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[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- In 2003, the BET Awards had a priceless moment when Michael Jackson surprised his idol, James Brown, by showing up on stage where the duo thrilled the audience with an electrifying performance. Michael Jackson performed with James Brown at the BET Awards in 2003. This year's show is dedicated to Jackson. Now, both the King of Pop and the Godfather of Soul are gone. Sunday night's 9th Annual BET Awards is sure to be filled with tributes to Jackson, whose videos and performances were a staple for the network in his heyday. BET has already paid tribute to the singer, going wall-to-wall with Jackson videos Thursday night. Many of the celebrities scheduled to attend the show were also fans of the singer and it is expected that the night will provide an opportunity for them to salute the star. \"Words cannot capture the impact Michael Jackson has had on pop culture around the world,\" said Debra L. Lee, chairman and chief executive officer of BET Networks. \"He changed the way we hear and feel and move to music; he epitomized what true musical talent and star power really mean. He is and always will be the King of Pop.\" Academy Award-winning actor and R&B singer Jamie Foxx is set to host the show. Several of the scheduled performers include artists, such as Ne-Yo and Beyonce, who have acknowledged the influence of Jackson on their music and careers. The annual event is a premier one for the network and this year's plan was to recognize the musical legacy and longstanding career of the legendary soul trio, the O'Jays, with the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Artists Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean are to be honored with the Humanitarian Award for their respective charitable work. BET CEO Lee said Sunday's show will be dedicated to Jackson and will also pay tribute to his legacy. Lee reflected on Jackson's career and his importance to BET -- which stands for Black Entertainment Television -- in a prepared statement after his death, while also offering heartfelt prayers for the singer's family and friends. \"Michael's influence is felt every day in so many ways at BET Networks, and it's been that way throughout our network's entire 29-year history,\" she said. \"We watched him grow up and, like everyone around the world, he feels like he is a member of our family. \"He will be missed more than we can say ... but his legend and memory live on in the artists, musicians, producers, dancers, fans and everyone else who looks to him for inspiration.\" The BET Awards is scheduled to run live on the cable network Sunday at 8 p.m." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "BET Awards are scheduled for Sunday night .\nMany of the planned attendees expected to pay tribute to Michael Jackson .\nNetwork CEO: \"Michael's influence is felt every day in so many ways\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Several of Michael Jackson's comeback concerts in London have been postponed until next year because producers can't be ready in time for the July debut, according to a \"Dear Customer\" e-mail sent to ticket holders Wednesday. Michael Jackson gestures to the crowd at the March announcement of his series of London concerts. The delay comes days after the concert promoter said Jackson was in good health, contrary to media reports he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Jackson's \"This Is It\" shows were to begin July 8 at London's 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. \"It was not an easy decision to change the schedule but in the end we wanted to ensure that all of Michael's fans attending the concerts get the same quality in staging and level of entertainment,\" said the Ticketmaster e-mail sent to someone who bought tickets for the third show. \"In order to deliver a phenomenal and unprecedented show -- the first show on the 8th July will take place on 13th July 2009,\" according AEG Live, the promoter of the London concerts. \"The subsequent shows on 10th July will be moved to 1st March 2010, 12th July will be moved to 3rd March 2010, and the show on the 14th July will be moved to 6th March 2010.\" The delay is \"due to the sheer magnitude\" of the concerts, AEG said. The decision \"to move back a few of the opening shows\" was needed \"in order to meet the challenges presented by such a massive and technically complex show,\" it said. Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, last week denied reports that Jackson had skin cancer. \"He's as healthy as he can be -- no health problems whatsoever,\" the executive told CNN on Saturday. \"Michael, who is directly involved with all aspects of the styling/choreography/band selection and rehearsals, is working around the clock to ensure this is the show to end all shows!\" AEG said in it's delay announcement. Jackson held open auditions for dancers last month at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California. Promoters released a video this week showing that process and ending with a clip of the 12 dancers who were chosen meeting Jackson in an undisclosed gym in the Los Angeles area, where he has been preparing for the shows. Ticketmaster, in its e-mail, assured the ticket holders they would \"have the same seat originally purchased.\" \"You do not have to do anything as you will be automatically allocated the same seats and moved to the revised date,\" it said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Michael Jackson was scheduled to perform 50 shows starting July 8 .\nSeveral shows being postponed until 2010 because of \"sheer magnitude\"\nJackson health said to be fine, despite UK rumors ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(AOL Autos) -- It's that time again, when you turn on the A/C to chill out from the summer heat and all you get is hot air! Air conditioning on the fritz? Taking your car to an A/C tech will keep you from getting hot headed. Ughhhh! How do you restore that refreshing, cool air to your vehicle's interior cabin so you can survive the heat? Well ... sit back and relax, and I'll tell you exactly what to expect from your shop. System performance test . First, the tech should perform an A/C system performance test. He/she will first check vent temperature to confirm that the system is indeed inoperative. Should this be the case, the tech will then perform a head pressure check. During this process, gauges are installed on the high and low side of the system to determine if there's any refrigerant in the system. An extremely low (or no) pressure reading usually indicates a lack of refrigerant in the system, which means it has leaked out. Sometimes the pressure reading may be too high, in which case there is a restriction in the system, inhibiting the flow of refrigerant. There are three diagnostic paths, depending on the initial evaluations. Should the system be low on refrigerant, the tech should run a leak test, identify the location of the leak, repair it, and recharge the system with refrigerant and oil. If the pressure in the system is too high, the tech should locate the restriction, often caused by dirt that finds its way to the orifice tube, a small in-line filter designed to screen out any particulates in the system. (Restrictions can occur for other reasons that I will not go into here for the sake of space.) Once the plug is found, it is removed, and dirt is flushed from the system. Finally, if the system seems to be operating properly (all head pressures are in line with factory specifications), then the tech will look to the duct system for problems. The duct system . The engine in your car generates vacuum as a result of taking in air. This vacuum is used for the duct system. How the system works: Vacuum is collected in a vacuum reserve chamber; this device usually resembles a plastic ball or a coffee can. The vacuum builds up inside this chamber and when A/C is called for, vacuum is channeled through the switch and small vacuum lines (capillary tubing) to the servo motor. The servo motor is responsible for opening a special duct door (the air blend door), which directs the correct amount of cool air into the vehicle's cabin. Problems crop up when vacuum is lost due to a cracked vacuum reserve chamber, broken vacuum line, faulty vacuum servomotor, bad switch, or poor engine vacuum. The tech must track down the cause of the vacuum loss and repair it in order to restore the system. Other causes of poor HVAC air volume are broken air blend door or door hinge, organic debris in the fan squirrel cage inhibiting airflow, worn blower motor shaft bearings slowing down the squirrel cage, or electrical wiring / component problems that control fan operation. Proper A/C leak test procedure . The main cause of A/C system failure is refrigerant leak. This system is a closed system, so the refrigerant chemical and lubricant are sealed from the outside atmosphere. When a leak forms, the system drains of both refrigerant chemical and the lubricant vital to compressor life and function. In addition, moisture and dirt can get in through the leak causing contamination. This contamination eats away at the inside of the system resulting in rust and scale buildup, corrosion and erosion in vital A/C system parts. Proper A/C system leak tests are necessary to identify the source of a leak. There are three types of leak inspections: visual, halogen, and dye testing. The visual test includes inspection of all lines and external components (specifically condensers, hi and low pressure lines, compressors, air dryers, and expansion valves). Any indication of refrigerant oil on these components is an indication of a leak and the component must be replaced. The halogen tester is designed to detect the presence of leaking refrigerant gas, which is odorless and colorless. The tech scans the system with the flexible probe on the tester. If there is a leak, then the tester will howl, light up, or click. Finally, if the tech is convinced that there is a leak in the system and he cannot find it, then he performs a dye test. After a fluorescent dye is charged into the system, an ultra violet light is shown on the system. If there is a leak, it will show up as a bright yellow color under the light. These are tried and true diagnostic methods that have been used in A/C system diagnostics and repairs for years and are guaranteed to track down the most stubborn A/C leaks. A word about refrigerant chemicals . As a result of the Clean Air Act, all chlorofluorocarbons are no longer used as refrigerant chemicals because of their negative effect on the ozone layer. Consequently, all A/C systems now use an ozone-friendly refrigerant called R134A. Any vehicles that still run the road with the old R12 chemical have to be retrofitted to run R134A. In addition, the tech is required by Federal Law to recapture the R12 into a reclaiming station for disposal (it cannot be released into the air). Venting of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere is considered a Federal Offense. Should you have a vehicle that still has the old R12 system in it, have the system converted. This procedure involves the installation of new schrader valves for system charging and testing, as well as a complete and thorough cleaning and flushing of the system. It is essential that all of the R12 be removed, because the mixing of R12 with R134A results in 'system meltdown. Now that you know all about the air conditioning in your car, you can see that there are many sources of potential problems. Thus, proper diagnosis of problems with this system can save you a lot of money; so make sure you take it to a reputable shop that has the necessary equipment and experienced techs. And enjoy the summer heat!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Problems with your A/C/ system can cost you money by wasting extra gas .\nTech should first do a car A/C system performance test .\nProblems with vacuum system can also limit cooling in car ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- She hit the big time in the 1980's with Eurythmics and found huge success as a solo artist with her 1992 album \"Diva\", but for singer Annie Lennox, being able to express her passion has always been the motivating factor in whatever she's done. Annie Lennox will continue to SING with her AIDS awareness charity. As a result her musical career has taken a back seat to her political activism and charity work in recent years; most notably with SING her AIDS awareness in Africa charity, as well as working with Amnesty, Save the Children and as a UNICEF ambassador. Yet the 54-year-old maintains that she'll always keep singing as well as working on the other things that she feels passionate about. \"I'm a multi-tasker. I have to do a lot of things at once. I love music. And I want to keep making music. I hope that I'll always be a music-maker and I'll always be an activist,\" she told CNN in Hong Kong. Growing up in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox found enormous success with Eurythmics and the 1983 album \"Sweet Dreams\" and single of the same name. It catapulted her to international success and stardom, something she had always wanted, but at first found difficult to adjust to. \"We were really on a whole kind of roller coaster with [Eurythmics], which on the one hand I was very grateful for, and on the other hand, it sort of sucked out your life, any sort of privacy,\" she said. \"Just the ability to be anonymous which I absolutely really value. I love to just to be mixing with people and not have to be the one person in the room with the spotlight and the heads all turning. So that was a little bit hard to adapt to...I might as well have a neon light for a head.\" She's sold over 80 million records during a career that has spanned four decades, which she credits to hard graft fueled by an unending passion for music. \"The glamour side to it is what we see as the end result. But all the rest of it is hard work and dedication. And it's not easy always, you have to be very focused. And you have to be really, really motivated to do it. You have to have a kind of yearning, a passion for that. \"I was never thinking, 'Oh, I'm in this for the long haul.' I just think as I'm still thinking, I want to have a life where I'm able to do the thing that makes me feel alive.\" Aware of the downsides of a career in music, Lennox also has a greater sense of the perils and pitfall in life, something she has often expressed in her music. \"I have encountered individuals and I've encountered things in the industry that were vile. Bad things happen everywhere. And the music industry and all that surrounds it, is no exception.\". Having experienced unscrupulous people in the music industry and been through her own personal upheaval through two failed marriages, Lennox remain passionate, energetic and sanguine. Ultimately, she says, \"its all part of life's rich tapestry.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sold over 80 million records in career that has spanned four decades .\nFound success first with Eurythmics, British band founded with Dave Stewart .\nLennox set up SING charity to combat HIV and AIDS in Africa ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The woman and children held captive in a cellar for years by their incestuous father will take years to recover from their disturbing ordeal, doctors warned Wednesday as the family at the center of the case remained in psychiatric care. The bathroom used by Elizabeth Fritzl, who was held captive for more than two decades, and her three children. Members of the Fritzl family will also be offered the chance to adopt new identities in an effort to help them lead normal lives, officials said. Hans-Heinz Lenze, the head of local social services said the family was \"doing as well as can be expected in the circumstances\" and said any change of identity would be the family's decision. Elizabeth Fritzl -- now 42 -- spent more than two decades in the windowless basement after being drugged, handcuffed and locked up by her father, Josef Fritzl, as an 18-year-old. Repeatedly raped, she gave birth to seven children by Fritzl, one of whom died as an infant. Three of the children -- Kerstin, 19; Stefan, 18; and Felix, 5 -- remained imprisoned underground with their mother. The other three lived in an apartment upstairs with Fritzl and his wife who believed Elizabeth had abandoned them after running away from home. Elizabeth and five of the children were continuing to receive treatment at a local clinic near Amstetten after being reunited on Sunday. Kerstin, whose hospitalization at the weekend finally brought the family's plight to the attention of authorities, remained in a coma at a nearby hospital. \"It is astonishing how easy it worked that the children came together, and also it was astonishing how easy it happened that the grandmother and the mother came together,\" clinic director Berthold Kepplinger said. But Kepplinger warned that the family would require extensive counseling. \"We're talking of 20 years of darkness, incest and its effects and other illnesses they might have suffered from.\" Kepplinger said the two sets of children were tentatively getting to know one another, adding that the two boys who had lived underground had an unusual way of communicating with each other. A policeman who had accompanied the boys to hospital after their discovery on Sunday said the pair had \"screamed with excitement\" during the car journey as they experienced the outside world for the first time. \"The two boys appeared overawed by the daylight they had never experienced before,\" said Chief Inspector Leopold Etz. \"The real world was completely alien to them... We had to drive very slowly with them because they cringed at every car light and every bump. It was as if we had just landed on the moon.\" In an interview with the Austrian newspaper, Oesterreich, psychiatrist Max Friedrich, who treated the abducted teenager Natascha Kampusch, estimated it would take \"between five and eight years\" for the children to recover from their experiences. Another psychologist, Bernd Prosser, told Austrian television that it would be impossible for the four held prisoner underground to lead normal lives. \"I am afraid it is too late for that.\" Kampusch, the Austrian girl abducted as a 10-year-old and held captive in a basement for more than eight years until she escaped in 2007, also offered her help to the family on Tuesday, but questioned the decision to move them from the cellar into psychiatric care. \"Pulling them abruptly out of this situation, without transition, to hold them and isolating them to some extent, it can't be good for them,\" said Kampusch, now 20, in an interview with Austrian TV station Puls 4. \"I believe it might have been even better to leave them where they were, but that was probably impossible. This case is not like mine, where that was not my environment. They were born there and I can imagine that there is a strong attachment to that place.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Austrian family held captive in a cellar will take years to recover, doctors say .\nFamily are undergoing treatment at a local psychiatric clinic .\nChildren kept underground may never lead normal lives, psychiatrist warns .\nFamily have been offered opportunity to adopt new identities ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Gene Seymour has written about movies, music and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Gene Seymour says we want to relive Michael Jackson's youth, not the sad and bizarre aspects of his later life. (CNN) -- Seconds after the news first hit the airwaves, your own shock merged with everyone else's in the immediate vicinity. And you could feel it rolling through the rest of the planet like a runaway diesel. As with most things you neither expected nor wanted to hear, you thought that there had to be more to it than what was being said. Especially because it was Michael Jackson, who seemed too dominant, too other-worldly and, more than anything, too complex to be brought down by anything as simple as cardiac arrest. And also because most of what we'd been hearing about Jackson's personal life over the last decade and a half had been bizarre, sordid and sad. It was to those aspects -- the deepening isolation, the child molestation trials, the financial woes, the \"Wacko Jacko\" moments like that 2002 interlude on the balcony with the baby -- that the talking heads on TV devoted tentative attention within minutes of the official announcement. The commentariat presumed it had a responsibility to poke those embers for clues of something beyond the single, dreadful fact of Jackson's death. Even if we didn't care for this conversation, we had been conditioned by the most recent events to wonder, deep down, if there was something stranger or more unpleasant attached to his passing. But acceptance came easier -- and sooner -- than any of us expected last night. And when it did, we wanted the talking heads to go away and leave us with our memories ... and nothing but the good ones, thank you very much. We wanted the loop of performances and hit singles. Retrieve for us, please, the electricity of the 10-year-old wunderkind who literally leapt into our consciousness in that shattering year of 1968 with \"I Want You Back\" and \"ABC.\" Let us see that transfiguring moment 15 years later at the Motown Anniversary TV special when Jackson seized dominion over the pop firmament with his shattering, moon-walking recital of \"Billie Jean.\" We wanted the videos -- \"Beat It,\" \"Bad,\" \"Thriller,\" \"Black and White\" and all that incredible, unearthly dancing. That was all we needed to see and hear. Save the armchair psychoanalysis for later. Maybe, much later. No one would have understood or indulged such yearnings as quickly or as intuitively as Michael Jackson. As surely as he was the King of Pop, Jackson was also a high priest of wish fulfillment. His performances as both precocious child and child-like adult made growing up or growing old the only unimaginable things in the known world. This Peter Pan mystique even became part of the Jackson brand to the point of naming his combination of retreat and theme park the Neverland Ranch. The promise of eternal youth was embedded in pop music way before Jackson and his four brothers emerged from the grit of Gary, Indiana, to jump-start Motown's winning streak. But it's when that promise expands to shatter boundaries and expand possibilities beyond Top-40 parameters that pop music becomes pop phenomena. And Michael Jackson, in the early 1980s, was a pop phenomenon powerful enough to pool together previously polarized audiences -- heavy metal, disco, funk -- and get them all on the same bandwagon. Only twice before -- with Elvis Presley and the Beatles -- had the cultural landscape been changed as decisively by a pop star. It hasn't happened since -- and may never happen again. Certainly, \"Thriller,\" the best-selling LP of all time, won't be surpassed because LPs have been superseded twice over by discs and downloads. Jackson's off-stage public diffidence gave the impression that his transformations of both self and society were all happening by off-hand magic. But his wispy speaking voice belied a steely resolve to control his image, his artistry and his product. The energy he devoted to keep what he considered \"negativity\" at bay was meant to nurture his audience's dreams of release -- and to maintain his primacy in the pop marketplace. Even the eccentricities, at the peak of his influence, seemed calculated to promote, if not perpetuate, his product. But time (by far, Jackson's worst and most formidable enemy) couldn't stop even his most devoted admirers from wondering what drove him to change his appearance so drastically over the years. Or why he wanted to both save the world and hide from it with the same ferocious intensity. If he'd been able to stop the clock at 1985 or even 1987 (the year of \"Bad\"), life would have been so much easier. The magic faded. Setbacks and embarrassments were occasionally offset by a tour or show that transported us back to the better, happier times when we were willing to overlook real life for our most elemental dreams of release. We seek those dreams even more urgently now that we know, for certain, that we'll never again see him on stage -- the one place where he was happiest and most assured. But perhaps the hardest dream to give up -- and the reason so many people in so many countries were almost physically leveled by yesterday's news -- is of finding common ground and sharing common awe in a song or a dance or a single act of outreaching, transcendent audacity. However divided (or worse) we may have felt about Michael Jackson at the end, we cherish how he brought out the best in us at the beginning. Whatever the days ahead, that will be more than enough for now, forever. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gene Seymour." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gene Seymour: We want to relive the promise of Jackson's eternal youth .\nHe says the final years of his life were bizarre and sad .\nSeymour: Jackson pooled heavy metal, disco and funk audiences .\nJackson's \"Thriller\" LP will never be surpassed, he says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Roya Hakakian is the author of \"Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.\" Her web site is http://www.royahakakian.com/live/. Roya Hakakian says she lived through an earlier moment when Iranians thought freedom was at hand. (CNN) -- Since last Saturday, the images of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman who died on the streets of Tehran, keep playing before my eyes. When I don't look at the clip on my computer, it runs on its own in my mind's eye. What has me so riveted is not entirely empathy, the intuitive human response the images are bound to stir in everyone. There is also something less noble at work in me, an obsession with seeing my own face upon hers. Each time I see her die, I die along with her. I, too, was born and raised in Iran. My coming-of-age years coincided with the Iranian revolution of 1979. I, too, was on the streets, watching and rooting for the demonstrators. Nothing seemed more natural, more compelling than being on the streets, calling for freedom, breathing the intoxicating, the dangerously euphoric Tehran air. I was 12 in 1978, yet I was as undaunted as any adult. Nothing, least of all my pleading parents, could keep me away from the rooftops at 9 p.m. Amid the night's dark, where the crowds were as indiscernible as ghosts, the shouts of \"Allah-o-akbar\" rose from every rooftop like smoke rising from an invisible bonfire. We were all victims of the flames and the very arsonists at once. We were burning in the fire of our own making. Thirty years hence that fire still burns in Iran, because moments before her death, Neda Agha Soltan cried: \"I'm on fire!\" I am entranced by her because she and I are the only two possibilities of the dictatorial narrative: Death or escape. She died. I escaped. I live. And because I live I cannot escape her death -- the memory of her large eyes languidly drifting to one side, then freezing upon the abyss. Survival of this kind brings its own eternal damnation: A bifurcated existence lived in the here and now, but perpetually haunted by there and then. Making peace with the past would have been easier, if only the essence of that past had not been in doubt, if its dignity were intact. But in my first American ride in my first American taxi cab, I learned the staggering counter-narrative that I would hear again and again, dominating the western perceptions of Iran, when the driver asked: \"So, where are you from?\" \"I come from Iran,\" I said, in broken English. \"Eeran,\" he asked with uncertainty. \"Eeeran?\" Then passing his fingertips across his throat like a knife, he said, \"Eeran ... Khomeini?\" In that, 2,500 years of civilization was reduced to one vile name and the invocation of a throat being slit. It did not take long for me to learn that between the Iran that I knew and the Iran that Americans knew was a discrepancy as vast as the waters that separated us. I soon learned that the images of a fist-throwing mob of angry men and darkly veiled women burning the Uncle Sam effigies were the only images that most Americans had of Iran. Those images had little in common with the Iran I knew -- greater in numbers and in the grip of the same fist-throwing crowds. With Neda's death, the Iran I know finally has a face. The sequence of her death is the sequence of our nation's struggle in the past 30 years: The democratic future that 1979 was to deliver collapsing, then trails of blood -- that of so many executed or assassinated -- streaming across its bright promise. The film of Neda's death is the abbreviated history of contemporary Iran. If history is a contest among competing narratives and icons, let the image of a young woman lying on the ground endure as that of Iran today. Let it loom so large to wipe away the memory of the thugs marching American hostages out of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Let the scarf that loosens and falls off her head to expose her dark hair be emblazoned in our memories as the metaphor for the plight of Iran's women. As if her death were not tragic enough, the authorities have banned all mosques throughout Tehran from holding prayer services for Neda. Silence in the face of such inhumanity is a sin as great as the one a war could spur. This Friday evening throughout Iran, people will be lighting candles in memory of Neda and others who have died in the past few days. Here in the United States, I hope you join me and thousands of my compatriots in a memorial campaign for Neda by asking your religious and spiritual leaders to include a prayer for Neda and other fallen Iranians of the recent days in this week's services. For 30 years, Iran's regime has appropriated God. Let us reclaim God from those who deny a family the right to properly mourn the death of their child through our prayers and help bring peace to a tormented nation. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roya Hakakian." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Roya Hakakian: I was a girl in Iran during the revolution of 1979 .\nShe says she saw the hopes of democracy and freedom quashed .\nHakakian: Join me in praying for Neda and other fallen Iranians ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums -- including \"Off the Wall,\" \"Thriller\" and \"Bad\" -- and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time, died Thursday, CNN has confirmed. He was 50. He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center. As news of his death spread, stunned fans began to react and remember one of the most remarkable careers in music." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Video shows ambulance rushing the pop star to the hospital .\nCrowds gather at the hospital where Jackson was rushed .\nA.J. Hammer: This \"is big as it gets\"; Rev. Al Sharpton: He was \"a trailblazer\"\nMotown founder Berry Gordy Jr. says he's \"numbed and shocked\" at the news ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- From street corners, buses and subways to phone calls, e-mails, text messages, online posts and tweets, people around the world commented, pondered, and paid tribute to pop legend Michael Jackson, who died Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles. Pedestrians in Sydney, Australia, watch a TV screen announcing Michael Jackson's death on Friday. Around midnight at London's Leicester Square, as news of Jackson's death spread, Luis Carlos Ameida and his friends were surrounding a car listening to the star's music. Ameida said he'd gotten tickets to see Jackson at his \"This Is It\" concerts beginning on July 13 in London. \"From a young age, you know, I used to have the video game,\" said Ameida. \"I used to have the white suit, and I'd wear it on my birthday. I used to moonwalk ... I remember my mum used to send me to lessons to be like Michael Jackson. And when I heard the news, I had tears in my eyes because of that connection I had because of all the songs he used to play.\" In Glastonbury, southern England, where one of the world's largest music festivals was to kick off Friday morning, initial rumors and then confirmation of Jackson's death added to confusion and then shock among festival goers. Watch British fans react » . \"As I was walking back through the crowd it was the word on everyone's lips,\" Sally Anne Aldous, 29, told CNN over the phone. Reaction from around the world in pictures » . Backstage, Michael Jackson songs were being played in tribute, and fans talked of an impromptu memorial for the late singer at the \"Stone Circle,\" a neolithic monument in the grounds of the venue. In Adelaide, Australia, Christos Winter of the MJ Fan Club had organized a petition to bring Jackson to tour there. \"It didn't matter if you were 60, 40 or 20 like I am. Michael Jackson's music just spoke to everyone ... It was always uplifting and happy music,\" Winter told CNN. On a street in New Delhi, India, 31-year-old Sachina Verma said on Friday, \"Any of the baby boomer generation or, you know, people from my age or our time, I mean they have grown up on his music. Literally, people have been inspired by his dance movements, by his music. Tributes appeared on YouTube and CNN's iReport. \"I remember growing up in the Middle East, influenced, enjoying his music, waiting for his albums,\" CNN iReporter Rany Freeman, an Egyptian living in Canada, said in a video submission. \"Regardless to his strange behaviors or questionable events that happened to his life, let's remember him as the great entertainer he was.\" Another iReporter, Peter Maiyoh, a Kenyan student studying in the U.S. city of Kansas, Missouri, called Jackson \"the voice of change,\" saying \"he was there before Tiger Woods, before Michael Jordan, even before Barack Obama ... I hope people remember him for the work he did.\" On a Facebook page dedicated to Michael Jackson, fans across the world left hundreds of messages in languages ranging from French and Spanish to Japanese and Hebrew. Watch fan reaction in Tokyo, Japan » . \"SHANGHAI WILL MISS YOU! NOT JUST SHANGHAI!..EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD WILL MISS YOU! WE LOVE YOU MICHAEL!!!\" wrote Vrishti Bhowmik. Kase Ng, a 24-year-old manicurist and member of the Michael Jackson Hong Kong Fan Club, told CNN by phone she had been planning to go with four friends to his August 1 concert in London. Watch fans in Hong Kong, China, react » . Expressing sadness and shock over Jackson's death, Ng recalled being inspired by an interview he once gave to Oprah Winfrey. \"He said if you have power, try to give it back and help the others, and I will try to do that,\" she said. At a music store in Beijing, China, Jackson songs were being played, and his albums were put on special display. \"I rather enjoyed it (his music) because in my family my brother's generation likes his music,\" said customer Xu Wei. \"Many, many people in China like him a lot.\" Watch reaction from around the world . Although Jackson never played in mainland China, his music was among the first in the West made available there, as the peak of his popularity during the 1980s coincided with the opening up of the communist country. On Friday, Chinese netizens had set up a Web site memorial to Jackson, and on Fanfou.com, China's version of Twitter, the pop star has become the most popular tag. Fanfou user Layla Suen, or \"Leilajiang,\" of Shenyang city in Liaoning province wrote about her memories of Jackson: \"When I was only four, my brother demanded that I learn his 'Thriller.' It was the second song I've ever learnt (the first one being something taught by the kindergarten teacher). Everytime I sing it at my kindergarten it would scare a bunch of little children.\" Chinese blogger and media commentator Michael Anti wrote on his Facebook page: \"So sad about Jackson's Death, for my English first name is really named after him when I was a freshman.\" Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, tweeted in the hour after Jackson's death was announced, \"My twitter search script sees roughly 15% of all posts on Twitter mentioning Michael Jackson. Never saw Iran or swine flu reach over 5%.\" As Jackson's death quickly overshadowed all else Friday, commentators worried that the world would forget about political developments in Iran. \"Am I the only one who thinks that Michael Jackson's passing is the worst thing that could have happened to the protesters in Iran?\" wrote Melissa Cohen, or mcohen00, on Twitter. CNN's Emily Chang, Jaime FlorCruz, Miranda Leitsinger, Mairi Mackay, Linnie Rawlinson and Bharati Naik contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fans across the world remark on Jackson's music .\nPostings on Twitter express concern Jackson will overshadow Iran .\n\"I remember growing up in the Middle East ... waiting for his albums,\" iReporter says .\nChinese netizens set up Web site memorial for Jackson ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(AOL Autos) -- There are two good ways to buy your new car or truck at a reasonable low price and avoid all of the negotiating games and hassles: . 1. Buy through the Internet . Buying your new or used car or truck through the Internet is the easiest and most hassle-free way to make the purchase. All you have to do is choose the vehicle brand and model you wish to purchase as well as provide some basic contact information such as your name and e-mail address. In return, you'll receive - via e-mail - low bottom-line selling prices from dealerships in your area for the exact vehicle you want to buy. Compare the various selling prices and find the lowest one. Then, simply go direct to that dealership's Internet Department, sign the papers and drive your new car home - no negotiating, no hassles. To begin the process, get your free price quotes from AOL Autos. It only takes a few minutes. This service is totally free and you are under no obligation or pressure to buy. AOL, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner. Within 24 hours, you'll receive your bottom-line selling prices from dealerships in your area. Once you've compared the various prices and found the lowest one, you then have four good options: . • You can go to the dealership that gave you the lowest price, sign the papers and drive your new car home -- no hassles, no negotiating. AOL Autos: Best deals of the month . • You can try to negotiate the lowest price with the dealership in order to get the price even lower. There's nothing that says you can't. AOL Autos: Aggressive car buying tactics . • You can shop the lowest price around to other dealerships to see if any of them are willing to beat it. AOL Autos: Which dealers treat you best? • You can do nothing. If you feel unsure or uncertain, then set it aside for a while. You are not obligated to buy anything you don't want. By getting these low bottom-line selling prices via the Internet, you're avoiding the car salesman's entire negotiating game altogether. And you're buying your car at about the same price you would expect after lengthy negotiations. It's certainly the fastest and easiest way to beat the car salesman. AOL Autos: New rules to car buying . 2. Buy through the dealership's Fleet Department . Almost every dealership has a division called the \"Fleet Department.\" It usually consists of only a handful of salespeople who specialize in selling fleets of cars -- large orders of several vehicles direct to businesses. This department is authorized by the dealership to sell their cars at bottom-line non-negotiable prices. The prices they offer are about the same as you would expect from an online price quote or after lengthy negotiations. A secret of the car business is that many dealerships' Fleet Departments also sell direct to the public. By the rules of the game, however, they can't advertise to the public since they don't want to compete with the dealership's retail sales team. So to buy from the Fleet Department, you have to specifically ask. To buy your vehicle direct from the dealership's Fleet Department, simply call the dealership and ask to speak with the Fleet Manager. When you get him on the line, explain to him that you're ready to buy a car and you'd like to buy it from him. If he asks you what business you are associated with, tell him where you work. He'll probably be happy to set up an appointment with you. When you arrive at the dealership, the Fleet Manager will show you the vehicle, allow you to test drive it, and then bring you to the office to discuss price. With absolutely no negotiations, he'll offer you a reasonable bottom-line non-negotiable selling price for the vehicle. If the price he gives you falls within the pre-set limits of your buying goal and you're satisfied with the deal, then you can buy the car. No pressure, no games, no hassles. If for some reason, you don't want to buy the vehicle, you are under no obligation. Simply thank the salesman for his time and leave on good terms. Then, if you'd like, you can visit (or call) the Fleet Departments of other dealerships to compare prices. The selling prices offered by the various Fleet Departments can vary depending upon their inventories. AOL Autos: Have a car shopping game plan ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You can solicit best price quotes from car dealers over the Internet .\nYou can shop the lowest price to other dealers to see if they will match or beat it .\nIndividuals can also buy car from dealer's Fleet Department ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- One female fan on Twitter said \"Off the Wall\" was the first cassette tape she owned. \"I have it on CD now and still listen to it,\" she said. Many people found out about Michael Jackson's death through Web sites like Twitter and Facebook. \"I saw the Victory Tour at Dodger Stadium in 1984,\" posted a man on his Facebook status update. \"Anybody else?\" And on CNN's iReport.com, a tearful Melissa Fazli of Yorba Linda, California, posted an emotional video. \"I grew up with Michael Jackson,\" she said, choking back tears. \"This is just a very sad day.\" From Facebook to Flickr, Twitter to YouTube, stunned and saddened fans came together across the vast online universe to share their memories of the iconic pop star, who died Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles. By Thursday evening, 9 of the 10 top trending topics on micro-blogging site Twitter were about Michael Jackson. Because traditional media outlets were slow to confirm the news of Jackson's death, many people appeared to find out through messages on social-networking sites. Some of those linked to celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, which was among the first to report the news. \"Damn ... it's official,\" posted one Twitter user, shortly after the news of Jackson's death was confirmed. \"RIP to the BIGGEST star the world has EVER seen.\" Another woman vowed in a tweet never to change her cell phone's ringtone, which was set to \"P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing),\" a hit from Jackson's classic \"Thriller\" album. Sony BMG, Jackson's music label, removed from its Web site a list of dates for the singer's European tour, which was to kick off next month in London. Within minutes, Jackson's Wikipedia page had been updated to reflect his death, with biographical information changed to the past tense. On Flickr, fans posted images from all phases of Jackson's career, from his child-star, large-Afro days to moody publicity shots to dramatic photos of a costumed, windblown Jackson in concert. While most fans celebrated Jackson's buoyant music and dynamic stage presence, others viewed him as a tragic figure with an increasingly bizarre public image who, in his later years, battled child molestation charges and mounting debt. One grieving fan posted an image on Flickr of herself, head in hands. \"He was ... amazing. And had amazing songs. :( What's so weird is that I was singing his songs today before I found out about this,\" she wrote. \"At least he'll be safe now. Away from all the troubles and stuff. :)\" On Twitter and other sites, several online mourners posted \"Never Can Say Goodbye,\" echoing the title of one of the Jackson 5's early hits. Another fan quoted from Jackson's \"Man in the Mirror,\" saying, \"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make a change.\" The swirling news may have overwhelmed Facebook, which was inaccessible at times Thursday evening. When the site was viewable, people filled their status updates with Jackson memories, lyrics and links to his videos. Others remarked on the coincidence of two pop icons, Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, dying within hours of each other. \"Johnny [Carson] is going to have a great show in heaven tonight,\" wrote a Los Angeles man on Facebook. Ed [McMahon]'s back, and he's got two great new guests.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Stunned fans came together across the Web to share memories of Michael Jackson .\nThursday evening, 9 of the 10 top trending topics on Twitter were about Jackson .\nMany people appeared to find out about his death through social-networking sites .\nSony BMG removes a calendar for the singer's concert tour from Jackson's Web site ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England -- A huge crowd gathered in London, UK on Friday for a mass \"moonwalk\" -- paying tribute to Michael Jackson by dancing to his most iconic songs and replicating his famous walk. Two young fans who say Michael Jackson meant a lot to them donned self-made T-shirts at the event in London. The horde of people gathered on the streets outside Liverpool Street train station, one of the city's major transport hubs, and burst out into cheers, chants and dances to the tunes of \"Billie Jean,\" \"Bad\" and \"Thriller.\" Life-long Jackson fan Milo Yiannopoulos organized the moonwalk, the singer's trademark backwards shuffle, by sending messages via Twitter and Facebook. His messages went \"viral\" --spreading like wildfire around the Internet -- as the number of people wanting to join his impromptu \"flash mob\" event far exceeded his expectations: . \"I don't know what I've unleashed here,\" Yiannopoulos, who said he doesn't even know how to moonwalk, told CNN. He came up with the ideas \"because of all of the stuff people are saying about Michael Jackson -- surgeries, molestation etc. -- I wanted to do something to remind people how great he really is and remind them of his music.\" But those who were there did not seem to need much reminding of Jackson's greatness. \"He is the biggest idol in my life. Unfortunately, I did not grow up with all his best hits, but he has been so important for me. I am very sad,\" said 13-year-old Paul Graham, who wore a self-made Michael Jackson \"Rest in Peace\" T-shirt. See images of Jackson fans at the moonwalk event » . Another of the many young fans there was 17-year-old George Webster, who spontaneously performed a perfect Michael Jackson dance routine for a cheering audience. He told CNN: \"This is a celebration. We are here to remember Michael Jackson's best moments.\" And the laughing crowd did indeed seem to be celebrating, rather than mourning: . Hanging off lampposts and standing atop telephone booths, people were brandishing everything from white paper gloves to black hats and face masks. Watch video of the crowd singing to Billie Jean » . British television presenter Gail Porter was also at the tribute: \"As soon as I saw it on Twitter, I thought 'let's go and have a dance',\" she told CNN while twittering away on her cell phone. The gathering started off to a rocky start, as the short notice had left London city police unsure about how to handle it and what to expect. They were overheard telling organizer Yiannopoulos that they would not allow him to do the moonwalk outside the station and that he had to limit his gathering to 300 people. Eventually the crowd was allowed to gather outside, attracting many more tourists, commuters and passers-by to join in the event. \"I want to thank the police for being so cool,\" Yiannopoulos told the audience. \"You guys are great, let's continue dancing.\" More tributes are now expected to take place around the world and Austria has already replicated London's moonwalk event with their own on Friday." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A huge crowd gathered in London, UK on Friday for a mass \"moonwalk\"\nThe crowd paid tribute to the Michael Jackson by dancing to his famous tunes .\nThe celebratory event was organized through Twitter and Facebook ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(WIRED) -- Two cable powerhouses have announced an ambitious pilot program that aims to convince their customers that, actually, TV on the web should not be free. Jeffrey Bewkes, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, speaks at the NCTA conference in Washington. With a service called TV Everywhere, Comcast and Time Warner will give cable subscribers access to \"premium\" television content via broadband, and later cellphone connections. To begin with, 5,000 Comcast subscribers will begin testing the system next month, giving them access to Time Warner's TBS and TNT channels on their computers, and the same channels' video-on-demand catalogs on their cable boxes. If you made peace long ago with the idea of paying a monthly cable bill, this probably sounds great. It means watching your existing subscription on new screens without paying additional fees or buying more hardware. (Of course, as consumers adopt TV Everywhere, they can probably expect price increases.) But if you prefer to watch your television for free on ad-supported sites like Hulu while paying only for the internet connection that delivers it, you could be in for a rude awakening. TV Everywhere represents an alternative -- and possible threat -- to the popular Hulu model. If the pilot program impresses the group -- and proves to other networks that its user-authentication system is secure -- Comcast and Time Warner expect the other television programmers, ISPs and mobile providers to join, giving all cable subscribers a way to watch the content they pay for on their televisions using any broadband-connected computer or authenticated cellphone. Already \"at least 92 percent of Americans qualify to watch this for free online,\" according to Jeff Bewkes, chairman and CEO of Time Warner. For these subscribers, TV Everywhere represents a potential win. The only question is whether they will keep paying for the old cable subscription model as their viewing habits shift online. There's nothing to stop television networks from putting their content on both Hulu and TV Everywhere, because TV Everywhere's contract will be non-exclusive, according to Bewkes. However, given the choice between Hulu and TV Everywhere, television programmers have an incentive to go with the latter. Only the TV Everywhere model promises to port yesterday's lucrative business model onto today's platforms. And that, according to some critics, is exactly the problem. \"[TV Everywhere] raises substantial anti-competitive issues by restricting the availability of programming to the favored distribution methods,\" said Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of the public interest group Public Knowledge. \"Under the TV Everywhere plan, no other program distributors would be able to emerge, and no consumers will be able to 'cut the cord' because they find what they want online. As a result, consumers will be the losers. \"In addition, we are concerned that this program violates the open nature of the internet. By adding this additional toll lane, Comcast and Time Warner want to create their own 'managed channel' within the internet and turn the internet into their own private cable channel.\" So, what about Hulu? Will its deals fall through given this new option? \"There will be some part [of Time Warner's content] that will be out there [on Hulu], said Bewkes.\"Short-form content, I think, will continue to be available -- promotional content will continue to be available.\" However, only cable subscribers will be able to access other content online -- through officially licensed avenues, anyway. Bewkes added that some other television programmers have avoided Hulu \"for security concerns and because they didn't like the model,\" but that they will give TV Everywhere a chance. \"Consumers vote every single month with their pocketbook,\" he added. \"They don't have to subscribe to cable. They don't have to pay for these services, yet they do. The number of people paying for subscription television has gone up and up and up every single quarter that we've been in the business.\" Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here! Copyright 2009 Wired.com." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Comcast and Time Warner will give cable subscribers online access to tv content .\nProgram is called TV Everywhere and will begin testing next month .\nTV Everywhere represents alternative -- and possible threat -- to popular Hulu model .