returns to the top of the rankings due to Federer's decision not to defend his Paris title. "I knew the main problems would be my energy, it wasn't there during the second set. I really felt my level drop," Djokovic said. "I struggled every game, but on the brighter side I have time to rest. I've been through a really difficult period this last few weeks. There have been a lot of things on my mind, some things happened. "I have a couple of days now to rest. I've had to face some things a bit unusual for me, but when you lose a match you move on and go to the last tournament of the year." Djokovic beats Murray in classic Shanghai final . Querrey, who will next play either Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic or Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, was relieved to recover after losing the first eight games of the match. "It was a little embarrassing. I walked over to my girlfriend and my chiropractor and I said, 'I hope I can get two games in this set.' "Once I got the two games I kind of settled down. I was like, 'Okay, that's all I want.' But then I got rolling and got more confidence and started serving better and being a little more aggressive." While Djokovic is assured of his place in the eight-man London line-up, his compatriot Janko Tipsarevic is still fighting to earn one of the remaining two berths at the season finale. Tipsarevic defeated Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-4 7-6 (7-0) to ensure his passage to the third round, where he will face Argentine ninth seed Juan Monaco -- who can potentially qualify if he reaches the final, depending on other players' results. However, Richard Gasquet's hopes of making it to London ended when the the French 12th seed lost to big-serving South African Kevin Anderson in three sets. Elsewhere, Juan Martin Del Potro eased past Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-2 6-2 to set up a third round clash with France's Michael Llodra. Llodra ovecame 10th seed John Isner 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to end the American's hopes of making it through to London. Nicolas Almagro will take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round after he overcame fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3. France's Gilles Simon will face Japan's Kei Nishikori following a straight forward 7-5 6-3 win over Victor Hanescu.
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Novak Djokovic loses to Sam Querrey in his opening match at Paris Masters . Serbian star will still become new world No.1 despite defeat . American Querrey recovers after losing first eight games, firing 18 aces . Richard Gasquet's hopes of reaching London finals end with defeat .
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Washington (CNN) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney threw his campaign another curve ball when he revived the sensitive "birther" issue while campaigning in his native Michigan on Friday. Speaking before a friendly crowd in the Detroit suburb of Commerce, Romney noted that he and his wife, Ann, were born at nearby hospitals. "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." he said. The crowd roared at the quip, which was seemingly directed at President Barack Obama, who has faced questions for years from some conservative Republican quarters about his birthplace. Only U.S.-born citizens can be president and Obama released his full birth certificate last year from Hawaii to quiet critics. Romney has said he believes Obama was born in the United States and that the issue was put to rest last year. Although the zinger once again cast Republican candidate away from their key message: that Obama has mismanaged the economy and Romney is the better of the two to get things back on track. Political analysts agree that Romney does much better when he sticks to economic issues and his experience in business, two themes Republicans will stress at next week's nominating convention in Tampa. But this week, Romney and Republicans nationally have been consumed by a political firestorm caused by Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's explosive comments on rape and pregnancy. Romney spent a good amount of time since they were aired on Sunday in a St. Louis television interview denouncing Akin's remarks and fielding questions about abortion. And now, his campaign is responding to 'birther' questions. A Romney aide that he was only pointing out that Michigan is the state where he was "born and raised." Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, believed it was just Romney being awkward in trying to make a point about his roots. Some found them puzzling. "I'm somewhat surprised that he would make that joke because he's done a good job confirming that President Obama was the legitimate president of the United States," said Andra Gillespie an associate professor of political science at Emory University and author of "The New Black Politician." Romney has had a hard time appealing to the right wing of the Republican base, and the comment could, to some, have been a way getting a bump in support -- including financial support -- heading into the convention, said Mark Anthony Neal, an African-American studies professor at Duke University and the author of several books, including "New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity." "The best way to do that is to play to the crassest elements of the base," Neal said. Others felt the comments subtly signaled race. "The 'birther' issues is only an issue that involves the country's first black president," said Fredrick C. Harris, a political science professor and director of Columbia University's Center on African-American Politics and Society. "And so it raises questions still about the legitimacy about this administration." And for others, it is a problem of message control when the campaign faces periods of stress. On his overseas trip last month, Romney offended Britons when he questioned the city's readiness to host the Olympics and Palestinians when he credited Israeli culture for its economic success. "It does speak to a lack of discipline overall," Tanner said of Romney's birth certificate comment. "Look, candidates are going to say dumb things, the president said there were 57 states in the country. God knows what Joe Biden will say on any given day. If you give 100 speeches, you're going to mess something up. But the Romney campaign doesn't seem to respond well to this."
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'No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate,' Romney said in his native Michigan . Quip another distraction for Romney campaign preparing for RNC convention . Was Romney trying to appeal to conservative base or was it just an awkward comment? Romney campaign said that candidate believes Obama was born in the United States .
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(CNN) -- Twelve people were killed and another dozen wounded when a bus fell off South Korea's longest bridge Saturday while trying to avoid a collision with a truck, local media reported. The bus was headed to Incheon International Airport, west of the capital Seoul, when it crashed through a guard rail and fell about 10 meters (32 feet) from the Incheon Bridge, the Yonhap news agency said. Police told the news agency that the bus may have lost control while trying to avoid a truck. The truck, in turn, had swerved to avoid colliding with a stalled car in the middle of the bridge. The Incheon Bridge, at 21.38 km (13.2 miles), is the country's largest.
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Bus plunges 32 feet after trying to avoid collision with a truck . Incident takes place on country's longest bridge, Incheon Bridge . Bridge is 13.2 miles long .
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LONDON, England -- Two kisses on the cheek or three? The age-old dilemma may become moot as worries of infectious disease hang in the air. A couple kisses at a swine flu virus prevention and detection medical mobile unit in Mexico City. Common forms of greeting, such as handshakes and kisses on the cheek, are coming under scrutiny as the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, steadily spreads around the world. In Mexico, which has had the largest outbreak of the virus, the Ministry of Health is advising people to avoid shaking hands and kissing people as a greeting. Some couples are donning surgical masks when they kiss to avoid contagion. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent who has been covering the epidemic from Mexico, is advocating the "el-bump," or bumping of elbows, as a greeting. "It's not as cool as the fist bump, but safer," he wrote on micro-blog site Twitter. Follow Dr. Gupta's 'tweets' Dr. Richard Dawood, medical director of the Fleet Street Travel Clinic in London, refers to the shift in etiquette as "social distancing." "People don't want to get too close. There is going to be a move towards less handshaking, less greeting people with a kiss. There may well end up being fewer meetings," he told CNN. The World Health Organization is advising people to practice preventive measures like avoiding close contact with people who appear unwell and those who are coughing and have a fever. The global health agency is also directing people who live in areas where flu cases have surfaced to follow additional precautions set out by their national and local health authorities. Even countries where the virus hasn't been confirmed are taking precautionary measures. At a news conference earlier this week, Lebanon's health minister recommended that people stop using the conventional greeting of three kisses to the cheek. See where cases have been confirmed » . "We're heading toward a world where everyone is going to be suddenly much more conscious of those who are coughing and sneezing," Dawood said. People will have to be much more conscious of hygiene and stay out of close proximity with others when they aren't feeling well, he said. Are you changing your etiquette because of the swine flu epidemic? Tell us in the SoundOff below . The H1N1 virus is a hybrid of swine, avian and human flu strains. It is a respiratory disease that is contagious, and believed to be spread through coughing, sneezing and close contact. Learn more about the virus » . Since the outbreak surfaced in Mexico, it has spread to at least 11 countries. The number of confirmed cases has reached 331, with the hardest hit areas in the western hemisphere, the WHO said Friday. People tend to be scared of what they don't understand, especially when it comes to disease, Dawood said. Watch Dr. Gupta report on a new scientific discovery about the virus » . He worries about how people will react as tensions rise. People historically have resorted to socially ostracizing those who have suffered from diseases like typhoid and leprosy, he noted. The flu outbreak will pose another test. "Hopefully we don't see that again. We will have to control our urges in our relations to other people," Dawood said.
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Move towards 'social distancing' as people worry about swine flu epidemic . Mexico's Health Ministry directing people to avoid handshakes and kissing . WHO advises avoiding close contact with people who appear unwell . Follow CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Twitter .
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The mother of the co-pilot who died in a plane crash near Buffalo, New York, in February, said Thursday that her daughter and the pilot were "being used as a scapegoat." Lynn Morris says she was shocked at how her daughter, the plane's co-pilot, was portrayed in the NTSB hearings. Lynn Morris' daughter, First Officer Rebecca Shaw, was among the 50 people killed in the crash of the plane, operated by Colgan Air. Morris made the comments on the final day of investigative hearings held by the National Transportation Safety Board. "I think I walked out of the hearings in shock, because I truly felt that both she and the captain were being used as a scapegoat," Morris said. Testimony from the hearings, which began Tuesday, revealed that fatigue may have contributed to the failure of Shaw and Colgan Air Capt. Marvin Renslow to save the plane as it approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Testimony on Wednesday indicated that crews on a number of airlines could be suffering from lack of sleep. Many crews live far from their base of operations, causing them to come to work already tired from travel, NTSB investigators said. Renslow had nearly a full day off before assuming command of Continental Connection Flight 3407. Yet the NTSB investigation found he slept in the Newark Airport crew lounge -- against Colgan Air regulations. The airline, though, appears not to have been enforcing that rule. "Nobody argues that the human body needs to have its rest, and sometimes it doesn't gel with the schedules of an airline," testified Capt. Rory Kay, executive air safety chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association. Watch hearing address issues of crew fatigue » . NTSB board member Kitty Higgins said the Colgan policy "is that they're not to sleep in the crew room, but it turns out they are sleeping in the crew room." Daniel Morgan, Colgan's vice president for flight safety, said, "People can come in between their flights to take a nap." Asked if napping was considered sleeping, he replied, "That's a definition I'm probably not prepared to answer." A nap of about 10 to 20 minutes can be restorative for most people, Dr. Michael Silber, a co-director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, told the clinic's monthly "Women's HealthSource" publication last year. However, a longer nap can make people feel groggy, Silber said for the publication's October issue. Shaw had three days off before the flight. She commuted through the night from Seattle, Washington, catching rides on connecting Fed Ex flights to get to Newark, New Jersey, where the Colgan flight originated. "It is shocking. It's hard to believe that it is allowed to go on," said Kathy Johnson, whose husband, Kevin, died in the crash. She said Wednesday she was furious that the crew may have been functioning on little sleep. Watch family members question pilot training standards » . The NTSB, which has not issued its report on the February 12 crash, said it scheduled the hearings to gather information. The plane plunged into a house in Clarence Center, New York, killing everyone on board and a man on the ground. The NTSB's preliminary investigation determined there was some ice accumulation on the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 aircraft, but the "icing had a minimal impact on the stall speed of the airplane." On Thursday, safety board member Deborah Hersman questioned why Renslow and Shaw apparently didn't notice, as they approached the Buffalo airport, that the plane's speed had abruptly dropped from 207 mph to 150 mph (from 180 to 130 knots). She asked R. Key Dismukes, chief scientist for the NASA division that focuses on human-centered design and operations, whether this was a period in every flight that is a time of high workload for the crew, meaning their attention may have been diverted. Dismukes noted that there was a lot going on, including conversations between Renslow and Shaw and communication with a control tower. "That certainly didn't help the workload situation," Dismukes said. "There were a number of concurrent tasks, and this is a vulnerable period. No questions about it." Hersman said she had seen the same failure to note a drastic, quick change in speed in other crashes. She suggested that the crew receive an alert in those cases. "I think an alert that your air speed is deteriorating is kind of like a fire alarm," Hersman said. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Renslow, in his Colgan Air job application, failed to reveal two pilot exam failures. The crew also violated a rule that requires cockpit conversation to be focused on the flight. At Tuesday's hearing, Colgan Air acknowledged that Renslow had never trained on the "stick pusher" emergency system in a flight simulator. The system warns pilots when the plane's speed is too slow. But in a written statement, the carrier said both Renslow and Shaw had received other specific training on how to handle situations like those that preceded the crash. CNN's Allan Chernoff contributed to this report.
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NEW: "I think I walked out of the hearings in shock," co-pilot's mother says . Panel is investigating February crash near Buffalo, New York, that killed 50 . Pilot slept in lounge before flight, co-pilot commuted all night, safety board hears . Relative of passenger says she's furious crew may have had little sleep .
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Late-night talker David Letterman married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko, last week, according to a transcript of the taping of his Monday night show. Late-night host David Letterman says he "avoided getting married for ... 23 years." The wedding was at the courthouse in Choteau, Montana, on Thursday, he said, according to quotes from CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" provided to CNN by Letterman's publicist, Tom Keaney. "Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, 'Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years ... ," he joked during the taping. Watch Letterman spill the beans » . "I had avoided getting married pretty good [sic] for, like, 23 years, and ... honestly, whether this happened or not, I secretly felt that men who were married admired me -- like I was the last of the real gunslingers." Lasko is a former "Late Show" staffer. The couple have a son, Harry. Letterman told his audience that the wedding almost didn't happen after the couple, son in tow, got their pickup truck stuck in the mud on the way to the ceremony. "So I get out of the truck and I walk two miles back to the house into a 50 mph wind. It's not Beverly Hills, it's Montana, for God's sakes,' " he said. "And the whole way, I'm thinking, 'See, smartass? See? See? You try to get married, this is what happens.' " When he returned with a car, he said -- presumably joking -- that his son was disappointed, "because mom had told him if I wasn't back in an hour, the deal was off."
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Talk-show host marries Regina Lasko, who he began dating in 1986 . Letterman talks of last week's wedding on his show Monday night . Letterman and Lasko have a son; were married in Montana .
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(CNN Student News) -- October 23, 2013 . The U.S. economy leads off Wednesday's program, as we examine some economic indicators and hear how Americans think the economy is doing. After a report on the spread of wildfires in Australia, we consider how an invasive species of fish is affecting some Atlantic Ocean ecosystems. Plus, we explore a company's plan to let people invest in their favorite athletes. 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: . What might be the pros and cons of using a news report to gauge the state of the national economy? How might such a report compare and contrast to one on your local economy? Key Concepts: Identify or explain these subjects you heard about in today's show: . 1. economic indicator . 2. invasive species . 3. investment risk . Fast Facts: How well were you listening to today's program? 1. What different reports were released regarding the U.S. economy? How did Americans respond to a poll on the economy? 2. What weather conditions are conducive to widespread wildfires in Australia? 3. Describe the "athlete investment" program described in the report. Discussion Questions: . 1. What are some ways in which the national economy might have an impact on a local economy, and vice versa? How can you tell how well your local economy is doing? What media would you use to find this information? 2. What factors do you think led to the population explosion of lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean? What unique challenges might exist when trying to control the population of an invasive species that lives in the ocean? 3. What might be the pros and cons of investing in a professional athlete, using the program described in the show? What might be the benefits and drawbacks for the athlete? Would you consider investing in an athlete? If so, what information would you use to determine if an athlete is a good investment? If not, why not? 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: . Australia . North America . Bermuda . 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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Editor's Note: Jennifer Brea is a writer and a graduate student studying political science at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Africa Report, and Ebony Magazine. Jennifer Brea says Barack Obama represents the increasing diversity of America. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When I was a small child, even before I had the right vocabulary, I could tell that my parents were different. When I was with my mother, strangers would gush over me. When I was with my father, I felt a distance. For reasons deeper than I could explain, it was safer with Mom; I was more special when, as far as the outside world could see, I belonged to her. I later learned this was because people were reacting to the fact that my mother was white and my father black. Like a growing number of Americans, like our new president, I grew up straddling this country's racial divisions. Barack Obama, America's first black president, is also our country's first biracial president -- no secret, but a fact that, especially in the euphoria of his inauguration, is often downplayed. The experience of multiracial Americans is as varied and complex as the races and heritages that make up our unique mixes, but when I came of age in the '80s and '90s, it was a world of stark and often strange choices. Race was a set of mutually exclusive, ill-fitting boxes. We were forced to choose just one, to pick sides. Often, the world chose for us. It was a question not of our culture, or how we self-identified, or even the objective makeup of our DNA, but how we looked. Tiger Woods, when he rose to fame as America's first black golf star, caused an uproar after he told reporters he was "Cablinasian," a nod to his Caucasian, Black, Native American and Asian ancestry. (He is one quarter African-American.) It never occurred to Fuzzy Zoeller, who, after the 1997 Masters Championship, made an off-color joke about Woods ordering fried chicken and collard greens for the next year's Champions Dinner, that he might prefer Pad Thai. The story of my own family was similarly complex. My Anglo-Irish mother is as white as they come. But my father is Haitian, the descendant of West African slaves and French plantation owners, as well as Chinese and Egyptian. And still, growing up, I was asked to choose between one of the two boxes available to me. "Are you black or are you white?" It took until 2000 before the U.S. Census allowed respondents to check off more than one racial category, a formal recognition that there are no longer two Americas, one black, one white, but dozens, maybe hundreds, of overlapping Americas. The most recent census predictions hold that by 2042, whites will no longer be the majority. Americans who identify as biracial or multiracial are less than 2 percent of the population, but their demographic is growing at about 3 percent each year, more than 10 times the rate of the white population. New immigration from Africa and the Caribbean is challenging old notions of what it means to be African-American. As the number of transracial adoptions and interracial marriages increase, the old lines, while far from vanished, are blurring. At the beginning of his campaign, Obama's exotic heritage was a liability. We had no idea what to do with him because we couldn't place him in any of the familiar boxes. There were charges lobbed against him that he was, on the one hand, not black enough for black America, and, on the other, too black for the white American mainstream. By telling his story of being raised by white grandparents in Hawaii, their love for him and his grandmother's utterance of racial stereotypes, and his adult quest to connect to his father's Kenyan roots, Obama has changed the entire dialogue about race. He has managed to accomplish something truly rare: to both carry the mantle of African-Americans' struggle for justice and to transcend it. He is as much the fulfillment of more than 300 years of struggle as he is a symbol of the future: A president who embodies the changing landscape of our imperfect union. Tuesday, he boldly declared it. In his inaugural address, Obama said, "...our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve...." When Obama took the stage at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, on election night, with his family, it was the first time in my 26 years of living I felt like America really belonged to people like me. If you were to ask me, at that moment, if I was African-American, even though I have blue eyes and fair skin, even though my grandparents came to this country from Haiti, with their own language, their own concepts of race, my answer to you would be a resounding "Yes!" Without the struggle of brave African-Americans who came before me, my grandparents would not have had the same opportunity to pursue the American dream. We would not be allowed to choose freely whom we love, and I might not even exist. And yet if you were to ask me, in that same moment, if I were black, or biracial, or a woman of Haitian, Chinese, Egyptian, English and Irish descent, my answer would have been the same. Before we become a "post-racial" America, we have to become one that is truly multiracial, comfortable with the fact that more and more Americans no longer wear their identities on their skins. That you might not be able to tell from just looking at a woman if she is Dominican or Brazilian, or the daughter of a Belgian and a Congolese. She might consider herself many things at the same time, without planting a flag or declaring an allegiance. Obama can help lead us into that new era, toward a more sophisticated conversation about culture and race. He should be celebrated as our first African-American president. He should also be allowed to be Kenyan and Kansan, Hawaiian, Indonesian, Luo -- all the legacies that have made him the man he is today. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jennifer Brea.
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Jennifer Brea: When I grew up, the choice was to identify as black or white . She says America now is more open to its multiracial population . Obama symbolizes the increasing diversity of the U.S., Brea says . She says he declared the change with his "patchwork heritage" remarks .
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New York (CNN) -- Brooke Astor's son got one to three years in prison Monday for scheming to bilk millions of dollars from the late philanthropist's estate. Anthony Marshall, 85, had been found guilty of 14 of the 15 counts against him. Marshall was convicted in October of the most serious charges -- first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud. He faced a minimum of one to three years, or as much as eight to 25 years in state prison. Marshall's wife, Charlene, sobbed after hearing the sentence as supporters hugged her. One of the most serious convictions involved Marshall giving himself a $1 million-a-year raise for handling his mother's affairs, said Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann. Marshall's former attorney, Francis Morrissey, was also convicted of five counts relating to the case, including forgery and scheming to defraud Astor. Seidemann on Monday recommended a sentence of 1.5 to 4.5 years in prison. He objected to bail pending appeal but told the judge he had no problem with Marshall staying out of prison until the first of the year. He asked for restitution of $12.3 million. Defense attorneys argued Monday for the lowest sentence of one to three years in state prison and asked that the judge not impose restitution. The defense team raised concerns about Marshall's health and indicated that it will appeal the verdict. In a brief statement to the court before the sentence was announced, Marshall only said, "I have nothing to add to what my attorneys have said." The judge ruled that Marshall must surrender on January 19. Assuming he goes to prison, Marshall can apply for parole after eight months. Or he may apply for immediate parole for medical reasons under a new provision called medical parole. The judge also gave Marshall's co-defendant, attorney Francis Morrissey, the same sentence of one to three years in prison. Morrissey was convicted of four felonies and a misdemeanor, including forgery and scheming to defraud Astor. Like Marshall, Morrissey's sentence will not begin until January 19. Astor's grandson, Philip Marshall, declined to comment after the sentencing. He was concerned about his grandmother's care in her final years, which the younger Marshall's attorney deemed "elder abuse," that eventually led to his father's indictment. Marshall was convicted October 8 of 13 felonies and one misdemeanor. The felony of grand larceny in the first degree carried a sentence of one to three years. The other counts will run concurrently. During the trial, Marshall was portrayed as a cold, calculating man who spent the last years of his socialite and megaphilanthropist mother's life stealing her fortune to line his pockets . "These defendants, two morally depraved individuals, preyed on a physically and mentally ill 101-year-old woman to steal millions of dollars -- dollars that she had intended to go to help the lives of ordinary New Yorkers," Seidemann said, echoing his closing argument to the jury. The sentence came after a six-month trial that featured as witnesses a "Who's Who" of New York's social elite, including Henry Kissinger, Graydon Carter, Barbara Walters, Vartan Gregorian and Annette de la Renta. The trial was a tabloid feeding frenzy, fostering headlines such as "Bad heir day," "Mrs. Astor's disaster" and "DA's kick in the Astor." During trial testimony, Marshall's attorneys called no character witnesses to come to his defense. But before sentencing for the crimes, friends and celebrities who knew Marshall well wrote letters to the court trying to show what they believe was his true character. Marshall was a loyal, churchgoing man, a Purple Heart recipient wounded in Iwo Jima during World War II and a son who tried mightily but could never live up to the high ideals of his socialite mother, according to letters friends submitted to the court. Whoopi Goldberg told a judge in her letter that she met Marshall and his wife 10 years ago when Goldberg moved into a building on the Upper East Side. Her interactions with Marshall, she wrote, gave her an insight into his relationship with his mother, and in turn taught her about how fame can affect family dynamics. "I also understand what it must be like for my own daughter to be around my fame," she wrote. "I am not comparing myself to Mrs. Astor, but I've seen how you can be dismissed as not being good enough, or hip enough, and seeing it happen to Tony made me make sure that it didn't happen to my own daughter." NBC's "Today" show weatherman, Al Roker, also came to Marshall's defense, having met him at his church 10 years ago. He argued Marshall had suffered enough, paying a price greater than any sentence a judge could hand down -- seeing his son turn on him during the trial and being portrayed in a negative light each day. "Given his advanced age and deteriorating health, justice may be better served by turning a compassionate eye towards this good son, father and patriot and finding it in your heart not to add 'prisoner' to Anthony Marshall's otherwise unblemished resume," Roker wrote in his letter to the court. Goldberg, too, wrote she believed "breaking this man" by putting him in prison was not the right punishment. "Please don't put him in jail," she wrote at the end of her letter. "It would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose. Hasn't Tony been through enough?" CNN's Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report.
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Anthony Marshall sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison . Marshall was convicted of bilking mom Brooke Astor of money before her death . He faced a minimum one to three years, or as much as eight to 25 years in state prison . Whoopi Goldberg, Al Roker among those who asked for a compassionate sentence .
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Washington (CNN) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hit the campaign trail Friday, delivering the keynote address at a Washington fundraiser for an anti-abortion group supporting socially conservative women running for office in the upcoming midterm elections. "All across this country, women are standing up and speaking out for common sense solutions," Palin said at the Susan B. Anthony List Celebration of Life breakfast. They are forming a "new conservative feminist movement" that will help make "government work again for us," she said. The Susan B. Anthony List describes itself on its website as part of the "nerve center of the pro-life movement and political process." In 2008, the group founded "Team Sarah," a coalition of women supporting Palin's vice presidential bid. During her speech, Palin ripped abortion rights opponents in the Democratic Party who "promised to hold firm" during the health care debate, but ultimately backed "the most pro-abortion president who ever occupied the White House." "We won't forget," she promised. "Elections have consequences." Palin mentioned, among other things, her daughter Bristol's decision not to have an abortion after becoming pregnant at age 17. "It was an embarrassing time for her," Palin told the audience. But "choosing life was the right road." Palin said national media coverage of the pregnancy "kind of made it rough" on Bristol and sent a not-too-subtle message to other young women that it's easier to choose to have an abortion. Turning to other policy disputes, Palin also slammed the Obama administration's fiscal program, declaring that "these policies coming out of D.C. right now" are putting the country on the road to "national insolvency." She praised the conservative Tea Party movement, calling it a "movement of the people" that the media has unfairly characterized as a group of violent racists. "This awakening is very, very healthy," she said. Palin's speech was part of a midterm campaign swing that is scheduled to take her to North Carolina on Friday to address a National Rifle Association meeting. In addition, she will travel South Carolina to endorse GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley for governor. The state's scandal-tarred Republican governor, Mark Sanford, is term-limited and will leave office in January. "It is a tremendous honor to receive Gov. Palin's endorsement," Haley said in a statement released Thursday. "Sarah Palin has energized the conservative movement like few others in our generation." Palin has also endorsed, among others, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in California's GOP Senate primary. Palin is set to release a new book in November -- "America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag." Her first book, "Going Rogue," was a national bestseller. Palin has become one of the GOP's biggest stars since being tapped as Sen. John McCain's running mate during the 2008 presidential race. In addition to being an author, Palin has become a sought-after speaker and a contributor on Fox News. CNN's Alan Silverleib, Peter Hamby and Martina Stewart contributed to this report .
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Sarah Palin speaks at fundraiser for group supporting conservative women candidates . Palin attacks anti-abortion Democrats for backing President Obama's health care plan . Palin's appearance was part of a campaign swing that will take her to Carolinas .
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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India blasted into the international space race Wednesday with the successful launch of an ambitious two-year mission to study the moon's landscape. The spacecraft carrying India's first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, lifts off in Sriharikota on Wednesday. The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, or "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit, launched at 6:20 a.m. (8:50 p.m. ET) from the Sriharikota space center in southern India. The mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks, the group said. Despite the numerous missions to the moon over the past 50 years, "we really don't have a good map," said Miles O'Brien, CNN chief technology and environment correspondent. "The goal is to come up with a very intricate, three-dimensional map of the moon." The Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the United States, European Union countries Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria, and India plans to share the data from the mission with other programs, including NASA. Watch the launch of India's first lunar mission » . ISRO said on its Web site that the mission would lay the groundwork for future lunar missions and "probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface in greater depth than previous missions by other nations." "It will also give us a deeper understanding about the planet Earth itself or its origins," a statement on the Web site said. "Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested. This will lay the foundation for bigger missions and also open up new possibilities of international networking and support for planetary programs." Until now, India's space launches have been more practical, with weather warning satellites and communiations systems, The Associated Press cited former NASA associated administrator Scott Pace as saying. To date, only the U.S. Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon, according to AP. Critics of the mission have questioned its $80 million price tag, saying the money should have been spent by the government to improve education and fight poverty. But, "there are scientists that would argue that there are plenty of things we don't know about the moon ... and India might have the know-how" to find answers, said CNN's Sara Sidner in New Delhi. The United States and the Soviet Union dominated the field of lunar exploration from the late 1950s. The United States is preparing for its own mission slated for next spring -- the first U.S. lunar mission in more than a decade, according to NASA. Soviet spacecraft were the first to fly by, land on and orbit the moon. Luna 1, launched on January 2, 1959, and sped by the moon two days later. Luna 2 was launched on an impact mission on September 12, 1959, striking the surface two days later. Luna 9 launched on January 31, 1966, becoming the first craft to successfully land on the moon and send back data, touching down on the surface on January 31, 1966, and transmitting until February 3, 1967, when its batteries ran out. Luna 10 was launched March 31, 1966, entered lunar orbit on April 3, and operated for 56 days. But the United States' Apollo missions were the first manned missions to reach the moon, culminating with six missions that set down on the surface. The first, Apollo 11, left earth on July 16, 1969, and landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20 while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. The astronauts returned safely to earth on July 24. Most recently India's fellow Asian nations, China and Japan, put lunar orbiters in place. Japan launched the Kaguya orbiter in October 2007, followed by China's launch of the Chang'e mission a few weeks later. Watch what is shaping up to be a new space race » . "Each nation is doing its own thing to drive its research technology for the well-being of that nation," AP quoted Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org, as saying. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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NEW: Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the U.S., EU and Bulgaria . Two-year mission seeks high-resolution, 3-D imaging of the moon's surface . Chandrayaan-1 follows Japan and China's missions to the moon . Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit .
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(CNN) -- Announcement of a Nintendo 2DS handheld console is causing a collective "eh" among fans of the pioneering gaming company. The new console hopes to entice the entry-level gamer (i.e. kids) with a large catalog of games designed for the Nintendo 3DS and DS while appealing to parents with a low price point ($129). Unlike its counterpart, the 2DS does not have 3-D visual effects, nor can it be folded shut like other DS handheld consoles. Instead, the 2DS remains flat and fixed, much like a tablet. The controls are similar to other Nintendo handheld consoles and screen sizes are the same as the 3DS unit. While critics are split over whether this is a good idea for the company in the long term, fans in forums and social media are shaking their heads. Some are asking why a 2DS model is needed when 3-D can be turned off on the current console, while others are calling for Nintendo executives' heads. Much of the confusion lies in the naming convention. While the Nintendo DS can only play DS games, the 2DS and 3DS can play games designed for the DS or the 3DS. The problem arises because the games are clearly labeled for the DS or the 3DS, but not for the 2DS, and could have parents wondering, "Where are the 2DS games?" It was a similar problem when the Wii U was announced and players couldn't play Wii U on Wii systems. The names weren't distinct enough to create separation for a casual audience. The move to a non3-D environment for the handheld console is a welcome one to some fans. "Oh I'm so happy they're creating a 2DS," said @omglazerkittens on Twitter. "That's the whole reason I haven't bought one yet." Nintendo, for its part, has said the new device is designed for young kids, despite having promotional videos with adults using it. Despite the nonplussed reaction from many older gamers, some fans understand the need for a device aimed at the young audience. The new console may appeal to "parents who want to buy their kids Pokémon and a 3DS at an affordable price," wrote Haziq, a member of popular online video-gaming forum NeoGAF. "Plus, the flat design kind of reminds me of a tablet. I wouldn't be surprised if this is Nintendo's way of directly competing with that market for small kids." The October 12 release for the Nintendo 2DS is the same day the company plans to launch the latest titles in the Pokemon universe, "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y." But other gamers aren't so quick to accept the need for the new console or Nintendo's explanation. "To those who say the 2DS is a kid-friendly option, where does the inability to protect the screen with folding fall into that?" wrote @JustinMcElroy on Twitter. Twitter user @kellyherron27 wonders whether Nintendo is not happy with the 3DS market anymore. "Feels like they're saying, 'OK, so our novelty really is a gimmick. Oops.' " But in explaining the need for the Nintendo 2DS, another NeoGAF member may have offered the most clear-eyed assessment. "Parents will be buying this for kids and that's the point, hence the price," wrote Alpha_eX. "They're aiming at kids wanting the new Pokémon game and if parents can get it cheap, it'll sell over a more expensive 3DS model." "This console isn't aimed at any of us (adults)."
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Many gamers appear less than excited about Nintendo's forthcoming 2DS console . The handheld device does not have 3-D visual effects and is shaped like a small tablet . Console may be aimed at kids, not adults .
