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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": "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military said disturbing video that shows masked boys brandishing guns was an al Qaeda in Iraq training and recruiting tool. The U.S. says this image of young boys is from an al Qaeda in Iraq training and recruitment video. \"Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis,\" said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith during a Baghdad news conference about the release of the tape. The video, he said, showed boys, \"many below age 11\" being used \"to produce the next generation of al Qaeda.\" Masked boys are seen in the tape armed with grenade launchers, AK-47s and pistols. They're standing in front of a black banner hung on a wall, shouting slogans. Another video shows a boy, surrounded by automatic weapons and wearing a suicide vest, according to The Associated Press. Also in the video, armed boys in black hoods, with weapons pointed, shout and force a man off his bicycle, search a car, and clear a building while a male voice off camera instructs them. Smith said the military doesn't know how many children al Qaeda in Iraq uses in its operations. He said it's believed the boys in the video were willing participants. Watch the disturbing video » . \"Al Qaeda often refers to the children as the new generation of the mujahedeen,\" Smith said, using the Arabic term for holy warriors. \"We've also seen evidence of al Qaeda entering schools, disseminating propaganda and no doubt terrorizing the children and their teachers.\" The video indicates that al Qaeda in Iraq was increasingly targeting children and posting propaganda on some of the 5,000 al Qaeda-affiliated Web sites. The U.S. military said the video excerpts were culled from five propaganda videos obtained during a raid targeting a senior member of al Qaeda in Iraq in December in Diyala province. In Baghdad on Wednesday, roadside bombings in south-central Iraq killed seven people and wounded nine others, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. A roadside bomb targeting police killed four people and wounded nine others in the south-central Iraqi provincial capital of Diwaniya on Wednesday morning, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. The city is the provincial seat of the largely Shiite Qadisiya province. Police were transporting prisoners at the time of the attack. The four killed, two women, a child and a man, were civilian passers-by. Four civilians, three detainees, and two police officers were wounded. A roadside bomb exploded midmorning in central Baghdad's Andalus Square, killing three civilians, according to the ministry. In eastern Baghdad, a third roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military patrol, the Interior Ministry said. There was no immediate word on casualties. The U.S. military on Wednesday also reported the deaths of two Sons of Iraq members who were trying to thwart a suicide attack on Tuesday in a town northwest of Baghdad. Watch more on Sons of Iraq » . A militant detonated a suicide vest outside a photo shop in Awad. The pair died in the strike but \"prevented the man from detonating the explosive vest filled with ball bearings in a crowd of local Iraqis. The selflessness of these men allowed time for surviving witnesses to recognize the threat and escape the blast,\" the military said. The Sons of Iraq, Concerned Local Citizens and Awakening Councils are the names of anti-al Qaeda in Iraq citizen groups that have emerged across the country in recent months. The U.S. military on Wednesday also reported a series of raids across Iraq over the last few days that led to the detentions of 20 suspected militants. The operations took place in the Baghdad area, in Mosul, and near Ramadi. Iraqi soldiers and Sons of Iraq members also found weapons caches. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Arwa Damon contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "U.S. admiral says tape made from al Qaeda recruitment tapes .\nArmed kids enact detaining bicyclist, searching car, clearing building .\nSoldiers seized video during December raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq leader .\nThree separate roadside bombings in south-central Iraq kill seven, wound nine ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama and top aides have quietly stepped up talks with moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine on a scaled-back health care bill, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Sen. Olympia Snowe is part of the bipartisan so-called \"Gang of Six\" negotiating on health care. The compromise plan would lack a government-run public health insurance option favored by Obama, but would leave the door open to adding that provision down the road under an idea proposed by Snowe, the sources said. One of the sources said White House officials are \"deep in conversations\" with Snowe on a much smaller health care bill than Obama originally envisioned. The modified proposal would include insurance reforms, such as preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, according to the source. The potential deal would give insurance companies a defined period to make such changes in order to help cover more people and drive down long-term costs. But if those changes failed to occur within the defined period, a so-called \"trigger\" would provide for creating a public option to force change on the insurance companies, the source said. Snowe is pivotal to the debate because she may be Obama's last possibility for getting a Republican senator to support his push for a health care overhaul. She is one of the so-called \"Gang of Six\" members of the Senate Finance Committee, three Democrats and three Republicans, involved in separate negotiations on the only bipartisan health care proposal in Congress so far. However, the slow pace of those talks and recent partisan attacks by the other two Republicans in the negotiations have dimmed hopes for a breakthrough, leaving Snowe as the only Republican senator that White House aides believe they can work with on the issue. Snowe first proposed the so-called \"trigger\" idea for a public option months ago, and has talked to Obama about it on several occasions, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The source told CNN that the White House staffers increased their phone calls to Snowe aides and their interest in her trigger idea this week. Obama and Democratic leaders seek a solution that could win support from a Republican or two, and more importantly, help bridge a divide among Democrats on the public option issue. Allies of the president hope that if Snowe accepts a health care agreement, she might also bring along her Republican colleague from Maine, moderate Sen. Susan Collins. Getting some Republicans to sign onto a proposal would improve Obama's chances of gaining the support of key moderate Democratic senators such as Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. All three are skeptical of a government-run public option supported by their more liberal fellow Democrats. Despite the flurry of direct talks this week between Snowe and White House staff, Snowe aides insist she remains engaged in the \"Gang of Six\" bipartisan talks that have been going on for months. Those talks have focused on creating nonprofit health insurance cooperatives instead of a public option to force competition and lower medical rates. The source familiar with Snowe's discussions with the White House said Snowe's trigger idea isn't being considered in the bipartisan negotiations because of early resistance from fellow Republican negotiators, especially Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming. Enzi and the other Republican negotiator, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, insist they are still committed to the bipartisan negotiations. However, their recent sharp criticism of Democratic health care proposals favored by Obama has caused tense relations with the White House." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe's plan doesn't include public care option .\nBut public option is triggered if private companies don't offer reforms .\nSnowe is considered last possibility for Democrats to get some GOP backing ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bakersfield, California (CNN) -- When Vincent Barrett died alone in July at age 72, the coroner's office could not find any next of kin. Similarly, Ronald Axtell was listed as indigent -- no survivors and no funds for a funeral -- when he died at age 69. And yet a small army of men and women gathered to pay their respects to the two men, both Air Force veterans, as they were buried at Bakersfield National Cemetery in September. Marsha Dickey, who works in the Kern County coroner's office, was instrumental in making sure the men got the honors they deserved. \"She worked very hard to see that they were veterans ... and without that ... we probably would not be here today to honor them,\" said Lynn Sprayberry, founder and chairwoman of Friends of Fallen Heroes, a local organization that makes sure veterans receive a respectful service at Bakersfield National Cemetery. The coroner's office also discovered that Barrett, a former staff sergeant, had been awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in Korea. Axtell was a former airman second class. \"Without [Dickey's] persistence, these two individuals would be placed in a county-owned site,\" said Wesley Jones, director of the Bakersfield National Cemetery. \"Nobody would have known. ... Nobody would have any concept of who these individuals were.\" Leon Thomas, who served in the U.S. Army in Korea in 1951 and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star medal for bravery, helped spread the word about the double funeral. \"The folks at the coroner's office are patriotic Americans,\" Thomas said. \"We got on the phone and on the Internet and invited our friends.\" News of the funeral even made the local paper. \"I really didn't know there would be this many people to come out,\" Sprayberry said. And come they did, civilians and veterans. An awning built to shade mourners from the hot San Joaquin Valley sun was not big enough to cover everyone. A few brought umbrellas for shade. Many held American flags, some small and some very large and carried on poles. Some brought flowers; one vet held a few yellow roses; another left a bouquet of red, white and blue flowers with a simple message printed on a white ribbon: \"Thank you.\" When the honor guard approached with Barrett's flag-draped casket, civilians put their hands over their hearts. The veterans -- some wearing motorcycle leather and bandanas, some sport shirts and slacks, others donning the suit jackets and pea caps favored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars -- stood at attention and snapped crisp salutes. They saluted again when the honor guard fired three volleys of seven shots and when the lone bugler played taps. As the guard tightly folded the flag that draped Barrett's casket, a woman in her 20s took cell phone video with one hand and wiped tears with the other. Barrett's ceremony was brief, not much longer than 10 minutes. Axtell's ceremony started shortly after, his ashes carried by the honor guard in a small wooden box. It lasted about as long as the first, with the same volley of shots, taps and salutes. The sergeant of the guard gave Barrett's folded flag to Sprayberry. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, who also serves as the county coroner, received Axtell's flag. In the minutes between services, cemetery director Jones asked the crowd whether there were \"any family representatives here for Mr. Axtell?\" No one came forward. \"There were 125, give or take, people here who had no idea who ... Barrett or Axtell were,\" Jones said. \"They didn't know if they were African-American, Hispanic, Caucasian. They didn't even know they were in the Air Force. But they were here.\" \"They're patriotic Americans, and they showed up,\" Thomas added. \"I knew their names and their rank, and that's all I knew,\" Sprayberry said. \"And yet, I was here, and I was very proud to be here, and spend a little time saying goodbye. ... Nobody deserves to be laid to rest alone, especially for fighting for their country, and ... they deserve the respect.\" Bakersfield National Cemetery is far different than any county facility where the indigent would be interred. In the arid foothills of California, their upright headstones will stand in a field of decomposed granite instead of grass, joining about 250 others in an orderly formation. The granite is raked daily, giving the new cemetery a Zen garden look amid the rolling hills and century-old oak trees. Axtell and Barrett's cases should not be unusual, Jones said. \"They're veterans. And because they are veterans, they're entitled to be here, and we honor them the very best way we can.\" \"I think we're going to see more ... people identified as veterans from the ranks of the indigent,\" Thomas said. \"They should be honored in a fitting way, like we honored these two today.\" Between Barrett and Axtell's services, Youngblood addressed the crowd: \"Because you may be indigent, it doesn't make you inconsequential. They served our country, and you're paying them a great tribute by being here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two Air Force veterans died in California without any next of kin .\nLocal coroner's official helped make sure the men got military burials .\nWithout her efforts, they would have been interred in a county-owned facility .\nSmall army of men and women turned out to pay their respects ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- There is no evidence of \"friendly fire\" during this week's deadly shooting at Fort Hood, an Army spokesman said Saturday. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey said authorities did not believe that any of those killed or wounded were shot by anyone other than the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Furthermore, Grey reiterated that all evidence indicates that the suspect \"acted alone.\" Grey said there was \"no evidence to contradict that finding.\" He added that the investigation is continuing. Thursday's mass shooting left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead and 42 people wounded, according to the post's public information office. It was unclear how many of those injured suffered bullet wounds. By Saturday night, 17 people and the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, remained hospitalized, Col. John Rossi told reporters. All had suffered gunshot wounds, he said. Rossi said Hasan is no longer on a ventilator, but is still in intensive care at Brooke Army Medical Center. Earlier Saturday, W. Roy Smythe, chief of surgery at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, said \"a lot of progress has been made\" in treating patients wounded in the rampage and that \"some of them are out of the woods.\" But Smythe, flanked by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and two state representatives, told reporters there is a possibility some patients will be \"physically impaired\" for life. And, he said, there's \"no doubt many\" will be \"psychologically impaired the rest of their lives.\" The incident has sparked national outrage. In his Saturday address, President Obama said it was \"an act of violence that would have been heartbreaking had it occurred anyplace in America.\" But the president said, \"it's all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable because of the place where it occurred and the patriots who were its victims.\" The White House said President Obama and the first lady will be attending a memorial service on Tuesday and the president ordered flags flying over the White House and other federal buildings to be lowered to half-staff until Veterans Day on Wednesday. In Texas on Saturday, Smythe told reporters that of the 10 patients admitted to that hospital after the Thursday massacre, four have gone home and one may go home later Saturday. He said of the six originally in the surgical intensive care unit, only two remained there Saturday morning, with the others moved to a regular in-patient floor. The people in the intensive care unit \"are no longer on the ventilator and quite stable.\" Despite improvements, he said the injuries to some \"are so severe that only time will tell how they'll do in the long run.\" He said \"some of these patients are young and sometimes young patients will surprise you in regards to their rehabilitation.\" And at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Jeri Chappelle, a representative of that facility, said eight patients are currently being treated there -- five in the hospital's intensive care unit and three others in a regular unit who are in fair condition. Perry -- speaking outside the Scott & White hospital -- lauded the hospital's quality and professionalism and praised the patriotism of the soldiers. \"What I heard time after time in those hospital rooms that it's their honor to be able to serve our country, and that is a very humbling thing to watch a young man or woman whose life has been irreparably harmed in a violent act, yet their concern and their interest is in continuing to be able to serve this country,\" Perry said. Also, he praised the first responders, and mentioned Fort Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, the civilian officer who confronted and disabled Hasan in a shootout. Munley has drawn praise from the military and from citizens across the nations for her quick and bold actions. Perry called her a \"true professional\" and a \"selfless public servant.\" \"She's very understated,\" said Perry, who spoke with Munley on Friday. \"A person who understands the gravity of what occurred, but also a classic public servant who is not interested in anything but getting on with her life and hopefully never having an event like this ever occur again.\" Citing other reports, Perry said, \"this is not the first time that she's been called to action\" and said \"we all should be thankful that we have people like that in America.\" Perry said he is in contact military and state law enforcement officials and that the Texas Rangers are helping federal officials in their probe. The governor also said the Department of State Health Services to send crisis counseling teams to the area. Share memories of victims . As for the investigation, Obama said he met with FBI Director Robert Mueller and representatives of other relevant agencies to discuss their probe. \"I'll continue to be in close contact with them as new information comes in,\" he said in his Saturday radio address. Obama, a Democrat, and Perry, a Republican, both said that the situation brought out the best in people, citing the efforts of soldiers and civilians to aid others. \"Even as we saw the worst of human nature on full display,\" the president said, \"we also saw the best of America.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Official: Evidence so far indicates alleged shooter acted alone .\nNEW: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan off ventilator, spokesman says .\nChief of surgery: Some patients will be \"physically impaired\" for life .\nPresident Obama says he met with FBI director and will monitor investigation ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- South Africa lock Bakkies Botha will miss the final Test against the British and Irish Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday after failing in his appeal against a two-week ban. Bakkies Botha will be eligible to return for the start of the Springboks' Tri-Nations campaign. The 29-year-old was cited for a dangerous charge which left Lions prop Adam Jones with a dislocated shoulder. Jones was forced off shortly after halftime during last Saturday's second Test in Pretoria, in which the Springboks fought back to snatch a 28-25 victory and clinch a 2-0 series triumph. The incident ended Jones' tour, while Lions center Brian O'Driscoll also went home early after suffering concussion in the same match. Beginner's guide to the Lions. The South African management decided to appeal as they felt Botha had legally been trying to clear out a ruck. Assistant coach Dick Muir said: \"We certainly don't see any wrongdoing in that challenge and if it wasn't for the injury which came from it, I don't think anything would have been said about it.\" The Blue Bulls forward will return in time for the Springboks' Tri-Nations opener against the All Blacks in Bloemfontein on July 25. For Saturday's third Test against the Lions, Botha will be replaced by Johann Muller, who captained his Sharks province to defeat against the tourists in one of the warm-up matches. He gets his chance with Andries Bekker injured and versatile loose-forward Danie Rossouw struggling with concussion. The Springboks will also be without flanker Schalk Burger, who was banned for eight weeks for eye-gouging Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald. There was no appeal on that ruling, but the International Rugby Union has pledged to review its punishments for such offenses in the wake of criticism that the player got off lightly. Peter de Villiers has made 10 changes, leaving captain John Smit, vice-captain Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Tendai Mtawarira and Juan Smith as the only survivors in the starting XV. Last weekend's match-winner Morne Steyn starts in place of fly-half in place of Ruan Pienaar, who has paid for his poor goalkicking form. Zane Kirchner will make his debut at full-back, while Odwa Ndungane, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier and Jongi Nokwe also come in to the backline. Chiliboy Ralepelle, Heinrich Brussow and Ryan Kankowski join Muller as new faces in the forward pack. Lions boss Ian McGeechan has made seven changes and one positional alteration, meaning mean just four players will have started all three Tests: fly-half Stephen Jones, scrum-half Mike Phillips, skipper Paul O'Connell and No. 8 Jamie Heaslip. With Wales center Jamie Roberts joining O'Driscoll on the sidelines due to a wrist injury, England's Riki Flutey forms a new midfield combination with Tommy Bowe, who switches from the wing. Ugo Monye, dropped after the first Test defeat, returns on the right wing, with world player of the year Shane Williams starts in place of Fitzgerald on the left. Teams for the third Test: . South Africa: Z Kirchner; O Ndungane, J Fourie, W Olivier, J Nokwe; M Steyn, F du Preez; T Mtawarira, C Ralepelle, J Smit, J Muller, V Matfield, H Brussow, J Smith, R Kankowski. Replacements: B du Plessis, G Steenkamp, D Carstens, S Sykes, P Spies, R Pienaar, F Steyn. British and Irish Lions: R Kearney; U Monye, T Bowe, R Flutey, S Williams; S Jones, M Phillips; J Heaslip, M Williams, J Worsley; P O'Connell, S Shaw; P Vickery, M Rees, A Sheridan. Replacements: R Ford, J Hayes, A-W Jones, D Wallace, T Croft, H Ellis, J Hook." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "South Africa lock Bakkies Botha out of final Test against British and Irish Lions .\nSpringboks fail in appeal against forward's two-week ban for dangerous charge .\nBotha's challenge on Adam Jones left Lions prop with dislocated shoulder .\nBoth teams make wholesale changes for third match, with series decided ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Portugal have confirmed that captain Cristiano Ronaldo will not be fit for the World Cup playoffs against Bosnia-Herzegovina, thus ending a growing club-versus-country row. The Portuguese Football Federation had insisted that the world's most expensive player travel home to be assessed, despite his Spanish club Real Madrid insisting that he could not play due to his ongoing ankle problems. Coach Carlos Queiroz had selected the forward in his squad for Saturday's match in Lisbon and the return leg in Zenica four days later despite the objections of the Spanish club. Real at first refused to release the 24-year-old, having sent him to see Dutch specialist Niek van Dijk, but relented on Tuesday to allow the Portuguese medics to make their own verdict. \"After clinical evaluation and imaging, it was concluded that the player is not physically able to integrate the preparation stage of the national team for these games,\" read a statement on the Portuguese FF's Web site on Tuesday night. \"The Portuguese Football Federation wish the player a good and quick recovery.\" Ronaldo has been sidelined since October 10, when he aggravated an ankle problem playing for Portugal in a qualifier that he had suffered on club duty the previous month. Real do not expect him to be fit for at least another two weeks, but Portugal had hoped he could help them qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Queiroz defended his decision to make Ronaldo travel home to be assessed. \"Based on the rules and principles governing clubs and associations, we have put Cristiano in the squad,\" he said. \"I was coach of Real. The club deserves respect. I know the medical team, president and CE,. I have every respect for that club. This fact cannot compel me to put any club below or above the others. All clubs and players deserve equal treatment.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Real Madrid's injured star forward Cristiano Ronaldo will not be fit for World Cup playoffs .\nThe 24-year-old was named in Portugal squad for matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina .\nCoach Carlos Queiroz selected him despite Real's objections due to his ankle problems .