\nSome of Time Warner's content will remain on Hulu.com ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The teenage niece of golf superstar Tiger Woods has failed to make the cut in her first professional tournament. Cheyenne Woods was handed entry into the Wegmans tournament on a sponsor's invite. Cheyenne Woods was four strokes shy of qualifying for the weekend rounds of the LPGA Tour's Wegmans event at Locust Hill in Rochester, New York. The 18-year-old had to complete her second round on Saturday along with half of the 140-player field due to delays of almost five hours following thunderstorms in the area. Competing on a sponsor's invite, the college amateur followed up her opening 75 with a two-over-par 74 to be well down the field. She had been two-under for the round after 10 holes on Friday, but fell back again with a triple-bogey at the par-four 12th before finishing strongly with a birdie. Cheyenne is the daughter of world No. 1 Tiger's half-brother, Earl Jnr. Defending champion Eun-Hee Ji also missed the cut after completing a 71 which saw her seven over the card. South Korean Shin Jiyai had led by three strokes overnight after posting a 68 which gave her a 36-hole total of 11-under-par 133. However, Morgan Pressel reduced that advantage to just a single stroke when she picked up two birdies to complete a 66, leaving her one shot ahead of third-placed fellow American Stacy Lewis." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cheyenne Woods four strokes shy of qualifying for final rounds of Wegmans event .\nThe 18-year-old completed a weather-delayed second round of 74 on Saturday .\nThe college amateur opened her debut LPGA Tour tournament with a 75 .\nPlaying on sponsor's invite, she is daughter of Tiger Woods' half-brother ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Sharp-witted. Direct. In control. Loyal. Jenny Sanford, here with her husband, was a Wall Street executive before she married Mark Sanford. That's how friends describe Jenny Sanford, the wife of Gov. Mark Sanford, who confessed to the nation in a rambling news conference that he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina. Jenny Sanford, unlike so many wives of cheating politicians, was not there facing the cameras, standing beside her husband. A reporter asked the governor if he and his wife of 20 years were separated. \"I'm here, and she's there,\" he replied. As romantic e-mails between her husband and his mistress were published by a local newspaper Thursday, the state's first lady, a former Wall Street executive, stayed far away from reporters. She was at the family's home on Sullivan's Island in South Carolina with her four sons and a few friends. \"Don't you know that is what Jenny Sanford is about? That is what is authentic about Jenny Sanford. She is not going to humiliate herself by standing next to a story,\" said Cyndi Mosteller, a friend of the Sanfords since 1992 and the former first vice chairwoman of the South Carolina GOP. \"She will stand next to Mark emotionally, but she cannot stand in the glare of others,\" Mosteller continued. \"She is out there taking a dignified road, one that is defined by principle, even if her heart might have difficulty following that principle. But her overriding priority is to protect her children.\" Jenny Sanford released a lengthy statement late Wednesday making clear she had learned of her husband's infidelity before his recent secret trip to Buenos Aires. His whereabouts were a mystery for six days, leaving his family in the dark and creating a power vacuum and considerable confusion in the Capitol, with aides telling reporters he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. \"When I found out about my husband's infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage,\" she wrote. \"We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago. \"This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure.\" Mosteller's brother-in-law was with Jenny Sanford on Thursday as the e-mails penned to \"Maria\" became public. The messages from Mark Sanfordcompliment the woman on her \"tan lines\" and \"gentle kisses.\" The e-mails were published by The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina's capital, which said the governor's office confirmed they are authentic. When contacted by CNN, the governor's office would neither confirm nor deny their authenticity. \"[The e-mails] are almost like reading a novel that you would embarrassed to buy,\" Mosteller said. \"To be one of his four children and know that is there for the world to see, it is incredible to all of us.\" Jenny Sanford grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and earned a degree in finance from Georgetown University. She met Mark Sanford when they worked for investment firms in New York, she at Lazard Freres and he at Goldman Sachs. The two married and moved to his native South Carolina, and she managed his campaign for Congress in 1994. \"Mark started out with five other opponents, and he didn't really have a shot. That was the opinion of most people,\" Mosteller said. \"But she and Mark worked together and turned that thing around so that candidate three, four and five ended up throwing their support behind him, and he won.\" The two are equals intellectually, according to people who know them. She went on to manage his gubernatorial campaign in 2002, turning her home into campaign headquarters. Jenny Sanford was more than a visible first lady of South Carolina; she was involved in the finances of her husband's office to an extent that drew heated criticism from his opponents. She also took a $70,000 deficit from the operations of the governor's mansion and put its finances into the black. \"I pretty much am in his office in the mornings most days, and I do pretty much anything he wants me to do for him. I help to bridge the gap between things that have been commonplace themes in his life and make sure everybody in the office is on pace with his agenda,\" Jenny Sanford told Charleston's Post and Courier in June 2005. The governor told the newspaper that his wife is \"particularly good with financial analysis [and] working with numbers.\" She took up health as a key issue in her role as first lady, advocating nutrition, exercise and cancer prevention, serving on major boards and speaking at various functions to raise funds for disease research. \"This is a classy woman who lacks pretension,\" Mosteller said. \"I took a road trip with her last year, and she just automatically got into the back seat. When we were making a lot of appearances, and the schedules were hectic, she called and said, 'I've figured out that the key is changing your deodorant.' \"Jenny is someone you can talk politics with, you can talk about grand issues with, and you can also discuss deodorant,\" Mosteller said. \"She's a remarkable, classy woman with a lot of integrity who is trying to keep it together.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Friend: Jenny Sanford, former Wall Street executive, is avoiding media .\nGov. Mark Sanford's wife ran his political campaigns, was major force in his career .\nGovernor's e-mails called \"novel that you would be embarrassed to buy\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- I was a high school student in 1983, when the video for \"Thriller\" was released, getting plenty of air time on MTV. By then, the network's \"M\" could just as easily have stood for Michael. It was an event. At a time when MTV was criticizing for not featuring black artists, Michael Jackson's success changed all that. I can remember getting together with a group of friends to watch the premiere like it was a new movie release. The video did not disappoint. Once again Michael disregarded all conventions of the genre and not just redefined, but completely re-imagined, what a music video could be. But most people don't know that the album broke new ground in a non-musical way, too. Viewers today of MTV, with its steady stream of reality shows like \"Real World 22 - Cancun\" and \"16 and Pregnant,\" might forget that, when it started nearly three decades ago, MTV was all music, all day. Actually, it wasn't really all music. It was just what MTV considered rock music. By the late 1970s, radio formats had essentially resegregated the music world. When MTV launched in 1981, it modeled its playlist on the popular album-oriented rock radio format of the day, which meant that music by black artists was effectively excluded from the network. You might see the occasional Jimi Hendrix clip, but there was no room for funk, disco, R&B or that new emerging form -- rap. It wasn't long before the public took note of the glaring absence of African-American artists. MTV was called to task on the air in 1983 for its lack of black artists by none other than David Bowie. At about the same time, MTV famously refused to air Rick James' \"Superfreak\" video. It defended itself by claiming it wasn't a rock song. Michael Jackson changed all that. Jackson opened the door with the video for \"Billie Jean,\" which was simply too good for its time to be overlooked. He blew that door wide open with \"Beat It,\" which featured a guitar solo by the reigning rock god of the day, Eddie Van Halen. Jackson succeeded in this not just because he was a great singer, but because of his musical daring. \"Beat It\" was a song that was incapable of being slotted among the genres of the day. Yes, it had all the signatures of a rock song -- overdriven guitars, a driving tempo and a searing solo. But it had more. It had a backbeat. You could dance to it. You wanted to dance to it. And the viewers loved it, regardless of their race or ethnicity. iReport.com: Share stories of Jackson's success, legacy . Jackson's effect on MTV was both immediate and permanent. His videos became cultural events and his success laid waste to the notion that white rock audiences wouldn't tune in for \"black\" music. In the aftermath of Jackson's breakthrough success, MTV helped usher rap into the mainstream with shows like \"Yo! MTV Raps,\" and black artists like Prince and Chaka Khan became mainstays of the network. It wasn't long before young people schooled on a diet that ranged from Public Enemy to AC/DC began to experiment with what those genres would sound like if they were combined -- just as Jackson had done with \"Beat It.\" The outcome was some of the most interesting music of the next decade. Artists like Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, P.O.D. and Beck all owe a debt of gratitude to Jackson for creating a welcoming environment. And we as fans all owe him the acknowledgment reserved for those individuals whose achievements transcend their chosen field and reshape the world around us. Watch fans in Los Angeles react to Jackson's death » . I was always mournful about the sad spectacle his life became in recent years. But that should not detract from the meteor-like impact he had on popular culture at his peak. Michael Jackson was the Jackie Robinson of MTV. He disregarded the conventional categories of the day and created something that was both new and immediately accessible to millions of listeners. In so doing, he forced an industry still informed by stubborn prejudices to rethink itself. Most successful entertainers can ride in tandem with the zeitgeist for only so long before they drift away. Michael Jackson did more than that. He inhabited the zeitgeist and bent it to his will. No matter where his life may have gone after that, it cannot overshadow this transcendent moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Michael Jackson's breakthrough success forced MTV to rethink itself .\nMTV had been criticized for not airing videos by black artists .\nMany viewers, regardless of race or ethnicity, loved Jackson's videos ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- United States accident investigators are probing two recent failures of airspeed and altitude indications aboard Airbus A330s -- the same type of plane that crashed into the Atlantic nearly a month ago. Investigators are looking into incidents aboard two other Airbus A330s. The planes landed safely and there were no injuries or damage, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. One flight was between the United States and Brazil in May and the other between Hong Kong and Japan in June. The probes were launched in the aftermath of the June 1 crash in the Atlantic Ocean -- when Air France Flight 447 was flying to Paris, France, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All 228 people on board the plane, an A330, were killed. Investigators are looking at the possible role of airspeed sensors known as pitot tubes, among other factors, as a possible cause of the Flight 447 crash. That flight sent 24 automated error messages in the four minutes before it crashed, the head of the French accident investigation board, Paul-Louis Arslanian, has said. The error messages all indicate there were problems with on-board information about the plane's speed, which can cause some of the plane's instruments to stop functioning, Arslanian said. Search teams are looking for the bulk of the plane's wreckage and for its flight data recorders. The first of the two incidents being investigated by the NTSB happened May 21, when a TAM Airlines flight from Miami, Florida, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, experienced a loss of primary speed and altitude information while in flight, the NTSB said. \"Initial reports indicate that the flight crew noted an abrupt drop in indicated outside air temperature, followed by the loss of the Air Data Reference System and disconnections of the autopilot and autothrust, along with the loss of speed and altitude information,\" the NTSB said. The flight crew used backup instruments and the primary data was restored in about five minutes, the NTSB said. Another \"possibly similar\" incident happened June 23 on a Northwest Airlines flight between Hong Kong and Tokyo, Japan, the NTSB said. Investigators from the NTSB are gathering data recorder information, monitoring system messages, crew statements and weather information, the NTSB said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probe involves two failures of airspeed and altitude indications aboard A330s .\nOn June 1, an Air France A330 crashed into the Atlantic .\nInvestigators are looking at the possible role of airspeed sensors in that crash .\nThe planes involved in the other two incidents landed safely ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A sharply divided House of Representatives narrowly passed a White House-backed climate change bill Friday after hours of cajoling and arm-twisting by Democratic leaders among members worried about the legislation's potential economic and political fallout. The House of Representatives passes an energy bill that includes a \"cap-and-trade\" program on emissions. The bill passed 219-212, with virtually no Republican support. The bill would reduce nationwide greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 through a so-called \"cap-and-trade\" program under which companies would buy and sell emissions credits. Among other things, the bill would also require utilities to generate an increasing amount of power from renewable sources. Even before daybreak Friday, consternation over the bill brewed anew. The Democrats released a 301-page amendment to the bill at 3:09 a.m. Friday, drawing protest from Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. \"This is the biggest job-killing bill that has ever been on the floor of the House of Representatives. Right here. This bill,\" Boehner said. The leaders of the House are customarily granted unlimited speaking time, but when the Boehner's speech went more than 2½ hours, Democrats objected. \"Is this an attempt to try to get some people to leave on a close vote?\" asked Rep Henry Waxman, D-California, the bill's lead sponsor. Also Friday, the House of Representatives phone switchboard went down as conservative radio hosts and congressmen made direct pleas for voters to dial the Capitol to voice their opposition to the bill. \"Phone traffic has increased to a level where some callers are receiving an 'all circuits are busy now, please try back again later' message,\" communications director Jeff Ventura said via e-mail. Congressional sources said Democrats were hoping their constituents would also attempt to match phone calls opposed to the bill with phone calls for the bill. \"Call your congressman, right now!\" urged Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, from the House floor as the chamber seemed near a vote. Ventura said the bill was likely behind the phone-line crash. \"The suspected cause ... is believed to be interest and inquiries regarding the expected vote on the climate bill,\" he wrote. The House vote came one day after President Obama made an urgent plea for congressional approval in what could be an early make-or-break test of his young administration. \"Now is the time for us to lead,\" Obama said during an appearance Thursday in the White House Rose Garden. \"We cannot be afraid of the future. We cannot be prisoners to the past.\" The president said the bill will spark a \"clean energy transformation\" of the U.S. economy and \"make possible the creation of millions of new jobs.\" \"Make no mistake,\" he emphasized. \"This is a jobs bill.\" Several moderate and conservative Democrats indicated that they received heavy constituent pressure in the final hours to buck their party leadership and vote against the bill. \"I can't begin to tell you how many calls we've received,\" said Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas. \"And it's disproportionately vote 'no.'\" Gonzalez, who voted \"yes,\" believes special interest groups generated many of the calls on both sides, including the late surge of negative feedback. However, Gonzalez also said Obama tried to counter much of that pressure by personally reaching out to swing members since Thursday night. Republicans have argued the bill would have the unintended consequence of devastating the country's battered industrial base while pushing polluting industries to countries with lower environmental standards. Having cleared the House, the bill now faces an unclear future in the Senate, where Democratic leaders have held off on introducing their own version of the legislation. CNN's Evan Glass contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Democratic leaders, Obama twist arms to get politically dicey bill passed .\nBill would reduce nationwide greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 .\nGOP says bill would drive polluting companies to less-regulated countries .\nBill faces unclear future in Senate, where it has not been introduced ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- \"Refugees are the most vulnerable people on Earth. They are fighting to survive.\" -- Angelina Jolie, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador . Children play in floodwater at a Pakistan refugee camp after floods displaced residents in August 2008. The world's population at the end of last year included 42 million displaced people, 80 percent of them in developing nations, according to a report this week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many of these refugees are living in minimal standards for shelter and are exposed daily to the harshest elements of weather, the report says. For example, in Pakistan, some 300,000 refugees are living outdoors, in tents or similar structures, said Michael Kocher, vice president of international programs for the International Rescue Committee. That part of the world has been hit hard by extreme weather over the past couple of months. First, extreme heat plagued Pakistan, with temperatures in May and June soaring past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). The heat is escalating the discomfort for many. \"People are living in cramped situations, often unsanitary situations, and it's very hot,\" Kocher said. \"In many places, there is not enough clean water or adequate sanitation. Heat exacerbates that problem.\" As World Refugee Day approaches -- it falls on Saturday this year -- the forecast calls for even more dramatic weather changes in the coming weeks. In Southeast Asia, long stretches of scorching temperatures are usually the prelude to the rainy, or monsoon, season. Watch Angelina Jolie talk to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the world's refugee problem » . The term \"monsoon\" refers to a seasonal reversal of wind that typically occurs in late June or early July. For countries like Pakistan and India, this change brings daily, nonstop downpours. The change in the weather is essential for local crops, according to John Fasullo, project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. \"The Southeast Asian monsoon is the key source for regional agriculture,\" he told CNN. \"It provides the majority of the moisture to support food needs for one-half the world's population. ... It also brings a beneficial cooling of the temperatures.\" The problem is, monsoon rains can also cause devastating floods. Fasullo says the threat for flooding can be \"continual from late June through early September.\" In Pakistan, for example, where agencies have witnessed a large increase in displaced people over the past year, the monsoon of 2008 was particularly intense. If 2009 brings similar floods to the country, there will be a new threat for refugees exposed to the storms: mud. Watch how the monsoon is affecting refugees » . \"The camps are quite threadbare,\" Kocher said. \"Tents are held to the ground by rope. It's hard to keep people dry. The ground gets muddy, which can lead to dirty water and bad sanitation facilities.\" Vulnerability to nature's dangerous elements is not only a concern for people displaced in Pakistan. Refugees in Afghanistan are subject to brutal winters, while in Iraq, scorching heat and sandstorms are common challenges for those without sufficient shelter. Of World Refugee Day, actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie says, \"Please do not forget them, and remember them on this day.\" Here are answers to some commonly asked questions: . • How can I help world refugees that are exposed to the monsoon season and other weather dangers? Go to CNN.com/ImpactYour World. There, you will find links to charities that help refugees and others in need. • Does the monsoon season affect the weather in the United States? Southern Arizona and parts of New Mexico see heavy rain during the North American monsoon season, which runs from June 15 through September 30. This time of year, the wind shifts, tapping into moisture from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico, and producing strong thunderstorms that bring the majority of the region's annual rainfall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As World Refugee Day approaches, monsoons could compound refugees' troubles .\nWorld contains 42 million displaced people -- 80 percent in developing nations .\nIn Pakistan, the 2008 monsoon season brought rains that flooded refugee camps .\nUN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie: \"Please do not forget them\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Kevin Fenton is director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fenton has written for journals including The Lancet, AIDS, the British Medical Journal and the Journal of Infectious Diseases. After graduating from medical school, Fenton earned his Masters in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and his Ph.D. in Epidemiology from University College London. Dr. Kevin Fenton urges Americans to get tested for HIV. ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Every 9½ minutes someone's brother, mother, sister, father, or neighbor becomes infected with HIV in the United States. That's 56,000 people every year. But there's something we can all do to help protect ourselves and our partners from this disease -- get tested for HIV. In the fight against HIV, I can tell you that few things are more important than testing. It's an essential step in reducing the number of new HIV infections and extending the lives of those who are infected. Put simply, HIV testing saves lives. As a CDC official, I've spoken with hundreds of people who have made the decision to get tested. Many described the relief they felt when they found out they were HIV-negative. Thanks to the HIV test, they could take steps to make sure they and their partners stay that way. I've also met people who found out they were HIV-positive. Although initially worried about their diagnosis and their future, they were thankful they had their infection diagnosed early, and were able to live long, healthy and productive lives with HIV. They had the knowledge and will to protect their partners from infection, or to prevent their infants from becoming HIV infected. I recently met one young woman who learned about her HIV infection after being diagnosed during routine HIV testing in pregnancy. By getting tested early, and having access to effective treatment, her child was born without HIV, and she now has two healthy children. She is a living testament that life does not stop with this disease. Instead, knowledge of her HIV status along with effective treatment and care has given her the freedom, resolve and respect to make choices to protect her life and the lives of those she loves. Yet today, not everyone has benefited from knowing their HIV status. Far too many individuals with HIV don't know that they're infected. CDC estimates that one in five people with HIV in the United States is unaware of being infected. That's more than 200,000 Americans who may be transmitting the virus to others without knowing it, and who can't take advantage of HIV treatments that could prolong and improve the quality of their lives. As we mark National HIV Testing Day on Saturday, I strongly encourage all Americans to get tested for HIV. At CDC, our goal is to make HIV testing as routine as a blood pressure check. HIV testing has never been quicker, easier or more accessible. In fact, with rapid HIV tests, results can be available in as little as 20 minutes, and tests can be given in your doctor's office or other locations in your community, such as churches and college campuses. To ensure that all Americans know their HIV status, CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV as part of routine medical care -- regardless of their perceived risk for infection. CDC also recommends that those at increased risk, such as sexually active gay and bisexual men, get tested at least annually. We are also working with our partners to bring HIV testing services directly to communities across the nation. Increased HIV testing will make it possible to significantly reduce the number of new infections. Research indicates the majority of new sexually transmitted HIV infections are transmitted by people who do not know they are HIV-infected. Studies also show that most people who test HIV-positive take steps to protect their partners from infection. Nearly 30 years after the start of the epidemic, far too many people continue to be diagnosed late in the course of their infection. Too many times, I've heard stories from people who went to the emergency room after a few days of flu-like symptoms. Once there, doctors conduct tests and inform them they have both pneumonia and AIDS. They never knew they were HIV infected, and yet they had the virus for years. In fact, data released today show that nearly 40 percent of people develop AIDS within just a year of being diagnosed with HIV. Many of these people could have stayed healthier if they were diagnosed with HIV and began drug treatment much earlier. Anti-retroviral treatment can lower the amount of the virus in the blood, slowing progression from HIV to AIDS. We must remember that AIDS still kills in this country -- more than 14,000 people die every year. Yet we have the tools to diagnose an HIV infection early, to begin life-prolonging treatments to prevent progression to AIDS, and to ensure a strong quality of life for HIV-infected people. But without a test, there is no diagnosis -- and no treatment. The fight against HIV here at home is far from over. But too many mistakenly believe that HIV in the United States is no longer a serious problem. In fact, a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a troubling decline in awareness and concern about the domestic HIV/AIDS crisis, in the general population and among those at greatest risk. To help combat this complacency, the White House recently joined CDC and the rest of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to announce a new communication campaign, \"Act Against AIDS.\" The campaign is working on a number of fronts to refocus national attention on the U.S. epidemic, and to increase the number of Americans who get tested for HIV. Although HIV/AIDS continues to pose a serious threat to the nation's health, HIV testing is a powerful weapon against the disease. By increasing the number of people who know their HIV status, we can decrease the number of new HIV infections, and help save thousands of lives. What you don't know can hurt you. In fact, it can kill you. But a simple test could change your fate and the fate of others. That's why today I urge all Americans to take the test -- and take control. To learn more about HIV/AIDS and where you can receive a confidential HIV test, visit hivtest.org, call 800-CDC-INFO, or text your ZIP code to \"Know It\" (566948). For comprehensive information about HIV prevention, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nineandahalfminutes/index.html, the Web site for the first phase of CDC's recently-launched Act Against AIDS campaign." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fenton: Testing is essential to reducing the number of new HIV infections .\nMany who get tested are relieved when they find out they are negative after all .\nThose who are positive can prolong their lives and ensure the health of loved ones ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson knew \"exactly how his fate would be played out\" and feared his death would echo that of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley wrote in an online blog posted Friday morning. Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley in 1994. Presley says, \"I loved him very much\" and believes he loved her. Presley -- the daughter of Elvis, the \"King of Rock,\" and the ex-wife of Jackson, the \"King of Pop\" -- wrote on her MySpace page that she wanted \"to say now what I have never said before because I want the truth out there for once.\" Her publicist confirmed Presley wrote the blog. She said her short marriage to Jackson -- from May 1994 until January 1996 -- \"was not 'a sham' as is being reported in the press,\" but she divorced him because she was \"in over my head in trying\" to save Jackson \"from the inevitable, which is what has just happened.\" Jackson talked with her about his death during \"a deep conversation\" 14 years ago about \"the circumstances of my father's death.\" Watch more from Presley on Jackson » . \"At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did,' \" Presley wrote. \"I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.\" That conversation haunted Presley as she watched television coverage of Jackson's death Thursday, she said. \"I am sitting here watching on the news [as] an ambulance leaves the driveway of his home, the big gates, the crowds outside the gates, the coverage, the crowds outside the hospital, the cause of death and what may have led up to it and the memory of this conversation hit me, as did the unstoppable tears,\" she wrote. \"A predicted ending by him, by loved ones and by me, but what I didn't predict was how much it was going to hurt when it finally happened.\" Elvis Presley collapsed in the bathroom of his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion -- Graceland -- on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. While his death was ruled the result of an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy report was sealed amid accusations that abuse of prescription drugs caused the problem. \"As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play the exact scenario I saw happen on August 16, 1977, happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted,\" she wrote. \"I wanted to 'save him',\" she wrote. \"I wanted to save him from the inevitable, which is what has just happened.\" \"The hardest decision I have ever had to make, which was to walk away and let his fate have him, even though I desperately loved him and tried to stop or reverse it somehow,\" Presley wrote. Their marriage, which some suggested was only to help Jackson's image, was real, she said. \"It was an unusual relationship, yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a 'normal life' found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part,\" she wrote. \"Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.\" Presley called Jackson \"an incredibly dynamic force and power that was not to be underestimated.\" \"When he used it for something good, it was the best and when he used it for something bad, It was really, REALLY bad,\" she wrote. Presley's blog entry ended with a thank you to those who would read it. \"I really needed to say this right now, thanks for listening.\" Presley's blog can be found online at http://bit.ly/5wR7p ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lisa-Marie Presley, Jackson were married from 1994 to 1996 .\nShe says Jackson feared he would die like her father, Elvis Presley .\nPresley says their marriage was not \"a sham\" as press has said .\n\"I wanted to save him from the inevitable,\" she says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- There's a photo of the Jackson family on the cover of the September 24, 1971, issue of Life magazine. In it, Joseph and Katherine Jackson stand at the foot of a set of stairs, their star children -- known as the Jackson 5 -- arrayed behind them. The Jackson brothers, here in the 1970s, were driven to be great by their father, Joseph. They appear to be the all-American clan, gold records arranged behind them, the boys loose and smiling, the parents more awkward and serious in their demeanor. Over the years, that façade crumbled. The brothers bickered; some made accusations of abuse. But the group remained tight-knit through crises, including Thursday's tragedy, when Michael Jackson collapsed at his house and later died at UCLA Medical Center. The journey began with music in Gary, Indiana. Joseph Jackson, the patriarch, played in a short-lived band called the Falcons (no relation to the Detroit-based group featuring Wilson Pickett) in the 1950s. His primary job, however, was as a crane operator at U.S. Steel. Katherine Jackson, the musical and devoutly religious woman who he married in 1949, tended to the couple's large family: Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Michael and Randy, all born between 1950 and 1961. Daughter Janet arrived in 1966. By that time, the three oldest boys -- Jackie, Tito and Jermaine -- had started their own group, which Marlon and Michael eventually joined. Joseph Jackson saw a chance for his sons to have the musical career he'd found elusive. Joseph Jackson admitted being a harsh taskmaster. He drove his sons hard, forcing them to rehearse with a James Brown-like intensity. He wasn't above emphasizing his feelings to his seventh child, Michael. \"My father teased me and I just hated it and I cried every day,\" Michael told Oprah Winfrey in 1993. He said his father also beat him: \"He was very strict, very hard, very stern. ... There's been times when he'd come to see me, I'd get sick, I'd start to regurgitate.\" He quickly said, imagining his father's reaction, \"Please don't be mad at me.\" Joseph Jackson disputed the word \"beat,\" but didn't question Michael's account. \"I whipped him with a switch and a belt,\" he told the BBC in 2003. He added, \"I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.\" In a 2005 interview with CNN's Larry King, Jermaine defended his father's actions. \"We grew up like any other black family. You did something, you got your butt tore up, and it wasn't tore up, it was just, you got a spanking,\" he said. \"I will say this. He kept us off of the streets. He kept us away from drugs. He kept us away from gangs and ... we've been able to project a talent out there and have the support of strong people to entertain the world.\" By 1968, when Michael turned 10, the Jackson 5 was a professional musical machine. They'd won an Apollo Theater talent night the previous year and were working the \"chitlin circuit\" of black clubs when producer Bobby Taylor urged Motown to sign the group. Motown founder Berry Gordy was impressed and made them \"the last big stars to come off my assembly line,\" according to a biography on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Web site. The group shot out of the gate with four No. 1 hits and gained a huge fan base, along with an animated TV show. But success took its toll, particularly when it wasn't so easy to come by. In the mid-1970s, the band -- minus Jermaine, who'd married Gordy's daughter Hazel -- moved to Epic Records, where they were produced by the Philadelphia soul-funk team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The two remember nothing but good times from the sessions, which produced two albums and the Top 10 hit \"Enjoy Yourself.\" \"It was a collaboration,\" Gamble said. \"They all participated in creating. Tito was a great guitarist -- they were all great musicians.\" Huff said he visited the Jackson compound during a trip to California and remembered a warm family setting, complete with a \"fantastic meal\" cooked by Katherine Jackson. \"I've got nothing but respect for the father,\" added Gamble. \"He's a great man. He made something out of nothing.\" Even during that era, however, Michael was standing out. Gamble and Huff recalled him taking a keen interest in recording technology and the way he sounded. Going solo with Quincy Jones producing, as he did in 1979, was the right move, Gamble and Huff said. The family dynamics kept changing as the siblings grew older. After Michael's \"Thriller\" became the biggest album of all time, the brothers -- including Jermaine -- regrouped for a new album, \"Victory,\" and accompanying tour. But Michael, now the undisputed draw, disagreed with some of the tour plans and ended up donating his earnings to charity. Michael's brightened spotlight boosted the careers of his siblings; even Rebbie had a hit. But it was Janet who broke out with the most success, including the No. 1 singles \"Miss You Much,\" \"Black Cat\" and \"Again\" in the 1980s and '90s. With the increased interest in the Jacksons came tabloid scrutiny of the family's every move. When La Toya appeared nude in Playboy magazine, the story made headlines. She later criticized Michael and was on the outs for several years. Jermaine put out a song called \"Word to the Badd,\" an attack on Michael, in 1991; he later changed the lyrics. Janet's relationships were probed in detail, as were the brothers' marriages. And Michael, of course, was seen as increasingly eccentric, his personality overwhelming his music. But for all their own bickering, the family closed ranks when a member was attacked. In 1992, Jermaine co-produced \"The Jacksons: An American Dream,\" a TV miniseries based on Katherine Jackson's memoir, which chronicled their rise to stardom. When Michael faced molestation allegations in the early '90s and was tried in 2005, the family rallied around. \"The Jackson family was groomed to be a team,\" said Linda Johnson Rice, president and CEO of Ebony and Jet magazines' Johnson Publishing and a longtime family friend. \"As you can see through their performances, they were always there for each other.\" In recent years, La Toya has appeared on the reality shows \"Armed and Famous\" and the UK \"Celebrity Big Brother.\" She originally had a scene in the forthcoming Sacha Baron Cohen movie, \"Bruno,\" but CNN confirmed the scene has been cut, \"out of respect for Jackson's family,\" the studio told The (UK) Guardian. Jermaine, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Abdul-Aziz, appeared on \"Celebrity Big Brother\" in 2007. Jackie runs a record label, Tito remains involved in the music business, and according to a 2008 article in the New York Post, Marlon and Randy have struggled financially. In the hospital emergency room Thursday, Randy and Jermaine were witnessed hugging and crying over their late brother. \"We're a family,\" Jermaine told Larry King in the 2005 interview. \"We're no different than any other family who has feuds and problems. ... But at the same time, we're united, and we have a united front that is very, very strong, and it's supported by God. \"My mother and father did a great job in instilling the morals and principles in us from the very beginning. We feel that with that, that's all you need to go through life.\" CNN's Alan Duke contributed to this article." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jackson family has been in spotlight along with Michael .\nFather Joseph was a sometimes rough taskmaster .\nSiblings have been in news for relationships, intrafamily bickering .\nBut group closes ranks when member is in trouble, as happened with Michael ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he won't push to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center during his visit to the United Nations next week. Iran's president said he wanted to \"pay his respects\" and lay a wreath at the site of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks. The controversial leader asked to \"pay his respects\" and lay a wreath at the site of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks, but New York city officials on Wednesday denied that request, citing safety concerns at what is now a construction site. Ahmadinejad said he would try to visit the site \"if we have the time and the conditions are conducive.\" But if local officials cannot make the proper arrangements, \"I won't insist,\" he said in an interview to be aired Sunday on CBS' \"60 Minutes.\" The Bush administration considers Iran a state sponsor of terrorism, and State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the request \"the height of hypocrisy.\" CBS correspondent Scott Pelley told Ahmadinejad he \"must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans.\" \"Well, I'm amazed,\" he said, surprised by the question. \"How can you speak for the whole of the American nation? The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.\" More than 2,700 people died in the attack on the World Trade Center, when al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked passenger jets into the twin towers. A third jet hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers resisted their hijackers. Iran is ruled by a Shiite Muslim government hostile to the fundamentalist Sunni al Qaeda. Ahmadinejad's predecessor, Mohammed Khatami, condemned the attacks and cooperated with the U.S.-led campaign to topple al Qaeda's Taliban allies in Afghanistan that followed. But the United States calls Iran the world's top state sponsor of terrorism because of its support of the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah and other militant groups. Washington and Tehran have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980 after Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and held Americans hostage for 444 days. The Bush administration has also accused Iran of meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are battling Taliban and al Qaeda remnants more than six years after the September 11, 2001, attacks. It accuses Iran of supplying advanced explosives to Shiite Muslim militias, some of which have used the devices against U.S. troops. Ahmadinejad also has drawn fire for his hard-line anti-Israel stance and his insistence that Iran will defy international demands that it halt its production of enriched uranium. Iran insists it is producing nuclear fuel for civilian power plants, but Washington accuses Tehran of trying to create a nuclear bomb. The Iranian leader has made statements suggesting that Israel be politically \"wiped off the map,\" though he insists that can be accomplished without violence. He has questioned the existence of the Holocaust, the genocidal Nazi campaign against European Jews, and warned Europeans that they may pay a heavy price for its support of Israel. Ahmadinejad is also slated to speak on the campus of Columbia University during his visit, university President Lee Bollinger said. His presence is likely to spark protests on and off campus. Bollinger said the appearance is part of the World Leaders Forum -- an annual university event \"intended to further Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had asked to visit ground zero .\nCity officials turned down request; Iranian president says he won't insist .\nThe United States calls Iran the world's top state sponsor of terrorism .\nThe Iranian leader questioned why such a visit would be considered insulting ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A defiant and chaotic protest sprouted in and around a public square Monday despite a warning by Iran's Revolutionary Guard against the kind of street demonstrations that have roiled Iran for more than a week, witnesses said. Security forces patrol the streets of Tehran on Monday. Thousands of Iranians congregated and passed through Haft-e Tir Square, but riot police and the pro-government Basij militia confronted them and smacked their batons against their shin guards, making loud cracking sounds that seemed like gunshots, the witnesses said. As the protests continued, an election official with the Interior Ministry said the \"box-by-box details\" of the ballots -- which were confidential in previous elections -- would be released in response to claims that the election was rigged, Press TV reported. Iran's Guardian Council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the election with 62.63 percent of the vote. His closest rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, received 33.75 percent, surprising many experts who expected him to win. Iranians have continued protesting the results by taking to the streets. Most stores around the square were closed as the unrest reverberated, with some guarding against damage by erecting steel fences on their windows. Helicopters hovered overhead as the security forces wielded batons and used a spray to push the crowd out of the square. After that, police chased down demonstrators in nearby alleys and streets, with protesters and lawmen playing cat and mouse over several tension-filled hours until the crowd began to thin out around dusk. There were isolated face-offs and quarrels that broke out between demonstrators and the riot police and the Basij militia -- a volunteer paramilitary force that takes orders from the Revolutionary Guard, a military unit under the direct control of Iran's supreme leader. There were no reports of serious injuries, but there were at least eight arrests, witnesses said. \"Thirty years after the revolution, this is what we get,\" one man said dejectedly, watching the noisy and chaotic scene as he remembered the birth and the promise of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979. The location was the spot where a vigil was to be held in memory of Neda, a young woman who became a symbol for the opposition after her death was caught on camera. While Internet postings on Twitter, Facebook and an Iranian opposition leader's Web site had mentioned a possible rally, it was unclear whether people who were at the square were there for a vigil. Some people were clad in black, a symbol of mourning, but placards and banners about Neda and candles have not been seen. However, security forces and demonstrators appeared at the square at the time the vigil was to be held. Watch how women are on front line of protests » . Meanwhile, a message on opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi's Facebook page, which could not be authenticated, called for a peaceful demonstration in Tehran on Thursday to honor the dead. \"We are waiting for the route of the march to be announced as well as the location of the sit-in,\" the message said. \"Presently the mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic seems to be the safest place for the sit-in, so that we can mourn for our martyrs in a place that is close to the spirit of that free man. Demonstrators Monday had brushed off a warning from the Revolutionary Guard that people who \"disturb the peace and stand up to security forces\" would be met with a strong response. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the Revolutionary Guard as saying \"the guardians of the Islamic revolution and the courageous Basiji together with the security forces following the orders of the supreme leader and following him unquestioningly.\" It said the authorities \"are determined to act strongly to return peace and tranquility to society ... and to clean the country of these plotters and hooligans.\" Iran's Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and enforces the government's Islamic codes and morality. With more than 200,000 members, it is tasked with overseeing the country's crucial interests, including guarding its oil fields and missile arsenals. The regime's lawmakers called for a review of ties with Britain amid concerns over so-called Western \"meddling\" in the country's daily unrest. The government-funded Press TV reported that Iranian lawmakers were calling for a review of the country's ties with Britain because of its \"interference in Iran's recent post-election unrest.\" Britain's Foreign Office announced Monday it is withdrawing the family members of its embassy staff from Iran until the situation there improves. News coverage in Iran has been limited by government restrictions on international journalists. On Sunday, the BBC said Iran had expelled Jon Leyne, the British network's permanent correspondent in Tehran. Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based Arab satellite network, said its Tehran bureau was ordered closed. At least 19 people were killed in clashes in Tehran on Saturday as Iranians took to the streets to protest the results of the June 12 presidential election, according to hospital sources. Iranian-funded Press TV confirmed 13 fatalities, while unconfirmed reports put the number as high as 150. Tehran's prosecutor general's office said it has launched an investigation into the killings. Watch one woman's account of clashes with security forces » . The station also said police arrested 457 people Saturday who vandalized property. See images of the clashes Saturday » . Moussavi has called on Iranians to \"exercise self-control,\" while still supporting their right to demonstrate, a statement attributed to Moussavi said late Sunday on the candidate's Web site, Ghalam news. CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of the site. Watch Iran's former crown prince call election a \"fraud\" » . On Monday, the site was intermittently inaccessible, but said at one point that Moussavi had met with a group of clerics in the city of Ghom on Monday morning to discuss current events. A spokesman for the Guardian Council told state television that Wednesday is the last day it can recount the votes disputed by candidates." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Interior Ministry will release box-by-box ballot details, Press TV reports .\nBasij militia smack batons against shin guards as protesters pass through square .\nHelicopters hover as thousands play cat and mouse with police, witnesses say .\nAt least 8 reported arrested, but no reports of serious injuries ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Two of the biggest stars in the NBA will be team-mates next season after a blockbuster trade which sees Shaquille O'Neal move from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers -- the home of league MVP LeBron James. Shaquille O'Neal is hoping his arrival will put a smile on the faces of Cleveland fans. The 37-year-old O'Neal is one of the all-time greats of basketball, winning four NBA championships, three straight with the Los Angeles Lakers and the other with Miami Heat. James is widely recognized as the sport's current superstar, but the 24-year-old has been left frustrated by Cleveland's failure to win the title. He stormed off the court after their loss to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals, not even shaking hands with 2008 Olympic teammate Dwight Howard. The trade, which sees Phoenix get center Ben Wallace and guard Sasha Pavlovic, has been talked about since February but finalized on Thursday night. \"I was elated about the trade because I get to play with one of the greatest players to ever play the game in LeBron James,\" O'Neal was quoted on the NBA's official Web site www.nba.com. O'Neal averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 75 games for the Suns last season and believes he still has much to offer the NBA. \"My numbers are not good enough to retire. Three more years left,\" O'Neal wrote on his Twitter blog. His career averages are 24.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots, with his peak seasons coming as he led the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-02. The Lakers traded him to Miami where he spent three seasons, helping them to the NBA Championship three years ago. He has played in Phoenix for the past two years, restricted by injuries in his first season. The Cavs, powered by James, won 66 regular season games and their first eight in the playoffs before coming unstuck against the Magic. They will be hoping that O'Neal will be the final piece in the jigsaw to land the first American sports championship for Cleveland in 45 years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Shaquille O'Neal is traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers .\n7 foot one inch O'Neal has been named in the NBA's All Star team 15 times .\nO'Neal, 37, will now pair up with 2009 NBA MVP LeBron James at Cleveland ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- From street corners, buses and subways to phone calls, e-mails, text messages, online posts and tweets, people around the world commented, pondered, and paid tribute to pop legend Michael Jackson, who died Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles. Pedestrians in Sydney, Australia, watch a TV screen announcing Michael Jackson's death on Friday. Around midnight at London's Leicester Square, as news of Jackson's death spread, Luis Carlos Ameida and his friends were surrounding a car listening to the star's music. Ameida said he'd gotten tickets to see Jackson at his \"This Is It\" concerts beginning on July 13 in London. \"From a young age, you know, I used to have the video game,\" said Ameida. \"I used to have the white suit, and I'd wear it on my birthday. I used to moonwalk ... I remember my mum used to send me to lessons to be like Michael Jackson. And when I heard the news, I had tears in my eyes because of that connection I had because of all the songs he used to play.\" In Glastonbury, southern England, where one of the world's largest music festivals was to kick off Friday morning, initial rumors and then confirmation of Jackson's death added to confusion and then shock among festival goers. Watch British fans react » . \"As I was walking back through the crowd it was the word on everyone's lips,\" Sally Anne Aldous, 29, told CNN over the phone. Reaction from around the world in pictures » . Backstage, Michael Jackson songs were being played in tribute, and fans talked of an impromptu memorial for the late singer at the \"Stone Circle,\" a neolithic monument in the grounds of the venue. In Adelaide, Australia, Christos Winter of the MJ Fan Club had organized a petition to bring Jackson to tour there. \"It didn't matter if you were 60, 40 or 20 like I am. Michael Jackson's music just spoke to everyone ... It was always uplifting and happy music,\" Winter told CNN. On a street in New Delhi, India, 31-year-old Sachina Verma said on Friday, \"Any of the baby boomer generation or, you know, people from my age or our time, I mean they have grown up on his music. Literally, people have been inspired by his dance movements, by his music. Tributes appeared on YouTube and CNN's iReport. \"I remember growing up in the Middle East, influenced, enjoying his music, waiting for his albums,\" CNN iReporter Rany Freeman, an Egyptian living in Canada, said in a video submission. \"Regardless to his strange behaviors or questionable events that happened to his life, let's remember him as the great entertainer he was.\" Another iReporter, Peter Maiyoh, a Kenyan student studying in the U.S. city of Kansas, Missouri, called Jackson \"the voice of change,\" saying \"he was there before Tiger Woods, before Michael Jordan, even before Barack Obama ... I hope people remember him for the work he did.\" On a Facebook page dedicated to Michael Jackson, fans across the world left hundreds of messages in languages ranging from French and Spanish to Japanese and Hebrew. Watch fan reaction in Tokyo, Japan » . \"SHANGHAI WILL MISS YOU! NOT JUST SHANGHAI!..EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD WILL MISS YOU! WE LOVE YOU MICHAEL!!!\" wrote Vrishti Bhowmik. Kase Ng, a 24-year-old manicurist and member of the Michael Jackson Hong Kong Fan Club, told CNN by phone she had been planning to go with four friends to his August 1 concert in London. Watch fans in Hong Kong, China, react » . Expressing sadness and shock over Jackson's death, Ng recalled being inspired by an interview he once gave to Oprah Winfrey. \"He said if you have power, try to give it back and help the others, and I will try to do that,\" she said. At a music store in Beijing, China, Jackson songs were being played, and his albums were put on special display. \"I rather enjoyed it (his music) because in my family my brother's generation likes his music,\" said customer Xu Wei. \"Many, many people in China like him a lot.\" Watch reaction from around the world . Although Jackson never played in mainland China, his music was among the first in the West made available there, as the peak of his popularity during the 1980s coincided with the opening up of the communist country. On Friday, Chinese netizens had set up a Web site memorial to Jackson, and on Fanfou.com, China's version of Twitter, the pop star has become the most popular tag. Fanfou user Layla Suen, or \"Leilajiang,\" of Shenyang city in Liaoning province wrote about her memories of Jackson: \"When I was only four, my brother demanded that I learn his 'Thriller.' It was the second song I've ever learnt (the first one being something taught by the kindergarten teacher). Everytime I sing it at my kindergarten it would scare a bunch of little children.\" Chinese blogger and media commentator Michael Anti wrote on his Facebook page: \"So sad about Jackson's Death, for my English first name is really named after him when I was a freshman.\" Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, tweeted in the hour after Jackson's death was announced, \"My twitter search script sees roughly 15% of all posts on Twitter mentioning Michael Jackson. Never saw Iran or swine flu reach over 5%.\" As Jackson's death quickly overshadowed all else Friday, commentators worried that the world would forget about political developments in Iran. \"Am I the only one who thinks that Michael Jackson's passing is the worst thing that could have happened to the protesters in Iran?\" wrote Melissa Cohen, or mcohen00, on Twitter. CNN's Emily Chang, Jaime FlorCruz, Miranda Leitsinger, Mairi Mackay, Linnie Rawlinson and Bharati Naik contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fans across the world remark on Jackson's music .\nPostings on Twitter express concern Jackson will overshadow Iran .\n\"I remember growing up in the Middle East ... waiting for his albums,\" iReporter says .\nChinese netizens set up Web site memorial for Jackson ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Transportation investigators Wednesday discovered \"anomalies\" in an essential control circuit of a track where a fatal crash between two Washington subway trains killed nine people. Investigators work Tuesday at the site of the Metro train crash in Washington. Each section of the transit system's track contains a circuit that transmits and receives signals that generate speed commands for trains, said Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board. She said the circuits are \"vital providing information to the operators and the train itself when on automatic.\" Investigators found no problems in five of the six circuits on the stretch of track in the crash area. But they found \"anomalies\" with the sixth circuit, Hersman said. She would not say what those anomalies were but said simulated crash tests would be conducted to try and determine what caused the deadly accident. The findings could mean that the striking train, which was on automatic, did not know to slow down because another train was stopped on the track ahead. Hersman said investigators walked the tracks Wednesday, finding markings on the track that indicated emergency braking had taken place. Investigators hoped Thursday to interview the operator of the struck train, who was released from a hospital Wednesday. The driver of the striking train was killed. The crash, the worst in the history of Washington's transit system, known as the Metro, occurred along the congested Red Line just before 5 p.m. Monday on an above-ground track section near Takoma Park, Maryland. Both cars were on the same track, traveling in the same direction -- southward from Fort Totten Metrorail station to the Shady Grove station. The struck train had stopped behind another train undergoing service and was awaiting directions to move ahead. The striking train was pulling some of the oldest cars in the fleet of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. On Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he plans to seek $3 billion for Metro transit capital improvements, some of which would likely be spent to replace some those old Series 1000 cars, purchased between 1974 and 1978. Upon impact, the train pulling those Series 1000 cars jumped on top of the other train. All the fatalities were on the striking train, Train 112, Metro transit spokeswoman Angela Gates told CNN on Wednesday. In the collision, the front car of the striking train was severely damaged, leaving minimal space for survivability, said Hersman. According to one report, 50 feet of the 75-foot length of that lead car were lost to the accident, leaving only one-third of the space after the crushing impact. Watch Hersman talk about previous warnings » . The NTSB recommended in 2006 that Metro transit replace or retrofit all of its Series 1000 trains, to bring them up to current safety standards. Metro transit responded that because it was constrained by tax-advantage leases, it intended to keep the 1000 Series until the end of 2014. \"Our recommendation was not addressed, so it [the case] has been closed in an unacceptable status,\" Hersman said. The NTSB has no regulatory powers and can't force implementation. Watch Hersman talk about the computer systems » . \"The safety of our citizens is our highest priority and we must take every precaution that this loss of life does not occur again,\" said Hoyer, a Democratic congressman from Maryland. He said he would soon introduce a final measure to authorize dedicated federal and local funding for Metro. The Series 1000 cars comprise a quarter of Metro transit's 1,126 cars, or nearly 300 cars, Gates said. At $3 million per car, the agency can't afford to replace them all at once, Gates said. Each car has a 40-year life and can last until fiscal year 2015, she added. \"So we've taken steps to keep them in good condition.\" She said they have been phasing out the outdated cars as new cars are bought, she said. That plan hasn't gone as quickly as anticipated, however, because of an increase in ridership, Gates added. The lead train in Monday's crash contained newer 5000-Series and 3000-Series cars. These have data recorders, which will aid the investigation a great deal if they aren't damaged, Hersman said. The recorders provide information on such things as speed, braking and emergency applications. She said there were no recorders on the rear train. The rear train was being operated in automatic mode, which is the normal operating procedure during rush hour. Washington transit trains are being operated manually until the cause of the crash is determined, Hersman said. She said there is no indication that any of the brakes on the rear train failed before it rear-ended the other train. \"Our investigators on scene yesterday did find some evidence of emergency brake application. They found the emergency mushroom, which is a button that was depressed in the control cab, and they also examined the wheels and the brakes, and they found that the rotors showed some bluing,\" Hersman said. \"That bluing is consistent with an emergency brake application,\" she said. Bluing indicates the rotors have been subjected to extremely high temperatures, and this can be caused by hard stops." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "House majority leader to push for $3 billion in Metro transit funding .\nThe transit authority wants to replace its aging Series 1000 cars .\nA train of Series 1000 cars rear-ended another train Monday, killing nine .\nInvestigators question why computerized emergency system failed ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Carly Smithson wants to make one thing clear: She is not the new lead singer of Evanescence. Former \"American Idol\" contestant Carly Smithson is the lead singer of the new band We Are The Fallen. There may be some confusion because the former \"American Idol\" contestant has joined forces with original Evanescence members Ben Moody, Rocky Gray and John LeCompt for the new band We Are The Fallen. The dark-haired Irish rocker made it to the top six during season seven of \"American Idol\" before being eliminated. Smithson said that since then, quite a few opportunities have come her way that were not a good fit. This new band, which also includes bassist Marty O'Brien, is perfect for her, Smithson said . Guitar player LeCompt agrees. \"I've said many times about Evanescence that we caught lightning in a bottle ... and I think we are doing it again,\" he said. \"Carly is a good fit for the band because more than anything she is a brilliant, brilliant vocalist who is very down to earth and a humble person. She wants to do something where everyone is involved rather than being a posturing diva.\" Smithson recently spoke with CNN about why she is thankful to Moody's roommate, why the group gets along so well and how they want to collaborate with fans. CNN: You must be pretty psyched about this new band. Carly Smithson: I am. It's pretty awesome and everything I think we have all ever wanted. We all blend together and it's all about making business. CNN: With all of the opportunities that have come your way since \"Idol,\" why go this route? Smithson: I had a lot of the wrong opportunities approach me. They were very flattering offers, but musically not on the same page with where I envisioned myself. As soon as Ben [Moody] came to me, he was actually someone that I had in mind, after coming off the \"Idol\" tour, to go and try and work with. He's worked on some music that I had a lot of respect for and really admired, but he was busy, oddly enough, working on this project. CNN: So how did you two connect? Smithson: He had never watched \"American Idol\" and he didn't know who I was. I am good friends with his roommate who recently moved in and I had met him briefly. My friend came and saw me live and then planted the seed in his head. She said, \"You should really consider my friend for this band,\" and he said \"Who is your friend?\" She said, \"You know, the girl you met down the basement,\" and an artist he has been working with played him a bunch of YouTube clips of me. We were hanging out at about one in the morning and he called my friend and said, \"I just watched your friend. I should have done this a long time ago. Where is she, when can I meet her, I need to meet her right away.\" She said, \"Well, actually we are out right now and we're going to be at the house in about 20 minutes.\" We came back to the house and we had a meeting which lasted until about 4 a.m. ... Obviously it was a decision I needed to make very fast because they were looking for a singer and people don't wait forever. I called my manager and it was a done deal pretty much the next day. CNN: Sounds like it was meant to be. Smithson: Everybody was very excited and thought it was the right direction to go. I'm happy that it happened in such an organic way. It's really weird, but as people we are all very alike. We all like the same jokes, watch the same TV shows and play the same music. It's great. CNN: Do you at all feel pressure because of the success that Evanescence had? Smithson: No, because this is a new band. Evanescence is still out there. We are not Evanescence and our band isn't here to follow. Watch Smithson talk about the new band » . I'm here to make music. Obviously I want to be successful but I think we all are in a contented place to make music. If we can grab some fans, that's great. If we can grab a bunch of fans, that's awesome. We are here to compete with ourselves and put out something epic. CNN: What does the name mean? Smithson: It's more of a statement rather than a name. We feel like our fans can say \"We Are The Fallen\" as well as us. It's not just a band name, it's kind of like a movement name. We are trying to create a group of people that are in to the same thing. It's a collaboration of our fans and us appreciating music that we are making. CNN: So what do you all stand for, since you want the fans to be a part of it. Smithson: Freedom. Every since we all came into this band, we feel so free to go and be who we are. I embrace that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Idol\" finalist Carly Smithson is lead singer of new band We Are The Fallen .\nGroup is made up of some former members of Evanescence .\nSmithson finished sixth of season seven of \"American Idol\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Rem Koolhaas revolutionizes city landscapes with distinctive and cutting-edge buildings. Seattle's Central Library is one of Rem Koolhaas' recent builds. Responsible for the iconic CCTV headquarters in Beijing the Dutch architect was named one of \"The World's Most Influential People\" by Time magazine. Similar to the man himself, his buildings are not afraid to make a statement. \"We felt it was very important for an entity like CCTV to make its presence felt... To generate a space and to define a space, that is the main thing,\" he told CNN at the opening of his \"Transformer\" building in Seoul, South Korea. Koolhaas admits that the current economic climate is not particularly favorable to big and bold architectural plans, but from adversity comes creativity. \"Definitely there were a number of projects that we worked on put on hold, but on the other hand certain things were also accelerated because the price of construction is getting so cheap.\" Despite these new parameters he remains optimistic that his profession will continue to invent and be relevant, \"because it means kind of smaller, but more complex and kind of interesting things, kind of related to, not necessarily with commerce, but more connected to culture and to the social world.\" His buildings have attracted worldwide fame and given Koolhaas himself a form of semi-celebrity status. Yet Koolhaas still feels a sense of unease being labeled a \"Starchitect.\" \"I think it's a name that is actually degrading to the vast majority of people it is applied to. And it really is a kind of political term that for certain clients is important because they use star architects. My hope is that through the current complexity that title will exit discretely and disappear,\" he said. He believes that by being able to respond to different demands architecture is evolving into something new. \"It is not possible to live in this age if you don't have a sense of many contradictory forces,\" he said. \"Each building has to be beautiful, but cheap and fast, but it lasts forever. That is already an incredible battery of seemingly contradictory demands. So yes, I'm definitely perhaps contradictory person, but I operate in very contradictory times.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dutch architect is creative force behind landmark buildings across the world .\nBeijing's CCTV building and Seattle's Central Library are two bold examples .\nKoolhaas embraces contradictions in a project and creative-commercial tensions ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The five remaining defendants in the racially charged \"Jena Six\" case will appear in court Friday and are expected to enter a plea, a spokesman for the district attorney's office said. Protesters converged on the small Louisiana town in September 2007 after the \"Jena 6\" were charged. Bill Furlow, spokesman for LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, declined to say whether the defendants will plead guilty. \"It's not a done deal until it's a done deal,\" he said. In December 2006, six African-American teenagers were charged with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy in the beating of a white classmate. The incident followed months of racial tension in the community of about 3,000 people. Jena, Louisiana, is about 140 miles southeast of Shreveport in the north-central part of the state. The case drew national attention from civil rights groups, who argued that the charges were excessive. An estimated 15,000-plus demonstrators turned out for a rally on behalf of the teens: Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Mychal Bell. The charges were eventually reduced. Bell pleaded guilty to battery in a juvenile court and moved to Monroe, Louisiana. In January, Bell said he had attempted suicide the month before by shooting himself in the chest but was recovering. Friday's hearing is set for 1:30 p.m." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's not a done deal until it's a done deal,\" spokesman says .\n6 teens charged in December 2006 with beating a white classmate .\nIncident followed months of racial tension in town of about 3,000 people .\nOne of the the \"Jena 6\" pleaded guilty to battery in juvenile court this year ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (CNN) -- Alfa Demmellash grew up on less than a dollar a day, and against the backdrop of torture and murder. But these days she's living the American dream and helping others do the same. Alfa Demmellash helps low-income entrepreneurs in New Jersey start or grow their businesses. \"Entrepreneurs are at the very heart of what the American dream is all about,\" says Demmellash, a native of Ethiopia. And from her small office in Jersey City, her nonprofit, Rising Tide Capital, is helping small businesses flourish. Robin Munn, who runs a flower shop in Jersey City, says the skills she learned through Demmellash helped her transform the way she operates her business. \"I was thinking about closing, but once I started taking the classes I found that the fire came back.\" Kim Bratten, a 39-year-old painter and mother of six, says she's seen her yearly income increase by 50 percent since she started working with Demmellash and her team. \"They put hope back into the community,\" Bratten says. Watch small business owners describe how Demmellash has helped them » . Demmellash's own struggle began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, amid instability and unrest. Thousands of Ethiopians -- including her aunt -- disappeared or were tortured and/or killed under the ruling military regime. When Demmellash was 2, her mother fled the country, leaving the toddler in the care of her grandmother and aunt. Demmellash lived on less than a dollar a day but never considered herself poor. Watch Demmellash talk about her childhood » . Nearly a decade later, Demmellash and her mother reunited in Boston, Massachusetts. But Demmellash found her mother wasn't living the American dream she'd envisioned. \"I [thought] I would find my mom in a beautiful mansion with trees [and] gold everywhere,\" recalls Demmellash, now 29. \"I was shocked when I found her in her tiny apartment ... working very, very hard.\" Her mother had worked as a waitress during the day and a seamstress at night to earn money to bring her daughter to the United States. Watching her mother sew beautiful gowns for low profits, Demmellash thought there had to be a way for her to increase what she was making as a seamstress. \"Even though she had the skills, she did not necessarily have the business skills,\" she says, adding that her mother's pricing \"was completely off.\" Still, her mother worked tirelessly to keep her daughter adequately fed, clothed and in school. Demmellash was later admitted to Harvard University, which she was able to attend with the help of \"wonderful financial aid.\" At Harvard, Demmellash and classmate Alex Forrester discussed what their generation could do to alleviate poverty on a local level. They set out to learn what resources people needed -- or as Demmellash says, \"to find people like my mom.\" In 2004, the pair started Rising Tide Capital (RTC) to help those who had ideas and abilities but needed the education and support to launch or grow their businesses. \"You hear a lot of talk about Main Street and Wall Street, but no one really talks about how exactly you go about helping the Mom-and-Pops,\" says Demmellash. The group runs the Community Business Academy, an intensive training session coupled with year-round coaching and mentorship to help individuals \"really work on the hands-on management side of their business,\" Demmellash says. The organization supports underserved populations, including women, the formerly incarcerated, minorities, unemployed and working poor, and immigrants and refugees. Demmellash and Forrester -- now married -- have helped 250 entrepreneurs and small-business owners in New Jersey so far, 70 percent of whom are single mothers. RTC raises money from corporations and works with local governments for funding in order to provide classes and support its participants at affordable costs. Participants pay a small materials and registration fee based on their income range: either $100 or $225 for the course that Demmellash says would cost thousands of dollars otherwise. The organization has also built partnerships with micro-lenders, so when students are ready, the lenders provide financing. \"The ability to become self-reliant, to have economic hope, [that is] the fabric of this country and we have to fight for it,\" Demmellash says. Many of RTC's students use the increased earnings from their new business to supplement their wages, allowing them to better provide for their families and transform the face of their communities, according to Demmellash. \"There are thousands of entrepreneurs, millions across this country, who do incredible things and make money to put food on the table, to pay their bills, and to save for the future and their children,\" she says. \"If we were to literally bank on them, invest in them [and] support them ... that's the kind of stuff that changes lives and strengthens families.\" Want to get involved? Check out Rising Tide Capital's Web site and see how to help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alfa Demmellash helps low-income entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses .\nHer nonprofit, Rising Tide Capital, primarily serves single mothers .\nDemmellash, an Ethiopia native, was inspired by her mother's struggle .\nDo you know a hero? Nominations are open at CNN.com/Heroes ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is providing weapons and ammunition to Somalia's transitional government as it fights al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday. Somali government soldiers, who are fighting Islamic militants, patrol Mogadishu. \"At the request of that government the State Department has helped to provide weapons and ammunition on an urgent basis,\" he said. \"This is to support the Transitional Federal Government's efforts to repel the onslaught of extremist forces which are intent on destroying the Djibouti peace process.\" Kelly said the weapons shipments are in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban some arms shipments to Somalia. There is growing concern that Somalia could be the next base for al Qaeda as U.S. forces pound their positions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. CIA Director Leon Panetta recently said that the intelligence agency is keeping tabs on the region as a possible destination for fleeing al Qaeda operatives. \"Our concern right now is that likely safe havens are areas in the Horn of Africa, like Somalia and Yemen, that are countries that because of their political status can be attractive to al Qaeda in order to operate there,\" Panetta said earlier this month. \"We are focusing on those countries as well in order to ensure that there is no safe haven for al Qaeda as we continue to pressure them, continue to push them, and hopefully continue to make the effort to destroy them, not only in Pakistan but throughout the rest of the world.\" Somalia is not new territory for al Qaeda, according to CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. \"Al Qaeda was running training camps in Somalia in the early and mid-1990s,\" he said. \"If this is now coming back, this is something that al Qaeda has already done and it's worrisome for the future. ... \"The fact that we're seeing evidence of this already happening in both Yemen and Somalia suggests that, A, the drone program in the tribal areas of Pakistan has been effective, but, B, you know it's pushing al Qaeda into areas where they'll build up larger operations.\" Somalia recently called on its neighbors to send military forces to help government troops stop hard-line Islamist militants from taking over. The call for help came hours after a third top politician was killed this month in ongoing fighting. The deaths included Mogadishu's police chief and Somalia's internal security minister, who was killed in a suicide car bombing in the central city of Beledweyne. A Pakistani militant who is a high-ranking official in al Qaeda is leading the fighting in Somalia against the government, said Sheikh Adan Madowe, Somalia's parliament speaker. Madowe warned that militants will spread fighting into the rest of the region if they topple the government in Somalia. The United States is concerned that Somalia's weak government could fall to the Islamist insurgency, as it did in 2006 before Ethiopian forces ousted the militants from power later that year. \"We think this government ... represents Somalia's best chance for peace, stability and reconciliation,\" Kelly said Thursday. \"This government is the best chance they've had in the last 18 years.\" Somalia's current President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is a former member of the Islamic Courts Union, which took part in the 2006 coup. His decision to renounce the bloody insurgency and try to establish peace in Somalia has put him at odds with Islamist hard-liners who are still battling for control of Somalia. Residents and journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, have reported seeing foreign fighters among Al-Shabaab, the radical Islamic militia that is battling to overthrow the weak transitional government. Those foreign fighters recently distributed recorded messages from al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden calling for the overthrow of the government. Al-Shabaab, also known as the Mujahideen Youth Movement, was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in March 2008. It is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law, or sharia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "State Department: Weapons for fighting al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants .\nWeapons shipments are in accordance with U.N. Security Resolutions, Kelly says .\nThere is growing concern that Somalia could be the next base for al Qaeda ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- A blossoming of cinematic creativity has swept Argentina in recent years, bringing about a second golden age of film. Pablo Trapero's latest movie \"Lion's Den\" stars Martina Gusman (left) and was in competition at Cannes. In Argentina, the renaissance marks a return to form for a cinematic tradition that was prolific and highly successful until creativity was stifled by a succession of military regimes that began with the ascendancy of Juan Peron in the 1940s. A revival occurred after the country returned to democracy in 1983 as filmmakers focused on life under the military dictatorship -- Luiz Puenzo's \"The Official Story\" (1985) won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But an economic malaise ensued, turning off the taps to film financing. An economic boom in the 1990s quickly turned unstable, resulting in a crippling financial crisis earlier this decade that plunged Argentina into its worst recession ever. Out of the chaos, a new group of Argentina filmmakers emerged. The leaders of the so-called \"New Argentine Cinema\" have become critical contributors to the wider Latin American film movement that has captivated international critics and audiences alike. What's fueling New Argentine Cinema? Argentina's economy has recovered remarkably since its collapse in 2001, and the national film institute, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), has been keen to foster the industry's development. The combination of cheap production costs and a flourishing artistic community has made Buenos Aires a hub of creativity. Already one of the most cosmopolitan cities in South America, the city is attracting everyone from local bohemians to big Hollywood names. Francis Ford Coppola, the most recent notable to tap into the vibrant scene, opened an Argentine unit of his Zoetrope production company last year to film his Buenos Aires-set family drama \"Tetro,\" which is anticipated to be released next year. What movies are creating buzz? Pablo Trapero's \"Lion's Den\" about a woman who gives birth and raises her child in prison was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. Trapero is best known for his depiction of ordinary people. He gained acclaim with \"Crane World\" (1999) -- a gritty look at Argentina's working class -- and is widely considered one of Argentina's leading directors. Also in competition at Cannes this year was \"The Headless Woman\" from the ever subtle Lucrecia Martel. The film focuses on a woman's guilt after a hit-and-run accident and like Martel's other works, offers up a dose of social criticism. Martel burst on the scene with her first movie \"The Swamp\" (2001), winner of the Alfred Bauer Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Lucia Puenzo stirred debate with \"XXY\" (2007), an exploration of adolescent sexuality centered around the life of a teenage hermaphrodite. The daughter of award-winning Luiz Puenzo, Lucia took home the Critic Weeks Grand Prize at Cannes last year. Are you excited about Argentine cinema? What is your favorite movie or director? Enough with the dramas -- who makes Argentines laugh? Daniel Burman has cited Woody Allen as one of the auteurs he most admires, and the influence is quite clear in his work, in which his identity as a Jew in Argentina figures prominently. \"Waiting for the Messiah\" (2000), \"Lost Embrace\" (2004) and \"Family Law\" (2006) make up the trilogy of films about fatherhood for which he has gained praise. The young director's latest film \"Empty Nest\" (2008) takes a touching and comedic look at married life. What's this I hear about a Hollywood in Argentina? You're referring to Palermo Hollywood. No, it's not a Las Vegas casino but rather a neighborhood in Buenos Aires where many film and TV studios are based. A bohemian spirit distinguishes the neighborhood from its more polished cousin to the south, Palermo Soho. Once occupied by desolate factories and warehouses, the area is now humming with activity. An abundance of hip lounges, cafes and trendy restaurants keep the buzz going all day and through the night. How does Argentina figure in the Latin American film scene? As the Latin American film renaissance has gained stride, filmmakers across the region have become more interested in collaborating on projects. The end of military dictatorships which ruled Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s \"created really interesting national cinemas that blossomed a little bit everywhere but also created a correlation between directors from different countries,\" Brazilian director Walter Salles told CNN earlier this year. Salles works frequently with Argentine directors. He co-produced Trapero's \"Lion's Den\" and Julia Solomonoff's \"Sisters\" (2005). Meanwhile, Eduardo Constantini Jr, of the philanthropic Constantini family in Argentina, recently launched a fund with the Weinstein Co. aimed at backing Latin American movies. He is also behind The Auteurs, an \"online movie theater\" where Web users can watch and discuss film. Is this boom going to run out of steam? The renaissance in Argentina has been building for some time, but it's only just hitting its stride now. Earlier films were mainly art house successes but now with the spotlight shining on Latin America cinema, Argentine films may start to connect more with international audiences. The country continues to attract productions, and there is a vast pool of talent that is being groomed to lead the next generation of auteurs. More than 12,000 undergraduates are currently studying film directing, scriptwriting and technical production, according to the INCAA. Five other must-see Argentine films . 1. \"The Night of the Pencils\" (Hector Olivera, 1986) 2. \"Nine Queens\" (Fabian Bielinsky, 2000) 3. \"Son of the Bride\" (Juan Jose Campanella, 2001) 4. \"The Dog\" (Carlos Sorin, 2004) 5. \"The Holy Girl\" (Lucrecia Martel, 2004)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The filmmakers of New Argentine Cinema are winning acclaim worldwide .\nVibrant Buenos Aires has attracted big names like Francis Ford Coppola .\nEverything you need to know about the directors and movies creating buzz ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Former rugby superstar Jonah Lomu has revealed that he is poised to make a shock playing comeback at the age of 34 with French third-division club Marseille Vitrolles. Jonah Lomu pictured in action for New Zealand's All Blacks during the 1999 World Cup in France. The giant New Zealander, who became a global name after an electrifying series of performances on the wing for the All Blacks at the 1995 World Cup, retired in 2007 after a succession of injuries hampered his attempt to return following a kidney transplant. He played 63 internationals, the last of them in 2002, but was never able to regain his previous dominance even after regaining full health. \"Marseille Vitrolles is on the point of finalizing the transfer of the greatest legend in world rugby,\" said statement on the club's Web site. Lomu, who is featuring in a new worldwide advertising campaign for sportswear manufacturer adidas called \"Nothing Is Impossible\", was also quoted as confirming his desire to return to the playing field. \"I took a sabbatical year to be at my pregnant partner's side and to fully enjoy this important moment in any man's life,\" he said on the Web site. \"Everyone thought I had ended my playing career, but that was wrong. I still feel the desire to play and it will be me alone who decides when to call it a day. \"My ambition is to help a club like Marseille join the group of top clubs in France.\" Lomu was first diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a rare and serious kidney disorder, at the end of 1996. He successfully returned to the game after treatment, but in May 2003 he was put on dialysis three times a week due to deterioration in his kidney function, with the treatment's side effects leaving him with severe nerve damage in his feet and legs. Lomu faced life in a wheelchair if a kidney transplant was not performed, so underwent the operation. He signed a two-year contract with New Zealand province North Harbour in 2005, and also played for Welsh club Cardiff Blues during the southern hemisphere's off-season. However, he was unable to achieve his goal of being selected in the All Blacks squad for the 2007 World Cup in France, having suffered a shoulder injury. Lomu agreed to play in a charity match in England last year, but withdrew after injuring his ankle in training." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Former All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu to join French third-division club .\nThe 34-year-old will play for Marseille Vitrolles after supposedly retiring in 2007 .\nNew Zealander became rugby's first global superstar after the 1995 World Cup .\nHe previously returned to playing after having a kidney transplant ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Tess Sosa and her daughter have had a hard time forgetting US Airways Flight 1549's emergency landing in New York City's Hudson River in January. Tess Sosa holds her infant son, Damian, as her daughter Sophia, 4, plays on the couch. Sosa and Sophia, 4, have needed therapy, and the Sosas have had to pay out of their own pockets because US Airways' insurer says only three counseling sessions are covered. The family has private insurance and large deductible. The airline and insurer say compensation to the passengers has already exceeded US Airway's obligation, adding they gave $5,000 to passengers after the incident. But Sosa said she thinks the airline is still falling short . \"They have gone to incredible measures to get all of our belongings back, dry them out,\" she said. \"However, I think in doing so, there was this huge oversight in 'Let's take care of these passengers.'\" Watch Sosa explain her expectations » . Relief over her family's survival can't undo the trauma she endured after the January 15 landing, during which she had to scramble over seats with her infant son, Damian, in tow. Water rushed into the plane as she turned and saw her husband, Martin, sitting at the back of the plane with their then-3-year-old daughter, Sophia. She recalled her husband \"in shock with my daughter being held up high, the water coming in, and hoping they'd see me.\" Another passenger \"bear hugged\" her and Damian and escorted them to the exit. Today, Sosa still remembers how she felt that day: \"the possibility, the imminent death, just waiting to see if the plane was going to plunge any further in the river.\" Following the emergency ditching of Flight 1549, Capt. Chesley \"Sully\" Sullenberger was quickly crowned a hero for ably landing the Airbus A320 after birds disabled its engines. He made the cover of several magazines, including People, which featured him holding Damian Sosa. See other notable air accidents » . U.S. Airways hired a firm to restore and return thousands of personal items to passengers -- items ranging from boarding tickets to suitcases. The airline's insurer, American International Underwriters Holdings, a unit of AIG, says US Airways went above and beyond its obligations because the airline is not liable in the crash and the insurers' responsibility \"is to pay valid claims on behalf of US Airways as a result of its legal liability.\" Commenting for AIU, Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, said he concurred that the airline and insurer had fulfilled their obligations. \"We have a flock of birds flying into jet engines for a perfectly well-functioning aircraft and a crew that exhibited extraordinary professionalism in this particular incident. This is very important to recognize, but again, the liability does not exist,\" he said. This is little consolation to the Sosas, whose private insurance has a $3,000 deductible. Sosa said the family still needs help dealing with the trauma, especially Sophia. The family just received another $1,000 bill for therapy sessions. \"I expect my family to be taken care of in the very best way possible, and I don't feel like that's happening when you're balking at my claims to a therapist and you are setting limits on that,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Family paying for therapy out of pocket after Flight 1549's crash landing .\nPilot ditched plane in Hudson River in January after birds crippled engines .\nUS Airways, its insurer say they have exceeded obligations to passengers .\nMother says she, daughter still experiencing trauma from landing ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- One year before the FIFA World Cup kicks off, 26 teams of gay and lesbian footballers are battling for global supremacy in the Gay Soccer World Championships. Players from the London Stonewall Lions hold the 2008 Gay World Soccer Championship trophy aloft . Co-ordinated by the International Gay & Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA), the tournament, which began on Sunday, is being hosted by the Federal Triangles club in Washington D.C., and supported by the local Major League Soccer (MLS) side D.C. United. IGLFA spokesman Michael Pranikoff told CNN that the competition has been running annually since 1992. \"We started very small. There were just a few clubs from around the world. But we have gone from strength to strength. Last year the tournament was in London and sanctioned by the Football Association.\" Pranikoff said there are no professional players involved, but the standard of play is strong and the teams in the top divisions are very competitive. Although the tournament involves club sides -- rather than national teams, there is still a strong international feel with players from the U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Argentina, Italy, and Norway all taking part. The London Stonewall Lions are the reigning champions in the men's division and expected to figure in Sunday's final at Trinity Washington University, he said. Despite the competitive nature of the event, Pranikoff said there are also less serious divisions where there is a more important message. \"When you are on the pitch it's all about the game. But it's also about providing an environment where people can be free to be who they are. \"It's a lot about camaraderie too. There are a lot of places in the world where gays and lesbians aren't accepted.\" So, is the competition restricted to only gay and lesbian players? Not at all, said Pranikoff. \"It's very open, we don't discriminate.\" He said gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and heterosexual players were all welcome to play. Pranikoff said he is happy with how the 2009 event is unfolding, despite numbers being slightly down on what was expected -- due to the effects of the recession, swine flu and the upcoming Out Games in Denmark which has made attending the football tournament unaffordable for some teams. \"This year we didn't have as big a global turnout as we hoped for but there have been a lot of challenges -- so we're pleased to have 26 teams here.\" Outside of organizing the current world championships, the IGLFA has also been involved in helping other organizations at stamping out homophobia, Pranikoff said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Gay World Soccer Championships are being held in Washington D.C.\nTwenty-six teams with players from 12 different countries are competing .\nMajor League Soccer team D.C. United have supported the tournament ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Media maven Oprah Winfrey earned 10 times more than Angelina Jolie last year, but the actress bumped the talk show host from the top spot on Forbes' 2009 Celebrity 100 list just released by the business magazine. Angelina Jolie has ousted Oprah Winfrey from the No. 1 spot on Forbes' 2009 Celebrity 100 list. Jolie's fame, evidenced by magazine covers and TV, radio, newspaper and Web stories, outweighed Winfrey's, giving her the edge as \"the most powerful celebrity in the world\" based on Forbes' formula, Forbes Senior Editor Matthew Miller said. Winfrey, who was at the top for two years straight, grossed $275 million last year, compared with Jolie's $27 million, Miller said. \"We try and measure a celebrity's power, and we look at two metrics to do that,\" Miller said. \"We look at money, and we look at fame.\" A world tour, which helped Madonna pull in $110 million, and a bumper crop of tabloid gossip pushed the Material Girl into the third spot, up from her 21st ranking on last year's list. Beyonce Knowles held steady in fourth, same as last year, with $87 million in income from her multiplatform empire, Miller said. Forbes leveraged the singer-actresses fame by placing her on this week's cover. A bad knee kept Tiger Woods off the PGA tour over the past year and lowered him to the fifth spot on the Forbes list. The golfer, still the highest-paid athlete in the world, was second last year. Bruce Springsteen's tour landed the Boss in sixth, while director Steven Spielberg's latest Indiana Jones movie helped him to seventh place. Actress Jennifer Aniston and her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, were eighth and ninth, respectively, on the strength of successful movies and tabloid headlines. Basketballer Kobe Bryant's endorsements and popularity, boosted by his play on the U.S. Olympic team, jumped to the 10th spot. Miller said Forbes' has spent a great amount of time compiling the list for the past decade because \"celebrities play an ever increasing role in everyone's lives, whether we like it or not.\" \"Celebrities are brands, and they are marketing to us and there's stuff we consume off of them, from movies to albums to concerts to books to speaking tours to everything in between, and we sort of all buy into it,\" he said. The income figures used are gross numbers and do not take into account what goes to agents, managers, taxes and expenses, Miller said. \"It can be very expensive to be a celebrity,\" he said. \"What they're taking home to their personal checking accounts is far less than their gross earnings.\" The list, which has been \"put through our special sauce of earnings and fame,\" is used as a barometer of who has the real power in Hollywood, Miller said. \"When you look at the components of fame and earnings, you can get a good vibe as to who's important this year and who's not,\" he said. \"Angelina Jolie is, by far, the most famous celebrity on the planet,\" he said. \"There's not a day that goes by where she's not on the cover of a tabloid magazine or a regular magazine. There's not day that goes by when people are not talking about her philanthropy or her relationship with Brad Pitt or her movies or her children. All of that lends to a more popular, more robust and, frankly, more valuable brand.\" Miller estimated that Jolie was on about 20 to 30 times more magazine covers last year than Winfrey. It's normal for celebs to fall down or off the list for a year if they are between projects, he said. One newcomer to the list of top 100 celebrities is Barack Obama, debuting at 49. Obama is the first sitting head of state to appear in Forbes' Celebrity 100 rankings. CNN's Jim Roope contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Angelina Jolie's fame factor is too much for Oprah Winfrey's money-making machine .\nForbes senior editor: \"Jolie is, by far, the most famous celebrity on the planet\"\nForbes' annual Celebrity 100 list takes media moxie and income into account .\nMadonna, Beyonce Knowles and Tiger Woods round out the Top Five ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal Thursday in a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety. Savana Redding leaves the U.S Supreme Court in April. She was 13 when she was strip-searched. Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected that she was carrying banned drugs. No medication was found, and she later sued. The justices concluded that the search was unreasonable but that individual school administrators could not be sued. The larger issue of whether a campus setting traditionally gives schools greater authority over students suspected of illegal activity than police are allowed was not addressed fully by the divided court. \"Savana's subjective expectation of privacy against such a search is inherent in her account of it as embarrassing, frightening and humiliating,\" wrote Justice David Souter for the majority, likely his last opinion before he steps down from the bench next week. But reflecting the divisiveness over the issue, Souter said, \"We think these differences of opinion from our own are substantial enough to require immunity for the school officials in this case.\" Whether the school district would be liable was not an issue before the high court. \"I'm pretty excited that they agreed with me, they see that it was wrong for the school to do that,\" Redding said from her Hobbs, New Mexico, home after the ruling was announced. \"I'm pretty certain that it's so far less likely to happen again\" to other students. Redding was an eighth-grade honor student in 2003, with no history of disciplinary problems at Safford Middle School, about 127 miles from Tucson, Arizona. During an investigation into pills found at the school, a student told the vice principal that Redding had given her prescription-strength 400-milligram ibuprofen pills. The school had a near-zero-tolerance policy for all prescription and over-the-counter medication, including the ibuprofen, without prior written permission. Redding was pulled from class by Vice Principal Kerry Wilson, escorted to an office and confronted with the evidence. The girl denied the accusations. A search of Redding's backpack found nothing. A strip search was conducted by Wilson's assistant and a school nurse, both females. Redding was ordered to strip to her underwear and to pull on the elastic of the underwear, so any hidden pills might fall out, according to court records. No drugs were found. \"The strip search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had,\" Redding said in an affidavit. \"I held my head down so that they could not see that I was about to cry.\" Souter said Wilson initially had \"sufficient suspicion\" to justify searching the girl's backpack and outer clothing. But when no contraband was found, the officials went too far by continuing the search of her underwear. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Redding and her family sued, and a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled against the school, calling the search \"traumatizing\" and illegal. That court said the school went too far in its effort to create a drug- and crime-free classroom. The Supreme Court found little agreement on key issues. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed that the search was illegal but would have also made individual officials liable for damages by Redding. \"Wilson's treatment of Redding was abusive, and it was not reasonable for him to believe that the law permitted it,\" said Ginsburg, who was especially forceful during oral arguments in April, criticizing the school's actions. But Justice Clarence Thomas took the opposite view: that administrators deserved immunity and that the search was permissible. \"Preservation of order, discipline and safety in public schools is simply not the domain of the Constitution,\" he said. \"And, common sense is not a judicial monopoly or a constitutional imperative.