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(CNN) -- Twenty-three homeless shelter pods barnacled to the side of a railroad station in Marseilles, France, are safe, for now. Once they touch the ground, most legal bets are off. That's sort of the point, bien sûr. Architect and former graffiti artist Stéphane Malka seeks out these neglected armpits of cities' public space and transforms them into light, flexible, emergency housing. He calls the process "architectural kama sutra" because of the unorthodox (and exciting) positioning of the structures next to, above, or below traditional buildings and city elements. A-kamp47, as the Marseilles project is called, will be included in a series of similar efforts for Malka's book, Le Petit Pari(s), coming out in February of next year. Malka designed A-kamp47--the title a nod to the city's drug-fueled gun violence problem--in 2009, but it was erected this past September in just 12 hours. The domes, which resemble a group of camouflage spider eggs, feature thermal blankets and storage space, the simplest requirements for temporary stays. All but one pod can fit two people, hence the number 47. Putting up the structure in September was also part of Malka's strategy. "In France, there's a rule saying in wintertime, you can't take someone out of housing," Malka explains. Meant to protect low- and middle income workers from being pushed out of housing and into the suburbs by obscene rent increases, recently passed laws now guarantee that most renters won't end up on the streets during the coldest months. According to Malka, the rule applies to A-kamp47. And because the structure is tacked to the side of the Marseilles-Saint-Charles train station, and not sitting horizontally on the property of the nearby cultural center, it also qualifies as public space. Hoisting shelters on a wall plays another role as well -- that of visibility. While low and middle income workers might be quietly shuffled out of city centers in the spring, summer, and fall, Malka's work turns French cities' housing crisis into a living, breathing billboard year-round. "Homelessness is very important, but it's almost like a caricature of what's happened. People in the low class and even in the middle class don't have the power to afford to stay in decent houses, especially in France," Malka says. "This is a failure of the housing system as we know it. We'll be facing in the years to come more climate refugees, more political refugees, and the city will have to stand massive amounts of people coming." Oddly, though, the people using the A-kamp47 aren't native Marseillais. When Malka went back to visit the structure in October, it was mostly populated by young travelers. (Those would be the groups of curiously well-dressed homeless people you see in pictures above). Still, Malka hopes his project inspires other architects to work on more community-minded projects that take advantage of public space. "I really think that for architects now there are new ways, technical ways and methods, that would take us out of not only being the arm of the government," he says. "We can be more open to societal problems." Copyright © 2010 FastCompany.com, a unit of Mansueto Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved.
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A French artist has turned the sides of urban public spaces into emergency shelters . Erected in just 12 hours, the domes provide a sleeping space for 47 people per night . By building them on a wall, the artist hopes to make France's homelessness problem visible .
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Chicago (CNN) -- With NATO meeting this week in Chicago to discuss the war in Afghanistan, CNN reached out to some everyday Afghan-Americans to see what they think. What should be the next step? What do they hope will result from the summit? And what is the key to restoring peace after 10 years of bloodshed? Here are five perspectives from Afghans who live in different areas of the Windy City. Nasir Ahmad Raufi owns a restaurant in northwest Chicago. He is from Puli Khumri in northern Afghanistan. "I was (in Afghanistan) in 2002, 2004, 2007 and just last November. Every year, it gets worse. People are upset, people are suffering. ... Both sides (are) losing life. "The war is not the solution. There is no way you can win the war by this kind of force. NATO has so many mistakes in Afghanistan. Innocent people died. On the other side, suicide (bombers), innocent people died. We are against that. "(I'm hopeful), but at this summit I don't think NATO is going to pull out from Afghanistan." Mohammed Daud Miraki is author of "Afghanistan After Democracy: The Untold Story Through Photographic Images." He is from Maidan, Afghanistan, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Kabul. "(Under NATO), a few roads have been built, no doubt. But come on, these are nothing compared to the $500 billion we supposedly spent in Afghanistan. "The solution (to the war) is an indigenous peace process. I call it the indigenous peace jurga. These are jurgas at the village level, at the district level, at the province level, at the zonal level all over Afghanistan. They include tribal leaders, they include insurgents and (foreign-educated Afghan expatriates). Let us lead the peace process." Fazal Ahmedi owns a jewelry store on Chicago's north side. He is from Kandahar City. "All the companies (NATO) hires, who owns the companies? Americans, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis. Why don't you hire Afghans? If you want to stop them from war, give them jobs. ... "My family, we have a lot of kids, no school. We need good schools, we need a system." Hamid Ahang is a network engineer originally from Kabul. "There's been certain progress, there are schools built. But at the same time, what they promised was stability and peace. After years of war, they haven't done as promised. "If NATO pulls out, there will be civil war, there will be anarchy. If they don't, the violence will continue. "NATO needs to focus on Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Pakistan is where the Taliban came from and where support (for it) comes from. (NATO) needs to have a greater debate that involves regional powers like Pakistan, Iran and Russia, which still has influence." Sima Quraishi is executive director of the Muslim Women Resource Center, a nonprofit based in Chicago. She is originally from Kabul. "There is a lot of money floating around (in Afghanistan). However, I believe the money should be spent to help the people of Afghanistan with education/schools, job development, health care and child care. "It is vital that the people of Afghanistan develop skills and obtain the tools to move past 2014 and work independently toward the betterment of Afghanistan. With the proper funding and tools available to the people, I trust that Afghanistan can improve after 2014 and the lives of innocent Afghans would be spared."
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CNN spoke to Afghan-Americans in Chicago to get their take on the NATO summit . One restaurant owner says war isn't the solution: "People are upset, people are suffering" Bring everyone together and let Afghans lead the peace process, one author says .
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(CNN) -- Agents on Wednesday will release dozens of interviews conducted during the investigation of sexual assault allegations against star professional quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the investigation but was slapped with a six-game suspension from the National Football League for what the league called "detrimental conduct." The investigative file contains more than 50 DVDs of audio and videotaped interviews and photographs, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. The file is sure to provide intimate details of the case that hurled the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback from the sports page to the front page earlier this year. Roethlisberger, who led the Steelers to Super Bowl titles in 2006 and 2009, faced the threat of criminal charges after a 20-year-old woman accused him of raping her in a Milledgeville, Georgia, bar in March. The quarterback's lawyer said no sexual assault took place, and prosecutors decided in April that they could not prove that a crime had been committed. Although prosecutors determined that no charges would be filed, the investigation showed that Roethlisberger had provided underage college students with alcohol, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell has said. Along with the suspension, Goodell ordered that Roethlisberger undergo a "comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals." The Steelers quarterback is not the only NFL player dealing with allegations of sexual assault. Seven players from the Green Bay Packers were questioned as part of an investigation into the alleged sexual assaults of two women on June 6, police said. Six of the men were later released and are not considered suspects. A seventh man, who was not identified, was also questioned and released, and remains under investigation, according to Lake Delton, Wisconsin, Police Chief Thomas Dorner.
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Agents will release dozens of interviews conducted during probe . Ben Roethlisberger was cleared of criminal charges . Quarterback still got six-game suspension from NFL .
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(CNN) -- North Korea's apparent cooperation with nations seeking to end its nuclear weapons ambitions -- six years after a deal collapsed and two years after testing a bomb -- may lead to questions about why it would play ball now. Some signs show North Korean leader Kim Jong Il does intend to drop his nuclear weapon program, experts say. One school of thought: The communist nation, in desperate economic straits, has long been willing to drop its program for better relations with the United States. But mistakes on both sides interfered, according to Jim Walsh, a national security analyst. North Korea could be trying to achieve survival through deceit, intending to keep its nuclear weapons as blackmail for better treatment, analysts suggest. But those making a case for North Korea's sincerity, Walsh said, would say it must "do the things economically that [it needs] to do to avoid collapse." "Having nuclear weapons when the regime is collapsing won't do them much good," said Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. North Korea, following a 2007 agreement with five nations including the U.S., handed over a declaration of its nuclear program on Thursday. The nation also took steps to disable a reactor that officials acknowledge helped extract plutonium to build nuclear weapons. On Friday, it destroyed the reactor's cooling tower -- significant because the tower would take a year or longer to rebuild. Watch the tower being demolished. » . After North Korea's declaration, President Bush said Thursday that he intends to move North Korea from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. Down the line, North Korea would receive economic and energy assistance if the U.S. and other nations agree it is complying with other efforts to dismantle its nuclear program. North Korea has been heavily sanctioned in the past because of its nuclear program. Stephen Hadley, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters Thursday that the terror list was one incentive for North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. "I think it is important to them not to be on a list that says 'enemies' and not to be on a list that says 'supporters of terror,'" Hadley said. Walsh said North Korea has been weakened by sanctions and its lack of arable land, leading to a population unable to feed itself. "It can't grow enough food," Walsh said. "And they've got to attract foreign investors." He said North Korea was better off in the days of the Soviet Union, when it had an ample amount of communist nations with which to trade. But the Soviet Union collapsed, and many other nations turned away from communism, leaving North Korea increasingly isolated. "Geostrategically, North Korea was growing weaker, and everyone around them was growing stronger," Walsh said. In 1994, North Korea pledged to the U.S. that it would freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for international aid, including help building two power-producing nuclear reactors. By 2000, however, North Korea was complaining that not all the aid was coming as promised. In 2002, the U.S. accused North Korea of working on a secret nuclear weapons program, and the U.S. said North Korea admitted doing so. Countries including the U.S. halted oil supplies, and North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon in 2006. Walsh said both sides haven't fully lived up to previous agreements. The U.S., he said, promised normalized trade at one point but didn't follow through. Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' international security program, said North Korea has been "remarkably consistent" regarding its reactions to U.S. positions. "When we've engaged them directly, they have responded. And when we have reduced our commitment, to our engagement ... they have responded negatively," Wolfsthal said. Wolfsthal said China -- which provides oil and food aid to North Korea -- has been instrumental in getting North Korea to cooperate. "China has gone from being an uninvested ... mediator to being a true participant in this process -- from a country that originally wanted to help the U.S. and North Korea work out their differences to a state that has worked to convince North Korea to meet its obligations," Wolfsthal said. Wolfsthal said he believes China was embarrassed by North Korea's nuclear test, and shifted course. "I think that over time, the United States has helped China see that North Korea's unpredictable behavior destabilizes their own backyard," he said. Walsh and Wolfsthal said another theory has it that North Korea is only playing with negotiators and intends to keep its nuclear program and weapons as a security blanket. Expanding on that possibility, Wolfsthal said North Korea leader Kim Jong Il could keep the country's nuclear arsenal but agree not to produce any more nuclear weapons. "Everybody's speculating. None of us has met Kim Jong Il," Wolfsthal said. Walsh said the West doesn't have hard evidence to determine North Korea's intentions. "But so far, the evidence is pretty strongly on the side of North Korea wanting a real bargain," Walsh said.
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North Korea's negotiations driven by economic need, desire for survival, experts say . China, embarrassed by nuclear test, has prodded North Korea, expert says . Deceit possible, experts say, but nation's best interest is to be on West's good side .
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New York (CNN) -- After losing a lengthy legal battle to avoid extradition to the United States, Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri confronted a host of terror charges Saturday when he was presented before a federal judge in Manhattan. The one-eyed radical preacher faces 11 terrorism-related charges and is one of five men who departed England late Friday, hours after the High Court in London ruled the men could be extradited "immediately." Amid high security, authorities temporarily removed al-Masri's prosthetic limbs, devices he uses after apparently sustaining injuries in Afghanistan. Two planes carrying the men left the British Air Force base Mildenhall so they could face trial in the United States, Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement. Al-Masri will be arraigned Tuesday morning, officials said. Separately, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary pleaded not guilty before a judge Saturday. The trio are being held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, a federal law enforcement source told CNN. Two others, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, clad in green and yellow prison jumpsuits, also pleaded not guilty Saturday before a judge in New Haven, Connecticut, according to the U.S. Attorney's office there. "The extraditions of Abu Hamza, Bary and al-Fawwaz are a major milestone in our effort to see these alleged high-level terrorists face American justice," said FBI New York acting assistant director-in-charge Mary Galligan. "When an indictment alleges the murderous intent of international terrorists, the government will not waver in its determination to achieve justice, no matter how long it takes." BBC apologizes to Queen Elizabeth over Abu Hamza revelation . The charges against al-Masri include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen, and conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad training camp in rural Oregon in 1999. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. The cases of Ahmad and Ahsan are both linked to a website called azzam.com, which U.S. prosecutors say was run by the two men to support terrorism around the world. Meanwhile, al-Fawwaz and Bary are accused of being al Qaeda associates of Osama bin Laden in London during the 1990s. Al-Masri is one of the highest-profile radical Islamic figures in Britain, where he was already sentenced to seven years for inciting racial hatred at his north London mosque and other terrorism-related charges. Born in Egypt in 1958, he traveled to Britain to study before gaining citizenship through marriage in the 1980s. A one-time nightclub bouncer in London's Soho district, al-Masri -- also known as Mustafa Kamal Mustafa -- has said he lost both hands and one eye while fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He often wears a hook in place of one hand. In 1997, al-Masri became the imam of a north London mosque, where his hate-filled speeches attacking the West began to attract national attention and followers, including Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber" who attempted to blow up a Miami-bound passenger airplane three months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Al-Masri has called the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center "a towering day in history" and described bin Laden as "a good guy and a hero." He also described the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003 as "punishment from Allah" because the astronauts were Christian, Hindu and Jewish. Lawyers for al-Masri told the British court their client suffers from deteriorating mental health and was unfit to plead. CNN's Raelyn Johnson, Jonathan Wald, Andrew Carey and Dan Rivers contributed to this report.
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Abu Hamza al-Masri confronts a host of terror charges Saturday in federal court . Al-Masri is among five men extradited to the U.S. after losing a legal battle in London . He is one of the highest-profile radical Islamic figures in Britain .
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(CNN) -- A young man huddles under a thick gray blanket, pressed against a steam grate as he braces himself against the biting cold. While on assignment over the weekend, an Associated Press photographer took his photo to show the effects of unusually cold weather sweeping across the country. The man, who only gave his first name -- Nick -- was a face in a crowd of homeless people huddling to stay warm on a Washington street, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. But all that changed when the photograph appeared in USA Today Sunday. Hundreds of miles away in an upstate New York town, the man was much more than a face in a crowd. Nicholas Simmons was missing. And a mother who saw the photo in the newspaper realized she'd found her son. A disappearance on New Year's Day . In Rochester, New York, the man's face appeared in local news reports last week as police and frantic family members searched for him. Police in the town of Greece, New York, said Simmons, 20, disappeared New Year's Day from his home, driving away in a red Buick with only with what he was wearing: plaid pajama pants, a gray T-shirt and sneakers. He left his wallet and cell phone behind. Family members and authorities had been looking for him for days without any luck. There were few leads without a phone or credit cards to track him. "We couldn't do a lot of things we normally would do in a missing person's case," said Capt. Patrick Phelan of the Greece Police Department. But the photo became the answer to the Simmons family's prayers. The family learned about the photo through a public Facebook page they'd set up, according to an article published in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Simmons' sister, Hannah Simmons, sent a message on Twitter to USA Today reporter Natalie DiBlasio, who wrote the story. "Please contact me," the tweet read. "You wrote an article for USA today that features a picture of my missing brother." Family members also reached out to AP photographer Jacquelyn Martin, who captured the image. Communication between Simmons' family, DiBlasio, Martin, and the Greece Police Department helped the Washington Metropolitan Police track down Simmons. Now he's reunited with his family, police said. Washington Metro Police Officer Araz Alali said he's considered a "missing person returned." On the Facebook page, his mother Michelle Simmons said she was stunned. "We are going to get him home safe, and this is by far the greatest example of God's love and divine intervention I have ever experienced," she wrote, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. "I am beyond able to put into words how I am feeling." Questions remain . It's unclear why Simmons left home and what brought him to the streets of Washington. According to police, Simmons is fine physically but distraught. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital for evaluation, Phelan said. The hospital declined to comment, citing privacy restrictions. Phelan said police were told there was a "discussion" between Simmons and his parents that may have made him leave home. "There was no indication or precursors to believe he would do something like this," Phelan said. The police official described Simmons as a normal 20-year-old living at home with his parents and working part-time jobs at local fast food chains. Just a day after her brother was found, Hannah Simmons sent Martin a message of appreciation on Twitter Monday. "You have saved our family," she wrote. "Thank you so much." Photographers take portraits for people who wouldn't have them otherwise . CNN's Allison Malloy contributed to this report.
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Police say Nicholas Simmons went missing after leaving his New York home . An Associated Press photo showed him on the streets of Washington . His family reached out to newspaper reporter, photographer to find him .
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(CNN) -- Oilfield services giant Halliburton will plead guilty to destroying computer test results that had been sought as evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Company officials threw out test results that showed "little difference" between the number of devices Halliburton said was needed to center the cement casing in the well at the heart of the disaster and the number well owner BP installed, according to court papers. The issue has been key point of contention between the two companies in hearings and litigation ever since the April 2010 blowout. BP and Halliburton are still battling over responsibility for the disaster in a New Orleans federal courtroom. BP had no comment on the plea agreement Thursday evening. The Deepwater Horizon blowout killed 11 rig workers and unleashed the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. The federal government estimates more than 200 million gallons poured out of the ruptured well, located nearly a mile underwater off southeastern Louisiana. The environmental effects of the disaster are still being determined, and BP says it has paid out $32 billion for cleanup, compensation and penalties. The Halliburton tests, which used a computer simulation, were run in May and June 2010. After each of the two rounds of tests, a Halliburton executive ordered the simulations destroyed, the charges state. "During ensuing civil litigation and federal criminal investigation by the Deepwater Horizon Task Force, subsequent efforts to forensically recover the deleted Displace 3D computer simulations from May/June 2010 were unsuccessful," according to prosecutors. In a court filing in 2011, BP accused Halliburton of destroying evidence -- including "inexplicably missing" computer modeling results -- "to eliminate any risk that this evidence would be used against it at trial." Halliburton has agreed to pay the maximum fines available, be put on probation for three years and cooperate with federal agencies that are still investigating the spill, the Justice Department said in a statement announcing Thursday's agreement. In addition Halliburton has made a $55 million "voluntary contribution" to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a payment "that was not conditioned on the court's acceptance of its plea agreement." A federal report in 2011 concluded that BP, Halliburton and Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean all violated federal offshore safety regulations and shared responsibility for the disaster. Halliburton is the last of the three major players to admit criminal wrongdoing in the 2010 blowout and resulting oil spill. BP has admitted to manslaughter and 13 other criminal counts and agreed to pay $4 billion in fines, while Transocean admitted to violating the Clean Water Act and paid $1.4 billion in civil and criminal penalties. CNN's Bill Mears contributed to this report.
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Halliburton destroyed computer tests after Deepwater Horizon, prosecutors say . Tests showed "little difference" between what it urged and what BP did, they say . BP and Halliburton are still battling over the disaster in court . BP had accused Halliburton of destroying evidence in 2011 .
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(CNN) -- From the day of his capture, Ratko Mladic has been as combative in custody as he was as a battlefield commander during the bloody civil war that ripped apart Yugoslavia two decades ago and saw the worst slaughter in Europe since Nazi rule. Mladic, 70, is accused of orchestrating a horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing that included the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The former Bosnian Serb general has been indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1992-95 war that killed 200,000 people and displaced another 2.2 million people from their homes. On Monday, his lawyers filed a petition to delay his trial by six months, contending the prosecution failed to share evidence in a timely manner and that the presiding Dutch judge was biased because of his role in other trials of Serbs. The court, however, said the trial is set to open as scheduled on Wednesday morning. Mladic will face his accusers at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. Among those in the courtroom will be the families of Srebrenica victims. "Victims have waited nearly two decades to see Ratko Mladic in the dock," said Param-Preet Singh, senior counsel in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "His trial should lay to rest the notion that those accused of atrocity crimes can run out the clock on justice." 2001: Ratko Mladic captured . Mladic's trial begins after a landmark war crimes ruling last month, when another international tribunal found former Liberian President Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone's notoriously brutal civil war. "Both trials are evidence of the growing international trend to hold perpetrators of atrocities to account, no matter how senior their position," Human Rights Watch said. Mladic eluded authorities for nearly 16 years until his capture last May, when police burst into the garden of a small house in northern Serbia. Europe's highest-ranking war crimes suspect was discovered standing against a wall in a utility room normally used for storing farm equipment, according to a government minister. Though he was carrying two handguns, he surrendered without a fight. He was extradited for trial in the Netherlands. But from day one in custody, he has exhibited defiance and appears not to have relinquished his visceral antagonism toward his enemies. He drew a finger across his throat in court, a gesture aimed at some of the Srebrenica widows. At other times, he disrupted proceedings by putting on a hat in the courtroom and refusing to enter a plea. He has sought delays in his trial and said he is in failing health. But come Wednesday, Mladic's long-awaited trial is set to start. In July 1995, Mladic was in command of the Bosnian Serb Army and led his soldiers into the town of Srebrenica. In the days that followed, the soldiers systematically slaughtered nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Mladic was dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia." Bosnia peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke once described Mladic as "one of those lethal combinations that history thrusts up occasionally -- a charismatic murderer." In the three decades leading up to the violent splintering of Yugoslavia, Mladic rose rapidly through the ranks of the Yugoslav army. In 1991, he served as a front-line commander spearheading Serb forces in a yearlong war with Croatia. By the time he took to Bosnia's battlefields, he had become a hero to many Serbs, seen as a defender of their dwindling fortunes. In May 1992, Bosnia's Serbian political leaders picked him to lead the assault on their Muslim enemies who clamored for independence. Mladic wasted no time galvanizing his heavily armed forces in a siege of Sarajevo, cutting the city off from the outside world. Serb forces pounded the city every day from higher ground positions, trapping Sarajevo's ill-prepared citizens in the valley below. More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, perished. Some observers conjured images of Sarajevo in describing Syrian attacks on the besieged city of Homs earlier this year. As the war ended in the fall of 1995, Mladic went on the run. Shortly after Mladic was sent to The Hague last year, authorities nabbed former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic. He was the last Yugoslav war crimes suspect at large. Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic was arrested in 2008. And Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in 2001 but died before his trial could be completed.
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Bosnian Serb Ratko Mladic's lawyers sought to disqualify the presiding judge . But the trial will open as scheduled Wednesday . Ex-general was indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity . Nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in Srebrenica .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two titans of showbusiness have come together in a perfect pairing: The Rolling Stones, the world's greatest band, play two nights at New York's intimate Beacon Theatre; capturing the night on camera is celebrated film director, Martin Scorsese. Shared history, mutual respect: The Stones and Scorsese . The result is "Shine a Light," which records Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood's performance at the end of "Bigger Bang," their monumental two-year, record-breaking, $558 million, 144-date global tour that saw 4.6 million ticket holders watch the rock giants. The Stones/Scorsese combo is backed by a team of Oscar-winning cinematographers, more than 18 cameras, duets with the White Stripes' Jack White, pop starlet Christina Aguilera and blues granddaddy Buddy Guy, plus a cameo from a former U.S. president: the Stones juggernaut is well and truly in town. Scorsese is no stranger to the world of rock music. He cut his teeth as an editor on seminal 1970 documentary "Woodstock" and aside from making some of the silver screen's finest movies ("Goodfellas," "Mean Streets," "Raging Bull," "The Departed"), he is also the master behind definitive rockumentaries "The Last Waltz," which captured The Band's final performance, and Bob Dylan epic, "No Direction Home." But apart from his musical collaborations, rock has underpinned many of the master's greatest moments -- and his relationship with the Stones goes way back. The Stones themselves have provided the backing track for classic Scorsese scenes: notably, Jack Nicholson's Irish mobster's entrance in "The Departed" to the thumping sound of "Gimme Shelter" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" behind De Niro's introduction in "Mean Streets"; while "Goodfellas" features "Monkey Man" and, again, "Gimme Shelter." Scorsese, who pioneered the use of rock music on "Mean Streets," has said that his use of eclectic soundtracks stems from New York, where all genres of music would blast from the brownstones around his neighborhood. And for him, the Stones provide the sound of the city, the sound of the streets: cool, dangerous, absolutely self-assured, suffused with menace and gangster swagger. He says, "The Stones were key ... I was creating scenarios in my head as I listened to their music." "There is a drive and an authority to their music, and also an edge to it," he continues. "I've used Gimme Shelter twice now in my pictures." (It's left to Jagger to joke that Shine a Light is the first Scorsese film not to feature the track.) So when Jagger decided he wanted a film of their live performance, who better to call. "It's good to start at the top," he says. Initially, guitarist Keith Richards was reluctant to go ahead with the film. He told CNN, "I wouldn't have done this. They said, 'We wanna shoot a show,' and I said, 'Yeah, so?'" But Richards, a film buff and longtime fan of Scorsese's work, couldn't resist the chance to be shot by the director. "You go, whoah," he said. "You can't f*** around with him. I wanted to see what Marty saw in the Stones." And Scorsese's response? One word: "Absolutely." But Jagger's idea for the movie centered around the Stones' biggest ever concert, in Rio de Janeiro. Scorsese wasn't convinced that the Brazilian beach extravaganza would hit the right note . "I wanted to capture the music and their interaction on stage, I wanted people to feel like they were with them in the real film," he explains. Eventually he persuaded Jagger to forego the Rio beach gig for a double date at New York's Beacon Theatre. On the night of the performance, we see Scorsese's painstaking preparation come up against the monster of spontaneity that is the Rolling Stones live. As the clock ticks towards curtain time, the filmmaker still doesn't have the final set-list, and is getting jittery. "It felt like the last minute. It may actually have been an hour or so," he recalls. But as the song goes, you can't always get what you want: Scorsese had to place his faith in his meticulous planning, and the hope that he would be able to respond to the performers -- Jagger especially -- on the night. Scorsese believes that the band's live performances are the key to their long-lived success. "The way they work off of each other and off of the audience ... It's fascinating to see that kind of power," he explains. "They cast a spell, something primal but very orchestrated." When it came to the edit, Scorsese ditched any thought of talking-head interviews, choosing instead to splice vintage TV/archive footage between the live shots. That puts the focus firmly on the music, while underlining the Stones' longevity. So where does "Shine a Light" stand in relation to other rockumentary greats? Sure enough, it's not The Stones: The Spectacle, Mick Jagger's original concept. This is an intimate and illuminating look at the relationships in rock 'n' roll's greatest band. It pays tribute to their longevity, highlights their rich repertoire and shows how, forty years on, their live shows still crackle with energy. And while fans will decide whether Scorsese has fulfilled his aim to make "something that's as close as possible to a live performance," Keith Richards believes Scorsese got the gold. "He captured what we do," he told CNN. "We are what we are. We're a rock 'n' roll band."
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The Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese team up for "Shine A Light" Rockumentary shows their performance at New York's Beacon Theatre . Director says the Stones' music has been a key influence in his films . Scorsese aimed to give an intimate view of the band onstage .
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(CNN) -- More than 30 years ago, 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished from a Manhattan street on his way to a school bus stop. His parents never saw him again. The case riveted millions. It also changed the country. Patz investigation a 33-year-long roller-coaster ride . "It awakened America," Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, recently told CNN. "It was the beginning of a missing children's movement." Thursday, Pedro Hernandez, a former Manhattan stock clerk who once lived in the same neighborhood as Etan, was arrested in connection with his death. The Patz case was the first of several high-profile cases that catapulted concern about missing children to the forefront of national consciousness. Basement search for Etan Patz clues ends . Just weeks after Etan disappeared in May 1979, an attacker abducted the first of more than 20 children to be kidnapped and killed in Atlanta, stirring fear until police arrested a suspect two years later. In another case that made headlines, in 1981 someone abducted 6-year-old Adam Walsh from a Florida shopping mall and killed him. The cases received increasing news coverage in a fast-changing landscape that saw a proliferation of media outlets with growing interest in compelling visual images -- such as a heart-rending photo of a smiling child or video of parents pleading for their child's safe return. Overheard on CNN: Face on milk carton chipped away at our innocence . The actual number of children who were kidnapped and killed did not change -- it's always been a relatively small number -- but awareness of the cases skyrocketed, experts said in recent interviews that shed light on the issue of missing children. "Interest in the situation exploded," said Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and strangled to death in a 1993 case that also received intense news coverage. "It really pulled the lid off of America's dirty little secret, the fact that children are being victimized in large numbers," he told CNN in April. The cases also stoked fear, sparked awareness and prompted change from politicians and police. In 1984, Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act. That led to the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. President Ronald Reagan opened the center in a White House ceremony in 1984. It soon began operating a 24-hour toll-free hotline on which callers could report information about missing boys and girls. Police officers also started to respond more quickly to reports of missing children, experts said. After Etan disappeared, investigators tried what was then a novel technique to try to find him: They put his face on thousands of milk cartons, a technique that would become more common in the next few years. Relatives and authorities also put the images of missing children on billboards and fliers distributed by mail. Those more assertive efforts eventually led to the AMBER alert system, which broadcasts news about missing children on TV, radio, the Internet, mobile phones, lottery tickets and highway signs. That system has helped save 554 children, the federal government says. Most of them were recovered after the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children in 2002. Before the dramatic increase in awareness of crimes against children in the 1980s, only a few high-profile cases grabbed the public's attention. Klaas points out that in 1873, after a 4-year-old Philadelphia boy named Charley Ross disappeared, authorities produced the first missing-child flier. The 1932 disappearance and killing of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of the world-famous aviator, attracted worldwide attention. It resulted in the Lindbergh Law, which permitted federal authorities to chase kidnappers across state lines. Even before the Etan Patz case, groups were working in the 1970s -- largely out of the spotlight -- on the issue of missing children. They advocated tougher rules in cases of children who were abducted by relatives, said Joel Best, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware. Children abducted by relatives, runaways, and abductions by strangers are the three classifications of what came to be repackaged and rebranded by activists as "missing children" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he said. "The missing children's movement was the outgrowth of an earlier child-snatching movement," Best said. Runaways comprise the largest number of the missing children, he said, and while there are few abductions by strangers, those "emotional, wrenching stories" make an impact. Best spoke last month, after police dug up parts of a basement in an unsuccessful attempt to crack the case. So did Lisa Cohen, author of "After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive." She said the Etan Patz case galvanized media-saturated New York. So did his photo, which Cohen called a "beautiful" shot made by his photographer father, Stan. "A picture is worth a thousand words," she said. Cohen said people empathized with the angst of Stan and his wife Julie -- seen by TV viewers and newspapers readers as normal, intelligent and wise people. The case never ended, the story was never over, and the news outlets never stopped covering it. "It started a ball rolling," she said. "There was a real momentum." Barbara Friedman, associate professor of University of North Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has said such "heinous crimes are always newsworthy" and "have been reported in the press for as long as there has been a press." "As media became more plentiful and visual in the 1980s, child abductions and child murders allowed for the kinds of images that are at once intimate and universal -- like school photos and grieving families," Friedman said. "The use of milk cartons as another form of media to locate missing children was a way to bring the issue into the family space -- the breakfast table -- heightening awareness as well as anxieties." Etan's family and Adam Walsh's parents have been particularly media savvy, she said, as they kept their cases front and center before the public and law enforcement. "They were strategically and actively engaged in cultivating their attention. And in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, there were more reporters looking for substantive news stories and more space to fill," she said. The case raised consciousness but also stirred fear. "I think it ended an era of innocence in this country," Allen said. "Parents around the nation saw how it happened and thought, 'But for the grace of God, my child.' "
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NEW: New York police say a man has been arrested in the death of Etan Patz . The case was the first of several high-profile missing children cases . Etan's photo was posted on milk cartons, a new idea at the time . Abductions by strangers are rare; runaways are much more numerous .