\nReal let Ronaldo travel to Portugal for tests, where it was confirmed that he could not play ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- Thirteen flag-draped coffins left Fort Hood on Friday as authorities searched for a motive in the massacre that left more than 50 casualties at the largest U.S. military base. Thursday's mass shooting killed 12 soldiers and one civilian and wounded 38 people at the Fort Hood Army Post in Texas. The suspect in the shooting, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a licensed Army psychiatrist, was among the two dozen who remained hospitalized Friday night. Hasan was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was in critical condition but stable, a spokesman said. Investigators were waiting to speak to the comatose Hasan, who is under heavy guard, said Col. John Rossi, the post's deputy commander. The bodies of the 13 personnel who died were transported through a \"ramp ceremony\" to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for a dignified transfer, he said. It was a \"truly moving ceremony.\" FBI agents helping investigate the shootings searched Hasan's apartment on Friday while investigators sifted through the crime scene, Fort Hood's military processing center, where soldiers report before they go to war. Are you there? Share your stories, photos and videos . Hasan, who worked at a hospital on the base, is accused of using two handguns in the shooting. Two law enforcement sources told CNN that one of the weapons used is an FN 5.7-millimeter pistol, a semiautomatic purchased legally at Guns Galore, a Killeen gun shop. Details on the other gun, identified only as a type of revolver, were not immediately available. Rossi told reporters late Friday that both guns were privately owned and never registered at the post. Earlier, officials said investigators were looking into whether some soldiers may have been shot accidentally by others trying to shoot the gunman. However, Rossi said, \"All indications are that this is not a friendly fire incident. And, of course, that will be validated when the investigation is complete.\" Rossi attributed the high casualty rate to the \"more than 100 rounds\" fired by the gunman and the relatively small size of the room, among other factors. Fort Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who has been credited with shooting Hasan and ending the massacre, was among the wounded. She was in stable condition Friday night, according to her family and military officials. Munley's partner, Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, was also lauded for \"engaging\" the shooter, Rossi said. Todd, in an interview Friday night with CNN's Anderson Cooper, described the intense scene as both officers fired shots at the accused gunman. \"He looked like he was calm. He was just pointing a finger at me,\" Todd said. \"The weapon ... I just know I saw the weapon and that's when we returned fire.\" Todd, a retired member of the military police, offered his condolences to the families of the victims. \"I wish we could've gotten there sooner and helped out a lot sooner -- but we got there as soon as we possibly could.\" Texas Gov. Rick Perry was scheduled to visit hospitalized victims of the shooting Saturday. As the Fort Hood community grieved its numerous losses, holding a candlelight vigil and setting up support lines, some details about the alleged gunman emerged. Relatives say Hasan, a U.S.-born citizen of Palestinian descent, was a \"calm\" individual who had been taunted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Others described him as a vocal opponent to the war on terror whose rhetoric concerned colleagues. Fort Hood's commanding general said witnesses have reported that the gunman yelled \"Allahu Akbar,\" Arabic for \"God is great,\" during the rampage. However, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said investigators had not confirmed that. Hasan's neighbors at his Killeen, Texas, apartment complex said he cleaned out his place just hours before the rampage and gave copies of the Quran to several residents. President Obama, in remarks Friday morning, cautioned against \"jumping to conclusions\" about what had triggered \"one of the worst mass shootings ever to take place on an American military base.\" He ordered that flags at the White House and other federal buildings be flown at half staff until Veterans Day, Wednesday of next week. \"This is a modest tribute to those who lost their lives, even as many were preparing to risk their lives for their country,\" the president said. \"It's also a recognition of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our safety and uphold our values. We honor their service, we stand in awe of their sacrifice, and we pray for the safety of those who fight and for the families of those who have fallen.\" Obama said he met with FBI Director Robert Mueller and representatives of other relevant agencies to discuss the investigation. He promised his administration will provide updates. The central question investigators want to answer: Why would a member of the military who had been trusted with helping others achieve a healthier mental state allegedly shoot his comrades? \"He took care of soldiers with behavioral health problems and also evaluated people who had disability evaluations,\" Braverman told reporters Friday morning. Asked whether Hasan, 39, had seemed adequately prepared for his job, Braverman responded, \"We had no indication otherwise.\" According to the American Psychiatric Association, Hasan co-chaired a panel at the group's May convention titled \"Medical Issues for Psychiatrists in Disasters.\" Military records show Hasan received his appointment to the Army as a first lieutenant in June 1997 after graduating from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with a degree in biochemistry. Six years later, he graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' F. Edward Hebert School Of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, and was first an intern, then a resident and finally a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was promoted to major in May. Army Lt. Col. Wayne Hall said Hasan was to deploy to Afghanistan to work with a unit already there as part of behavioral health support. It wasn't clear when Hasan was scheduled to go overseas for what would have been his first deployment. Since 2001, Hasan had been telling his family that he wanted to get out of the military but was unsuccessful, said a spokeswoman for his cousin, Nader Hasan. She added that he told his family he had been taunted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Nader Hasan issued a statement late Thursday on behalf of relatives, saying they were shocked by the shootings. Another family statement on Friday said, \"We are mortified with what has unfolded and there is no justification, whatsoever, for what happened. We are all asking why this happened -- and the answer is that we simply do not know. \"We can not explain, nor do we excuse what happened yesterday. Yesterday's violence in no way reflects the feelings, beliefs, or principles of our family,\" the statement continued, adding that the family is cooperating with authorities. CNN's Ted Rowlands and Michael Cary contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Fort Hood holds candlelight vigil for victims of shooting .\nResidents of Killeen, Texas, complex say suspect gave them Qurans .\nWatch a CNN special investigation on the shootings, Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN TV ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- The aging veterans gingerly walk from the plane in the nation's capital. Some get pushed in wheelchairs. A brass band strikes up World War II era tunes. Strangers rise to their feet and clap their hands. \"Why are they doing this?\" says Frank Bales, 86, a co-pilot on a B-24 during World War II. \"I feel as humbled as a mouse.\" Walter Victor was overwhelmed as he made his way through the crowd. \"The chills came over me. Very seldom do you see something like that,\" says the 92-year-old army veteran. These World War II veterans have traveled here to visit the National World War II Memorial, which honors the 16 million U.S. armed forces who served and the more than 400,000 who died in battle. The vets made the trip thanks to a former employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A physician's assistant at the VA in Springfield, Ohio, Earl Morse was struck by the WWII vets he treated and how few made the journey to see the memorial that honors them. \"They dedicated the WWII memorial in May of 2004, 60 years after the war had ended. That was a cause of celebration in my clinic. All of the veterans wanted to see it but they were in poor health or didn't have the means to visit it.\" \"Reality set in,\" Morse says, \"they were never going to see their memorial.\" Morse was determined to change that, because he so admired the quiet grit and heroism of the unassuming men he treated every day. He took his cause to a local air club. \"I stood before 150 pilots and told them I was going to start flying WWII veterans to Washington. I said if you want to help me, the WWII veteran doesn't pay a penny. You'll have to rent an airplane and cover all the travel costs.\" \"Honor Flight\" took to the skies in May of 2005. Six planes flew 12 veterans. The next month, eight planes flew 16 veterans. Today, it operates like a volunteer airline, with 86 hubs in 33 states. Instead of renting small planes, they charter Boeing jets, thanks to donations that keep the planes in the sky. So far, more than 30,000 veterans have experienced a visit to the memorial, courtesy of Honor Flight. \"Witnessing their emotions is what fuels our cause. When you see WWII veterans break down in tears because they had no idea how much this nation reveres, cherishes and loves them for what they've done, it really overwhelms them,\" Morse says. In the days and weeks before each Honor Flight, an army of ground volunteers coordinates every detail of each trip -- from the buses that pick them up to the meals they eat. Shortly after Bales and his group arrived in Washington this day, they were taken by bus to the memorial. Many said they were stunned by its size and scope. Inscriptions carved in granite recognize specific battles that were fought in Europe and across the Pacific. A wall of stars marks the high price of freedom. They paused to remember the 448,000 who died in the war -- and their fellow survivors who didn't live to see this moment. \"Each of those stars represents 100 men and women who died in WWII, and I realized that my division has almost 39 stars on that wall,\" said Tom Rone, 85, who stormed the bullet-ridden beaches on Guadalcanal as a platoon sergeant with the Marines. Morse says the trip often provides closure for the vets who visit. Many veterans open up at the memorial and speak in detail for the first time about what they went through. \"I've had exchanges with veterans that are jaw dropping,\" Morse says. \"You can't fathom what it's like to have experienced what they went through fighting for their lives.\" The same \"Honor Flight\" that transported the veterans to Washington returns them back home, landing just 12 hours after it took off. The elderly warriors seem renewed rather than exhausted by their whirlwind trip. \"I will never forget this,\" say 86-year-old Marcus Lee Long, who served in the Pacific on the USS Ellet. \"Everybody is so happy and treating us so nice.\" Allen Pittard, 88, added, \"I feel so fortunate to be here. So many didn't make it.\" For Morse, the founder of Honor Flight, the end of each flight is a bittersweet experience. His mission continues with an air of urgency, because less than 10 percent of the Americans who served in World War II are still alive. An estimated 1,200 WWII veterans die every day. \"In another five to seven years, our efforts will be a moot point because they will be gone or too infirm to participate in a mission like this,\" he says." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Program called Honor Flight takes WWII vets to see memorial in Washington .\nHonor Flight has taken 30,000 vets to D.C. since it began in 2005 .\n\"I've had exchanges with veterans that are jaw dropping,\" founder says .\nWW II vet on the trip: \"I feel as humbled as a mouse\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- \"Late Show With David Letterman\" bandleader Paul Shaffer is a walking Wikipedia of rock 'n' roll history -- and now he's added his own story to the mix. Paul Shaffer has been David Letterman's bandleader for 27 years. Shaffer's new memoir, \"We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Showbiz Saga\" (Flying Dolphin Press) offers his take on a colorful career, from piano lessons in his native Canada to a \"Saturday Night Live\" stint to the gig he's had, and relished, for 27 years -- Letterman's sidekick. Oh yeah, and he co-wrote the hit disco song \"It's Raining Men.\" Shaffer appeared this week at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble to sign books and give a performance. Among those who dropped by were the Beach Boys' Al Jardine -- who joined in for \"Help Me, Rhonda\" -- Martin Short and girl group belter Darlene Love. Shaffer also took questions from the audience. Though the topic of Letterman's recent troubles was off-limits, one audience member did ask Shaffer what the host was really like -- emphasis on \"really.\" Shaffer responded that the boss he's respected and admired for nearly three decades is \"very transparent on the air and you can see exactly what he's like.\" Shaffer talked to CNN about how he picks songs to introduce guests, his renowned Passover celebrations and his chance to be on \"Seinfeld.\" The following is an edited version of the interview: . CNN: When guests are introduced on the \"Late Show,\" you usually add a musical accompaniment that's an obscure reference to their name. My favorite was when Dustin Hoffman was a guest, and you played \"Dust in the Wind.\" Can you tell me how you come up with those, and what some of your favorites have been? Paul Shaffer: We think of them in rehearsal before the show. I have about 15 minutes, and I often throw it open to the floor. And by the floor, I mean the musicians, the band [the \"Late Show's\" CBS Orchestra members]. And I say \"Who has an idea for this?\" And I pick the one that I like the best. [Once we] had a new actor named Aziz Ansari, and one of the guys in the band says, \"I'm Sorry\" [referring to the Brenda Lee song]. So we did it, and it cracked Dave [Letterman] up so I know that I got my one laugh -- and the most important laugh. CNN: What's the story behind using Ray Charles' \"Busted\" for Tom Brokaw? Shaffer: He was particularly difficult to come up with something for because he's on all the time, and we didn't want to play a news theme or a song about the news. So Will Lee, my bass player, suggested \"Busted\" ... \"I'm broke, aw -- I'm busted.\" And Brokaw asked about it once: \"Why do you play Ray Charles' 'Busted' when I come on?\" He asked on camera, and I said, \"I'm broke -- aw -- I'm busted.\" CNN: What is your favorite song of all time? Shaffer: As far as favorite \"overall package\" record of all time, I'd have to say \"My Girl\" by The Temptations. I like everything about it, not only the composition -- but the arrangement, the production, the lead vocals, the background vocals, the horns, the strings. That one I listen to over and over again. And, of course, \"Be My Baby\" by the Ronettes. Maybe that's my favorite song, and \"My Girl\" is my favorite record. CNN: For some reason I thought it was \"He's a Rebel\" by the Crystals. Shaffer: Well that's way up there. I consider that my national anthem. When I hear \"He's a Rebel,\" I stand. CNN: Are there any musicians you regret never having had a chance to work with? Shaffer: Well, of course, Frank [Sinatra] is one, and Elvis is the other. But aside from those two I think I've done pretty well. CNN: Can you tell me a little bit about your famed \"Celebrity Seders\"? Shaffer: We spent a lot of time at the show during the early days of \"SNL\" [\"Saturday Night Live\"]. We had no personal lives at all. ... And, of course, we were there doing a show around Passover time, and Suzanne Miller, who was one of the writers, came up with the idea that we should have a seder for the cast and crew and writers who wouldn't be going home. So I said, \"I can conduct it!\" I knew how to conduct a seder at lightning speed because my parents couldn't wait to get to the matzo ball soup. So I have that skill, and I also sort of had an act, too. As a prize for finding the matzo, I gave out a pizza on [\"SNL's\"] \"Weekend Update.\" [Producer] Lorne Michaels liked it so much that he had matches printed up immediately that said \"Paul Shaffer's Celebrity Seder\" and that became legendary. CNN: In the late 1980s, you were offered the role of George Costanza on \"Seinfeld.\" Any regrets on not accepting that part? Shaffer: Just to be clear, I was offered the role of Jerry Seinfeld's sidekick. He had three sidekicks, and I had a feeling mine might've been that role. And any regrets? Well, I mean it was only the most beloved show of all time. ... Truthfully, though, I would have missed the opportunity to play music. CNN: How do you stay hip and current in a world where today's kids don't appreciate showbiz legends and the origins of comedy? Shaffer: I still talk incessantly about \"SCTV,\" and I say, \"Screw the kids!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Paul Shaffer: The David Letterman viewers see on air is who he really is .\nShaffer's new memoir has stories of \"Saturday Night Live,\" Letterman .\nShaffer was offered chance to play Jerry Seinfeld sidekick at one point .\nBandleader legendary for his \"Celebrity Seders\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- The FBI is asking for public assistance in finding a serial bank robber dubbed the \"Granddad Bandit,\" who is believed to have struck in at least seven states. The man, thought by authorities to be between 50 and 60 years old, is suspected in a string of nine bank robberies beginning in April in Houston, Texas, the FBI's Atlanta Field Office said in a news release. Since then, police believe he has robbed two banks in Atlanta and single banks in Roanoke, Virginia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; Syracuse, New York; and Tallahassee, Florida, the last bank robbery, which occurred on October 16. \"His robberies are described as being calm, with a deliberate attempt to not attract attention to himself,\" the FBI said. \"The robber quietly presents a demand note to the victim teller and thereafter departs the bank without disruption to normal banking business going on around him.\" The man is described as being between 6 feet and 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds. He is described as stocky and bald, with short gray hair on the sides, and wears glasses. A $10,000 reward is being offered by law enforcement. To offer information in the case, contact the Atlanta FBI. In September, a man sought in at least 10 bank robberies in at least four states was arrested in Missouri. The FBI posted photos from the bank robberies on billboards, leading to the man identified as Chad Schaffner. A retired state trooper saw Schaffner in Kingdom City, Missouri, and notified authorities. Schaffner is suspected of robbing banks in states including Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, authorities said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Last bank robbery occurred October 16 in Tallahassee, Florida .\nFBI: \"His robberies are described as being calm, with a deliberate attempt to not attract attention\"\nHe is described as stocky and bald, with short gray hair on the sides, and wears glasses ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- The sound of taps echoed across the Texas plains Tuesday after President Obama pledged that the work of those killed in last week's Fort Hood massacre will go on despite their \"incomprehensible\" slayings. Speaking to an estimated 15,000 people at a memorial service at the post, Obama vowed that justice will be done in the attack that left 13 dead and 42 wounded. Though he told the families that \"no words can fill the void that has been left,\" he added, \"your loved ones endure through the life of our nation.\" \"Their life's work is our security and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that is their legacy,\" the president said. After his remarks, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama laid a presidential coin before each of the 13 battlefield crosses -- the helmet, boots and rifle representing each of those killed -- before family members and comrades filed past. Fort Hood Army Post has seen 545 soldiers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post's commander, \"but never did we expect to pay such a high price at home.\" Gen. George Casey, the Army's chief of staff, added, \"Grieve with us. Don't grieve for us.\" \"Those who have fallen did so in the service of their country,\" he said. \"They freely answered the call to serve, and they gave their lives for something that they loved and believed in.\" Obama called the wartime killings of American troops on their home soil \"incomprehensible.\" But he said the values the dead volunteered to defend will live on and will be extended even to the man accused of carrying to the slayings. The suspected gunman in the attack is a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who remained in intensive care at an Army hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Hasan, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan but had told his family that he wanted to get out of the military. \"No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts,\" Obama said at the memorial service. But he said soldiers who responded to the attack \"remind us of who we are as Americans.\" \"We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process, just as surely as we will see that he pays for his crimes,\" he said. No charges have been filed, and authorities have not identified a motive in Thursday's attack. But in a statement issued Monday night, the FBI said its investigation \"indicates that the alleged gunman acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot.\" Thursday's victims included 12 soldiers and a retired soldier working as a civilian physician's assistant. Shortly before the ceremony and 1,200 miles away, the remains of one of the soldiers was carried off a chartered jet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An honor guard met the casket of Sgt. Amy Krueger on the apron at General Mitchell International Airport. Krueger, 29, was a high school athlete who joined the military after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. She was assigned to a medical unit that was doing checkups on soldiers bound for Afghanistan and Iraq when the shooting erupted. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and more than a dozen members of Congress were among who attended the service on the warm Texas afternoon. CNN correspondent Jill Dougherty contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Grieve with us. Don't grieve for us,\" Army chief of staff says .\nFact that soldiers died on base \"makes the tragedy even more painful,\" Obama says .\nTroops, military brass, Congress members, Texas governor also attend memorial .\nRemains of one victim greeted by honor guard on return to Wisconsin ." } ]