\" In 1985, the high court allowed the search of a student's purse after she was suspected of hiding cigarettes. Such a search was permitted if there were \"reasonable\" grounds for believing that it would turn up evidence and when the search was not \"excessively intrusive.\" Opinions in 1995 and 2001 allowed schools to conduct random drug testing of high school athletes and those participating in other extracurricular activities. The court was being asked to clarify the extent of student rights involving searches and the discretion of officials regarding those they have responsibility over. Adam Wolf, an ACLU attorney who represented Redding, applauded the decision. \"When parents send their kids to school, they can now breathe a sigh of relief they will not end up naked before school officials,\" Wolf said . But school administrators said the ruling does not make their jobs any easier. \"The home medicine cabinet now poses a serious threat to students, who may take those medications for abusive purposes,\" said Francisco Negron, general counsel for the National School Boards Association. \"That's a problem schools are trying to stem.\" \"How they determine now whether the drug is dangerous, whether it's not dangerous -- that kind of clarity and that kind of guidance, the court did not give us.\" Redding, now 19, said she has never gotten over her experience. \"Before it happened, I loved school, loved everything about it. You know, I had a 4.0 GPA, honor roll, and now, well, afterwards I never wanted to go to school again.\" She is attending college. The case is Safford Unified School District No. 1 v. Redding (08-479)." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected she was carrying drugs .\nNo medication was found, and she later sued .\nJustices: Search was unreasonable, but individual school officials can't be sued .\nRedding, now 19, has said she has never gotten over her experience ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Will Smith's Hancock wasn't the first superhero with bad habits and a bad attitude. Hellboy, the protagonist of \"Hellboy II: The Golden Army,\" has a bit of the devil in him: His skin is red; he has two shorn-off horns on his head, a gargantuan club fist and a long, slippery tail. Ron Perlman returns in the title role in \"Hellboy II: The Golden Army.\" He also has a down-to-earth side: a fondness for Cuban cigars, Mexican beer, TV and candy. He has a short fuse and he'd like a little appreciation for his efforts, please. He deserves it, too. This rank outsider isn't a billionaire like Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark. He's not even a scientist like Bruce Banner. He's more of a working stiff, a slugger with a gruff manner and a stogie in the side of his mouth -- but he wants to bat for the right team. (According to writer-artist Mike Mignola, the character was inspired by his father, a cabinetmaker.) Hellboy -- or \"Red\" to his friends -- has switched studios since his 2004 big-screen debut, from Columbia to Universal. Not that it shows. Writer-director Guillermo del Toro is still pulling the strings, and the key creative personnel are all back, including Ron Perlman in the title role, Selma Blair as the pyrokinetic Liz (now Mrs. Hellboy), Doug Jones as the piscine Abe Sapien (the brains to Red's brawn), and -- behind the scenes -- cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and art whizzes Stephen Scott and Peter Francis. Between them, they conjure up one hell of a creature feature. \"Hellboy II\" boasts a dazzling multitude of imaginary beings: the deceptively delicate tooth fairies (so called because they eat bone, with a fondness for teeth in particular); the elfin king whose antlers grow out of his head to form a crown; the plantlike forest god that collapses into a strangely beautiful floral mulch right under the Brooklyn Bridge; the magnificent Angel of Death, an old crone who unfurls her wings to reveal a sparkling set of eyes (an avian variation on the creepiest creation in the acclaimed \"Pan's Labyrinth,\" del Toro's last movie). Then there's the redoubtable Johann Kraus, an officious but in many ways admirable German who only exists as a vapor trail -- except when he's bottled up in an ingeniously modified, but still splendidly archaic, deep-sea diving suit. When a filmmaker can invest even a puff of smoke with so much chutzpah you know he's on to something. It's wonderful to see del Toro let his imagination run rampant like this. iReport.com: Did you see \"Hellboy II\"? Share your review . The plot concerns an ancient race that's determined to wage war on humanity, but it's secondary to del Toro's amazing characters. The Mexican director's first Hollywood movies (\"Mimic\" and \"Blade II\") were far less distinctive than his Spanish-language films: \"Cronos,\" \"The Devil's Backbone\" and \"Pan's Labyrinth.\" You couldn't really call \"Hellboy II\" an advance on the latter -- \"Pan's\" was nominated for six Oscars and won three -- but it's obvious he relishes this material. It's pulpy and hammy and unashamedly lowbrow, and del Toro has the confidence and power to make it his own. The film feels very free, loose and (unusually for a special-effects picture) improvisational. An outsize personality such as Perlman is in his element here. Even when the wisecracks fall short -- there are an awful lot of \"ass\" gags -- they are closer to the grubby, subversive impulses of the comic books than the over-hyped, market-tested, industrial-strength blockbuster adaptations Hollywood churns out. It's not for nothing that the central tension running through this movie is Red's anarchic streak, his sometimes irresponsible need to be his own man in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (the \"X-Men\"-like institution where he works) and in his marriage. Scratch the surface, and this is a film about love and loyalty, figuring out where your deepest bonds lie. Highbrows may damn \"Hellboy II\" as a \"comic book movie,\" though even they would have to grant that its wonderful idiosyncrasies indicate brilliance. But it's more than that. Hellboy does so much growing up over the course of these 110 minutes, we may have to call him \"Hellman\" from now on. Let's hope Universal stays the course and gives us that opportunity. People as creative as del Toro and his gang need all the support we can give them. \"Hellboy II: The Golden Army\" is rated PG-13 and runs 110 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly's take, click here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CNN.com's Tom Charity: \"Hellboy II\" shows more Guillermo del Toro brilliance .\nRon Perlman is back as the cigar-chomping title character .\nPlot is secondary to amazing characters, including a vaporous mass ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- China's Olympic adventure may be over, but new age chanteuse Sa Dingding is one global export that in many ways echoes the Beijing Olympic fantasy of \"One World. One Dream.\" Sa Dingding's music should find a home on the iPods of millions of chill-out world music fans. Born to a Mongolian mother and Han Chinese father, she sings in Mandarin, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and the rare dialect of Lagu, while fusing chill-out beats and floaty instrumentation played on zither, horse head fiddle and bamboo flute. Already hugely popular in China, she has been finding similar success farther afield: Her first album sold 2 million copies in Southeast Asia, and she has appeared on MTV. Earlier this year she won a BBC Radio 3 World Music Award as well as performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Her linguistic skills and musicianship were honed from a young age. Born in Inner Mongolia in 1983, she spent three years until the age of 6 with her grandmother, living a nomadic life in northern China, where her imagination and creativity were allowed to roam free. \"We actually lived in a small city between grassland and the big city. In spring time, we move to the grassland. And in winter time, we moved back to the city,\"she told CNN's Talk Asia. \"The whole memory of my childhood is in one word: Play. I just played everywhere on the grassland. And there a lot of interesting things happened which affected the ... life of mine.\" Later she became a student of Buddhism and yoga as well as becoming a multi-instrumentalist, releasing her first album at the age of 18. Melding different musical cultures and ethnic influences, notably Tibetan, has also caused a certain amount of discussion, especially on her own position toward the status of Tibet within China. \"From a musician's point of view, Tibetan culture and its music cannot be seen as an isolated subject... lots and lots of other ethnicities have added their colors on the Tibetan culture. So I see the Tibetan culture nowadays as an integral part of the greater Chinese culture,\" she said. Aiming to avoid controversy, organizers of the Glastonbury festival dropped her from this year's lineup. \"I don't quite understand the reason behind [it]. To me, art and music really belong to the whole world and they shouldn't be limited by boundaries. So I really hope that I could join Glastonbury next year,\" she said. Until then further explorations in language and music beckon, and there have been recent collaborations with house music DJ Paul Oakenfold and French chill-out duo Deep Forest in Europe. \"It's very amazing because when I had to return to China, they drove me to the airport and told me: 'Life is full of miracles. When you first arrived here, these three songs didn't exist. But now you're leaving, and we have three wonderful new songs.'\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Half-Mongolian, half-Chinese musician mixes ethnic influences with chill-out beats .\nFirst album sold over 2 million copies in South East Asia .\nDeemed too controversial by Glastonbury Festival and dropped from line-up ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A 6-foot-4 football player is more than a million times the size of a typical Staphylococcus bacterium. But under the right conditions, that athlete could find himself defenseless against the microscopic bug. Kellen Winslow recently had a second staph infection and has accused his team of covering it up. The problem came to the forefront last week with Cleveland Browns player Kellen Winslow, who recently had his second staph infection. He is reportedly the sixth player to acquire staph among the Browns in five years. Winslow recently said the Browns treated him like a \"piece of meat\" when he was hospitalized for the condition, and he claimed they covered up the cause of his illness. After Winslow spoke out, the organization suspended him for one game, then rescinded the suspension after a settlement with Winslow over the weekend. The Browns said in a statement Saturday that the team and Winslow had worked through their differences, and that the team looked forward to his return. Winslow joined the team again Monday. Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts was revealed to have a staph infection, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday. University of North Carolina-Asheville fans also recently learned that Kenny George, the 7-foot-7 center on the basketball team, had a staph infection complication that led to part of his foot being amputated. It's unclear how these high-profile athletes acquired their infections, but locker rooms have been found to habor staph bacteria in previous outbreaks. The topic is generating buzz throughout the sports world as more players' staph cases are revealed. Hospitals have long been known to be hot spots for transmitting staph, but recently cases have cropped up in other community settings. Regardless of where these players got their infections, the close quarters of a locker room raise questions about overall risks. About 30 percent of people carry staph in their noses without exhibiting symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a form of staph resistant to common antibiotics, has become a more prevalent problem in settings such as contact sports that involve skin-to-skin touching. Most MRSA infections acquired in community settings present themselves as sores or boils and often appear red, swollen, painful or with drainage such as pus, the CDC says. Infections often occur in cuts and abrasions but also on body parts covered in hair, such as the back of the neck, armpit or groin. Schools, prisons and other crowded environments are particularly known for transmitting MRSA, said. Elaine Larson, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. MRSA may spread particularly easily among athletes because they have repeated skin-to-skin contact, share items and surfaces that touch skin and have a hard time staying clean, the CDC says. Athletes often get cuts and abrasions; MRSA can enter uncovered skin breaks and cause infection. Dr. James Steinberg, medical director at Emory University's Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, said that environment plays a role in the spread of MRSA but that it's less a factor than coming into contact with a person's skin. \"If you have somebody who has an infection -- he has a draining infection -- and he gets some of his pus on a bench, that staph's going to be there for hours or days before it dries out,\" he said. \"But the higher concentration is going to be on that person's skin.\" A second infection in the same person could result from re-exposure or from treatment that didn't get rid of the bacteria colonization, he said. MRSA has been around in hospital settings since the 1970s, but community-associated MRSA was born in the late 1990s, and is now widespread in the community, said CDC spokesperson Nicole Coffin. A report from the CDC said that the deaths of four children from MRSA in North Dakota and Minnesota during the late 1990s \"demonstrate the potential severity of community-acquired MRSA infections.\" A study on the St. Louis Rams published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found that during the 2003 football season, there were eight MRSA infections among five of the 58 Rams players. To protect against MRSA, the CDC recommends practicing good personal hygiene and taking care of your skin, which includes wearing protective clothing and covering cuts and abrasions with clean, dry bandages. Also, do not share items that come into contact with your skin, such as towels, razors and ointments. Put something between your skin and shared equipment -- for example, sit on a towel on a bench. Larson said she is not directly familiar with Winslow's situation but understands the dilemma that a team would face if a player contracted a staph infection. There could be economic and psychosocial repercussions -- for example, another team might not want to play against that one, she said. But in general, other team members should be made aware of the situation so they do not share towels or engage in other behaviors that might transmit the infection. Still, there is a danger of overreaction, she said. In some instances when a child in a public school has died, the whole school panicked and fumigated the facility, she said. \"It's a good idea to avoid that level of fear, because it's costly and it scares people unnecessarily,\" she said. On Thursday, the Brown's General Manager Phil Savage said the team did not alert players to Winslow's staph infection partly because of the health privacy laws and partly because the team was in \"game mode\" when Winslow had a confirmed diagnosis. \"To come out and talk about that just was going to be another distraction,\" Savage said on his regular weekly appearance on WTAM radio in Cleveland, Ohio. \"That's our job, is to limit distractions as much as we can.\" Winslow said in a statement released through his publicist, Denise White of EAG Sports Management, that he had been discouraged from making the issue public. \"This has nothing to do with football, and this has nothing to with my current contract situation,\" he said. \"This is a health concern.\" A spokesperson for the Browns did not return a request for comment. An NFL representative said the league has no statement on the issue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Several professional athletes have recently had staph infections .\nExperts say it is a growing problem in settings that involve skin-to-skin touching .\nCDC: Don't share towels; put something between your skin and the bench .\nCleveland Browns' Kellen Winslow brought issue to forefront ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A student who videoed a re-enactment of the \"Jena 6\" incident apologized and said the video was not intended to make fun of the six black students arrested in the beating of a white classmate, according to The News-Star newspaper of Monroe, Louisiana. The incident involving six black students has sparked protests across the country, like this one in Washington. The video, taped by University of Louisiana-Monroe student Kristy Smith, shows students in blackface apparently acting out the beating of Jena High School student Justin Barker. One of the males in the tape runs onto the beach acting as if he is holding a noose, and three others -- covered in river mud -- pretend to knock him to the ground, punch and kick him. At least one racial epithet can be heard. It was unclear when the video was made. Smith said she taped it on the banks of the Red River in Alexandria, Louisiana, and posted it on her Facebook page, according to The News-Star. The page has since been made private, but the video was posted on YouTube and The Smoking Gun. Watch Jena 6 re-enactment » More than 500 people attended a forum held Tuesday night at the university in response to the video, a university statement said. \"The majority ... decided not to let the actions of a few define the entire student body.\" Vice President of Student Affairs Wayne Brumfield told students \"there are no words to express the dismay at what happened in that video ... We're here tonight because the action of one or two set our university in motion.\" In a Tuesday interview with the News-Star, a tearful Smith denied being racist. \"This is so not me,\" she said in the Wednesday article. \"It wasn't that we were making fun of the Jena 6 incident. We were just fed up with it ... I have just as many black [friends] as I do white friends.\" School administrators are reviewing the incident for possible disciplinary action from ULM's Office of Judicial Affairs, university spokesperson Laura Harris said. Smith and another participant in the video are ULM students, Harris said. The beating of Barker followed an increase in racial tensions in Jena, Louisiana, including at least two fights, sparked originally when three white teens hung nooses from an oak tree on the grounds of the town's high school. The six black teens arrested in the beating were initially charged with attempted murder. Those charges, later reduced and moved to juvenile court, focused nationwide attention on Jena and led about 15,000 protesters to the town to participate in a march on the youths' behalf. Smith did not respond Thursday to an e-mail from CNN. Harris said she has left the ULM campus and returned home. Smith told the News-Star she has taken the video off her Facebook page and has apologized to Facebook groups and bloggers. She said she is getting threats that have prompted her to delete her e-mail address and has had to keep her cell phone off. \"My dad's back home dying of cancer, and I can't call him,\" she said. Brumfield told students at Tuesday's forum that Smith \"is suffering terrible shame right now.\" ULM asked Facebook and YouTube to remove the videos, Brumfield said, but it was still available on YouTube as of Thursday afternoon. Brumfield also created his own Facebook account to respond to the video. University President James Cofer has directed that educational materials be developed for students, especially freshmen, on cultural sensitivity and racial diversity, according to a university statement. \"We are naturally appalled, and we intend to face this matter directly by gathering our community together and exploring these difficult issues,\" Cofer said in a statement. Students at the forum offered ideas for strengthening racial unity on the campus of about 8,500 students. \"What we're doing here right now is a very important thing,\" said Ma'ya Blount, a ULM junior from New Orleans, according to a university statement on the forum. \"Racism doesn't get resolved when people hush up about it and sweep it under the rug. It only gets resolved when we talk about it in an educated manner ... As long as we continue to do this, maybe 10, 20 years from now, race won't be so much of an issue. We need to talk about it in a positive manner. We can only learn from this.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Student tells News-Star of Monroe, Louisiana, she wasn't making fun of \"Jena 6\"\nKristy Smith posted tape on her Facebook page; it has since been removed .\nHundreds meet on University of Louisiana-Monroe campus in response to video .\nSix black students, dubbed \"Jena 6,\" accused of beating white student ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- U.S. fans of Michael Jackson are pouring out their grief through music and dance, impromptu shrines at symbolic locations and heartfelt remembrances online. Valerie Rojas Pruitt, 12, lights a candle Friday at Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was surrounded hours before dawn Friday by candles, flowers, posters and balloons. As the sun rose, a man crouched on the sidewalk and painted a portrait of the pop star, who died suddenly on Thursday. \"This is a very sad day here in Hollywood, California,\" sobbed Melissa Fazli, a CNN iReporter. \"This is very, very sad. I can't believe it.\" The star emblem had been covered until almost 3 a.m. by a red carpet for the premiere of the Sasha Baron Cohen film \"Bruno\" at Grauman's Chinese Theater, but fans started leaving mementos as soon as the carpet was removed. The film's producers reportedly cut a scene referencing Jackson, at least for the premiere. Watch the Walk of Fame shrine grow » . \"He was an innovator,\" a fan named Delores said outside the theater. \"He's basically an icon in his own time -- legendary. It's going to take years [to sink in] that he's gone, because he's always with me. ... I'm just trying to assess it all right now. I'm still mourning, and at the same time missing him. It's a little bit much to bear.\" See what celebrities had to say » . Fans gathered near the gates of the Los Angeles home where the King of Pop collapsed Thursday, and hundreds more assembled outside the UCLA Medical Center, where Jackson was pronounced dead. The U.S. fans' reaction was part of a worldwide outpouring of grief over Jackson's death and celebration of his life and art. See how people reacted in other countries . People stopped in their tracks Thursday in New York's Times Square, staring up at the giant TV screens bearing news of Jackson's death. Some people set up lawn chairs in the evening. Watch the reaction on Times Square » . Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, Michigan, a two-story house where the Jackson 5's recording career began in 1969, according to CNN affiliate WDIV-TV. Fans built a makeshift shrine to Jackson, whose hits could be heard booming from passing cars, the station reported. View a timeline of Jackson's career » . Fans frequently broke into song and dance around Jackson's childhood home on Jackson Street, renamed in honor of the family, in Gary, Indiana, CNN affiliate WRTV-TV reported. Watch fans gather at the home » . \"I knew Michael. I only lived three blocks from him myself,\" Gary resident John Moore told WRTV-TV. \"It's a really sad day. I'm very hurt and disappointed right now. He was a great guy.\" CNN iReporter Egberto Willies of Kingwood, Texas, summed up the conflicting feelings Jackson engendered among his admirers: . \"I grew up on Michael Jackson,\" Willies said in a video post on iReport.com. \"I loved Michael Jackson. I hated Michael Jackson. I admired Michael Jackson. I was ashamed of Michael Jackson. I was sorry for Michael Jackson. I was proud of Michael Jackson. iReport: Share your thoughts about Michael Jackson . \"Michael Jackson was a complicated human being who was [denied] a childhood in order to provide us with great musical and dancing entertainment,\" Willies went on. \"But with all his wealth and success he never seemed happy with himself. He never viewed himself as we viewed him: simply the best entertainer alive. May he rest in peace, his demons left behind.\" CNN's Kara Finnstrom and Dan Simon contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Admirers gather at symbolic locations to salute the late \"King of Pop\"\nCandles, flowers, posters, balloons surround star on Hollywood Walk of Fame .\nFans sing and dance outside Detroit house where Jackson 5 first recorded .\nNeighbors remember Jackson at childhood home in Gary, Indiana ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- A veteran of over 20 years of mountain climbing, Dave Bunting has been in some pretty tight scrapes. Soldier mountaineer Dave Bunting on Mount Everest. His team tried to summit via the mountain's notorious West Ridge in 2006. He and his climbing partner once watched in terror as a huge avalanche careered down a Himalayan mountainside straight for them. They were miraculously spared when the wall of snow parted on either side of the promontory where they were standing at a distance of just 50 meters. On another occasion he spent an agonizing night hanging precariously over a 3,000-foot (900 meter) drop during an electrical storm in the Alps. He estimates he was electrocuted \"half a dozen times\" during the course of the night. Faced with the fearsome power of nature mountaineers like Bunting rely on one indispensable ally -- other mountaineers. Teamwork is essential in climbing. The first successful ascent of Everest was as much about the bond of trust that existed between modest New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and his diminutive Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, as their individual talents. To illustrate this point, when Bunting -- a warrant officer in the British Army -- was compiling a team of soldiers to attempt an ascent of Everest's notorious West Ridge the first quality he and the rest of the selection panel looked for was not climbing expertise, but compatibility. \"A lot of people think that when you go and do something like that, you immediately look for all the best climbers in the army,\" he says. \"But what we based our selection process on, compatibility was first.\" Of course, all team sports rely upon a strong dynamic between the individual members. But there can be few disciplines in which the stakes are as high as in mountain climbing, where your life often literally rests in someone else's hands. Bunting, 40, led the expedition of 21 army mountaineers to Everest's West Ridge two years ago. It was a daunting undertaking. Of over 2,200 climbers who have made it to the top of the world's tallest peak since it was first conquered, only 19 have done so via this route. The ridge is rarely attempted because of its steepness and because its position leaves it exposed to high winds and the risk of avalanche. The army's summit attempt took three and half years in the planning and preparation and was the subject of a documentary, 'Everest: Man v Mountain.' Much of this build-up involved establishing strong bonds between team members. Practice climbs, social events and corporate-style teambuilding days were all employed to try to instil an atmosphere of mutual trust within the group. An essential factor on a mountain as significant as Everest, Bunting says. \"You are massively wrapped up in emotions there because you've spent three and a half years preparing for it,\" says Bunting, who now runs his own outdoor events company in the Bavarian Alps. The prestige of getting to the top of Everest can sometimes blur a climber's moral judgement, leading to acts of single-mindedness that border on the downright callous. During the same season as Bunting's army expedition, David Sharp, a 34-year-old British climber died of cold, exhaustion and lack of oxygen on his descent from the summit. As details of Sharp's death became public it emerged that 40 climbers had passed him, making no attempt to save the stricken climber as he lay stranded in the scant shelter of a rock alcove on the mountain's northeast ridge. The incident drew much soul-searching in the mountaineering world, with Sir Edmund Hillary complaining to New Zealand's Otago Daily Times of the \"horrifying\" attitudes it revealed. \"(On Everest) a lot of people are out for themselves completely,\" says Bunting. He says this selfish streak is exacerbated by the fast turnover of commercial climbing expeditions, which often meet for the first time just a couple of weeks before a summit attempt, meaning there is little opportunity to build team morale. By contrast, among Bunting's army mountaineers the needs of the group were always put before personal ambition. He gives an example: . \"As we went for the summit there were a number of support teams, one of whose job it was to break trail from base camp right the way up to 7,500 metres, clambering through two foot of snow. \"Each step you take at those altitudes is absolutely horrendous. There's a clip in the documentary of one of the lads breaking trail, every step up to his knees in snow, and you hear him say: 'Well, this is our job so we've got to get on with it.' \"A brilliant demonstration of teamwork.\" The biggest test of this togetherness came when Bunting was left the unenviable task of telling his team of ambitious young soldiers he was abandoning the summit attempt because of a high risk of avalanches. \"Two or three of the guys were pretty pissed off, to be honest. \"Instead of getting wrapped up in emotions -- because Everest is a very emotional place -- I looked at it in very black and white terms. I couldn't risk sending my team up the mountain with that kind of real and present danger involved.\" This clear-headed thinking meant his team braved one of the most dangerous climbs in the world and made it back down again, together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Army officer Dave Bunting recruited a team of 21 soldiers to summit Everest .\nThe 2006 attempt was via the mountain's notoriously dangerous West Ridge .\nThey spent over three years preparing by building cameraderie and team spirit .\nBunting says personal ambition can sometimes get the better of climbers on Everest ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- Smoke blanketed the Argentine capital Friday as brush fires apparently set deliberately consumed thousands of acres in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos. A haze surrounds the Palermo neighborhood of the Argentine capital early Thursday. The smoke, from about 300 fires, is blamed for at least two fatal traffic accidents this week that left eight people dead. Sections of major highways and the Buenos Aires port, among the busiest in the world, have been closed. Incoming flights to the city's domestic airport, Jorge Newbery Airpark, have been diverted. The Argentine government has blamed farmers looking to clear their land for crops and grazing for the fires, which are estimated to cover 173,000 acres (70,000 hectares). \"This is the largest fire of this kind that we've ever seen,\" Argentine Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said Thursday. Randazzo called the situation a \"disaster.\" As of Friday morning, little progress had been made extinguishing the blazes. No rain is predicted for the next few days, but the National Meteorological Service predicts that the winds will change direction soon, dispersing the smoke. On Friday morning, the National Roads Administration closed sections of the heavily traveled Panamericana Highway, which leads in and out of Buenos Aires. Spokesman Ernesto Arriaga said \"visibility is 5 meters\" (about 16 feet) in some sections of the highway. \"Covering highways with smoke just to clear a field of weeds is unforgivable,\" Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez told Radio Diez. \"It's incredibly irresponsible.\" Hospitals have reported an increase in visitors complaining of breathing problems, sore throats and burning eyes in the past three days. Citing a high level of carbon monoxide in the air, officials have encouraged people not to exercise outside. Schools in Pilar, a city in the province of Buenos Aires, were closed Friday because of the gray, thick air. The smoke has obscured views of some of the capital's landmarks, such the Obelisco monument and the government house, Casa Rosada, and people were seen walking on the city streets covering their faces with clothes. This month, Argentina's farmers suspended a three-week strike over a new government export tax on commodities. The bitter lockout left grocery shelves empty and caused major friction between President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's government and Argentina's large agricultural sector. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Brian Byrnes contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Parts of highways, Buenos Aires port closed by heavy smoke from fires .\nWildfires cover 173,000 acres around Buenos Aires .\nArgentine government blames farmers for setting the blazes .\nShifting winds may help clear Buenos Aires ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- One 12-year-old Virginia boy was playing baseball when it happened. Lightning strikes Las Vegas in 2006. Already this month 11 people have been killed by lightning in the U.S. The same week, a 33-year-old man was struck while jogging in Texas, a 70-year-old California woman was hit while doing yard work and a Kentucky man, 44, fell victim while waiting under a tree for a ride. They are among 11 people killed already this month by lightning strikes in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. \"Lightning is very random in terms of fatalities,\" National Weather Service lightning safety expert John Jensensius told CNN. \"We normally see a good amount of lightning in June, but this is unusually high. There really is no good explanation of why that's the case.\" Six of the 15 lightning-strike deaths in the U.S. so far this year occurred in California, Texas and Florida, with the rest scattered through the South, Midwest and West. No deaths have occurred in the Northeast so far, \"likely due to the cool, damp pattern we've seen in New England,\" Jensensius said. \"There have been less severe thunderstorms there.\" Summer is the deadliest season for lightning strikes because of the frequency of thunderstorms and the fact that more people are outdoors. This week, the first official week of summer, marks \"Lightning Safety Awareness Week\" for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency's message is \"When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors.\" That's because all the people killed by lightning in the U.S. so far this year -- and the 28 killed in 2008 -- were outdoors. Taking shelter under trees offers little safety -- nearly one-third of the people killed by lightning last year were under a tree when they were hit. More than 400 people in the U.S. are hit by lightning each year, according to the National Weather Service. Lightning, on average, kills more people than hurricanes and tornadoes combined (among all weather-related fatalities, only floods kill more). While not all injuries result in death, many victims are left with devastating and permanent disabilities. You may remember that as a child you were told to count the seconds between a lightning flash and thunder to see how far away the lightning was. But by the time you calculate it, it may be too late. Sometimes thunder and lightning can happen simultaneously. Despite its \"Sunshine State\" nickname, Florida receives more cloud-to-ground lightning than any other state in the country, according to data from NASA satellites. But Florida does not receive the most lightning in the world. According to NASA research, that dubious honor goes to the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 158 strikes per square kilometer each year. Thunderstorms occur in Central Africa year-round. Here are some commonly asked lightning questions: . How powerful is lightning? According to the National Weather Service, \"each spark of lightning can reach over five miles in length, soar to temperatures of approximately 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit and contain 100 million electrical volts.\" Can wearing rubber shoes protect you from lightning? No. That's a myth, and there are lots of them out there. For facts on lightning safety, visit http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eleven people have been killed already this month by lightning strikes in the U.S.\nAll the U.S.'s 15 lightning deaths this year occurred in the South, Midwest and West .\nSummer is the deadliest season for lightning because of the frequency of storms .\nThis week, the first official one of summer, is Lightning Safety Awareness Week ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Former rugby superstar Jonah Lomu has revealed that he is poised to make a shock playing comeback at the age of 34 with French third-division club Marseille Vitrolles. Jonah Lomu pictured in action for New Zealand's All Blacks during the 1999 World Cup in France. The giant New Zealander, who became a global name after an electrifying series of performances on the wing for the All Blacks at the 1995 World Cup, retired in 2007 after a succession of injuries hampered his attempt to return following a kidney transplant. He played 63 internationals, the last of them in 2002, but was never able to regain his previous dominance even after regaining full health. \"Marseille Vitrolles is on the point of finalizing the transfer of the greatest legend in world rugby,\" said statement on the club's Web site. Lomu, who is featuring in a new worldwide advertising campaign for sportswear manufacturer adidas called \"Nothing Is Impossible\", was also quoted as confirming his desire to return to the playing field. \"I took a sabbatical year to be at my pregnant partner's side and to fully enjoy this important moment in any man's life,\" he said on the Web site. \"Everyone thought I had ended my playing career, but that was wrong. I still feel the desire to play and it will be me alone who decides when to call it a day. \"My ambition is to help a club like Marseille join the group of top clubs in France.\" Lomu was first diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a rare and serious kidney disorder, at the end of 1996. He successfully returned to the game after treatment, but in May 2003 he was put on dialysis three times a week due to deterioration in his kidney function, with the treatment's side effects leaving him with severe nerve damage in his feet and legs. Lomu faced life in a wheelchair if a kidney transplant was not performed, so underwent the operation. He signed a two-year contract with New Zealand province North Harbour in 2005, and also played for Welsh club Cardiff Blues during the southern hemisphere's off-season. However, he was unable to achieve his goal of being selected in the All Blacks squad for the 2007 World Cup in France, having suffered a shoulder injury. Lomu agreed to play in a charity match in England last year, but withdrew after injuring his ankle in training." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Former All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu to join French third-division club .\nThe 34-year-old will play for Marseille Vitrolles after supposedly retiring in 2007 .\nNew Zealander became rugby's first global superstar after the 1995 World Cup .\nHe previously returned to playing after having a kidney transplant ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The nation's foreclosure crisis threatened a high-profile victim this week: TV legend Ed McMahon, best known as Johnny Carson's sidekick on \"The Tonight Show.\" Ed McMahon and his wife, Pam, talk to CNN's Larry King about their mortgage problems. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that McMahon was $644,000 in arrears on a $4.8 million loan for a home in Beverly Hills, California, and his lender had filed a notice of default. McMahon and his wife, Pam, appeared on CNN's \"Larry King Live\" on Thursday night to talk about their financial woes and other topics. Some highlights: . Larry King: What did happen, Ed? Ed McMahon: It's a combination, it's like a perfect storm. Economy problems. Selling the house right now is a tremendous operation .... We've had this house on the market for two years. We've shown it, I don't know how many, 50 organizations or people. Nobody has made an offer. I mean, it's just a lovely home. I hate to leave it. I want to keep the home. I want this all to work out. Watch McMahon tell King what went wrong » . King: And the payments, you can't make -- what's the problem? Ed McMahon: Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen. You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together. King: Did you break your neck? Ed McMahon: I broke my neck. I had a fall. ... King: Has that stopped you from working? Ed McMahon: Oh, sure. You know, you can't work with this [brace] around your neck. And I have to wear this. King: But, Pam, the assumption is that the McMahons are multimillionaires and multimillionaires -- how much behind are you, $644,000, right? That's what's reported? ... If you're a millionaire, shouldn't you be able to pay $644,000? Pam McMahon: I think over the years, you know, it's just a kind of a combination of maybe Ed working so hard and not kind of looking at proper management, which happens a lot. ... Because you're a celebrity, people think you have a lot more than you have. And you always want to take great care of all of your friends and your family and everybody, and you do. And you don't, and I think, you know, we didn't keep our eye on the ball. We made mistakes. King: And are they foreclosing? Pam McMahon: Yes, they are. ... King: So you will lose this home? Ed McMahon: It's possible, yes. But now, I'll tell you what's happened, oddly enough. Today, all kinds of wonderful things have happened. New things have happened. And new interest in this house. Where the house had no interest, now there's all kinds of, tons of interest. So who knows what's going to happen. I'm optimistic. ... King: Ed, why have you gone public? Ed McMahon: Well, I figured I wanted to, in a sense, speak for the million people you mentioned [facing foreclosure]. I heard that figure today and I just couldn't believe it. Anyway, the million people that now have foreclosure signs on their house, or nearby. And I just want to give them hope, give them optimism, give them some kind of guidance. Get the best corrective people you need around you. Keep working on it. Don't stop. There's a lot of people that are hard workers, did everything right, didn't do anything wrong, and all of a sudden, they're in this boat. And I speak for all of them, as far as I'm concerned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ed McMahon in danger of foreclosure on his multimillion dollar home .\nHome has been on market for two years with no offers, McMahon tells Larry King .\nMcMahon blames bad economy, broken neck for difficulty making payments .\nTV legend says he wants to speak for all who are in danger of losing homes ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- In compiling a new George Harrison greatest-hits collection, the idea was to focus on the flow, his widow, Olivia, told CNNRadio Monday. George Harrison, shown here in 1992, had hits with \"My Sweet Lord\" and \"All Those Years Ago,\" among others. \"It's a collection that spans his career, and we put them together in a way we thought they would just kind of flow, you know, musically, into one another,\" she said of \"Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison,\" out Tuesday. \"But, it's all George, you know.\" In 1970, the Beatles broke up. Harrison burst out of the palace with \"All Things Must Pass,\" a monster three-record set that featured friends like Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and former bandmate Ringo Starr. Critics and fans agree the album is among the best solo offerings from a former Fab. Although five cuts from \"All Things\" got the nod on this package -- the title track, \"Isn't it a Pity,\" \"What is Life,\" \"The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp\" and, of course, \"My Sweet Lord\" -- this look back displays Harrison's solo work throughout his career. The 19-cut CD extends all the way through \"Brainwashed,\" his final album, featuring that album's chirpy \"Any Road\" and the hypnotic instrumental \"Marwa Blues.\" The Beatles are present too. Three live Harrison songs from \"The Concert for Bangladesh\" -- \"While My Guitar Gently Weeps,\" \"Something\" and \"Here Comes the Sun\" -- sound as good today as they did on that August date in 1971 at Madison Square Garden. And, of course, his bouncy, tongue-in-cheek \"When We Was Fab,\" from his 1987 release \"Cloud Nine,\" shows Harrison looking back without anger. \"I think that there is an underlying thread that he always expressed, always a bit of humor, always a bit of longing,\" said Olivia Harrison. \"You know, I don't like to overuse the word spirituality, but, you know, he was interested in things not of this world.\" Harrison is a two-time inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a Beatle and once as a solo artist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "New George Harrison collection, \"Let It Roll,\" out Tuesday .\nCD songs from 1970s \"All Things Must Pass\" through 2002's \"Brainwashed\"\nWidow: Harrison's songs had \"always a bit of humor, always a bit of longing\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A private funeral service for actress Farrah Fawcett will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, California, according to her publicist. Actress Farrah Fawcett, known for her blonde mane and gleaming smile, died Thursday at age 62. The family did not release any details about who would deliver the eulogy or how many people have been invited. Fawcett, the blonde actress whose best-selling poster and \"Charlie's Angels\" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62, and had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years. Fawcett's beauty -- her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters -- initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie \"The Burning Bed.\" Learn more about Fawcett's life and career » . She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play \"Extremities,\" a performance she reprised on film in 1986. Other Fawcett films include \"Logan's Run\" (1976), \"Saturn 3\" (1980), \"The Cannonball Run\" (1981), \"The Apostle\" (1997) and the Robert Altman-directed \"Dr. T and the Women\" (2000). But to many, Fawcett will always be best known for the poster of her in a red swimsuit, which sold an estimated 12 million copies after its release in 1976. CNN's Karen Bonsignore contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Funeral will be held at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles .\nThe family did not release any details about who would deliver the eulogy .\nService will be private with no indication on how many people invited ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) -- The case of Mychal Bell, a black teenager accused of beating a white classmate in Jena, Louisiana, will be heard in juvenile court, Louisiana's governor announced Wednesday. Mychal Bell, 17, is accused with five others of beating Justin Barker in a school fight. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that she discussed Bell's case with LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters on Wednesday, and that Walters agreed not to challenge a state appeals court ruling that dismissed Bell's battery and conspiracy convictions. The court ruled that Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, should have been tried in juvenile court instead of having the case transferred to adult court. Blanco made the announcement with civil rights leaders Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton. Last week, they led about 15,000 marchers to Jena, a town of 3,000, to protest how authorities handled the cases of Bell and five other black teens accused of beating white high school student Justin Barker. Many said they are angry the students, dubbed the \"Jena 6,\" are being treated more harshly than three white students who hung nooses from an oak tree on high school property. The white students were suspended from school but did not face criminal charges. The protesters say they should have been charged with a hate crime. Prosecutors originally charged all six black students with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy . The black students now face charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy in the schoolyard beating. The altercation was the culmination of racially tense events in the town, including two fights sparked by the hanging of the nooses. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mychal Bell's case will be heard in juvenile court, Gov. Kathleen Blanco says .\nLaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters agreed to that, she said .\nBell and five other black teens are accused of beating white student Justin Barker .\nBeating followed white students hanging nooses from a tree on school grounds ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Scientific tests prove bones housed in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome are those of the apostle St. Paul himself, according to Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict XVI looks at the tomb of St. Paul at the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome in 2007. \"Tiny fragments of bone\" in the sarcophagus were subjected to carbon dating, showing they \"belong to someone who lived in the first or second century,\" the pope said in a homily carried on Italian television. \"This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle St. Paul,\" Benedict said in Sunday's announcement. The tomb also holds \"traces of a precious linen cloth, purple in color and laminated with pure gold, and a blue colored textile with linen filaments,\" the pope said. The tests were carried out by inserting a probe into a small opening in the sarcophagus, \"which had not been opened for many centuries,\" the pontiff said. The probe \"also revealed the presence of grains of red incense and traces of protein and limestone.\" Separately, archaeologists have uncovered an image of St. Paul which \"could be considered the oldest icon of the apostle known to date,\" the Vatican's official newspaper reported Sunday. The painting, in the St. Tecla Catacomb, is \"among the oldest and best-defined figures from ancient Christianity,\" according to the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, L'Osservatore Romano reported. St. Paul is one of the most significant figures in Christianity. Originally a persecutor of early Christians, he became a follower of Jesus after seeing a vision on the road to Damascus, according to Christian tradition. \"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?\" the vision of Jesus asks Paul, using the apostle's birth name, in the Acts of the Apostles. Saul then took the name Paul and became a missionary. His letters, or epistles, to early Christian communities around the Mediterranean form a significant portion of the New Testament. Paul was beheaded by Roman authorities sometime between 65 and 67 A.D., according to the Catholic Church. He was buried a few miles away, and when the Roman Empire stopped persecuting Christians some 250 years later, the Emperor Constantine had a basilica built over his grave. It currently lies under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin inscription PAULO APOSTOLO MART (Apostle Paul, martyr), according to the Web site of the basilica. A papal altar stands over the tombstone, which is visible through a window-like opening, the Web site says. Monday marks the end of a year of celebration in honor of the 2,000th anniversary of St. Paul's birth. It also happens to be the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul. CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scientific tests prove bones are those of the apostle St. Paul, pope says .\nVatican tomb also holds \"traces of a precious linen cloth\"\nTests were carried out by inserting probe into small opening in sarcophagus ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Cal Ripken Jr. will always be known for his consecutive games played streak, but it may surprise many people that just two years into his big-league career, he already was planning for life after baseball. Cal Ripken Jr. is introduced to the crowd at the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While many of the athletes who took to the playing fields of major league baseball this season only are focused on the game, Ripken began saving and planning for retirement long before his career neared its end. \"When I joined the Orioles [in 1982], the team was transitioning,\" said Ripken, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July. \"I saw guys who were 34, 35, 36 years old -- still young guys -- about to get out of the game, and I wondered what will they do now? \"It got me thinking about what I would want to do when I got out of the game. Most people don't realize how fast the time goes, but I turned those questions on myself.