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(CNN) -- After deliberating for about four hours over two days, a jury Tuesday convicted a 47-year-old man of capital murder in the deaths of three members of a Connecticut family in a 2007 home invasion. Steven Hayes was convicted on 16 of the 17 charges against him in connection with the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping. The jurors acquitted him of an arson charge in the burning of the family's home. As the verdicts were read, Hayes stood at the defense table, looking down. Some members of the Petit family embraced, while others seemed close to tears. The killings took place in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire early on July 23, 2007. The home of Dr. William Petit, his wife, Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters was invaded in the middle of the night by Hayes and co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, prosecutors say. Komisarjevsky will be tried separately. "There is some relief, but my family is still gone," Petit told reporters after the verdict. "It doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring back the home that we had." Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hayes. At the penalty phase, jurors will determine whether the mitigating evidence the defense is expected to present will outweigh the aggravating factors in favor of the death penalty. Judge Jon Blue set the penalty phase to begin October 18. Jurors deliberated about two hours on Monday. Before they received the case, prosecutor Michael Dearington laid out an elaborate timeline of events. "I doubt you could have comprehended how horrendous this evidence would be," he told jurors. During the trial, Jeremiah Krob, a Connecticut prison officer, testified he overheard Hayes confess to another inmate that he killed Hawke-Petit. Hayes also reportedly wondered out loud whether Petit might have been in cahoots with his co-defendant, Komisarjevsky, because Petit had escaped. Hayes said that he had tied the father in the basement of the home and that he doubted he could have gotten loose without help from Komisarjevsky, Krob testified. Outside the courthouse, Petit told reporters: "I really can't dignify that insinuation with a response. I think the evidence put on by the prosecution speaks for itself." Connecticut State Police Detective Anthony Buglione, who interviewed Hayes after the crime, has testified the duo beat Petit bloody and left him in the basement. According to the testimony, the two men then went upstairs and found Hawke-Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit asleep in the master bedroom. After tying Hawke-Petit to her bed, they led the girl to her room, tied her to her bed and put a pillowcase over her head, Hayes told Buglione. They then found 17-year-old Hayley Petit in her room and did the same, he said. After finding evidence of a bank account containing $20,000 to $30,000, they decided to have the mother go to the bank in the morning and withdraw money from her account, Buglione testified. Hayes is accused of taking Hawke-Petit to the bank while Komisarjevsky allegedly stayed behind. When Hayes and Hawke-Petit returned with the money, the two men allegedly set the home on fire and fled. Inside the home, authorities said, Hawke-Petit, 48, was found raped and strangled. Her two daughters, one of whom had been sexually assaulted, died of smoke inhalation. Petit, the sole survivor, escaped to a neighbor's home. Public defender Thomas Ullmann conceded in the defense's opening statement that Hayes killed Hawke-Petit. But otherwise, he said, much of what happened is unclear. "No one was supposed to be hurt," he said. "What is known is that Steven Hayes kills and assaults Mrs. Petit. ... We concede much, but not all." In Friday's closing arguments, Ullmann placed much of the blame on Hayes' alleged accomplice, Komisarjevsky, whom he called the mastermind of the home invasion. "Just because the state has brought 17 charges doesn't mean he's guilty of all of them," Ullmann said of Hayes, though he conceded he couldn't explain why his client didn't leave the scene once things began to escalate. But, he said, "Even in flight, Joshua Komisarjevsky was in control." Dearington dismissed those statements in his rebuttal, saying Hayes "was part of that whole plan to destroy this family, to take their money and to burn that house down." In a police interview, Hayes said that his life "sucked" and that he had "no money, no car, and not enough to eat." "Why didn't he leave? He didn't leave because of his desire for money," Dearington said. In Session's Michael Christian and Swetha Iyengar contributed to this report.
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NEW: Father: "My family is still gone" The penalty phase is scheduled to begin October 18 . Steven Hayes is convicted of capital murder . Jurors acquitted Hayes of an arson charge .
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Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The International Criminal Court demanded Saturday the immediate release of a lawyer and three other staff members who were detained while visiting the son of deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Defense lawyer Melinda Taylor was detained in the city of Zintan after she was discovered carrying documents and letters Libyan authorities said jeopardizes Libyan national security, said Ahmed Gehani, a Libyan lawyer who serves as a liaison with the criminal court in The Hague, Netherlands. He said guards first confiscated a camera pen on Taylor and allowed her to go in to interview Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who was captured in hiding last November. A later search by female guards found documents and letters written by former regime members, Gehani said. They included a letter from Mohammed Ismail, Saif Gadhafi's former right-hand man. Taylor was also carrying three blank papers signed by Saif Gadhafi, Gehani said. Taylor is not in jail, but was placed under house arrest in Zintan, along with a translator. Gehani said Libyan authorities are looking into whether she was spying and communicating with the enemy. The two other court members from the registry office were free to go but chose to remain with Taylor and the translator. Gehani said a criminal court delegation is scheduled to arrive in Tripoli Sunday to try to resolve the situation. Judge Sang-Hyun Song, the president of the criminal court, said the staffers have immunity while traveling on an official court mission. "We are very concerned about the safety of our staff in the absence of any contact with them," he said. Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said the court has had no contact with the four staff members. Nor has it received any official information from the Libyans as to why they were detained. "We lost contact with them on Thursday, and since then we have had no opportunity to clarify the reasons for their detention," Abdallah said. "When we got a hold of the Libyan authorities they only said that they would be released soon, but they didn't say the reason for why they had been detained," he said. Both the International Criminal Court and Libya's new authorities want to put Saif Gadhafi on trial. The criminal court has demanded that Libya hand him over immediately to face accusations of crimes against humanity. Libya appealed the decision, saying that he should be tried at home. The criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Saif Gadhafi, who stands accused of having a role in the deaths of Libyans who protested his father's 42 years of dictatorship. Taylor and lawyer Xavier-Jean Keita said in April that Saif Gadhafi has been mistreated and "physically attacked" since his capture. In a strongly worded statement, the lawyers described Gadhafi as being in a legal black hole, held in total isolation except for visits from officials. He also suffers dental pain because he hasn't had treatment, and Libyan authorities have given him nothing to remedy the pain, the lawyers said. CNN's Per Nyberg contributed to this report.
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NEW: Libyan authorities investigating lawyer Melinda Taylor over documents . She and three other International criminal Court staffers were detained . They had gone to Zintan, Libya, to meet with Moammar Gadhafi's son . Saif al-Islam Gadhafi stands accused of involvement in the deaths of protesters .
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Washington (CNN) -- An oft-repeated statement that the Federal Aviation Administration's partial shutdown has forced the layoff of 70,000 construction workers is, at best, an over-simplification, and at worst, an exaggeration, according to the expert behind the number. Democratic leaders, and even some Republicans, quoted the 70,000 number frequently this week to emphasize the serious consequences of the shutdown. But George Mason University professor Stephen Fuller, whose 3-year-old study was used by others to arrive at the 70,000 figure, said the estimate includes everything from actual construction workers, who were laid off, to drug store clerks and restaurant waitresses, who might see "a tiny bit less revenue flow." The true number of laid-off construction workers is probably one-third of that figure, Fuller told CNN. The rampant use -- and misuse -- of the 70,000 figure is a study in the wondrous ways of Washington, where facts and figures frequently enter the public debate filled with nuance and caveats, all of which are rapidly abandoned in the blazing heat of partisan battle. The 70,000 figure entered the public sphere when the FAA turned to Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry group, to calculate the economic impact of the FAA funding impasse. The FAA had halted more than 200 construction projects totaling $2.5 billion. AGC dusted off the 3-year-old study conducted by Fuller. His research, designed to show the "multiplier effect" of the president's stimulus package, concluded in early 2009 that $1 billion in nonresidential construction created or supported 28,500 jobs and added $3.4 billion to the Gross Domestic Product. An AGC economist applied Fuller's formula to the FAA's $2.5 billion construction halt and came to the conclusion that it would put "24,000 construction workers out of work." Another 11,000 workers in related businesses "are also affected," the AGC said, and "as many as 35,000 jobs will be undermined in the broader economy, from the lunch wagon near the job site to the truck dealership across town." The total number impacted -- in ways large and small -- was 70,000, the AGC said. In a subsequent Department of Transportation news releases and statements, the information was abbreviated, losing much of its important nuance. "AGC estimates that 70,000 construction workers and workers in related fields have been affected," the DOT reported in one news release. A DOT media advisory blurred the picture stating flatly "70,000 construction workers and workers in related fields have been laid off." The number lost even more clarity on Monday, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared at a news conference near one shutdown construction project. "Seventy thousand construction workers are out of work today -- 70,000! -- and here we are right smack dab in the middle of the construction season in America," LaHood said. (In a slip of the tongue, LaHood also misstated the purpose of the LaGuardia airport project. "This tower needs to be built," he said, gesturing towards a control tower that is being demolished.) Others also cited the 70,000 figure. "More than 70,000 construction jobs around the country... are on hold," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said in a written statement. Some apparently added the nearly 4,000 FAA employees who have been furloughed to the total. The dispute is "keeping 74,000 people from working," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday. Some apparently rounded up. "Seventy-five thousand people are now over the precipice," Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said at a Wednesday news conference. "We have 80,000 jobs at least on the line," said Majority Leader Harry Reid at one briefing Tuesday. (President Obama, in comments Wednesday, fudged, referring to "tens of thousands of construction workers being suspended...") On Wednesday, the AFL-CIO Executive Council got into the action. In a news release, it said House Republicans "jeopardized 90,000 airport construction jobs." Two sentences later, it went for the brass ring: "Congress must (act) to preserve almost 100,000 American jobs," it said. ACG spokesman Brian Turmail, a former government spokesman, said he believes the politicians' misstatements were innocent in nature. "I don't have any impression that people are manipulating the numbers, but events are moving so fast that everyone needs to take a deep breath and make sure that we're all working with the same data," he said. "I think everyone's frustrated that we're in the predicament." "I'd just want to stress that we have been very careful to explain in all our communications that the 70,000 figure reflects the broader impact of halting airport construction jobs across the country," Turmail said. Fuller, meanwhile, says the FAA should be able to release the actual number of laid off construction workers, making estimates unnecessary. The 70,000 number, while hard to wrap one's head around, still might strike some at the FAA as questionably large. It is well above the total number of employees in the agency, which stands at about 47,500.
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Union used the number to indicate "the broader impact of halting airport construction jobs" The true number of laid-off workers is probably one-third of that figure, expert says . Professor says the FAA should be able to release the actual number .
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(CNN) -- Every day, more than 500 ships from all corners of the globe set out to navigate the bustling waters of the English Channel. Huge merchant vessels carrying every category of cargo imaginable -- from iron ore to wheat, and from crude oil to sugar -- sail amongst fishing vessels, passenger ferries, pleasure craft and more unorthodox traffic such as swimmers. Keeping this narrow body of water that separates England and France clear is vital for a wide range of economic as well as recreational travel purposes. See also: Introducing the world's biggest ship . But as passenger and cargo vessels become longer, wider and more frequent, ensuring a smooth passageway in a straight just 34 kilometers (21 miles) across at its shortest navigable point has come to represent a considerable logistical challenge. "It is the busiest shipping lane in the world," explained senior watch manager of the Dover coastguard, Tony Evans." And this is not including small pleasure craft (and) motorboats." "Today we have 12 attempts at swimming the Channel. Obviously that has some bearing on the traffic in the fact that vessels may need to take action to avoid them," he added. Sailing safe seas . Given the waterway's strategic importance, it is perhaps little surprise that the English Channel has long been at the vanguard of maritime planning and safety. The world's first sea-traffic separation scheme was set up here in 1972 creating two lanes of traffic that ships must follow to avoid collisions. Vessels traveling north have to use the French side, whilst the English lane is used for those traveling south. The basic premise of this system still exists today. See also: Can Danube boost European trade? Further lanes that dictate the flow of traffic from east and west -- east towards the North Sea and ports in Northern Europe and west towards the Atlantic Ocean -- have also been formed on both the English and French sides of the Channel (see traffic movement in video below). Today these routes are regularly plied by some of the biggest cargo ships on earth, including the recently launched Maersk Triple E which at 400 meters long is the world's largest operational vessel. Coastguard duties . According to Kaimes Beasley of the Dover based Channel Navigation Information Service, such high-value ships passing through the Channel mean coastguards in both England and France must be more organized and vigilant than ever before. "The nature of the vessel traffic over the years has become significantly larger," Beasley explained. "The navigational challenges remain the same, (in terms of topography, sandbanks and congestion). It is the job of the officers on watch of the vessels to make sure they navigate safely." See also: Eight of the world's biggest infrastructure projects . To help with their daily duties, officers can call on a range of state-of-the-art tools to help direct and monitor maritime traffic. Detailed radar screens provide a real-time snapshot of all ships on the channel at any given moment. Automated Identification Systems (AIS) meanwhile present information on the larger vessels in the area, such as their size, name, course, destination and traveling speed. All vessels that weigh over 300 tons are automatically tracked by satellite. A captain's view . For those at sea, these hi-tech systems and services offer valuable guidance as well as reassurance. Many ships have similar access to AIS systems ensuring they are aware of what is around them at all times. "The ships have got much larger and therefore ... the technology has had to increase to match it," explained David Miller, senior captain of the Spirit of Britain passenger ferry. "The basic concept of seamanship has been replaced by integrated electronic systems," he added. Silk Road railways link Asia and Europe . But while such advanced technology has been a welcome development, Miller also points out the fundamental rules that govern movement on the Channel remain the same. "The rules of the road are there for us all to obey them and if there is a risk of a collision we will follow (them)," Miller said. "As long as everybody observes (these) rules then there's room for us all." Find out more about The Gateway and when you can watch the show on CNN here .
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The English Channel is home to the world's busiest shipping lanes . More than 500 vessels pass through the straight that is only 34 kilometers across at its shortest navigable point . Some of the world's biggest cargo ships ply the Channel alongside smaller objects such as yachts, fishing boats and swimmers .
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(CNN) -- All the talk this season has been that Robin van Persie is the difference between winning the English Premier League title, or not. Roberto Mancini wanted to sign him after his Manchester City side won a first championship in 44 years on the final day of the 2011-12 campaign. Much to his chagrin, even the deep pockets of the club's Abu Dhabi owners could not tempt the Dutchman. Even worse for the Italian, and for Arsenal fans hoping he would stay in London, the 29-year-old decided to join Manchester United for what has proved to be a bargain initial $34 million. Having never won a title at any of his previous clubs, the striker opted for Old Trafford -- and it has paid off handsomely. His first-half hat-trick in Monday's 3-0 win over struggling Aston Villa clinched a record-extending 20th English crown for United, and put him back on top of the EPL scoring charts. While City's top scorer Carlos Tevez has 11 this season, Van Persie has 24 -- one more than Liverpool's Luis Suarez, who may miss the rest of this season after being charged with violent conduct for biting a Chelsea opponent on Sunday. "I'm very happy but it's weird. I had to wait for so long for my first title and it's a great feeling," Van Persie said in a post-match interview after United moved 16 points clear of second-placed City. Two of his goals were set up by 39-year-old Ryan Giggs, who claimed his 13th EPL title since starting his career with United. The second was a spectacular volley following a lofted pass from England striker Wayne Rooney, which virtually ended the game as a contest as early as the 13th minute. "It was a great ball from Wayne, so the only thing I had to do was guide it right and hit it properly and it went in great," said the Netherlands international, whose efforts this season will cost United an extra $2 million in add-on fees. He went 10 games without a goal as United crashed out of the European Champions League, but has bounced back with five in the last three matches. Rooney has had to play second fiddle in the goalscoring stakes, but was able to celebrate his 400th United appearance with an impressive performance from a deeper-lying role. "It's what we've worked all year for and we've fully deserved it. We won this game in the first half and it is a fantastic night for us," Rooney said. "When you lose the title it's hard to take, and the way we did it wasn't a nice feeling last time so we've all dug in deep and all worked together and done fantastic to put ourselves in the position tonight to finish the job off." Last season United blew an eight-point lead before surrendering the title in the final minutes as City snatched an injury-time victory. This season United did not let up, while City dropped points against lesser teams. "You can go on and on about losing a title but at the end of the day, our consistency for the last 20 years is unbelievable," said United manager Alex Ferguson, who has also won 13 titles since joining in 1986. "The focus of the team was good, they focused on the challenge of City and came up trumps." The 71-year-old, the most successful manager since the EPL began in 1992, acknowledged the contribution of Van Persie this season. "He's been unbelievable, his early form in the first six months was fantastic. He had the spell where he didn't score (for 10 games) but he was unbelievable tonight." Ferguson's team can break the EPL points record held by Chelsea with victories in the club's four remaining games. "We've now got 84 points with four games left -- we've never done that," he said when asked where this season's achievement ranks. "We've won most of our games, drawn three, lost four, and the goal tonight (Van Persie's volley) ... all the great goals we've scored over the years, from David Beckham through Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Eric Cantona, that goal has joined that. These players have joined the pedestal." While the result will likely quell any further protests against United's U.S. owners, the Glazer family -- unpopular after their highly leveraged takeover in 2005 -- the situation is not so positive for another American in charge of an EPL club. The defeat left Randy Lerner's Aston Villa three points above the relegation zone, having played one more match than the third-bottom team, Wigan. Villa manager Paul Lambert was relieved his side did not suffer a repeat of December's 8-0 defeat at Chelsea, having gone behind after just 90 seconds against United and then trailed 3-0 after 32 minutes. "We wanted to make sure it didn't happen again. Credit to them they kept on going against a brilliant side, the best in the country," Lambert said. "Congratulations to Man Utd. They have been the best team all season. They work really hard, they work for each other, they have a mentality that has been here for years and years. The best team always wins the league."
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Robin van Persie nets all three goals as Manchester United clinch English title . Monday's 3-0 win over Aston Villa ends the Premier League reign of Manchester City . Win puts United 16 points clear of second-placed City with four games to play . Van Persie moves to top of EPL scoring charts with 24 goals this season .
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Washington (CNN) -- U.S. and Japanese authorities have ordered airlines to stop flying their Boeing 787s until they can show they've fixed a fire risk linked to battery failures aboard the closely watched Dreamliners. The moves by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Japanese government follow an emergency landing in Japan that prompted that country's two major airlines to ground their fleets of 787s, and a similar problem aboard a Dreamliner on the ground in Boston nine days earlier. "The battery failures resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two Model 787 airplanes," the FAA announced Wednesday evening. "The root cause of these failures is currently under investigation. These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment." The only U.S. carrier to operate the eagerly awaited, long-delayed jetliner is United Airlines, which said earlier Wednesday that it had inspected its fleet of six 787s and would continue flying them. United spokeswoman Christen David said Wednesday evening that the airline would comply with the order "and will work closely with the FAA and Boeing on the technical review." The FAA noted that its directive also signals international aviation authorities to take "parallel action" regarding their own airlines. The first commercial Dreamliner flight took off in October 2011, flying from Tokyo to Hong Kong, and the planes flew without major problems for more than a year. Since July, the growing list of reported troubles aboard the planes include a fuel leak, an oil leak, two cracked engines, a damaged cockpit window and a battery problem. The FAA announced a safety review of the aircraft last week. In the most serious incident so far, an All Nippon Airlines (ANA) 787 with 129 people aboard made an emergency landing after a battery alarm Wednesday morning. Those on board reported a burning smell in the cabin, and an alarm indicated smoke in a forward electrical compartment. Hours later, ANA and Japan Airlines announced that they were grounding their Dreamliners pending an investigation. And on Thursday, the Japanese government ordered that all 787s be kept out of service until battery safety could be assured. A maintenance worker discovered an electrical fire aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 slated for departure from Logan International Airport in Boston on January 7. In a statement released Wednesday night, Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney said the company is confident that the planes are safe and is working with authorities to get them flying again. "Boeing is committed to supporting the FAA and finding answers as quickly as possible. The company is working around the clock with its customers and the various regulatory and investigative authorities. We will make available the entire resources of The Boeing Company to assist," the statement said. "We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the traveling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service." McNerney's statement Wednesday did not mention specifics about the recent incidents, but said the company "deeply regrets the impact that recent events have had on the operating schedules of our customers and the inconvenience to them and their passengers." Boeing has delivered 50 Dreamliners so far and has more than 800 additional orders for the aircraft from airlines around the world. On Wednesday night, Chile-based LAN Airlines said it was temporarily grounding its three Boeing 787 aircraft in compliance with the FAA's recommendation. Boeing's shares -- which had previously been resilient in the face of this month's negative publicity over the Dreamliner -- sank 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday, after falling 3.4% during the trading day. After last week's incident in Boston, Boeing chief engineer Mike Sinnett expressed confidence in the aircraft's battery system. "I am 100% convinced the airplane is safe to fly," he said. "I fly on it all the time." Asked last week whether he would consider grounding the jets, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said there was "nothing in the data" that suggested the Dreamliner was unsafe. Longtime commercial pilot and industry analyst Patrick Smith said the battery issue did not appear to be a major problem, but called the FAA order "a positive and pro-active step." "I don't think that it was dangerous for the plane to be flying, but it probably wasn't the best thing to be flying it on the heels of this latest emergency landing in Japan," Smith said. "All airplanes have their teething problems, and this was trending in a bad direction," he added. "Now the authorities have said, 'Stop,' and that's a good thing." CNN's Mike M. Ahlers and Thom Patterson and CNNMoney contributed to this report.
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NEW: Japan orders that 787s remain out of service until battery safety is assured . Boeing says the company is confident that the planes are safe . FAA grounds Dreamliners for battery fix . The move follows an emergency landing in Japan and another incident in Boston .
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Washington (CNN) -- Superfluous (su-PER-flu-us): Adjective. Unnecessary or needless; difficult to pronounce for a president with a split lip. President Barack Obama grappled with the word Sunday evening at a White House event for this year's Kennedy Center honorees as he read from an opinion by legendary Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. "It's this lip. It's hard to say," Obama said to chuckles from the audience. "You try it when you've had 12 stitches." The Chart: What happens when you split your lip . Obama got a dozen stitches in his lip after being elbowed during a pickup basketball game the day after Thanksgiving. He received applause from the crowd when he finally managed to pronounce the word, included in a 1926 dissent from Holmes in defense of the arts. "To many people, the superfluous is necessary," Holmes wrote. "The theater is necessary. Dance is necessary. Song is necessary. The arts are necessary. They are a necessary part of our lives." To that, Obama added, "The men and women here tonight embody that idea. Tonight it is my honor to offer them the appreciation of a grateful nation." This year's Kennedy Center honorees include country-and-western singer-songwriter Merle Haggard; ex-Beatle Paul McCartney; veteran Broadway composer Jerry Herman; dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones; and television host and actress Oprah Winfrey, a fellow Chicagoan and an early Obama supporter. At a reception in the East Room of the White House prior to the awards ceremony, the president applauded this year's honorees. "Each of these honorees help us understand the human experience -- to illuminate our past, to help us understand our present, and to give us the courage to face our future," said Obama. While the president spoke of each honoree's accomplishments he used a single sentence to sum up his take on the reigning queen of daytime talk, . "Michelle and I love Oprah," he said. Winfrey, a woman accustomed to celebrating others' accomplishments, was visibly moved by Sunday's recognition. "It feels like you on your very best day," she told CNN. "It feels like when every single thing in your life comes together in one moment to say, 'Wow. That actually happened for me.'" Winfrey also smiled when asked about the president's praise for her earlier in the evening. "He said he loved me," she said. "He said he loved me." Among the president's guests were actress Julia Roberts, Winfrey's friend Gayle King, actors Alec Baldwin and Sidney Poitier and singer and former Kennedy Center honoree Diana Ross. CNN's Padmananda Rama and Lauren Pratapas contributed to this report.
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President's struggle drew chuckles at White House event . "You try it when you've had 12 stitches," Obama says . Honorees for Kennedy Center awards range from Merle Haggard to Oprah Winfrey .
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Manama, Bahrain (CNN) -- A crush of protesters covered the streets of Bahrain's capital Tuesday in an anti-regime protest. Tens of thousands of people marched in the biggest anti-government rally since the public disturbances in the island nation erupted last week, and chants of "No Shia, No Sunni, only Bahraini" and "The regime must go" rang through the multitudes tramping across the center of Manama. The turnout was led by ambulance workers involved in rescuing some of those injured in the assault by security forces last Thursday on the Pearl Roundabout, which has been the epicenter of the Shiite-dominated protest movement. The rally -- which comes after thousands of people attended a funeral for a protester slain last week -- was a massive display of popular scorn toward an embattled government working to forge stability. But it unfolded amid major gestures by the kingdom. King Hamad touted a "national dialogue" and urged Bahrainis "to engage in this new process" and "move away from polarization," a government statement said Tuesday. The king has held meetings with opposition members, community leaders and businesspeople "from all sections of society" to pave the way for a formalized dialogue process. "The national dialogue is aimed at bringing to everyone in Bahrain the opportunity to contribute to Bahrain's future path of reform," the statement said. The kingdom also ordered the release of a number of prisoners and closed cases against several Shiite leaders accused of plotting against the kingdom, the country's state news agency reported Tuesday. That cleared the way for Hassan Mushaimaa, leader of Bahrain's largest opposition party, the Haq Movement, to return to the country from London. His aides said he was expected in Bahrain later Tuesday. Mushaimaa's Haq Movement is more hard-line than the opposition Wefaq party, which includes 18 people in the 40-member parliament. Many members of his movement are opposed to the government monarchy, but Mushaimaa said he will support the protesters whether they want a "new system in a constitutional kingdom" or want "to change the regime." Mushaimaa, who had been living in exile, had previously been detained by the government for campaigning for more democratic rights in the island monarchy. Bahrain last year asked the international police agency Interpol for help in arresting Mushaimaa, whom the government accused of a terrorist plot to destroy state buildings and of planning a coup. But the king's decision closed the books on the case against Mushaimaa, giving him the freedom to return without fear of arrest. An aide told CNN that Mushaimaa has been held up in Beirut, where he was stopped and held by airport security and questioned for hours. The aide believes that this was because of the arrest warrant in September on charges of wanting to overthrow the government and he said that perhaps the wanted lists for Arab states haven't been updated. The king also is working to "ensure that sectarianism does not take root in Bahrain." Young members of the country's Shiite Muslim majority have staged violent protests in recent years to complain about discrimination, unemployment and corruption, issues they say the country's Sunni rulers have done little to address. Protesters initially took to the streets of Manama last week to demand reform and the introduction of a constitutional monarchy. But some are now calling for the removal of the royal family, which has led the Persian Gulf state since the 18th century. There were outbursts of government assaults on peaceful protesters last week, acts that drew international condemnation. The Bahraini government statement said that seven people had died during protests in the nation and 25 people remained hospitalized. Protesters had given a higher death toll, placing the figure at 10 or 11. Thousands of additional protesters moved into Pearl Roundabout on Monday, a growing gathering that has taken on an air of permanence since government forces retreated on Saturday and demonstrators reoccupied the symbolic location. Tents, some of them outfitted with furniture and occupied by entire families, dot the epicenter of the Bahrain protest movement -- a setting similar to the one in Tahrir Square in Cairo, where Egyptians staged daily demonstrations that led to the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights says authorities launched a clampdown on dissent in late 2010. It accused the government of torturing some human rights activists.
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Thousands demonstrate in Bahrain . The government releases a new death toll figure . The king releases some prisoners and closes cases against several Shiite leaders . The move clears the way for return of an opposition leader .
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Hong Kong (CNN) -- As Bangladesh mourns the death of more than 100 workers killed in a factory fire over the weekend, attention is turning to the labels found among the charred debris and what role they could have played in preventing the worst industrial disaster in the country's history. The factory, owned by Tazreen Fashions, produced clothing for U.S. supermarket giant Wal-Mart, European clothing retailer C&A and produced garments for several other companies, including Hong Kong sourcing firm Li & Fung. It is just one of about 4,500 apparel factories in Bangladesh that employ an estimated 3.4 million workers, usually young women who work long hours dyeing, cutting and stitching for a minimum wage of approximately $43 a month. Campaigners say that workers' safety is being put at risk by the complex and fragmented nature of global supply chains used by many of the world's top clothing brands, which largely rely on cheap labor to turn a profit. In some cases, companies are unsure which factories are producing the clothing that ends up in their stores, making it impossible for a brand to know whether safety standards are being met. And workers' rights groups say factory bosses in places like Bangladesh often have little incentive to improve working conditions when contracts are short and orders not always renewed. "You have this dilemma where the factory doesn't have the funds to improve the factory or there is no faithful relationship (with the supplier)," Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Rights Labor Forum told CNN. "They don't know if they are going to have the order from Wal-Mart three years down the road. They don't know if they are going to be able to make the investment. "It's really the whole problem we have with global supply chains. The global brands have taken a distance from the responsibility of the workers that actually make the product." Wal-Mart said in a statement to CNN that a supplier had subcontracted work to Tazreen "without authorization and in direct violation of our policies." It added that it had ended its relationship with that supplier and would "continue to work across the apparel industry to improve safety education and training in Bangladesh." C&A said it had placed an order for 220,000 sweaters, its first commission with Tazreen, and has sent a representative to Bangladesh to see how the company can help the victims. Li & Fung, which used the factory to make clothes for other brands, has offered $1,200 in compensation to each family of every victim. But fires like the one at Tazreen are all too commonplace, campaign groups say. According to Sanjiv Pandita, executive director at the Asia Monitor Resource Centre, more than 500 garment workers have died due to factory fires since 2006. Emergency exits are few in number and those often blocked by work in progress and poorly signposted. The Bangladeshi government has ordered the police, fire service and civil defense authorities to begin investigations into the cause of the fire and the deaths. In the meantime, Minister for Labor and Employment Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju said that his ministry had ordered the closure of clothing factories which do not have more than one emergency exit. "I'll sit with the senior officials of the ministry tomorrow (Wednesday) and form a committee to identify the factories which do not have an adequate number of emergency exits," he told CNN. "We've seen many factories have storage of fabrics or other things blocking the emergency exits. We've asked the factory authorities to remove all those (items) immediately," Raju said. It's a problem that goes beyond Bangladesh. Despite decades of campaigning by labor groups and tighter legislation, factories across Asia have proved to be deathtraps for their workers. A fire at a garment factory in Karachi in October killed almost 300 workers, making it the worst factory disaster in Asia since a Thai blaze killed 188 toy factory hands in 1993. Pandita says the efforts by brands to improve working conditions are largely "cosmetic" and says the root of the problem lies in weak enforcement of health and safety legislation in places like Bangladesh. "The government doesn't have the capacity right now. The number of factory inspectors who need to visit the factories is far too low." Bangladeshi minister Raju admitted that the shortage of inspectors was a challenge. "Certainly, I'll try to increase the manpower, but at the same time I can say that this problem can't be resolved overnight," he said. In this vacuum, Pandita says, a patchy system of voluntary self-regulation has emerged where image-conscious brands insist on safety audits conducted by private companies. However, he says that in some cases factories obtain certification that leads to little concrete change on the factory floor. For example, Ali Enterprises, the owner of a Karachi factory that caught ablaze in October, had passed an inspection by an Italian company in August. "Instead of strengthening core institutions, people think we can do it through a self-regulatory mechanism," he said. "We can see it hasn't worked." The fires in Bangladesh and Pakistan have come as many garment makers move their production away from China, where wages are rising, says Maurizio Bussi, director of the International Labor Organization's Decent Work Team in south-east Asia. Unlike other industries like car manufacturing, the garment trade is highly mobile with low start-up costs, so companies move from country to country in search of the cheapest pool of labor, he said. As such, it's often the first rung on the industrial ladder for many poor countries like Bangladesh that have a large but low-skilled workforce. "This is part of the natural business dynamics of a very price sensitive sector such as the garment industry," he said. "Is this exposing workers to additional risk? In a sense yes -- because the systems that protect workers in these countries are not as well developed and will require further engagement and commitment from governments, local employers and foreign investors." Journalist Farid Ahmed in Bangladesh contributed to this report.
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Bangladesh mourns the deaths of more than 100 workers killed in a factory fire . Wal-Mart, C&A and other brands placed orders with factory . Campaigners say worker safety put at risk by opaque global supply chains . Brands moving production from China in pursuit of cheap labor .
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(CNN) -- Just a week ago Victor Dubuisson was little known aside from the most ardent golf fan, but then came victory in the Turkish Airlines Open, beating Tiger Woods and a clutch of big names and now the 23-year-old Frenchman is firmly in the hunt for an even bigger prize. Saturday saw Dubuisson move to within one shot of leader Henrik Stenson at the World Tour Championship in Dubai with a stunning eight-under 64, including 11 birdies, one short of the European Tour record. Dubuisson has carded 52 birdies in his last seven rounds of competitive golf and aims to carry on that form into the final day on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. "I am very confident about tomorrow. I will try to do my best. And you know, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes not, but I will do the same as today and the first two rounds," he told gathered reporters. "I'm very happy to play with Henrik tomorrow... he's a great guy and he's the best player of the year, so I'm very excited." Swede Stenson, who can become the first man to win the European Tour's Race to Dubai and the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour in the same season, knows he is in for a fight on the final day. "Victor is playing incredible golf at the moment. I kept hearing that I was the hottest player in the world, but I think he's just jumped up and grabbed that title the last two weeks, winning last week and then shooting the score that he did today. " Stenson is also being chased for overall honors by England's Ian Poulter, who carded a 66, but is four behind in third place. He drew level with his Florida neighbor on the back nine of the third round, but Stenson finished with four birdies in the last five holes to open up a significant advantage as he closed with a 67 for 17-under overall. "I caught him today and I'll catch him tomorrow, it's whether or not I can keep hold of him," Poulter told the official European Tour website. A win for Poulter would mean Stenson would have to finish second to claim the Harry Vardon trophy, but the 37-year-old is not thinking that way. "I am trying to avoid all that," he said. "I know I can win The Race to Dubai even if I don't win here, but why not try my hardest to win this tournament? If I do I know that both trophies are coming home with me," he added. U.S. Open champions present and past, Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell, can also still deny Stenson the title with victory in Dubai, but at 11 under and eight under after both shot rounds of 68, it is an unlikely permutation. So can the man of the moment Dubuisson, but he would have to lift the trophy and see Stenson crumble to finish outside the top 30. But he has moved into the top 50 in the world and made a strong start to claim a place in the European Ryder Cup team next year at Gleneagles.