[ { "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) -- Rapper Kanye West and his business manager must complete 50 hours of community service in exchange for the dismissal of charges stemming from a Los Angeles airport scuffle with paparazzi last year. Kanye West must complete 50 hours of community service by December 23. West has already attended 12 hours of anger management classes and paid for the camera that was broken during the incident, his lawyer told the judge during a hearing Friday morning. Police arrested West and Don Crawley on September 11, 2008, after an altercation with a photographer and a cameraman who were taking their photos, airport police said. West and Crawley were later charged with three misdemeanors counts: vandalism, battery and grand theft. \"There was not a situation where there was a lot of time for either defendant to reflect on what they were doing,\" said Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman. Zuckman, who presided over Friday's hearing, said he could take the position that \"a brief impulsive response\" by West and Crawley \"doesn't necessarily demonstrate a severe character flaw that needs to be addressed in a criminal case.\" Still, he said, he did not want \"to send a message that ripping the camera from someone's hand and destroying it [in] an act of vandalism is acceptable, no matter what kind of provocation caused them to be angry. There are other remedies.\" Zuckman said if anyone had been injured in the incident, his decision would have been different. West and Crawley have until December 23 to complete 50 hours of community service, Zuckman said. If they do, he will dismissed the charges. If convicted, West could have faced up to two years and six months in jail, while Crawley could have faced up to five years, according to Frank Mateljan, the spokesman for the city attorney." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rapper and his business manager must finish 50 hours of community service .\nIn exchange, charges will be dismissed in L.A. airport scuffle in 2008 .\nKanye West, Don Crawley had altercation with photographer, cameraman .\nCourt official: Incident doesn't \"demonstrate a severe character flaw\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Britain says it has suspended the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands and imposed direct rule after allegations of systemic corruption and \"serious dishonesty\". Former Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Michael Misick, shown here with his wife, LisaRaye, could be investigated. British Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant said he instructed the British governor of the island territory to suspend the ministerial government and the House of Assembly for as long as two years. Bryant said his order also suspends the constitutional right to trial by jury in the Turks and Caicos. \"This is a serious constitutional step which the UK government has not taken lightly, but these measures are essential in order to restore good governance and sound financial management,\" Bryant said in a statement. \"It remains our intentions that elections should be held by July 2011, if not sooner. It is also important that the people of Turks and Caicos Islands continue to have a voice in the interim and the order puts in place an advisory council and consultative forum to make sure this happens.\" The move follows allegations of corruption in the Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory of eight major islands and numerous uninhabited keys, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Miami, Florida. The British government set up a commission of inquiry in July 2008 to look into possible corruption or other serious dishonesty in recent years of past and present elected members of the legislature. The commission's report, delivered May 31, found \"information in abundance pointing to a high probability of systemic corruption and/or serious dishonesty\" in the Turks and Caicos, the Foreign Office said. \"This, together with clear signs of political amorality and immaturity and of general administrative incompetence, demonstrated a need for urgent suspension in whole or in part of the constitution and for other legislative and administrative reforms,\" the Foreign Office said. The report also recommends criminal investigations into former Premier Michael Misick and four of his former Cabinet ministers. \"This is not a 'British takeover,'\" said Gordon Wetherell, governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands. \"Public services will continue to be run by people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, as indeed they should be. But I hope we can now begin to run them better.\" Queen Elizabeth is the head of state of the British territory, and the governor is her official representative. The governor is responsible for defense; external affairs; internal security, including the islands' police force; and the appointment of some public officials, but he is normally required to act on the advice of the Cabinet. The islands' ministerial system includes the premier and six other ministers who must act according to Cabinet policies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Britain says it has suspended the government of the Turks and Caicos .\nMove follows allegations of systemic corruption and \"serious dishonesty\"\nTurks and Caicos is a British Overseas Territory of eight major islands ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Brazil has confirmed 557 deaths caused by H1N1 flu, the highest total in the world, the nation's Health Ministry says. A vaccine against H1N1 is being tested but is not expected to be available until at least mid-October. The United States has counted 522 fatalities through Thursday, and nearly 1,800 people had died worldwide through August 13, U.S. and global health officials said. In terms of mortality rate, which considers flu deaths in terms of a nation's population, Brazil ranks seventh, and the United States is 13th, the Brazilian Ministry of Health said in a news release Wednesday. Argentina, which has reported 386 deaths attributed to H1N1 as of August 13, ranks first per capita, the Brazilian health officials said, and Mexico, where the flu outbreak was discovered in April, ranks 14th per capita. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and the United States have the most total cases globally, according to the World Health Organization. The Brazilian Ministry of Health said there have been 6,100 cases of flu in the nation, with 5,206 cases (85.3 percent) confirmed as H1N1, also known as swine flu. The state of Sao Paulo had 223 deaths through Wednesday, the largest number in the country. In addition, 480 pregnant women have been confirmed with H1N1, of whom 58 died. Swine flu has been shown to hit young people and pregnant women particularly hard. Many schools in Sao Paulo have delayed the start of the second semester for a couple of weeks, and students will have to attend classes on weekends to catch up. Schools also have suspended extracurricular activities such as soccer, volleyball and chess to try to curtail spread of the disease. Flu traditionally has its peak during the winter months, and South America, where it is winter, has had a large number of cases recently. The World Health Organization said this week that the United States and other heavily populated Northern Hemisphere countries need to brace for a second wave of H1N1 as their winter approaches. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other U.S. health agencies have been preparing and said this week that up to half of the nation's population may contract the disease and 90,000 could die from it. Seasonal flu typically kills about 64,000 Americans each year. A vaccine against H1N1 is being tested but is not expected to be available until at least mid-October and will probably require two shots at least one week apart, health officials have said. Since it typically takes a couple of weeks for a person's immunity to build up after the vaccine, most Americans would not be protected until sometime in November. The World Health Organization in June declared a Level 6 worldwide pandemic, the organization's highest classification." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nearly 1,800 people died worldwide of H1N1 through August 13 .\nBrazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and U.S. have most total cases globally .\nU.S. health officials said that up to 90,000 could die from new strain .\nSeasonal flu typically kills about 64,000 Americans each year ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- In death as in life, Michael Jackson continues to light up the Internet. Millions worldwide watched online coverage of Michael Jackson's funeral service in Los Angeles. Millions of people around the world watched coverage of Jackson's memorial service on the Web, although the event appeared to fall well short of online viewership records. Global Web traffic was at least 19 percent above normal, and as high as 33 percent above normal, during most of the star-studded memorial at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, according to Akamai Technologies, a Massachusetts-based firm that monitors Internet traffic. CNN.com reported 9.7 million live video streams Tuesday between 12 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET -- which included the entire memorial service -- according to CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin. The news site's all-time viewership record for a full day, almost 27 million video streams, was set on President Obama's inauguration day in January. During that period Tuesday, CNN.com also attracted 81 million page views, 11.8 unique visitors and a peak of 781,000 concurrent live video streams, according to internal data. Jackson's startling June 25 death nearly brought the Web to a standstill, with several sites buckling under the sheer weight of traffic. The Internet appeared to fare better during Tuesday's memorial service, however. \"So far we are seeing some slowdowns ... [but] overall the Internet is performing OK,\" said Dan Berkowitz, spokesman for Keynote Systems, a mobile and Internet monitoring firm based in San Mateo, California, midway through the Staples Center event. Keynote monitors the 40 most popular news Web sites from major cities around the United States. CNN.com partnered with Facebook, the social-networking site, to let friends and family share commentary while watching Jackson's memorial service live online. As of 1:30 p.m. ET, shortly before the memorial service began, the partnership was yielding about 6,000 status updates per minute, said a Facebook spokeswoman. CNN.com and Facebook entered into a similar collaboration during Obama's inauguration, although Facebook saw twice as many status updates during that event. With many North Americans at work during Jackson's memorial service, online traffic had been expected to reach near-record levels. \"This event will almost certainly shatter records for the biggest single live stream ever, and could be one of the biggest worldwide media events in history,\" wrote blogger Ben Parr on Mashable, the social media news site. Other Web sites, including CBSNews.com, ABCNews.com, FoxNews.com and Hulu.com, also hosted live streaming coverage of the service. The 10 most popular topics on Twitter Tuesday afternoon were all connected to Jackson's memorial. Google Trends rated the Jackson memorial's online popularity as \"volcanic,\" while on Web-traffic monitoring site Alexa, most of its hottest stories Tuesday were Jackson-related. But early numbers suggested that Internet traffic Tuesday may have lagged behind other recent news events. Akamai recorded a peak of 3.9 million global Internet visitors per minute shortly after noon ET -- less than half the number of users who went online the evening of November 4, 2008, to follow presidential election returns. \"It may be impossible to say for sure how many people watched once all is said and done, because there's still no comprehensive way to measure Web viewing,\" said Toni Fitzgerald, managing editor of Media Life, in an e-mail interview with CNN. Long before the memorial service began about 1:40 p.m. ET, many Web sites braced themselves for an onslaught of traffic. During the sign-up period for the memorial ticket lottery, the Staples Center Web site took down all non-essential materials to ensure that it coped. Jackson family spokesman Ken Sunshine said the computer servers hosting the registration site counted 500 million \"hits\" -- 120,000 a second -- in the first 90 minutes on Friday. About 17,500 fans were randomly selected to watch the memorial live at the Staples Center -- only a small fraction of the 1.6 million fans who applied for tickets. Watch panelists discuss Jackson's legacy » . CNN's Stephanie Busari and Linnie Rawlinson contributed to this story." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Web viewership of Michael Jackson's memorial fell short of online records .\nNEW: Global Web traffic was at least 19 percent above normal during service .\nNEW: Views of live video on CNN.com trailed President Obama's inauguration .\nWeb sites braced themselves Tuesday for heavy traffic ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- October has been the deadliest month for the US and NATO militaries fighting in Afghanistan as well as UN workers trying to organize an election runoff. Surely the surge in deaths serves to underscore why Afghanistan matters. For all the debate happening away from the battlefield, here are a couple of important bottom-line questions: . Is the world prepared to see the Taliban and their opportunistic allies al Qaeda return to power in Afghanistan? Are people prepared for the terrorists' dream- photo-op of Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden sitting smiling together in Kabul? And here's what's at stake: . The West fortunately has been free of terrorist attacks on its major cities in the last few years, but it was not so long ago that the London Tube bombings; mass murder in Madrid; mayhem in Mumbai in 2008; the murders of Benazir Bhutto and Daniel Pearl; the Bali bombing; the shoe bomber and, of course, 9/11 and the attacks on the World Trade Center changed our world and our way of life. Together, those events created pervasive fear and anxiety, not to mention a change in our lifestyle caused by security measures in airports, trains, banking transactions and office buildings. What all of these events have in common is that the perpetrators all came from, visited, were financed by, or were led by terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially the ungovernable territories on those countries' border. The Bush administration, in the view of some, may have gone too far in responding to these events by creating an all-encompassing \"war on terrorism.\" However, for the eight long years America and NATO countries have been at war in Afghanistan, this war, uniquely in modern history, is still supported by all the world's major powers, the neighbors of Afghanistan, and mostly by the people of Afghanistan, who dread both insecurity and a return to the brutal horrors of the Taliban. If the threat of new terrorist attacks is not enough, what about the threat of a nuclear catastrophe? Look at Pakistan this week. Horrific bombings in the frontier town of Peshawar and elsewhere have also killed scroes of people, just as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives to firm up security and development co-operation with that country. While foreign policy and intelligence experts continue to worry that terrorism, Islamic extremism, the continued threat of renewed war between Pakistan and India, plus the presence of nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries, could prove a combustible mix in the not-too-distant future. This is not scare-mongering; it's simply the reality that what happens in South Asia could affect all of our lives. That's why all of us must be concerned by the outcome of the war that is being fought today in mountains of the tribal areas in Pakistan and the plains of Afghanistan. Many of the soldiers and officers I speak to in Afghanistan say the best way to beat back the threat of Taliban insurgents is with boots on the ground and additional military resources, as well as a proper development assistance for the Afghan civilians. The Afghan people need protecting and enabling. I have been reporting from Afghanistan since 1996 and the one thing I've noticed over the years is that every Afghan asks foremost for security. Then next on the list is development to help them earn a decent living and raise their families. They also want a decent government. They know this will take years of patience and effort. They know it will be a hard slog. After all, they have been at war for 30 years now, during which the traditional, honor-bound society they had for decades has all but vanished. Though it is true that fierce tribal traditions mean some Afghans distrust even the tribe next door, not to mention foreign troops, over and again, Afghan men, women and children have told me they do not see the U.S. and NATO forces as occupiers, rather as armies from countries who came to help them ... but who have fallen short of their promises. This fear and disenchantment is what the Taliban feeds on today. They want the U.S. and NATO out, they try to convince the people those outsiders are occupiers bent on harming them. And yet, if you look at the current trends and the latest polls in Afghanistan, despite massive governmental corruption, abuse and dysfunction, the majority of the people want nothing to do with the Taliban. Polls show only a tiny minority support them. And that is mostly because they are desperate for security and safety, something the West has failed to follow through on after roundly defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda in seven weeks after 9/11. And across the border in Pakistan surveys show Osama Bin Laden has lost his luster among Muslim youth. Support for Islamic extremists is dropping. The Pakistani government is finally fighting back against the extremists who threaten the future of this mostly moderate Muslim country. Under pressure, the militants are lashing out in parts of the country. See Christiane Amanpour's special report on \"Generation Islam\" Unfortunately, at this crucial moment, people in America and Europe are tiring of their governments' support for the war in Afghanistan and the battles in remote parts of Pakistan. The agonized debate over strategy in Washington hides the sad fact that since sending the Taliban and al Qaeda packing, shortsighted U.S. vision snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The Bush administration mostly ignored Afghanistan while diverting its attention and resources to Iraq. Now that the U.S. is finally refocusing on the war in Afghanistan it's an opportunity to look at what is at stake: the urgency of finishing the job in Afghanistan pitted against the real war-weariness of western voters. This is the dilemma of the modern world where the latest of life's challenges such as the financial crisis, unemployment, new flu pandemics, health care, and the housing market dominate daily life. Getting the job done in Afghanistan will take years in time and resources. It will require faith and patience. The mass media is not the best place to reflect that. It does not usually focus on the hard slog, instead it is constantly in search of the new and the now. But the next time there is a major terrorist attack, in all likelihood it will have been generated by an organization somewhere near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Again, people will ask: Why weren't our leaders and the media there to warn us of the dangers? As a member of the media I believe that's our job: to report the facts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amanpour: Is the world prepared to see the Taliban return to power?\nThey'll bring their allies, al Qaeda, with them, she says .\nMajority of Afghans want nothing to do with the Taliban, she says .\nBut they feel NATO, U.S. troops have fallen short of their promises, she says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- The first child in Britain known to have been screened as an embryo to ensure she did not carry a cancer gene was born Friday, a spokesman for University College London told CNN. Genetic screening allows lab-fertilized embryos to be tested for genes likely to lead to later health problems. Her embryo was screened in a lab days after conception to check for the BRCA-1 gene, linked to breast and ovarian cancer. People with the gene are known to have a 50-80 percent chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer in their lifetimes. British newspapers have dubbed the girl the \"cancer-free\" baby. \"This little girl will not face the specter of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life,\" said Paul Serhal, a consultant at University College London Hospital and Medical Director of the Assisted Conception Unit. \"The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations.\" Yet not everyone is thrilled with the idea of testing embryos for genes that could cause health problems later in life, a process known as preimplanatation genetic diagnosis. \"This is not a cure for breast cancer,\" said Josephine Quintavalle, co-founder of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, which describes itself as group that focuses on ethical dilemmas related to reproduction. What do you think about testing embryos for gene defects? \"This is simply a mechanism for eliminating the birth of anybody (prone to) the disease,\" she said. \"It is basically a search-and-kill mechanism.\" She opposes the procedure because embryos found to carry disease-causing genes often are discarded. She says that is essentially murder. \"They will be destroyed,\" she said. \"They will never be allowed to live.\" Doctors in Britain and elsewhere increasingly test embryos for genes that are certain to cause illnesses such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's Disease. What's different about the girl born Friday is that she is the first infant known to have been tested in Britain as an embryo for a gene that is merely likely -- not certain -- to cause disease. In the United States, geneticists are free to test for any condition for which they can develop a probe -- and they're free to look for genes that are certain to cause diseases as well as genes that merely may pose problems later in life. Quintavalle opposes any form of in-vitro fertilization where embryos are \"killed,\" she said. But she is particularly troubled by the idea of screening an embryo for the BRCA-1 gene because carriers of the gene do not always develop the disease, and the disease is not always fatal. \"The message we are sending is: 'Better off dead than carrying (a gene linked to) breast cancer,'\" she said. \"We have gone very much down the proverbial slippery slope.\" Peter Braude, one of the top British experts on the genetic testing of embryos, said he understands the ethical objections but focuses on the benefits. \"There has always been a vociferous group in opposition,\" he said. But \"there are people who can benefit and I think they should be allowed to do so.\" In fact, he argues that the procedure actually prevents abortions because it takes place on a three-day old embryo in a lab. Only embryos that lack the defective gene are implanted. \"I don't think you can equate eight cells in a dish to an embryo or a child,\" said Braude, head of the department of women's health at the King's College London School of Medicine. For many couples, the alternative to testing an embryo is to conceive a child naturally and test the fetus weeks or months into a pregnancy. Some couples opt for an abortion when such testing reveals a defect. Diagnosing an embryo genetically typically involves fertilizing an egg with a sperm in a lab, testing the resulting embryo and implanting it in the mother if no defects are found. Braude agrees that testing for diseases that may not be fatal -- or may not manifest themselves for decades -- raises thorny ethical questions. \"How serious does it have to be before you throw away an embryo?\" he asked. \"Are you prepared to throw away a 16-week embryo for Huntington's, which will not manifest until age 40?\" In Britain, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority determines the conditions for which geneticists can test. It has approved testing for more than 60 conditions since it was established in 1990. The authority approved testing for the BRCA-1 gene in 2008. Dr. Mark Hughes, who founded a genetics clinic in the United States, said he likes the idea of an authority that regulates what tests can be performed -- the system in place in Britain -- but believes that parents who want to test for genetic abnormalities should be allowed to do so. At his Genesis Genetics Institute in Detroit, Michigan, Hughes carries out about two tests a month for BRCA-1 or BRCA-2, a related gene. \"The couple is the best one to be making these decisions, because they live with these diseases,\" he said. \"When it hits your family over and over again, many couples are saying: 'Enough of this. Let's prune this out of our family tree forever.'\" He rejects the notion that parents will use genetic testing to remove all imperfections from children. \"You can get up on your high horse and say people are looking for perfect children, but let's give these families more credit,\" he said. \"They just want one that has a fighting chance of not having a disease.\" Hughes said he doubts genetic screening will ever be used to test all babies. That's partly because it costs the equivalent of about $11,755 -- 8,000 British pounds -- to screen embryos. It's also because the process is very complex. \"It's gotten easier to do now than it was 19 years ago,\" when Hughes did his first test for cystic fibrosis, he said. \"But it has not exploded, not burst onto the medical field like some technologies do. \"No one would use these technologies for a trivial reason. It's too much effort,\" he said. \"Not just the money -- it's so many hoops to jump through for a couple that would prefer to make their baby on vacation rather than in a clinic.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Cancer-free baby\" born; baby girl is first in UK to be screened for cancer gene .\nEmbryo was screened to check she didn't carry gene linked to breast, ovarian cancer .\nEthicists criticize screening for genes that could cause later health problems .\nDoctors say cost of screening makes it unlikely all embryos will ever be tested ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It's a disease that affects millions of women in Africa, yet talking about it has been considered a taboo, and that silence has been deadly. Nigeria's Princess Nikky Onyeri has dedicated her life to speaking out to raise awareness about breast cancer in Africa. Princess Nikky Onyeri is not a member of a royal family, \"Princess\" is a given name, but for many of Nigeria's cancer survivors she is their princess. It's a passionate cause that defines her life. Based in Abuja, Nigeria, Onyeri has lobbied the Government to do more to help women with cancer. The impetus behind her drive and persistence is a wrong diagnosis of cancer 15 years ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Health advocate from Nigeria campaigns for better awareness of breast cancer .\nLobbies Nigerian Government to do more for women with cancer .\nWas misdiagnosed with cancer 15 years ago; issue still a taboo in Africa ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Top flight golf is a high-stakes, high-stress sport -- but it's not just the pros who are feeling the strain. Stress can affect golfers of all abilities. Swede Robert Karlsson returned from a four-month layoff recently with an eye condition that's thought to be stress-related, while England's Ian Poulter defended his decision not to play in the Vivendi Trophy by saying that he wanted to avoid fatigue -- mental as well as physical. While professional sport is bound to have its pressures, recreational golf is usually regarded as a way to unwind and relieve stress. But it seems that weekend players are having to deal with anxieties of their own. Victor Thompson, a London-based sports psychologist, told CNN that golf is a much more psychological sport than most. \"It can be particularly stressful because, unlike team sports, you very much have the spotlight on you while you're playing,\" he said. \"You've got a lot of time between your shots for you to think, time for other people to watch you and time for you to think about what people will think of you if you don't play well.