\" Though he quickly points out that he didn't dwell on those questions, Ripken admits it got him thinking, and eventually planning, so that when retirement came in 2001, the shift from baseball to business was easy. \"From the outside, I'm sure it looked like a smooth transition just by virtue of the fact that I had another thing to go into,\" he said. \"I had prepared for what was next.\" These days, five seasons after retiring from a 21-year career he spent with the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken is a businessman, team owner, radio-show host and author. He also will be a baseball analyst for TBS, which like CNN.com is owned by Time Warner. Ripken jumped full time into his company, Ripken Baseball, without taking any break, lessening the emotional jolt of retirement. \"I didn't give myself the luxury of taking a month off [after the baseball season],\" he said. \"I think I would have opened myself up to regret, thinking about the past. I had to get a minor league baseball team in that stadium. I just put my head down and started working.\" Ripken's first post-baseball venture was developing a youth ballpark in his hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland, financed in part by a $75,000 gift from the Major League Baseball Players Association. It was presented to him the night he broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played. Ripken was a \"rookie\" for the second time in his life, this time in business. \"I was learning all over again, learning what was important,\" he said. \"The off-season never went by so fast. I had meetings, phone calls, plans and long days in the office. \"By the time I looked up, [the Orioles] were at spring training. I didn't think, 'They left without me,' which is what I thought I would do.\" Ripken's latest project is a business principles book called \"Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference,\" co-authored by Donald T. Phillips. The book, available April 10, was born out a speech Ripken gave about the \"secrets\" of his success. Writing it turned out to be an emotional journey, he said. \"I got to reflect on what my parents had taught me, the values and principles, right and wrong,\" Ripken said. \"It's good to be in touch with those things.\" The fact is, whether in baseball or business, Ripken rarely strays from the principles he learned from his late father, Cal Sr., a former player and manager. The book is filled with anecdotes from on and off the field. Now 46, Ripken is president and CEO of Ripken Baseball, and his brother, Bill, a former teammate, is executive vice president. The company owns minor league teams in Aberdeen and in Augusta, Georgia. The brothers also have co-written two books on baseball and co-host a baseball call-in show on weekends on XM Radio. There were reports in December that Ripken was heading a group that was interested in buying the Orioles, but Baltimore owner Peter Angelos denied that claim. \"There is no question that Cal and I have a great relationship,\" Angelos told The (Baltimore) Sun. \"He was a great player for the Orioles, and I have an affection for him. But what's being reported, there is simply no substance to it. It has not happened. There have been no such discussions.\" Still, Ripken said he probably would \"stick his nose in\" if the Orioles became available. Ripken, who has a boy and a girl, also has ventured into children's literature, and his first book is scheduled to be released Thursday. \"The Longest Season\" tells the story of the 21-game losing streak Ripken and his Orioles teammates endured in 1988 and teaches the lessons of perseverance. Ripken also continues his longstanding association with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America through the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. The foundation says it has refurbished fields, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the country and teamed up with Nike to help provide baseball and softball equipment to school sports programs nationwide. Asked what type of advice he would offer to young professional baseball players, Ripken said, \"Put that [huge contract] aside, save your money, that's your nest egg. In the off-season, think about skill development or the interests you have in a small way but be very careful. \"You can't think too much about retirement as a young player. You have to live a narrow existence for your sport.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive MLB games .\nNow runs baseball organization with brother Bill .\nFormer shortstop has written several books, hosts radio show ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LAVONIA, Georgia (CNN) -- Sonya Savage's back door opens to a cozy wooden porch that serves as a shelter for her 9-year-old son's bicycles and spare parts. Residents of Beaver Creek in Lavonia, Georgia, say they had no idea a neighbor was holding his family captive. A 30-foot tract of red clay and splotchy crab grass separates her mobile home from the home of Raymond Daniel Thurmond, a residence so rank and squalid that it forced a seasoned police investigator to vomit upon entering. Another officer donned a gas mask just to walk inside. Savage and her neighbors say they had no clue that Thurmond, 36, had a wife, let alone four kids; they were also oblivious that Thurmond may have held the five hostage in the three-bedroom mobile home for three years. \"My son, he's a little bicycle mechanic. He's always in the backyard, and he don't recall ever seeing nobody over here,\" said Savage, 29, who also has a 4-year-old daughter. \"Usually I've got a yard full of kids, but I've never seen any of those kids come out and play.\" Savage recalls speaking to Thurmond once, after someone stole one of her son's bike tires. Thurmond kindly told Savage he hadn't seen anything suspicious. \"He was nice, polite, seemed like a normal guy,\" she said. Watch a walk-through of the filth » . Alma Medina, the property manager for the 100-unit Beaver Creek mobile home park, lives three doors from what is now a crime scene. She remembers Thurmond was a polite fellow. He always called her \"Miss Alma\" when he dropped by the office to explain that his rent was late, a routine occurrence that eventually led Medina's maintenance man to a foul discovery. She occasionally saw Thurmond mingling with other tenants, but she never saw his family. The only indication that one existed, Medina said, was that he and his wife both signed a lease August 22, 2005, and noted on their application that they had three sons and a daughter. \"I never saw them outside, never,\" she said. See what the trailer looked like » . Lavonia, a city of about 2,000 on Interstate 85, about five miles from South Carolina and the sprawling Lake Hartwell, is not the best place to keep secrets. The locals know each other, if only by face, and the police chief personally directs school traffic and walks the entire town daily to check on local businesses. The self-professed \"big-time small town\" has its share of crime, but hasn't seen a murder in six years. Lt. Missy Collins, the investigator who had Thurmond arrested Tuesday after a two-week investigation, said her husband used to work with Thurmond at a pump-manufacturing facility in nearby Toccoa. Chief Bruce Carlisle remembers seeing the burly 6-foot-4 Thurmond around town, at hardware and grocery stores. He generally wore shorts, work boots and a tank top or sleeveless shirt. Carlisle and Thurmond weren't acquainted, but the chief heard he was always cordial. \"You never saw anybody with him,\" the chief said. Authorities never had a problem with Thurmond until August 4, when Collins received a call from a women's shelter. \"They said they had a mother and four kids, and apparently they'd been kept at home, and there was some abuse allegations and the dad wouldn't let them leave,\" Collins said. Collins interviewed the women and children, who all gave the same story: Thurmond had forced the wife, three sons (9, 13 and 14 years old) and his 12-year-old daughter to remain inside. Police are still investigating how. Medina on Wednesday provided CNN a tour of the trailer that revealed a hasp, used to secure a door with a padlock, that had been fastened to the mobile home's back door. Holes on the inside of the front door and on one of the children's bedroom doors indicate hasps had been placed there as well, Medina said. Collins said police are not sure if padlocks were the only way Thurmond imprisoned his family. There is no indication Thurmond had any accomplices, but he was prone to bouts of rage. Collins said Thurmond had once allegedly raped his wife with the children in the next room. Watch Collins explain how Thurmond instilled fear » . \"The entire family lived in fear of this man,\" the investigator said. \"Just his presence alone was enough for them to comply.\" They had never left the trailer except for a few hours in April, when Thurmond allowed them to visit his in-laws in North Carolina. Collins said the wife's parents had been sending the family money and threatened to cease sending cash if their daughter and grandchildren didn't visit. The wife's mother answered the phone Wednesday, but said she had been told not to speak to the media. It is unclear by whom. Her parents' names are being withheld to protect the woman's identity. Collins said she is not certain exactly what emboldened the family to flee the filthy trailer, but the mother told police that Thurmond had said he was leaving her for another woman. He'd be back in a few days, he told her, and he'd left some food for them, Collins said. The food was insufficient, Collins said, but she is not sure if it was hunger or ire over the mistress that provided the impetus to leave -- \"only the mother could really tell you why.\" When Collins interviewed the family, all but one of the children were pale and thin, she said. Only one, the 14-year-old, had ever attended school, and though the mother said the other children were home-schooled, the children told Collins that Thurmond wouldn't buy them school supplies. When Collins visited the home, the only educational implement she found was an old dictionary, she said. After interviewing the family, Collins launched a manhunt that ended without incident Tuesday at Thurmond's workplace, a poultry processing plant in neighboring Stephens County. About the time Collins kicked off her hunt for Thurmond, Medina was growing frustrated that he hadn't paid his rent. On August 6, after Thurmond hadn't responded to a notice on his door threatening eviction, Medina sent her maintenance man to the mobile home. He returned disturbed and told Medina he hadn't entered the home, she said. \"I want you to see this with your own eyes,\" she recalled the maintenance worker telling her. \"You better wear some shoes and gloves or something.\" The kitchen floor was rotted. Heavy, brown stains covered both toilets. There were anthills under a mattress in the master bedroom. Roaches freely roamed the inside of the refrigerator, and maggots owned the stove. There were several piles of trash, including one reaching the laundry room ceiling and a mound of Diet Mountain Dew bottles between a recliner and the living room couch. Tufts of human hair were scattered on the kitchen floor among bags of fetid trash. Watch how the home remained squalid after a week of cleaning » . Collins said she went behind an adjacent mobile home and vomited when she and another officer first opened the door. This was after the windows had been opened to air out the residence. Collins said she had never experienced such a stench -- this from a police investigator who as recently as last week rode in an ambulance with a corpse that had been pulled from a burning building. When Collins went in the bathroom and pulled back the once-clear-but-now-chocolate-brown shower curtain, it revealed so many roaches that the bathtub floor appeared to be moving. On Wednesday, after a week of cleaning that has already yielded two Dumpsters of trash, dozens of roaches still scurried across the floor and walls. A stench still lingered, and a film of bug feces covered the kitchen counters. Medina said she has to gut the entire trailer and replace the floor, walls and ceiling before she can rent it again. Collins said rebuilding the family may take more work. As of Thursday morning, Thurmond still didn't have an attorney and no bail hearing had been set, Collins said. In an interrogation after his arrest, Thurmond seemed \"even-tempered\" and didn't behave like someone being charged with rape and a host of other felonies, Collins said. Though he was not forthcoming and admitted nothing during the interview, Collins said, one aspect of his behavior stoked her suspicion. \"If I had been arrested and hadn't done anything, my first reaction would be, 'Where's my wife and kids?' \" Collins said. \"He didn't even ask until he was behind bars.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Neighbors say they saw Daniel Thurmond on occasion but never his wife, kids .\nInvestigator says wife, children fled after Thurmond said he had a mistress .\nLavonia a small town where police chief directs school traffic, patrols town on foot .\nThurmond charged with rape, cruelty to children, false imprisonment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Brian Levin is director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Jack McDevitt is the director of the Institute on Race and Justice and Associate Dean in the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. Both have testified before Congress in support of federal hate crime legislation and are co-authors of a book on hate in America, due to be published next year. Brian Levin says a new federal hate crime law is needed to combat violent incidents of bias. SAN BERNARDINO, California (CNN) -- America needs a coordinated and multifaceted response to combat the continuing scourge of violent hate crime like the crime committed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, originally introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy a decade ago and nearly passed during the most recent legislative session, is expected to go before the Senate for a vote soon. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified on its behalf Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is a crucial step in the nation's evolving response to hate crime. A hate crime occurs when an individual intentionally targets a victim or their property because of his or her actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability or sexual orientation. While some have argued that these kind of laws criminalize free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the 1993 case, Wisconsin v. Mitchell, that well-drafted hate crime laws are constitutional and do not punish speech. Rather they enhance the penalties only for acts that are already considered crimes. The act is named for Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student who was kidnapped, robbed, tortured and left to die, tied to a fence in a remote area outside of Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998. His mother Judy has been a tireless advocate for hate crime laws and victims. The Shepard Act remedies legal loopholes in federal and state criminal law that fail to protect against bias-motivated attacks based on such characteristics as sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. It also removes antiquated \"Klan era\" language that forces federal prosecutors to tie violent racial attacks to a small number of activities such as participating in a jury, voting or using hotels. As recent events have indicated, today's violent hate offenders, unlike their predecessors, will often swing into brutal action on their own initiative without waiting for a victim to exercise a specific activity covered by old 1960s laws. However, much of the act's potency lies not in what it punishes, but rather in its recognition of the primary role local authorities now play in combating hate crime. Nearly all hate crime investigations and prosecutions in the United States are handled by state and local authorities, such as the Boston Police or Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police. Gone are the days where masses of federal agents and soldiers had to swoop into states to protect new students and freedom riders from thugs in Klan-dominated municipalities. The act has a clear bias in favor of local prosecution and has restrictions that require federal prosecution only in limited cases where the leadership of the DJ approves. However, reporting data indicates that some states apparently provide limited assistance to hate crime victims. These jurisdictions report either zero hate crimes or a handful of crime to the FBI, year after year, while neighboring states with similar demographics and crime profiles report far more. A 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics victimization study found that only a small fraction of hate crimes nationally are actually reported. Thus, there appear to be various instances where federal help or prosecution are still necessary. Today, in the midst of our economic downturn, federal authorities are needed much more to assist cash-strapped local departments, not as an unwelcome occupying force, but as a desperately needed partner to assist with forensics, technical assistance and investigations. Even in police departments with model hate crime investigative units, such as the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit, modern cases increasingly involve interstate travel or Internet hate networks, and require sophisticated ballistic and DNA testing or computer forensics. These measures may be beyond the capacity of many local police agencies, particularly in difficult economic times. The act also provides greater access to local communities for federal training programs and mediation services that can prevent hate crimes before they boil over into violence. Our research has established that hate crimes are a qualitatively unique category of offenses. Compared to non-bias motivated crimes these crimes are more likely to involve violence, injury, hospitalization, psychological trauma and a greater risk of retaliatory attacks, which can often spill across municipal borders. And while we cannot say whether hate crimes overall are actually increasing, there does appear to be an increase in the most violent hate crimes. In 2007, hate-motivated homicides claimed nine lives, up from three in 2006, and the last year has seen a steady stream of violent plots and attacks against symbolic targets by hardened hate-mongers. Since the beginning of the year we have seen many examples of extremist crimes. Here are a few: . Brockton, Massachusetts: January 21 -- White supremacist Keith Luke 22, allegedly kills two, rapes one, and shoots another while en route to a synagogue to kill Jews. Miramar Beach, Florida: February 26 -- Dannie Baker, 60, a man known for anti-immigrant rantings, allegedly shoots 5, killing two Chilean immigrants. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: April 5 -- Neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski, 22, agitated over the belief that President Obama would ban guns, allegedly kills three police officers during a domestic violence call. New York: May 20 -- Four Muslim converts are arrested on federal charges relating to a plot to bomb Jewish and military targets. Pima County, Arizona: May 30 -- Leaders of the Minuteman American Defense group allegedly kill a 29-year-old Latino man and his nine-year-old daughter in an attempt to steal drugs and money to finance their civilian border patrol group. Washington: June 10 -- Holocaust denier James von Brunn, 88, allegedly kills a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Two national research reports released last week document a disturbing level of supremacist activities and overall violence against a broad range of groups. Another report from the Southern Poverty Law Center counted a record number of 926 hate groups in the United States last year. But there is something more to hate crime's harms that cannot be completely captured by statistics or criminological studies. As the Holocaust Museum attack demonstrates, hate crimes threaten pluralistic democracies in a way that other crimes do not. Unlike many other crimes, they are at once discriminatory and terroristic. As law professor James Weinstein observed: \"The effect of Kristallnacht on German Jews was greater than the sum of the damage to buildings and assaults on individual victims.\" Violence and threats that destabilize the bonds between citizens and the democratic institutions that they share are worthy of additional punishment and federal assistance. Moreover, victims of hate-motivated violence are entitled to legal protection no matter where they reside. That is why over two-thirds of the American public favor hate crime laws, and why the Senate should heed their call to pass the Shepard Act. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Brian Levin and Jack McDevitt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Levin, McDevitt: Senate to vote on Matthew Shepard hate crime bill .\nThey say loopholes in existing laws require new legislation .\nThey say bill would provide federal help to localities fighting hate crime .\nLevin, McDevitt: Hate crimes target pluralistic societies along with victims ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Brazilian playmaker Kaka was officially presented as a Real Madrid player, after being handed the number eight jersey in front of thousands of supporters and a huge media contingent at the club's Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday evening. Kaka parades his new Real Madrid jersey after completing his $92 million transfer to the Spanish giants. An estimated 50,000-strong crowd, almost three times the anticipated number, turned up to watch the ceremony as Kaka was unveiled as Madrid's latest addition by club president Florentino Perez and honorary president Alfredo di Stefano. Latest transfer gossip and rumors . Kaka, who completed his medical earlier in the day having landed in the Spanish capital in the morning, has penned a six-year contract and has cost Madrid a reported $92 million. There had been speculation that Kaka would be handed the number five shirt that Zinedine Zidane had once worn for Madrid, but the new arrival will instead take up the number eight shirt formerly worn by Fernando Gago. The presentation took place on a stage erected on the Bernabeu pitch that also included Madrid's record nine European Cup trophies, a giant screen and with a backdrop of four huge images showing club legends Raul, Juanito, Di Stefano and Zidane. The 27-year-old Kaka, who was named player of the tournament after helping Brazil win the Confederations Cup in South Africa over the last few weeks, told supporters: \"Today is a very happy day for me. \"I'm very happy because this new stage of my career will be at Real Madrid. I hope to write my name into the history of this club with many victories and successes.\" Kaka was the first signing confirmed by Madrid after Perez returned to the club presidency at the start of June. Soon after bringing in the Brazilian, Perez also agreed a world-record 80 million euros fee with Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo. That deal was finalized on Friday night and will come into effect from Wednesday, with Ronaldo, who like Kaka will be tied to the Spanish giants until 2015, being presented on July 6. Aside from Kaka and Ronaldo, Madrid also struck a deal to sign Valencia defender Raul Albiol last week for a fee believed to be around 13 million euros, while the likes of Franck Ribery, David Villa and Xabi Alonso are all being linked with moves to the Bernabeu as Perez relaunches the famous 'galacticos' policy that he presided over during his first tenure at the club. Then, while president from 2000-06, Perez sanctioned the big-money signings of superstars such as Zidane, David Beckham, Luis Figo and Ronaldo, a policy that reaped indifferent rewards with Madrid winning seven trophies under Perez in total but none in his final three years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kaka is unveiled as a Real Madrid player after completing his move from Milan .\nThe Brazilian playmaker is handed the No.8 shirt in front of thousands of fans .\n27-year-old just helped Brazil to victory in the Confederations Cup tournament ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- NASA and Japan improved our world view this week, or at least our view of the world. This image using ASTER imagery shows the Himalayan glaciers in Bhutan. The American space agency and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have released a new digital topographic map of Earth that accurately portrays more of our planet than ever before. The new map consists of 1.3 million images taken by NASA's Terra satellite that have been pieced together to form a unified picture of the planet. The images were taken by a Japanese imaging instrument called the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER. \"This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world,\" said Woody Turner, a program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. The map covers more than 99 percent of Earth's land mass from north of the Arctic Circle to south of the Antarctic Circle. During February 2000, space shuttle Endeavour mapped about 80 percent of the planet's surface. \"The ASTER data fill in many of the voids in the shuttle mission's data, such as in very steep terrains and in some deserts,\" said Michael Kobrick, a shuttle project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which manages the program. \"NASA is working to combine\" the new data with that from the shuttle and other sources \"to produce an even better global topographic map.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "New digital topographic map reveals more of Earth than ever before .\nImages were taken by Japanese imaging instrument on NASA satellite .\nMap consists of millions of satellite images to form unified picture of planet ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Had the government not delayed its controversial order that all computers be equipped with Green Dam by July 1, the result would have been the same -- Chinese computer retailers were far from ready. The Green Dam's developers say they've received death threats. PC sales representatives at Bainaohui, one of Beijing's largest electronics retailers, say their merchandise is not pre-installed with Green Dam, a Web filtering software the government said was necessary to prevent children from viewing pornography and other harmful content. Some retailers were unclear as to when the software would even be available on new units. Computer experts say manufacturers have not had enough time to pre-install new computers with the software -- which is one reason behind the government's delay. PC companies may also be taking more time to test the software after programming errors, with the potential to make computers susceptible to hackers, were detected by University of Michigan professors. The Chinese government said that these errors have been fixed. The international backlash against the Green Dam directive may be further delaying the pre-instillation process. Twenty-two chambers of commerce and trade groups made an appeal to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urging that he abandon the software mandate. \"China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues,\" said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke in a press-release. With the support of U.S. trade officials, computer-makers including Dell and Hewlett-Packard are threatening to bring the matter to the World Trade Organization. Other computer manufactures, including Sony and Acer, say they are bound to comply with the Chinese policy. Domestically, Chinese Internet users are rallying against the government. Last week an anonymous group of \"netizens\" posted an open letter on Chinese blogs and forums. \"We hereby decide that from July 1 2009, we will start a full-scale global attack on all censorship systems you control,\" the message said. The Chinese artist, activist, and architect who designed the Olympic \"Bird's Nest\" stadium, is one of the leaders behind the cyber battle. Ai Weiwei called for his Twitter followers to boycott the Internet on July 1st. The Green Dam's developers say they've even received death threats. The Chinese online community has been in an uproar since the new policy became public, and a \"Declaration of Anonymous Internet Users 2009\" circulating directly addresses government censors, said Charles Mok, chairman of the Internet Society of Hong Kong. \"They are showing altered pictures of their own face using masks like that from 'V for Vendetta',\" said Mok, referring to the 2005 film updating the story of Guy Fawkes, who tried to destroy Parliament building in England in the 17th Century. \"It says, 'We're behind the mask; if one of us falls down, ten others will join.'\" Mok also questions the true intent of the Green Dam software. \"On its black list are 2000 words related to pornography and 6000 other types of politically sensitive key words like 'Falun Gong',\" he said, referring to the banned Chinese religious group. \"That ratio alone makes it obvious what's behind it.\" Sharp criticism of the software partially stems from fears that the software will simply further strengthen the government's control and censorship of the media. Yet the government said it is simply acting in response to parental complaints about the negative affects of the Internet on children. Responding to reporters' questions, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang acknowledges the controversy over the software in and outside China. \"However,\" he said in a regular press conference last week, \"no matter how many different views there are, the Chinese government assumes the responsibility to protect our youth from unhealthy information on the Internet, and so do various social circles and enterprises. This is the essence of this problem.\" The government said it is simply providing the software free of charge, as a pre-installed file on computer hard drives or as a CD, to give users to choice to install the software. China is not the first country to try to censor the Internet; Iran, Myanmar, even France and Germany in various ways attempt to put limits on the blogosphere. But analysts doubt whether this particular policy can even be enforced. Said Victor Gao, a former government functionary who now heads a policy think tank: \"The government always has its own views, but whether they are able to execute it to the detail and push it through the country is another issue.\" Watch why the filtering software mandate has been postponed » . The extent to which the software's can block harmful content is still in question. Unofficial tests by Internet enthusiasts showed that while Green Dam considered a cartoon of a cat in blue clothes safe, pictures of Garfield the Cat were sometimes blocked by the software because it is programmed to categorize images with large areas of \"yellow\" as pornographic. Over at Bainaohui, a hub of computer and Internet commerce in central Beijing, many salespersons seem oblivious to the new government edict. \"I think I've read something about it on line,\" said one. And what do they think of Green Dam? \"I have no idea since I have not used it yet,\" said a seller of computer software. Worried? \"I don't think there would be any impact,\" replied another. Meantime, Bainaohui's robust IT business continues unimpeded. CNN's Kevin Voigt contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "China extends deadline for Internet filtering software to accompany PCs .\nInternational backlash, unreadiness of retailers may be reasons behind the delay .\nGovernment says Green Dam software is designed to block porn .\nCritics say software can block all non-government sanctioned content ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- In death, Michael Jackson is topping charts all over the world again. Stores around the globe are seeing a surge in sales for Michael Jackson's music. Jackson's albums hold the top nine positions of Billboard's \"Top Pop Catalog Albums\" chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales data released Tuesday. Jackson's albums are not eligible for the current Billboard 200 chart, which is for newer albums. But if they were eligible, his record sales would bounce the Black Eyed Peas' current No. 1 album to fourth place, Billboard said. Jackson's albums \"Number Ones,\" \"The Essential Michael Jackson\" and \"Thriller\" all sold more than 100,000 copies last week, close to 20,000 more copies than the Black Eyed Peas' \"The E.N.D.\" Scores of listeners have downloaded Jackson's music on iTunes as well. Jackson's songs were on the Top 10 download lists in 21 countries, according to iTunes' Web site early Wednesday. Watch crowds pack Apollo Theater for Jackson tribute » . In the United States and United Kingdom, Jackson's introspective song, \"Man in the Mirror,\" was No. 1 in iTunes downloads. In France and the Netherlands, \"Billie Jean\" was No. 1. In Sweden, \"Smooth Criminal\" was in the top spot, while pop fans in Luxembourg preferred \"Earth Song.\" Of the 22 countries that iTunes tracks, Japan was the only one without a Jackson song in its Top 10. Jackson had 25 songs on the Top 75 \"Hot Digital Songs\" chart, according to Billboard. Twenty-one of the songs were solo tunes, while the other four included Jackson's siblings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Michael Jackson's music sales are soaring after singer's death .\nThree of Jackson's albums all sold more than 100,000 copies last week .\nListeners worldwide have also downloaded Jackson's music on iTunes ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- Bollywood's recent financial growth has been as dizzying as the swirling dancers, colorful costumes and pulsating music that typify the industry's films. Mumbai's once booming flamboyant Hindi-language film industry is hit hard, as overseas investment dries up. Foreign money has poured into Mumbai's flamboyant Hindi-language film industry, which churns out more than 1,000 films each year. Twice as many films as Hollywood -- and for a fraction of the cost. But a financial drama has arrived on the movie sets and production suites of India's largest city courtesy of the world economic downturn and a producer's strike -- fewer films are being made; less tickets are being sold and money is suddenly tight. \"It's become more difficult now to green light films; to be able to think of developing films,\" Nikhil Advani of People Tree Films who works as both a producer and a director told CNN. \"Today you think twice how you're going to be able to put that thing together before you commit any money to it.\" It's the new reality: Money that was gushing into the market from abroad to finance films a year and a half ago is now just trickling in. Production of Bollywood movies has only just resumed, having ground to a halt for seven weeks due to a producer's strike. The strike is finally over, but money is still tight and this is affecting the number of films going into production. \"The number of movie projects has come down by almost 30 percent,\" Farokh Balsara, a partner at business consultants Ernst & Young told CNN. Balsara heads Ernst & Young's media and entertainment division in Mumbai and looks at trends in the market. What's more, after several years of fast-rising film revenues due to India's exploding middle classes who were willing to spend, Bollywood finds itself back on a budget. If you don't have a solid financial plan these days, getting funding for a film is nearly impossible. Throwing around a known filmmaking family name and getting a star signed up won't cut it anymore. \"The easy finance is a thing of the past,\" Balsara told CNN. Some producers are asking big name talent to take a cut in their pay or at least get paid on the \"backend.\" In other words, waiting until the movie releases -- if it does well you get a piece of the pie; if not, you eat it. In some cases, accountants are actually on movie sets crunching numbers daily to make sure the budget is on target. \"They are getting into daily audits,\" Balsara said. The thought of an accountant on set might make some producers shudder, but many believe the slowdown has done Bollywood a favor. \"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?\" says Advani of the changes the slowdown has forced on the way he produces upcoming films. \"I think it's a very good [thing].\" He currently has several in the works: an animated film in post-production called \"Ab Dilli Door Nahin\" and a gritty action-packed thriller \"Basra,\" named after the Mumbai street term for heroin. The slowdown has made Bollywood focus on making better, not more movies, according to Advani: \"I don't call it a credit crunch, I call it a credit correction. \"I think what has happened is it's corrected itself, because I think Bollywood or the Indian film industry was going absolutely crazy last year.\" Mairi Mackay contributed to this story." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The economic downturn and a producer's strike have hit Bollywood financially .\nForeign money pouring into Mumbai's film industry a year ago is now trickling in .\nIt's harder to get funding for films, and accountants are on set auditing daily .\nSome producers are positive, saying Bollywood needs to make fewer, better films ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- France has awarded its highest decoration to veteran CNN correspondent Jim Bittermann. CNN's Jim Bittermann at the special ceremony in Paris where he was made a chevalier. At a special ceremony presided over by the Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Paris Tuesday, Bittermann was presented with the \"chevalier\" (knight) of the National Order of the Legion of Honor. Bittermann, CNN's senior European correspondent based in Paris, said: \"For the past 30 years, I've been explaining France and the French to the rest of the world.\" During his career with CNN in Paris Bittermann has covered the death of Princess Diana, the last days of Yasser Arafat, the French triumph at the 1998 World Cup and the Concorde air disaster. He joined CNN from ABC News, where he was a Paris news correspondent from 1990-1996; before that Bittermann was a European correspondent for NBC News. He began his career in broadcast journalism in 1970 in Milwaukee. Founded in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognize outstanding accomplishment, the chevalier is given annually to around 3,500 Frenchmen and women -- but few non-nationals. Of the 13 honorees this year from outside France, two are American. Previous non-French recipients include former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, fillm legends Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles and Norman Schwarzkopf, who led allied forces against Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. Apart from his work for CNN, in recent years Bittermann has been a featured speaker at journalism events such as the International Diplomacy Institute, as well as lecturing and moderating panels at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In 1999 Bittermann was appointed a professor at the American University of Paris, teaching courses broadcast news, writing and production and politics and media among others." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Only two Americans are set to be award the rank of chevalier this year .\nJim Bittermann, a journalist for nearly 40 years, joined CNN in 1996 .\nFirst awarded by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognize outstanding accomplishment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton will stop telling an emotional story about a uninsured pregnant woman who died after being denied medical care, Clinton's campaign said. Sen. Hillary Clinton was repeating a story she heard from someone on the campaign trail. A hospital has raised questions over the accuracy of the story, and Clinton's campaign has said although they had no reason to doubt the story, they were unable to confirm the details. In the story, Clinton describes a woman from rural Ohio who was making minimum wage at a local pizza shop. The woman, who was uninsured, became pregnant. Clinton said the woman ran into trouble and went to a hospital in a nearby county but was denied treatment because she couldn't afford a $100 payment. In her speeches, Clinton said the woman later was taken to the hospital by ambulance and lost the baby. The young woman was then taken by helicopter to a Columbus hospital where she died of complications. Watch why the story is raising questions » . The New York senator heard the story during a campaign visit to a family's living room in Pomeroy, Ohio, in late February. Bryan Holman was hosting the candidate and told Clinton the story. She has repeated it frequently since then. As recently as Friday night in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Clinton said she was \"just aching inside\" as she was listening to the story. \"It is so wrong, in this good, great and rich country, that a young woman and her baby would die because she didn't have health insurance or a hundred dollars to get examined,\" she said. While Clinton never named the hospital in her speech, the woman she was referring to was treated at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. The hospital said the woman did indeed have insurance, and, at least at their hospital, she was never turned away. Hospital Chief Executive Officer Rick Castrop in a statement said, \"we reviewed the medical and patient accounts of the patient\" after she was named in a newspaper story about Clinton's stump speech. \"There is no indication that she was ever denied medical care at any time, for any reason. We clearly reject any perception that we ever denied any care to this woman.\" A hospital spokesperson confirmed to CNN the woman had insurance. She said the hospital decided to come forward after people in the community began to question if they had denied her care. Clinton's speech accurately reflects what she was told that day, but the campaign admits they were not able to confirm the account. Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said, \"She had no reason to doubt his word.\" \"Candidates are told stories by people all the time, and it's common for candidates to retell those stories. It's not always possible to fully vet them, but we try. For example, medical records are confidential. In this case, we tried but weren't able to fully vet the story,\" he said. Elleithee added, \"If the hospital claims it didn't happen that way, we certainly respect that, and she won't repeat the story.\" \"She never mentions the hospital by name and isn't trying to cast blame. She tells this story because it illustrates the point that we have a very serious health care problem in America. That's a point very few people will dispute.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clinton had been repeating a story she heard about an uninsured pregnant woman .\nIn the story, the woman was denied treatment, later died from complications .\nHospital says woman had insurance, was never denied care .\nClinton campaign says they had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the story ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Serving time for lesser crimes, Scott Kimball is leading investigators to bodies. Scott Kimball is currently serving a 48-year sentence on theft and habitual criminal convictions. Partly mummified bones thought to be those of his uncle, Terry Kimball, were discovered Monday in a remote Rocky Mountain pass near Vail, Colorado. DNA tests are pending to confirm the victim's identity, and the cause of death is pending a forensic examination, authorities said. Terry Kimball is one of several suspected homicide victims associated with Scott Kimball since his jailing in 2008. He is serving a 48-year sentence in state prison in Fairplay, Colorado, on theft and habitual criminal convictions. Kimball will also serve a 70-month federal sentence on firearms charges after the state sentence. The firearms charges led to Kimball's 18th conviction. However, Kimball probably will not be charged in any of the deaths. Sources with knowledge of the cases said Kimball's December 2008 plea to theft and habitual criminal charges, and the 48-year sentence, was part of a deal that included revealing the locations of the bodies. Authorities wanted to give victims' families resolution. Without his cooperation, authorities doubt they have enough evidence to convict him. Earlier this year, Kimball revealed where the remains thought to be his uncle's were, according to law enforcement sources close to the case. However, the search was delayed until snow had melted. The FBI would not confirm that Kimball, 42, identified the site. However, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright said, \"we went to (a) specific location for a specific reason. It wasn't random.\" Terry Kimball, 60 at the time, was last seen with Scott Kimball in September 2004, according to a 2007 federal search warrant affidavit. Scott Kimball told his wife that his uncle had won the lottery and left for Mexico with a stripper, the affidavit said, but FBI investigators think Kimball killed his uncle and dumped his body in Vail Pass, more than 100 miles from the home they shared in a Denver suburb. In March, Kimball accompanied FBI investigators to southeastern Utah to search for the body of Leann Emry, who was 24 when she vanished after departing on a camping trip in 2003. FBI agents found Emry's remains shortly after Kimball returned to jail. Kaysi McLeod was 19 when she disappeared in 2003. McLeod, the daughter of Kimball's ex-wife, was last seen getting a ride to work from Kimball, according to the 2007 affidavit. In fall 2007, a hunter found her remains in northwest Colorado. Kimball is also suspected in the disappearance of exotic dancer Jennifer Marcum, who disappeared in 2003, according to the affidavit. Sources close to the investigation say they think Kimball killed Marcum and buried her body near Rifle, Colorado. Authorities have not found her remains. \"We are continuing to look for Jennifer, and we will leave no stone unturned,\" Wright said. Kimball drew the FBI's attention in 2002 while jailed for writing bad checks. Kimball offered authorities information about his cellmate, Steven Ennis, who was suspected in a drug ring, according to the 2007 affidavit. After Kimball served his sentence, the FBI began paying him as an informant. Kimball was supposed to report back to the FBI on Marcum, Ennis' former girlfriend, when she disappeared. The FBI would not reveal how long or how much Kimball was paid. He was arrested again in March 2006 near Palm Springs, California, after a police chase and standoff." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Habitual felon likely to avoid charges in presumed murders of four people .\nScott Kimball's plea deal includes revealing location of bodies, sources say .\nAuthorities say all four people were last seen with Kimball ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Summer excursions seem out of reach to many struggling young professionals, and the faltering economy isn't helping. But one New York City company, offering trips aimed at the young and thrifty, is capitalizing on the urbanite's desire to get away -- and finding success despite the downturn. A group of Urban Escapes NYC hikers stops for a snack during an expedition in New York's Harriman State Park. As a slightly broke young professional myself, with a taste for adventure but living in a very expensive city, the idea behind Urban Escapes NYC was intriguing. The company offers an array of activities -- from short hiking, sky diving or canoeing trips to international journeys that combine various activities. On the company's user-friendly Web site, I scrolled through the offerings. There were trips ranging from one-day hiking or fruit-picking excursions priced at around $60 to $800 weeklong international expeditions. The average trip includes ground transportation, the cost of the activity, guide fees, equipment rental and meals. Jumping out of planes put the company's founder and CEO, Maia Josebachvili, 25, on the path to becoming a business owner. While attending Dartmouth College, Josebachvili developed a passion for sky diving. To pay for the pricey dives, she began to lead trips for her friends and her friends' friends. Soon she realized that the people she was guiding were outside of her original social network, and an idea began to emerge. After graduating from Dartmouth and working as a trader on the New York Stock Exchange, Josebachvili decided working in the concrete jungle was not for her. At 24, Josebachvili started a business out of something she had been doing for years during college -- leading outdoor adventure trips. The company launched in early 2008, just months before the economy tanked. \"I started to wonder if this is really going to work,\" Josebachvili said. But with trips designed with budget and value in mind, the suffering economy did not stunt the business. Josebachvili said the company was able to break even within six months. The business relies on social networking avenues for promotion, and word spread rapidly. It also quickly developed a reputation as a great way to meet people and make new friends. \"I was the market,\" Josebachvili explains, \"My friends were the market. Anyone just out of college working on Wall Street didn't have the time to plan and research the trips. There is no shortage of those kinds of people in New York.\" After perusing the site, I rather nervously picked a $59 six-mile hike. This may not sound so cheap, but after factoring in the planning of the trip, transportation, gas, experienced guides and a post-hike discount at a local restaurant, the value becomes apparent. I hadn't been hiking in years and still am sadly out of shape. My imagination ran wild with images of young, sporty folks racing up high peaks as I huffed and puffed behind. Terrifying. After a rainy start to the morning, our upbeat guides for the day, director Bram Levy and guide Roget Lerner, drove a group of 12 north of the city to Harriman State Park. They encouraged us to get to know each other and joked that we would be quizzed on it later. Waiting to get into the van, I asked a man standing next to me why he was on the trip. \"I moved from San Francisco a year ago,\" public relations professional Michael Lindenberger said. \"I need some trees.\" After an hourlong drive, we arrived at our hiking destination. Levy and Lerner checked our sneakers, water supply and told us a bit about how the day was going to unfold. And then we began the hike. Throughout the day, there was lots of laughing, squealing and helping each other over rocks and through slick patches of mud. I was surprised how quickly a team mentally developed among the group. We were all strangers, but after a day of hiking, I knew everyone's name, profession and a good deal more. And this was no accident -- the guides were deliberately networking and bonding us together. Jen Badali, a city transit planner, was on her third trip with Urban Escapes. \"I went by myself my first hike,\" she said. \"It was fun to get away and do something different.\" She said she still keeps in touch with people she met on the other excursions. \"I made some good friends out of it,\" she said. At the end of the day, sweaty, sore and smiling, I realized why Urban Escapes NYC was defying the recession. With a plethora of affordable outdoor excursions, cheerful guides and a youthful mindset, the company was the ideal destination for an urban professional with a slim wallet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Urban Escapes NYC offers trips aimed at the young and thrifty .\nDay trips out of New York start at about $60; company also offers trips abroad .\nUrban Escapes NYC founder, 25, was a stock trader before starting company .\nThe company was able to break even within six months, founder says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Michael Jackson was an international superstar, and many in the black community herald him for breaking down racial barriers in the music industry. Michael Jackson was one of the first black global superstars. \"Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama,\" said the Rev. Al Sharpton. \"Michael did with music what they later did in sports and in politics and in television. And no controversy will erase the historic impact.