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Henrik Stenson remains in lead in World Tour Championship in Dubai . On course to become first man to win Race to Dubai and FedEx Cup in same season . Frenchman Victor Dubuisson giving chase one shot back . Ian Poulter in third in his pursuit of Stenson for top European honor .
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London (CNN) -- Royal watchers eagerly await the arrival of a child who will be heir to the British throne. Here's what you need to know and the latest developments: . • As the wait for the royal baby continues, so does the debate over the Duchess of Cambridge's actual due date. Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports Friday, citing "well-placed sources," that medical staff at St. Mary's Hospital -- where Catherine is expected to give birth -- were told the due date was July 19. • A royal source told CNN that her due date was July 13. She and Prince William announced at the start of the year that the baby was due in July, but did not announce the date. Why are some babies overdue? • The Duchess of Cambridge is expected to give birth in the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, next to Paddington Station in London. It's where William was born, as was his brother Harry. Catherine's mother, Carole Middleton, is likely to be on hand at the hospital. • Could the world's media be camped outside the wrong hospital, though? The Telegraph reported that a contingency plan is in place for Catherine to give birth at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, if she goes into labor while staying at her parents' home in Berkshire, and its swift progress means the journey back to London is impractical. • There's no doubting the media interest in the royal birth. The Sun newspaper is streaming live video of the entrance to the Lindo Wing, as is Stylist magazine. The days-long vigil outside the hospital has also inspired a spew of #GreatKateWait tweets from the waiting media pack -- as rounded up by New York Magazine. • One person who won't be at the Lindo Wing is Home Secretary Theresa May. Asked by a fellow lawmaker whether she would be attending the royal birth, as was formerly customary, she replied: "In fact, it is no longer the case that the home secretary is required to attend a royal birth. The tradition -- now defunct -- goes back many centuries, she said, explaining that "the home secretary had to be there to evidence that it was genuinely a royal birth and that a baby hadn't been smuggled in." • Some people are thinking further ahead already. An Ipsos Mori poll released Thursday revealed almost two-thirds of those surveyed think William and Catherine's child should have a normal job before taking on royal duties. One in five disagrees. However, 70% of those polled think that it is impossible for the children of royalty to have a normal upbringing. The same survey found support for Britain's monarchy remains high, with more than three-quarters in favor of a monarchy over a republic. • There's been plenty of speculation about the baby's name -- and betting is going strong. The famous Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London, which takes in and finds homes for lost and unwanted pets, has gone a step further and named a litter of kittens after the bookies' favorites: Alexandra, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Victoria, Grace, James and George. • Queen Elizabeth II is among those keen for the new baby to greet the world. On a visit to northern England on Wednesday, she was asked by a little girl whether she wants her great-grandchild to be a boy or a girl. The queen replied: "I don't think I mind. I would very much like it to arrive. I'm going on holiday." • Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, said Monday that the family was on tenterhooks for the baby's arrival -- and suggested it could be very soon. "We're all waiting at the end of a telephone," she said, in an exchange filmed by ITV. "I hope by the end of the week, he or she will be there." • The baby will have the title His or Her Royal Highness Prince or Princess (the baby's name) of Cambridge, St. James's Palace said this month. However, it could be as long as 10 days before the baby's name is announced. • Anyone born in Britain on the same day as William and Catherine's baby will receive a special coin from the Royal Mint: a silver penny, dated 2013, that will come in a blue pouch for a boy or a pink one for a girl. • The first indication that the royal baby is on its way will be an announcement in the media that the duchess has been admitted to the hospital in the early stages of labor, royal sources tell CNN. The next public announcement is expected to be that of the birth. It will be made in the form of a formal bulletin, signed by medical staff and rushed in a car with a police escort to Buckingham Palace. There, the notice will be placed in a gilt frame positioned on an easel -- the same one used to announce William's birth -- and placed in the palace forecourt for all to see. • The first to know about the royal baby will be Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister David Cameron and the governors general of each of the commonwealth nations, along with the rest of the royal and Middleton families. If the baby arrives in the middle of the night, it's unlikely the queen will be awoken, so there is a chance in that instance that an official announcement will not be made until the following morning. • Celebratory gun salutes will be sounded by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery in Green Park (41 rounds) and the Honorable Artillery Company at the Tower of London (62 rounds) after the baby is born. • William and Catherine did not want to know the sex of their baby beforehand, royal sources say. There has been speculation it is a girl, however, especially after a member of the public said in March that the duchess almost uttered "daughter" while at a public event in Grimsby. The woman said the duchess was given a teddy bear and replied, "Thank you, I will take that for my d--" but then stopped herself. • The baby will be third in line to the throne after Prince Charles and Prince William, regardless of gender. A rule change in 2011 ended centuries of male primogeniture, which decreed that the crown passed to the eldest son and was bestowed on a daughter only when there were no sons. It means that if the next royal baby is a girl, she will eventually become queen; previously, a younger male sibling would have taken precedence. • The queen's cousin, Margaret Rhodes, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour she hoped the child would have a normal childhood. "I imagine and hope that its early life, until it's at least in its teens, will be just a jolly, happy, ordinary child's life," she said. • It's not known where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge plan to spend the days and weeks following the birth. William is expected to be given the usual paternity leave of two weeks by the Ministry of Defence, royal sources say. He will then return to his job as a helicopter search and rescue pilot. • The revelation that Catherine was pregnant came after she was admitted to a London hospital in December for acute morning sickness.
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NEW: Poll suggests Britons want the royal heir to lead a normal life -- including a regular job . The media debate Catherine's likely due date as the wait for the royal baby continues . The queen doesn't mind if the baby's a boy or a girl -- she just wants it to arrive soon . A contingency plan is in place for Catherine to give birth near her parents' home, media report .
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(CNN) -- A family of six survived two days in wintry Nevada mountains by starting a fire and then bringing warm rocks into their overturned Jeep, preventing frostbite to the couple and four small children, local residents said Tuesday. When three residents finally found the family and their vehicle during a massive search, the family had little food left, so resident Salvador Paredes pulled a candy bar from his pocket and shared it with them, Paredes said. In a search involving 200 people, rescuers finally located the family on Tuesday after they had gone missing two days earlier during a playful outing in the snow in mountainous northwest Nevada. Temperatures on Monday morning, hours after the family disappeared, were about 21 degrees below zero, officials said. Winds were relatively light. The group was found safe in an area called Trinity Canyon, according to the Pershing County Sheriff's Office. They were discovered from a distance by a volunteer searcher using binoculars to scan mountainsides, the sheriff's office said. It wasn't immediately clear which of the three residents made the discovery. All six were in stable condition with "no frostbite, just some exposure issues," said Patty Bianchi, CEO of Pershing General Hospital. The family consists of a man and woman who have two children together; the woman also was traveling with her nephew and niece, the sheriff's office said. The adults "did a fabulous job keeping them warm," Bianchi said, referring to the children. Dr. Doug Vacek said all six were doing "very well," but he had no timetable for their release. "They just expressed that they're really happy and they're going to enjoy this Christmas" more than usual, he told reporters. Their Jeep softly rolled onto one side while on a dirt road, went down an embankment and landed in a crevice about 15 miles from Lovelock, said Sheila Reitz of the Pershing County Sheriff's Office. It was upside down when rescuers arrived. Chris Montes, another of the rescuers, told CNN on Tuesday night that "obviously they knew what to do. They kept those kids safe 48 hours in subzero temperatures." The group apparently ran out of food on Monday, he said. The children, ages 3 to 10, Montes said, "did not seem too bothered. They were in good spirits. They just figured they were camping." Joining Montes in finding the family was Paredes and his fiancee, who will marry this weekend. Survival expert Joseph Teti said the adults "made all the right decisions." It's the little decisions that add up to an enhanced chance for survival in brutal conditions, he said: Staying near the vehicle, telling people where you are traveling and refusing to panic. "Mother Nature will not allow you to make too many mistakes at all," said Teti, co-star of Discovery Channel's "Dual Survival." The discovery came about midday Tuesday as more than 200 people scoured a vast frozen range of Nevada spanning 6,000 square miles. Officials remained undaunted despite the fact they no longer received pings off the cell phone of the missing persons, Reitz said. On Monday, authorities had been encouraged when they were able to receive a couple of pings from the phone of James Glanton, 34, officials said. Cell service is spotty because the area is so remote. Also rescued were Glanton's girlfriend, Christina McIntee, 25, along with their two children -- Evan and Chloe -- and McIntee's niece and nephew. They all set out to play in the snow in the Seven Troughs mountain range Sunday. A massive search for them involved vehicles, planes and helicopters, Reitz said. The Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, said its cell phone forensics experts "played a critical role in helping rescuers narrow the search area," according to a statement by the patrol. "The cell phone forensics team pinpointed where they could not possibly be," Nevada Wing Commander Col. Tim Hahn said in a statement. The forensic efforts "were very time-consuming," he said. "This morning they provided a key clue that redirected the search and led to the rescue," Hahn said. One of the CAP crews spotted the family's silver 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee about the same time that the searcher with binoculars found the lost group, the patrol said. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center will award the Nevada Wing with six saves, Hahn said. The children's ages are 10, 4, 4 and 3, the patrol said. Amanda Fitzpatrick, mother of 10-year-old Shelby Fitzpatrick, one of the missing children, joined the search in the bitter cold. "It's been extremely hard, probably the hardest 24 to 36 hours of my life," she earlier told CNN's Piers Morgan. "It's my baby girl." The family's disappearance was among the most dramatic developments in the Arctic-like weather shocking much of the Lower 48 states. Big flakes of wet snow and ice snarled travel across the country Tuesday and hit major airline hubs in the Northeast, with about 1,200 flight cancellations reported by Tuesday evening. Temperatures in storm-stricken parts of the country are expected to stay about 10 to 20 degrees below normal for the rest of the week, the National Weather Service said. CNN's Ralph Ellis, Holly Yan, Miguel Marquez, Carma Hassan, Sarah Aarthun, Chuck Conder, Shane Deitert, Stephanie Elam, Randi Kaye, Chuck Johnston, Judson Jones and Casey Wian contributed to this report.
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Rescuer describes finding the family to CNN . Family warms rocks by fire and puts them in overturned Jeep . They are stable with "no frostbite, just some exposure issues," hospital says . The two adults "did a fabulous job keeping (the kids) warm," hospital CEO adds .
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Washington (CNN) -- Tourists and businesses are already feeling the sting of federal budget cuts, with officials in Wyoming announcing delays for opening parts of Yellowstone National Park. The National Park Service is taking a $113 million hit under the so-called government sequester that took effect on Friday and is set to run through the end of the current fiscal year unless Congress calls it off or changes how it is implemented later this month. The impact on the overall federal budget and deficit reduction is miniscule, but the meaning of cuts to local businesses in and around treasured landmarks that host nearly 300 million visitors a year is all too real. House GOP campaign arm goes online in the blame game over forced spending cuts . The National Mall and the Statue of Liberty will be affected, according to John Garder, budget and appropriations legislative representative for the National Parks Conservation Association. The Mall stands to lose $1.6 million and the Statue of Liberty almost $780,000 between now and the end of the fiscal year in September. Local government officials and business leaders in Cody, Wyoming, said Yellowstone will delay the opening of its north and west entrances by a week until April 26, and its east, south and northeast entrances by two weeks until mid-to-late May because of the impact of budget cuts on snow removal. The delay will cost related businesses several million dollars, the local Chamber of Commerce said. Jan Stoddard, marketing director for the West Yellowstone, Montana, Chamber of Commerce said the park and its visitors are the lifeblood of her community. "Limiting access to the park even for a few weeks can have significant impacts on the bottom line of a small business reliant on those visitors," Stoddard said. "These visitors contribute tax dollars and support jobs." So what are these cuts actually worth? The Park Service operates on $2.2 billion annually, or a tiny fraction of the federal budget. But its sites pump $31 billion into local economies and visitation has been up despite a sluggish economy. Opinion: Americans sick of budget soap opera . National parks contribute more than 270,000 jobs outside the National Park Service like lodging, food and beverage services, and recreation and entertainment. "It is important to note that proposed cuts to Yellowstone and Glacier national park budgets will save the federal government $2.5 million, but in all likelihood tax losses due to reduced tourism could offset the savings. Last year, nonresident tourism to Montana generated approximately $253 million in federal taxes," Stoddard said. According to Forbes, eight of the top 25 U.S. tourist destinations are national parks. In a memo, the National Park Service outlined some of the more specific changes and closures that would be attributed to the proposed spending cuts. For instance, Gettysburg National Park, which honors the famous Civil War battle, would eliminate 20% of its spring student education programs, affecting 2,400 students. Grand Canyon National Park will reduce hours of operation at the main visitor center, affecting at least 250,000 people. The White House said, "Many of the 398 national parks across the country would be partially or fully closed" during the six months of budget austerity and other parks would experience shorter hours, fewer employees and limited camping and hiking spaces. It will take a month or so for the cuts to kick in at most federal agencies. Share your story: How do you feel about the cuts? In the 2011 fiscal year, funding for the National Park Service was cut by almost $140 million. From 2002 to 2011, the budget fell by 13% overall. According to Garder, recent cuts have taken a toll, with deferred maintenance requests running into the billions of dollars. In the long term, Garder fears further cuts could have a detrimental effect on the vitality of national parks, including limited resources for "curbing invasive species and long term protection (of park areas)." Areas managed directly by the National Park Service won't be the only ones to experience the pain of spending restrictions. The Three Bear Lodge and Restaurant in West Yellowstone will feel it, too. "Because of the seasonality of our business and the fact that our town of West Yellowstone basically shuts down whenever Yellowstone closes, we need revenue generated every day in order to stay solvent on a year-round basis," owner Clyde Seely said. "Opening our businesses for shorter time periods or causing reductions in visitation during the shoulder seasons of the park will cause proportionate reductions in the overall economy." Zakaria: Cuts a damning indictment of Washington . Almost 279 million people visit national parks each year. Visitor concessions like souvenir shops, lodging, transportation, equipment rental and food services will suffer from the decrease in tourism caused by the limitation in park hours. "There is a breaking point and once we reach that and services begin to suffer, this will be directly reflected in the experience our visitors are having and that poses the greatest danger -- when we can no longer deliver on the promised experience," Stoddard said. But economist Isabelle Sawhill from the Brookings Institution said cuts in cases like this aren't that significant. "I think almost any organization can sustain a 5% cut in their budget and not have it interfere with their basic mission," she said. Garder disagreed. "The budgeting process is completely broken. It's Congress' job to figure out where investments should be made and where agencies should be cut, it's a mindless process and it's not meant to become policy. Beyond spending cuts: What's next for Washington .
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Forced spending cuts to trim $113 million from park service budget . NEW: Parts of Yellowstone will open later due to impact of cuts on snow removal . Parks could see shorter hours, fewer employees and limited camping and hiking spaces . Almost 279 million people visit national parks each year .
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Editor's note: Kevin Pho, a primary care physician in Nashua, N.H., blogs at KevinMD.com . Dr. Kevin Pho says health reform can't succeed as long as there's a shortage of primary care doctors. (CNN) -- When President Obama recently cited the number of Americans without health insurance, he declared that, "We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women, and children." Uninsured patients often delay preventive care, waiting to seek medical attention only when their conditions worsen. This leads to more intensive treatment, often in the emergency department or hospital where costs run the highest. Universal health coverage is therefore a sensible goal, and the reforms being considered all make considerable effort to provide everyone with affordable health care. But expanding coverage cannot succeed as long as there remains a shortage of primary care clinicians. After all, what good is having health insurance if you can't find a doctor to see you? Massachusetts is often held out as a model for national health reform, and the bills being considered in Washington emulate much of that state's 2006 landmark universal coverage law. As a physician in neighboring New Hampshire, I have had the opportunity to observe the effect of the Massachusetts reforms. Today, 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, the highest in the country. But less publicized are the unintended consequences that the influx of half a million newly insured patients has had on an unprepared primary care system. The Massachusetts Medical Society reported that the average wait time for a new patient looking for a primary care doctor ranged from 36 to 50 days, with almost half of internal medicine physicians closing their doors entirely to new patients. And when you consider that Massachusetts already has the highest concentration of doctors nationwide, wait times will likely be worse in other, less physician-abundant parts of the country, should universal coverage be enacted federally. When patients are forced to wait weeks to obtain medical care, they inevitably find their way into the emergency department for treatment that ordinarily can be handled in a doctor's office. Indeed, since health reform was passed, according to state data provided to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts emergency rooms have reported a 7 percent increase in volume, which markedly inflates costs when you consider that emergency room treatment can be up to 10 times more expensive than an office visit for the same ailment. Alwyn Cassil, a spokeswoman for the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change, told HealthDay News that expanding coverage without improving access to care is a "recipe for failure," as well as unsustainable, "because it will just bankrupt us." Massachusetts is finding out just how difficult it is to fiscally maintain universal coverage. In part due to soaring health costs, the state Legislature has proposed reducing health benefits for 30,000 legal immigrants and cutting funding to inner-city hospitals like Boston Medical Center, which, according to the Boston Globe, may "force it to slash programs and jeopardize care for thousands of poverty-stricken families." The success of universal health coverage depends on an adequate supply of primary care providers. But the Association of American Medical Colleges is forecasting a shortage of 46,000 primary care physicians by 2025, a deficit that not only will balloon under any universal coverage measure, but cannot be made up as doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants all gravitate towards more lucrative specialty practice. It's not only the financial incentives that need to substantially change for primary care to prosper. More important, the working conditions for the physicians already in the field have to improve. A recent survey in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that roughly half of primary care doctors reported practicing in a work environment "strongly associated with low physician satisfaction, high stress ... and [an] intent to leave." Primary care clinicians routinely face unreasonable time pressures, a chaotic work pace, and bureaucratic impediments. Onerous paperwork requirements that obstruct patient care have to be reduced. And instead of the current system which encourages doctors to rush through as many office visits as possible, physicians who take the time to counsel, guide, and address all of their patients' concerns should be rewarded. Better valuing the doctor-patient relationship will increase satisfaction, not only for physicians, but for their patients as well. Such solutions, however, have been largely absent from the health reform conversation. Although it is a moral imperative for every American to have access to health insurance, alleviating the shortage of primary care providers is of equal importance. The prospect of suddenly adding tens of millions of patients to an overburdened primary care system has the potential to make the already dire state of American health care even worse. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kevin Pho.
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Kevin Pho: It's important to extend coverage to the uninsured . He says reform can't work if there aren't enough doctors to care for all . Pho says Massachusetts is finding it can't provide care to those newly covered . Pho: Adding tens of millions of patients could strain system .
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Washington (CNN) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller said Thursday he is concerned about the potential for terrorists mounting cyber attacks and that the bureau is working "to stay ahead of these threats, both at home and abroad." "While to date terrorists have not used the Internet to launch a full-scale cyber attack, we cannot underestimate their intent," Mueller testified to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee in which lawmakers pressed him about what additional funding and laws may be necessary to combat the cyber threat. Mueller did not provide many details during the public session, but later met with senators behind closed doors to provide additional information. Mueller noted that terror groups are becoming more "cyber savvy." As examples, he cited al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which publishes an online magazine called Inspire, and the Somali group Al-Shabaab, which has its own Twitter account. More importantly, however, he said, terrorists are "using cyberspace to conduct operations." Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked Mueller whether a cyber attack suspect tied to al Qaeda would be treated differently than a regular criminal suspect. Many members of Congress have said terror suspects are better handled by the military than going through a criminal court process. But Mueller did not debate the issue, saying when a cyber intrusion happens, his agency's goal is to find out who is behind the computer. "At the point in time of an intrusion, you don't know whether it's going to be a country, a terrorist or the 18-year-old kid down the block," he said.
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FBI director: Terror groups are becoming more "cyber savvy" The bureau is working to stay ahead of the threats, he says . Robert Mueller met with senators behind closed doors to provide more details .
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(CNN) -- As you celebrate the holiday season, make time to see Alexander Payne's brilliant new film, "Nebraska." The movie is a riveting story, filmed in black and white, about an elderly man named Woody Grant (played by Bruce Dern) who takes a road trip with his youngest son, David (played by Will Forte). The two of them drive from Billings, Montana, to Lincoln, Nebraska. Woody, an alcoholic who has lived a hard life, is convinced that he has won a million dollars based on a letter from a company that sells magazine subscriptions. David tries to explain to his gruff father that the letter is simply a ploy to convince him to purchase subscriptions. The father is determined, and desperate, to claim the prize. With a kind heart, David ends up taking his dad on the trip to play out his dream. Throughout the film, viewers see a landscape that is visually beautiful and economically devastating. The two travel through towns that are aging and fading, where almost every character is struggling to make ends meet. Indeed, the fact that Woody is depending on this kind of letter to find fortune is in itself a devastating statement about what has become of the American dream. David, a struggling salesman in the audio and electronics business, at one point asks what his father would actually do with a million dollars. It turns out that all Woody really wants is a new truck and an air compressor. That's the limit of his aspirations. He can't even dream of anything more or of a better way to obtain it. The movie is a powerful statement about the economic challenges that face so many Americans who live in, or on the verge of, poverty. One of the greatest tragedies of the current political era is that neither party has been doing much to make things better. Like Woody, many Americans cling on for their economic lives, daring to dream based on the flimsiest of opportunities. While the American dream once revolved around making your way up through a union job, selling products to consumers or starting a small business, today for many Americans that dream has come down to hoping to win sweepstakes, contests that are doomed to disappoint almost everyone. In this context, it's remarkable that in recent years, many Republicans have actually threatened to make things more difficult in these communities. Besides the fact that the national GOP has not supported any kind of substantive policies to invest in certain regions to kick start economic growth, congressional Republicans have launched an all-out assault on the social safety net. The House GOP, for example, has pushed for a reduction in food stamps, one of the most important benefits upon which millions of Americans have depended since the 1960s. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has called for a conservative War on Poverty that relies on private markets, voluntarism and vouchers to help the poor while he simultaneously promotes stringent budget cuts in nondefense spending that would weaken government support systems such as food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit. Republicans have pushed for major reductions in programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Many Republican governors are continuing to reject the expanded Medicaid funding in the Affordable Care Act, which would be hugely beneficial to the poor and working poor. There are many more Democrats who are clearly interested in using government to tackle some of the conditions with which the characters in "Nebraska" have to cope, though the actual programs they seek to put into place remain unclear (outside of the ACA, which is hugely significant). President Barack Obama delivered a speech last week on economic inequality, calling on politicians to do more to address the issue, which he characterized as the "defining challenge of our time." The president called on Congress to pass legislation strengthening unions, raising the minimum wage, reducing the gender pay gap and making college more affordable. But until now, there has been little movement during by the Obama White House to deal with these kinds of structural economic problems. Obama has also faced fierce opposition whenever he raises these issues. Many Democrats assume that tackling poverty is politically impossible today, so they invest more energy in programs that will win them votes in prosperous suburban communities. The nation can't afford to continue along this path. Fifty years ago next year, President Lyndon Johnson and the 88th Congress launched a War on Poverty that committed government funding and created an agency to help impoverished Americans become self-sufficient and restore their communities. For over a decade, the program had many beneficial effects and played a role in diminishing the number of people living under the worst economic conditions. A recent paper from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed how government supports created since the New Deal lift millions of Americans out of poverty. In 2011, the paper found, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit rescued 9.4 million people from the grasp of poverty. To be sure, the War on Poverty suffered from many shortcomings. The funding for the programs was always meager compared with the inflated promises that came from elected officials. Some of the programs created huge friction among Democrats as local politicians didn't like what community activists did with federal money that was out of their control. Conservatives have also railed against the unintended consequences of the programs, claiming they made recipients dependent on government. Regardless of the criticism, this was a period when the federal government tried to do something. Importantly, it was not just liberals who were behind these programs, but also conservatives such as Southern Democrat Phil Landrum of Georgia, who sponsored the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 in the House. The time has come to focus our attention on the issue of systematic poverty once again, to make sure that we move the nation on a path toward a better Christmas in Nebraska. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.
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Julian Zelizer: A new film presents stark portrait of struggling Americans . "Nebraska" vividly shows deterioration in middle-class America . Zelizer says American politicians of both parties failing their down-and-out constituents . Republicans seeking to unravel safety net, while Obama White House has done little, he says .
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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The economic might of India may bring to mind technological savvy and overseas call centers. But to understand the Indian economy, a visit to a roadside dentist like Raj Kishore is more illuminating. The Indian economy is fueled by independent workers such as Radha Kumar. "I can extract, I can fill up, I can scale, I can make dentures, I can make bridge metal or non-metal." Kishore said as he fitted dentures for a customer. One thing he can't do is show a license to practice -- like many roadside dentists sitting on sidewalks awaiting customers. While information technology and outsourcing has earned India the nickname as "the world's back office," the sector employs a fraction of India's population -- only 2 million of India's more than 500 million workers, according to NASSCOM, an IT and business process outsourcing trade organization. So where do the majority of people work in India? The International Labor Organization and economists say as many as 95 percent of the workforce makes a living in what is known as the informal or unorganized sector. "Roughly today about 50 percent of the production is from the unorganized sector," says New Delhi-based economics professor Arun Kumar, referring to jobs and services that exist without a storefront, union to represent the workers, or corporate structure. Although things are changing and the economy has boomed in recent years, Indians are still emerging from poverty. Finding employment can be tough so people have literally created jobs out of sheer necessity, such as roadside dentist Kishore. Kishore says he learned his trade from a dentist and a dental course but he does not have a degree in dentistry. He and those around him provide a service to customers who couldn't dream of affording a licensed dentist in an office. That is just one of thousands of jobs that make up India's informal economy. Radha Kumari is a Mehandi artist. She uses henna to make intricate traditional designs on women's hands and feet. It's an old art that is steeped in tradition and is typically worn by brides the day before the wedding ceremony but is also popular during other Indian holidays and with tourists. She learned the trade from her sister at age 10 and started working as a teenager. "I started doing this work because I was needy. I have no parents; my sister has done everything for me so it was very important for me to work," said Kumari, a mother of two, while she swirled henna on the hand of a customer. She makes 25 to 50 rupees (50 cents to $1) per hand, she said. She and other henna artists are often "troubled" by city authorities or police who come to kick them off of the sidewalks or ask for bribes -- technically Kumari and others are breaking the law by setting up shop on government property. City government authorities showed up while CNN was interviewing Kumari, causing the henna artists around her to pack up and run away. It's a tough life. "If there can be anything better, I would definitely love to do it," she said. "Here there is no certainty. Today I'm allowed to sit here, tomorrow I may not be." But Kumari says it's better than nothing at all. Experts say the informal economy helped keep India out of recession, since it is not tied to the global markets. While the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit has help the Indian economy growing, the largely unregulated workforce promises to have negative impacts on the Indian economy as well, as transactions are often in cash and difficult to trace and tax. But the working conditions and low pay leave millions living in poverty. "Their conditions are very poor because they have no protective gear of any kind, they have no real social security of any kind," said Arun Kumar, an economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. "They face a lot of hardship of all kinds in terms of their existence, where they stay, what do they do, their health conditions, et cetera."
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About 95 percent of the Indian workers work in the unorganized sector . They work without a storefront, union representation or corporate structure . Often roadside services such as unlicensed denistry are practiced .
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(CNN) -- The search for the missing crew members from a North Sea cargo ship collision has been called off Thursday afternoon, the Netherlands Coast Guard said in a statement. The search will not be resuming and passing ships have been told to be on the lookout, the Netherlands Coast Guard said. At least four people are dead and seven others missing after a container vessel collided with a car carrier Wednesday evening, the Netherlands Coast Guard said. The carrier Baltic Ace began sinking immediately after it collided with the container vessel in a busy shipping lane, about 60 kilometers (32 miles) west of Rotterdam, according to Coast Guard spokesman Peter Verburg. Thirteen crew members were rescued and taken to hospitals in Rotterdam and at the Koksijde Air Base near Ostend, Belgium. Those rescued were suffering from hypothermia and minor injuries, the spokesman said. The nationality of the crew was not immediately known. The Baltic Ace had been en route from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Kotka, Finland; the container vessel was en route from Grangemouth, Britain, to Antwerp, Belgium.
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NEW: Search is called off for crew members missing after a ship collision Wednesday evening . NEW: Passing ships have been told to be on the lookout, Netherlands Coast Guard says . Thirteen people are rescued; seven are missing . The Baltic Ace began sinking immediately after the collision .
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New York (CNN) -- A New York judge has denied a request to reduce the bail of a woman accused of running a multimillion-dollar escort service for high-powered clientele, according to court documents. The bail for Anna Gristina, a New York mother of four, is currently set at $2 million bond or $1 million cash. The reduction request was denied Tuesday. Gristina, 44, was arrested on February 22 and has been charged with promoting prostitution in the third degree. She is suspected of running a brothel out of an apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Prosecutor Charles Linehan said his office had requested the large bail because Gristina is considered "an extremely high flight risk." On Tuesday, a Morgan Stanley broker was placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation into Gristina, according to company spokesman Mark Lake. Prosecutors say Gristina was with the broker in his Manhattan office shortly before her arrest, saying the pair were there to discuss the creation of a website that arranges illicit encounters. The broker, who CNN is not naming because he has not been charged with a crime, said they were in talks to create a website for a legitimate dating service. Gristina's next court date is scheduled for May 3. Her attorney was not immediately available for comment.
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Bail for Anna Gristina is set at $2 million bond or $1 million cash . The reduction request was denied Tuesday . Gristina, 44, has been charged with promoting prostitution . She is suspected of running a brothel out of a Manhattan apartment .
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(Rolling Stone) -- Jack White left his Radio City Music Hall audience confused and angry on Saturday night when he abruptly left the stage and ended the show after only playing for about 55 minutes. Over the short course of a 12-song set backed by his all-male band, White stuck mostly to his new material with high-energy takes on "Sixteen Saltines" and "Hypocritical Kiss," plus four White Stripes songs; he sprinted to the piano for a new version of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and strapped on his Telecaster for an epic "Ball and Biscuit." Despite the crowd's visible enthusiasm, White seemed displeased with its energy level. "Jesus Christ, is this an NPR convention?" he asked after "Love Interruption" -- a perplexing statement, since the entire floor was standing and cheering. (Later, he asked the crowd to quiet down, "because I can't hear myself think." They cheered anyway.) White regularly eggs on his crowds with sarcastic banter. At one point, he also suggested performing the rest of the show acoustically, which he joked only ten percent of fans would want. Jack White Drops Video Directed by Hype Williams . Soon afterward, White made a short announcement before leaving the stage, leaving some fans wondering if it was just an intermission (maybe he'd be returning with his all-female band?) or a ploy for encore hype. The audience stuck around for several minutes after White's disappearance, expecting him to return even as roadies emerged to unplug instruments and shut off the amps. The waiting crowd broke into a "Seven Nation Army" singalong, but once the curtain went down, the song quickly devolved into booing and some shouting of "F--- Jack White." Premiere: Jack White Jams in the Woods at Outside Lands . According to the New York Observer, the ushers at the concert seemed equally mystified by its early ending, and a member of the security team later offered an explanation to the reporter. "He wasn't happy with the sound," he said. "I don't know why he pulled that." The paper also noted that White had several "angry exchanges" with a shirtless fan in the front row who was removed by security. After clearing the auditorium, a loud and disgruntled crowd of about 100 fans reportedly gathered outside the venue near the main backstage exit, banging on parked cars. Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone.
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Jack White ended the show at Radio City Music Hall after only playing for about 55 minutes . White stuck mostly to his new material with a high-energy take on "Sixteen Saltines" He made an announcement before leaving; some wondered if it was intermission .
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(CNN) -- FACETIME -- HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi. Minister of Foreign Trade, UAE . South Korea's National Oil Corporation recently signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the UAE to explore three undeveloped oil fields. Trade between the UAE and South Korea is booming. This week MME caught up with the UAE's Minister of Foreign Trade, Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi and asked her about these flourishing trade ties. IN FOCUS -- Role of Arab women . The Middle East is not normally recognized for having women at the forefront of business. According to the World Bank, 25% of women in the region participate in the labor force, compared to more than 50% in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific. But as MME finds out, women in the Arab World are making huge strides in business. Marketplace Middle East airs weekly at the following times (all GMT): . Thursdays: 1545, . Fridays: 0845, . Saturdays: 0615, . Sundays: 0515,1545 .