\" That doesn't just apply when there's an audience of millions watching on TV -- it's just as true when you're playing at your local municipal course with your friends. \"It can actually be tougher playing against your mates and people you know because they can ridicule you or laugh at you, or you might worry about disappointing them if you're playing on their team,\" said Thompson. That would appear to be borne out by a 2004 study on the moods of older recreational golfers. The subjects reported being no happier or calmer after playing golf -- in fact, they reported feeling more angry and depressed. One of the researchers, Haydn Jarrett, senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at the University of Worcester, told CNN that the study also showed that golfers reported feeling more fatigued and less vigorous after playing golf, as most players walked an average 10.2 km during a game. Jarrett's study was carried out on \"senior\" golfers, with an average age of 68, but he said the findings on mood change tied in with other studies carried out on younger recreational golfers. \"Golf does appear to be stressful for recreational players,\" he told CNN. \"If we wanted golfers to enjoy it more fully it might be nice to engage with golfers and bring potential negative moods to their attention.\" While those negative feelings probably don't last for long, they can have disastrous effects on your golf. Thompson says negative thoughts on the golf course can make you tense and frustrated, giving you an adrenaline rush that can affect your swing and timing. As you start dropping shots you can overanalyze your game, which just make things worse. The secret of dealing with golf stress is to get on top of your thoughts, says Thompson. Rather than thinking in terms of how badly you're playing or what other people will think of you, you need to realize that your emotions are getting the better of you and that anxiety is the problem, not your technique. So with all that stress, could playing golf actually be bad for you? \"If you're beating yourself up emotionally and getting angry that's not very good for your health,\" said Thompson. \"But it's all a matter of attitude. Somebody might go out and enjoy it, see it as a chance to get away from work, have a nice stroll and catch up with their mates.\" And Jarrett has encouraging news when it comes to golf and health. He has carried out unpublished work showing that a round of golf can give a significant reduction in blood pressure. \"My gut feeling is that golf is incredibly positive for health,\" he told CNN. \"The positives of the distance walked, the heart-rate increase and the blood-pressure suppression will outweigh any negative mood states. But it might be that we need to recognize that mood profiles can go down and mediate against that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Golf is especially stressful, says sports psychologist Victor Thompson .\nThompson says that it can be even tougher playing with your friends .\nStudy shows recreational golfers feel more angry and depressed after playing .\nStress may be bad for you, but golf can still be good for your health ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Novak Djokovic is up to number three in the world after defeating Marin Cilic in the final of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday. Novak Djokovic holds aloft the giant China Open trophy after victory over Marin Cilic in Beijing. The Serb captured his third ATP title of the year with a 6-2 7-6 victory over the battling Cilic, who beat fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and top seed Rafael Nadal en route to the final. Second seed Djokovic took advantage of a 90-minute rain delay, which came at 2-2 in the first set, coming back on center court at the Beijing Olympics tennis venue with sharper ground strokes and well-placed serves. After holding serve to go 3-2 up, Djokovic broke Cilic straight away and then a second time to take the opening set, with the Croat the victim of two unlucky net cords in the final game. In the second, Cilic -- a wild card entry -- and Djokovic traded breaks three times to force a tie-break, with the Cilic failing to serve out twice. Djokovic took control midway, winning a rally that left Cilic sitting on the court to go up 4-2. The Serb closed it out on his second match point when the Cilic sent an inside-out forehand sailing wide. \"I certainly played much better after the rain delay,\" Djokovic told reporters. \"I kind of got my nerves together -- I was very fresh on the court after that. Even though it was a straight set win, it wasn't easy at all. Marin could have had at least a set under his belt.\" Djokovic, by reaching the final, is assured of taking over the world number three ranking, surpassing injured Scot Andy Murray. Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Mikhail Youzhny to become the first French player to win the men's singles title at the Japan Open in Tokyo. The world number seven, who knocked out compatriots Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet on his way to the final, chalked up a 6-3 6-3 final win over the Russian." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Novak Djokovic up to number three in the world after winning the China Open .\nThe second-seeded Serb defeats Croat Marin Cilic 6-2 7-6 in Sunday's final .\nFrenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeats Mikhail Youzhny in Japan Open final ." } ]

[ { "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 British-led military operation meant to clear the Taliban from parts of Afghanistan has succeeded, UK officials said Monday. A file image shows a British Royal Marine sniper team on an operation in Afghanistan. NATO and its Afghan allies launched Operation Panther's Claw to flush the Taliban from parts of southern Helmand Province before Afghan presidential elections next month. Major fighting is mostly over, and the military will now focus on \"holding\" the areas that have been cleared of Taliban so they do not return, Lt. Gen. Simon Mayall said in a briefing. The operation's success will enable up to 80,000 people in Helmand to vote. \"Panther's Claw has been extremely successful,\" said Brigadier Tim Radford, the top British military commander for the operation. \"There will be many Taliban who will not be fighting any more.\" He said the Taliban suffered \"significant casualties,\" but refused to say how many. Nine British troops were killed in action in the operation, he said, and there were three Afghan civilian casualties. Radford estimated that there were 450 to 500 Taliban fighters in the area at the time of the operation, which he called \"one of the biggest that has taken place.\" The British gave several weeks' warning that they were planning to attack, he said, both to exert psychological pressure on the Taliban and to give civilians a chance to flee. As a result, \"quite a few Taliban managed to get away,\" Radford said. \"They will always get away and they will always come back in.\" Mayall, the deputy chief of the British Defence Staff for Operations, said the challenge now was to convince local people that the Afghan government and its allies could protect them from the Taliban. The Taliban \"are going to assume that we are going to lose interest and move on,\" he said. But they are wrong, he said. NATO forces were going to \"stay in Afghanistan for a very long time,\" he said, adding that active NATO-led fighting should \"tail off\" as Afghan security forces develop the ability to fight the Taliban themselves. The counter-insurgency strategy of clearing and holding an area to allow for development of infrastructure and the rule of law echoes the coalition forces' plan in Iraq. Panther's Claw focused on the area around the town of Babaji in Helmand Province. The operation mirrored a similar operation by U.S. Marines in the area. At least 20 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month, sparking intense debate in Britain about the country's military role there. The British-led operation involved about 3,000 troops -- mostly from the British military but also with Afghan, Danish and Estonian forces, the British Ministry of Defence said in a written statement. The operation started in mid-June with an air assault along a canal about 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the city of Lashkar Gah, the ministry said. British-led forces attacked from three different directions over the next three weeks, essentially creating a \"gated community\" where Taliban insurgents could not get in or out, Radford said. Major fighting ended July 20, he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Major fighting in Operation Panther's Claw over, British military says .\nOperation aimed at clearing Taliban from southern Afghanistan's Helmand .\nAt least 20 British troops have been killed in past month ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Five people connected to an Afghan presidential candidate have been released after being kidnapped the day before, an official with the candidate said. Five of Dr Abdullah Abdullah's campaign workers were kidnapped and later released. The group of five, who worked for Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, were in a two-car caravan in northwestern Afghanistan on Wednesday when they were abducted, said Sayed Ahmad Samey, the security chief of Badghis province. Elders negotiated for their release, Samey said. The workers have now been freed and are in a good condition, according to Sami Panah of Abdullah's campaign office. Abdullah is a former Foreign Minister who is seeking to unseat incumbent President Hamid Karzai in the August 20 election. This is not the first time that Abdullah's supporters have been targeted. One of the presidential hopeful's campaign workers was wounded by an unknown gunman in late July. A month earlier, gunmen in the province of Kapisa killed another of Abdullah's campaign managers in a midnight attack. Hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers have headed to southern Afghanistan to secure polling stations and protect citizens during the elections. It will be the nation's second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Afghan election campaign workers released after 24 hour kidnap .\nThe group of five were working for presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah .\nAbdullah seeking to unseat incumbent President Hamid Karzai on August 20 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(AOL Autos) -- Protecting drivers and passengers from injury has been a high priority for car makers for the last 40 years or more. A truck driver tests an anti-collison system. The red light goes on if the car in front of him is too close. Not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because having a reputation for building safe vehicles helps automakers sell more cars. But in recent years, high-tech advancements have come along at such a fast and furious rate that auto-safety systems have entered a whole new universe. For most of the history of auto manufacturing, car makers' efforts in the area of safety have been devoted to developing \"passive\" safety features -- seat belts, air bags, building a stronger frame for the cabin, side-impact door beams, etc. All those things help you stay safe once you are involved in an accident. But just as advanced technology has changed almost every other industry, so too has it changed the automotive industry, leading to the design of more \"active\" safety features. AOL Autos: Safest cars . It started with now-common features like anti-lock brakes (ABS) and electronic stability control systems (ESC). But in recent years, engineers have taken safety technology to a new level. And these days, they spend more time and money researching and developing \"crash avoidance\" features and technologies. These computerized systems, instead of protecting you if a crash occurs, help you avoid accidents in the first place. Some of these systems are already in vehicles on the road today, while others are coming down the pipeline in the next few years. Mercedes uses radar, rear-view monitor . Given that it's a higher-priced luxury brand, it figures that Mercedes-Benz is one of the leaders when it comes to these kinds of high-tech crash-avoidance systems. Finely-tuned anti-lock brake and electronic-stability-control systems are standard equipment in all Mercedes cars. AOL Autos: Best and worst hybrids . \"And presently, a number of our vehicles offer Distronic Plus, a crash-avoidance system that employs dual-band radar that measures the distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you,\" said Patrik Borenius, Mercedes' manager of advanced product planning. \"If that distance closes too rapidly, indicating that a crash might be imminent, it emits first an audible signal, then a visual warning, and the system can actually start to apply the brakes to a certain threshold. \"Or, if you start to apply the brakes yourself, but not quickly enough to help you avoid impact, our Brake Assist system applies even more braking power.\" AOL Autos: Most popular fuel-efficient cars . \"We also have a Blind Spot Monitor that uses radar to examine the area just to the rear and to the left of your vehicle,\" added Bart Herring, product manager for Mercedes' S-Class and CL-Class. \"So when another vehicle, or any object, enters into that blind spot, a red indicator light in your side view mirror lights up. And if you start to change lanes while that other car is in your blind spot that also triggers an audio alert to warn you.\" Plus, Mercedes' Rear View Monitor \"views\" anything that is directly behind the vehicle as it is backing up, and then projects that image onto the navigation-system screen. This feature helps avoid accidents in situations where the vehicle is going in reverse and the driver's view of oncoming traffic is impaired -- like in parking structures, or when backing out of a driveway on a heavily-trafficked street. AOL Autos: Most popular crossover vehicles . Mercedes also offers a Night View system in the S-Class and CL-Class, which, at night, \"gives you a very sharp, daytime-quality picture of everything that is going on in front of you,\" Herring said. \"And it's projected onto a separate display screen that's in the middle of the instrument cluster, right in front of you.\" The \"new frontier\" of safety technology . Ford Motor Company is another car maker where the engineers are excited about its tech-driven crash-avoidance systems -- some currently in use, some still in development. AOL Autos: Luxury cars with the best MPG . \"Developing new active-safety systems really is the new frontier in safety technology in the auto industry,\" said Steve Kozak, Ford's global chief engineer for safety systems. Ford has owned Volvo since 1999, so Ford is benefiting from many of Volvo's renowned safety features. \"Some of the more advanced features that were first offered in Volvo's vehicles are cascading down into the Ford product line, due to our engineers working together with theirs,\" Kozak said. One Ford system in development addresses the fact that many accidents happen because drivers aren't paying attention. \"Studies have shown that in 50 percent of accidents, the drivers never even stepped on the brake,\" Kozak said. So, one technology that excites Kozak is the \"collision mitigation system\" that originated in the 2007 Volvo S80 and will be cascading into the Ford product line in the near future. \"It senses that that the car ahead of you is coming to a rapid stop, so if you're not paying attention, it essentially tells you to 'wake up and do something,' \" Kozak explained. \"With this system, there is a light mounted at the top of the instrument panel that reflects into the windshield, it's essentially a heads-up display, so in this kind of panic situation, that light will illuminate plus you get an audio alert telling you it's time to take action.\" Ford is also presently developing a blind-spot alert system (for early '09 rollout) and a lane-departure warning system (similar to those offered in Mercedes vehicles) -- technologies that also originated in Volvo vehicles. \"One interesting aspect of the lane-departure system that we're working on is that it may involve 'tactile input' in addition to an audio warning,\" Kozak said. That is, when you're coming up too fast on the car ahead of you, \"you could get a vibrating sensation in the car seat or steering wheel.\" From roll mitigation to trailer stability -- and more . Meanwhile, Chrysler LLC is \"devoting plenty of resources and doing a lot of system-development work devoted to trying to mitigate a crash,\" said Chris Barman, Chrysler's director for active and passive safety systems. One such crash-avoidance system currently employed in various Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicles is an electronic Roll-Mitigation System. \"It senses when the vehicle is in danger or is moving sideways at a rapid pace, which could lead to a rollover,\" Barman explained. \"So it applies more brake pressure to the outside front wheel, which corrects the lateral motion and keeps the car moving forward.\" Chrysler's own version of a computerized Brake-Assist system helps in another situation that is all too common, Barman said. \"Many times, in an emergency-braking situation, drivers will initially hit the brakes -- but then, unknowingly, let off the brake pedal, which means they lose a lot of stopping distance. \"So, if they don't hit the brakes with enough pressure, or don't brake fast enough, this system will detect that, and automatically applies the optimum amount of brake pressure in the shortest amount of time -- which could go a long way toward avoiding a crash and any resulting injury.\" Another Chrysler feature Barman likes is the trailer-stability control system. \"Sometimes, if you've never towed a trailer before, or if maybe you have too much weight in the rear of the trailer, the trailer can start swaying back and forth,\" Barman explained. \"Well, this system uses sensors to determine yaw rate and lateral-movement rate, and then provides brake pressure that is counter to the sway of the trailer to get it to settle down.\" Other crash-avoiding features being introduced for the 2009 Chrysler Town & Country and the Dodge Caravan minivans are Chrysler's own version of the Blind Spot Monitoring system, plus the Rear Cross Path system, which uses an illuminated icon in the mirror and an audible chime to warn you of the presence of an oncoming vehicle when you're backing up -- like in the parking-structure scenario cited above. \"We're trying to take a 360-degree view all around the vehicle, in order to determine everything we can do to help a person avoid a crash,\" Barman said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "High-tech advancements push auto-safety systems forward .\nHaving reputation for building safe vehicles helps automakers sell more cars .\nMercedes' Rear View Monitor views directly behind the vehicle as it backs up .\nChrysler system senses when car is in danger of rolling over ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- People with a stable mood and better capacity to handle stressful situations without anxiety have a reduced risk of developing dementia, according to a study published this week in the journal Neurology. Stress can increase the risk of dementia in older people, a study has found. This finding was particularly strong in highly extroverted people, the study said. Subjects who were both socially active and not easily stressed had the lowest risk for dementia. But even socially isolated individuals who were more calm and self-satisfied showed a reduced likelihood of dementia, the study said. Extroverted people usually have more optimistic outlooks on life, and \"may be better equipped to cope with stressful events and therefore less prone to depression,\" said Hui-Xin Wang of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and lead author of the study. The study looked at 506 older people from the Kungsholmen Project in Stockholm who did not have dementia at the first examination. These people then filled out questionnaires that determined their personality types and level of social activity. Those who said they were easily distressed were classified as having high neuroticism. Researchers followed these participants for six years, during which time 144 of them developed dementia. Although it is not easy to change someone's personality, \"The good news of our finding is that an active lifestyle -- having a rich social network and participating in physical, mental and social activities -- may buffer the negative effect of high neuroticism on dementia risk,\" Wang said. One in seven Americans age 71 and older, or about 3.4 million, have dementia, according to the National Institutes of Health. In this age-group, 2.4 million people have Alzheimer's disease, NIH research has shown. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, according to the Mayo Clinic. Previous research has documented that personality factors may play a role in how people cope with dementia. This study is unique in that it looks at a combination of different lifestyle and personality traits, said Dr. Yaakov Stern, professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, who was not involved with the study. Stern and colleagues have found that people with higher educational or occupational attainment, or who engage in leisure activities, appear less demented. They call this concept \"cognitive reserve,\" because these lifestyle factors seem to allow them to cope with the pathology of the disease better. That is, as the disease progresses in the brain, those who have a greater \"reserve\" do not show symptoms of Alzheimer's -- memory loss and impairment of day-to-day functions -- as quickly. Mounting evidence suggests that lifestyle factors also directly influence brain changes, he said. The Swedish study builds off the established idea in the field that stress actually harms the brain. The pathology of dementia appears about 10 to 15 years before a person actually develops Alzheimer's disease, Stern said. That means, just like a man with prostate cancer may not have any symptoms, a person's brain may have undergone changes that lead to Alzheimer's without visibly affecting a person's day-to-day life. Doctors can look for indications of the disease using positron emission tomography (PET) scans. A chemical called Pittsburgh Compound B is used in the imaging of brain tissues to find signatures of Alzheimer's -- namely, beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. \"The working idea is that if we can detect it before it's clinically expressed and stop it then, we can prevent people from developing the disease,\" Stern said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Study: Less-stressed older individuals had lower risk of developing dementia .\n3.4 million Americans age 71 and older have some form of dementia .\nSome people do not show symptoms of Alzheimer's but have pathology ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "DOUGLASVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Like many young girls, Jennifer Marnell always dreamed that one day she'd become famous. Jennifer Marnell once maxed out at 300 pounds. She lost 180 pounds and is now a fitness instructor. Bubbling with personality and quite the ham -- she was no stranger to performing. Marnell loved singing, dancing and acting in local plays while growing up on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. Even though her family showered her with adoration and unconditional support -- Marnell was hiding something that she was afraid to share with anyone. Since the age of 8, she struggled with her weight. \"I was the only one in the whole family who was overweight,\" Marnell recalled. \"[They] were always supportive and told me I was beautiful ... I didn't realize how depressed I was because my family loved me no matter what.\" But other people weren't so nice. Marnell says classmates and other people teased or ridiculed her about her weight. Instead of talking about her feelings -- she turned to food for comfort. As she ate to soothe her pain -- Marnell's weight spiraled out of control. Watch more on Jennifer Marnell's journey » . \"It got out of control over the years because it became an addiction,\" said Marnell. \"Food didn't talk back to me and didn't tell me no ... I didn't know how to stop and listen to my body.\" Working as a nanny at the age of 27, Marnell was 5-foot-tall and weighed 300 pounds. The wife and mother says a series of embarrassing moments such as not fitting into a restaurant booth, running out of breath while walking and lacking the energy to play ball or skate with her daughter -- took an emotional and physical toll on her health. But the final straw came during a trip to an amusement park with her family. \"We were at Six Flags waiting on a ride and we waited for an hour-and-a-half,\" said Marnell. \"When we got on, I couldn't latch the belts because I was too big and they had to ask me to get off.\" Devastated by the incident, Marnell says she broke down in tears and had a heart-to-heart talk with herself. Afraid that she might die before the age of 30, she was tired of being a \"fat mom\" and wanted to set a good example for her daughter. After the mental pep-talk, Marnell started her weight loss journey by joining a gym. She started by exercising in the women's-only section and ate a low-fat, low-calorie diet. After a few months, she'd lost 50 pounds. The weight loss boosted her confidence and she decided to try a water aerobics class which was a lot less stressful on her bones and joints. Over the next two years, Marnell continued taking group fitness classes, hired a personal trainer to get past a plateau and eventually lost 180 pounds. CNN I-Reporters share weight loss photos » . After reaching her goal weight of 120 pounds, she decided to start a new career as a fitness instructor and provides personal training advice on her Web site http://www.fitbyjen.com/. One of the most important lessons she's conquered is emotional eating. \"You've got to learn to talk through your problems instead of using food,\" Marnell says. \"An alcoholic can't just have one drink. I will never eat a Snickers bar because that is my one weakness ... the one thing I won't have.