\" As the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson and his brothers \"became a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists,\" said Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of black popular culture at Duke University's Department of African and African American Studies. \"You basically had five working-class black boys with Afros and bell bottoms, and they really didn't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become mainstream stars,\" Neal said. Young Michael Jackson was the first black \"bubblegum teen star\" in the vein of Monkees singer Davy Jones, Neal said. Jackson continued as a pioneer in the black culture when he broke barriers by appearing on MTV, and by breaking sales records with the 1982 album, \"Thriller.\" Timeline: The life of a \"King\" » . \"At the time that he releases 'Thriller,' I always argue that MTV was arguably the best example of cultural apartheid in the United States,\" Neal said. The former president of CBS Records, Walter Yetnikoff, remembered with scorn that MTV would not play \"Billie Jean\" or \"Beat It\" because it billed itself as a rock station. Looking back on that era, a 1991 Los Angeles Times article quoted MTV founder and then-CEO Robert Pittman as saying the channel's format didn't lend itself to other musical styles, including R&B and country. And Pittman accused his critics of attempting to impose their musical pluralism on the channel's die-hard rock fans. But Yetnikoff said he threatened to pull videos of his other artists unless MTV played Jackson's videos. Watch Yetnikoff talk about getting Jackson's videos played » . Soon Jackson's videos were heavily in rotation on MTV. Showcasing a black artist paved the way for the popular show, \"Yo! MTV Raps,\" and other black artists, Neal said. In turn, Jackson became one of the first African-Americans to be a global icon. He also influenced a new generation of black musicians, including Usher, Ne-Yo and Kanye West, according to Joycelyn Wilson, a professor of African-American studies at Morehouse College, who specializes in popular culture and hip-hop studies. Slideshow: Michael Jackson and his music » . Changing appearance . Jackson's changing physical appearance in the past two decades led to criticism he was trying to be less black. \"Here's a man who started off looking very typically African-American and ended up looking like something few people would have recognized early in his career. His nose was trimmed, his lips were different ... his skin was different,\" said Cheryl Contee, who writes as Jill Tubman on Jack & Jill Politics, a blog centered on African-American issues. \"The only thing that seemed to almost stay the same were his eyes,\" said Contee, who also called Jackson \"a genius and more than a trailblazer.\" \"I think [it] troubled a lot of people that he left his skin color behind and seemed somehow to be ashamed of who he was [when] he was born,\" Contee said. But during a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jackson shot down rumors that he was dying his skin to make it lighter. He told the talk show host that he had vitiligo, a disorder that destroyed his skin pigmentation. Black popular culture professor Neal said Jackson's physical changes did not reflect his life on the whole. \"I think if you solely pay attention to Michael Jackson's physicality, you actually miss something that's much more complex. ... Michael Jackson artistically and aesthetically never turned his back on blackness. His work was always in conversation with black culture both in the United States and more globally,\" said Neal. Neal said Jackson's changes were not to deny blackness, nor to become more white. \"This was somebody who most of his career we read as being asexual. And I think that many of the changes to his face, particularly his skin tone, he was almost trying to achieve an a-raciality,\" said Neal. Contee upset some commenters on her blog when she highlighted both the positive and negative aspects of Jackson's life, or what she termed his \"mixed legacy.\" \"Some people were very offended that I would dare to mention some of the unfortunate aspects of his later years,\" she said. \"But others [acknowledged] that they had mixed feelings about his legacy and what that meant to African-Americans.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jackson 5 went mainstream and maintained black identity, professor says .\nMTV didn't play videos of black artists before Jackson .\nExpert: Despite his changing appearance, he was always in touch with black culture ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- The CEO of Southwest Airlines said Friday he has ordered an investigation into charges the discount carrier flew airplanes that weren't properly inspected for safety. Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly tells CNN the airline is surprised at FAA charges. Gary Kelly said Southwest was caught off guard when the Federal Aviation Administration notified it on Thursday that it may be hit with a record $10.2 million federal fine for alleged violations involving fuselage crack inspections. Kelly called the fine \"unfair\" and \"unprecedented.\" The FAA on Thursday accused Southwest of operating the 47 airplanes last year without conducting mandatory checks for fuselage cracking. The airline has 30 days to respond. Kelly told CNN safety was never an issue. \"In this particular situation, we identified a gap in our documentation. We voluntarily reported that to the FAA. We worked out with the FAA how to fix that problem, and we fixed it,\" he said on CNN's \"American Morning.\" Asked why, then, the discount carrier was called on the carpet, Kelly replied, \"We were surprised yesterday to get that notification by the FAA as well. The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported as late as last month the FAA said that it had no safety issues with Southwest Airlines.\" \"I've ordered an investigation as to exactly what happened in this event,\" Kelly said. \"It occurred in March of 2007. These aircraft are inspected inch by inch. In this particular incident, over 99 percent of the inspections were completed, according to documentation.\" Watch what's raising concerns about Southwest » . He said that after fuselage cracks were discovered in about half a dozen of the airline's 737s, 47 planes were reinspected over a 10-day period. Boeing Inc., the plane's manufacturer, which was contacted when the problems arose, said that at no time were the cracks unsafe, Kelly said. \"Cracks do occur. That's why we do inspections.\" He said Boeing issued a release Thursday saying Southwest \"acted responsibly, and at no time were the aircraft operated in an unsafe manner.\" The FAA issued a statement saying that Southwest improperly inspected the planes for cracks, then allowed them to fly an additional 1,451 flights, knowing they weren't airworthy. Kelly was asked about FAA allegations that an inspector knew about the problems, but continued to allow the planes to be flown. He didn't answer the question directly, saying the airline has an ongoing relationship with the federal agency and there is a complicated system of inspections. \"Our interpretation of the guidance that we got from the FAA at the time was that we were in compliance with all laws and regulations,\" Kelly said. \"I think the FAA has a different view of that today, and that's something that we're investigating as well. But the important point is that at no time were we operating in an unsafe manner, and I think our history proves it.\" Calling the situation detailed in the FAA documents \"one of the worst safety violations\" he has ever seen, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, is expected to convene a hearing to ask why the airline may have allegedly put its passengers in danger. He heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Watch passengers react to the charges » . The FAA documents allege that Southwest flew at least 117 of its planes in violation of mandatory safety checks. The 117 number includes the 47 planes alleged to have flown without fuselage checks and 70 additional planes allegedly flown without mandatory rudder inspections. In some cases, the documents say, the planes flew for 30 months past government inspection deadlines. It should have grounded them until the inspections could be completed. The planes were \"not airworthy\" according to congressional air safety investigators. Southwest Airlines, which carried more passengers in the United States than any other airline last year, said in a written statement Thursday that it looks forward to making details of the case public -- saying those details will support the airline's actions. The documents were prepared by two FAA safety inspectors who have requested whistle-blower status from Oberstar's committee. The two inspectors have been subpoenaed to testify before the committee. The whistle-blowers say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking \"aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines' flight schedule.\" Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, told CNN that the administration has taken action and that a supervisor who was in charge of overseeing Southwest is \"no longer in a supervisory position.\" The mandatory checks for fuselage cracks were required after the cabin of an Aloha Airlines 737 tore apart in midair in 1988, killing a flight attendant. The incident was blamed on cracks in the fuselage that grew wider as the plane underwent pressure changes during flight . Southwest Airlines has never had a catastrophic crash. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Drew Griffin and Scott Bronstein contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Southwest Airlines CEO says airline was surprised at FAA charges .\nFAA charged Thursday that Southwest skipped mandatory inspections of 117 planes .\nSouthwest CEO Gary Kelly says safety was never compromised .\nFAA has started process to fine a record $10.2 million over 47 fuselage inspections ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's memorial service will take place Tuesday morning in the Staples Center, the 20,000-seat coliseum in downtown Los Angeles where Jackson rehearsed his show the night before he died, according to a person who has been briefed by a representative of the family. Michael Jackson was rehearsing at Los Angeles' Staples Center. His memorial will now be there. No other details about the service, set to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, have been revealed. Thursday, CNN learned the family trust created by Jackson to receive all of his assets includes his mother, his children and a list of charities, according to a person with direct knowledge to the contents of the trust. Katherine Jackson's 40 percent share would go to Michael Jackson's three children after her death, the source said. The children -- ages 7, 11 and 12 -- will also share 40 percent of the estate's assets and the remaining 20 percent will benefits charities designated by the executors of the will, the source said. Jackson's will did not specify where he wished to be buried. Many of his fans had hoped they'd get a chance to pay last respects at Neverland Ranch, which Jackson purchased in 1987, filled with animals and amusement rides, and named after the fictional world in J.M. Barrie's \"Peter Pan.\" Planning had been under way for a motorcade to carry Jackson's body from Los Angeles to the ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, which state and local officials suggested would be difficult and costly. A public viewing at the ranch on Friday also had been under consideration, law enforcement sources said. Gregory Son, a 31-year-old musician, was among many fans who had planned to ride to the ranch to say goodbye to Jackson. \"I think he was a modern-day prophet,\" Son said outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. \"We kind of lost our father.\" DEA joins investigation . On Wednesday night, a federal law enforcement official said Wednesday night that the Drug Enforcement Administration had joined Jackson's death investigation, once again fanning speculation that drugs may have been involved in the pop icon's passing. Two law enforcement officials separately confirmed the DEA probe, saying agents would look at various doctors involved with Jackson, their practices and their possible sources of medicine supply. Neither official wanted to be identified because they could not comment publicly on the matter. Officially, a DEA spokeswoman referred questions to the Los Angeles, California, police department -- which would not confirm the involvement. \"We routinely offer assistance to any agency regarding the Federal Controlled Substance Act,\" said Sarah Pullen of the DEA. \"However, at this time, we have nothing further to comment about the death of Michael Jackson.\" Speculation about the role of drugs has been swirling since Jackson died on June 25 at his rented estate in Holmby Hills. The cause of his death, at age 50, was pending toxicology results. On Wednesday, police released a car belonging to Jackson's cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray. They had impounded the vehicle Friday, saying it might contain evidence -- possibly prescription medications. Police did not say whether they found anything. Murray's lawyers issued a statement, asking the public to reserve judgment about the cause of death until the coroner's tests are complete. \"Based on our agreement with Los Angeles investigators, we are waiting on real information to come from viable sources like the Los Angeles medical examiner's office about the death of Michael Jackson,\" the statement said. \"We will not be responding to rumors and innuendo.\" The comments were in reaction to a claim by a nutritionist who said Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for the powerful sedative, Propofol, despite knowing its harmful effects. \"I told him this medication is not safe,\" said Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse. \"He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.' \" Will nominates Jackson's mother as kids' guardian . Meanwhile, details of Jackson's will -- written on July 7, 2002 -- showed that the singer estimated his estate to be worth at least $500 million. In it, he nominated his mother, Katherine Jackson, as the guardian of his three children. If his 79-year-old mother is not living, \"I nominate Diana Ross as guardian,\" Jackson stated. Singer Ross, 65, is a lifelong friend of Jackson's. The will said Jackson \"intentionally omitted\" his former wife and the mother of his two oldest children, Debbie Rowe. It will be up to a court to decide who gets custody of the children, ages 7, 11 and 12. Rowe has not publicly indicated whether she will challenge the Jacksons for custody. The two men whom the will named as executors immediately filed a request to take control of the estate. One is John Branca, who represented Jackson from 1980 until 2006 and was hired again before the singer's death. He helped acquire Jackson's music catalog, which is worth millions. The other is music industry executive John McClain, a longtime Jackson friend who has worked with him and his sister Janet. The men said in their filing in Los Angeles Superior Court that control of the estate would allow them to tend to Jackson's numerous outstanding debts, legal cases and business obligations. Judge Mitchell Beckloff held an emergency hearing Wednesday morning and decided there was no urgency to replace Katherine Jackson -- whom he appointed temporary administrator earlier this week. Another hearing has been set for Monday. -- CNN's Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Michael Carey, Paul Vercammen, Carol Cratty and Kara Finnstrom contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Michael Jackson trust includes mother, children, charities .\nMichael Jackson memorial to be Tuesday at L.A.'s Staples Center .\nThe Drug Enforcement Administration has joined Jackson's death investigation .\nSpeculation about the role of drugs has been swirling since Jackson died ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Three leading Iranian reformists who have rejected the results of last month's election questioned the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government Wednesday. Mehdi Karrubi is vowing to \"stand by the people and the revolution, until the end of my life.\" This comes as Ahmadinejad is set to take office at the end of the month. Presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi wrote a letter in his party's newspaper, saying he would not recognize the government and vowing to \"stand by the people and the revolution, until the end of my life.\" His statement prompted Iran's government to block publication of the newspaper. Read Karrubi's letter PDF . Ahmadinejad's main political rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, also released a statement Wednesday criticizing the government and its crackdown on the media, which he said has created a \"bitter, coup d'etat atmosphere\" in Iran. \"We will stand firmly in order to preserve this valuable accomplishment [revolution],\" Moussavi said. \"Unless we succeed in this, this government will not have legitimacy. The system and the heritage of the Islamic revolution are the fruits of our 200-year-old struggle against oppression.\"Read Moussavi's statement PDF . Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami called on Iranians to keep up the struggle, noting that \"all doors are not yet closed.\" Read Khatami's letter PDF . \"We must not lose our social capital this easily,\" Khatami told progressive Iranian newspaper Tahlile Rooz. \"I know Moussavi as one of the faithful, original and valuable capitals of our revolution, and considered his return to the political scene as a great chance.\" In a separate posting on his Web site, Khatami accused the government of having restricted communications in the country. \"The state-owned media outlet shows the same scenes over and over again, in order to provoke people's feelings,\" he said. \"Where was this media outlet when tens of people were killed and hundreds of people beaten?\" In his statement, Moussavi called for the release of jailed reformists and said he will participate in the creation of a \"legal organization\" that will release proof of fraud in the June 12 presidential election and take its case to the courts. He said the current political issue is a \"family dispute\" and cautioned against asking for outside help, warning, \"We will regret it.\" \"Many\" have asked Moussavi to end his struggle and \"close my eyes,\" but he warned, \"If we do not stand our grounds now, then we will have no guarantees that we won't be at this exact point in the future, face to face with the bitter events of this election.\" Karrubi called the actions of the government before and after the controversial June 12 voting \"the foundation for the annulment of the elections,\" according to a copy of his letter on the party newspaper's Web site. \"I will not recognize the legitimacy of the government which has resulted from this process,\" Karrubi said in the letter. The 72-year-old cleric also said he \"will not participate in any of its processes, in any way\" and said he is \"ready to cooperate with pro-change people and groups.\" Karrubi's party, Etemed Melli, said Iran's Ministry of Culture and its attorney general prevented the publication of its newspaper because it carried the letter. He and Moussavi have questioned the legitimacy of the vote count of the presidential election that gave Ahmadinejad an overwhelming victory. That outrage sparked bloody street protests and a clampdown on international media coverage, as well as access to certain Web sites. At least 20 protesters were killed in the chaos and more than 1,000 were detained in Tehran, the head of Iranian internal security forces Brig. Esmaeil Ahmadi said, according to Iranian state-run media reports on Wednesday. The actual death toll may be higher, but restrictions on media have made it difficult to verify. Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on Iran to release prominent Iranian reformist Saeed Hajjarian, who has been imprisoned since June 15. He is one of several jailed reformists accused of orchestrating the post-election violence in Iran. Hajjarian, 55, was severely disabled after he was shot in the head in a 2000 assassination attempt that left him confined to a wheelchair with severe brain and spinal cord injuries. His wife, Vajiheh Marsoussi, is a physician and has visited Hajjarian in Tehran's Evin prison. She told Human Rights Watch that his medical condition was \"deteriorating severely.\" Meanwhile, questions surrounded an announcement in government-run Iranian media that Ahmadinejad canceled his trip to Libya on Wednesday. The trip, which had not been finalized, was canceled because of the president's \"huge workload\" at home and \"other priorities,\" Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. Four days after the controversial election, Ahmadinejad went to Russia to meet with leaders there, where he was welcomed as the \"newly re-elected president of Iran\" despite the ongoing street protests. He returned to Iran that same day. Ahmadinejad will be sworn in before parliament Sunday, July 26, according to Iranian media reports. He will participate in a ceremony officiated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a couple of days later, and then his second term will officially begin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Former President Khatami accuses government of restricting communications .\nMehdi Karrubi says he will not recognize government .\nMir Hossein Moussavi criticizes government's crackdown ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- It's that time of year for seasonal trips to the movies, and to celebrate, the Screening Room is taking a look back at our favorite family hits over the years. The best of Spielberg: \"E.T.\" is our perfect family movie and perfectly captures childhood. From blockbuster to blockbuster, these are the films with something for everyone. They've got to be live action -- we've covered animated films before -- and family friendly. Don't agree? Think we've missed one? Post your comments to the Screening Room blog and we'll publish the best. Read other CNN viewers' favorite and worst family films, and tell us yours >> . 1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) Spielberg's magic captures a perfect moment in childhood. We laughed and wept as his ugly little critter from outer space stole our hearts, while the kids fell firmly on the cute side of annoying. And oh, the music... 2. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Gene Wilder's whacked-out Willy Wonka adds a pinch of sinister to Roald Dahl's anarchic sweet treat, while the ignoble exits of Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop and Mike Teevee were delicious. 3. Babe (Chris Noonan, 1995) \"That'll do, pig.\" Babe is wide-eyed with wonder in Dick King-Smith's touching tale of a lonely little sheep-pig. Comic relief from the ewes, subtle special effects and a heartwarming turn from James Cromwell as Farmer Hoggett make this a magical tale for all. 4. Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker, 1976) Jodie Foster and Scott Baio (Yes, Chachi from \"Happy Days!\") star in this glorious escapade set in a musical world of pint-sized gangsters and mini-molls. Al Capone for the kids; just watch out for the splurge guns... 5. Oliver! (Carol Reed, 1968) Jack Wild is delightful as the Artful Dodger, Ron Moody's devilish Fagin glints with avaricious greed and Shani Willis shines as poor, ill-fated Nancy. But it's Oliver Reed's dark and sinister Bill Sykes who stayed with us -- and left us wanting more. 6. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) Christopher Lloyd's mad professor, a Delorean-cum-time machine, rock 'n' roll and a convenient bolt of lightning see Biff the bully get his come-uppance. All that, and a skateboarding Michael J. Fox? Mr Zemeckis, you spoil us! 7. Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990) Macaulay Culkin's abandoned little boy sees off bungling burglars Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern with a series of eye-watering stunts. It proves just how great a child actor Culkin was; pity the unpopular babysitters who became the victims of copycat pranksters... 8. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis blast ghostly green monsters to oblivion in this slime-filled romp around NYC, while taking time out to annoy Sigourney Weaver en route. Who you gonna call? 9. The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979) Kermit and Co.'s roadtrip to Hollywood is a fabulously fuzzy tale of friendship and following your dreams, but the Muppet Movie's not just for kids: there's cameos a-plenty (Bob Hope, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, ORSON WELLES!) for Dad and smart one-liners by the bucketful for Mom. 10. Harry Potter (Various, 2001-present) The Hogwarts trio's wizarding adventures, backed by a cast plump with the best of British actors. Fast-paced plots, spellbinding special effects and magical sets, but be warned: it'll have the li'l critters pestering you to go to boarding school... And our favorite hide-behind-the-sofa moments... The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) \"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!\" Margaret Hamilton's green, cackling Wicked Witch of the West is hell-bent on revenging the death of her sister and getting those ruby slippers; she'll use deadly poppies and flying monkeys to do it. Terror as a rite of passage. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Ken Hughes, 1968) With his battered top hat and lank hair, Robert Helpmann's creepy Child Catcher prowled from Vulgaria into our nightmares, hoping to catch a whiff of his prey with his unfeasibly long nose. The only film character to give the Wicked Witch of the West a run for her money. Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) Darth Vader may cast a formidable shadow, but it's the sound of his labored breathing that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up -- as it gets closer, closer, closer... Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) Rule 475 of Surviving the Movies: Never go into the basement! The thick silence in New York's Central Library masks a phantom infestation -- and they're not going quietly. As the gray-haired librarian switched to shrieking ghoul, a generation of children was put off reading for life. Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993) And again, it's the sound effects that make the Velociraptors so scary -- as the frighteningly intelligent pack of lizards hunt for Lex and Tim among the kitchen workbenches, their hissing grows ever nearer... Don't agree? Think we've missed one? Sound off and read others' thoughts in the Screening Room blog. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CNN's The Screening Room picks the top 10 live-action family films .\n\"E.T.,\" \"Willy Wonka\" and \"Babe\" head the list .\nHide-behind-the-sofa moments include \"The Wizard of Oz,\" \"Jurassic Park\"\nThink we've missed one? Post your comments to the Screening Room blog ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The second cut in U.S. interest rates in as many weeks is putting further pressure on the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to reconsider their currencies' peg with the dollar; and none more so than Qatar. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad tells MME Qatar has not made any decisions regarding dropping the dollar-peg. The small emirate has the highest inflation rate in the region, and it threatens to spiral further northward as its government brings Qatari interest rates into line with the U.S. The Qatar Central Bank lopped half a percentage off its deposit rate after the Federal Reserve sought to stave off recession in the U.S. with an emergency cut of 75 percentage points on January 22. Eight days later, the Fed moved again, this time with a cut of half a percentage point to take U.S. interest rates to three percent. After the first cut, MME's John Defterios sat down for an exclusive television interview with Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, who is also the emirate's Foreign Minister, and controls Qatar's sovereign wealth fund through the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). John Defterios started by asking Sheikh Hamad whether the sharp decline in U.S. interest rates was putting too much pressure on Qatar's dollar-peg. (HA): Oil and gas are saleable in dollars, but most of our imports are not in dollars but in Euros or Asian currencies. All of these currencies went 40 percent to 50 percent above the level which we experienced two years ago. For us, there is a pressure. We know that a decision needs to be made by the Fed because of the situation on the stock market in the United States; it might be a wise decision. But for countries like the GCC and Qatar, especially Qatar, it puts us under pressure on how to deal with inflation and our currency, which is undervalued already by at least 35 percent. (JD): What is your instinct telling you, to go to a basket of currencies to buffer this fall of the dollar? (HA): We are studying all options at the moment, but what I can say is that at the GCC meetings in December the agreement was to hold onto the dollar and to see. Every country has to see its way out of this, but only after a consultation with the GCC. For us, our wish is that it's a policy to be taken by the whole GCC, to either basket or revalue our currency. I cannot see a decision. Even in Qatar, we have no decision up to now. (JD): At the December meeting there was a commitment to move forward with the single currency, realistically by 2010, or is that just a target? (HA): It's just a target. I don't think we will reach that target. (JD): What is a realistic timeline? (HA): Well, first we need all of us to agree. Most of the GCC countries agree about the currencies but we would like to do it together, and some would like to wait. We cannot put a target on when it will be done. (JD): President Bush, during his swing through the Gulf States, was asking the producers to put more oil on the market because of the U.S. recession that may be pending. Is it time for OPEC to put more crude oil onto the market? (HA): Is there is excess oil to be put on the market? I am not sure there is more oil. I think all countries at the moment are pumping their capacity, if we are talking in real terms. If we are just telling the market there is some excess if something happens, then that is another situation. In my opinion everyone is at full speed, enjoying high prices, but there is no excess capacity immediately. Maybe there is 200,000 to 300,000 extra with one of the producers, but no more than that. (JD): We have seen oil stabilize around $80 per barrel right now. That seems to be the new floor. Can we get to $100 per barrel and use that as a new floor within the next 12 months? (HA): Well, anything is possible, but with the slowdown in the United States, and I don't know what effect in Asia, $70 or $80 is more likely than $100 this year. Unless the situation changes in the economy, which from what we hear cannot be changed so quickly. (JD): We have seen a huge debate over the last four weeks about sovereign wealth funds and President Bush has actually gone to put tighter controls and a greater review of these funds. Do you think it's correct to provide greater scrutiny to the funds going into the United States and perhaps into Europe? (HA): I'm surprised about these talks. We know these talks were more serious six months ago. But after the crisis I think most of the sovereign wealth funds, which have helped in the United States and elsewhere in Europe, this has been welcomed by the government. They are talking about this fund coming from a different space, from another space, and taking over the market. First of all, we are not politically ambitious to play a role in these companies. We do not want to take over companies. Maybe some, but not all. (JD): I have talked to both the OECD and the International Monetary Fund and there is discussion about establishing a set of rules to adhere to for these funds. Would you go to a set of rules that were international in terms of the outlook as opposed to country by country? (HA): If it is an international rule done by an international body and consulting all the countries, yes. But if there is one country that wants to set its own rules, we will respect their rules as a country, but we have other options to invest somewhere else. (JD): You have a very good dialogue with the White House. Were you surprised by President Bush's actions? (HA): Well, I don't know exactly what he means by this, but let us wait and see what will come. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "MME speaks exclusively with Qatar PM Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani .\nSheikh Hamad says Qatar hasn't made a decision regarding the dollar-peg .\nExpresses surprise over talks suggesting greater controls on sovereign funds .\nOn oil capacity: \"I am not sure there is more oil\", prices of $70-$80/bbl likely ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- An internationally known Catholic priest sometimes called \"Father Oprah\" has been removed from his posts in Florida after published photos showed him lying down bare-chested in an embrace with a woman on a beach. The photos of the Cuban-American priest appeared on the cover of this week's TV Notas magazine. The Rev. Alberto Cutie (pronounced koo-tee-AYE) -- who got the nickname \"Father Oprah\" because of the advice he gives on Spanish-language media -- remains a priest. But he was relieved Tuesday of his duties at St. Francis De Sales Church in Miami Beach, Florida, and at the Radio Paz and Radio Peace networks, said a \"deeply saddened\" Miami, Florida, Archbishop John C. Favalora. The photos of the Cuban-American priest appeared on the cover and on eight inside pages of this week's TV Notas magazine. The cover says in Spanish: \"Good God. Padre Alberto. First photos of a priest 'in flagrante' with his lover.\" In a message posted on the Miami archdiocese Web page, the archbishop apologized to parishioners and radio listeners for what he called a \"scandal.\" \"Father Cutie made a promise of celibacy and all priests are expected to fulfill that promise with the help of God,\" Favalora said. \"Father Cutie's actions cannot be condoned despite the good works he has done as a priest.\" Cutie apologized in an online statement Tuesday, saying he \"wants to ask for forgiveness if my actions have caused pain and sadness. ... I assure you that my service and dedication to God remain intact.\" Watch pictures that led to priest's dismissal. » . Other media outlets throughout Latin America, including the official Notimex news agency in Mexico, picked up the story on Tuesday, and it became an Internet sensation. Cutie has millions of followers in the Spanish-speaking world. \"We got a bunch of calls from sobbing women,\" said Miami archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta. Archdiocese officials declined to say where Cutie was Tuesday or what his new assignment might be. A woman who answered the telephone Wednesday at St. Francis De Sales said, \"He is no longer here.\" The identity of the woman in the photos remained publicly unknown Wednesday. Cutie was ordained in May 1995 and was the first Catholic priest to host a daily talk show on a major secular television network, his information on the LinkedIn online professional network says. In addition to his TV and radio appearances, he has written newspaper advice columns and a self-help book, \"Real Life, Real Love.\" He was president and general director of Pax Catholic Communications, home of Radio Paz and Radio Peace in Miami. CNN's John Zarrella and Arthur Brice contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miami archbishop apologized for what he called a \"scandal'\nThe Rev. Alberto Cutie says his \"service and dedication to God remain intact\"\nPriest wrote self-help book \"Real Life, Real Love\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Sri Lanka's prime minister warned Saturday that his country \"stands on the brink,\" as its soldiers cornered Tamil Tiger fighters in an assault that is trapping more than 50,000 civilians on a small plot of coastal land. Sri Lanka's defense ministry says this handout photo shows troops with a captured Tamil Tiger craft Thursday. The United Nations estimated the number of civilians, who were trapped on about 1.5 square miles (four square kilometers) of land. Government troops seized the last remaining coastal stretch under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday, marking a possible end to more than 25 years of fighting in the island nation. The seizure marks the total capture of coastline territory previously controlled by the rebels, it said, after army divisions advanced from the north and south to link up. An army source told CNN that about two square kilometers in the region remain to be captured, and that military officials expect that to happen in a couple of days. The rebels -- formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- have fought for an independent state for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1983. As many as 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war began. \"Sri Lanka stands on the brink,\" Prime Minister Rathnasiri Wickremanayake said in a written statement. Watch aid agencies fear for Sri Lanka » . \"We have called repeatedly for the violence to cease. The humanitarian agencies must be granted access to civilians caught in the crossfire of a dreadful conflict. Watch iReporter Thileepan's footage of the \"safe zone\" » . \"We are backing U.N. efforts to secure an orderly end to the conflict. The LTTE must lay down its arms and allow civilians to leave. Sri Lanka must understand that there will be consequences for its actions.\" No formal declaration of victory is expected at least until Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa returns to the country from Amman, Jordan, where he is attending the World Economic Forum. In an address to the summit in Amman on Saturday, Rajapaksa said the Sri Lankan armed forces had defeated the rebels. \"I will be going back to my country Sri Lanka that has been totally freed from the barbaric acts of terrorism of the LTTE. This freedom comes after 30 long years.\" \"Our economic prosperity must essentially rest upon global peace and stability. Terrorism has for decades denied us this right. All eleven countries gathered here today have suffered the effects of terrorism, some more than others. \"Terrorism has raised its ugly head in different forms from time to time and destroyed all development initiatives in most of our countries\" he said. On Friday, the Navy arrested the wife of Soosai, a leader of Sea Tigers -- the ocean-going arm of the rebel group. His daughter and son-in-law were also arrested. Navy officials, quoting those who were arrested, said Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is believed to be inside the area of the latest fighting. Other sources have said he has escaped. CNN's Iqbal Athas contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No formal declaration of victory expected until President Mahinda Rajapaksa returns .\nPM: Country is on the brink, we have called for violence to stop .\nRebels have fought for an independent state for minority Tamils since 1983 .\nNavy officials: Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran believed to be in area of fighting ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- With an unbroken chain of blockbuster hits under their belt -- including \"Toy Story,\" \"Finding Nemo,\" \"The Incredibles,\" \"Cars\" and many others -- the talented team of men and women who work for Pixar seem to have the Midas touch. An elderly balloon salesman uproots his house with the help of thousands of balloons in \"Up.\" Their latest endeavor, \"Up,\" follows the life of Carl Fredricksen, a balloon salesman who has recently lost the love of his life, Ellie. Now in his golden years, Carl decides it's finally time to make Ellie's lifelong wish come true -- to visit Paradise Falls in South America. He quickly becomes aware he has a stowaway: Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer who's trying to earn one more merit badge. It's the unusual form of transportation that Carl chooses that creates the backdrop for this week's \"The Scene.\" Watch the balloons take off » . CNN traveled to Emeryville, California -- the site of the famous Pixar campus -- and sat down with actor Ed Asner, who lends his voice to Carl; technical director Steve May; and co-director Pete Docter to get behind The Scene. Ed Asner: Well, the first 10-15 minutes, that's a grabber. Nobody can resist it. Steve May: Even though we have a cartoony world, you are trying to make the audience believe that the world and the characters exist. The biggest challenges were a flying house that flies underneath a big canopy of balloons. So, if we can kind of capture that on the computer and animate our balloons to look believable too, then the audience will believe that the house can fly. Pete Docter: There is an amazing group of computer scientists that really approach these things both as an artist but also as a scientist. May: You have thousands of balloons that all interact with each other, and all the balloons have strings, so this is a very complex animation problem. Docter: They think about the physics of the balloons. They bump into each other, they can turn wind up or down so they can dynamically move, and then you get the strings that attach those balloons to the house. It's a fairly complex mathematical problem. We tried to make things more like a window you look into, opposed to things coming out at you. May: And then when Russell is on the front porch of the house and you look down and see how far down it is, the audience is scared. Docter: This one I really feel close to, and weirdly, even though it's a film about a 70-year-old man who floats his house away, I feel it's a really personal film." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Up\" is latest Pixar animated film; concerns an old man seeking adventure .\nKey scene involves attaching balloons to his house, taking off into sky .\n\"Up's\" makers say animators, programmers had to pay attention to physics and art ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There are likely to be two hot-button issues in Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearings as senators gauge not only her positions but also some controversial comments she has made. Judge Sonia Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Issue No. 1: Abortion. It is the traditional hot-button issue in Supreme Court confirmation hearings. In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken May 14-17, 68 percent of Americans say they don't want the court's Roe vs. Wade decision giving constitutional protection to abortion rights overturned. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Sotomayor was raised Catholic. If she is confirmed, six out of the nine justices on the high court will be from the faith. Catholics make up about 25 percent of the U.S. population. Of the 110 people who have served on the Supreme Court, 11 have been Catholic. Five of those justices -- Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts -- are currently on the court. Read more about the justices on the court » . Barbara Perry, a government professor at Sweetbriar College, said she sees Catholics as swing voters with a base of socially conservative principles, and therefore attractive for Republican presidents. Catholic League President Bill Donohue said Catholics have conservative credentials on issues such as abortion, without the political baggage of terms such as the \"religious right\" or \"evangelicals.\" \"Is it safer to nominate a Catholic as opposed to an evangelical to get votes? I think the answer is decidedly yes.\" Court observers wonder what, if anything, six Catholic justices would mean for Supreme Court decisions. The five Catholics on the bench concurred in a 2007 decision, Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld a state ban on late-term abortions. Sotomayor has faced few abortion cases, and no tests on issues such as gay rights or the death penalty. However, Donohue expects a Justice Sotomayor to lean more left than her fellow Catholics on the court. Watch more on the issues confronting Sotomayor » . \"I think she's more reliably liberal,\" Donohue said. Issue No. 2: Same-sex marriage. Four states -- Connecticut, Iowa, Maine and Massachusetts -- allow same-sex couples to wed. New Hampshire could soon follow with legislation pending before the state Legislature. Vermont has also legalized same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples in California, however, suffered a defeat Tuesday when California's Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 ballot initiative in 2009 that outlawed same-sex marriage. The state had previously allowed such marriages after the same court ruled that, \"An individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.\" On Tuesday the court said: \"Our role is limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values.'' Recent CNN polling has shown that a majority of Americans are against legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Fifty-four percent of Americans questioned in an April 23-26 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said marriages between gay or lesbian couples should not be recognized as valid, while 44 percent said they should be considered legal. But there was a gap between the opinions of younger and older people, with younger people far more likely to approve of same-sex marriage. In fact, 58 percent of people age 18 to 34 said same-sex marriages should be legal. Among people ages 35 to 49, 42 percent agreed, as did 41 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds. Twenty-four percent of people 65 and older agreed. The survey's sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. But is marriage a right under the federal Constitution? The federal courts have not ruled on that. \"That's an issue that may well come up within the federal courts ... almost certain to do so,\" Justice Samuel Alito has said. Will Sotomayor set aside her personal beliefs and values? Maybe. A recent clip of Sotomayor has surfaced that is being used by opponents to prove their belief she will rule a certain way. \"The court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know, I know that this is on tape, and I should never say that. Because we don't make law, I know,\" she said at a 2005 conference at Duke University. \"OK, I know, I know. I'm not promoting it, and I'm not advocating it.\" Read about Sotomayor's key rulings » . Another comment that could be scrutinized during the Senate hearings is from 2001, when Sotomayor said the gender and ethnicity of judges does and should influence decisions. \"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life,\" she said. That comment has outraged conservative critics such as the group Judicial Watch, which said that if confirmed, Sotomayor may rule more on the basis of racial identity than law. \"It is outrageous and racist on its face, and if a nominee that had conservative credentials made a similar although reverse statement they would be laughed at. They would never be put on the court,\" said Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. But one liberal academic said too much is made of these comments and not enough of Sotomayor's legal opinions. \"I don't think having a particular background is going to cash out as having a particular ready style or opinion,\" said New York University Professor Kenji Yoshino. \"If you actually read over 400 opinions that she has written, you will see she is a judge's judge.\" One case that will get greater scrutiny is Sotomayor's role in dismissing the appeal of 19 white and one Latino firefighters from New Haven, Connecticut. They claim they were denied a promotion despite doing better on exams, because not enough minority candidates qualified. Sotomayor was one of a three-judge panel who in a one-paragraph summary sided with a lower court. Other judges on the court criticized the decision, arguing it failed to grapple with questions of exceptional importance. \"In a case like this where there are important competing concerns, it is important for the appellate court to explain the basis of her decision,\" said Case Western Reserve University professor Jonathan Adler. He said it was as if the court wanted to \"make the case go away or brush it under the rug.\" The Supreme Court decided it would hear the firefighters' appeal. Legal analysts said they expect Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee will want to ask Sotomayor about her role in that case, as well as her comments about ethnicity and the bench. That, coupled with her views on abortion and same-sex marriage, could electrify an already heated debate over her nomination. Soon there will be even more known about Sotomayor. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee's ranking Republican, on Wednesday released the bipartisan questionnaire the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked Sotomayor to complete. Once the questionnaire is completed and returned to the committee, copies will be made available online and in print. CNN's Lisa Dejardins contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Judge Sonia Sotomayor nominated to be the next Supreme Court Justice .\nSotomayor likely to face hot-button issues in Senate confirmation hearings .\nShe has also come under fire for controversial statements, rulings ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- It is the most popular photograph in history: Argentine revolutionary Ernesto \"Che\" Guevara stares pensively at the horizon, his steely eyes shielded behind a thick beard and his trademark beret. The shot -- taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda in Havana on March 5, 1960 -- turned the charismatic and controversial leader into a cultural icon. Che's image, here advertising soda, is still seen around the world. Now, nearly a half-century later, the photograph is used by communists and capitalists, Marxists and marketers to sell ideas. In his new book, \"Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image\" (Vintage Books), journalist Michael Casey examines how this photograph came to take on a life of its own and become the most reproduced photograph in the world. \"The Korda photograph can be seen on t-shirts, beach towels and condoms, even,\" he said. \"And it is in all corners of the world. You can find it in East Timor, parts of Africa, Israel, as well as Lebanon. You can see it in the United States and here in Latin America. And what this book is trying to do is discover why. What made this thing so big? So universal?\" The life of Che, the Argentine-born doctor turned revolutionary, has been well documented since his death in a Bolivian jungle in 1967. Countless books have been written about his role in leading Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution and translated into dozens of languages. Hollywood has given Che the treatment twice: in 2004's \"Motorcycle Diaries\" and last year in a two-part biopic starring Benicio Del Toro. Last month, \"Che: The Musical\" premiered at the Konex Cultural Center in Buenos Aires. What Casey -- the Buenos Aires bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires -- discovered during three years of investigation throughout Latin America for the book, was that Korda's image became so popular because it was promoted by people from all walks of life, including Castro, pop-artist Andy Warhol and countless students from Paris, Berkeley and beyond, who embraced the image as a symbol of rebellion during an era when the world was aching for change. \"Whether or not people believe in Che's hard-line version of Marxism, they want hope,\" Casey said. \"They want hope and beauty -- and somehow both of those things are encapsulated in this image. And so you get people investing their dreams in it. I think that is at the heart of it, with all these other forces: political, artistic, marketing, economic, all coming together in a way that really makes it a ubiquitous brand.\" Watch author Michael Casey discuss the Che Guevara image » . The brand, Casey writes, is the \"quintessential post-modern icon\" but may be surpassed by a newer image: artist Shepard Fairey's Barack Obama \"Hope\" poster, which Obama used during his run to the White House. \"I think that Obama is extremely cognizant of the power of images,\" Casey said. \"[The 'Hope'] poster is very much caught up in some of these forces that moved Che forward. They are very different people, obviously, but that's only part of the point. \"Part of the point is that the U.S. is engaged in a battle of brands, always has been. 'Uncle Sam vs. Che' if you really want to boil it down to what Latin America and its ugly history in part has been,\" he said. \"So, part of the United States' battle to improve relations with the region is improving its image. And in some respects you now have an alternative brand with Obama. The previous brand did not sell very well in Latin America. The new brand is getting off to a much better start.\" So while U.S. relations with Latin America, and much of the world, look to be changing, it's safe to say that the Che image -- and its ability to mean all things to all people -- will likely always stay the same." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Photo of revolutionary Che Guevara is the most reproduced image in history .