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South Korea signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the UAE to explore three undeveloped oil fields . UAE's Minister of Foreign Trade talks to MME about the flourishing trade ties with South Korea . Plus, MME finds out how women in the Arab World are increasingly making strides in business .
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(CNN) -- The crew of a Danish cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of Norway was trapped on board after a rescue attempt Saturday was halted because of bad weather, authorities said. A helicopter airlift of some of the crew members aboard the Britannia Seaways was halted because of strong winds, said John Sjurso, a spokesman for the Joint Rescue Coordination Center of Southern Norway. The fire began Saturday in the steering room of the Britannia Seaways, which was in the North Sea en route from Oslo to Bergen, Sjurso said. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Crew members were fighting the fire, but it was not immediately known what equipment they had at their disposal to battle the flames, Sjurso said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The Britannia Seaways, a three-deck cargo ship, is carrying 24,000 tons of military equipment and has a crew of 32. It is not immediately known how many of the crew were rescued before the airlift was stopped due to the storm. Sjurso said late Saturday the ship is still running under its own power. From CNN's Elwyn Lopez .
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32 crew members of a Danish cargo vessel are trapped on board after a fire on the ship . Airlift rescue attempts were halted due to bad weather, a rescue center spokesman said . The ship is carrying 24,000 tons of military equipment from Oslo to Bergen .
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(CNN) -- High-intensity training can often be a cruel master -- capable of provoking a mixture of sweat and tears, as well as occasional mishap and mental frailty -- but how much worse must it be when knowing that the worst part comes at the end? That's when an exhausted athlete, after hours of physical exertion, has to clamber into a vat of iced water -- perhaps giving new meaning to the phrase 'on the rocks'. During her heyday, Paula Radcliffe, who still holds the world record for the marathon she ran in 2003, revealed how she dreaded the baths, which the Briton termed "absolute agony". So Radcliffe may have mixed emotions about a recent report which pours cold water on the efficacy of a concept already quite literally swimming in the stuff. The European Journal of Sports Science suggests the benefits of the ice bath -- a technique which has been used in numerous sports disciplines (track-and-field, soccer, NFL, cricket, rugby and tennis to name but a few) -- are highly questionable. More worryingly still, the scientists who led an experiment into cold water immersion at the University of Portsmouth suggest the practice could be a "possible threat to people's health" as well. In theory, the recovery device -- whose by-products include a whole lot of gnashing, squealing and wailing -- is thought to reduce inflammation, swelling, muscle spasms and pain but the benefits have been disputed by the scientists on England's south coast. Their test involved 40 athletes undertaking an hour and a half of intermittent shuttle running before being split into four groups for the recovery period: with 10 standing in cold water, 10 standing in warm water and 10 simply walking slowly -- all over a 12-minute period -- while the final group sat in cold water for just two minutes. Measuring muscle performance before exercise and at frequent intervals in the days afterwards, the scientists found "no differences ... between any of the groups in terms of athletes' perception of pain or in their biochemical markers of muscle cell damage." Health Risks . So while not only querying the fundamental validity of the process, lead author Jo Corbett also highlights the possibility that the intended recovery aid could -- rather than prove beneficial -- actually take an athlete out of action instead. "Possible health risks of cold water immersion include hyperventilation leading to metabolic alkalosis [an acid-based disturbance] and, in rare cases, impaired consciousness," Corbett told CNN. "There is also some evidence of a reduction in cerebral artery blood flow, which at very cold water temperatures can cause syncope [fainting] characterized by drowsiness, blurred vision, and a loss of responsiveness in some individuals." Other possible health risks of ice baths, according to Dr Corbett, include tachycardia [a fast heart beat], arrhythmias [abnormal heart beats], allergic and anaphylactic shock as well as the development of non-freezing cold injury [a tissue damage similar to, but lacking the severity of, frostbite]. In theory, both arrhythmias and anaphylactic shock can have fatal consequences -- so it's no surprise that Dr Corbett would like to see more tests into ice baths, even if it must be stressed that no athlete has yet to suffer in such fashion despite their popularity. "The prevalence of these risks will likely depend on the way that the immersion is used -- which is why there needs to be a clear understanding of the mechanisms of action of cold water immersion. "The frequency of these symptoms in healthy, asymptomatic individuals is not clear but may be very low." Placebo effect . Before athletes around the world gain an added spring to their step at the thought of throwing out the bath water, Corbett advises that the conclusions of his team's study should not be set in stone-- "particularly when there is evidence for and against [ice baths]," he says. Nonetheless, some leading clubs have already been in touch since the report's publication to pursue further detail on the findings. In Australia, the Head of Human Performance at leading football side Sydney FC admits that even though confusion may reign over the longevity of cold water immersion, given the differing scientific opinions, he does not foresee the end of this ice age. "I have learned throughout my career that if a player thinks it works, it probably does," Dr Craig Duncan, told CNN. "The placebo affect in sport is significant and if you combine that with a good performance, it will become a major part of a player's preparation. This is so for recovery and the feedback I get from players [about ice baths] is: . -My muscles feel less sore . -I don't feel as heavy, my legs feel lighter . -I feel refreshed . -It's just what I like to do . -I do it because Craig says I have to . Alternatively, if I find a player really gets stressed about it, then there really is no point as I think it will have little positive effect." Given this viewpoint, the players at Sydney FC, where former Italy international Alessandro del Piero is playing following his recent move from Juventus, may do well to remind Dr Duncan of his failsafe methods of recovery. "Recovery is a massive area with many different views but we can never get away from the fact that the two key ingredients to positive recovery are Good Sleep and Sound Nutrition," he says. So a nice feed followed by a warm bed -- or being immersed into an iced bath -- to recover. Hmmm, let me think...
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Leading report questions how efficient the use of ice baths is for leading athletes . British scientist Jo Corbett warns that the practice could be a "threat to people's health" Sydney FC physiotherapist believes placebo effect can make cold water immersion worthwhile for his players .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain feared that it would have been overwhelmed in the event of a Soviet attack because of the depleted state of its armed forces, according to secret files made public on Tuesday. U.S. President Jimmy Carter watches UK PM James Callaghan speak at a 1979 meeting in Guadeloupe. Papers released by the National Archives, under the 30-year rule, reveal that Royal Air Force fighter jets only had sufficient ammunition for two days of combat and the Royal Navy would fail to defend the country from Russian submarines. The army would have been too over-stretched to cope with a widescale campaign of sabotage and subversion by Soviet special forces, the papers show. Prime Minister James Callaghan called the situation a "scandal" when he discovered the scale of the problem and demanded resignations among the military. "Heaven help us if there is a war!" he scrawled on one note. But ministers could do little until the Tornado fighter plane became available in the mid-1980s along with other military hardware. The problem became clear when senior intelligence officers warned in late 1977 that, in the event of a conventional war, the Russians could unleash up to 200 bombers and 18 submarines against the UK. The assessment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was that British forces would be unable to cope. "UK forces cannot match the threat postulated by the JIC assessment," the chiefs noted in January 1978 in a document marked Top Secret UK Eyes Alpha. "Air defenses would be outweighed because aircraft would be outnumbered and stocks of air defense munitions would sustain operations for only two or three days. "Maritime forces need better anti-submarine weapons, and face a massive threat from submarine and air-launched missiles and also from mines; the most serious deficiency is in numbers. "The army in the UK would, until mobilization is complete, have insufficient forces to meet its commitments; after mobilization of the reserves, a process taking between 15-20 days, the Army would be able to counter the currently assessed Soviet land threat during the initial stages of the war but, lacking supporting arms and logistic support, it would be inadequate to deal with any more significant threat, including sabotage or subversion on a wide scale."
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Britain feared it would have been overwhelmed in Soviet attack, papers reveal . Papers were released by the National Archives under the 30-year rule . Prime Minister James Callaghan called the situation a "scandal"
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Sydney, Australia (CNN) -- The competitive spirit between Australia and New Zealand rarely dims, but New Zealand has sprinted ahead of its trans-Tasman rival to become the first country in the Asia Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. The move has left Australia's gay community feeling behind in terms of gay rights. The New Zealand Parliament passed legislation with a convincing 77 to 44 vote amending the Marriage Act to permit gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and intersex couples to marry. The vote caused the supporting New Zealand lawmakers to erupt into applause and an overjoyed public gallery to burst into song. The lawmaker responsible for the bill, Louisa Wall, thanked her female partner as she grasped a bouquet of rainbow-colored flowers. "Nothing could make me prouder to be a New Zealander than passing this bill," Wall said. Meanwhile in Australia, the rainbow symbol -- long associated with gay activism -- has taken on a more militant meaning with a social media-fuelled rainbow revolution underway in which activists across Australia have been "chalking" the colors of the rainbow in public spaces. The nationwide protest was triggered by a New South Wales government decision to remove a rainbow-painted pedestrian crossing in the city's gay heartland. Painted at a cost of 110,000 Australian dollars, and with the permission of the authorities during the last Sydney Mardi Gras in March, it was ordered to be removed by the state's roads minister, Duncan Gay, soon after the partying ended. Gay said removing the crossing, at a cost of 30,000 Australian dollars, was necessary because it was a distraction to drivers and posed safety risks. The move gave rise to a Facebook protest page that garnered widespread support and surprised even its instigator, James Brechney. "I just thought it would be really funny to put on Facebook, I thought I'd get 50 Likes on my wall," Brechney told News Limited. Shops have reported depleted stocks of chalk as hundreds of rainbow crossings have appeared across the country, including small towns. The phenomenon, meanwhile, has spread worldwide. Rainbow crossings have appeared in London, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Vancouver, Berlin and Nairobi. But the chalk protest and the vote in New Zealand Parliament have not moved Australian politicians. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she couldn't see Australia following New Zealand, although she has permitted a conscience vote on a same-sex bill when it was debated and failed last year. ''I doubt we're going to end up agreeing,'' she told a member of the public at a community cabinet meeting in Melbourne. Gillard believes marriage is an act between a man and a woman. She has, however, said she would allow another conscience vote and has urged the opposition Coalition leader Tony Abbott to do likewise. Although several Coalition frontbenchers support it, Coalition lawmakers were denied a conscience vote during last year's same-sex marriage bill vote. Abbott, like Prime Minister Gillard, remains unmoved by New Zealand's decision. 'We had a parliamentary vote on this just a few months ago ... and it was fairly decisively rejected," he said. While Australia's political leaders have not been swayed, New Zealand's vote has given new hope to Australia's gay community. Australian Marriage Equality national convener, Rodney Croome, said the New Zealand move could be a 'game changer' because Australia and its nearest neighbor are so culturally inter-linked. "Growing international pressure takes it up a notch," Croome said. "Those Australians who support this reform will be inspired and encouraged to redouble our efforts in trying to achieve this for Australia," he said. Croome said the fact conservative New Zealand Prime Minister John Key allowed his parliamentary colleagues a conscience vote and voted for the law himself, could change the political appetite for reform in Australia. "It sends a direct message that this is an issue conservatives can support. It will increase support for a conscience vote despite what Tony Abbott says," Croome said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's a push for a conscience vote before the election," he added. Croome predicts thousands of Australian gay couples will begin to make their way across the Tasman to marry because the New Zealand legislation does not limit the right to marry to residents. "They'll be returning to Australia to find that their solemn vows of lifelong commitment are not recognized in Australian law. They will be one of the important catalysts for change in this country," he told CNN. Nevertheless, he said he won't be amongst those leaving Australia to tie the knot. "I want to marry in my home state, Tasmania," he said. The benefit to the New Zealand economy is expected to be big. Croome's Australians Marriage Equality lobby estimates it will be in the order of 700 million Australian dollars while Chris McKellar of Gay Tourism New Zealand believes it will be worth between 150 and 160 million Australian dollars. "New Zealand is set to reap a massive economic dividend from the wedding-spend of those Australian same-sex couples who are tired of their country's failure to act," Croome said. Australian census statistics show that some 1,300 gay couples had traveled to Canada and Argentina to take advantage of same-sex marriage laws. A sizeable proportion of couples using New Zealand's civil union law since it was passed in 2005, have been Australian too.
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New Zealand Parliament votes 77 to 44 to allow same-sex couples to marry . Lawmakers erupt into spontaneous song after the amendment is passed . Australia's gay community feels it is lagging behind its more progressive trans-Tasman rival . Australia has started a 'rainbow rebellion' chalking streets with rainbow symbols .
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MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out." The room where Jonathan King hanged himself is shown after his death. It is no longer used, a school official said. "We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid." But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper. Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants. Watch Jonathan's parents on their son's death » . An attorney representing the school has denied any wrongdoing. Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and autistic children have been injured or traumatized. Few states have laws on using seclusion rooms, though 24 states have written guidelines, according to a 2007 study conducted by a Clemson University researcher. Texas, which was included in that study, has stopped using seclusion and restraint. Georgia has just begun to draft guidelines, four years after Jonathan's death. Based on conversations with officials in 22 states with written guidelines, seclusion is intended as a last resort when other attempts to calm a child have failed or when a student is hurting himself or others. Michigan requires that a child held in seclusion have constant supervision from an instructor trained specifically in special education, and that confinement not exceed 15 minutes. Connecticut education spokesman Tom Murphy said "time-out rooms" were used sparingly and were "usually small rooms with padding on the walls." Only Vermont tracks how many children are kept in seclusion from year to year, though two other states, Minnesota and New Mexico, say they have been using the rooms less frequently in recent years. Dr. Veronica Garcia, New Mexico's education secretary, said her state had found more sophisticated and better ways to solve behavior problems. Garcia, whose brother is autistic, said, "The idea of confining a child in a room repeatedly and as punishment, that's an ethics violation I would never tolerate." But researchers say that the rooms, in some cases, are being misused and that children are suffering. Public schools in the United States are now educating more than half a million more students with disabilities than they did a decade ago, according to the National Education Association. "Teachers aren't trained to handle that," said Dr. Roger Pierangelo, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers. "When you have an out-of-control student threatening your class -- it's not right and it can be very damaging -- but seclusion is used as a 'quick fix' in many cases." Former Rhode Island special education superintendent Leslie Ryan told CNN that she thought she was helping a disabled fifth-grader by keeping him in a "chill room" in the basement of a public elementary school that was later deemed a fire hazard. "All I know is I tried to help this boy, and I had very few options," Ryan said. After the public learned of the room, she resigned from her post with the department but remains with the school. School records do not indicate why Jonathan King was repeatedly confined to the concrete room or what, if any, positive outcome was expected. His parents say they don't recognize the boy described in records as one who liked to kick and punch his classmates. They have launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the school -- the Alpine Program in Gainesville -- which has denied any wrongdoing. A Georgia judge is expected to rule soon on whether the case can be brought before a jury. Jonathan's parents say the boy had been diagnosed since kindergarten with severe depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But his father remembers him as a boy who was happy when he sang in the church choir. "He was a hugger, liked to go fishing with me and run after me saying, 'Daddy, when are we going to the lake?' " Don King said. King said that he wanted to know if there were similar situations in other schools and that critics of seclusion rooms fear there could be. "Jonathan's case is the worst of the worst, but it should be a warning. It's reasonable to think that it could happen in all the other schools that use seclusion on disabled children -- largely because the use of seclusion goes so unchecked," said Jane Hudson, an attorney with the National Disability Rights Network. "This is one of those most unregulated, unresearched areas I've come across," said Joseph Ryan, a Clemson University special education researcher who has worked in schools for disabled kids and co-authored a study on the use of seclusion. "You have very little oversight in schools of these rooms -- first because the general public doesn't really even know they exist," he said. There is no national database tracking seclusion incidents in schools, though many have been described in media reports, lawsuits, disability advocacy groups' investigations and on blogs catering to parents who say their child had been held in seclusion. Disability Rights California, a federally funded watchdog group, found that teachers dragged children into seclusion rooms they could not leave. In one case, they found a retarded 8-year-old had been locked alone in a seclusion room in a northeast California elementary school for at least 31 days in a year. "What we found outrageous was that we went to the schools and asked to see the rooms and were denied," said Leslie Morrison, a psychiatric nurse and attorney who led the 2007 investigation that substantiated at least six cases of abuse involving seclusion in public schools. "It took a lot of fighting to eventually get in to see where these children were held." CNN asked every school official interviewed if a reporter could visit a seclusion room and was denied every time. In other instances of alleged abuse: . • A Tennessee mother alleged in a federal suit against the Learn Center in Clinton that her 51-pound 9-year-old autistic son was bruised when school instructors used their body weight on his legs and torso to hold him down before putting him in a "quiet room" for four hours. Principal Gary Houck of the Learn Center, which serves disabled children, said lawyers have advised him not to discuss the case. • Eight-year-old Isabel Loeffler, who has autism, was held down by her teachers and confined in a storage closet where she pulled out her hair and wet her pants at her Dallas County, Iowa, elementary school. Last year, a judge found that the school had violated the girl's rights. "What we're talking about is trauma," said her father, Doug Loeffler. "She spent hours in wet clothes, crying to be let out." Waukee school district attorney Matt Novak told CNN that the school has denied any wrongdoing. • A mentally retarded 14-year-old in Killeen, Texas, died from his teachers pressing on his chest in an effort to restrain him in 2001. Texas passed a law to limit both restraint and seclusion in schools because the two methods are often used together. Federal law requires that schools develop behavioral plans for students with disabilities. These plans are supposed to explicitly explain behavior problems and methods the teacher is allowed to use to stop it, including using music to calm a child or allowing a student to take a break from schoolwork. A behavioral plan for Jonathan King, provided to CNN by the Kings' attorney, shows that Jonathan was confined in the seclusion room on 15 separate days for infractions ranging from cursing and threatening other students to physically striking classmates. Howard "Sandy" Addis, the director of the Pioneer education agency which oversees Alpine, said that the room where Jonathan died is no longer in use. Citing the ongoing litigation, he declined to answer questions about the King case but defended the use of seclusion for "an emergency safety situation." The Alpine Program's attorney, Phil Hartley, said Jonathan's actions leading up to his suicide did not suggest the boy was "serious" about killing himself. Jonathan's actions were an "effort to get attention," Hartley said. "This is a program designed for students with severe emotional disabilities and problems," he said. "It is a program which frequently deals with students who use various methods of getting attention, avoiding work." A substitute employee placed in charge of watching the room on the day Jonathan died said in an affidavit that he had no training in the use of seclusion, and didn't know Jonathan had threatened suicide weeks earlier. The Kings say they would have removed their son from the school if they knew he was being held in seclusion, or that he had expressed a desire to hurt himself. "We would have home schooled him or taken him to another psychologist," said Don King. "If we would have known, our boy would have never been in that room. He would still be alive."
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Mentally disabled, autistic kids injured, traumatized in school seclusion rooms . 13-year-old Georgia boy hanged himself in room with cord teacher gave him . Autistic Iowa girl confined in school storage closet where she pulled out her hair .
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(CNN) -- There are seemingly millions of smartphone apps out there designed to make traveling easier, but not all of them are very good. Every company seems to think that it needs an app to be cool, but not every app is worth the effort. Here are some of the apps that I find to be most helpful while on the road: . FlightAware . I'm one of those guys who always thinks that more information is better, and that's why I like FlightAware. You can see exactly where your flight (or any other flight) is at the moment. I've used the FlightAware website for years to see near real-time flight tracking, and now there's an app as well. Were you told your airplane is coming from Wichita, but it's still not there and you should be boarding? Go to FlightAware to see where the airplane is right now. FlightAware is hardly the only one in this space. Other frequent fliers swear by FlightTrack Pro, for example. GateGuru . When I was in Atlanta recently, my wife was looking for something before our next flight. Trying to find the right store in an airport the size of Hartsfield-Jackson is a mind-numbing experience. GateGuru, however, gives the rundown on which stores and restaurants are in each terminal and it pulls in reviews as well. If you're in an airport looking for a particular product or service, this will make your task much easier. Hotel Tonight . Have you ever been somewhere and realized you needed a room for the night? Maybe your flight was canceled or perhaps your meetings ran long. This company negotiates deals with hotels for last-minute rooms in many big cities. Within seconds, you can have the room reserved for a low rate. Taxi Magic . If you don't know a city well, the taxi scene can be confusing. Where is the best place to hail a cab? How much should you pay? Taxi Magic makes it a lot easier. If there's a participating cab company in your city, Taxi Magic will have a cab sent right to you. You can pay directly through the app so you don't have to worry about whether credit is accepted or not. The app and booking services are free, and there's a $1.50 documentation fee for using a credit card through the app. If there isn't a participating cab company in the area, Taxi Magic will give you phone numbers for local companies so you can call and arrange for a cab yourself. TripIt . If you've ever used TripIt online to manage your travel, you know it's a great tool for keeping all your travel plans in one place. Of course, there's also an app for that. See and manage all your travel plans in the TripIt app so you never lose your details. Beyond the basics of flights, hotels and cars, you can also put in things like appointments and meals. Your airline app . This isn't one app; it's dependent upon which airline you fly. If you fly a different airline every time, then it's probably not worth downloading every single airline app. But if you're a loyalist, you should absolutely have it. There are some excellent apps out there that allow you to check flight status, see the standby list, book flights and even check in. Apps will store a mobile boarding pass so you can just flash your phone to get on the airplane (not in all airports, but it's getting there). Some airlines have better apps than others. I've heard rave reviews about the new United Airlines app, but get the apps for the airlines you fly frequently. What would you add to the list?
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Hotel Tonight connects travelers with last-minute rooms at discounted rates . The Taxi Magic app dispatches cabs directly to you . Frequent fliers should have airline apps for their preferred carriers .
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(CNN) -- Joe Kistel and Penny Malphrus have never met. But they are connected in a way that may help provide each of them with an answer to the same question: Could strewn pieces of metal recently found partially buried in the sandy ocean floor 20 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, be what's left of a plane that disappeared without a trace 16 years ago? The story begins on February 17, 1996. That's the day Penny's father, Stewart Dunbar, an experienced pilot, took off on a short solo flight from Swainsboro, Georgia, to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Dunbar was returning home after going to show his twin engine propeller-driven Piper Aerostar to a prospective buyer who, as it so happened, failed to show up for the scheduled appointment. Shortly after he took off around 7:45 p.m., Dunbar, 58, reported feeling dizzy and said he was having trouble seeing. He radioed a distress call and advised the radio control tower in Jacksonville, Florida, of his coordinates. In what would be his last communication, he said he was placing the plane on autopilot and turning toward the ocean. Though never certain, the family believes Dunbar, realizing his predicament and unable to control the light transport aircraft, wanted to steer the plane away from land and avoid hurting anyone. If her father was unconscious, Penny Malphrus, who was 24 at the time, theorizes, his body might have shifted against the controls, putting the plane down off the coast near Jacksonville. Two fighter jets were scrambled from a Navy base at Charleston, South Carolina, and got close enough to see the plane but couldn't see inside the cockpit. The fighters ran low on fuel and turned around. Despite a lengthy aerial and water search by the Coast Guard and Navy, not a single piece of Dunbar's plane was ever found. "I spend countless weeks imagining his fuselage possibly still intact, bouncing around in the ocean like a bottle thrown to sea waiting to be found," Malphrus, now 39, said quietly this week from the same Hilton Head Island home where she grew up. "If there's a chance he could still be alive somehow, he will find me here waiting, same address, same phone number as it was before and always will be," she said with a mixture of hope and resignation. "If he survived, I was certain he was out there floating around like a cork surviving on the snack pretzels, chips and soft drinks that he always kept onboard for his passengers," she reflected. Enter into the narrative: 31-year-old Joe Kistel, the executive director of TISIRI (Think It Sink It Reef It), a non-profit Jacksonville-based marine conservation company in the business of protecting the habitat and building artificial reefs. About three weeks ago, Kistel was preparing to visit reef sites off the Florida coast to take pictures for TISIRI's interactive reef map project used by researchers, tourists and maritime enthusiasts. Kistel said his depth finder detected something on the sea floor and what looked like fish 80 feet below the surface. "We decided to check it out, out of curiosity," he said. "You just never know." He and another diver put on scuba gear and went down but didn't find any fish. They expanded their search. That's when they noticed a weed-shaped object like a coat hanger, a piece of stainless steel and other debris that Kistel initially thought might have fallen off a barge. What they found were plane parts: two Lycoming piston engines, an engine block and a bent propeller, but no fuselage. Lycoming engines were used on Piper Aerostars. They took photos and, once on shore, started looking for answers. Hearing about the discovery, local fishermen led them to a second site about four miles away where there is a second plane, a larger, perhaps military-type aircraft with at least three tires. Kistel went online to post dozens of photos and video of both sites and to ask the public for help in identifying the planes. Were they remnants of World War II era planes or more recent aircraft? See the photos and videos . Kistel and his team planned to dive this weekend to bring up what they could, but bad weather forced them to reschedule. His company, with its limited budget, isn't equipped to raise heavy pieces, but he said they may be able to use a float bag to drag some of the parts to shore. If they don't work quickly, they worry a hurricane will come along and bury the site. Malphrus will be anxiously waiting. "Anything for closure," she said. She acknowledges she never stops looking, wondering. "I still check the horizon of the coastline here in Hilton Head Island every day and the newspapers every night," she said. Just this week, she and her 9-year-old son, Trent, were walking on the beach right after high tide in the moonlight to observe hundreds of turtles hatching. "We watched every single one with their cute little wiggly waddle all the way to the water where they just took off. No fear at all," she said. Around midnight, Malphrus and her son came upon something unusual partly covered in sand. Could this be it, she thought, part of her father's plane? They started digging and eventually uncovered what appeared to be a gigantic rudder from a ship. "Never a day goes by that I don't think of him," she said by phone the next day. "My Dad was the most amazing man." Her search continues. She hopes Joe Kistel finds the answer this time.
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NEW: Team cancels plans to dive this weekend due to bad weather . Penny Malphrus has wondered for 16 years what became of her father . He disappeared over the ocean after sending a distress call from his small plane . Diver Joe Kistel found sea-floor debris in an area where the plane might have fallen .
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(CNN) -- If eHarmony or Match.com features more prominently in your "how we met" story than a smoky nightclub or the produce aisle, you're probably not so reluctant to admit it. Six out of 10 Americans now believe dating sites are a good way to meet people, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. That's up from 44% who felt that way in 2005, the last time Pew conducted a similar survey. And barely two out of every 10 people (21%) still feel that "people who use online dating sites are desperate." Eight years ago, almost 30% thought so. "General public attitudes toward online dating have become much more positive in recent years, and social networking sites are now playing a prominent role when it comes to navigating and documenting romantic relationships," reads a summary of Pew's report. The upside of online dating . According to the survey, conducted with 2,252 adults in April and May, 11% of Internet users, and 38% of those who said they're currently "single and looking," have used online dating sites or apps. Among them, 66% said they went on a date as a result. And nearly one in four (23%) said they actually met a spouse or other long-term partner through the sites. In 2005, 43% who tried online sites actually went on a date. But 17% said they found long-term love, not terribly lower than the recent number. How technology has changed romance . But just because it's more common and accepted doesn't mean Internet mingling (Christian or otherwise) has worked for everyone. More than half the respondents who have tried it (54%) said that someone they'd met had seriously misrepresented themselves in their profiles and more than one out of four (28%) said they'd been contacted through one of the sites "in a way that made them feel harassed or uncomfortable." Why traditional dating is dead . That number shoots up to 42% of women who have used dating sites, compared with 17% of men. And maybe it's not all that surprising, but a growing number of people have used the Internet for intimate contact of a less formal nature. Nearly one out of four respondents said they've gone online to check up on former partners, and a similar number said they've flirted with someone on the Web. Young people between 18 and 24 are the most Web-flirtatious. About half (47%) said they've flirted from behind a keyboard. The survey was conducted through telephone interviews in English and Spanish. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points for all respondents and plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for Internet users. Why it's really possible to fall in love online .
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Pew asked more than 2,000 people about dating on the Internet . Two out of 10 think people who use dating sites are "desperate" But attitudes about online dating have gotten more positive over time . Survey: Half of Web daters met people who "seriously misrepresented" themselves .
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(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia will let its female athletes compete in the Olympics for the first time, its embassy in London said. Until now, Saudi Arabia was one of three countries that did not allow women to participate in the games. The other two -- Qatar and Brunei -- also reversed course this year and said they will send female athletes to the London games, which begin July 27. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wishes to reaffirm its support for the sublime meanings reflected by Olympic Games and the cherished values of excellence, friendship and respect that they represent," the Saudi Embassy in London said in a statement announcing the decision. The International Olympic Committee had been pressing Saudi Arabia to allow women to compete and act as officials, and said in March that talks were going well. "IOC is confident that Saudi Arabia is working to include women athletes and officials at the Olympic Games in London in accordance with the International Federations' rules," the committee said March 19. Palestinian female Olympian: 'Miracles do happen' The decision is a rare concession for a kingdom where women are banned from driving. They also cannot vote or hold public office, though that will change in 2015. Women in Saudi Arabia also cannot marry, leave the country, go to school or open bank accounts without permission from a male guardian, who usually is the father or husband. Much of public life is segregated by gender. When it came to sports, female athletes were barred from the Olympic Games because they would be participating in front of a mixed-gender crowd. The Saudi Embassy did not say what prompted the kingdom to change its mind. Officials in Saudi Arabia could not immediately be reached for comment. Can Saudi women be competitive at Olympics? The embassy statement added that women who qualify for the Games will be allowed to participate, raising questions how many female athletes will be ready at such short notice. Dalma Rushdi Malhas, who became the first Saudi woman to compete in the Youth Olympics, praised the decision, calling it "a dream come true." "This just opens so many doors for women," Malhas, an equestrian, told CNN International. Malhas said she won't be competing in London games this year because her horse suffered a minor injury, but didn't rule out future competitions. "I look forward to giving my best and I'm determined to keep on trying for the next Games, hopefully," she said. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch issued a report in which it said the Saudi government's policy of banning women's participation in national competitive sports reflects the "predominant conservative view that opening sports to women and girls will lead to immorality: 'steps of the devil,' as one prominent religious scholar put it." In 2009 and 2010, the country closed private gyms for women, and its schools' curriculum does not include physical education classes for women, the rights group said. And while the Saudi National Olympic Committee selects athletes to represent it in competition, the committee does not have a women's section. Saudi Arabia's 153 official sports club are also closed to women, Human Rights Watch said. The only exception is the female basketball section of Jeddah United, a private sports company that is not among the official sports clubs, the group said. For its part, Qatar will send three women to London this year: a shooter, a swimmer and a runner. Brunei will send a woman who will compete in hurdling.
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One Saudi athlete praises the decision as "a dream come true" Saudi Arabian schools don't have physical ed classes for girls . Qatar and Brunei will also send women for the first time . The decision is a rare concession for a kingdom where women cannot drive or vote .
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Beijing, China (CNN) -- When 23-year-old magazine editor Liu Xinda looked to make his first investment in 2012, he considered the stock market. Many Chinese investors have jumped on the skyrocketing property market, but it was too rich for Liu's blood. Instead he decided to invest in bitcoin. "I believed in bitcoin as a more secure way to store the value than renminbi," Liu said, referring to China's currency. "I trusted in its mechanisms." Liu's trust paid off -- he purchased bitcoin when it was trading at 60 yuan (U.S.$9.85) on the Chinese market and sold when it was trading at 700 yuan ($115) in June. Last week, bitcoin was trading at 7,000 yuan ($1,149). With bitcoin now reaching prices equivalent to an ounce of gold, more investors are turning toward the digital currency for a return on investment. And Chinese investors seeking similar investment success like Liu are feeding the bitcoin frenzy. More than a third of the world's bitcoin transactions now flow through China's largest bitcoin trading website BTC China, according to bitcoin data websites. China has surpassed Japan's Mt.Gox and Europe's BitStamp, reaching 100,000 Bitcoins in daily trading volumes, or more than 400 million yuan (U.S.$65.7 million) in daily transactions. Infographic: What is bitcoin? "We think it's because bitcoin presents itself as a new asset class, albeit digital in nature. And given China is a country with strong practice of savings," Bobby Lee, CEO and co-founder of BTC China, told CNN. "It is quite understandable that the Chinese would want to explore bitcoins as yet another potential asset class for investing some of their savings." In recent years China has been pushing to internationalize the yuan, adding more value to the once tightly controlled currency on international markets. But despite the changes, controls mean individuals still find it difficult to invest in assets outside China. As a result, more Chinese are looking to invest in alternative assets like bitcoin. Trading in the digital currency has been extremely volatile. Early in November the currency rose to what was then an all-time high of $900 earlier, only to fall back to $500 in the span of 28 hours. By last Friday, it was trading as high as $1,242. Bitcoin worth almost as much as gold . "Chinese interest could play a huge role in turning bitcoin into the first trillion dollar non-fiat currency," Stan Stalnaker -- founding director of Hub Culture and the Ven, an asset-backed Internet reserve currency -- recently wrote in a CNNMoney opinion piece. "Ironically, it is the United States, the 'free market' financial heavyweight in the world, that finds itself moving slowly to figure out how to adopt bitcoin," he wrote. "Meanwhile, China is proving to be a leading player in this 21st century currency." However, digital currencies are not officially recognized as legitimate in China. In 2009, the government restricted the use of QQ coin, a popular virtual currency created by tech tycoon Tencent, to only virtual products. Now Bitcoin faces a similar move. China's central bank warned late on Thursday that Bitcoin carries substantial risks and issued new rules to prohibit financial institutions from dealing in the digital currency. Ron Paul: Bitcoin could 'destroy the dollar' Under the new regulation, financial institutions in China are banned from trading, underwriting or offering insurance in bitcoin. In addition, websites in China that provide trading services are required to report investors' identities to regulators and take steps to prohibit money laundering. Following the central bank's announcement, the bitcoin price on the Chinese market shrunk by more than 20% and is still in decline. While the central bank did not outlaw or prohibit individuals from owning bitcoin, the guidelines specify that it is not to be considered a currency. With his past gains, Liu is happy to besitting out the current bitcoin boom and bust. "The ongoing trend is nothing more than a hype to attract geeks," he said. "It's still very hard to spend. And I'm not investing more in bitcoin until I can use it to buy things from Taobao and Amazon." "These are speculators that don't have faith in Bitcoin's value. They'll bailout from the market immediately after they suffer a deficit," he added.