\" The weight loss has also helped her realize another dream -- being in the limelight. In January, she was featured on the \"Oprah Winfrey Show\" and in People Magazine's \"Half Their Size\" issue and will appear on the game show \"Don't Forget the Lyrics\" with Wayne Brady. She's also touring the country as a spokesperson for Gold's Gym and has just inked a book deal to tell her weight-loss story. Marnell says all of the recent attention has been a bit overwhelming but she's enjoying every minute of her new career and life. \"It's made life more exciting,\" said Marnell. \"I still feel like the same person on the inside, I have the same heart. But the outside, it's just enhanced the inside even more.\" What advice does she have for other people who want to lose weight? The toughest part of losing weight, according to Marnell, is staying mentally focused. She recommends taking \"baby steps,\" trying not to do everything at once or focus on how much you have to lose and joining an online support group. \"Learn to accept yourself for who you are,\" Marnell advises. \"It can be done ... it's not going to be easy -- but it can be done.\" iReport.com: Have you lost weight? Send your story, photos and video E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jennifer Marnell struggled with weight, emotional overeating most of her life .\nBy the age of 27, she maxed out at her heaviest weight of 300 pounds .\nMarnell lost 180 pounds through exercise and a low-fat, low-calorie diet .\nShe's now a fitness instructor and plans to write a book to inspire others ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Hope was 14 years old when her uncle raped her. Betty Makoni founded the Girl Child Network to help Zimbabwe's young sexual abuse victims. \"He trapped me to the ground and covered my mouth with his hand,\" said the 18-year-old from Zimbabwe. \"He threatened to kill me if I ever told anybody.\" So, she kept quiet. \"After a while people around the villages started saying that I looked pregnant,\" she said. Hope was not only pregnant, but her uncle had infected her with HIV. Like many young girls in Zimbabwe, Hope was the victim of a widely held belief that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin he will be cured of his disease. This so-called virgin myth, perpetuated by Zimbabwe's traditional healers, has led to the rape of hundreds of girls, according to UNICEF. Some of those victims are too young to walk, much less protect themselves. Betty Makoni has fought for nearly a decade to protect her country's young girls from sexual abuse. And she's witnessed some of the worst cases of the myth in action. \"The youngest girl I ever came across was a day-old baby who was raped,\" said Makoni, 37. Through her Girl Child Network (GCN), Makoni has helped rescue 35,000 girls from abuse -- including Hope; thousands more have found an empowering community and a public forum in which to speak out. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year . \"Ten girls per day report rape cases,\" she said. \"It means if we keep quiet, at least 3,600 girls per year may just be contracting HIV and AIDS.\" Makoni's own tragic experiences fuel her fierce determination. \"I was raped when I was 6 years old,\" she recalled. Her attacker was a local shopkeeper. Makoni said her mother would not allow her to report the abuse. \"She said, 'Shh, we don't say that in public,' \" Makoni remembered. \"I had no shoulder to cry on.\" Three years later, she witnessed her father murder her mother. In that moment, Makoni said she realized the potentially deadly consequence of a woman's silence. \"I told myself that no girl or woman will suffer the same again,\" she said. Believing an education would provide her the best opportunity and means to speak out, Makoni earned two university degrees and became a teacher. While teaching, she noticed that girls were dropping out of school at an alarming rate. She approached her students with an idea. \"I [said] to girls, 'Let's have our own space where we talk and find solutions,' \" Makoni said. Girl Child Network was born. Watch Makoni help young girls find safety and empowerment in Zimbabwe » . By the end of the first year, there were 100 GCN clubs throughout Zimbabwe where girls could find support. Makoni said she was not surprised: \"Every woman and girl identified with the issues that we were raising,\" she said. In 2000, she quit her teaching job to volunteer with GCN full time. \"I decided to become an advocate because I walked my own journey to survival,\" she said. The following year Makoni successfully procured a piece of land and opened the organization's first empowerment village, designed to provide a haven for girls who have been abused. Girls are either rescued or referred to the village by social services, the police and the community. The healing begins as soon as a girl arrives. \"In the first 72 hours, a girl is provided with emergency medication, reinstatement in school, as well as counseling,\" said Makoni. It is important to her that the girls are in charge of their own healing. \"It gives them the confidence to transform from victims to leaders,\" she explained. The process helped Hope work through the times when she said \"I thought my life had come to end.\" \"They offered all they could ... as I was in a traumatized state,\" she said. \"I really appreciate what [Betty Makoni] has done and is doing in my life.\" Today, GCN has grown to 700 girls' clubs and three empowerment villages across Zimbabwe. An estimated 300,000 girls have received assistance. For those who were at greatest risk, Makoni believes that help was especially critical. \"If my organization didn't exist, the 35,000 girls I've saved from rape and abuse could have died by now,\" she said. But for Makoni, speaking out came with a high personal cost. In 2008, she was forced to flee her native country. \"I left Zimbabwe because my life was in danger as a result of my project being interpreted politically.\" Watch Makoni describe her reasons for leaving her homeland » . Today, she lives with her family in the United Kingdom. She still serves as executive director of her organization and shows no signs of slowing down. GCN has partnered with the DOVE project, a group based in Essex, England, that deals with domestic violence. \"We are now bringing the girls from a local community to the international scene,\" she said. Her efforts in Zimbabwe will also be highlighted in an upcoming documentary, Tapestries of Hope. Makoni says nothing will end her fight for the rights of women and girls. \"This is the job I have always wanted to do, because it gives me fulfillment. And in girls I see myself every day.\" Want to get involved? Check out the Girl Child Network and see how to help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Many in Zimbabwe believe a man raping a virgin can cure him of HIV or AIDS .\nBetty Makoni's Girl Child Network cares for Zimbabwe's young sex abuse victims .\nThe organization has rescued more than 35,000 girls .\nVote now for the CNN Hero of the Year 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": "Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The bodies of three American contractors who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan earlier this month have been recovered, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday. The C-12 plane went down in the mountains of Nuristan province October 13, but the military withheld information about it until the recovery operation was complete, ISAF said in a statement. The crew were subcontractors working for Lockheed Martin, the company confirmed. A spokesman named two of them as Jeff Lehner, a former Air Force member working for Sierra Nevada, and Randolph Bergquist, a former Marine working for Avenge. They are not releasing the third name at the family's request. Thomas Casey of Lockheed Martin confirmed the third victim was the co-pilot and also worked for Avenge. The cause of the crash that killed them is not yet clear, but it is not thought to be enemy action, ISAF said. A helicopter sent to recover the remains October 17 itself made \"a hard landing\" that required the crew to be rescued, ISAF said. The helicopter was stripped of sensitive parts Wednesday and destroyed in place Sunday, ISAF said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "3 contractors killed when plane went down in mountains of Nuristan province .\nPlane, a C-12, crashed October 13; crew worked for Lockheed Martin .\nCause of crash not yet clear, but it is not thought to be enemy action .\nCrew of copter sent to recover remains had to be rescued after hard landing ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ann Arbor, Michigan (CNN) -- Even among the hundreds of applications, this one stood out. Most applicants to creative writing programs submit stories about the angst of their suburban childhoods. This writer's stories concerned the daily ordeals of a boy living with his family on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya, and the horrific plight of a Rwandan girl whose mother is Tutsi and father Hutu. Not only did the applicant have what writers call \"material,\" he was blessed with an uncanny ear for human speech and the poetry to describe his characters' very unpoetic lives. I can still remember the young Kenyan boy watching his mother decant the glue she intends to sniff. The glue, the boy tells us, \"glowed warm and yellow in the dull light,\" and when his mother had poured enough, \"she cut the flow of the glue by tilting the tin up. The last stream of gum entering the bottle weakened and braided itself before tapering in midair like an icicle.\" Still, this applicant gave us pause. The writer had so much to say, he seemed to be trying to channel a raging waterfall through the tiny funnels of two short stories. His use of punctuation was idiosyncratic, to say the least. And the applicant was a priest! Would the other students be willing to share their stories, rife as these tend to be with profanity, drugs and sex, if a clergyman was in the room? And would this particular clergyman understand what all great religious writers know -- that true literature doesn't spring from one's certainties about the universe, but rather from one's questions? That said, how could our students be inhibited by a classmate who didn't hesitate to describe a 12-year-old Kenyan prostitute being paid by rich white tourists to perform sexual acts with their monkey? As to the shapelessness of the applicant's prose and the eccentricity of his punctuation, anyone with this writer's gifts could be taught to structure his material and punctuate his characters' speech correctly. If I still felt apprehensive about having a priest in my workshop, that anxiety vanished when Uwem Akpan walked in the room. Rather than wear his clerical garb and collar, Uwem showed up in a blue and maize University of Michigan sweatshirt. With his wide, gap-toothed smile, wall-shaking laugh, disarming candor and gleeful giggle, he exuded magnetic charm. Nor was Uwem out of place for being the only Nigerian in his cohort. Despite what the judges of the Nobel Prize might say about American writers being too insular to compete with their European counterparts, this country's MFA programs provide one of the only spaces on the planet where writers of many races, religions, nationalities and sexual orientations can come together. Writers find common ground not through the homelands they once inhabited but the thematic questions with which they grapple. Early that first semester, I assigned a story by Philip Roth called \"Defender of the Faith,\" in which a Jewish sergeant who has witnessed the horrors of the concentration camps must decide whether to grant special favors to the Jewish recruits in his command or enforce strict impartiality. I didn't know whether Uwem would connect to Roth's quintessentially Jewish outlook. But the moment the discussion started, Uwem's hand shot up. \"This is the story of my continent!\" he declared. If Africans continued to put tribal allegiances above universal fairness, Uwem said, progress would remain unattainable. This abhorrence of tribalism is what makes Uwem so open-minded. Like most people who are comfortable in their own skins, he is wonderfully able to inhabit the skins of others. One semester, he audited a seminar on Holocaust literature. The professor had no idea who Uwem was, so she couldn't help but be surprised when he asked, \"Can you tell me, please, how is it that people can do such terrible things to one another?\" If anyone else had asked that question, the professor might have thought he was simpleminded. But she could tell that this mysterious stranger was asking his question in the most profound way, from the depths of his own experience. A few months later, Uwem accompanied me to my temple for the Jewish New Year. After sitting -- and standing -- for hours through the service, he commented that he had studied in the Bible how Jesus opened the scroll to read, but he had never quite understood how that worked, so it was beautiful for him to see how the Jews really did that. And he was happy to note what Catholicism had copied from Judaism. Just as Uwem opened his mind and heart to us, I opened my mind and heart to Uwem. An atheist with a degree in physics, I don't believe in prayer. And yet, when Uwem stopped by the evening before a frightening operation on my spine, I granted his request that he pray for my well-being. Startled by the warmth I felt flowing along my spine as Uwem held his hands above my head, I burst out crying. Of course, my colleagues and I never forgot why Uwem was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During his two years in our program, all of us worked hard to help him develop his many gifts. But mine was the first workshop Uwem took, and I saw his stories at their rawest. As I waded through the reams of rough drafts he had given me, it occurred to me that I had been called upon to help the children of Africa the only way I could -- by helping Uwem to write their stories. We talked about the need to focus each story around a single character's conflict and a single thematic question rather than attempting to convey everything Uwem knew about all his characters. I also urged him to allow his young protagonists at least a chance for freedom or redemption. Yes, the children whose lives he wanted to depict were the victims of adults who abused, exploited and betrayed them. But even in a society in which a child can be prostituted to provide her family's food and pay her brother's school fees, the prostitute's brother might choose to decline that money, to leave the family, to walk away. Uwem listened attentively, but I wasn't sure that he believed what I was saying. I didn't see another version of his story about the street family in Nairobi for several months. When I did, the hairs at the back of my neck stood up. That second version of \"An Ex-Mas Feast\" was so powerful and finely polished that I asked Uwem if he would send it to the deputy fiction editor of The New Yorker, whom I had met a few weeks earlier when the magazine brought its college tour to Ann Arbor. Uwem hesitated -- I didn't know this, but he already had submitted an earlier version of the story, twice, to \"The Editor\" at The New Yorker -- but I kept nagging him until he sent the new version. The rest, as they say, is history. The magazine accepted Uwem's story for its fiction issue. Then, a year later, it published a revised version of the story about the half-Tutsi, half-Hutu Rwandan girl. In many ways, Uwem's success makes sense. Even when he was studying to be a priest, he gave up precious hours of sleep to stay up writing. He applied to an MFA program and got accepted. His teachers recognized his extraordinary potential and helped Uwem to achieve it. And yet, much of Uwem's success is inexplicable. In a world in which so little attention is paid to children's suffering, a world in which fewer and fewer publishing houses remain interested in acquiring literary fiction and independent bookstores, even in college towns such as Ann Arbor, are closing their doors, the editors at every major publishing house in New York competed for the privilege of publishing a book that might not sell many copies but had shaken them to the core. And Oprah ... how could Oprah, who had never selected a collection of stories for her book club, choose a collection like Uwem Akpan's, with its multilingual patois, complete absence of pathos or sentimentality and nearly unbearable-to-read violence toward children? Yet all of this came to pass. Oprah respected her audience enough to assume that if she was so deeply moved by Uwem's stories, they would be moved as well. In choosing \"Say You Are One of Them,\" Oprah brought to Uwem's cause the intelligence and heart of her many readers. That any of this happened at all, let alone in five short years, is a literary miracle. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Eileen Pollack." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eileen Pollack: There was concern about Uwem Akpan's application to a writing program .\nShe says he fit in well and his talent soon became evident .\nAkpan's blessed with great talent for hearing people and with poetic writing ability, she says .\nHis book of stories about African children has been selected by Oprah's book club ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "PARIS, France (CNN) -- Interpol is chasing more than 200 leads on the potential identity of a pedophile suspected of molesting young boys, just one day after launching a global manhunt. Interpol has launched a global appeal to find this man, accused of abusing young boys. The organization, which facilitates global cooperation among police agencies, said its Web site logged 30 times more visitors than in an average day after it made its plea for the public's help Tuesday. Interpol is trying to locate a man who is pictured sexually abusing young boys in hundreds of images on the Internet. \"'The public's response has been very positive,\" said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings unit, in a news release. \"The smallest piece of information from anywhere in the world could be crucial in identifying this man.\" The man is featured in 100 photographs sexually abusing at least three boys between the ages of six and 10, Interpol said. The organization posted six pictures of the suspect on its Web site. The pictures came to light in 2006, when Norwegian authorities discovered them in the possession of a man they arrested. Watch a report on Interpol's man-hunt » . \"While these images were only discovered two years ago, we believe the photographs were taken between April 2000 and May 2001, so clearly this man will be older than he appears in the pictures,\" said Kvigne. Last October, Interpol disseminated pictures of another man whose face appeared in more than 200 images of sex acts with children. It dubbed its operation Vico, because the images were thought to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia. Ten days later, Christopher Paul Neil -- a 32-year-old Canadian man who had been working as an English-language teacher in South Korea -- was arrested in Thailand and charged with child abuse. Following the success of that operation, the organization's general assembly approved a resolution allowing Interpol to seek public help in child sex abuse investigations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Interpol chasing 200 new leads in global manhunt for serial pedophile .\nInterpol Web site logged 30 times more visitors than in an average day .\n100 photographs show man sexually abusing at least three boys aged 6 to 10 .\nInterpol issued appeal for first time in October, arrest made after 10 days ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The number of drug-related killings in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so far this year has reached 1,647, surpassing the death toll for all of 2008, a city spokesman told CNN. Police gather at the rehab facility where 17 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in early September. A spate of killings since the weekend, including 12 on Tuesday, pushed this year's death toll higher than the 1,607 recorded murders for last year, spokesman Sergio Belmonte told CNN. Killings in Juarez, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, began to spike in early 2008, when the Sinaloa drug cartel began a turf war with the Juarez cartel. In response, President Felipe Calderon sent federal troops to patrol the city. About 7,500 troops will remain in Juarez at least for another six months at the mayor's request, officials said. The army presence has helped curb the violent daylight shootouts that damaged the city's image and threatened its economy, but killings and reprisals among street-level dealers continue to mount, Belmonte said. On Monday, 635 new police officers graduated from the police academy and joined the ranks of a force that had been thinned by about 700 in the city's effort to root out corrupt cops. The police department is now up to more than 2,600 officers, Belmonte said. Another 400 cadets are expected to join the force in October. Officials hope that the larger police force, together with investments in police equipment and a new crime-stoppers phone system, will turn things around for the city. More than 5,100 have been killed in drug-cartel violence across Mexico this year, according to a tally by the newspaper El Universal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Killings since the weekend pushed 2009 death toll past 1,607 killed in 2008 .\nKillings increased as Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels began turf war in 2008 .\nIn response, President Felipe Calderon sent federal troops to patrol the city .\nMore than 5,100 killed in 2009 drug-cartel violence in Mexico, says newspaper ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military hopes to kill or capture some 50 Afghan drug traffickers with financial ties to the Taliban in an effort to shut down one of the insurgency's biggest sources of revenue, a U.S. Senate report says. Afghan men smoke heroin in the city of Herat on August 7, 2009. The new plan is the first time the U.S. military has been directly involved in anti-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan, and commanders say it is an essential part of the overall plan to stabilize the country, which is under heavy Taliban influence. Until now the U.S. military has left the eradication programs to other U.S. agencies and the Afghan military, keeping its \"most wanted\" list to insurgent leaders tied to bomb making, weapons smuggling or facilitating foreign fighters into the country. \"The change is dramatic for a military that once ignored the drug trade flourishing in front of its eyes,\" according to the report. \"No longer are U.S. commanders arguing that going after the drug lords is not part of their mandate.\" It does not name the 50 targets, but says they are on a list of 367 names of Taliban and other insurgents targeted by the U.S. military. \"Some\" of the 50 have already been apprehended or killed, according to a senior military official. The official would not quantify the amount further and would not speak on the record because of the sensitive nature of the issue. The yet-to-be released report was prepared by staff for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A copy was provided to CNN. It is based on testimony by U.S. military officials to the committee. Bush-era efforts by the United States and the U.S.-trained Afghan Army to eliminate poppy farms did very little to solve the problem, with numerous farmers' crops flourishing while other farmers were left with no source of income and bitterness toward the Afghan government, the report concludes. It criticizes former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for failing to push forward on a military role in drug eradication even after being shown proof of the connection between the drug lords and the Taliban. The change in the U.S. military's approach to fighting the drug war came last fall after the United States told NATO members that the drug trade was a threat to NATO troops because there was a direct connection between it and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. \"There is what we call a nexus of insurgency. There's a very broad range of militant groups that are combined with the criminality, with the narco-trafficking system, with corruption, that form a threat and a challenge to the future of that great country,\" then-U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. David McKiernan told reporters at the Pentagon last October. But with a new approach to the war by the Obama administration, the United States has started attacking the drug problem head on. According to the report, this year U.S. and NATO combat forces started attacking militants, drug labs and buildings connected to insurgents with ties to drug lords for the first time since the start of the war in 2001. Referring to people tied to narcotics and militants, the report says, \"The military places no restrictions on the use of force with these selected targets, which means they can be killed or captured on the battlefield.\" The Pentagon's spokesman said the effort is still focused on fighting terrorism. \"There is a well-established link [between] the drug trade and financing of the insurgency and terrorism,\" said spokesman Bryan Whitman. \"It's important to delineate that we target terrorists that are connected to the drug trade. ... Terrorist do interface with drug networks and we know they provide finance for the insurgency, and it's this nexus that creates the security and force-protection issues that make them a legitimate target.