\nMichael Casey examines how photo became \"quintessential post-modern icon\"\nThe picture was taken on March 5, 1960 by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda .\nThe image is now seen around the world, on everything from t-shirts to condoms ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- When a film cast includes names like Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson, a bit of improvisation on set is to be expected. Ben Stiller and the gang are back in \"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.\" \"I think the movie is really only 25 percent scripted, maybe even less than that,\" said Shawn Levy, director of the new film \"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,\" which boasts those comedic actors and several others. \"It just so happens that the scenes that get some of the biggest laughs are the improvised scenes, so it feels like more than that, but we had a very good script and it's still very much there.\" The sequel to 2006's \"Night at the Museum\" welcomes back the trio and director as well as other original cast members, including British actor Ricky Gervais, while also adding fresh faces such as Hank Azaria (as a villainous pharaoh) and Amy Adams (as Amelia Earhart). Watch the group laugh about the film » . The new romp features Stiller's character, security guard Larry Daley, in action at the Smithsonian, where some of the pieces from the Museum of Natural History -- the setting for the original movie -- are now being housed. Story writer Robert Ben Garant said watching the actors take the script and run with it was painless. \"It's always hard to watch bad actors improv on your skit,\" Garant said. \"But when it's Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill and Hank, it's such a pleasure because it always starts with the idea of our script and sometimes they stick to the words, but most of the time they do stuff much, much funnier and weirder. It's really great to watch.\" Owen Wilson is back as Jedidiah the miniature cowboy, who is now being held hostage at the Smithsonian. Azaria turns up the mean as Kahmunrah, the bitter brother of the pharaoh from the last film. Azaria said he thoroughly enjoyed his turn as the film's resident bad guy. \"When the villain is this ridiculous, it's fun,\" Azaria said. \"When he actually has a sense of humor and self-awareness, and goes from frivolous to really mean bully.\" \"In the end I had to be forced to do the mean stuff because I always wanted to do the silly stuff,\" he added. \"But watching it ... I enjoyed the mean stuff the most. \" Even with the good times on set, filming at the iconic Smithsonian was a monumental task, given that it wasn't always closed while the actors worked. Stiller said the crowds who watched the movie making magic were respectful and quiet during filming, often breaking into applause after a scene. \"We weren't really doing much, it was just the best audience in the world,\" he said. \"So it was sort of like doing a live show at the Smithsonian.\" Funny man Stiller even got to monkey around on set -- literally. In this film, there were two simians that took on the actor in a scene that found him getting the short end of the branch. \"I basically get slapped by both of them, but I am not allowed to slap them back because of animal rights, so I have to slap a dummy or a tennis ball when they're off-screen,\" Stiller told the British newspaper, The Mirror. \"It's a weird experience.\" Robin Williams, who is recovering from heart surgery, said he was excited to return as Theodore Roosevelt -- this time with a twist. \"I got to play two versions of Teddy Roosevelt,\" Williams said. \"One, the Teddy that was in the first movie and the other was kind of a brassy, bitchy Teddy and the one that's a bust of Teddy Roosevelt.\" With so many comics on board, it can't help but be a zany ride. Wilson said he believes those good times will translate to the audience. \"Shawn was really great about kind of letting people try things,\" he said. \"So it just had that kind of spirit on it where everybody was having a good time. I think you kind of feel it when watching the movie.\" Director Levy said the actors weren't the only ones who had fun. It's not every day a crew has access to the secret life of a museum, especially the Smithsonian, and Levy immersed himself in the privilege. \"It's such a fun world to explore, it's so dynamic, and the possibilities are literally endless,\" he said. \"I just love telling these stories.\" Since filming was such a blast, might there be a \"Night at the Museum 3\" in the works? \"Ask me after Memorial Day,\" Levy said, laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian\" reunites cast and director .\nDirector says cast improvised much of the film .\nMovie is sequel to a 2006 film .\nBen Stiller got into a slap fest with a pair of monkeys ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- Cambodia has sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council to call attention to its continuing standoff with Thailand over an ancient border temple on disputed land. Cambodian soldiers stand guard near Preah Vihear temple, close to the Thai border. The country is not asking for U.N. intervention, said Information Minister Kheu Kanharith. Rather, the letter that Cambodia's permanent mission in New York submitted to the chairmen of the Security Council and the General Assembly is meant to draw attention to a crisis that entered its sixth day Sunday. The two countries agreed to meet Monday to defuse tensions -- even as each side continued to amass more troops to the site of the Preah Vihear temple. Both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to the 11th century temple, which sits atop a cliff on Cambodian soil but has its most accessible entrance on the Thai side. The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962. Thailand claims, however, that the 1.8 square mile (4.6 sq. km) area around it was never fully demarcated. Thailand further says that the dispute arose from the fact that the Cambodian government used a map drawn during the French occupation of Cambodia that places both the temple and the surrounding area in that country's territory. Earlier this month, the United Nations approved Cambodia's application to have the temple listed as a World Heritage Site -- places the U.N. says have outstanding universal value. The decision re-ignited tensions, with some in Thailand fearing it will make it difficult for their country to lay claim to disputed land around the temple. Opposition parties in Thailand used the issue to attack the government, which initially backed the heritage listing. A Thai court overturned the pact, prompting the resignation of Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama. He had endorsed the application. Cambodia, meanwhile, is preparing for general elections on July 27. And Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since the mid-1980s, has portrayed the U.N. recognition as a national triumph. The current flare-up began Tuesday, when Cambodian guards briefly detained three Thais who crossed into the area. Once they were let go, the three refused to leave the territory. Cambodia claims Thailand sent troops to retrieve the trio and gradually built up their numbers. Thailand denies the charge, saying its troops are deployed in Thai territory. Each side has asked its troops to withhold fire unless they are fired upon. So far, the only casualty has been a Thai soldier who was injured Tuesday by a landmine -- possibly left over from the time the Khmer Rouge occupied the area. The Khmer Rouge, a radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, won power through a guerrilla war. It is remembered for the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Cambodians. -- Journalist Soeum Yin contributed to this report ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cambodia: Letter to Security Council meant to 'draw attention to crisis'\nThe two countries agreed to meet Monday to defuse tensions .\nBoth Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to 11th century Preah Vihear temple .\nThe International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A Russian serial murderer dubbed the \"Chessboard Killer\" was given the maximum sentence of life in prison Monday and ordered to undergo psychiatric therapy for a string of at least 48 murders that terrorized Moscow for years. A Moscow jury convicted Alexander Pichushkin last week of 48 murders and three attempted murders. Pichushkin claimed he had actually committed 60 murders, though prosecutors were unable to find evidence to prove that. Pichushkin earned the nickname \"Chessboard Killer\" for saying he had intended to kill one person for each of the 64 squares on a chessboard. In ordering Pichushkin to receive compulsory psychiatric therapy, the judge said the defendant has a mental disorder but is still sane and cannot avoid responsibility for his crimes. Throughout his trial, Pichushkin gloated over his crimes and ridiculed the police case against him. \"I was dismayed my work had been attributed to others,\" Pichushkin said. \"In one week, I killed two people. If they hadn't caught me, I would have never stopped. Having caught me, they saved many lives.\" Watch video report on serial killer Alexander Pichushkin . For years until his arrest in June 2006, Pichushkin kept Moscow on edge, stalking the heavily forested Bitsa Park on the city's southern outskirts and preying on the homeless and elderly. Pichushkin claimed to have committed all but one of his murders in the park. He lured his victims with the promise of alcohol and, after getting them drunk on vodka, he beat them to death and dumped their bodies in the park. It led Russian media to give Pichushkin his other nickname, the \"Bitsa Maniac.\" Over the years, Russian police recovered dozens of corpses, some with sticks and vodka bottles rammed into their skulls. But the crucial lead came in 2005, when a woman Pichushkin worked with at a vegetable store was found dead. She had left a note at her home saying she was going for a walk with him. Pichushkin said he had been aware of the note but killed her anyway. E-mail to a friend . CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Moscow court sentences serial killer to maximum sentence of life in prison .\nAlexander Pichushkin was found guilty of killing 48 people .\nHe was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment at the prison ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Michael Jackson fans who purchased tickets for his final concerts will receive a full refund or, if they chose, a commemorative ticket, the concert promoter said Tuesday. A fan shows off the first ticket bought at the O2 Centre in London for one of Michael Jackson's concerts. \"The world lost a kind soul who just happened to be the greatest entertainer the world has ever known,\" said Randy Phillips, president and chief executive officer of AEG Live. \"Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death.\" Fifty sold-out Jackson concerts were scheduled for the O2 Arena in London, starting July 13, with admission costing at least $105. The shows were billed as the final concerts of his career and were called \"This Is It.\" Tell us what you think -- would you take the ticket or the refund? Fans who decide they would rather have a souvenir will receive a ticket conceived by Jackson. There are eight designs that include holographic images of the entertainer on the front. Images of the tickets will be available on michaeljacksonlive.com in coming days, according to the promoter. Refunds will be processed by the issuing ticketing agencies -- See, Ticketline, Ticketmaster and Viagogo. Billboard magazine has estimated that $85 million in tickets were sold for the concert series. Additional packages, merchandise and secondary market sales could have raised the total to $115 million. AEG Live declined to comment on the figures. Jackson was expected to earn $50 million from the London shows. He died Thursday in California after his doctor found him in bed not breathing, but with a slight pulse. Efforts to revive the 50-year-old singer failed and he was pronounced dead at a Los Angeles medical center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This Is It\" ticket holders who choose a souvenir will get tickets conceived by Jackson .\nFifty sold-out Jackson concerts were scheduled to start July 13 in London .\nJackson was expected to earn $50 million from the London shows ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- On a plot of soil, nestled against the backdrop of skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, a group of residents are turning a lack of access to fresh produce into a revival of old traditions and self-empowerment. Urban farming is a way for African-Americans to connect with the earth, says Cashawn Myers of HABESHA. HABESHA Gardens is one of many urban gardens sprouting up around the country. Fruits and vegetables are thriving in this community garden located in an economically depressed area of the city known as Mechanicsville. But the garden serves an even greater purpose. The harvest helps feed some of the neediest members of the neighborhood. \"It's a reawakening going on. It's almost like it's a renaissance,\" says Cashawn Myers, director of HABESHA Inc. \"There's a Ghanaian proverb that says Sankofa. Sankofa means return to your past so you can move forward. Even if you look at coming over here during our enslavement, we were brought here to cultivate the land because that's something we did on the continent. So really, that's what many of the people are doing now,\" he said. Myers believes urban farming is a way for many African-Americans to reconnect with their past. iReport.com: Show us your urban farm . \"They are going through a process of Sankofa and going to what they traditionally did, which is connect to the Earth so they can move forward and grow,\" he says. But HABESHA Gardens isn't unique. Former pro basketball player Will Allen, who is considered to be one of the nation's leading urban farmers and founder of Growing Power Inc., estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of urban gardens in inner cities across America. Urban farms help feed people, sustain neighorhoods » \"It's beyond a movement at this point. Its more like a revolution,\" says Allen. Both Allen and Myers agree that the boom in urban farming for African-Americans is born out of necessity and not just echoing traditions. \"Minority people are affected by poor food, more than any other groups,\" and many inner cities lack access to quality fruits and vegetables, Allen says. \"Our food system is broken.\" \"When you're poor, when you don't have access to resources, you have to create your own,\" says Myers. \"So this is a way for people of African descent to use their creativity to grow their own food.\" Many poorer communities don't have full-scale grocery stores. Allen charges that companies have red-lined those areas and won't build stores there. So community activists like Myers have taken up the fight. \"[Starting] community gardens in local communities, specifically in urban areas, is important, so you create your own food security network,\" says Myers. \"You're not relying on large grocery stores to provide food for everyone because if those grocery stores have problems, your access to food is done.\" HABESHA Gardens makes the fresh food accessible to people in Mechanicsville by opening up the garden to people in the community every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. \"We invite people from the local community here, the immediate community but also from the greater Atlanta community ... to come out, work in the garden; learn, reconnect with the Earth and also be able to take food home with them after the harvest.\" In addition to providing food for those that work in garden, HABESHA partners with organizations such as the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the MLK Senior Center to provide food from the garden to the hungry and elders in the community. HABESHA is more than just an urban garden. HABESHA, an acronym for Helping Africa By Establishing Schools at Home and Abroad. The organization mentors young African-Americans by sending them on a yearly trip to Ghana and educates the youth in Mechanicsville through the garden's after-school program called Sustainable Seeds. \"Not only are we teaching them about agriculture, [we're] teaching them about solar technology, rainwater catching,\" Myers says. \"A majority of the food that was planted here was done by the youth in the after-school program. They helped to build the shed, they helped to build the greenhouse, they helped to build the shade nursery ... They are very much a vital part of the process that goes on here.\" Malik Parks, 12, is a member of HABESHA's mentoring program. \"Well, it feeds us. That's a big thing -- to know that we're helping the earth. Us planting it, that gives us exercise; then also, eating it gives us nutrients,\" says Parks. Sporting a \"Black to Our Roots\" T-shirt, Parks is already well aware of the higher purpose he and HABESHA have with their garden. \"I believe to some, its hope. I know there are a lot of people over here that live in poverty. I know you can come and pick food, so that's food for them,\" Parks says. \"So it's hope to stay alive longer and be energized and do what you have to do to get back on your feet.\" Myers, who is his mentor, agrees. \"We encourage the people in the community to come, be a part of the process of growing the food, so it's more empowerment than it is giving as charity,\" says Myers. And with urban farms like Will Allen's becoming half-million dollar enterprises in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, and many other farms in New York City and Detroit, Michigan, urban gardening is spreading like the roots of the vegetables they grow. \"This has become a multicultural, multigenerational movement, a revolution,\" says Allen. \"This isn't just the hippies and tree huggers. Everyone is getting on board. It's really exciting.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "HABESHA Gardens is one of many urban farms sprouting up around the country .\nCashawn Myers says it's important for urban areas to create their own food sources .\nHABESHA offers mentoring programs, harvests food to feed the local community .\nAllen: Urban farming is a 'multicultural, multigenerational movement, a revolution'" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Before lighting up that patriotic sparkler this weekend, remember to play it safe. The Consumer Product Safety Commission uses mannequins to show the dangers of fireworks. That was the message from the Consumer Product Safety Commission Tuesday, which put out an early July Fourth holiday warning urging families to put safety first when celebrating with fireworks. \"We know that 70 percent of all [fireworks-related] accidents occur between June 20 and July 20,\" commission head Inez Tenenbaum said during a demonstration of fireworks safety on the National Mall. \"This is the time of year that people are using fireworks.\" Tenenbaum noted that the largest number of young people injured by fireworks are between the ages of 14 to 17. Learn more about fireworks-related injuries » . According to the latest report from the CPSC, there were seven fireworks-related deaths and roughly 7,000 reported injuries in 2008. Tenenbaum stressed that parents should always supervise young people around fireworks and that consumers should only buy legal products. Watch the CPSC warnings about fireworks » . \"Never pick up a firework that is a dud [and] hasn't fired, because it might go off in your hand,\" she added. After Tenenbaum spoke, government lab technicians demonstrated some of the potentially deadly consequences that can result from a failure to observe basic firework safety. Using mannequins posed in typical outdoor settings, the technicians showed how a simple sparkler often used by children can easily cause clothing to catch fire. They also demonstrated the explosive power of cherry bombs, among other things, using them to blow up large watermelons. In another setting, they showed how professional-grade and illegal fireworks often use faster-burning fuses, which do not give the person lighting enough time to get away. \"Parents need to exercise caution and make certain they're buying fireworks that comply with their state and local and county ordinances,\" Tenenbaum warned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Consumer Product Safety Commission put warning on fireworks out Friday .\n70 percent of fireworks accidents occur between June 20 and July 20, says CPSC .\nLargest number of young people injured by fireworks are between 14 and 17 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Early in Michael Mann's vivid, incisive, but half-cocked gangster opus \"Public Enemies,\" Johnny Depp's John Dillinger returns to jail a few scant months after leaving it. Johnny Depp plays the charismatic John Dillinger in \"Public Enemies.\" Only this time he's just visiting -- and he's taking his friends out with him. It's an audacious opening gambit, and when the getaway gets messy -- one of the gang panics and soon bullets are flying all over the place -- we glimpse another insight into what makes Dillinger tick. As he clings to a wounded comrade for dear life, and stares death long in the face, he has to make a decision: What to do with the guy who panicked and brought this upon them? Dillinger lets him go. Based on Bryan Burrough's well-sourced account of the Depression-era crime wave that gave rise not only to Dillinger, but also to a whole gallery of criminal poster boys -- Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, the Barker gang, Bonnie and Clyde -- \"Public Enemies\" whittles the book down to its most dramatic duel: the nationwide manhunt for Dillinger presided over by J. Edgar Hoover (a knockout Billy Crudup) and led by his Chicago, Illinois, bureau chief, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). Dillinger and Purvis assumed folk-hero proportions in their day. According to Burrough, when newsreels showed Dillinger -- public enemy No. 1 -- he was applauded more loudly than the president. A 20th-century Jesse James, he was an underdog with a reputation for fairness. It was said he never killed anybody, and he was gallant and jocular with members of the public, once offering his overcoat to a kidnapped bank teller he had taken as a human shield. The role is tailor-made for a self-styled rebel like Depp. He understands the outlaw's swagger, the ferocity that sits hand in glove with his soft-spoken sensitivity. All the romance in the picture comes from Depp: the graceful ease with which he vaults a bank railing, his astonishing self-confidence and his dedicated courtship of hat-check girl Billie Frechette (an eager Marion Cotillard). She's swept up less by the high life he promises than the passionate conviction of his pitch. Burrough paints Purvis as an ineffectual, even inept agent who was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to nab Floyd, Nelson and Dillinger. The movie has no truck with such revisionism, but betrays little interest in Bale's dour, narrow lawman. The film's parallel cop-and-robber structure recalls Mann's modern classic, \"Heat.\" Purvis and Dillinger meet only once -- to talk -- and then face off just once more, at the climax, to kill and be killed. If the confrontation of Bale and Depp doesn't pack the same iconic punch as \"Heat's\" Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, the (entirely fictitious) exchange in a Midwestern jail cell remains central to the film. At one point, Dillinger reprimands Purvis for shooting down Pretty Boy Floyd, extending the poetic license still further -- as a point of historical fact Floyd died several months after Dillinger, and though Purvis was at the scene he almost certainly didn't pull the trigger. But Purvis did coordinate the execution of John Dillinger, an assassination as much as it was an attempted arrest, and maybe the nastiest crime in the picture. So when the incarcerated Depp advises the smug Bale that he should find a different line of work for his own peace of mind, his words carry a certain weight. Still, the movie's resolve to take Dillinger at face value feels a bit perfunctory, even old hat. At 140 minutes it takes a long time to find its rhythm; indeed, this is one film that would be better if it were 20 minutes longer. Still, there's little here that Arthur Penn didn't anticipate 40 years ago in \"Bonnie and Clyde,\" except maybe the intriguing idea that organized crime pulled the plug on the old-style go-it-alone bank robber in a belated attempt to forestall Hoover's dream of a federal law enforcement agency. For all its loving period detail, the movie scarcely notices the desperate poverty of the times. Shot largely on high definition video, \"Public Enemies\" doesn't look like the old gangster films -- it looks like TV. The images gain in immediacy what is lost in luster, but left this spectator looking for more texture, more depth -- more heat. iReport.com: Depp's best film? One of the new Hollywood's last great stylists, Mann is well aware of the sacrifice involved in this transition. You can see it in the loving way he pictures Johnny Depp's doomed Dillinger watching Clark Gable's doomed gangster embrace his fate in \"Manhattan Melodrama\" while Purvis and his deputies assume their places outside Chicago's Biograph Theater. There is something ritualistic about this sequence, as if Dillinger divines some measure of grace from the screen, and we congregants also play our part. The faces change, but it's the same old movie we remember." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Public Enemies\" is a solid gangster flick that's not quite great, says Tom Charity .\nFilm stars Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger .\nDepp is terrific, Christian Bale as FBI man is more colorless ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Of all of the calculations Zainab Ibrahim made during her accounting career in Baghdad, this one was a snap. Iraqi refugee Zainab Ibrahim lives in a modest, sparsely furnished apartment outside Atlanta, Georgia. After a bullet whizzed by her head and death threats showed up at her doorstep, it was time, she figured, to leave. She went to Jordan four years ago and arrived last June at her ultimate destination -- the United States. Once a target of insurgents because her job at the Iraqi Finance Ministry involved working with the U.S. military, Ibrahim is now trying to avoid another pitfall -- falling through the cracks of America's recession. She and thousands of refugees across America who fled war and persecution just can't seem to find full-time jobs in a weak economy. And that just doesn't add up for Ibrahim, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Baghdad University and risked her life for the U.S. government. \"It's everybody's dream being in the United States. I thought I would get the opportunity I always dreamed about,\" she said in fluent English in her sparsely furnished apartment outside Atlanta, Georgia. \"I'm really shocked. I found out everything is slow.\" View video highlights from her interview » . The recession has made life tough nationwide for refugees. \"It's the most challenging time I've seen and I've been doing this work for 25 years,\" said Robert J. Carey, vice president of resettlement and migration policy at the International Rescue Committee, one of several nonprofit organizations that the U.S. government pays to resettle refugees. Lavinia Limon, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, says, \"it's a significant problem.\" \"All refugees are required to become self-sufficient in a very fast time period. Our program is designed with that in mind. There isn't a long-term basis of support,\" said Anastasia Brown, director of refugee programs for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. \"What we have right now is a situation where it's becoming more and more difficult to find employment in a very short time period.\" The U.S. government resettles a limited number of refugees each year. They have full legal rights to live and work in the United States and can apply to become U.S. citizens after five years. Both the U.S. State and the Health and Human Services departments pay for limited refugee services. The State Department allocation for living expenses per refugee on arrival to the country is $450, a sum the department calls \"modest.\" Individual refugees also are eligible to get eight months of cash assistance and medical assistance under the HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement. Depending on states' eligibility requirements, refugee families could be eligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Medicaid. State governments stipulate welfare benefit cash levels. There are five years' worth of social services, such as English language instruction. Refugee agencies across America pursue various state and federal programs that can help newcomers stay afloat, but they say they rely more and more on private donations to help provide food, clothing, money and furniture. That increasing reliance on community support shows that the U.S. program for resettling refugees needs reform, resettlement agencies argue. Three agencies -- Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service -- said in a recent statement that \"the recession is making it harder for refugee newcomers to find jobs within 180 days of arrival as the program prescribes.\" They said the government's \"one-size-fits-all\" approach -- the $450 per refugee and eight months of limited cash assistance plus food stamps and Medicaid -- \"reflects neither what resettlement actually costs nor the importance the U.S. refugee program holds in U.S. foreign policy,\" they said. The public-private partnership that has been the \"genius\" of the U.S. program has \"fallen out of balance,\" with the private sector is bearing much of the cost, these agencies say. More than 60,000 refugees were admitted to the United States during the fiscal year 2008, according to figures from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The largest number was from Burma, with 18,139. There were 13,823 from Iraq. Traditionally, refugees -- no matter their skill level -- have had a better chance of landing menial jobs, in places like hotels or restaurants or in plants with low-paying and arduous jobs. Now refugees are competing with Americans for low-paying jobs. Many are having a hard time finding the non-skilled positions. Refugee support agencies are scouring the job market, exploring job opportunities on farms as well as work in other sectors of the economy, said Carey, the International Rescue Committee senior vice president. He's also chairman of the Refugee Council USA, a coalition of non-government organizations helping refugees. \"For the first time I'm aware of,\" he said, \"large numbers of refugees are receiving eviction notices.\" It's even hard for those refugees who go places where they have friends, relatives or members of their same faith. In San Diego, California, Iraqi Chaldean Christian refugees are facing strains despite having access to an established Chaldean community, said Michael McKay, refugees services department director of Catholic Charities in San Diego. There's \"great competition\" for jobs, from menial to highly skilled. Several Iraqis in San Diego have even talked about returning to Iraq. Yet some communities still have those one or two big employers with jobs well-suited to newcomers. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, refugees from Burma, Burundi, Iraq, Cuba and Bhutan have over the years found low-paying factory jobs that Americans shun, such as work at a Perdue Farms chicken processing plant, said James Robinson, executive director of The Bowling Green International Center. How long will that last? \"We're good now,\" said Robinson. \"But you never know what tomorrow will bring.\" Back in Atlanta, Zainab Ibrahim makes no bones about how she feels: She wants work in her field, as an accountant, not just any job. But she knows she has to recalibrate her goals. She worked from September to November as a foreign language specialist with the U.S. Army in Mississippi, working with soldiers before they deployed to Iraq. During tax season this year, she worked another temporary job, as an assistant office manager and tax preparer for the Tax Service of America Inc.. Yet to her dismay, she has been unable to find what she covets -- a full-time job. She has produced a resume, gone to job fairs, and applied for clerical and administrative full-time jobs at places like hotels. She mines the job sites on the Web every day, using a computer at the public library because she can't afford Internet or cable service at home. David Oliver, the IRC job developer who works with her, said \"the recession is a big factor\" in her predicament. She is competing with other Americans for jobs and, he said, \"I think employers prefer to take somebody whose work experience is recognizable.\" Along with refugee cash assistance and food stamps, Ibrahim saved money from her part-time jobs, and her family in the Middle East is ready to help her as they did when she lived in Jordan. Living frugally, she has been able to pay $600 a month to rent her sparsely furnished apartment. She has a $60 a month phone bill and a fluctuating power bill that once reached $240 a month. There's $50 to $60 a week in food and then gas for her car. Ibrahim's money is running out, and she wonders whether she will be able to pay her next month's rent. Oliver says there's help, such as IRC emergency funds and local rent assistance, but Ibrahim yearns to support herself, to pay her own way. Her struggles disappoint Louis Culpepper, president and chief executive officer of Culpepper & Associates Security Services in Atlanta. Ibrahim worked for his firm in Baghdad, and Culpepper called her a \"real go-getter.\" \"I really feel bad about it that someone who put her life on the line can't get a job,\" he said. Ibrahim exudes optimism and determination despite her frustrations. She reminds herself that she survived the war and is still living a dream in America. And she applied for a job not long ago. \"Keep your fingers crossed,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More than 60,000 refugees were admitted to the U.S. in FY 2008 .\nFinding jobs proves difficult as U.S. economy in downturn .\nState Department allocation for living expenses per refugee on arrival is $450 .\nCharities, churches can take up the slack but they are feeling the recession pinch ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "PANAMA CITY, Panama (CNN) -- Ricardo Martinelli, the multimillionaire owner of a supermarket chain, was inaugurated as president of Panama on Wednesday. Ricardo Martinelli is a pro-business conservative who defeated a candidate from the ruling center-left party. National Assembly President Jose Luis Varela performed the swearing-in and placed the presidential sash on Martinelli, a pro-business conservative who defeated a candidate from the ruling center-left party in May. The citizens of Panama \"want things to be done differently,\" Varela said at the inauguration. \"An attitude of change starts today.\" In his first speech as president, Martinelli promised a smaller government budget but raises for public workers. Public safety, an issue that the outgoing administration of Martin Torrijos struggled to maintain, will be a priority, Martinelli said. \"Our prisons will be rehabilitation centers, not schools for criminals,\" he said. Panama will also work with Mexico and Colombia to combat drug trafficking in the region, Martinelli said. Among the dignitaries at the inauguration was deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a military-led coup Sunday. The Organization of American States has condemned the coup, and Zelaya has continued to carry out his presidential duties. The son of Italian immigrants, Martinelli, 57, is a self-made businessman who is chairman of the Super 99 supermarket chain, one of the largest private companies in Panama. The U.S.-educated president previously served as minister and chairman of the board of directors of the Panama Canal Authority and formerly was director of social security for Panama, according to his Web site. Martinelli won the presidency with 60 percent of the votes in a race against ruling-party candidate Balbina Herrera." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Deposed Honduran president attends ceremony .\nSupermarket chain owner Ricardo Martinelli inaugurated .\nMartinelli promises smaller government budget, raises for public workers .\nNew president says Panama will fight drug trafficking in region ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Australia's reputation as the happy-go-lucky country was turned on its head in the late 1990s as the usually safe streets of the Victorian capital were transformed into a gangland war zone. Police investigate the scene where Des Tuppence Moran was killed in Melbourne in June 2009. Melbourne's \"underbelly\" of organized crime suddenly became public. Men hungry for easy money, power and control of the state's lucrative illegal amphetamines trade were prepared to do whatever it took to be the boss of the underworld. Violence erupted between two families -- the Morans and the Williams. Police say both had trafficked drugs in Melbourne for years and for a while had been associates. But as public demand for amphetamines grew, the rivalry increased with both camps desperate to secure the market. On one side was the Moran family -- brothers Jason and Mark, father Lewis and matriarch Judy Moran. The brothers were notorious for their short tempers and relied on violence to achieve what they wanted. On the other was Carl Williams and his crew. He began as a small-time drug dealer but would become Australia's most notorious serial killer. Watch how a feud between two families has spawned a TV miniseries » His lieutenant was Andrew \"Benji\" Veniamin -- a tattooed former kick boxer who would become Williams' main hit man -- but eventually became a victim of the gang wars himself. The feud began on October 13, 1999, on Carl Williams' 29th birthday. The Moran brothers accused Williams of undercutting them, by selling cheap pills on the street. They allegedly shot Williams in the stomach. But this didn't frighten him. Instead, Williams planned his revenge, sparking a public underworld war that would leave police, the legal system and politicians struggling to cope. Eight months later, Mark Moran was gunned down outside his home while he put out the rubbish. Then in 2003, in the most horrific of all the gangland murders, Jason Moran and his associate Pasquale Barboro were gunned down in the front seats of a van in the car park at a children's football game. Five children were sitting in the back seats. Witnesses described the shooting as disgusting and callous. At Jason's funeral, his mother made a graveside threat. Leaning over the coffin, Judy Moran said \"all will be dealt with my darling.\" But it didn't end there. A year later, Judy's husband was murdered. Crime patriarch Lewis Moran, who was facing drug charges, was shot dead while drinking at his local pub. Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland said \"regardless of anyone's circumstance in life no one deserves to die in this fashion. It's outrageous this is happening in Melbourne.\" But it wasn't just the Moran family that was wiped out. Over the course of nine years, 30 people were killed in this high-profile turf war. Matriarch Judy Moran expressed her sorrow and loss: \"I've lost 3 members of my family, lots of close friends and I feel for their families as well.\" Williams was now in control of Melbourne's illegal drug trade. He had amassed millions of dollars, power and a reputation -- and believed he was untouchable. He referred to himself as \"The Premier\" because, as he told the Australian newspaper The Age, \"I run this f---ing state.\" But the law would finally catch up with Carl Williams. Victoria's Purana police task force had spent years investigating the drug kingpin and they finally had enough evidence to arrest Williams, charging him with multiple murders. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to four of them, including the murders of Mark and Lewis Moran. Police say Williams was connected to at least 10 underworld murders and would have kept killing if he had not finally been jailed. He is serving a more than 30-year prison sentence. The war inspired a smash hit television series in Australia called \"Underbelly.\" However, when it was released at the beginning of last year, the 13 episode mini-series was banned from being shown in Melbourne because of the possible impact it would have on related criminal trials. It aired in Victoria once the trials were completed. Just when police thought the underworld killings were over, another member of the Moran family was shot dead in June. But in a surprising twist, this was not a gangland hit -- apparently the enemy was from within. Family matriarch Judy Moran was arrested as an accessory to the murder of her brother-in-law, Des Tuppence Moran. Police say she has had no comment about the charges. Police claim there was bad blood over money, but it marks the end of one of Australia's best-known criminal dynasties. \"Fact is almost stranger than fiction with what we've seen\" said Victoria Police Commissioner Overland. \"If you were a scriptwriter and sat down and wrote this stuff you'd probably say: 'Look, no, it's a bit far fetched. No one will believe it.'\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "War erupts between two families -- the Morans, Williams -- over drug trade .\nOne man shot in van with kids, another while taking out garbage .\nThirty people killed in the high profile turf war .\nWar inspires smash hit television series called \"Underbelly\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Barely six months after being crowned the winner of \"American Idol,\" David Cook has released his self-titled debut album. David Cook recently released his debut album, which includes songs about his family. The Missouri native (no relation to the author of this article) described the recording process as \"squeezing a year's worth of work on a record into 2½ months.\" But he's very happy with the result. \"It's a very accurate definition of where I'm at, where I was and where I want to be,\" he said. Cook sticks to his rock roots on the release, eliciting help from ex-Soundgarden member Chris Cornell to write the lead single, \"Light On.\" He also keeps loved ones close: The track \"Heroes\" is a tribute to his family. \"Permanent\" (which Cook describes as having a \"delicate and lullaby feel\") and \"A Daily AntheM\" (\"sing-alongy and grandiose\") acknowledge his older brother, who is battling brain cancer. The latter song was written three years before Cook's \"Idol\" run, when he was cutting his teeth as a grass-roots rocker. Watch David Cook show his chops » . Cook, 25, dropped by CNN's New York offices (with his mother, Beth Foraker, in tow) to talk about keeping creative control, losing his privacy and his responsibility as Idol No. 7. The following is an edited version of that interview. CNN: You were very involved in the making of your debut album, weren't you? David Cook: Yeah. Out of 12 songs on the record, I wrote or co-wrote 10, and the label was even kind enough to let me get involved with the art direction on the record. So it was a busy summer. CNN: You actually have a degree in graphic design, don't you? Cook: I spent five long years at the University of Central Missouri. It should've been four, but I enjoyed college a little bit more than I should have. CNN: There's skepticism that American Idols have very little control over the music they ultimately make. That wasn't the case for you? Cook: Well, I can't speak for anybody else except myself, and I guess in that sense, I lucked out. I mean, 19 [Entertainment] and RCA really [gave] me a little bit of carte blanche to allow me to make a record that is me. And to that end, I think we managed to pull something really cool off. CNN: What was your approach with the music? Cook: I tried to put music down on this record that [translated] live. I want these songs to make people feel things and invoke certain responses in an audience. And so it's a lot of very epic choruses and open bridges and stuff like that. Something that will give a show some room to meander and feel like a unique experience for everybody. CNN: [Lead single \"Light On\"] debuted on the Billboard charts at No. 17, and then several weeks later -- about four -- it dropped to No. 80. Was that discouraging? Cook: No, not really. I think, for us, it's all about the long-term results. And I feel like the song seems to be getting speed now, especially with the record coming out. It just feels like everything's headed in the right direction, so I'm definitely not one to hang my head on immediate results. I'd rather the song hit No. 1 four months from now if it's gonna do it. I'm just excited to get this record out. I'm excited to have people hear it. CNN: When you were catapulted to fame, did you ever experience any self-doubt or feelings of insecurity? Cook: I'll be the first to admit there are [musicians] out there who are way better than me. I feel almost a responsibility to do everything that I can with this on their behalf as well as my own. But I've always been a confident person. I feel like I know why I'm here, I know what put me here. It's just a matter of trusting it and going with it. CNN: All this talk about you and [\"American Idol\" runner-up] David Archuleta being mortal enemies is absolute garbage, isn't it? Cook: It is. David is one of the most unassuming, down-to-earth people I think I've ever met. It seems like he has no idea he was even on the show, let alone did well. And I find that really endearing. He'll be the first to congratulate you. He seems to just appreciate every moment . CNN: You seem to be a very private person. Has all this attention been a little intrusive? Cook: In a sense, yeah. It's a little strange to go from toiling in obscurity to having to worry about walking out of a restaurant and [seeing] who's going to shove a camera in your face and all that. But it comes with the territory, and if dealing with that on occasion allows me to make music that I want to make ... then, I'll take it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "David Cook became the seventh \"American Idol\" in the spring .\nCook wrote or co-wrote most songs on debut, even helped design art .\nCook and \"Idol\" runner-up David Archuleta get along fine ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit near the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at 12:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. ET), the USGS said. It was centered about 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the city of Iraklion on Crete, the USGS said. An earthquake with a 6.7 magnitude is capable of causing significant damage, especially in areas of poor construction. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. A staff member at Iraklion Airport told CNN they didn't feel the earthquake. Similar reports came from staff members at hotels just outside Iraklion and in western Crete. A spokesman at the Greek Ministry of Health in Athens, 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the epicenter, also said he didn't feel the quake. David Booth, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey, explained that the earthquake happened deep below the sea, leading to little risk of tsunami and reducing the likelihood that people would feel tremors. -- CNN's Claudia Rebaza and Krsna Harilela in London, England, contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hits near the Greek island of Crete .\n6.7 quake can cause major damage, especially in areas of poor construction .\nNo immediate word on casualties or damage ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Even in the midst of Japan's deepest economic recession since World War II, the country's love hotel industry is thriving. The Style A hotel in Tokyo offers amenities. \"I'd hate to use the term \"recession-proof,\" but it's certainly proven very resilient over the last six to nine months,\" said Steve Mansfield, CEO of New Perspectives, which operates six love, or \"leisure,\" hotels in Japan. One of them, the Bonita Hotel in Isawa, boasts a 257 percent occupancy rate. Rooms can be rented for three to 24 hours. Mansfield's company estimates the industry in Japan pulls in $40 billion a year in revenue. \"It's a natural human desire. Even these days, on the weekend, every love hotel is full of people -- it's hard to get in. You can never stop sexual desire,\" said a woman with her boyfriend in Tokyo, who laughed in embarrassment when asked for her name. Love hotels fill a need for privacy in a country where high population density often means couples have little time alone. Rooms offer a broad assortment of features, including karaoke machines, PlayStation game consoles, DVD players, a variety of cosmetics, customized condoms and indoor-outdoor Jacuzzis. Watch Morgan Neill's report from inside a love hotel » . Though required by law to have a front desk, most can be rented and entered without talking to a clerk. The days of Japanese being ashamed to enter love hotels are coming to an end, though, Mansfield said. \"Seventy-five percent of our guests are members of our points program,\" he said. \"They carry our points cards, they collect points and they receive gifts. That's something people are very comfortable with, and I think that reflects the customers that we attract.\" Takashi Yamamoto, who designs love hotels in Tokyo, agreed. \"The bad image that love hotels had has faded over time. Also, customers started to raise their voices and became more selective about choosing hotels. In response, management has improved.\" The flashiest love hotels are found in Osaka, including a Hello Kitty-themed hotel and one with a room featuring a merry-go-round. Tokyo hotels tend to be tamer, focused on winning customers with amenities. The Style A Hotel, for example, offers a suite for $190 that includes a full-size Jacuzzi and a private sauna. Though young couples make up the majority of customers, they are not the only ones. One man, who declined to be named, said: \"I go to love hotels when I'm drunk and don't feel like going home.\" Whatever the reasons, the hotels have been doing well enough that Mansfield recently went to London, seeking investors to expand. \"The industry has 25,000 hotels, and through our research we've worked out that 90 percent of owners have five or fewer hotels,\" he said. That fragmentation is a structural inefficiency in the market, he said, one he would like to help correct." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Industry has 25,000 hotels, says Steve Mansfield, CEO of a love hotel operator .\nVenues include a Hello Kitty-themed hotel; another has a merry-go-round in a room .\nMansfield: the industry pulls in some $40 billion dollars a year in overall revenues .\nMost customers are young people; flashiest hotels found in Osaka ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for a powerful sedative despite knowing its harmful effects, a nutritionist who worked with the singer said Tuesday. Cherilyn Lee is a holisitic health practitioner and has been in healthcare for 23 years, her Web site states. Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner who first met Jackson in January to treat his children for a common cold, said she rejected his requests for Diprivan and informed him of the side effects. \"I told him this medication is not safe,\" Lee said. \"He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.' \" \"I told him -- and it is so painful that I actually felt it in my whole spirit -- 'If you take this you might not wake up.' \" According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, nurse practitioners \"provide high-quality healthcare services similar to those of a doctor.\" They can also prescribe medications, according to the academy's Web site. CNN could not independently verify whether Lee worked with Jackson. When asked about Lee's account, Jackson family attorney Londell McMillan said: . \"I wonder why someone would make a comment about drugs when they haven't seen him take the drug or anyone who administered it.\" The drug, known by its generic name Propofol, is administered intravenously as an anesthetic during surgeries. Watch nurse describe Jackson's drug request » . An initial dose puts a person to sleep. An overdose can lead to cardiac arrest, doctors say. Jackson died June 25 at the age of 50. Authorities are awaiting toxicology results to determine what killed him. Lee is licensed as a registered nurse, according to the California Board of Registered Nursing Web site. According to her Web site, she is a proponent of alternative medicine that uses a holistic approach. Lee said that four days before Jackson's death, she received a call from a Jackson staff member who said the singer felt that one side of his body was cold; the other hot. \"I could hear Mr. Jackson saying in the background, 'Please have her come see me now. Can she come now?' \" Lee, who was in Florida at the time, said she told Jackson's staffers to take him to a hospital. \"I was really afraid because of the symptoms they were telling me,\" she said. \"It could have meant something going on in the nervous system or something cardiovascular.