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NEW: Chinese authorities crack down on bitcoin . Analysts: Bitcoin value is being fueled by voracious Chinese investors . A third of world's transactions now flow through China's largest bitcoin trading website .
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(CNN) -- Lawmakers on Thursday are getting their first chance to grill BP CEO Tony Hayward, the man fighting to save his and his company's reputation as BP tries to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Hayward is testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan. The hearing is examining what caused the April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and the oil disaster. A letter to Hayward from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-California, says a congressional investigation alleges that the besieged oil company took a low-cost, speedy approach to drilling the now-broken deepwater well responsible for the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hearing comes a day after Hayward met with President Obama, who last week said that if it were up to him, Hayward would have been fired. In his opening remarks, Hayward struck an emotional tone, acknowledging the loss of life and reminding the Gulf Coast's residents of the company's longstanding commitment to the region. "I want to speak directly to the people who live and work in the Gulf region: I know that this incident has had a profound impact on your lives and caused great turmoil, and I deeply regret that," Hayward said. Addressing the anger and frustration coming from the public, Hayward said, "I know that these sentiments will continue until the leak is stopped and until we prove through our actions that we are doing the right thing." CNNMoney: BP's Hayward strikes emotional tone . In the eight weeks since the rig explosion, Hayward has become the punching bag for Gulf Coast residents who are furious that the oil is still spewing. BP's costly public-relations campaign features an apologetic Hayward detailing cleanup efforts and promising, "We will get this done. We will get this right." But the company's effort to repair its image has been countered by its inability to contain the oil and Hayward's penchant for gaffes. A month after the rig sank, Hayward told Sky News that the environmental impact of the disaster would likely be "very, very modest." He later described the oil spill as an "environmental catastrophe." Fortune: Tony Hayward's most memorable quotes . Hayward also took heat for telling The Guardian that the size of the spill is "relatively tiny" in comparison to the "very big ocean." BP's top man faced the most criticism from his poorly worded apology for the disruption the largest oil spill in U.S. history has caused. "There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back," he said. In response to Hayward's comment, Christopher Jones, a brother of one of the 11 workers killed in the oil rig explosion, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "Mr. Hayward, I want my brother's life back." Hayward issued another apology for what he said was a "hurtful and thoughtless comment." "When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident," he said on his Facebook page. In the past two months, Tony Hayward has become a media fixture and a household name. Hayward, a 53-year-old Briton, grew up outside London and started at BP as a geologist in 1982. He held technical and commercial jobs in Europe, Asia and South America in the 1990s, according to his bio from BP. By 1997, he was on the executive committee, and in May 2007, he was named CEO. Hayward replaced Lord John Browne, who resigned three months earlier than planned after a judge cleared the way for a newspaper to publish details about an alleged homosexual relationship that Browne had. When Hayward took over, BP was still recovering from the March 2005 explosion at a Texas City, Texas, refinery that killed 15 workers and a spill in Alaska the following year that was blamed partially on poor maintenance of pipelines. Hayward vowed to turn the company around. Pressed on how he'd be different from his predecessor, Hayward reportedly replied, "John Browne was John Browne. I'll be me. There is not a lot more I can say." Before April, there had been no major disasters for the company since the Alaskan pipeline incident. Financially, the company has increased revenues every year since Hayward took over, with the exception of 2009, a year plagued by the recession. Profits have been strong, but up and down. Last year, Hayward made $6 million. Despite calls for him to quit, Hayward insists he has no plans to step down. Asked if the president trusts Hayward, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told CNN, "It's not about trusting Tony Hayward or anybody at BP. It is about ensuring that they live up to each and every responsibility that they have and that's exactly what the president and everybody in this administration will do." This month, BP's stock hit a 14-year-low. Since the oil disaster began, the company has lost half of its market value. CNN's Dana Bash and CNNMoney's Steve Hargreaves and Christine Romans contributed to this report.
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BP CEO Tony Hayward testifying before House Energy and Commerce subcommittee . Hearing comes a day after Hayward met with President Obama for the first time . In the eight weeks since the oil disaster, Hayward has made numerous gaffes . In BP ad, Hayward promises, "We will get this done. We will get this right"
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(CNN) -- Brazilian star Kaka has rejected a world record transfer move to Premier League Manchester City and decided to stay with AC Milan. Kaka opted to stay with AC Milan despite the riches on offer. The 2007 world player of the year was set to earn $750,000 per week with City, who were reported to be willing to pay a staggering $147 million to acquire his services. The devoutly religious Kaka explained his reasons on the club's television station. "I believe I have made the right choice. "To have gone to Manchester City could have been a great project but in the past few days I have prayed a lot to understand what the right team would be and in the end I have decided to remain here. "I don't want anything else, I just want to be well and be happy in the place where people love me." Italian prime minister and Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi originally broke the news that the devoted fans of the Rossoneri wanted to hear. Interviewed on Italian TV's Sky Italia late on Monday night, Berlusconi confirmed that Milan had offered Kaka the chance to "make himself a fortune, but said he has "higher values." Berlusconi continued: "He is staying with us, there are things which are more important than money: we are happy. "When I heard he would prefer to stay, that he didn't think he would be missing a great opportunity and he prefers the values of our flag, the values of closeness and friendship, the warmth and the affection that all the fans have shown him in these days, I said 'hooray' and we hugged. Kaka is staying at Milan." Fans of former European champions Milan had staged a series of protests since City's audacious move for Kaka became public late last week. They intensified after Kaka played in the 1-0 home win over Fiorentina which improved Milan's Serie A title chances as arch-rivals and league leaders Inter Milan slipped up. Have your say: Should Kaka have stayed at AC Milan or taken the money? City, who are being backed by Sheikh Mansour's Abu-Dhabi investment group, finally admitted defeat in a statement on their club Web site www.mfc.co.uk from executive chairman Gary Cook: . "Whilst Manchester City Football Club has an obvious interest in world-class players of the quality of Kaka, we owe it to our fans that such a transfer must work on every level; commercially, financially, in terms of results on the field and within Manchester City's broader community." Cook and a City delegation returned to Manchester without ever managing to meet 26-year-old Kaka face to face, dealing instead with Milan officials and his father Bosco Leite. Manager Mark Hughes, who completed the signing of striker Craig Bellamy from West Ham on Monday, will also be hoping to finalize a deal to acquire midfielder Nigel De Jong from Hamburg as he strengthens his squad in the January transfer window. City, who are struggling in 11th in the Premier League and out of the FA Cup, signed Kaka's Brazilian international teammate Robinho from Real Madrid shortly after their new Abu Dhabi owners took over last summer. Robinho has proved an immediate success with 12 goals, but City are aware of the need to attract more world class players to their ranks, hence the ulitmately fruitless attempt to sign Kaka. In a separate development, Robinho moved quickly to deny reports that he had stormed out of City's training camp in Tenerife because they had failed to sign his friend Kaka. "I had made Manchester City aware that I needed to return to Brazil because of a family matter," he told BBC Sport. "I will return to the club and hope to sort this out as soon as possible." He added: "I feel it is important to underline that I did not return to Brazil because of the Kaka deal. "He is one of my good friends and it would have been great to see him at Manchester City -- but it had nothing to do with his decision to stay in Milan. "I am committed to helping Manchester City become the force the owners assured me they will become."
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AC Milan's Kaka turns down big-money transfer to Manchester City . Brazilian star Kaka was reportedly set to earn $750,000 per week at City . Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi said Kaka had "higher values" than money . Robinho denies reports he left City training camp after a row over Kaka .
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(CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has suspended two air traffic controllers over last week's collision of two aircraft over the Hudson River that killed nine people, a spokeswoman said. The wreckage of a plane that collided with a helicopter is lifted this week from the Hudson River. A controller at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport handling the flight of a Piper airplane carrying three people "was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said in a statement Thursday. A source with knowledge of the investigation said the controller was on the phone with his girlfriend "after he cleared the pilot for takeoff; he was still on the phone at the time of the crash." In addition, "the supervisor was not present in the building as required," Brown said. "While we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident, this kind of conduct is unacceptable, and we have placed the employees on administrative leave and have begun disciplinary proceedings," she said. Watch amateur video of the moment of impact » . "These are serious violations of the FAA regulations," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the Transportation Department. The union for air traffic controllers urged caution. "We support that any such allegation is fully investigated before there is a rush to judgment about the behavior of any controller," said a statement from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The National Transportation Safety Board is working with the FAA in investigating Saturday's collision of the Piper, which had taken off from Teterboro, with a sightseeing helicopter that was carrying five Italian tourists and a pilot. No one aboard either aircraft survived the crash. The NTSB has said the pilot of the small plane was cleared electronically and handed off to Newark, New Jersey, air traffic controllers, a standard procedure. However, Newark's control tower never got a verbal response from the pilot of the small plane. The controller put on leave was described as a longtime employee, the source said. He and the supervisor face disciplinary action that could include their firing. Also Thursday, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said the agency may reissue advisories to pilots using the busy airspace over the Hudson. Pilots are urged to use a radio frequency dedicated to traffic in that corridor, fly no faster than 140 knots and turn on their lights as they enter that airspace. Babbitt made the comments at an event at the agency's research facility in Atlantic City, New Jersey. CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
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Spokeswoman: Controller was talking to girlfriend on phone during accident . Controller's supervisor also not present in building as required, spokeswoman says . Controller was handling plane carrying three people that collided with helicopter . Nine people died in collision of tourist helicopter and plane over Hudson River .
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Warsaw, Poland (CNN) -- With their fine shirts, their initials embroidered on them, their cufflinks and custom made jackets, the Modrzejewski twins Jan and Pawel seem the prototype of the London banker. Their hairstyle, their clothes, their gestures, everything is almost identical. Both were indeed bankers in London¹s financial district, but nowadays you are likely to find them at baby fairs in Poland, Germany, and other European countries promoting their new line of baby wear called "Mon Petit Bebe." "We always wanted to start our own business," Jan says. "The work is very different from what we used to do, but at least you [are] building something that is your own," Pawel completes the sentence as seamlessly as only identical twins can. The work certainly looks very different from banking. The twins patiently explain their new products to inquisitive mothers as babies hover around the stand at the baby fair -- sometimes falling over, sometimes crying after falling to the floor. It is loud, hectic and very hot, but Jan and Pawel know this is the best way to reach their potential customers. Their company offers something they say is new on the Polish market: Fully organic baby clothes, made from 100 per cent organic cotton and sewed by hand in small factories in Poland. "Basically, we saw that the trend towards eco-friendly garments was slowly coming to Poland," Jan says. "The market here is not as big as in the UK, but we believe it will certainly pick up," Pawel again chimes in and completes the thought. Jan and Pawel Modrzejewski's move back to Poland is more than a homecoming -- it is also a vote of confidence in the Polish economy. After years that saw the country's best and brightest leave Poland to get an education and work experience elsewhere, more and more Poles are returning as their economy has shown itself robust during the international crisis while countries like the UK have faced a much deeper recession. "We see the potential in Poland," Pawel says as he folds some baby shirts from the new collection. Experts have yet to put numbers on the new trend of returning to Poland, a process labeled "brain gain" by some, but former expats say they know of many people who are coming back to try their luck in their home country. Still, employment agencies warn that a lack of skilled labor could hamper Poland¹s further economic development. "We see a lack -- especially of project managers on construction sites," says the Manpower agency, one of the biggest in the world, "but there is also big demand for plumbers, carpenters and of course in the service sector." Poles who are returning know they are heading into an adventure. Claudia Loretti used to work in marketing in London but recently returned to Warsaw to help her parents run three clothing stores. She says in the beginning the times were hard, but now things are getting better. "The skills I learned abroad are certainly helping me here," she says as she folds some designer shorts. "Having operated in London it is possible to succeed almost everywhere in the world and I want to put the skills I have acquired to good use in my country." The sooner the better for Claudia, she says she would like to start a business of her own. With the headquarters in Poland.
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More and more Poles are returning from abroad to find greater work opportunties at home . Polish twins Jan and Pawel left the London banking industry to set up business in Poland . Today the pair have a successful organic baby clothes business, with excellent forecasts for growith .
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- The pocketbook of a New Jersey woman whose disappearance in 2010 led authorities to the discovery of 10 sets of human remains across two Long Island, New York, counties has been found, police said Wednesday. A cell phone that authorities believe may also belong to Shannan Gilbert -- whose disappearance triggered a search that has become a hunt for a possible serial killer -- was also found on Long Island's Oak Beach, alongside a pair of jeans and shoes, according to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer. "We're going to do everything we can to find her," he told reporters. "It is our belief her body or parts of her remains are in (an area of Oak Beach), and we will continue (to) search tonight and into tomorrow." After Gilbert vanished in May 2010, the search for her led police seven months later to four bodies found along a quarter-mile stretch of Oak Beach. Additional remains were uncovered in subsequent months in neighboring Gilgo Beach and along beachfront property in Nassau County, about 40 miles east of New York City. Like the four victims found last December, Gilbert had advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist. Gilbert's sisters have said the missing woman was an escort who was visiting a client. They said she ran from the man's house and called 911, saying someone was trying to hurt her. A man who lives a few miles from where the first set of remains were found last December told CNN that a young woman who "looked like she was partying all night" came to his door at about 5 a.m. on May 1, 2010. "She was screaming 'Help me, help me!' and said somebody was chasing her," said resident Gustav Coletti. Wednesday's find comes after renewed search efforts by federal and state authorities in Oak Beach -- the area where Gilbert was last believed to be, at a so-called private party. "This may be just a young lady (who) ran into the brush in hysterical state, fell down and expired for some reason," added Dormer. The police commissioner announced earlier this week that the investigation likely revolves around a possible serial killer -- a departure from his prior statements, in which Dormer said the bodies could be the work of multiple killers. It is not clear what prompted the change in focus toward one killer. "What's common here is the dumping ground," he said. Authorities have sifted through more than 1,000 tips related to the case, with police upping the ante in their search for a culprit. The reward for information leading to an arrest -- once topping out at $5,000 -- was raised five-fold, making it the largest offered in Suffolk County history.
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Search for Shannan Gilbert in 2010 led to discovery of 10 bodies on Long Island . A cell phone was also found alongside a pair of jeans and shoes, police added . "It is our belief her body or parts of her remains are in that area," police commissioner says . Authorities are searching for a possible serial killer .
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(CNN) -- Joss Whedon has picked one formidable villain for The Avengers team to battle in the sequel to last year's mega-grossing blockbuster. But sentient super-bot Ultron also presents a challenge for the film's screenwriter too: How to make a machine that can do just about anything into an interesting on-screen character. Joss Whedon on his past, present, and future (hint: 'Agents of SHIELD') Created by a scientist in the Marvel comics, Ultron is a self-aware robot who develops a lust for power. He has a laundry list of abilities — super-human strength, speed, stamina, durability, flight, mind control, a coma ray and a genius intellect. For "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Whedon reveals to Entertainment Weekly in this week's cover story that he's stripping back some of Ultron's abilities and will find a way to humanize — to some degree — the angry bot. "I knew right away what I wanted to do with him," Whedon says. "He's always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamn it, he's got a bee in his bonnet. He's not a happy guy, which means he's an interesting guy. He's got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we'll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic, and I already have someone [a new character, Scarlet Witch] who's a witch." Whedon adds that he has to be careful "to ground [the character] while still evoking that guy." And like a certain giant green Avenger hero, it sounds like large doses of rage will be key to his personality. "As a character I love [Ultron]," Whedon says, "because he's so pissed off." For more, much more, from Whedon, pick up this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, Aug. 23, which features a 10-page Q&A spread with the writer-producer-director discussing his entire career and future projects. See the original story 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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Joss Whedon reveals details about 'Avengers' sequel . 'Age of Ultron' centers around a sentient super-robot . Whedon says rage is key quality of Ultron's personality .
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(CNN) -- On Friday afternoon, restaurant owner Neil Hart was standing in the local branch of his bank, ready to withdraw his life-savings to buy a house. Then his lawyer called to tell him the deal had been postponed. He woke on Saturday morning, switched on the news and heard the government had announced plans to raid his nest-egg and take 10% to pay for the mistakes of the country's crippled banks. Hart's problem? He lives in Cyprus (population: less than one million people) where the banking system is severely overstretched and has been exposed to the debt-ridden Greek financial industry which has occupied Europe for the past few years. Why is Cyprus trying to tax bank deposits? The fate of the Cypriot economy, which accounts for only 0.2% of European Union GDP, is unlikely to reignite the financial troubles of the single currency area. But Hart, a Scottish expat who has lived in the southwest coastal city of Paphos for 13 years with his wife, says the "overnight robbery" by the recently-installed government is devastating people in his community. "If they can just get into your account in the middle of the night and take money out, in any other situation that would be theft," he says. The Cypriot government plans to tap its citizens for 5.8 billion euros [$7.5 billion] and impose a one-off 9.9% levy on deposits over €100,000. Those with smaller savings would be subject to a 6.75% levy. Watch this: Cyprus business owner lost 10% of savings . The unprecedented tax on bank deposits led to a run on cash machines over the weekend, as customers scrambled to protect their life savings. With banks ordered to stay closed until Thursday, and people struggling to get cash, Cypriot lawmakers are dithering on a deal that still needs to be ratified in parliament, while also revising the conditions in an effort to place more of the burden on the rich. But it seems the damage has already been done: a run on the banks now looking increasingly likely. Hart says he can no longer trust the Cypriot government or the country's banks after this "underhanded" and "calculated" move to eat away at the savings of ordinary people. Watch this: Russians prepare to withdraw from Cyprus . Lawmakers waited until the end of business on Friday for the long public holiday weekend in a "well-orchestrated" plan, according to Hart. He told CNN: "I can tell you 100% now, whether they take the money off me or not. When I can get into the bank on Thursday, I will take all my money out of the bank and put it offshore." In an address to the nation on Sunday night, newly-elected Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said the country must secure a 10 billion euro package or face economic collapse. Cyprus may be the fourth eurozone country to request a bailout from international creditors -- after Ireland, Portugal and Greece -- but it is the first nation where politicians have attempted to force taxpayers into handing over their personal savings to rescue the banks. Read more: Cyprus: Turning a drama into a crisis . Magda Chrysaphiades says the chaos and panic she witnessed on Saturday after the announcement reminded her of the Turkish invasion in 1974 when she first moved to Cyprus from the UK to set up a leather and suede manufacturing business with her family. Chrysaphiades returned to Cyprus in 1996 and is now retired. "It feels similar, back then we woke up one day and all hell had broken loose," she recalls. "But today we just feel absolutely helpless." She worries that banks will collapse as savers who feel betrayed seek to withdraw their deposits. "If the banks collapse, people will go hungry because Cyprus is a very small community and there's no backup... I thought these bailouts and committees were there to help people not take their money away." Chrysaphiades and Hart both fear that policymakers are setting a dangerous precedent for future crises. "If they did it with Cyprus, what's to stop them doing it in other troubled euro countries?" Hart demands.
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Cypriot government plans to tap its citizens for 5.8 billion euros [$7.5 billion] and impose a one-off levy . Cyprus is the fourth eurozone country to request a bailout, after Ireland, Portugal and Greece . The unprecedented tax on bank deposits led to a run on cash machines over the weekend .
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(CNN) -- The University of North Carolina has brought on a former U.S. attorney to conduct an independent investigation of academic irregularities at the Chapel Hill campus. Kenneth L. Wainstein, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Justice Department, will have access to "new information that may become available," UNC system President Tom Ross and UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt said in a joint announcement Friday. The appointment of Wainstein by the university system comes amid increased national scrutiny on the matter. The institution has been under the microscope for two years, ever since the revelation that students -- mostly athletes -- were taking classes where little or no work was required. Renewed scrutiny came this year when CNN published findings from whistle-blower Mary Willingham that showed 8% of a sample of UNC students playing the money-making college sports of football and basketball were reading below a third-grade level. The announcement Friday said Wainstein will have access to information from local District Attorney Jim Woodall. The prosecutor has been investigating UNC's Department of African and Afro-American Studies -- the department where fake classes were uncovered. Late last year, the former head of that department was indicted on fraud charges related to those classes. "Woodall has indicated that he will cooperate with the inquiry and that he can now share with the independent counsel as much information acquired by his office during the criminal investigation as determined to be appropriate," the joint statement said. The prestigious public university has repeatedly attacked the credibility of Willingham, but has also acknowledged shortcomings in its academics. "I think that it is amazing," Willingham said when asked about the new outside investigation. "... The truth has been available all this time. Truth is cheap, compared to whitewash and lies." The UNC statement said Wainstein's finding will be made public. "Based on information that the district attorney is able to offer, Wainstein will take any further steps necessary to address any questions left unanswered during previous reviews commissioned by the university," the UNC press release said. "While there is no set timetable for completing the inquiry, the university will cooperate fully with Wainstein and ensure he has the full access he needs to complete his work. ...." UNC has done several other internal investigations since The News & Observer newspaper first broke the story about the fake classes. Each time, the findings have raised more questions. Among them, the question of who came up with the idea for the fake classes, and how so many athletes were directed toward them. Initially, the university denied that athletics was tied to the scandal, and the NCAA declined to take any action against the university, saying it was an academic scandal, not an athletic one. Officials now appear to be backing away from that claim and leaving open the possibility that there was a stronger athletic tie. "We have directed Mr. Wainstein to ask the tough questions," Folt said. "Follow the facts wherever they lead, and get the job done."
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University hires independent counsel to look into irregularities . Wainstein worked for Justice Department for two decades . CNN highlighted ongoing problems with student-athlete literacy .
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(CNN) -- You're delayed at the airport. It's going to be hours before the airline can get you on another flight. You log onto your computer and answer your e-mails. You surf the Web for a while. You're still waiting. This is taking way too long. JetBlueCheeps on Twitter alerts followers of last-minute deals on JetBlue. Might as well tweet about it. And if you do, the chances are ever increasing that someone at the airline will see what you have written. They may even respond to it. Airlines are ramping up their use of social networking sites. Several have one employee in the communications department whose primary job is to monitor what is being said about them and to create a presence in the world of Twitter and Facebook. Other staff members also watch the sites in search of opportunities to improve relationships with customers. "Promotions clearly work well, but there is also an opportunity for airlines to improve customer service and brand perception," Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of social media guide Mashable.com and a commentator on social networking sites, wrote in an e-mail interview. "If you're stuck at an airport, and it's the airline's fault, you're going to tweet about it. If the airline responds to those tweets in a positive fashion, it at least shows they care, even if they can't immediately remedy the issue." JetBlue has embraced Twitter as both a medium to update the public on its latest news and a sounding board for how the airline is doing. The airline has more than 1 million followers on Twitter and it also follows about 120,000 of those tweeters. "The tricky thing with following people is that you don't want to creep anyone out," said Alex Headrick, senior analyst of corporate communications at JetBlue. "You don't want to look like you are stalking them just because they are talking about us." The trick is to watch them and see if the tweeter is trying to actively engage the airline in conversation, he said. Often when that happens, someone from the company will send a private message to that person. The main goal for JetBlue is to "humanize the brand," Headrick said. Like other airlines, JetBlue approached social networking sites by slowly scaling up its presence. American Airlines also took its time. Billy Sanez, director of customer communications, said the airline has been watching the growth of social media for several years. The interactive team brought up the idea of using Facebook about a year ago, Sanez said, and the airline added its fan page about four months ago. It has been increasing its use of the site by adding modules, including a yet-to-be-named feature that helps users find fares. "We still have a lot to learn from customers and from how customers interact in these mediums," he said. "But it has worked because we have been able to do targeted promotions to consumers, and because we have been able to get feedback from consumers, and in a very easy way." Not to mention an inexpensive way. Mashable's Ostrow said social media is still a small part of most marketing budgets (not only for airlines but for many companies) but it is attractive because the costs are minimal. "It also can be essentially cost-free to get started, since all one needs to do is open a Facebook, Twitter or YouTube account and get creative," Ostrow said. "In a down economy, the low cost of entry certainly makes social media even more attractive than it might have already been otherwise." As for the unfavorable comments people post, American Airlines' Sanez says it can be a chance to turn a negative experience into something positive. He thinks it can be good for customers to use the forum to get something off their chest. The airline looks for opportunities to interact with users. If people want to express something, let them express it, he said. If they are frustrated, they should be able to complain. "If they want a resolution, we want to engage them and come up with options and get them to the right people with the right information," he said. Twitter followers and Facebook fans can also get the scoop on fare sales. JetBlue has a Twitter feed called JetBlueCheeps, where travelers can get some last-minute deals. For instance, on Monday, September 7, the airline posted on its Twitter feed that there were 25 seats available on a flight from New York's LaGuardia to Orlando, Florida, for $39. Tickets for the Saturday flight had to be purchased by 6 p.m. Monday evening. Headrick said that JetBlue times Twitter updates to coincide with releases to the media. While airlines appear to be happy so far with the results they are getting from their social media ventures, some are still not ready to expand dramatically just yet. Headrick said JetBlue was studying how to use Facebook. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has established its social media presence with more than 600,000 followers on Twitter and more than 76,000 fans on Facebook. Other major carriers also have thousands of followers on Twitter. Delta Air Lines, for instance, has about 11,000 followers, while United Airlines has more than 33,000 watchers. Continental is also looking at Facebook and other sites where a presence makes sense, according to airline spokeswoman Mary Clark. Continental is focusing on Twitter, where it has about 3,000 followers, and FlyerTalk.com, a Web site devoted to frequent flyers, she said.
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Some airlines have at least one worker dedicated to watching Twitter and Facebook . Users following airlines on social media often get the scoop on fare sales . American Airlines spokesman: Posting negative feedback may help resolve issues .
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(CNN) -- When a new president strolls into the White House, there's a kick in his step and a twinkle in his eyes. This photo illustration projects what President-elect Barack Obama may look like in four years. But as the years go by, the high-stakes decisions, constant criticisms and the fluctuating public opinion chip away at the president. His shoulders slump a little and his energy may seem sapped. The president ages twice as fast while in office, according to a theory advanced by Dr. Michael Roizen, a chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic. "The typical person who lives one year ages one year," he said. "The typical president ages two years for every year they are in office." Using public information, Roizen looked through medical records of previous presidents back to Theodore Roosevelt. Assessing factors such as diet, blood pressure, physical activity and lifestyle habits, he calculated that the leader of the free world ages more quickly. Roizen, who is the author of "RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be?" has not assessed the "real age" of President-elect Barack Obama, who is 47, because of lack of medical data. "Barack Obama is a fairly young guy and doesn't have great of a risk," Roizen said. "If he's president for eight years, he ends up having the risk of disability or dying, like someone who is 16 years older." Former president Bill Clinton entered the office with a robust head of salt-and-pepper hair and a healthy habit of running. After bitter partisan battles, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and impeachment by the House, Clinton left office with wrinkles and powder-white hair. "Chronic stress can produce lots of wear and tear on the body," said James A. McCubbin, a Clemson University professor of psychology and senior associate dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science. "This is what we see in the changes in the appearance in the beginning and end of the presidency." Roizen points to the experience of Ronald Reagan. "When Reagan came into office, he stood up absolutely straight. He was joking and incredibly quick-witted about current events. When he left office, he was hunched over. The age signs on face was there. His jokes were those of olden days rather than current events," he said. See the toll of the presidency » . On Wednesday, Obama, President George W. Bush, and all three living former presidents -- Jimmy Carter, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Clinton -- are meeting in the Oval Office and then having lunch together at the White House. After eight draining years in the Oval Office, an outgoing president like George W. Bush can reverse the tolls of stress by exercising and spending time with friends, Roizen says. "Do as many healthy things as you can adopt," Roizen suggested. "The main thing he should do is finding what he wants to do with the rest of his life, which is tough for presidents to find something meaningful to do." During his second term, Bush dealt with a troubled war, a struggling economy, and sagging approval ratings. But the avid runner, mountain biker and fisherman showed that his reflexes haven't slowed. "I mean, did you see him dodge that shoe?" said David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine, referring to a December news conference in Iraq where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the president and Bush swiftly ducked the flying footwear. Twice. The incoming president is also no slacker. Although accused by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of having skinny legs, Obama regularly frequents the gym and plays basketball. The president-elect was on the cover of Men's Health in November. "This is not a broccoli-shunning, pork rind-eating, McDonald's-popping guy. I mean, this is someone who eats arugula and guacamole and Hawaiian pizza," Zinczenko told CNN. Watch a report on presidential aging » . "If the worst that happens is that your hair goes a little gray, so be it." Many recent presidents have turned to sports to decompress. Presidents have enjoyed mountain biking (George W. Bush), golf (Clinton, Gerald Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower), tennis (Ford, Carter, George H.W. Bush), jogging (Clinton, Carter and both Bushes), swimming (Ford), bowling (Richard Nixon), horseshoes (George H.W. Bush) and horseback riding (Reagan). Check out projected aging of other political leaders . "The daily routine of a president is really grueling," Ron Nessen, Ford's press secretary, told CNN. "It's hard to get thinking time. Ford talked about how when he was swimming laps, it gave him time to think about things." During the Democratic primaries, Obama worked out at the gym in the Cleveland Clinic the morning of his debate with then-rival Hilary Clinton. Living up to his nickname "No Drama Obama," the candidate was remarkably calm, considering a high-stakes debate was to take place that night, Roizen recalled. "Maybe he will age better, because he handles stress better," he said. "The fact that he smokes means he still has inner stress." Retaining a close group of friends and confidants is an important way to reduce the isolation of the presidency, Roizen said. CNN's Alina Cho and David S. Martin contributed to this report.
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Presidents age twice as fast, says a theory by expert on aging at Cleveland Clinic . Analysis determined by looking at medical records of previous presidents . Tolls of stress can be reversed with healthy habits, says Dr. Michael Roizen . Roizen: Obama has good fitness habits of exercising, but smoking doesn't help .