\" A major U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban was launched last month in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, home to the majority of the poppy farms and opium trade. The report says the Taliban make about $70 million a year on the drug trade. The report concedes that counter-narcotics alone will not win the war, but says slowing the flow of illicit money will play a crucial role in \"determining whether we can carve out the space required to provide the security and economic development necessary to bring a level of stability to Afghanistan.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Report: U.S. military pursuing 50 Afghan drug traffickers tied to Taliban .\nNew initiative strives to shut down big revenue source for insurgency .\nReport: \"The change is dramatic for a military that once ignored the drug trade,\"\nU.S., NATO forces now targeting insurgents tied to drug lords, report says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Army ground commanders in Afghanistan say they need help, fast. That's not a request for more troops, but a request from commanders who say the current camouflage uniform is not blending well in the diverse countryside. U.S. Army commanders in Afghanistan say the current uniform does not blend well in the countryside. In response, the Army later this month will field-test two new camouflage color schemes and patterns on about 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, where the terrain is extremely varied. Commanders have had problems there because of the numerous changes in environments a soldier can move in and out of in a short period of time -- from woodland to desert to alpine, and to rocky and snowy mountain tops. The current uniform, known as the Army Combat Uniform or ACU, has lighter shades of green and tan, which some commanders have complained does not blend well if soldiers need to stay motionless on a mission, as snipers or reconnaissance troops must. The effort by the Army was recently accelerated, according to Army officials, after U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, told the Army he had a number of complaints from soldiers in Afghanistan who said the current camouflage pattern was not effective in the mountainous regions. Two yet-to-be-identified battalions -- a battalion has about 500 troops -- will test the two patterns, with initial results being turned into Army researchers by the end of October. While deployed, all 1,000 soldiers will have their regularly issued ACUs. In addition, one battalion will also get one of the new camouflage uniforms with a test pattern known as \"MultiCam.\" The pattern is made up of numerous blobs of white, brown, tan, black and greens for a more woodland look, and is already being worn by snipers and special operations forces. The other brigade will test a similar pattern to the ACU, called the Universal Cammo Pattern-Delta or \"UCP-Delta.\" While the pattern is the same, a series of \"digitized\" blocks of green and tan, the test uniform adds what he Army calls \"coyote brown\" and a slight color darkening all around to the greens and tans. The look is also designed to blend in the woods. Both battalions will be based in eastern Afghanistan where the terrain is the most rugged and diverse, Army officials said. The Army hopes to have the field input and a decision on what pattern is best by the end of January 2010 and the fielding of the new uniform as early as June 2010. Troops will still keep the existing ACU, and commanders will be able to decide mission by mission what the soldiers should wear, according to Army officials. The testing is part of the Army's long-term development of a permanent alternative to the current ACU, according to Army officials." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Commanders say current uniform doesn't blend well in Afghanistan's countryside .\nArmy this month will field-test two new camouflage patterns in Afghanistan .\nArmy hopes to have decision on new pattern by the end of January 2010 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- As a journalist, as a human being, the stories of the people around you stick with you. Whether it is in passing memory or in daily wonderment, they are in your mind and many in your heart, engrained forever. CNN's Atia Abawi, center, with Banafsha (denim jacket) and her siblings and mother. The first story I worked on for CNN in Afghanistan back in November, just as we were opening our new bureau in Kabul, was on a girl who attended a school for street kids called Aschiana. Aschiana, which means \"nest\" in Dari, was a place for the nearly 60,000 street kids in the capital city to escape from their terrible reality and get an education. There, we met Banafsha, an 11-year-old girl who along with her two younger sisters would beg on the streets for bread, feeding their family of eight. Her mother would stay home and take care of her baby brothers and their father, she told us, was a heroin addict. Banafsha was young in age but her eyes told of experiences that have taken her far beyond childhood. In our conversations, she spoke with candor and honesty, not allowing emotions to creep in. Until when, she told me that she prayed everyday for a change in her life. Watch Abawi's first story on Banafsha » . \"I say, 'God take me out of this poverty and have my father go work so I can go to school,'\" she said, wiping away one lonely tear. The story received a tremendous response from viewers and readers after it was posted on CNN.com. An organization from the U.S. began to sponsor Banafsha, promising to provide for her. This was great to hear, but it didn't stop me from worrying. Did I bring her more trouble or was she going to be okay? Every time we would drive around the neighborhood, I would look for her to see if she was among the other street beggars. Were they suffering in the winter cold? Did they have enough food? About a week ago, I went to the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force with our cameraman Charlie Miller. As we were leaving, we met three little street kids, a sweet girl among them with a beautiful smile -- which made me think of Banafsha and her sisters. The sight of kids begging always breaks my heart because I know that their childhoods are forever stolen by poverty. I am also always scared to give them money because I remembered a story Banafsha told me about her little sister. She was given two dollars by an American, and when the American walked away, an older boy came and punched her 7-year-old little sister in the face, knocking her out. When she woke up, her money was gone. As we were driving away from those children and the smile on the girl's face, I shared the story with our driver and told him that I wished I knew how Banafsha was doing now. On our way home we decided to stop at a DVD shop, part of our limited entertainment living in Kabul. After making my selection, I walked out and I heard a beggar girl with a familiar smile on her face exclaim, \"You came over to our house!\" There was a girl next to her in a yellow dress also beaming with the same indistinguishable smile, lugging a bag of leftover pieces of bread over her tiny back. Watch Abawi reunite with Banafsha and her family » . It was Banafsha's little sisters: 10-year-old Samira and 7-year-old Tamina. I was so excited to see them and even happier that they recognized me. But I was at the same time dejected that they were still on the streets. They told me that they go to school but they still beg on the streets. However, Banafsha is at home and no longer begging. We went home with them because I wanted to see Banafsha and her mother. On the way to their house in the middle of a Kabul graveyard, Samira told me that her dad left again three days ago and they have no clue where he is. As Samira went to go get her mother, who was nearby at their grandmother's home, her little brother called Banafsha for us. She came out of a little room in the backyard, used for the wintertime. It holds what is called a \"sandalee,\" a table heated by coal that is used by the more impoverished in Afghanistan to stay warm in the torturously cold winter. Banafsha looked drained, her eyes heavy with burden. I heard a baby crying from the room she just left, which had to be her little brother Ajmal. If it was true that she was not begging anymore I knew she was still carrying the weight of her family on her tiny shoulders. She was wearing a denim jacket and new dress. The family told me that the organization that has promised to help has been there twice so far, bringing Banafsha clothes and some cooking supplies for the family. They said they were grateful for the help Banafsha was getting but there were still difficulties. Banafsha was quiet and didn't talk much, but she had her rare moments when a smile would creep out. Those moments were like a glimmer of light in a dark room to me. The entire family had that same smile, but it was Banafsha's and her mother's that were the most infrequent. As we were about to leave, I asked about their health and the mother said everything was fine except for something on Banafsha's arm. She pulled up her daughter's sleeve and showed us a thick forming rash. Banafsha told us it kept growing and it was itchy. Charlie pulled out his still camera and took a picture of it. He planned on showing it to a medical friend in the city for treatment. I did not want to say goodbye, but I also did not want to intrude anymore than we had. That day, seeing them, re-energized me in a way that I could not explain. In Afghanistan, you see a lot of misery, in the city of Kabul alone your heart sinks at every turn. The poverty, the destruction, the hopelessness and the loss of dignity for survival, is everywhere. You are grateful for what you have and how lucky you are, but you know it is not fair. Those feelings continue to weigh on your heart and mind, and they can add up. Some times you are strong about it, other times you feel weak. And as much as it pains you, you know you are lucky to see their lives, you know you have benefited from these people and from this place -- in ways you may never understand why." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Abawi meets Banafsha while doing a story about a school for street kids .\nBanafsha and her sisters beg on the streets for food .\nAbawi runs into Banafsha's sisters six months later .\nBanafsha receives some help from a charity, but the family is still struggling ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com. If you're struggling to find work, try applying for positions that are more obscure. Job seekers in today's economy are all familiar with the difficulty in finding a job. Adding to that difficulty is the fact that many job seekers are all competing for the same positions and job titles. Perhaps the secret to finding a job in this competitive market is by looking for work in a lesser-known field that not many people know about. Do such industries exist? Absolutely -- you just need a little help in finding them. U.S. News and World Report compiled their annual \"Best Careers\" report and this year, they added something new. They profiled 10 jobs that scored just below \"Best-Career\" level but, because they're little known, they may be easier to land a job. Here are 10 of the best-kept-secret careers, in alphabetical order, according to U.S. News and World Report: . 1. Accent-reduction specialist . What you do: Trying to understand and communicate with people who have heavy accents or poor English can be difficult and frustrating. Whether your accent is from Brooklyn, India or the Southern United States, accent-reduction specialists will work with you to communicate more clearly and effectively. What you need: A master's or Ph.D. in speech-language pathology, a state-issued license in speech-language pathology, or a specialty credential in accent reduction or ESL training. Salary*: N/A . 2. Casting director . What you do: You cast all of the actors in commercials, movies, plays, etc., from the leading role to the hundreds of extras. You'll schedule auditions, read scripts, talk to agents and help actors relax in their auditions. Casting directors typically work alongside directors and producers to find the right person for a role. What you need: No formal training is required, but experience is vital. Many start out as interns or in an entry-level position as an assistant in a talent agency or as a casting assistant. A background in arts, English, film or theatre is helpful. Salary: $42,333 . 3. Child-life specialist . What you do: In this rewarding field, you'll work with sick children and their families in hospitals, hospices or programs for children with serious diseases. You'll determine the medical and emotional needs of the child and support him or her, whether it's creating games and activities, helping to get them comfortable in their surroundings, or role-playing scary medical procedures. You'll also help support the patient's family. What you need: A bachelor's degree in a related field and one year of experience working with hospitalized children. Salary: $43,997 . 4. Creative perfumer . What you do: Without getting too technical, you'll mix several scented chemicals to concoct the perfect fragrance. It can take hundreds of trials and consumer testing to get it just right. What you need: A good nose, lots of patience, experience and an education at perfumery school. It takes about seven years to train as a perfumer, and about 10 years before you are considered a qualified perfumer. Salary: $21,791 . 5. Orthoptist . What you do: Orthoptists provide vision training for patients with correctable vision defects like a cross or lazy eye. They measure visual acuity, focusing ability and eye-motor movement, then work with ophthalmologists (eye doctors) to create treatment plans for the patient. What you need: A combination of over one year of directly related training and/or experience; two years of post-bachelor's training is typically required. Salary: $40,280 . 6. Orthotist/prosthetist . What you do: Help patients with partial or total absence of limbs by either creating a custom-designed orthopedic brace (orthotist), or designing and making custom-fit artificial limbs (prosthetist). What you need: A combination of over four years of directly related training and/or experience. Salary: $58,134 . 7. Program analyst . What you do: Also called a management analyst, you'd work in federal and local governments, providing information on the most effective way to carry out a project or procedure. The job involves gathering and analyzing lots of data, in addition to writing reports outlining the information you found. What you need: A master's degree in public policy is preferred, but a bachelor's degree and experience is standard. Salary: $63,610 . 8. Program evaluator . What you do: You'll evaluate several different programs, making suggestions about changes to make them better, or whether they should even continue. You'll switch programs every few weeks (or whenever you are done evaluating), so you'll get to work with a variety of clients, whether it's a nonprofit, corporate venture or a government initiative. What you need: A bachelor's degree is sufficient, although some evaluators have a Ph.D. from specialized training programs. Salary: $56,647 . 9. Prospect researcher . What you do: True to their job title, prospect researchers identify prospective donors who are likely to contribute to a cause. Typically employed by nonprofit organizations, you will find people who have donated to similar causes in the past and dig up detailed information about them to help solicitors maximize the donation. What you need: N/A . Salary: N/A . 10. Surgical technologist . What you do: Essentially, you will scrub into surgeries and assist surgeons, nurses or other operating room personnel by arranging equipment and supplies, placing patients on the table and handing the surgeon his tools. \"Scalpel!\" What you need: Training programs last nine to 24 months and lead to a certificate, diploma, or associate degree. Salary: $33,777 . *Annual salaries according to CBSalary.com, powered by Salary Expert . Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "U.S. News and World Report does an annual \"Best Careers\" list .\nThis year's list included 10 little-known jobs that have more opportunities .\nThe list includes positions like casting director and creative perfumist .\nEducation required ranges from a bachelor degree to highly specialized training ." } ]

[ { "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 German man is facing federal charges in the United States on suspicion of trying to extort money from supermodel Cindy Crawford and her husband, using a photograph of the couple's then-7-year-old daughter, court documents said. Edis Kayalar is charged with one count of extortion in a criminal complaint filed Thursday, according to Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. The photo, apparently taken as a prank by their former nanny, shows the couple's daughter bound to a chair, court documents said. Kayalar was deported to Germany from the United States in September after he had repeated contacts with Crawford and her husband, business mogul Rande Gerber. However, the complaint against him alleges, he continued to demand money from them. Federal prosecutors are in contact with German authorities on the matter, Mrozek told CNN, but as of Thursday night Kayalar was not in custody. If convicted, Kayalar faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison. Kayalar first contacted Crawford and Gerber in July, according to the criminal complaint. He told Crawford, who answered the phone, that he had a photograph of their daughter and wanted to help them out because he is a \"good person,\" the documents said. Crawford then handed the telephone to her husband. Identifying himself as \"Brian,\" Kayalar told Gerber he had a photograph of their daughter in \"revealing clothing, bound to a chair and gagged,\" according to the complaint. He said he had stolen the photograph from the former nanny and that he wanted to return it because it \"bothered\" him and he felt it \"just wasn't right,\" the complaint said. He told Gerber he wanted to give up the photograph so it would not end up in the tabloids, according to the documents. Kayalar told Gerber he had met the former nanny at a bar about three months before, when the woman still worked for the couple, and that he had been at her apartment and gotten Crawford's number from the nanny's cellular phone while the nanny was sleeping, the complaint said. The couple notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. In the affidavit, an FBI agent states that she reviewed the photograph, which depicts the girl, who has since turned 8, bound and gagged in a chair and wearing shorts and a T-shirt. The girl told her parents -- who did not know it had been taken -- that the former nanny took it as part of a \"cops and robbers\" game. Kayalar called again, arranging to meet Gerber at a bar in Venice, California, to return the photograph, the court documents said. He did not ask directly for money, but hinted that he was \"broke\" and would like a monetary reward for the return, according to the complaint. Gerber brought a sheriff's deputy to the meeting. During the meeting, Kayalar told Gerber he did not have the original image with him, saying he had left it with friends for \"security purposes,\" but showed him a copy he had saved on his cellular phone, according to the complaint. He told Gerber stole the photograph from the nanny's apartment along with a handwritten note saying, \"The baby sitter went crazy and tied everyone up and they need your help! Please.\" Gerber and the deputy then got Kayalar to call and arrange to meet the former nanny with them. When the former nanny -- who was not identified in court documents -- saw Gerber with Kayalar, she \"became extremely upset and began to cry,\" the court documents said. She apologized to Gerber and told him the photograph had been taken as a prank, and that she initially had planned to put the photograph and the note on the front door of the couple's home \"in order to pull a prank on Crawford\" but had not done so. On the way back to the bar, Kayalar repeatedly asked Gerber for money, the complaint said, saying that \"he could get a lot of money from the tabloids for the photograph.\" He said he would deliver the photograph to Gerber the following day. Gerber went to meet with Kayalar the next day in Malibu, later telling police he obtained a hard copy of the photograph from him and gave him $1,000 \"for his trouble,\" according to the court documents. But two days later, Gerber called police again, saying Kayalar called and demanded more money, saying he still had a copy of the photograph. During the Venice meeting, Kayalar told the sheriff's deputy he was a German citizen and that his true name was Edis Kayalar, the complaint said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found he was in the United States illegally, and he was arrested and deported. In November, Kayalar began calling the couple from Germany, however, saying he had no choice but to demand more money since they had \"gotten him deported,\" court documents said. He said he wanted $100,000 for not releasing or selling the photograph to the media. \"Kayalar stated that before, he had not committed any crime, but that now he was committing extortion,\" the complaint said. He provided them with German bank account information. Gerber asked for proof that he still had the picture, and shortly afterward received an e-mail with a copy of it. Authorities traced the computer used to send the e-mail to Stuttgart, Germany, the complaint said. Since then, Kayalar has made another attempt to obtain money from the couple, according to court documents, and Gerber stalled, saying he needed more time to get the money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Edis Kayalar, of Germany, charged in U.S. with extortion .\nMan used photo of Crawford's daughter in extortion attempt, authorities allege .\nCourt documents: Photo, showing girl bound to a chair, apparently taken by nanny for prank .\nMan claimed he stole photo from nanny, court documents say ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Nikolai Valuev will face Ruslan Chagaev in their much-anticipated rematch for the WBA heavyweight title in Finland on May 30. Ruslan Chagaev (left) lands a powerful left-hander during his win over Nikolai Valuev two years ago. The bout, at Helsinki's Hartwall-Arena, will be the first-ever heavyweight contest on Finnish soil, and will see a pumped-up Valuev going all out to \"settle the score\" against the only man to defeat him in a 51-bout career. Chagaev twice pulled out of scheduled rematches with Valuev last summer due to injury problems, prompting the WBA to vacate the title. Uzbeki southpaw Chagaev has been listed as 'champion in recess' ever since and -- as a result -- has to fight Valuev by the end of June in order to determine the undisputed champion. Valuev reclaimed the vacant belt by defeating American John Ruiz in August and defended his title against Evander Holyfield in December. \"The day has come to settle the score,\" Valuev told a news conference. \"I have been waiting for two years to make amends. Only a victory over Chagaev can put my mind at rest.\" Valuev bounced back with four wins on the spin following his loss to Chagaev in April 2007 but the Russian admits the only scalp that matters is that of the Uzbeki. \"I know everything there is to know about Chagaev,\" said Valuev. \"This is the fourth time I am actually preparing for a fight with him,\" he added, referring to the two postponed fights last year. \"Now is the time to end all this confusion. There will only be one WBA heavyweight champion after May 30 -- and that will be me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nikolai Valuev will face Ruslan Chagaev for WBA heavyweight title next month .\nThe May 30 showdown will be the first-ever heavyweight clash on Finnish soil .\nValuev looking for revenge after Chagaev won their first contest two years ago ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A jury sentenced an Arkansas man to life in prison without parole for killing a television anchor, officials said Thursday. The Pulaski County, Arkansas, jury on Wednesday convicted Curtis Lavelle Vance, 29, of capital murder, residential burglary, rape and theft of property in the October 2008 slaying of Anne Pressly, 26. Pressly, the morning news anchor for CNN affiliate KATV, was found beaten and unconscious in her home. She died five days later. Vance's sentencing phase began after he was convicted Wednesday of capital murder, rape and burglary. Jurors were tasked with deciding whether the aggravating circumstances in favor of the death penalty outweighed the mitigating circumstances. \"Tonight, they have come back with a sentence, a sentence that they believe, and we share with them, is the harshest possible sentence for this gentleman going forward, where he will now spend the rest of his natural life in a 6-by-9 cell with nothing to think about but what he has done,\" said Guy Cannady, stepfather of the victim. \"It's not until he's carried out of Tucker Max in a pine box will he really meet his true judgment,\" Cannady added, referring to Arkansas' Tucker Maximum Security Prison. He said he was not disappointed that Vance did not receive the death penalty. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said the jury gave Vance \"everything they could give him except the death penalty.\" Asked if there were too many mitigating circumstances, Jegley said, \"I don't know. I can't speak for the jury. Cases like this, all you can do is put 'em in front of 12 good people and ask them to follow the evidence and do what their conscience demands.