\" After his death, Lee said she didn't go to the authorities. \"When I saw it on the news, I really didn't know what to do,\" she said. \"I was saddened. I heard there was a physician there.\" Lee also could not say why Jackson would call on her, when the last time she saw him was three months ago. \"The only think I can think of is he recalled the symptoms I was telling him,\" she said. But, she added, she didn't know of any doctors who would have given him the drug. \"I asked him, 'What doctor gave you this drug?' \" she said, when the singer initially brought up the medicine. \"He told me, 'Oh it was a long time ago.' \" Dr. Rakesh Marwah of the anesthesiology department at the Stanford University School of Medicine said Propofol can lead to cardiac arrest, which is suspected in Jackson's death. \"Propofol slows down the heart rate and slows down the respiratory rate and slows down the vital functions of the body,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Lawyer: Nurse never saw Jackson take, be administered drug .\nJackson said \"I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep,\" nurse said .\nCherilyn Lee: I told Jackson \"if you take this you might not wake up\"\nSedative Jackson requested given through IV as anesthetic during surgeries ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Video of a fresh-faced Susan Boyle confidently singing a Barbra Streisand track to a room full of football fans in 1984 has been unearthed. Susan Boyle as she looked during a performance filmed at a Scottish football club in 1984. The \"Britain's Got Talent\" singing sensation, looking trim and a bit like Abba's Anni-Frid Lyngstad, is invited on to the stage at Motherwell FC's Fir Park Social Club to take part in a singing competition between rival fans by a man wearing a checked coat and bow tie. Boyle, who had to wait 25 more years to be catapulted into the spotlight via her television appearance in front of Simon Cowell last month, quickly chats with the band before they launch into a low-key, lounge-style version of Streisand's \"The Way We Were.\" Boyle, her hair style a classic 1980s perm, confidently looks down the barrel of the camera, giving meaningful expressions as she moves slowly round the stage. Watch latest Boyle video . At one point she even takes the hand of a pearl-necklace wearing middle-aged woman in the front row and sings directly to her. Watch how things have changed in Boyle's hometown » . When she finishes, the crowd breaks into rapturous applause and Boyle gets a peck on the cheek from the MC before slipping quietly back to her table in the smoke-tinged room. The video became public Friday after it was handed to Scotland's Daily Record newspaper. Gerry McGuinness, 61, who watched Susan sing live that night and kept the video, told the Record that he remembered the evening clearly. Watch Boyle sing on Larry King » . \"I can remember that she was a shy young girl, but also very attractive back then -- she turned a few heads when she came into the club. \"Even back then, I don't think anyone expected too much from her because she was so shy, but when she began singing people took notice.\" The 47-year-old Boyle's appearance on \"Britain's Got Talent,\" where she sang \"I Dreamed a Dream\" from the musical \"Les Miserables,\" has now been viewed more than a 100 million times on YouTube. Watch Larry King interview Susan Boyle » . She famously told the show's hosts that she had never been kissed and lived alone with her cat in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland. The world's media beat a path to her home, from where she even appeared on CNN's \"Larry King Live.\" Boyle has been installed by bookmakers as the favorite to win the show which, as part of the first prize, includes the right to perform in front of the queen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "New video of Susan Boyle singing to room full of football fans unearthed .\n25-year-old footage taken at Motherwell FC's social club .\nBoyle, sporting a perm and looking trim, belts out Barbra Streisand track .\nSinging sensation was catapulted into spotlight after TV appearance last month ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- What's a July Fourth celebration without fireworks? Many cities across the United States will find out Saturday. Milwaukee holds its lakefront show on July 3, so as not to compete with surrounding communities. As municipalities grope for ways to shore up budgets, expensive pyrotechnics displays are becoming the latest victims of the economic downturn. \"They need to have things in the community like that to keep things going. So I'm sad to see it going,\" said Seth Stolz, of Flint, Michigan, which will go without its traditional July Fourth explosions in the sky this year, according to CNN affiliate WJRT. He was accustomed to watching the show from his home. The Greater Flint Arts Council puts on the show every year, and when the city and county said they couldn't afford the $40,000 for the Flint Fireworks Festival, it was canceled last month. Private donors tried to save it, but the mayor expressed concerns that safety measures might be overlooked if the event was hastily organized, WJRT reported. Watch how town brings bikinis into the mix » . \"Yeah, a very hard decision to make,\" Greg Fiedler with the arts council, told the station. In Florida, Miami-Dade County canceled one of its two shows to save about $40,000, CNN affiliate WPLG reported. The Monterey, California, City Council in April also nixed its show and accompanying lawn party to save about $150,000 . \"Although the 4th of July festivities are a very popular community-wide event, we cannot recommend continuation of this costly one-day event during a fiscal downturn,\" a city staff report said. In Illinois, CNN affiliate WLS-TV reported that Harvey, Berwyn, Elgin, Gurnee and North Riverside had canceled their shows. Blue Springs, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, also 86'ed the pyrotechnics to give the city \"some immediate budget relief,\" city officials told CNN affiliate KCTV. The American Pyrotechnics Association says that despite the economic challenges, fireworks display companies are working with their clients to make sure the shows go on. Communities are also finding alternative funding or cutting back to make sure the sky rockets light up their July Fourth sky. The nation hosts about 14,000 fireworks shows each Independence Day, according to the association, and the majority of shows will prevail because communities \"realize the importance of continuing this annual tradition of providing their citizens with free entertainment to celebrate our freedom and independence,\" Julie Heckman, the group's director, said in a statement. \"The industry has been tested time after time and each challenge unites the industry, makes it stronger, and ensures that communities do not go dark on Independence Day,\" Heckman said. iReport.com: How are you celebrating the Fourth of July? The Illinois towns of Elmhurst and Wooddale couldn't foot their own shows, so they chipped in funds for the show in nearby Bensenville, WLS reported. Evanston, Illinois, had to shorten its show, and North Aurora forewent its own show in favor of bolstering the celebration in neighboring Aurora, CNN affiliate WGN reported. Tucson, Arizona, canceled it's $55,000 fireworks display to save money, but CNN affiliate KGUN reported Friday that private donors stepped in to save the celebration. Joliet, Illinois, almost canceled its 63rd annual skyrocket display because businesses weren't able to send their customary donations. The show had a $23,000 price tag, but local businesses could muster only about $14,000, according to WGN. City residents were not content to go without fireworks Saturday. \"It's a tradition in Joliet. It's an American tradition. You can't give up on that,\" said Robert Svarz, who has been attending fireworks shows in Joliet for 50 years, according to WLS. Residents scraped together the remaining $9,000 to make sure the city staged its show, which draws thousands to Joliet Memorial Stadium and the surrounding parking lots each year. \"Not only did they send in contributions, but they all sent notes on how important it was to keep this thing alive,\" Russ Slinkard, CEO of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce, told WLS. Despite Chicago's budget crisis, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office told WGN that there will be no cutbacks to the Windy City's fireworks display. Fireworks also will be part of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's, celebration, as U.S. Bank has sponsored the hourlong, lakefront show for the past few years. The city holds its show the day before Independence Day to not compete with surrounding communities' shows. Middletown, Connecticut, also held its celebration early, on Thursday -- but for a different reason. Holding the celebration on Saturday would have meant $20,000 in overtime pay for city workers, on top of the $65,000 bill for the actual show, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano told CNN affiliate WTNH-TV. Rescheduling the celebration had an added bonus: Businesses that usually close for the holiday were able to cater to the crowd of about 15,000. At least one community had no problem finding the funds for this year's festivities. In fact, Olive Branch, Mississippi, more than tripled its budget, according to CNN affiliate WPTY-TV. The town seemed split over the move. While one resident said it would be \"unfair\" to deprive the town of the show, another said upping the fireworks budget from $10,000 to $35,000 seems irresponsible, WPTY reported. So, what about people who don't live in towns like Olive Branch? What are their options when their fireworks shows are canceled? Well, they can always enjoy a show in another town, or -- as Blue Springs Mayor Carson Ross suggested to KCTV -- put on their own show. Watch the safeguards you should take » . Blue Springs is one of the few western Missouri towns that allows residents to shoot their own fireworks, and indeed, the American Pyrotechnics Association reported last month that the popularity of backyard fireworks had more than doubled since 2000. However, those who aren't mindful of the laws in their city could find the economic downturn taking an even greater toll. Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan told CNN affiliate WTMJ-TV that the city is serious about stopping backyard fireworks. Because no one respected the ban last year, the city is \"going to hit them in the pocketbook,\" he said. The fine for each citation? $676." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The nation hosts about 14,000 fireworks shows each Independence Day .\nMany shows have been canceled or downsized because of frail city budgets .\nJoliet, Illinois, residents chipped in money to put on show, station reports .\nMississippi town gets mixed reaction to tripling its fireworks budget, station reports ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Amid all the talk about storm clouds gathering over the U.S. economy, it's easy to forget there are other places in the world where the sun is still shining. A shortage of housing is contributing to an inflation rate of almost 14 percent in Qatar . Take Qatar, for example; a small emirate in the Gulf whose economy is booming. When the final figures come in, Qatar's economy is expected to have grown 17.8 percent in 2007. Qatar National Bank predicts growth to slow in 2008, but at 16.5 percent who could complain? Well, consumers for one. While growth has steamed ahead, so has inflation. At the end of 2007, Qatar's official inflation rate was nearing 14 percent -- the highest in the region. Three major factors are contributing to Qatar's soaring inflation rate: High levels of government spending; growing demand for housing, which is pushing up house prices and rent, and the riyal's peg with the dollar, which is pushing down interest rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve exacerbated the latter problem by slashing U.S. interest rates twice in the past eight days to three percent. Gulf States with currencies linked to the U.S. dollar were under pressure to follow suit. Qatar reduced its deposit rate to 3.5 percent, but left its lending rate at 5.5 percent. Liz Martins, Head of MENA, Business Monitor International says Qatar is facing a serious problem. \"You've huge a amount of monetary easing and if you think that that's not even going to feed through properly for six to nine months then, you've got a really dangerous inflationary outlook,\" she says. \"The only policy option really that they have is to revalue the exchange rate.\" Kuwait did just that in May, ditching the dollar-peg for a basket of currencies, and speculation is growing that other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries will do the same. Tristan Cooper, Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody's Middle East, says the argument for revaluation is becoming more convincing. \"The economic justification for revaluation is growing stronger as inflation multiplies and the government increases expenditure.\" He says any move by Gulf governments to curb public spending would not be welcomed by locals facing higher living costs. In Qatar's instance, new housing stock is expected to come onto the market to help ease inflation in the rental market. \"There is some hope that prices will begin to slow as that supply comes onto the market, but that's not guaranteed,\" Tristan Cooper says. So that leaves a currency revaluation. \"The easier policy option would presumably be to revalue, but that also has political difficulties. It involves to some extent coordinating with GCC members.\" In the past, Saudi Arabia has ruled out any change to its dollar-peg. Qatar has made it clear that it prefers any move to be made with a GCC consensus. In an interview with Marketplace Middle East, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani said that the emirate is \"studying all options\" in relation to the dollar-peg. \"Every country has to see its way out of this, but only after a consultation with the GCC,\" he said. \"For us, our wish is that it's a policy to be taken by the whole GCC, to either basket or revalue our currency. I cannot see a decision. Even in Qatar, we have no decision up to now.\" This week, one of Qatar's leading economic advisors was quoted as saying any policy change would have to be substantial. In an interview with Reuters news agency, Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim said, \"change should be major; minor change won't solve the problem.\" He ruled out any potential moves to float the Qatari riyal. \"As a small country we cannot float our currency... it has to be tied,\" he said. One of the main reasons GCC members are reluctant to abandon their dollar link is because they're working towards their own monetary union. A policy diversion now may make it more difficult to unite again under a common currency by the nominated deadline of 2010. There's widespread skepticism that that deadline can be reached. \"The timeframe of 2010 is rather unlikely now, and the project itself seems to be facing increasing difficulties given the pressure on individual states to go their own way and revalue,\" Tristan Cooper says. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Qatar's economy is booming, but emirate has the highest inflation rate in Gulf .\nTwo recent cuts in U.S. interest rates putting pressure on Gulf currencies .\nQatari PM says \"studying all options\" on dollar-peg, GCC consensus ideal .\nMembers reluctant to drop the dollar-peg despite growing inflationary pressure ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- The head of the Organization of American States said Friday he has found no willingness among leaders of Honduras' interim government to return President Jose Manuel Zelaya to power. OAS Secretary General Jose Insulza doubts Honduras' new leaders will restore ousted President Jose Zelaya. \"They have, for the moment, no intention of reversing the situation,\" Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters. He said he had reached that conclusion after speaking Friday with members of the Supreme Court, among others. Insulza also rejected assertions by the interim government that the change in leadership was not really a coup d'etat. \"I don't know what else you would call it when a group of military take a president out of power and sends him to another country,\" he said. At the end of Insulza's comments, Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Lorena Alvarado said Honduras is willing to withdraw from the OAS. \"If the Organization of American States doesn't deem Honduras worthy of membership of the Organization of American States, then Honduras would renounce, with immediate effect, the inter-American charter.\" Vice Chancellor Martha Lorena de Casco also said Honduras was ready to leave the OAS, which she called a political organization rather than a tribunal of justice. \"Honduras will defend its sovereignty,\" she said in a televised response. Zelaya was ousted in a military-led coup Sunday and sent to Costa Rica in his pajamas. The same day, the Honduran Congress voted to install Roberto Micheletti as interim president. That sparked international condemnation, with the OAS on Tuesday passing a resolution calling for Zelaya's reinstatement by Saturday and threatening to suspend Honduras from the group. Zelaya has said he will return this weekend with presidents of other OAS member countries, despite Micheletti's vow to have him arrested for violating the country's constitution if he does so. On Friday, thousands of people assembled in front of the presidential residence in Tegucigalpa, where Micheletti praised the armed forces for their efforts and offered a different version of events. \"We must tell the world that there was no coup d'etat here,\" he said, his voice hoarse. \"It wasn't a coup! It wasn't a coup!\" He promised that the nation would revert to a democracy, but did not say when. \"Here, in front of Honduras and the entire world, I guarantee we will have free elections, as soon as we decide when,\" he said. Micheletti has promised not to run in elections slated for November. \"You may choose any candidate from any party,\" he told the crowd. \"I want to tell you that I am governing for all political parties. I am governing for the poor, for the businessmen, for the rich, for the children and for all the people of Honduras.\" Though the two sides appeared far apart, a compromise might be possible, said Jennifer McCoy, an Americas expert at the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center. \"The options are that neither side backs down and that President Zelaya shows up tomorrow and the police are there waiting to arrest him.\" If Zelaya returns accompanied by international figures, the result would be \"awkward,\" she said. McCoy added there could be \"some kind of compromise, including mutual guarantees.\" One such scenario -- Zelaya's promise not to pursue legal action against the coup plotters in exchange for their agreement to step aside and not to pursue his Cabinet ministers who are in hiding. McCoy praised U.S. President Obama for supporting Zelaya without qualification. \"By taking the principled stand for democracy that he took in this case in favor of a government that is an ally of Venezuela, he did not let politics intervene. This is a change from the previous administration,\" she said. McCoy was referring to the tacit U.S. approval that was given to the coup that in 2002 briefly toppled leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been a consistent U.S. critic. \"It helps to recuperate the pro-democracy credential of the United States in this hemisphere,\" she said. Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused the new government Friday of intimidating media workers. \"Recent reports suggest that journalists who have published news stories on the crisis or covering the issue of protests and scores of detentions have been intimidated,\" it said. \"Prosecutors have also reported threats on account of their attempts to verify human rights abuses during protests.\" At the center of the dispute was a referendum that Zelaya had vowed to carry out last Sunday even after the country's supreme court and congress declared it would be illegal. The nonbinding referendum could have opened the door to the creation of a constitutional assembly to modify the country's charter. Opponents accused Zelaya of having sought to rewrite the constitution to allow him to run for re-election. Zelaya denied that was his intent. However, international support for the new government has been virtually nonexistent. On Thursday, the European Union announced that all its ambassadors had left Honduras. Also Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it was suspending some aid programs to the country. Earlier, the U.S. military, which has trained Honduran forces for years, postponed some planned exercises with the Honduran military until the situation in the country settles down. Zelaya narrowly won the presidency in 2005 with 49.8 percent of the vote to 46.1 percent for Porfirio \"Pepe\" Lobo. After 18 years of nearly uninterrupted military rule, Honduras returned to civilian control in 1981. Since then, the military has not seemed interested in holding power in the nation of more than 7 million people, about 70 percent of whom live in poverty. Military interventions were once common in Latin America, but civilian governments have held sway since the 1980s. Before Sunday, the only other barracks revolt this decade was the unsuccessful 2002 coup attempt against Chavez, when the military displaced him but backed down days later and allowed his reinstatement. CNN's Karl Penhaul contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "OAS head doubts Honduras' interim leadership will restore ousted President Zelaya .\nVice chancellor: Honduras prepared to withdraw from OAS .\nZelaya vows to return to country despite arrest threat ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The ongoing presence of U.S. troops in Iraq \"shows that the (Iraqi) government and the occupation are not serious about the withdrawal,\" a key Shiite cleric in the country said Wednesday. A crowd gathers Tuesday after a deadly bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Muqtada al-Sadr made the statement on his Web site a day after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraqi cities and towns in accordance with the security agreement between the United States and Iraq. About 131,000 American troops remain in the country, on bases and in outposts outside of population centers. \"The withdrawal should include all the occupation forces: army, intelligence, militias, and security companies and others. Otherwise, the withdrawal will be uncompleted and useless,\" al-Sadr said. \"We want a withdrawal and stopping the interference with Iraqi political, social and economic affairs,\" the statement said. Al-Sadr commands the loyalty of the Mehdi Army, one of the largest independent militias in the country. His agreement to a cease-fire with the government and its allies is considered a key factor in reducing the level of violence in the country. But he seemed to suggest Wednesday that Iraqis had the right to attack foreign forces in the country -- if not Iraqi security forces. \"If the occupation forces violate this claimed withdrawal, even with a government cover, then the people of Iraq will have all the right to express their opinion in a peaceful way, and the right to self-defense on condition of not harming the Iraqi people and the security forces,\" he said. Under an agreement signed in the waning days of the Bush administration, all U.S. forces will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Most will be gone by August 2010 under the withdrawal plan laid out by President Barack Obama, Bush's successor. The U.S. troops who remain are now tasked with supporting Iraqi troops and police, and must seek Iraqi permission to launch operations in the cities. the top U.S. general in the country said Tuesday that much of the country was safe. \"There is not widespread violence in Iraq,\" Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters in a video conference from Baghdad. \"There's still gonna be bumps in the road. There's still gonna be violence here,\" he added. Meanwhile, the death toll from a huge blast in northern Iraq rose to 35, local security officials said Wednesday. The car bombing took place in a busy commercial district in a predominantly Kurdish area of Kirkuk early Tuesday evening when the neighborhood was busy, security sources said. About 17 shops and houses were destroyed and 95 people were wounded, a police official in the Iraqi city added. Kirkuk is about 378 kilometers (235 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. CNN's Yousif Bassil and Jomana Karadsheh in Baghdad contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "About 131,000 American troops remain in the country .\nMuqtada al-Sadr: Withdrawal should include all the occupation forces .\nAl-Sadr commands the loyalty of the Mehdi Army, an independent militia .\nU.S. must now seek Iraqi permission to launch operations in the cities ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- It's a nightmarish scenario straight out of the movies: A passenger is forced to land a plane after its pilot becomes incapacitated. Passanger Doug White landed this Super King two-engine turboprop after the pilot fell unconscious. \"Descend and maintain 5,000. Just take your time, we'll set you up for the airport,\" an air traffic controller says. In a calm voice, a passenger responds: \"I need to get my throttle set for this descent. I don't know where to set it at.\" The reality was playing aboard a plane over Florida on Sunday in what the National Air Traffic Controllers Association called \"an Easter miracle.\" The incident began about 1:30 p.m. The plane, a Super King Air two-engine turboprop with four passengers on board, was headed to Jackson, Mississippi, from Marco Island, Florida, about 18 miles south of Naples. The plane entered the jurisdiction of air traffic control at Miami Center, the facility responsible for high-altitude air traffic in southern Florida and the Caribbean, according to a statement issued by the air traffic controllers association. The pilot notified controllers that the plane was at 9,000 feet and climbing, said Steve Wallace, Miami Center spokesman for the association. However, a controller at the center tried twice to raise the pilot after that and received no response, Wallace said. Hear audiotape of emergency landing » . After a few moments, a different voice came over the radio: Passenger Doug White told air traffic controllers the pilot was unconscious and they needed help. His wife and two teenage daughters were flying home to Louisiana with him, he said. Listen to White describe seeing the pilot's eyes roll back in his head » . He reported the plane's autopilot was on and the plane was continuing to climb from 10,000 feet. \"I told my girls to pray hard,\" White later told CNN television affiliate WINK. White later told the Naples Daily News he has a pilot's license and about 130 hours experience flying a single engine Cessna, but had never flown the larger, faster King Air. The difference, experts said, is not as simple as driving a different model of car. A turboprop multi-engine, Wallace told CNN, \"probably lands at a faster speed than he's ever flown a single-engine plane before.\" White told air traffic controllers it appeared the pilot had died, according to the statement, and he reported that the plane's autopilot was on and the plane was continuing to climb from 10,000 feet. Two air traffic controllers worked to help him disengage the autopilot, as other controllers stepped in to lighten their workload. \"Keep it coming around when you can ... the turn looks good, very good sir,\" a controller said. The controllers then turned the plane over to air traffic controllers at the airport. One of them had called a friend who was certified in the King Air planes for advice. \"They walked him through flipping the switches, turning the knobs,\" Wallace said. White, who was composed for the most part, seemed doubtful for a brief moment. \"When I touch down ... If I ever touch down, do I just kill the throttle or what?\" he asks. The landing was successful. \"I knew we had to do something ... I knew that much,\" White told WINK. The Federal Aviation Administration has not given any of the involved air traffic controllers permission to speak about the incident, Wallace said. However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association lauded all of those involved in landing the plane. \"If you were to ask any one of the controllers who worked this even about what happened over the skies of south Florida, they would tell you that it was just a typical day at the office and that it was merely their job,\" association President Patrick Forrey said in the statement. \"However, the actions they all took to save the passengers aboard the flight were beyond heroic.\" Victoria Moreland, spokeswoman for Southwest Florida International Airport, said the pilot's death was confirmed after the plane landed. The cause of death was unclear, Moreland said. It's rare for a pilot to suffer a medical emergency during flight, said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Frederick, Maryland-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The organization issues a yearly summary of accident trends and factors based on National Transportation Safety Board reports involving aircraft of less than 12,500 pounds -- smaller than the King Air involved in Sunday's incident. According to the most recent report, which covers the year 2007, out of 22 million general aviation flight hours, an estimated 15 million to 20 million flights, only six instances of a pilot's medical incapacitation were reported, he said. In four of those instances, the pilot died. CNN's Ashley Broughton contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Passenger Doug White commandeers plane after pilot loses consciousness .\nWhite: \"When I touch down ... If I ever touch down, do I just kill the throttle?\"\nCraft was carrying White, his wife and two daughters from Florida to Mississippi .\nControllers help him turn off autopilot, land plane: \"The turn looks good, very good sir\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The United Nations' refugee agency said Tuesday that more Africans have fled poverty and conflict on the continent during the first 10 months of this year than in all of 2007. A woman who has been displaced by the current fighting in the Congo. The bulk of the more than 96,000 African refugees headed to Yemen and Italy, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office. The rest sought refuge in Malta, Greece, Spain and the Canary Islands, the agency said. Last weekend, at least 60 refugees died en route to Yemen, a frequent destination for Somali and Ethiopian refugees, according to Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. UNHCR said most of those who died were forced overboard in deep water off Yemen's coast by smugglers who demanded more money than the $100 they paid for the journey. \"Those who did not or could not pay extra were severely beaten by the smugglers,\" UNHCR said in a news release Tuesday. \"Up to 40 -- mainly Ethiopians -- [were] thrown overboard despite their pleas for mercy.\" Andreas Koutepas, MSF's field coordinator in southern Yemen, said such a high number of refugee deaths in a short period of time \"is not usual at all.\" \"For the whole of September until now, we've had 27 dead and now suddenly we reach this number,\" Koutepas told CNN from MSF's base in Ahwar, Yemen. \"We are quite shocked here.\" About 30,000 African refugees arrived on boats on Italy's shores during the first 10 months of this year compared with 19,900 refugees last year, according to UNHCR. In Malta, an estimated 2,600 boat people arrived in the first nine months of this year from North Africa, compared with 1,800 last year, UNHCR said.. The agency said that from January to October this year, 509 of those attempting to make the journey to Italy and Malta died, compared with last year's death toll of 471. More than 38,000 people have made the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen during the first 10 months of this year, a \"considerable increase from the 29,500 who made the same journey during the whole of last year,\" UNHCR said Tuesday. However, the death toll on that route has remained lower so far this year: more than 600 have died or disappeared en route to Yemen compared to 1,400 killed last year. In late September, at least 52 Somalis died when the boat smuggling them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen broke down, and they were left adrift with no food or water for 18 days, according to the U.N. Many are fleeing the war in Somalia, but Koutepas of MSF told CNN on Monday that he has noticed a recent increase in the number of refugees from Ethiopia. \"It used to be 10 percent of total arrival, and now it's around 50-50,\" he said. Yemen is a common destination for Somalis fleeing economic hardship and war because of its proximity. It is also an attractive location because Somalis receive automatic refugee status in the fellow Muslim country. New smuggling routes, including some based out of Djibouti -- which lies north of Somalia and is much closer to Yemen -- have also led to the increase in refugees, according to the UNHCR. But according to the Yemen Post, Yemen is just a stopping point for most of the refugees, who then travel on to the wealthier Persian Gulf states or Europe and the United States. Earlier this year, Yemen's coast guard stepped up patrols of its coastline in an attempt to deter the smugglers. Some of the smuggling boats seized by Yemen's coast guard are given to Somali fishermen who suffered losses in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. As part of a $19 million operation, UNHCR operates shelters and reception centers for the refugees in Yemen and has increased its efforts to discourage people from making the illegal crossing to Yemen. It has also sponsored training programs for coast guard personnel and other officials. MSF said the plight of the refugees has been overshadowed by the dozens of pirate attacks off Somalia's coast that have grabbed international headlines in recent months. \"A lot of attention has been paid lately to tackling the issue of piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa,\" said MSF Yemen mission leader Francis Coteur. \"Unfortunately, little attention is paid to the drama of the refugees crossing the same waters in horrific conditions. Much more needs to be done to address this issue.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More Africans have already fled poverty and conflict so far this year than in 2007 .\nBulk of the more than 96,000 African refugees headed to Yemen and Italy, U.N. says .\nRest sought refuge in Malta, Greece, Spain and the Canary Islands ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Reigning hot dog-guzzling champ Joey Chestnut and nemesis Takeru Kobayashi of Japan attempted to psych each other out Thursday at the weigh-in for the 94th annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest. Competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi take part in an official \"staredown.\" Chestnut and Kobayashi glared long and menacingly into each other's eyes in an official \"staredown.\" At last year's contest, 25-year-old Chestnut, a civil engineering student at San Jose State University, eked out a win over Kobayashi, 31, in a tiebreaker after both initially consumed 59 dogs apiece. It was Chestnut's second slim victory over Kobayashi in as many years. Kobayashi vowed he will avenge those two defeats on Saturday. He also said he no longer suffers from the \"jawthritis\" that some cited as the culprit for his 2007 defeat, which snapped his six-year winning streak at Coney Island. Chestnut, for his part, said he had no intention of ceding the coveted mustard yellow belt -- competitive eating's answer to golf's green jacket. He is setting his sights this year on 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Saturday's competition will be partially about redemption for Chestnut, too. In May, he suffered a stinging defeat to Kobayashi in a loss he said \"really set a fire underneath me\" and \"made me hungry for this contest.\" Chestnut revealed the extreme dietary regimen he is following in the days leading up to the contest. He said he is sticking to water to make sure he is \"empty\" when the mountain of hot dogs is placed in front of him. In addition to Chestnut, Kobayashi admitted to keeping a watchful eye on 32-year-old Tim \"Eater X\" Janus, whose signature painted face was described by Major League Eating impresario Richard Shea as an attempt to mask his \"inner torment.\" In a recent trial round, Janus downed a personal-best 55 hot dogs -- a weiner's throw from the 59 that Chestnut and Kobayashi wolfed down last year. As a lead-in to the main event, Major League Eating on Friday will hold a first-of-its-kind \"cross-species\" eating contest between three competitive eaters and three Asian elephants. MLE's Shea described it as the realization of one of his two lifelong dreams, the other being a scenario in which a dozen competitive eaters eat the entire contents of a convenience store. Twenty finalists will compete in the championship on Saturday. They were culled from 18 preliminary contests and comprise a Who's Who of the world of competitive eating. For people who stuff their faces with record-breaking quantities of food, many of the contestants at the weigh-in boasted surprisingly svelte physiques. Juliet Lee, a 44-year-old Maryland salon owner fresh off the feat of downing 13.23 pounds of cranberry sauce in 8 minutes, clocked in at a mere 105 pounds. Kobayashi, at 123 pounds, lifted his T-shirt to reveal the sort of chiseled abdomen one would expect at a bodybuilding competition. Others contestants were not quite as disconcertingly trim. Fearsome world matzo ball-eating champion Eric \"Badlands\" Booker tips the scales at 400 pounds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reigning hot dog-guzzling champ Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi have staredown .\nLast year Chestnut won after a tiebreaker with Kobayashi .\nKobayashi vowed to avenge defeat from last year .\nChestnut: Kobayashi beat me in May contest and \"set a fire underneath me\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "INDIO, California (CNN) -- For some concertgoers, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival really kicked into action on Day Two. Festival attendees enjoy the music Saturday, Day Two of the Coachella music festival in Indio, California. Day One was leisurely and pleasant -- the weather was mild, the acts were fairly mellow and the big headliner was Paul McCartney. On Day Two, someone took the dial and turned it up a notch, as the desert sun beat down a little harder, the music pumped a little louder and the crowds who packed the VIP tent threw a little more attitude. There were the usual celebrity sightings. Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon snuck in the back just as rapper M.I.A. hit the stage, Paris Hilton took in Travis Barker and DJ AM's set in the Sahara tent and David Hasselhoff was spotted making out with a mystery lady near the restrooms. Forty-six acts performed on five stages scattered about the grassy field of the Empire Polo Club near Palm Springs, California. Massive eco-friendly art installations fashioned from scrap metal and reclaimed wood doubled as shelter from the heat, as well as mini-stages for dancers and performance artists. There was good buzz for thenewno2, an indie-pop band fronted by Oli Hecks and Dhani Harrison, whose vocals are reminiscent of his late father, George, but warmer, and less haunting. \"It's the first festival we've ever played, and our 12th gig overall,\" said Harrison. \"Normally with festivals, people come to check you out, stand in the back, and then move on pretty quickly, even if they like you -- but people stayed! It's the best performance we've ever had.\" Unfortunately Fleet Foxes was not so lucky. The Seattle,Washington, group's delicate baroque harmonies were drowned out by the world music beats of Thievery Corporation's percussion section bleeding over from the neighboring main stage, as one of their female vocalists crowd-surfed. As usual, the day's line-up was a mix of up-and-coming indie artists sprinkled with tried-and-true veteran acts. The Killers have played Coachella in both capacities. The Las Vegas, Nevada, quartet received their first invitation from festival organizers in 2004, the same year their debut album, \"Hot Fuss,\" was released. \"We played at 11:30 a.m. in a tent. It was 150 degrees out, and backstage, it smelled like horse droppings,\" said drummer Ronnie Vannucci, referencing the fact that there are certain consequences to holding an event on a polo field in the desert. This time, as the marquee act, The Killers enjoyed their own backstage compound decked out with a white picket fence, tablecloths and festive party lights in the shape of daisies. Palm trees gently swayed in the distance, silhouetted against the desert backdrop. You could hear the crowd going crazy for a feisty M.I.A. slotted on the main stage before The Killers. Vannucci and his three bandmates had just rolled in on their tour bus from Vegas. He spoke with CNN while warming up his hands and wrists with drumming exercises. \"With festivals, you have to realize the audience is not necessarily there to see YOU. So we'll play some stuff off our new album, 'Day and Age,' and work in some songs that everybody knows, like 'Mr. Brightside' from our first album.\" Half an hour later, The Killers took the stage, opening their set with their latest hit, \"Human.\" Frontman Brandon Flowers soon had the crowd singing the along to the perplexing lyrics, \"Are we human, or are we dancer?\" At Coachella, it doesn't matter if you're human or if you're dancer. But if you're dancer, you'll probably be relegated to one of the mini-stages inside an art installation. \"The first time I heard about Coachella 10 years ago, I thought, 'That could be the cool festival here in America,\" said Vannucci. \"It's since become a successful festival with good bands, swarms of people coming in from all over the world -- even art elements. It's strange to think we're headlining one night.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "46 acts perform on 5 stages at Empire Polo Club near Palm Springs, California .\nMassive art installations of scrap metal and wood shelter people from heat .\nThe Killers enjoy backstage compound with picket fence, tablecloths, festive lights .\nKillers frontman Brandon Flowers has crowd singing the along to new hit, \"Human\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Bringing a growing health concern to Congress, scientists squared off Thursday over whether cell phones contribute to brain cancer. Rep. Denis Kucinich of Ohio holds a model of a 5-year-old child's brain absorbing cell phone radiation. Studies have indicated that long-term cell phone use may be associated with brain cancer, according to Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Dr. David Carpenter, director of Institute for Health and the Environment at University of Albany. They both testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy. \"I cannot tell this committee that cell phones are definitely dangerous. But, I certainly cannot tell you that they are safe,\" Herberman said. Herberman and Carpenter cited the results from a study recently presented by Dr. Lennart Hardell of Örebro University in Sweden. The results indicated that people who use cell phones have double the chance of developing malignant brain tumors and acoustic neuromas, which are tumors on the hearing nerve. The study also said people under age 20 were more than five times as likely to develop brain cancer. But Dr. Robert Hoover, director or Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program at the National Cancer Institute, said the study has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, so has not come under sufficient scrutiny. The evidence for the connection between cell phones and cancer is inconclusive and more research is needed, he said. \"Larger studies are needed to sort out chance and bias,\" Hoover testified. Interphone, a series of multinational studies on the risk of cancer from cell phones, has not found an increase in tumors associated with the first 10 years of mobile phone use, he said. Some findings show an increased risk of tumors diagnosed on the side of the head that the cell phone is pressed against, but this pattern has not been seen consistently, Hoover said. CTIA, the International Association for Wireless Telecommunications, declined the invitation to testify, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Ohio, who led the hearing, said. Steve Largent, CEO of CTIA, issued a statement Wednesday saying the industry has supported scientific research on these issues and supports the Federal Communications Commision's safety guidelines. \"The available scientific evidence and expert reviews from leading global health organizations such as the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, United States Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization reflect a consensus based on published scientific research showing that there is no reason for concern,\" Largent's statement said. The overall evidence for the cancer-phone link has not been statistically significant at a 95 percent confidence level, a standard in science, Carpenter said. But he also noted that U.S.-funded research is very scarce. \"Are we at the same place we were with smoking and lung cancer 30 years ago?\" he asked. Carpenter and Herberman testified that the risk of brain cancer for children is far greater than for adults. Herberman demonstrated a model showing that the radiation from cell phones would penetrate far deeper into a 5-year-old's brain than an adult's. See models from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh » . But the incidence of brain cancer in children has not increased significantly from the late 1980s to 2005, Hoover said. The Federal Communications Commission limits cell phone radio frequency energy emissions, called the specific absorption rate (SAR), at 1.6 watts per kilogram, as measured over one gram of tissue. The standard was developed in 1997 in consultation with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional association open to everyone, including manufacturers and health specialists. But the SAR standard reflects a biological response to cell phone radio frequency energy heating tissue, Kucinich said. Many experiments show that radio frequency energy does cause \"biological effects\" without heating tissue, although not all of those effects are harmful, Carpenter said. Hoover agreed that there could be such effects related to cancer risk, but they have not been properly vetted in a laboratory. The FCC itself does not have the expertise to evaluate whether this standard is appropriate protection for possible heath risks, Julius Knapp, director of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology, testified. The hearing took place just a week after the Cleveland Clinic reported a study showing that keeping a cell phone on talk mode in a pocket can decrease sperm quality. Herberman had issued a warning to physicians, scientists, and staff at the University of Pittsburgh in July advising them to limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The Israeli Health Ministry endorsed this recommendation within a week, he said. Ellen Marks of Lafayette, California, whose husband found out he had a brain tumor on his right frontal lobe in May, attended the hearing. The tumor is on the same side of his head where he held his cell phone, which he used about 30 hours per month. She believes the tumor is the result of cell phone use. \"I often threatened to throw it in the garbage, and how I wish I had,\" she said. \"This horror could have been avoided with a simple warning.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Studies conflict; do not consistently show cell phones cause cancer, expert says .\nExpert says he cannot say they are definitely dangerous or definitely safe .\nChildren are at higher risk for cancer-causing radiation from phone, scientist says .\nWoman at House panel hearing says her husband's brain cancer from cell phone ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Mental Floss) -- Have you ever wondered about the origins and namesakes of our favorite spreads, sauces, and dressings? Here are a few stories that you can use to regale your friends the next time you chow down. Peppers were imported from the Mexican state of Tabasco to make spicy Tabasco sauce, giving the condiment its name. 1. Thousand Island Dressing . Is the delicious dressing that gives a Reuben its tanginess named after an actual chain of islands? You bet it is. The Thousand Islands are an archipelago that sits in the Saint Lawrence River on the U.S.-Canada border, and there are actually 1,793 of them, some of which are so small that they contain nothing more than a single home. So why is the dressing named after an archipelago? No one's quite sure. Some people claim that early film star and vaudevillian May Irwin, who summered on the Thousand Islands, named it, while others contend that George Boldt, the famed proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, gave the dressing its name because of his own summer place in the region. No matter who named it, it's tough to beat on a sandwich. 2. Ranch Dressing . Yep, the beloved dressing and dipping sauce actually got its start on a real ranch. When Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch in California in 1954, they had an ace up their sleeves: a delicious dressing that Steve had concocted while the couple was living in Alaska. The couple did a nice business at their Hidden Valley Ranch, but guests were always flipping out over just how tasty Steve's dressing was. Eventually, the Hensons started bottling the stuff, and the popularity grew so quickly that they had to hire a twelve-man crew just to help mix up each batch. Steve's culinary creativity turned out to be lucrative; in 1972 Clorox forked over $8 million for the recipe. Mental Floss: Foods named after people . 3. A1 Steak Sauce . According to the brand's Web site, A1 has been around for quite a while. Henderson William Brand worked as the personal chef for King George IV from 1824 to 1831, and at some point during this employment mixed up a new sauce for the king to use on his beef. George IV allegedly took one bite of Brand's creation and declared that it was \"A1.\" Brand then left the king's employ in order to go peddle his new sauce. 4. Tabasco Sauce . Tabasco sauce is perhaps the most famous of all hot sauces, but where did it get its name? When Edmund McIlhenny, a former banker, invented the sauce in Louisiana in 1868, he didn't have a huge supply of chili peppers at his disposal. To keep cooking, he imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco and slapped the region's name on his bottles. Mental Floss: The origins of salt, pepper and other popular spices . 5. Heinz 57 . Legend has it that Heinz 57 takes its name from H.J. Heinz's company formerly marketing 57 products at once, and except for the number, the story holds up. Heinz's Web site tells a story that Henry John Heinz was riding a train when he saw a billboard advertising 21 varieties of shoes. He so liked the idea he wanted to try it with his own condiment company. Thus, he started touting Heinz's 57 varieties. There was only one catch: Heinz marketed well over 60 products at the time. So where did the 57 come from? Heinz thought the number was lucky. Five was Heinz's lucky number, and seven was his wife's. He mashed the charmed digits together, got 57, and never looked back. 6. Tartar Sauce . Fish's best friend is named after an alternate spelling of the word \"Tatar,\" which was how Western Europeans once referred to almost anyone of Mongolian or Turkic descent. Many of these Tatars/Tartars ran roughshod over Europe in the time of Genghis Khan, but they knew how to cook. One of the dishes they left behind, beef tartare, came back into fashion in 19th-century France. These helpings of steak tartare came with a number of garnishes, including the creamy white stuff that eventually became generically known as tartar sauce. Mental Floss: The history of utensils (spork included) 7. Hollandaise Sauce . Hollandaise, the lemon-butter-and-egg yumminess that Eggs Benedict can't live without, isn't actually Dutch. Instead, it's one of the most well known French sauces. The sauce first appeared in French cooking in the 17th century, and is apparently named both because it somewhat resembles an old Dutch sauce and because the Dutch had such thriving butter and egg industries that provided two of the sauce's main ingredients. For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thousand Island dressing is named after 1,793 islands in the Saint Lawrence River .\nTabasco's founder imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco .\nHollandaise isn't actually Dutch; it's one of the most well known French sauces ." } ]