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Washington (CNN) -- Broadcast television networks won an important constitutional fight Thursday when the Supreme Court said government regulators imposed unfair punishment for isolated profanity and sexual content during evening "prime time" hours. In an 8-0 vote, justices concluded the Federal Communications Commission cannot enforce its current policies against "fleeting" expletives and nudity on over-the-air programs, both live and scripted. The agency had levied hefty fines on all four major broadcasters beginning nearly a decade ago. The court's ruling was narrow, as the justices declined to address whether the regulations violate free-speech protections guaranteed under the First Amendment. But it does establish important guidelines the government must follow when monitoring explicit content on the airwaves. "The commission failed to give Fox or ABC fair notice prior to the broadcasts in question that fleeting expletives and momentary nudity could be found actionably indecent," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. The Justice Department had filed an appeal, and helpfully provided the justices with a DVD of a 2003 episode of the now-canceled "NYPD Blue" on ABC in which a naked woman was shown. The content of that program is central to the current legal dispute. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all parties in the case. A federal appeals court last year for a second time struck down the government policies, concluding they were vague and inconsistently applied. Pending sanctions against the broadcasters were dismissed. Controversial words and images have been aired at times in scripted and unscripted shows on all the major over-the-air networks in the past eight years, dating back to when the FCC began considering a stronger, no-tolerance policy. The policy became known as the Golden Globes Rule, for singer Bono's 2003 acceptance speech at the live awards show on NBC, where he uttered the phrase "really, really, f---ing brilliant." The commission specifically cited celebrities Cher and Nicole Richie for potty-mouth language in the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards, which aired live on Fox. Richie, in an apparent scripted moment said, "Have you ever tried to get cow s--t out of a Prada purse? It's not so f---ing simple." Opinion: FCC should clear Limbaugh from airwaves . While concluding the broadcasters' due process rights were violated when they were not given fair notice, the court did not foreclose future enforcement. "This opinion leaves the commission free to modify its current policy," Kennedy wrote, "in light of its determination of the public interest and applicable legal requirements. And it leaves the courts free to review the current policy or any modified policy in light of its content and application." Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not participate in the decision, since she had heard the case when serving on a federal appeals court in New York, before joining her current job. A separate appeal involving singer Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and brief partial nudity on national television is pending at the high court. The justices are likely to throw the case back to the lower courts, in light of Thursday's ruling. The FCC said it would begin to immediately implement the policy. "As a matter of good governance, it is now time for the FCC to get back to work so that we can process the backlog of pending indecency complaints -- which currently stands at just under 1.5 million involving about 9,700 TV broadcasts," said Commissioner Robert McDowell, "Some of these complaints date back to 2003. We owe it to the American public and the broadcast licensees involved to carry out our statutory duties with all deliberate speed." There was no immediate reaction from the broadcasters in the Fox and ABC cases. But a group opposing stricter government control over TV applauded the high court's ruling. "Today's decision by the Supreme Court re-emphasizes what we have been advocating all along: That parents, not the government, are the best arbiters of what their children should be watching on TV," said TV Watch's executive director, Jim Dyke. "In the one-third of American homes with children, parents have tools such as the V-chip and content ratings to help them make decisions about what their children watch based on the age of the child and their family's tastes and values." Middle finger 'malfunction' mars Super Bowl halftime show . The high court two years ago ruled in favor of the FCC on the issue of "fleeting expletives," concluding federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on broadcast TV networks airing isolated cases of profanity. The court, however, refused both at that time and now to decide whether the commission's policy violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, ruling only on the agency's enforcement power. The Justice Department, in this appeal, lumped both the expletives and nudity cases together, saying the court should decide the free speech questions as one. Explicit language is heard with greater, albeit varying, frequency on cable television, the Internet, and satellite radio, which do not use public airwaves. But the federal government is charged with responding to viewer complaints of "indecent" language and images on broadcast television and radio, which is subject to greater regulation. That is especially relevant during daytime and early evening hours, when larger numbers of families and younger viewers may be watching. The commission formally reversed its policy in March 2004 to declare even a single use of an expletive could be illegal. In addition, a voluntary rating system is used by all television networks to warn viewers when material that might be offensive will be aired. Much of the enforcement debate centered around the ABC television stations fined $27,500 each for airing the "NYPD Blue" episode featuring a woman with her breasts and buttocks exposed. Another source of contention is whether broadcast radio and the TV networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the CW -- should receive treatment differing from their satellite and cable cousins regarding content. Most broadcast stations are part of the basic cable packages people buy, and just 10% of the population receives its TV signals only through the airwaves. But the government countered that 69 million television sets are not connected to cable or satellite, and that broadcasting is the medium of choice for children. The Supreme Court first ventured into the broadcast speech debate in 1978, when it ruled as indecent a monologue by comedian George Carlin on society's taboo surrounding "seven dirty words." The bit had received some radio airplay. The justices said "context" should be applied when deciding whether words or images are "indecent." The major broadcast television networks say their scripted shows no longer air nudity, racy images or expletives, even after 10 p.m., when some potentially vulgar words are permitted. Time Warner -- the parent company of CNN -- filed a supporting amicus brief in the high court dispute two years ago. The company is part owner of the CW broadcast network and operates several cable networks. The case is FCC v. Fox Television Stations (10-1293).
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The Supreme Court blocks FCC policies against "fleeting" expletives and nudity . The commission failed to give networks fair notice of punishment, the ruling says . A federal appeals court had concluded the policies were vague and inconsistently applied .
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London (CNN) -- British ministers had a special guest in their midst during their Cabinet meeting Tuesday: Queen Elizabeth II. It was a historic occasion because it is thought to mark the first time a monarch has attended such a session since Queen Victoria more than a century ago. Read more: Diamond jubilee complete coverage . The monarch, wearing blue, was greeted at the door of 10 Downing Street by Prime Minister David Cameron. The queen has not attended a Cabinet meeting before now because her involvement in Britain's political life is generally formal or ceremonial. Her role is clear: "As Head of State The Queen has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters, unable to vote or stand for election," according to the British Monarchy's website. Her presence as an observer Tuesday coincides with the end of the yearlong celebration marking her 60 years on the throne. During that time, the United Kingdom has had 12 prime ministers. The session lasted 90 minutes, during which ministers presented her with a gift they personally paid for to mark her diamond jubilee. The queen also visited the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Tuesday, where she was paid a rather unusual tribute: the naming after her of 169,000 square miles of the Antarctic. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the southern part of the British Antarctic Territory had been designated "Queen Elizabeth Land" in honor of her 60-year reign. The previously unnamed territory is nearly twice the size of the United Kingdom and about a third of the whole land mass of the British Antarctic Territory, Hague said. The queen's visit to the Foreign Office, only her second in the past six decades, is the final official engagement of her busy jubilee year.
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NEW: A large part of the British Antarctic Territory is named for Queen Elizabeth II . She attends her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street . As head of state, the queen has to remain strictly neutral . The visit is part of her diamond jubilee celebrations .
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(CNN) -- The Ivory Coast have reportedly sacked coach Vahid Halilhodzic despite the Bosnian having guided the African team to this year's World Cup finals. Russia coach Guus Hiddink is among the favorites to take over for football's showpiece tournament starting in June, according to a report from the British Press Association which was carried on the Web site of world ruling body FIFA on Saturday. It said the 57-year-old Halihodzic, who took charge in 2008, had been axed after the Ivorians failed to live up to their favorite status at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola last month and lost in the quarterfinals to Algeria. "This Saturday I brought Vahid Halilhodzic's contract to an end because one of the aims that was set for him was not reached and that was to win the 2010 African Nations Cup," Cote d'Ivoire football federation president Jacques Anouma reportedly said on national television. Hiddink's contract with Russia expires on June 30, two weeks after the finals start, and he has a free period before taking over the reigns with Turkey in August. The Dutchman was also linked with the vacant Nigeria coaching role, which subsequently went to former Sweden manager Lars Lagerback, who signed a five-month contract on Friday. Hiddink recently revealed to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba, who played for him in a brief spell while coaching English club Chelsea, had sounded him out about taking the job. "The interest from Ivory Coast is real, but first I have to analyze the situation," Hiddink said. "I need to solve some matters before making my decision. "Drogba asked me in the name of the players to accept the invitation. The Ivorian federation is also very interested."
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Ivory Coast have reportedly sacked coach Vahid Halilhodzic ahead of World Cup finals . Bosnian pays price for Elephants' shock quarterfinal exit at Africa Cup of Nations . Russia coach Guus Hiddink linked with role before taking up job with Turkey in August .
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(CNN) -- The World Health Organization cautioned that the swine flu outbreak could gain momentum in the months ahead, despite claims by the health secretary of Mexico -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- that the virus "is in its declining phase." The number of confimed cases of the H1N1 virus continue to multiply. The outbreak is only about 10 days old, and even if the illness is declining, it could return, said Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman for epidemic and pandemic diseases, at a briefing Sunday. "I ... would like to remind people that in 1918 the Spanish flu showed a surge in the spring, and then disappeared in the summer months, only to return in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance," Hartl said. "And we know that that eventually killed 40 million to 50 million people." Mexican authorities believe the virus's most active period in Mexico was between April 23 and April 28, and Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova described the outbreak as being in decline in his country. As of late Sunday, Mexican health officials reported 568 cases and 22 fatalities linked to the flu. WHO says it has confirmed 506 cases and 19 deaths in Mexico. The world has 898 confirmed cases of the virus, known to scientists H1N1 virus, in a total of 18 countries, WHO said Sunday. The United States has reported 226 confirmed cases in 30 states. The U.S. cases include one death -- a Mexican toddler visiting relatives in the United States. According to WHO, Canada has 70 confirmed cases; the United Kingdom has 15; Spain has 13; Germany has 6; New Zealand has 4; Israel has 3; France has 2; and Austria, China, South Korea, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Ireland each have one. In China, officials have quarantined 68 people, including 13 crew members, who were passengers of a Mexico City to Shanghai flight, which carried a passenger who tested positive for the virus, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. None of the other passengers has exhibited any flu-like symptoms, one health official said. About another 110 people who were on the Aeromexico plane went on to other destinations, and may face quarantines elsewhere, the news agency said. Fifteen have been quarantined at a Beijing hotel. Shanghai's airport is now barring other Aeromexico planes from landing there, a representative of the airline told CNN. Aeromexico is suspending flights to Shanghai until May 15, the representative said. The airline does not fly to Hong Kong or Beijing. In the United States, New York has the most confirmed cases, with 63, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Texas has 40; California has 26; Arizona 18; South Carolina 15; Delaware 10; Massachusetts and New Jersey each have seven; Colorado has four; Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin each have three; Connecticut, Kansas and Michigan each have two; Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Utah each have one. California officials suspended visitation and other "nonessential activities" at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County after an inmate was suspected of having swine flu. The case has yet to be confirmed with lab testing. On Sunday, health officials in North Carolina and Pennsylvania announced the first confirmed cases in those states, and Louisiana's governor said his state had seven confirmed cases. The cases from those three states were not immediately included in the CDC tally. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius, appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," warned that even if the flu outbreak wanes, "it could come back with greater force in the winter and fall, when we get into flu season." "So, this is no time for complacency," she said. "We want to stay out ahead of this." Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for public health, told reporters Sunday that she was "heartened" by Mexican authorities' reports but still is "very cautious." "I know that influenza can be surprising, and the time course here in the United States is later. We believe we're just on the upswing here, and in several parts of Mexico, cases began quite a while ago," Schuchat said. "From what I know about influenza, I do expect more cases, more severe cases and I do expect more deaths," she added. "And I'm particularly concerned about what will happen in the fall." Acting CDC Director Richard Besser, also speaking on "State of the Union," said U.S. health officials are examining whether people who received flu shots for the swine flu in 1976 may have some level of protection from the current swine flu. "That's going to play in very, very big as we move forward with our plans around vaccines, because that may help guide some of the issues around who is most at risk at getting this in the future," Besser said. Offering a general picture of the state of U.S. efforts to combat the virus, Besser said "there are encouraging signs." "We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "But what we've learned about the virus itself -- it doesn't contain the factors that we know are seen in much more severe flu strains." While the new virus strain in the recent outbreak has affected humans, Canadian officials said it has shown up at a pig farm in Alberta, Canada. Officials said the pigs may have been infected by a Canadian farmer who recently returned from a trip to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. The pigs have since been quarantined. "We have determined that the virus H1N1, found in these pigs, is the virus which is being tracked in the human population," said Dr. Brian Evans of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. iReport.com: How should H1N1 be handled? Evans and other officials said it is not uncommon for flu viruses to jump from humans to animals, and that it does not pose a risk for consuming pork. The number of pigs infected was not disclosed. The infected farmer had flu-like symptoms, but he is recovering, Evans said. Learn about the virus » .
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WHO has confirmed 898 cases of H1N1 virus worldwide . Mexico says illness declining there; WHO warns it could return . Mexico has largest number of confirmed cases, followed by U.S., WHO says . Canadian officials claim pigs at farm have been affected by virus .
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(CNN) -- Athletes competing at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games will face more scrutiny about banned substances after organizers said they will be carrying out more doping tests than in any previous Olympics. The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) said Wednesday they plan to carry out about 5,000 blood and urine tests at the Games and about 1,200 tests at the Paralympics, which are held about two and a half weeks later. Organizers at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 carried out 3,667 blood and urine tests, according to Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee. "We need to have a strong message that drug cheats are not welcome at the London Games," said Debbie Jevans, LOCOG's director of sport. LOCOG will be primarily responsible for the collection of samples and providing a laboratory to analyze them, a London spokeswoman said. The lab will be accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which also runs an independent observer program at the Games. UK Anti-Doping, a non-departmental public body responsible for implementing national anti-doping policy, will be helping LOCOG with the testing. "We are partnering with LOCOG to develop a comprehensive program of testing, athlete education, and training for anti-doping volunteers in the lead-up to, and during, the London 2012 Games," said Andy Parkinson, chief executive of UK Anti-Doping.
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London 2012 Olympic athletes to face record number of drug tests. Organizers plan to carry out 5,000 blood and urine tests. That compares with 3,667 tests at the Beijing Games in 2008.
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Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- All around the world this weekend, Christians are celebrating Easter. For them, this holiest of days announces that death does not have the final word and that eternal life awaits those who would just believe. Sunday also marks the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. Forty-two years ago, an assassin's bullet took his life as he struggled to secure the promises of American democracy for the children of slaves. His sacrifice, along with countless others, helped usher in a new chapter in American life -- one that prepared the way for the election of our nation's first African-American president. Every now and again, the convergence of significant historical moments occasions a time for serious reflection. How might we think about the significance of the resurrection of Jesus and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the lives we currently live as Americans? What lessons does Easter hold for us? And what does remembering King's death teach us? On April 27, 1957, Dr. King delivered an Easter sermon titled, "Questions that Easter Answers." For him, Easter settled the mystery of death and secured for us the importance of living a life in light of those forces that go beyond our physical experience. We are not simply biological processes. Instead, King argued, Easter cries out to us about the importance of the unseen and of the personality, those "spiritual forces that are eternal and not merely these material things that we look about and see." We matter. Our hopes and aspirations, our joys and triumphs matter. Not because of something we have actually done, but rather, because of an inheritance borne on a cross on Calvary. King understood Easter's answer to the significance of human action in the world. "There is a faith, there is love, there is hope, there is something beyond the external that will stand through the ages." This view holds off the notion that life has no meaning or is doomed to end in shipwreck. The fact that so many have lost their jobs, their homes, their dreams in these difficult times confirms for us that life carries with it a 'Good Friday' experience -- that darkness and disappointment can be constant companions. "But thank God the crucifixion was not the last act in that great and powerful drama," King preached. "There is another act. And it is something that we sing out and cry and ring out today. Thank God a day came when Good Friday had to pass." For King, Easter teaches us that death does not have the last word; that invisible forces are more real than the shadows that we currently inhabit; and that the darkness of Good Friday may be necessary but will eventually pass away. Easter ultimately demonstrates that "love is the most powerful force in the universe," said King. And this insight reaches beyond Christians to all of us, no matter what we believe. Here, love isn't some sentimental notion; instead, it involves risks, daring and growth -- a surrender to that feature of human personality that can cause us to sacrifice our lives in defense of it. Love conquers cowardice. It shatters hubris and crushes the illusions of death. It fortifies the soul amid the darkness of the hour; it calls us to bear witness and to suffer, if necessary, the consequences. The mindless chatter of today distracts us from the power of love. Instead, we are mired in the sundry politics of Washington, or we are content to spew venom at our opponents. Mean-spiritedness carries the day. But Easter, if I understand King correctly, teaches us to love and to witness the miracle of the resurrection before the powers that be, no matter the consequences. "It says to us," King preached, "that love is the most durable power in the world" and is stronger "than all of the military giants, all of the nations that base their way on military power." Such a conviction led him on April 4, 1967, a year before he was killed, to condemn the Vietnam War and to say that America was "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world." The fact that Easter falls this year on the anniversary of Dr. King's death highlights the true lesson of this holiest of days. We are not to sit idly by because Easter proclaims the victory. Too many Christians take comfort in the wrong-headed idea that all is settled because Jesus rose from the dead. Martin Luther King, Jr's death suggests otherwise. His was a life given in love and in devotion to justice. Are we, Christian or not, as committed? To stopping war? To ending poverty? To fighting for the most vulnerable among us? Or, are we content to rest in the illusion that salvation is guaranteed? Our lives, if we are to be saved, must stand as a testament to that legacy which, beyond our doing, is inescapable. Cowardice and complicity must die in us. And we must rise again to "love" a new world into existence. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Eddie S. Glaude.
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The anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death coincides this year with Easter . Eddie Glaude says the martyred preacher spoke about the message of Easter . King said Easter shows that death does not have the last word, according to Glaude . King challenged people to fight for social justice, and said love is the "most durable power in the world"
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(CNN) -- Thousands of people are expected to march in Northern Ireland on Sunday to commemorate the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre of local people by British troops. Organizers expect it to be the last march of its kind, since the British government finally admitted last year that its troops, not the demonstrators, were to blame. "The great lie has been laid bare. The truth has been brought home at last," the republican political party Sinn Fein said in a statement Sunday. Sinn Fein seeks for Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland, rather than the United Kingdom. In June, the British government released a damning report that reversed decades of official explanations for the 1972 killings. The paratroopers who killed 14 people had no reason to believe they were under threat from the victims, gave no warnings before firing and lied to the far-reaching official inquiry into the seminal event, the inquiry concluded. Its report was a comprehensive rejection of the British government's official account of the killings, which had stood for 38 years. "Some members of our armed forces acted wrongly ... and for that, on behalf of the government -- indeed, on behalf of our country -- I am deeply sorry," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the release of the long-awaited report. Bloody Sunday took place in the single bloodiest year of a conflict that claimed about 3,000 lives over a three-decade period known locally as The Troubles. The killings strengthened the Provisional Irish Republican Army, increased Irish Catholic hostility towards the British army and "exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed," its report found. Sinn Fein is closely associated with the PIRA, which laid down its arms as part of a 1998 peace agreement. British troops fired more than 100 rounds on Bloody Sunday, in violation of orders issued to every soldier serving in Northern Ireland at the time, the report found. There was some provocation by the IRA in Londonderry that day, but nothing that justified the shootings of civilians, the report found. Only one victim was associated with the IRA, and he was probably not posing a threat when he was fatally shot, the report found. Bloody Sunday has been considered by many as one of the greatest injustices of Northern Ireland's troubled history. Even the name of the city where it happened is disputed, with pro-Irish nationalists calling it Derry and pro-British unionists calling it Londonderry. Addressing the question of how high responsibility for the massacre should go, the report overwhelmingly placed it with the soldiers who were on the ground, along with their commander, Lt. Col. Derek Wilford, who decided to launch the incursion. The report said there is no evidence that either the British or Northern Irish governments "intended, planned, or foresaw" the events of that day, or that either government tolerated or encouraged the use of "unjustified" lethal force. CNN's Richard Allen Greene, Phil Black and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.
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Sunday marks the 39th anniversary of the massacre in Northern Ireland . A report last year found British troops were to blame for the killing of 14 people . That reversed decades of official explanations . Sinn Fein: "The truth has been brought home at last"
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sophisticated submarine-like boats are the latest tool drug runners are using to bring cocaine north from Colombia, U.S. officials say. Semi-submersible boats used to smuggle drugs are gaining in quality, the Coast Guard says. Although the vessels were once viewed as a quirky sideshow in the drug war, they are becoming faster, more seaworthy, and capable of carrying bigger loads of drugs than earlier models, according to those charged with catching them. "They tend to be one of a kind," U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said. "They cost up to a million dollars to produce. Sometimes they are put together in pieces and then reassembled in other locations. They're very difficult to locate." The boats are built in the Colombian jungle. They sail largely beneath the surface of the water but cannot submerge completely like a true submarine. But they are the latest escalation of a tactical race between smugglers and the U.S. Coast Guard. In the past three months the Coast Guard has learned of more semi-submersible vessels smuggling drugs than it did in the previous six years, when there were 23 cases, officials said. Watch the Coast Guard chase down a semi-sub » . U.S. Coast Guard intelligence officers predict 85 cases this year and 120 next year. In some instances, the semi-subs are towed behind other vessels and are scuttled if they are detected, Allen said. Authorities are investigating reports that some semi-subs are unmanned and are operated remotely, he said. Diplomatic agreements give the U.S. Coast Guard drug-interdiction jurisdiction in partner countries' waters. Encounters have become so frequent -- and the dangers of boarding the vessels so pronounced -- that the Coast Guard is pushing for legislation that would make the use of "unflagged" semi-submersibles in international waters a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, even if authorities can't recover drug evidence because the smugglers scuttle the transports. "There's really no legitimate use for a vessel like this," Allen said. An unflagged vessel is one not registered with a government. Allen believes the semi-subs are a response to the Coast Guard's tactic of using snipers in helicopters to shoot out engines on smugglers' speedboats. The submersibles' engines are beneath water level. "We're seeing an evolution in the construction," he said. "Early on we saw fiberglass and now we're seeing steel." Early semi-subs were capable of carrying 4 or 5 metric tons of cargo; newer ones can carry 12 metric tons, Allen said. Their speed has increased to 12 knots, which is "a pretty good speed on the ocean." Despite the increase in the use of the semi-subs, Drug Enforcement Administration officials say most drugs still are transported by traditional methods -- fishing boats, speedboats and airplanes. But Frankie Shroyer, deputy chief of the DEA's Office of Enforcement Operations, called the use of semi-subs "an emerging threat and we are attacking it through our investigations and working with the interagency community." The DEA's main focus, however, "is to dismantle entire organizations," he said. "So we are looking at the organizations that are building these things. ... These are the same organizations that are using containers, the same organizations that are using airplanes, same organizations using go-fast boats." Allen said the Coast Guard, the Department of Defense and others are working on how to board the vessels. "In many cases, they don't stop. And it's difficult to slow them down," he said. The Coast Guard says drug runners also are resorting to putting refueling vessels far offshore so drug-carrying boats can avoid coastal areas, and even liquefying cocaine and concealing it in fuel. The semi-subs are "another adaptation ... that we're going to have to adapt to ourselves," Allen said. Last year, the Coast Guard seized a record 355,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $4.7 billion -- a 2 percent increase over 2006. The Coast Guard's largest cocaine bust ever came in 2007 -- 42,845 pounds stacked in large bundles on the deck of a freighter off the coast of Panama. E-mail to a friend .
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Small boats can travel almost completely submerged, Coast Guard says . Semi-subs carry narcotics from Colombia to U.S. Million-dollar vessels built in jungle, sometimes assembled elsewhere . They've been around awhile, but now more sophisticated, carry more cargo .
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(CNN) -- The number of deaths linked to cantaloupes contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria has risen to 28, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. A total of 133 people in 26 states have been infected, according to the CDC. Additionally, a woman who was pregnant at the time of her illness had a miscarriage. Although health officials have said it is too early to declare the outbreak over, the number of new cases is falling. "The peak in illnesses appears to have occurred from late August until the middle of September," Dr. Barbara Mahon of the CDC said last week, adding that additional monitoring will be needed for at least another two weeks. The grower, Jensen Farms of Granada, Colorado, issued a voluntary recall of its Rocky Ford brand cantaloupes on September 14. The tainted cantaloupes should be off store shelves, the CDC has said. Unsanitary conditions at the Colorado cantaloupe farm's packing facility are a possible contributing cause of one of the nation's worst outbreaks of listeria contamination in food, health officials have said. The listeria outbreak is the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in the United States since 1998. Groups at high risk for listeria include older adults, people with weakened immune systems and pregnant women. Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms should be disposed of immediately, even if some of them have been partially eaten, the agency recommended. If consumers are uncertain about the source of a cantaloupe, they are urged to ask their supermarket. If the source remains unknown, the fruit should be thrown out. Refrigerating a cantaloupe will not kill the bacteria, which can grow at low temperatures, and consumers should not try to wash off the bacteria.
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At least 133 cases have been reported in 26 states . The outbreak is not over, but new cases are on the decline . The tainted cantaloupes were recalled last month . The outbreak is the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in the United States since 1998 .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two documentaries at this year's Cannes Film Festival dealt with sporting legends. From left to right: Former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, director Emir Kusturica and ex-footballer Diego Maradona at this year's Cannes. In both cases, however, their immense achievements are coupled by an equally impressive appetite for self-destruction. The footballer Diego Maradona provides the subject for an intimate portrait by one of Europe's most respected directors and two-time winner of the Palme d'Or, Emir Kusturica. In "Tyson", director James Toback uses hours of footage mixing fight sequences with interviews and photographs to tell the story of Mike Tyson's climb from his impoverished New York childhood to fame, and then ignominy. Both have been eagerly anticipated and it's easy to see why. When it comes to committing sporting legends to the silver screen, one equation seems to hold true -- the more controversial the better. Consequently, documentaries celebrating sporting greats like Michael Jordan or Pele tend to be unremarkable -- dealing as they are with men whose incredible talent was matched by a relaxed temperament and a shrewdness that kept them out of trouble. By contrast, two of the most critically-acclaimed sports documentaries of the last 20 years featured flawed sporting legends: the self-styled "greatest" Muhammad Ali and the brooding French footballer Zinedine Zidane. Equally, the lives of Maradona and Tyson lend themselves perfectly to the drama of cinema. Like characters in a Shakespearean tragedy, both reached the absolute pinnacle of sporting achievement only to be laid low by a mixture of hubris, greed and their own personal demons. That Tyson and Maradona both seem to have been returned from the brink, rehabilitated and with (at least in Tyson's case) a degree of humility, gives their stories a redemptive quality worthy of a Christian parable. "I've lived a wild and strange life," Tyson told a news conference at Cannes ahead of this week's screening. "I've used drugs, I've had physical altercations with dangerous people, people were angry. I've slept with guys' wives, they wanted to kill me. I'm just happy to be here. It's just a miracle." Read a timeline of Mike Tyson's life . Kusturica's film about Maradona details the Argentine footballer's well-documented problems with cocaine that saw him sent home in disgrace from the 1994 World Cup finals after he failed a drug's test. The Bosnian-Serb director, however, is more interested in the footballer's cultural and political significance than his off-field antics. A committed socialist and fierce critic of U.S. involvement in South America, Maradona counts among his friends the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. An avowed fan of the diminutive footballing genius, Kusturica told the British paper The Guardian that his film reveals "the politically incorrect citizen against the unilateral politics of the U.S." In the director's eyes Maradona embodies Latin America's underdog status against the power of the West in general, and the U.S. in particular. For example -- and England football fans of a delicate nature might want to avert eyes at this point -- Kusturica calls the game in which Maradona sent England crashing out of the 1986 World Cup, scoring twice (once with his hand) "perhaps the first and the last time there has been justice in the world." Read a timeline of Diego Maradona's life . To illustrate his point, Kusturica ends the film at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City: the scene of Maradona's routing of the English. A sports star like Maradona, whose life has transcended the sporting arena to encompass the political is a rarity. The best instance of this was Mohammed Ali, whose lightning fists and an even quicker tongue made him a legend around the world. At the same time, his outspoken political views turned him into a divisive figure in his homeland. "When We Were Kings" tells the story of Ali's famous comeback fight against the undefeated champion of the world George Foreman staged in then Zaire -- the so-called 'Rumble in the Jungle.' Told through original footage and interviews with some of those who were at the fight, the film received widespread critical acclaim on its release in 1996, winning the award for best documentary features at the Oscars. Considering the fascinating subject matter though, it's hardly surprising. Staging the fight in Africa was a potent political symbol given the fevered state of race relations back in the U.S. At the time of the bout in 1974, the civil rights battles of the sixties had radicalized African-Americans and the black power movement was growing in numbers. Ali's support for the controversial Nation of Islam and his refusal to serve in the U.S. Army in Vietnam put him at the center of much of this political upheaval. Considered past his prime, Ali's unexpected and remarkable defeat of Foreman appeared almost a victory for African-Americans consciousness set in this context. In many ways French-born footballer Zinedine Zidane seems the polar opposite of Ali. Whilst the boxing legend spent his career trash talking opponents and waxing lyrical about his beliefs, Zidane -- who retired two years ago -- is notoriously publicity shy, preferring usually to let his football do the talking. "Zidane: A 21st- Century Portrait" consequently focuses on the personal rather than the political, capturing the brooding intensity of the French maestro. Filmed during a Spanish league game in 2005, Zidane's every move, breath and emotion was captured by 17 different cameras trained on him alone for the entire match. The myopic focus is strangely hypnotic, leaving you with a sense of not only the artistry of the man but also his isolation on the football pitch. In a stadium of 80,000 his sublime talent and obsessive dedication to his sport set him apart from those around him. For all the adulation showered on these sporting greats, the film reveals just how lonely it can be at the top.
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Two documentaries at the Cannes Film Festival dealt with sporting legends . Mike Tyson and former footballer Diego Maradona are the subjects of films . French ex-footballer Zidane was filmed by 17 cameras for a 2006 film .
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(CNN) -- As Gulf Coast residents wait for a huge oil slick to reach their shores, the spill and the massive response already have begun wreaking havoc on livelihoods in a region where jobs are largely dependent on two ocean intensive industries: seafood and tourism. Stephen Denmark, a city council member in Dauphin Island, Alabama, said Saturday that local scientists are predicting that the seafood crop could take a decade to recover from the oil slick. "The last two years have been tough already," Denmark said, referring to the recession. "This will be catastrophic to the mom-and-pop businesses, which is 90 percent of the business down here on the island." Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Saturday that heavy oil is likely to begin hitting the state's coast by Sunday or Monday. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen -- the Obama administration's national incident commander for the slick -- said Saturday that oil also is likely to reach shorelines in Mississippi and Alabama in coming days. But some Gulf Coast oyster beds and other seafood harvesting grounds are already awash in oil, according to Casi Callaway, executive director of the Alabama-based environmental group Mobile Baykeeper. "It's already covering shrimp beds and shrimp grounds in the Gulf," she said. "So it's here and it's now and it's happening." Callaway said that the oil could ruin oyster beds for up to two decades. Forty percent of the fish harvested in the lower 48 states comes from the Gulf of Mexico. Vacationers, meanwhile, spend billions of dollars every year in the region. But this week, many Americans canceled plans to travel to the Gulf Coast over the summer. "I'm pretty much on pause right now ... it's just a big waiting game," said David Boola, a fisherman who leads boat trips out of Venice, Louisiana. "I'm extremely worried because I have customers that [have] already canceled trips," Boola said Saturday. "I should be out taking people fishing today and I'm not. I'm not making money today. Or tomorrow. I'm worried about the 'now' factor, you know?" Besides the oil, the deployment of hundreds of thousands of feet of floating booms along the Gulf Coast to protect sensitive land areas has kept many fishing boats tied up at the dock. In Florida's Panhandle, where Saturday was the deadline for tourists to cancel summer plans at many hotels, phones were ringing off the hook. "In the hurricane season, you know you can't stop the hurricane, but you can prepare ... and we're great at that," said Jewel Cannada-Wynn, deputy mayor of Pensacola, Florida. "But how do we deal with an oil spill? It's a helpless feeling." Blows to seafood and tourism are likely to be felt in other industries in the Gulf Coast and beyond. "It affects the people that truck it, the people that make the ice, the people that [provide] fuel -- the labor just to transport it is just monumental," said Denmark, describing the long chain of workers involved in harvesting and shipping seafood. "It's not just the people that catch it and process it."
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Spill and response already have taken toll on seafood, tourism industries . Dauphin Island, Alabama, city official: Seafood crop could take a decade to recover . Forty percent of fish harvested in the Lower 48 states comes from the Gulf . Vacationers spend billions in the region, but many Americans have canceled plans .