\" Attempts by CNN to reach members of Vance's defense team were unsuccessful Wednesday and Thursday. \"There really aren't any winners tonight,\" Cannady said. \"Nothing that's been done here will ever bring Anne back. We'll never see her smile, we'll never hear her laugh, we'll never know the joy of her presence with us until we see her again in heaven.\" Among the defense witnesses presented Thursday was Vance's mother, Jacqueline Vance Burnett, CNN affiliate KARK reported. Burnett cried on the stand as she spoke about her battle with crack addiction and admitted abusing her son when he was a child, including an incident when he was 7 years old and she slammed his head into a brick wall, the station said. A doctor testified earlier Thursday that Vance had told him school was easy for him before that incident, but difficult afterward. Both doctors said they believe Vance has frontal lobe damage to his brain as well as cognitive impairment, according to KARK. Vance was linked to the killing through DNA, however, and police said at the time of his arrest last year they were \"110 percent\" sure he was guilty. He had given several statements to police, including one saying he was at Pressly's home and another admitting to her murder. Defense attorney Steve Morley told CNN affiliate WREG as Vance's trial began earlier this month that such evidence presented an obstacle for the defense, but said he hoped jurors could be persuaded to spare his client's life. KARK reported that jurors heard recordings in which Vance apparently confessed to beating Pressly with a piece of wood. Pressly's mother, Patti Cannady, told NBC last year her daughter fought hard for her life, breaking her left hand in the process. \"I found my daughter beyond recognition, with every bone in her face broken, her nose broken, her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it,\" Cannady said. \"I actually thought that her throat had possibly been cut. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke.\" DNA evidence has also tied Vance to a rape in April 2008 in Marianna, Arkansas, about 90 miles east of Little Rock, police said in December. CNN's Carolina Sanchez contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Curtis Lavelle Vance, convicted in slaying of Anne Pressly, faced death penalty .\nDoctors, mother testify about Vance's abuse as a child, possible brain damage .\n\"There really aren't any winners tonight,\" Pressly's stepfather says of case ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- Reports that Iran has sentenced a British embassy employee to four years in prison are \"deeply concerning,\" British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday. Hossein Rassam \"is a hardworking embassy official\" who was \"doing work that was wholly within the boundaries of diplomatic work,\" Miliband said at a news conference in Brussels, Belgium. The reported sentence is \"wholly unjustified and represents further harassment of embassy staff for going about their normal and legitimate duties,\" Miliband had said earlier, in a statement issued Wednesday. Rassam is one of several British embassy employees arrested in the wake of Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest the official results declaring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. Iran accused Britain and the United States of fomenting the unrest. Rassam was put on trial in August. The European Union, France and the United Kingdom denounced the proceeding. Rassam's lawyer has not officially been informed of the embassy worker's sentence, and he does not know where Rassam is, he told Iranian media. Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told the Fars News Agency that the terms of Rassam's bail did not prevent him from leaving the country. He said Rassam had been in Iran recently, but he did not know his current whereabouts. He said he could not express an opinion on the verdict before the court officially informs him of it, which he said normally happens after it is issued. The European Union condemned the reported verdict as \"unjustified and harsh,\" and urged \"the Iranian authorities to overturn it swiftly,\" the Swedish presidency of the 27-nation bloc said in a statement Thursday. \"Any action against one EU country (a citizen or member of embassy staff) is considered an action against the entire EU, and will be treated accordingly,\" the statement said. France also condemned the sentencing of Rassam. Miliband said he understood the sentence could be appealed and urged \"the authorities to conduct this quickly and overturn this harsh sentence.\" \"This will be seen as an attack against the entire diplomatic community in Iran,\" he said in a statement late Wednesday. The Foreign Office summoned the Iranian ambassador to London, and Britain's envoy in Tehran spoke to Iran's deputy foreign minister, Miliband said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "European Union, France and the UK denounced the trial of Rassam .\nRassam one of several UK embassy employees after unrest in June .\nThousands of Iranians protested the results of the presidential election ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- \"My One and Only\" begins with Renee Zellweger, playing a woman based on George Hamilton's mother Anne, discovering her husband with another woman. Renee Zellweger plays a woman based on George Hamilton's mother in \"My One and Only.\" Despite the initial heartbreak, Anne puts on a happy face, and Zellweger gives life to a character who's determined to make the rest of her years comfortable and adventurous. Her husband's indiscretion is the catalyst that sends Anne on a cross-country quest to find a new husband in 1953 America. She pulls her two sons out of school in New York City and the trio set off on an adventure by car. The tale has its roots in actor George Hamilton's young life. The film takes a look at gender roles of the time and how women were perceived. Much of the film gets colored in by the characters and their ever-present emotions (though Zellweger's fabulous frocks add plenty of color on their own). Zellweger, who won an Oscar for \"Cold Mountain,\" spoke with CNN about \"My One And Only,\" George Hamilton and the way she believes she is perceived. Watch Zellweger talk about playing Hamilton's mother » . CNN: What do you think of George Hamilton as a person now, knowing what he went through in his youth? Renee Zellweger: I think it's so fascinating. It was probably my favorite part of this experience, discovering that this was actually his life story. I mean, who knew? You have an idea about who a person is based on their public persona and the work that they've done. He's a spectacular actor, and his collection of parts that he's played and work that he's done is unbelievable. ... But to get to know him, he's so interesting. He's so clever, and he's very kind. Very kind. CNN: You're playing Hamilton's mother. Did he fill you in on what she was like? Zellweger: No. You know, that's what's so interesting about it. [Despite] being such a personal ... project that he worked on so closely with Merv Griffin for over a decade ... he didn't. He had great faith and he just kind of let us go, which was sort of unbelievable when you look back on it. It was really clear to me from what was on the page who she was. CNN: Did you like her? Zellweger: Very much. She's kind of doing the best she can, and she thought, oh everything's kind of a lark ... and things work out without your having to put your hands on it and make it happen. But she learns a different way and a more satisfying way to be involved in her own life, which is wonderful. So she sort of discovered that she could and gave herself permission to be in charge of herself. It was kind of a wonderful journey to watch. CNN: She was judged on her looks many times in the film. Have you faced similar situations, being judged on your looks and people not taking you seriously? Zellweger: Not in such an overt way. I'm not an actress who made her way based on physicality -- I think quite the opposite, in fact. I sort of disappear a little bit, with respect to my looks. I'm lucky. I'm not a standout, kind of knockout kind of girl that, you know, it's all about my great hair or something. But, in subtle ways, maybe. I mean, people presume to know you for something and respond to you accordingly, I'm sure. CNN: How was it stepping into the era of old Hollywood? Did you enjoy wearing the clothes from the early '50s? Zellweger: I loved it. I loved it. I had such a great time with it, and I brought a lot of my own things, actually. Things that have been given to me, things that I just would find while I'm traveling on the road but have no opportunity to wear. You know, junk store finds that I think are spectacular. We brought them in, spruced them up and made them costumes. It was really exciting; it was fun. CNN: Do you think you would have liked to work in that era? Zellweger: Oh, yes and no. Yes because the glamour of it all or the -- it feels like play to me. It's like playing dress-up all the time. And no because of the responsibility of having to maintain that immaculate presentation all the time would be exhausting. I think back on Marilyn Monroe putting those lashes on everyday, and I can't imagine, as I tie up my sneakers to go for a run. I cannot imagine that you're supposed to simultaneously look beautiful while you're going out to buy groceries. I just don't know that it would fit well with my personality. I don't know that I would succeed (laughs)." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Renee Zellweger plays character based on George Hamilton's mother in new film .\nZellweger says she's \"lucky,\" generally not judged on her looks .\nCharacter was a joy to play -- particularly the immersion in '50s era of clothes ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "New York (CNN) -- CNN's Lou Dobbs stepped down from his controversial role as an advocacy anchor at the network at the end of his show Wednesday night, saying he plans to seek a more activist role. \"Over the past six months, it has become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us, and some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day and to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible,\" Dobbs said during his 7 p.m. broadcast. Dobbs, 64, said he had discussed the issue with CNN President Jonathan Klein, who had agreed to a release from his contract \"that will enable me to pursue new opportunities.\" In a written statement, Klein called Dobbs \"a valued founding member of the CNN family.\" \"For decades, Lou fearlessly and tirelessly pursued some of the most important and complex stories of our time, often well ahead of the pack,\" Klein said. \"All of us will miss his appetite for big ideas, the megawatt smile and larger-than-life presence he brought to our newsroom, and we're grateful to have known and worked with him over the years. \"With characteristic forthrightness, Lou has now decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere. We respect his decision and wish him, Debi [Dobbs' wife], and his family the very best.\" Dobbs, who is the last of the 29-year-old network's original anchors, said he was considering \"a number of options and directions.\" He cited the growth of the middle class, the creation of jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change and the U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as \"the major issues of our time.\" But, he said, \"Each of those issues is, in my opinion, informed by our capacity to demonstrate strong resilience of our now weakened capitalist economy and demonstrate the political will to overcome the lack of true representation in Washington, D.C. I believe these to be profoundly, critically important issues and I will continue to strive to deal honestly and straightforwardly with those issues in the future.\" Read Dobbs' full statement about his departure from CNN . Those issues, he added, are defined in the public arena \"by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical forethought, analysis and discussion,\" and he vowed to work to change that. In an e-mail to CNN staff members, Klein described the parting as \"extremely amicable,\" and said Dobbs' replacement would be announced soon. Dobbs was with Cable News Network from its initial broadcasts in 1980, acting as chief economics correspondent and host of the business program \"Moneyline.\" His coverage of the 1987 stock market crash won him the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting. That was one of many awards he received while at CNN, including an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement that he received from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2005. Dobbs left the network in 1999 to found SPACE.com, a Web site devoted to space-related subjects. He returned to the network in 2001 as anchor and managing editor of CNN's Moneyline News Hour, which became Lou Dobbs Tonight. He also acted as lead business news anchor for CNN/U.S. and CNNfn, the forerunner of CNNMoney. During his second stint at CNN, Dobbs positioned himself as \"tough, relentless, independent,\" lashing out at what he described as the deficiencies and \"partisan nonsense\" of both major political parties, and injecting advocacy journalism into his coverage of topics ranging from free trade to immigration. His no-holds-barred, sometimes acerbic style brought him a loyal following, but also attracted controversy both to him and to the network, especially over the subject of illegal immigrants. Dobbs will continue as anchor of The Lou Dobbs Show, a daily radio show that began in March 2008 and is distributed to more than 160 stations nationwide by United Stations Radio Networks Inc." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dobbs, 64, said President Jonathan Klein agreed to release him from his contract .\nDeparture will \"enable me to pursue new opportunities,\" said Dobbs .\nDobbs said he was considering \"a number of opportunities and directions\"\nDobbs' no-holds-barred style brought loyal following, but also controversy ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- Army Secretary John McHugh ordered a new investigation into poor record keeping and other problems at Arlington National Cemetery even as a separate investigation ended without an absolute answer to who is buried in a grave marked \"Unknown.\" \"As the final resting place of our nation's heroes, any questions about the integrity or accountability of its operations should be examined in a manner befitting their service and sacrifice,\" McHugh said in a statement after signing the order directing the Army's Inspector General to begin an investigation into allegations regarding cemetery operations. The Army IG is already in the middle of an investigation ordered by the previous secretary of the Army to review management of the cemetery. In recent years, the cemetery -- where President Kennedy and thousands of fallen U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are buried -- has had a number of embarrassing problems. In 2008, the cemetery discovered that workers inadvertently buried cremated remains at a grave site already in use. Those remains were moved to another grave site. In 2003, as workers were digging a grave for a new burial, they discovered a casket already buried there. There was no headstone or grave marker to indicate who. Only recently, after a report by a journalist at Salon.com, did the Army take action on the problem. Over the summer, the cemetery put up a headstone on the mystery grave that reads \"Unknown.\" As McHugh ordered the new investigation, the Army released results of a separate investigation of problems at the cemetery. That investigation focused on the discovery of the \"Unknown\" grave. A spokesman for the Military District of Washington, which conducted the review, said \"Cemetery records, the MDW investigation, and the non-invasive geophysical analysis of the grave sites strongly indicate that a husband and wife, who died years apart and should have been buried in the same grave site, were instead buried in adjacent graves.\" A DNA test of the remains in the two adjacent graves could prove conclusively that is what happened, but the family of the husband and wife did not wish for their remains to be disturbed. The MDW said the Army will abide by the family's wishes and has ordered a headstone to properly mark the wife's grave. One of the problems discovered by the MDW investigation was a possible lack of adequate staffing at the cemetery. Last year Arlington conducted 4,377 burials, up more than 21 percent over the past 10 years. During that same period the number of civilian staff members has dropped nearly 19 percent. Currently the cemetery has four employees to schedule 135 to 150 funerals a week as well as maintain all grave records. Arlington, which sits on a hill across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, has been the final resting place for America's military heroes since the Civil War, when the Union seized the estate from the family of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. McHugh hopes this new investigation will \"ensure America's confidence in the operation of its most hallowed ground.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Army Secretary John McHugh orders inquiry into poor record keeping .\nPrevious investigation sought to identify remains in grave marked \"Unknown\"\nIn recent years, the cemetery has had a number of embarrassing problems ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince Charles has converted his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on biofuel made from surplus wine, his office revealed Tuesday. Prince Charles with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, on a visit to a whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland last month. The car was a 21st birthday present from Queen Elizabeth, and the prince has converted it to run on 100 percent bioethanol as a way to reduce his carbon emissions, his office, Clarence House, said. The prince has also converted his other cars -- several Jaguars, an Audi and a Range Rover -- to run on 100 percent biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil, his office added. Details of the prince's biofuel use were made public Monday in his household's 2008 Annual Review, which details the prince's income and activities over the past year. The report says Charles and his household reduced their carbon footprint by 18 percent last year after switching to green electricity supplies and reducing their travel-related emissions. Charles, 59, has a strong interest in environmental issues and rural affairs. He is active in environmental charities, and his food company, Duchy Originals, uses ingredients produced at his organic farm in Cornwall, southwestern England. The biofuels are converted and provided by Green Fuels Limited, a British company that previously provided biodiesel to power the royal train, Clarence House said. The wine used for the bioethanol comes from current vintage that remains after English wine producers reach the EU limit for annual wine production, a spokesman for Green Fuels said. The prince uses wine from a vineyard close to his Highgrove Estate, the spokesman said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Prince Charles' office reveals his car runs on biofuel made from surplus wine .\nPrince converted other cars to run on biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil .\nReport says prince's household cut carbon footprint by 18 percent last year .\nThe prince renown for strong interest in environmental issues and rural affairs ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Richard Blystone was CNN's senior correspondent in Europe throughout 1989, witnessing and reporting on the momentous events of that year from the first protests in the communist Eastern Bloc to the fall of the Berlin Wall and revolution in Romania. CNN's Richard Blystone reports from the former Iron Curtain in 1990. The following year Blystone traveled the length of the former Iron Curtain to report on the new Europe emerging from its shadow. Here he recalls how the the divided continent had simply become the only reality that most people knew. It was there. Like the stop sign on the street or the wastebasket in the corner of the living room. Like a long, long overcast day. Just there. Growing up in America the Cold War, the East-West confrontation and the prospect of Mutually Assured Destruction were so prosaic you never really thought much about them. You couldn't remember anything different. The situation seemed as immutable as the profile of the mountain tops or the patterns of stars in the night sky. And then, when I was 53, in the length of a football season, it was gone. If you're reading this online, chances are you don't remember and can't ever know what it was like in the days before the collapse of communism. There was \"Duck and Cover,\" a jingly film that showed little American children what to do in the event of nuclear attack. In later years, the black humor. Tom Lehrer's line about \"someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away.\" Nothing to get excited about. If you were male, the U.S. draft loomed ahead, promising to take anything from six months to four years from your civilian life. Maybe more than that if you were in the Korea or Vietnam age group. During the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, I was flying back and forth over the North Atlantic in a Navy patrol plane for 15 hours a day, not knowing what the hell was going on, trying not to dwell on the orders that could send us on a one-way mining trip to Murmansk Harbor if the balloon went up. For Germans and others along the line that divided Europe, the symbols of the threat of war were still harder to ignore. In Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968 Soviet troops had helped crush efforts to loosen Moscow's grip. But ignore them they did. \"We couldn't think about the wall, so we didn't,\" said the mayor of a West German village standing right on the border, when we talked to him in 1990. \"The bushes had eyes,\" West German border guard Ernst Wackernagel told us, describing the creepy job of patrolling a few yards from the binoculars and guns of their East German counterparts. Very few of the people we taxpayers paid to know about such things had any idea how close the collapse was. A couple of years before, the former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt had advised me tartly to quit asking whether Germany would ever be reunited. Not in his lifetime or mine, he said. When it came, we were all surprised we hadn't seen it coming. The Poles and Hungarians had been levering into chinks in the wall for years. The rulers of the Eastern Bloc were largely aged, ossified, inflexible and corrupt, and those who served them were all that plus scared. Their system was beyond repair. Along came Mikhail Gorbachev, the first Soviet leader born after the Russian revolution, who saw things as they were and was tired of pouring money into a clapped-out old car. He became a hero to young people in the East. Near the end of August, activists from East and West had celebrated a \"Pan European Picnic\" on the now-neutered border between Hungary and Austria. A few weeks later, the rush was on. CNN poured resources into the story. I was there, and will always be glad that I was. Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria. And finally, at the end of the year, poor tortured, abused Romania threw off the system in what I found the most emotionally charged days of the whole upheaval. But I was never satisfied with the way the West received it all. We had become used to instant gratification, and this was an example. The drama was over, the commercials came on, and world was supposed to live happily ever after. And it didn't. The whole experience made me realize that liberty is not a thing. It is a way of life. If you don't practice it, you don't have it. A couple of months later, three of us made a journey along the line to check on what was happening. We called it the Iron Curtain Odyssey. But that's another story..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Iron Curtain\" dividing Europe felt permanent to those who grew up after WWII .\nFormer senior correspondent Richard Blystone covered momentous events of 1989 .\nBlystone: East-West divide was \"like a long, long overcast day\"\nSoviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev recognized system was \"clapped-out old car\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Yue Minjun acknowledges that \"Execution,\" inspired by the bloody Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, is the most politically sensitive of his work. A section of Yue Minjun's \"Execution,\" which the artist shows how human conflict is worth laughing at . But while Tiananmen served as the catalyst, the oil painting should not be seen as depicting what happened at Tiananmen, the Beijing-based artist said this week through a translator in a phone interview. Billed by Sotheby's as \"among the most historically important paintings of the Chinese avant-garde ever to appear at auction,\" \"Execution\" had been tucked away from sight until now. Its owner bought it from a gallery in Hong Kong a decade ago under condition that the painting not be shown in public because of its subject matter, according to Sotheby's. On Friday, it went on auction in London, a highlight in a contemporary arts sale that also included Jean-Michel Basquiat's \"Untitled (Head),\" Mark Rothko's \"Untitled (Blue Divided by Blue)\", Andy Warhol's \"Jackie,\" Francis Bacon's \"Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne,\" and Damien Hirst's \"Adenosine.