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 15-year-old girl with a 500-texts-a-day texting habit thumbed her way to the $50,000 grand prize at the L.G. National Texting Championship in New York on Tuesday. Kate Moore, 15, of Des Moines, Iowa, out-texted more than 250,000 participants for the texting title in New York. Over 250,000 participants of all ages entered the competition, whose championship rounds were held in New York on Monday and Tuesday and won by Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa. Some challenges were straightforward tests of speed and accuracy, but others required a little extra texting savvy. In one round, texters had to send texts while blindfolded. Another round quizzed contestants' knowledge of texting acronyms. The only acronym to stump every texter was PAW -- parents are watching. The fourth-place finisher, 21-year-old Jordan Rowe, saw her dreams of texting glory vanish in the "pressure cooker" round, where actors dressed as emoticons attempted to distract contestants tasked with texting tongue-twisters. Rowe failed to accurately text "Which wicked witch wished which more wicked witch in the well?" while a human emoticon talked trash about her sister. Riffing off texters' sometimes dangerous tendency to text while performing other tasks, another round required contestants to complete an obstacle course while firing off difficult-to-type texts. "I felt like I was gonna die," the eventual champion said of the texting gauntlet, getting a big LOL from the audience. The finals on Tuesday afternoon pitted Dynda Morgan, 14, of Savannah, Georgia, against Moore. The two went head to head in a best-of-three showdown to see who could most quickly pound out lengthy texts predetermined by the judges -- with no errors. Morgan, whose stepsister also made it to the championships, took the first round. Faced with a do-or-die situation in the second round, Moore seemed to bet on accuracy over speed, finishing well behind her opponent but winning the round. In the tiebreaker, the two girls furiously raced to thumb the final text: "Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy...MY oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way....Zippitty Do Dah Zippity Aay! WondeRful Feeling Wonderful day!" The pregnant pause before the winner was announced stretched into a seeming eternity because Moore apparently forgot to hit send after finishing her text. But then Moore's phone began to vibrate, signaling that she was the grand champion. Kate's beaming mother, Claire, acknowledged that she has confiscated her daughter's phone on occasion, but said she appreciates that her daughter's texting habit means she's in constant touch. "I can get ahold of [her] at all times," she said. Nor does Moore's mother have to foot an appallingly large phone bill each month, because her daughter is on an unlimited texting plan. She did concede that the texting portion of one of Moore's recent phone bills stretched to 294 pages. Moore's victory was all the more awe-inspiring because she got a phone with text capability less than a year ago. Moments after her victory, Moore agreed to an exclusive text message interview with CNN. CNN: OMG U r ltrlly the wrld's bst txter. How does it feel? Moore: It feels the best! Im so prd of myself & it feels aswm that ive gottn so far! :) CNN: How mny txts do u snd a day? A month? Moore: Uhhh about lyk 400-500 in a day, an avrg of 12014 thousand a month? CNN: Wht r u going to do w the 50 k? Moore: Idk yet! Prlly spend a good amount of the $$$......but ya gotta save some 2 b smart of course! CNN: Do u ever get in trubl in skwl 4 txting 2 much? Moore: haah just once or 2ce, teachers hv seen it and taken it away...lol that sux when that happens tho. CNN: What's ur crzst txting story? Moore: Haha I actually have a scar on my hand from txtingg....i was txting on the top bunk and I sat up cuz it was a cool txt and then I hit it in the ceiling fan . CNN. Do ur thumbs hurt? Moore: Hahah not at all! Ud b surprised they don't get stressed out. CNN: Kthxbi. Moore: cya! :)
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Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa, says "I felt like I was gonna die" Of the $50,000 prize, Moore texts she'll "prlly spend a good amount of $$$" Text messaging competition includes texting while blindfolded .
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(CNN) -- An angry Phil Mickelson hinted at legal action for being accused of "cheating" by fellow PGA Tour professional Scott McCarron. The world number two carded a two-under 70 to be four shots behind third round leader Ryuji Imada at the Farmers Insurance Open, but for the second day in a row his post-round press conference centered on his use of a 20-year-old wedge with square grooves. McCarron was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, saying that Mickelson and others who had opted to play with the Ping-Eye 2 wedge were exploiting a loophole in PGA Tour rules. "It's cheating, and I'm appalled Phil has put it in play," he said. New rules introduced this year only allow for irons with V-shaped grooves, but because of a lawsuit filed by manufacturers Ping an exception has been made for wedges, with square grooves, which were made before April 1, 1990. Mickelson is using one of those wedges at Torrey Pines this week and on Friday he was grilled about his use and McCarron reported comments. Mickelson declined then to get into what he called "name calling" but mounted a stout defense of his use of the club, saying it was within the rules. But after his fine third round on the South Course, Mickelson appeared to up the ante. "We all have our opinions on the matter, but a line was crossed and I just was publicly slandered," Mickelson told the official PGA Tour Web site. "And because of that, I'll have to let other people handle that." Asked he was mounting a lawsuit, Mickelson said, "I'm not going into specifics what that meant." Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has issued a statement to explain why the controversial Ping-Eye 2 wedges were approved for play, appearing to criticize McCarron for his comments. "Because the use of pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons is permitted for play, public comments or criticisms characterizing their use as a violation of the Rules of Golf as promulgated by the USGA are inappropriate at best," read the final paragraph of the statement. Mickelson said that it was "cool if they put that out there." On the course, Imada shot a two-under 70 for a 13-under 203 and had a two-shot lead over Ben Crane (69) and Michael Sim of Australia. U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover carded a 68 and was three shots behind with Mickelson a further stroke behind on his season-debut on the PGA Tour.
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Phil Mickelson hints at legal action after accusations of 'cheating' by fellow pro Scott McCarron . World number two says he was 'publicly slandered' by McCarron's reported comments in San Francisco Chronicle . Row has centered on Mickelson's use of a 20-year-old Ping-Eye 2 wedge . Japan's Ryuji Imada leads Famers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines wsiht Mickelson four shots back .
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(CNN) -- An 18th century American slave finally received a proper burial Thursday, more than 200 years after his death, according to organizers of the service. The remains of Fortune, an African-American slave who died in 1798, lay in state in the Connecticut State Capitol rotunda in Hartford on Thursday before state police escorted them to a memorial service at the same church where he was baptized, according to Bob Burns, Director of the Mattatuck Museum, which had housed the skeleton since 1933. He was interred in one of the most well-known and distinguished cemeteries in Waterbury afterward. A ceremony at the Capitol included bagpipers and the singing of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," according to Samaia Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's office. "Fortune was a Waterbury man who worked, lived and died in our state at a time when African-Americans were denied basic civil rights. After 215 years, he will finally be laid to rest," Malloy said. "While we can't undo the wrongs of the past, we can honor those who were affected and push for positive change in the future." A memorial service was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Waterbury, where according to records, Fortune was baptized in 1797, Burns said. A burial at Riverside Cemetery, a historic cemetery full of prominent Waterbury residents, followed the service. Fortune, his wife and their three children were the legal property of Dr. Preserved Porter, a Waterbury physician, according to the Mattatuck Museum. Shortly after Fortune's death in 1798, his children were sold off, and Porter, a bone surgeon, dissected Fortune's body and prepared his bones to keep his skeleton for anatomic study. Burns said Fortune's skeleton was passed down in the Porter family for generations before it was donated to the museum as an oddity. It remained there until the 1970s, when it was put into storage. Since the 1990s, Burns said the museum and the African-American History Project have worked to find out what they could about Fortune's life and death from his remains and ultimately lay the bones to rest. Scientists at Howard University and later Quinnipiac University X-rayed and examined the skeleton. "His rugged bone structure suggests that he was powerful man accustomed to rigorous farm work," said Quinnipiac University researchers after performing X-rays in 2010. "If you look his bones, you can tell he did not have an easy life," Professor Gerald Conlogue, co-director of Quinnipiac's Bioanthropology Research Institute, said at the time. The other goal of the researchers was to use a 3D scanning camera to create 3D images used to make 3D prints of the bones, allowing future researchers to continue studying the bones and while Fortune's remains are buried, according to Burns. "That allowed us to honor the humanity of Mr. Fortune, and put him to rest," he said. According to the museum, Fortune may have died from a snapped vertebrae at the top of his spinal column. According to the official historic record, Fortune fell into the Naugatuck River and drowned at around age 55.
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Fortune, an 18th century slave in Connecticut, was laid to rest after a funeral . His funeral was held in the church where he was baptized in 1797 . Fortune was owned by Dr. Preserved Porter, who dissected his remains . The slave drowned in the Naugatuck River in 1798, historical records show .
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(CNN) -- Ted Ligety's winning streak in the giant slalom is over. Ligety made it four victories in a row last week in Beaver Creek, Colorado to become the first man since legendary Italian Alberto Tomba more than 20 years ago to achieve that feat but his race was quickly over in Val d'Isere, France on Saturday. Starting first in the first run -- usually not an enviable bib number -- the American went wide on a turn and couldn't make the next gate on the icy Face de Bellevarde. The last time he finished off the podium in the giant slalom was in 2012 and he failed to make the 30-man second run for the first time since 2009. "Just a little bit (of) bad luck on my part today," Ligety told reporters. "This course is always super, super bumpy and miserable to ski so I wasn't surprised by that at all. "It's not ideal. It's the kind of hill where anything can really happen, because it's such a tough and rough and bumpy hill." Former overall champion Bode Miller -- second behind teammate Ligety in Beaver Creek -- and current overall leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway also couldn't complete the first run. Austrian Marcel Hirscher took advantage of Ligety's mishap to win, rallying from a 0.41-second deficit after the first run to cruise past Thomas Fanara of France and Stefan Luitz of Germany. Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, the leader entering the second run, slipped to fourth. Gut seventh in St. Moritz . In the women's Super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein -- who registered two second-place finishes in Lake Louise, Canada last week -- beat surprise package Kling Kajsa of Sweden by 0.31 seconds. The win was a birthday gift for Weirather's mom, Hanni Wenzel, a gold medalist in the slalom at the world championships in St. Moritz in 1974. "It's an awesome story to win here today in front of my mother on such a special day," Weirather was quoted as saying by the website of alpine skiing's governing body. "The goal was to give her a nice present." Kajsa finished on the podium from a starting position of 44th but overall leader Lara Gut of Switzerland only managed a seventh. Weirather is now fewer than 40 points behind Gut in the overall standings. Two months ahead of the Sochi Olympics, Lindsey Vonn elected to sit out this weekend's races. The four-time overall champion only recently returned to action after a crash in training last month.
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American Ted Ligety's four-race winning streak in the giant slalom comes to an end . Ligety, starting first, didn't finish the first run Saturday in Val d'Isere . The last time he missed out on a podium finish in the giant slalom was in 2012 . Lindsey Vonn elects to sit out this weekend's women's races in Switzerland .
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(CNN) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied additional aid tied to deadly explosions at a Texas fertilizer plant, a decision ripped Wednesday by local and state officials who accused President Barack Obama of having "gone against his word." FEMA's administrator informed Gov. Rick Perry in a letter Monday that it was denying a request to declare West, Texas -- the small town where an April 17 fire led to simultaneous blasts at a fertilizer distribution facility, killing 15 and decimating homes, businesses and more within 37 blocks -- a "major disaster" area. The letter noted Obama had previously issued an emergency declaration and other measures that paved the way for some direct federal assistance. "Based on our review of all of the information available, it has been determined that the remaining costs for permanent work is within the capabilities of the state and affected local governments," FEMA's Craig Fugate said. "Accordingly, we have determined that a major disaster declaration is not necessary." Perry responded with a statement alluding to Obama's remarks at a memorial event held days after the explosions that the people of West would not be forgotten. "We'll be there even after the cameras leave and after the attention turns elsewhere," Obama said then. "Your country will remain ever ready to help you recover and rebuild and reclaim your community." The Texas governor added Wednesday, "We anticipate the president will hold true to his word and help us work with FEMA to ensure much-needed assistance reaches the community of West." Perry's words were measured compared with those of state Attorney General Greg Abbott. Abbott -- a Republican like Perry -- accused the Democratic president of having "yet again promised one thing and then not delivered." "President Obama's FEMA has denied our state and our neighbors the necessary opportunities to rebuild critical infrastructure in the town, including an entire school," the attorney general said. "While President Obama has turned his back on Texas and gone against his word, we will continue to take care of our neighbors." West's mayor, Tommy Muska, said Wednesday he is "disappointed" in FEMA and Obama, saying "we don't have money available ... and we can't repay ... loaned money back." "The president said he was going to be behind us, and his words and actions are completely different," Muska said. "The government at this time is not doing anything to help this city rebuild." A fire at the facility operated by West Fertilizer Company set off two explosions that registered on seismographs as a magnitude-2.1 earthquake and were felt 50 miles away. The blasts leveled a portion of the town, damaging numerous homes, a nursing home and the town's high school and middle school. According to local officials, the city is still well short of the $17 million it needs to repair roads, water and sewage lines and other damaged infrastructure. And the school system is estimated to be about $25 million to $30 million short of the roughly $100 million it says it needs for rebuilding and temporary housing. Authorities haven't publicly determined what caused the fire, saying it could have started from a spark from a golf cart, an electrical short or could have been set intentionally. In May, authorities announced they had launched a criminal investigation into the case, though no one has been charged. CNN's Ed Lavandera contributed to this report.
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FEMA does not declare West a "major disaster" area, which would've meant more funds . "Remaining costs (are) within ... state and ... local governments" capabilities, it says . Texas officials accuse president of betraying his promise that feds will help over long run . "The government at this time is not doing anything to help this city rebuild," mayor says .
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- An Iranian airliner that crashed Wednesday, killing all 168 passengers and crew, plunged into the ground and disintegrated on impact, according to a security official. Debris from the plane was littered around the crash site. Images of the crash site show a smoldering crater scattered with charred pieces of the plane and tattered passports. Ten members of the country's youth judo team were aboard the Caspian Airlines plane, said several sources, including Iran's Press TV. The government-backed network said the dead included eight athletes and two coaches. The plane "disintegrated into pieces," said Col. Masood Jafari Nasab, security commander of Qazvin, the city nearest to the crash site in northwestern Iran. "The aircraft all of a sudden fell out of the sky and exploded on impact, where you see the crater," a witness told Press TV from the crash site. Watch images of the crash site » . The plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been found, state television reported late Wednesday. The crash was at least the fifth major airline accident in the world this year, following crashes of planes flown by Colgan Air, Turkish Airlines, Air France and Yemenia Airways. A US Airways pilot managed to land his plane safely on the Hudson river in New York City in January, with no major injuries, after the plane lost power. But aviation safety expert John Wiley said there is no reason to fear air travel in general, and no single airline or aircraft is particularly dangerous. The three most recent crashes -- in which a total of 548 people died -- involved different planes, flown by different airlines, in different stages of flight, he said. Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 -- a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154M plane -- went down near the village of Jannatabad near Qazvin at 11:33 a.m. (2:03 a.m. ET) Wednesday, Press TV reported. Conversations between the pilot and the ground were normal and did not indicate any technical problems, the network's Web site reported, citing the managing director of Iran's airport authority without naming him. Some witnesses say the plane caught fire before crashing, Press TV said. The plane descended very quickly, Wiley told CNN, but it may have been circling, trying to land, rather than plummeting to the ground. Qazvin Police Chief Hossein Behzadpour and Mohammad Reza Montazer Khorasan, the head of the disaster management center in Iran's health ministry, both confirmed that all 168 people on board died, Press TV reported. The U.S. State Department, in a statement, extended its condolences to the victims. Department spokesman Ian Kelly said officials were working to determine whether any Americans were on board. Aviation analyst Kieran Daly told CNN that many aircraft operating in Iran are aging Tupolevs, some dating back to the 1970s. He described Tupolevs as "workhorses of the old Soviet aviation system." But he said the Caspian Airlines fleet is based on a slightly newer design, dating to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pictures from the scene were "consistent with a high-speed impact," he said. But he added that there could be large debris not seen on television, and that could change his analysis. Watch Daly talk about the crash » . A team of investigators from the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee is flying to the crash scene to join the investigation, the agency said in a posting on its Web site. They will work alongside Iranian aviation authorities, the agency said. An agency official declined to comment further, saying the plane was operated by an Iranian company and nothing is known about it. A Tupolev representative told CNN the manufacturer will not comment until the aviation committee releases its report on the crash. The Tupolev 154 is essentially banned in the West because it does not comply with European noise and pollution regulations, but it has a safer-than-average accident record, Wiley said. Wednesday's crash is the first on record for Caspian Airlines, which was founded in 1993, he added. The Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that the plane was flying from Tehran and was headed to Yerevan, Armenia. The semi-official Mehr news agency listed the names of 153 passengers and 15 crew members. At least 42 of the names appeared to be Armenian, but it was not clear if they were from the former Soviet republic or if they were ethnically Armenian citizens of Iran. The plane crashed 16 minutes after takeoff, said the newspaper, quoting a spokesman from Iran's civil aviation organization. See a map of the crash location » . That would have put the flight in one of the safest stages of travel, according to International Air Transport Association data. Only about 5 percent of accidents take place during the phase called en-route climb, 16 to 20 minutes into a flight, when a plane climbs to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. About half of accidents take place during landing. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed his condolences to the victims' families, as did the European Union. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his sympathies to the presidents of Iran and Armenia, the Kremlin said. Qazvin is the largest city in the province of Qazvin and is its capital, with an estimated population of 330,000. It is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Tehran, the capital of Iran. The last crash in Iran involving a Tupolev plane occurred in 2006, according to the Web site airdisaster.com. That crash occurred on an Iran Air Tour flight from the port city of Bandar Abbas; it crashed and caught fire during landing, the Web site reported. Twenty-nine of the 147 people on board died in that crash. CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr, Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow, Russia, and Ayesha Durgahee in London, England, contributed to this report.
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State TV reports plane's flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder found . All 168 aboard believed to be dead in Iranian plane crash . Plane is thought to have crashed near the Iranian city of Qazvin . Qazvin is the largest city in the province of Qazvin .
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Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in two same-sex marriage cases. Whatever the justices do, the outcome seems foreordained. When 80% of Americans under 30 agree about something, that something will happen -- it's only a matter of time. But while straight young Americans support marriage for gays, increasingly they opt against marriage for themselves. Nearly half of American children, 48%, are now born to unmarried women. Among women without college degrees, and of all races, unwed motherhood has become the norm. This is the crisis of the American family. Whether same-sex marriage proceeds fast or slow, whether it extends to all 50 states or stops with the current nine plus the District of Columbia, the crisis will be the same. Marriage and the Supreme Court: Five things to watch . Children born to single parents face much longer odds in life than children born to married parents. (A new study by ThirdWay.org suggests that the harms are especially intense for boys, less so for girls.) "Odds" are not rules, of course. There are always exceptions. On average, however, children born to married mothers and fathers are more likely to finish college, more likely to avoid prison and more likely to form marriages themselves than children born to single parents. And precisely because the harms of single parenthood tend to be self-replicating, the breakdown of marriage threatens to harden into a caste divide, with some families launched into cycles of downward mobility because of the unstable relationships of parents or grandparents or great-grandparents. For 20 years, Americans have fiercely debated whether gays -- who constitute maybe 3% of the population -- should be allowed to marry each other. Meanwhile, Americans have given short shrift to what is happening to the 97% of the population that is allowed to marry, but increasingly opts not to do so. Chief Justice Roberts' lesbian cousin to attend same-sex marriage hearings . One reason we've given the single-parenthood problem short shrift is that we lack good ideas about how to address it. The core of the problem seems to be the decline of male wages relative to female wages. The New York Times this week quoted an MIT economist, Michael Greenstone: . "I think the greatest, most astonishing fact that I am aware of in social science right now is that women have been able to hear the labor market screaming out 'You need more education' and have been able to respond to that, and men have not. And it's very, very scary for economists because people should be responding to price signals. And men are not. It's a fact in need of an explanation." As men (on average) finish less education, as male wages (on average) decline, men become less attractive as marital partners. As Harvard's Christopher Jencks -- a left-leaning academic, it should be stressed -- said in that same New York Times piece: "Single-parent families tend to emerge in places where the men already are a mess." Sutter: The county where no one's gay . But how do we make men without a college education less of a mess? This is the master problem of American society, and not only American society. Everywhere in the developed world, the decline of mass-production industries has put pressure on the roles and incomes of working-class and middle-class men. The expansion of government and service industries has opened new opportunities for women, of which working-class and middle-class men seem less able to avail themselves. It's important to note that men in full-time work continue to earn more than women in full-time work. But that bottom-line number conceals a widening divergence between the family patterns of the college-educated top one-third, where family life is increasingly stable, and those of the non-college-educated bottom two-thirds, where family life is increasingly disrupted. It's the family life of the bottom two-thirds that is the family policy challenge of the 21st century. The debate over same-sex marriage is yesteryear's issue. It's settled, whether the Supreme Court knows it or not. But how to ensure that the next generation of American children enjoys the more equal chance and the wider opportunities from a more universal commitment to marriage -- that debate needs to begin. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.
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David Frum: Young people overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage . He says a bigger question is the future of marriage in general . Younger Americans are increasingly choosing not to get married . Frum: Children born to single parents face much longer odds in life .
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New York (CNN) -- Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said they are not worried about a pending civil suit from his accuser after a New York judge dropped criminal charges against him. "She doesn't have much, if any, chance in a civil case," William Taylor told CNN's Piers Morgan Tuesday night, the same day that a New York judge dismissed sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn. "The same difficulties, the same lies will come back to haunt her in a civil case." A grand jury indicted Strauss-Kahn in May over allegations he sexually assaulted housekeeper Nafissatou Diallo in his suite at the swanky Sofitel hotel in New York. Prosecutors requested that the charges be dropped after they began to question Diallo's credibility. They said the Guinean woman had lied on an asylum application. She said she had been gang-raped by soldiers in her native country, but later admitted it never happened, prosecutors said. Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said his client was crushed by the judge's decision. "Devastated," Thompson told guest host Don Lemon on HLN's "Joy Behar Show." "She has told the truth about what happened in that hotel room. She can't understand why Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance would abandon her. She and her daughter have been crying through the night." Thompson said Diallo was raped like she said in her asylum application. Thompson wondered if prosecutors pushed to drop the charges because Strauss-Kahn is rich and powerful. "Clearly, the D.A. looked at Dominique Strauss-Kahn, his status, his power," said Thompson. "If Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a bus driver from the South Bronx or a construction worker from Harlem or a plumber... Do you think that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance would care what was in Miss Diallo's asylum application?" Thompson said he is glad that he filed a civil suit because he did not "trust the process." Vance, in a news release Tuesday, said prosecutors had no choice but to move to drop the charges because they were "not persuaded -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- that a crime has been committed, based on the evidence we have." He said Diallo's testimony "was fatally damaged, for several key reasons." Along with the asylum application, Diallo lied about the specifics of her whereabouts after the rape incident and information on tax forms, prosecutors said. A crowd of protesters gathered near the courtroom in New York Tuesday in support of Diallo, carrying handwritten signs reading "No impunity 4 rapists in power" and "Nafissatou we believe you." Strauss-Kahn's lawyers had maintained his innocence throughout the process. "I think what we said from the beginning, there was an act in that room that was consensual, not forcible and I think we're going to leave it at that," said Benjamin Brafman, an attorney for Strauss-Kahn. "Unless you yourself have been accused falsely of a serious crime that you did not commit, I think it's impossible to really understand the full measure of relief that Dominique Strauss-Kahn felt today." Watch Piers Morgan Tonight weeknights 9 p.m. ET. For the latest from Piers Morgan click here.
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A judge approves dismissal of sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn . DA: Prosecutors were "not persuaded ... that a crime has been committed" Diallo's lawyer says she has been "crying through the night" about the decision . Diallo's lawyer has filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn .
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Denver, Colorado (CNN) -- When Shay Kelley lost her marketing job she got worried. When she lost her home and her car she got mad. "I went off into the woods and I started yelling at God," she says. "I didn't know why God would lead me up to this point in my life just to have me left with nothing." "I was like, 'Just tell me what my purpose is, tell me why I'm here and if you'll just tell me I'll work harder than for anything I have ever worked for anything else in my entire life.' " Within weeks she had her answer: Travel to all 50 states in 50 weeks. Collect canned goods for charities along the way and take a ton of pictures. She has dubbed it Project 50/50. She stayed with friends while she waited tables and got together enough money to buy "Bubba," her 1984 Ford pickup truck. She packed her camera, which she calls "Roxy," and her dog, Zu Zu, and hit the road. She began on New Year's Day in South Carolina, randomly going door to door to collect canned goods. "I set a goal of 200 cans a week, which doesn't sound like a lot, but the premise is [that] doing a little bit adds up to a lot," Kelley says. "After a year, [that's] 10,000 canned food items." She began to meet homeless people as she dropped off the canned goods, and she says they have surprised her with their generosity. She met Donald, a retired Navy sailor, at a library in South Carolina. "He invited me to go to lunch to buy me a hot meal because I had been eating PowerBars for three days," Kelley says. "I found out after he left -- after he paid the tab and paid my meter -- that Donald was homeless, that he was actually living in the shelter." "That was the first week when I learned the people with the least tend to give the most." Donald was one of the first people she photographed. She posts her pictures on her website and Facebook page as she goes. She has more than 1,000 Facebook fans following her travels. See more of Kelley's photos . One of those Facebook followers is Laurie Holleman Sherrod, who contacted Kelley with an unusual request: . She asked Kelley if she could find her son, Trey. The last time she heard, he was living on the streets in Santa Cruz, California. "I thought that's crazy, how do you find one homeless person in an entire city?" Kelley recalled. But she agreed to try and sure enough a few weeks later she happened upon a nice young man on the streets of Santa Cruz. "And then here I am sitting around the table with Trey shooting a video for his mother who lives in South Carolina." As with everything that has happened to her so far, she credits her faith with guiding her. "It is so important to me that God remains in the forefront of my life," she says. "He leads me. He tells me to go right or go left. I can't really explain that to people, but I don't do anything, God does it all. I'm just standing here." iReporter tells the story of one homeless man . Through her photos she captures people down on their luck, but not ready to give up. She says it has made her own uncertain future easier to deal with. "I just hope that people who are in really rough situations will realize that God didn't forget about them. God is just trying to prepare them for something even bigger, even greater and even more blessed than they can even imagine."
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Jobless and unemployed, Shay Kelley decides to embark on a new mission . Starting on New Year's Day, she began helping the homeless . She collected canned goods, then decided she wanted to do more . Kelley is traveling to all 50 states with her camera, photographing America's homeless people .
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(CNN) -- New York City is demanding that documentary filmmaker Ken Burns hand over footage of the movie he made about five men who were wrongfully imprisoned and later exonerated for the rape of a woman in Central Park. The demand is part of the city's attempt to defend itself against multi-million dollar federal lawsuits filed by some of the "The Central Park Five," as the exonerated men had come to be known. Lawyers for New York City filed a subpoena demanding Burns and his production company, Florentine Films, give them the unpublished interviews and unreleased footage not used in the documentary, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. "The plaintiffs' interviews go to the heart of the case and cannot be obtained elsewhere," said Celeste Koeleveld, a city attorney. But Burns, along with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and her husband David McMahon, who co-wrote and produced the film, say they plan to fight. "I'm sorry to say we saw this coming," said Burns. "New York State shield laws are very specific. We are journalists, and that's what this is." Burns was referring to state laws designed to protect journalists from having to compromise their sources. The filmmaker says he finds irony in the city's request for the footage because he says he and his crew had been trying to get city officials in front of the camera for interviews for years, but to no avail. "We made every attempt, we practically begged to talk to prosecutors and police," he said. The shield law should not protect Burns and his collaborators because they have shown many times that they were advocates and not journalists, city officials say. For example, Sarah Burns worked for two years in the law firm of one of the plaintiffs' attorneys and Ken Burns wrote to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009, urging him to settle the case, writing the plaintiffs had "suffered without just cause," the New York City law office says. "Mr. Burns and his daughter have publicly sided with the plaintiffs and their families, who are seeking hundreds of millions from New York City," said Koeleveld, "The movie has crossed from documentary to pure advocacy. Under such circumstances, no reasonable person could have expected us to participate in their project." Burns, an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, disagrees. "We didn't make an advocacy film; we made a film about the facts of the case and that is these men were wrongly convicted, and had years of their lives stolen," Burns said. "One of the things that was stolen from these men was their humanity. In the media they were turned into wild beasts, a wolf pack, and we wanted to return their humanity. We'd have been happy to do the same to others involved, if prosecutors and police had returned our calls for interviews." The racially charged Central Park Five case dates back to 1989. On April 19 of that year, a 28-year-old white Wall Street investment banker was jogging through Central Park when she was brutally assaulted, raped and left for dead. That same night a group of black and Latino boys had been in the park, throwing rocks at cars and assaulting people, "wilding" as it was called in the media at the time. 2003: Central Park jogger speaks out . In the ensuing months, the investigation lead to the arrest of five of the boys. They were charged and convicted. To many it seemed like an open and shut case. Four of the young men had given taped confessions, and despite defense claims the confessions were coerced, the prosecutors, police, and what seemed like much of the American public deemed them guilty. Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kharey Wise and Kevin Richardson were convicted and sentenced to prison. In 2002, three of the convicted young men had finished their prison terms, one was on parole and the fifth was in jail on an unrelated offense when Matias Reyes, a serial rapist and murderer, confessed to the crime and said he acted alone. DNA analysis later determined that Reyes did rape the jogger and that hair evidence used in the boys' trials did not match. Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney at the time, ordered a new investigation and, on his recommendation, a judge vacated the convictions. Legal expert say the city may have a case. "The evidence exists, the tapes and footage exists, and these people are suing the city, so you can see why the city would want to use them," said CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffery Toobin. Toobin: Case shows injustice can happen .
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New York's demand stems from an attempt to defend against lawsuits . The filmmaker says he is fighting the city's request . The so-called Central Park Five case dates back to 1989 .
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a578428a2f16d7f5df7e83112e9d4d2316460c0e
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- The Zimbabwean government has declared a national emergency in the face of a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 560 people, the state-owned newspaper The Herald said Thursday. A shortage of clean drinking water has unleashed a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Harare also appealed for help for its hospitals, which Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said "are literally not functioning." "Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived," he said at a meeting of donors including United Nations agencies, embassies and non-governmental institutions, The Herald reported. Cholera cases are on the increase in nine of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Wednesday. It blamed "poor water and sanitation supply, a collapsed health system and limited government capacity to respond to the emergency." OCHA said the water-borne outbreak had killed at least 565 people and sickened more than 11,000. See more about Zimbabwe's cholera crisis » . In Harare province, more than one in four people to contract the disease had died and there were nearly 7,000 new cases, OCHA said. The health crisis is taking place against a background of increased security in the face of expected runs on banks. Armored cars patrolled the streets of Zimbabwe's capital and residents flocked to banks Thursday after limits on cash withdrawals were lifted in the inflation-ravaged African nation. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had capped maximum daily withdrawals at 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars -- about 25 U.S. cents, and about a quarter of the price of a loaf of bread. But faced with mounting chaos in a country already in economic free fall, the bank decided last week to raise that limit to 100 million dollars ($50 U.S.) per week. Soldiers were deployed to all banks in anticipation of throngs of people lining up to withdraw money Thursday, when the increase took effect. Wednesday, police chased depositors away and arrested union leaders who planned to protest the limits. Zimbabwe's inflation rate of 231 million percent is the world's highest. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said 69 people were arrested across the country during Wednesday's demonstrations. Amnesty International has demanded to know the whereabouts of human rights activist Jestina Mukoko. The group said Mukoko was abducted at dawn Wednesday by armed men in plainclothes posing as police. And angry, unpaid soldiers clashed with foreign currency exchangers and some civilians Monday, three days after troops who had failed to get cash from their banks looted shops they suspected to be illegally dealing in foreign currency.
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Zimbabwean government declares national emergency over cholera outbreak . Cholera has so far killed more than 560 people, U.N. group says . Government minister says its hospitals "are literally not functioning"
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(CNN) -- Frank Lampard underlined his continued value to Chelsea by scoring both goals in their 2-1 win at Everton Sunday as they went third in the English Premier League. South African Steven Pienaar gave Everton a second minute lead but former England international Lampard turned the game around for the visitors. The 34-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and reports have been linking him with a move away from the west London giants, even as early as the January transfer window. "I know there is a lot of speculation and talk but I just want to continue playing,'' Lampard told Sky Sports after the match. "I will always have Chelsea in me for life." During his 12 years at the club, Lampard's goal tally from midfield has always proved a key factor in Chelsea's success and his well-placed 42nd minute header canceled out Pienaar's earlier opportunist effort. Everton, who are challenging strongly for a Champions League berth, hit the woodwork three times in a fine match, but came unstuck late on. Tim Howard saved from Juan Mata, but Lampard was in the right place to turn in the winner. Sylvain Distin made a last-ditch saving tackle to deny Fernando Torres a third for Chelsea before Nikica Jelavic wasted a chance for Everton to equalize. He shot straight at goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, a halftime replacement for Petr Cech, who has an injured ankle. The victory lifted Chelsea above Tottenham Hotspur into third place in the standings, still 11 points behind leaders Manchester United, but with a game in hand. In the later kickoff, Liverpool left Queens Park Rangers in deeper problems at the bottom of the table with a 3-0 win at Loftus Road. Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers did not travel with the team after going down with an infectious virus but it was Harry Redknapp's QPR who were left feeling under weather after a sorry performance. Luis Suarez took advantage of defensive frailties to score twice in the opening 16 minutes, taking his EPL tally for the season to 13. Danish defender Daniel Agger headed the third near the half hour mark and the game was effectively over as a contest. Liverpool move up to ninth with QPR on 10 points from 20 games, eight points adrift of safety.
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Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 to go third in the English Premier League . Frank Lampard scores both goals in the win at Goodison . Lampard's future at Chelsea in doubt after 12 years with the EPL club . Luis Suarez double as Liverpool beat bottom club QPR 3-0 .
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