\" \"Execution\" would become the most expensive work of Chinese contemporary art at auction, selling for 2.9 million British pounds ($5.9 million). It eclipsed Yue's previous record, set in June when his \"The Pope\" sold for nearly 2.15 million British pounds ($4.37 million). The sale of \"Execution\" also comes on the same week another Yue piece, \"The Massacre at Chios,\" sold for nearly $4.1 million at a Sotheby's auction of contemporary Chinese art in Hong Kong. Stretching across \"Execution\" is a long red building, suggesting Tiananmen's gate outside the Forbidden City. Is the painting of Tiananmen? \"I want the audience not to think of one thing or one place or one event,\" he said from his Beijing home. \"The whole world's the background.\" The red building, he explains, is simply something that's familiar to him as a Chinese artist. \"As I said, the viewer should not link this painting to Tiananmen. But Tiananmen is the catalyst for conceiving of this painting.\" The background may make people think of Tiananmen because he is a Chinese artist. \"But it should not be,\" he said. Yue painted \"Execution\" in a month -- in 1995. However, \"it took me quite a long time for me to put the idea together.\" The big picture, he said, \"it's on the whole world's human conflict that is worth laughing about.\" Drawing references to Francisco de Goya's \"The Third of May, 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid\" and Edouard Manet's \"The Execution of the Emperor Maximilien of Mexico,\" the painting depicts a mock execution. Manet, it must be pointed out, modeled his painting after Goya's; and Yue's \"Execution\" mirrors both of those -- but with his trademark grinning clones, all likenesses of Yue himself. And the men in the position of being shot are shown in their underwear. \"People feel freedom, most themselves, at home in their underpants,\" Yue said. And whereas in Goya's painting, the man's hands are up in resistance, the men's hands in \"Execution\" are down. \"They are not fearing death,\" Yue said. \"The laughs illustrate my deep feelings,\" he said. The viewer will feel happiness but also fear toward the future and the unknown, a universal sentiment, he said. \"One might be very happy now but always unsure of what's going to happen next. \"I think Chinese and the world have similar feelings in this respect,\" he said. As for the main figures that dominate the right-half of the painting, they assume the position of holding the guns, but without the guns themselves. \"In my painting, they're pretending to hold guns, as if playing a game.\" The man on the far right, holding one hand to his chest and another by his waist, is a direct reference to the man on the far right-hand side of Manet's painting: In that, he is cocking a gun. Yue disagrees with the notion that his paintings are a veiled criticism of his government or of Chinese society, and he does not believe that this work will bring him trouble. \"I think the painting expresses my feelings. It's not a criticism,\" he said, describing himself as not having strong political leanings. \"I was trying to express my confusion over what I see.\" The world has similar problems, he said. Yue said he does not agree with being tagged a \"Cynical Realist,\" a term coined by leading art critic Li Xianting to describe China's post-Tiananmen generation of disillusioned artists. At the same time, he doesn't concern himself about what people call him, he said. That his painting has political undertones is inevitable, he said. \"I cannot recall any event that has shaped my political views, but politics is everywhere in Chinese life, like the meal you eat every day,\" he said. Of China, he said, \"I think it is full of hope, but there are a lot of difficulties, too. China has a long cultural history and also faces a lot of problems right now. Right now, people are not satisfied, but we can find our way out.\" Yue sold \"Execution\" to Hong Kong art dealer Manfred Schoeni shortly after painting it. \"It sold for about $5,000,\" Yue said. \"Probably not any cent would come back to me,\" he said of the millions his paintings now garner at auctions. Now 45, Yue said he learned about other artists through reading books after 1978, when China had begun to open itself up under new leader Deng Xiaoping's \"Open Door policy.\" The decade-long Cultural Revolution that had preceded made reading books an impossibility. And what is the meaning behind the cloned figures that bear his likeness in all his paintings? \"Because I want to be famous.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: \"Execution\" sold for $5.9 million, a record for contemporary Chinese art .\nYue: Tiananmen was catalyst for \"Execution,\" but painting does not depict it .\nThe big picture is, the world's human conflict is worth laughing at, Yue says .\nOwner tucked painting away from public view for a decade ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- In these cash-strapped times, you might well wonder why governments around the world continue to pour millions of dollars in to their respective space programs. Space exploration has produced a host of medical benefits including the ingestible thermometer pill. But one of the very important by-products of space exploration has been the adaptation and invention of medical equipment and technologies which are making individual lives better and in many cases saving them. Most people are familiar with temper foam -- perhaps the most famous of NASA's many medical spinoffs -- which started life protecting astronauts' posteriors in the 1960s and is now used in a host of products from mattresses to athletic shoes. It is surprising to note how many aspects of space exploration have played a part in helping scientists improve the health of nations. Who would have thought that analysing fluid flow around a Space Shuttle engine would help create a tiny heart pump? Or that a water purification device for astronauts could help patients suffering from kidney disease. And that the humble hospital thermometer would be transformed by measuring infrared radiation in the stars and planets?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Space exploration has provided us with numerous medical benefits .\nSpace Shuttle engines have influenced an ingenious heart pump .\nMeasuring infrared radiation of the planets has revolutionized the thermometer .\nNASA put the first men on the moon 40 years ago on July 20, 1969 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- An explosion that critically injured the chairman of the Arkansas Medical Board on Wednesday was caused by a bomb, police said. Dr. Trent Pierce was injured outside his home Wednesday, authorities and local media say. Dr. Trent Pierce was wounded when the car blew up in front of his West Memphis, Arkansas, home, authorities said. Earlier, police told CNN affiliate WREG that they did not believe foul play was involved. Pierce, a family practitioner who specializes in asthma, was flown to a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital in extremely critical condition, the station reported, citing police. The blast occurred at about 8 a.m. as Pierce got into the car, affiliate WMC-TV reported. Aerial footage from the scene showed the white SUV with its hood blown up and its front end extensively damaged. Medical board spokeswoman Peggy Cryer said the board heard Pierce was flown to the hospital but had no definite information beyond that. \"We do not know enough to give any kind of statement,\" she said. Callers to Pierce's office received an answering machine message saying the office is closed, but the call repeatedly disconnected during the recording, preventing messages from being left. Doris Davis, who works in an eye doctor's office next door, said Pierce's office staff is swamped trying to deal with patients who arrived for their appointments. FBI spokesman Jason Pack said agents were en route to the scene, along with personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The FBI is assisting local authorities in their investigation, he said. West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, are separated by the Mississippi River. Pierce was described as a pillar of the community in West Memphis, a small town of about 30,000 people. Davis said Pierce is well-liked, active in his church and is married with two adult children. She said the FBI was at her office and interviewed her boss, Dr. Eddie Bryant. Bryant is a close friend of Pierce's and went to medical school with him, Davis said. CNN's Kathleen Shahriari contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Police say bomb placed in doctor's car .\nDr. Trent Pierce described as pillar of community, well-liked .\nAerial footage shows Lexus SUV with its front end extensively damaged ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Rafael Nadal ended the Paris Masters run of defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday to help fellow-Spaniard Fernando Verdasco book his spot at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Tsonga needed to retain his title to deny Verdasco a place at the prestigious eight-man tournament later this month, but found Nadal far too consistent and fell to a 7-5 7-5 quarterfinal defeat. The world number two struggled in his first two matches, saving five match points against Nicolas Almagro before edging out Tommy Robredo, but his form was much improved on Friday. Tsonga dominated much of the first set with his blistering groundstrokes but could not take advantage of five break points and gradually Nadal took the sting out of his opponent before breaking in the 11th game. The second set took on a similar pattern, although the errors were more frequent from the home favorite and Nadal again broke at 5-5 thanks to a poor game from Tsonga. The 23-year-old confidently served out for victory and will now face third seed Novak Djokovic in a superb semifinal showdown on Saturday. Djokovic was a 6-4 1-6 6-3 winner against Robin Soderling, who would needed to reach the final in Bercy to have a chance of reaching the London finals. The Swede dominated the second set and created 14 break points on his opponent's serve during the match, but took only three of them. Serb Djokovic admitted he was not at his best and was relieved to reach the last four after a fifth successive victory over Soderling. He told Sky Sports: \"I'm very pleased to go through, it was a big struggle for me. Mostly I was fighting myself. In the second set I was not moving well and I was letting him control the match but in the end I managed to hold the nerves and focus.\" Nadal and Djokovic have met 19 times, with the Spaniard holding a clear lead at 14-5. However, Djokovic won their last encounter in Cincinnati in August for the loss of only five games." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rafael Nadal beats holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach Paris Masters semifinals .\nNadal will now face Novak Djokovic who saw off Sweden's Robin Soderling .\nTsonga's defeat means Fernando Verdasco is assured a place in the ATP World Finals in London ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Beijing, China (CNN) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao greeted U.S. President Barack Obama in China's capital on Tuesday, with trade and the thorny issue of North Korea expected to be on their agenda. The U.S. delegation was met by an honor guard at the Great Hall of the People, and Obama shook hands with Hu and other top Chinese officials before the two leaders went behind closed doors. It is their fifth meeting in the past year, and they made no public statements beforehand but are to issue a joint statement after their talks. The United States imports billions of dollars in Chinese products each year, while China is a major purchaser of the U.S. Treasury bonds that finance America's budget deficit. Facing a global economic recession, Washington and Beijing are in \"a mutual hostage situation,\" former Bush administration China analyst Victor Cha said. \"China needs to purchase these Treasuries in order to maintain a strong dollar. Otherwise, the value of their foreign currency holdings goes down dramatically,\" Cha told CNN. \"We need China in order to finance a lot of the deficit spending we're doing now. It's very much intertwined in a way that two countries in the history of international relations have not been intertwined.\" China is also an important player in the diplomatic showdowns over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea and holds one of five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council. China is North Korea's closest ally and has played a key role in the six-party talks aimed at convincing Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday found 71 percent of Americans consider China an economic threat to the United States, with two-thirds considering it a source of unfair competition for U.S. companies. The survey also found 51 percent of the U.S. public consider China a military threat, with 47 percent disagreeing. That 4-point margin is within the poll's 4.5 percent sampling error. But Obama told students at a town hall-style meeting in Shanghai that the two nations don't have to be at odds with each other. \"Our relationship has not been without disagreement and difficulty, but the notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined,\" Obama said. But he said there are certain core principles that all people must share -- including equal rights for everyone, a government that reflects the will of the people, open commerce, free access to information, and the rule of law. \"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation, but we also don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation,\" he told the gathering. The issue of human rights has often been a sticking point between Beijing and Washington. China regularly cracks down on its religious and ethnic minorities, keeps tight reins on the media and censors the Internet. Obama told the students that he is against censorship and is a believer in the free flow of information, calling it a \"source of strength\" in a democracy, despite the sting that sometimes comes with it. He told the students he welcomes a strong China, saying there are very few global challenges -- specifically referring to climate change -- that can't be solved if the United States and China work together. The town hall meeting was shown locally on Shanghai's Phoenix TV, but it was not broadcast nationally on any of China's state-run networks. The Xinhua news agency posted a translated running transcript of the event on its Web site. The United States also streamed the forum live on WhiteHouse.gov. Chinese censors did not block the event to those with Internet access. The final stop of Obama's trek is Seoul, where he will meet with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and deliver a speech to U.S. troops at Osan Air Base. Obama is on an eight-day journey that is taking him to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea. He'll return to the United States on Friday. The president left for China from Singapore, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and Association of Southeast Asian Nations economic forum. He met on the sidelines with world leaders, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Obama to hold formal talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing .\nNEW: New U.S. poll shows split on whether Chinese pose military threat .\nObama tells students free flow of info a source of strength, despite sting .\nUnited States imports billions of dollars in Chinese products each year ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon is blocking public release of photos apparently depicting abuse of suspected terrorists and foreign troops in U.S. custody, and urging the Supreme Court to dismiss a lower court ruling ordering the photos to be publicly disclosed, according to court documents. Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified the high court late Friday that he was issuing an order to block the release. The photos have been at the center of a years-long lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. Congress last month gave the Obama administration specific authority to prevent any release of the 44 photos. Afterward, Gates signed a certificate of authorization, or order, to prevent the photos' release, saying their disclosure would endanger U.S. troops serving abroad. The order covers all photographs taken of people captured or detained in overseas military operations between September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and January 22, 2009, shortly after President Obama took office. The Pentagon initially was set to release the images of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU. But Obama and the Justice Department objected to the court-ordered release, reversing an earlier executive decision. Obama had initially agreed to the release, but changed his mind after military leaders privately and intensely urged him to block it. The ACLU criticized the administration's about-face, saying it \"makes a mockery\" of Obama's campaign promise of greater transparency and accountability, and damages efforts to hold accountable those responsible for abusing prisoners. A homeland security appropriations bill passed October 29 by Congress and signed by the president grants the Department of Defense authority to withhold the photographs. The images were gathered as part of a military investigation into allegations that detainees held in Afghanistan and Iraq were tortured and physically abused. According to the government legal brief filed with the high court, several of the photos show \"soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees.\" Other images described by military reports show prisoners in restrained and humiliating positions. Military investigations led to criminal charges against some of the soldiers shown in the images. The photos currently at issue are separate from those first publicly released in 2006 showing abuse of Muslim men held at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September 2008 that the photos must be released. The president later said that doing so \"would pose an unacceptable risk of danger to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.\" Newest Justice Sonia Sotomayor had served on that appeals court until August, but was not involved in that particular case. The high court has delayed for weeks a decision on whether it would accept the ACLU appeal on the broader issues associated with government authority to block release of potentially embarrassing and inflammatory material by the military. The justices will now probably wait to hear from the ACLU over Gates' order before deciding whether to take the case. The Senate in May voted for the Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act, which would limit the reach of the Freedom of Information Act request in this instance. The House adopted a similar provision in October. Other photos could be released under the earlier appeals court ruling. The case is Department of Defense v. ACLU (09-160). Separately, the administration also urged the high court to dismiss a pending lawsuit by several Guantanamo Bay detainees, over their claims of torture and religious discrimination. A brief was filed by the Justice Department late Friday, the same time as the separate photograph disclosure case. Four British men, all Muslims and former detainees at the military prison at the Navy base in Cuba, had sued onetime Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon officials, saying they knew of and condoned physical abuse and denial of rights guaranteed under international law. A federal appeals court had dismissed the lawsuit -- the second one filed by the men -- saying the officials had immunity from such claims. But in June 2008, the Supreme Court allowed Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their captivity in federal court, and the justices in December urged the lower court to reconsider its decision against the British detainees. In the government filing, Solicitor General Elena Kagan told the high court to exercise caution in granting what she called \"new rights\" to detained foreign fighters suing for damages in a military setting. The high court, she noted, had previously told lower courts \"to pay particular heed to any special factors counseling hesitation before authorizing a new kind of federal litigation.\" The case is Rasul v. Myers (09-227)." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Documents show Pentagon urging Supreme Court to dismiss ruling ordering photos' release .\nDefense secretary says showing photos would endanger U.S. troops abroad .\nObama, Justice Department have objected to release, reversing executive decision .\nSeparately, administration wants Gitmo detainees' suit alleging torture, discrimination dismissed ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Hundreds of Egyptians took part Monday in the funeral of Marwa Sherbini, an Egyptian woman who was stabbed to death last week in the German city of Dresden in a crime believed to be racially motivated. Egyptians take part in the funeral of Marwa Sherbini, who was murdered in Germany last week. Sherbini, 33, was stabbed to death Wednesday in a courtroom as she prepared to give testimony against a German man of Russian descent whom she had sued for insult and abuse. The man, identified in German media as Alex A., 28, was convicted of calling Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, \"terrorist,\" \"bitch\" and \"Islamist\" when she asked him him to leave a swing for her 3-year-old son Mustafa during an August 2008 visit to a children's park. He was fined and appealed the ruling. The two were in court Wednesday for that appeal when Alex A. attacked, pulling out a knife and stabbing Sherbini 18 times. He also stabbed her husband three times and attacked another person. According to Arab media, police officers tried to intervene to end the fight, and a number of shots were fired. One hit the husband, who fell unconscious and is currently in intensive care in the hospital of Dresden University. Sherbini was three months pregnant at the time of her death. Hundreds attended Sherbini's funeral in Alexandria, Egypt, her hometown, among them government officials, including Egyptian Manpower Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi and Telecommunications Minister Tariq Kamel, Egyptian media reported. Many shouted hostile slogans against Germany and called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to take a firm stand on the incident. Egypt's grand mufti, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, demanded the severest punishment to be issued against Alex A. Berlin witnessed angry protests on Saturday, when hundreds of Arabs and Muslims demonstrated after a funeral prayer that called her killing an outrageous racist murder against Muslims. In a phone call with Al Arabiya, Marwa's brother, Tariq Sherbini, said, \"Extremism has no religion. My sister was killed simply because she wore the veil. This incident clearly shows that extremism is not limited to one religion or another and it is not exclusively carried out by Muslims.\" \"We are only asking for a fair punishment,\" he said, adding that his sister was not a radical. \"She was a religious woman who prayed and wore her headscarf, but she was killed because of her belief.\" Anger about Sherbini's death smoldered online, as Twitterers and bloggers pushed the cause. \"She is a victim of hatred and racism,\" tweeted Ghada Essawy, among many other Arab twitters and bloggers. Essawy called Sherbini \"the martyr of the veil.\" Various videos circulated on YouTube calling on Egypt to take action and urging Germany to address what their makers saw as a new wave of hatred against Arabs and Muslims in its community. One video showed various pictures of a young happy Marwa saying that \"The woman stood up for her rights and she was killed. May God bless her.\" The English font in the video presentation asked \"when will Egypt cares for its citizens' rights inside Egypt and abroad.\" Sherbini and her husband moved to Dresden in 2003, after the husband received a grant to study genetic engineering in the renowned Max Planck Institute. He was scheduled to present his Ph.D. thesis in the coming days. CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sherbini killed in courtroom as she prepared to give testimony against man .\nThe man was convicted of calling Sherbini a \"terrorist,\" \"bitch\" and \"Islamist\"\nMany Egyptians shout hostile slogans against Germany during her funeral ." } ]

[ { "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) -- We were scheduled to speak with Steve Martin just after his sound check for a concert in Los Angeles to benefit the city's public libraries. We pulled into the parking structure 45 minutes early when my cell phone rang. It was Martin's publicist. Steve Martin has been playing the banjo for decades. His new album is a collection of bluegrass tunes. \"Hey, where are you?\" she asked urgently. \"We're in the garage,\" I replied. \"Can you get up here quickly? He's ready.\" A musician ready early? There goes his street cred. Interviewing Martin can be like an awkward first date. Like many comedians, he's polite, but he sometimes struggles to make eye contact, gives monosyllabic answers and leaves the impression that he wants to be anywhere but talking to you. But when the subject is his new album, \"The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,\" he's chatty, enthusiastic and engaged. On the CD, the comic/actor/novelist/playwright/musician shows off his picking skills as well as his ability to craft witty bluegrass songs with titles such as \"Hoedown at Alice's,\" \"Wally on the Run\" and \"Late for School.\" It's been his passion for 45 of his 63 years. This past weekend, the ultimate Hollywood hyphenate made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. \"The Crow\" has received more than respectable reviews, but that's not surprising, given Martin's uncanny ability to excel in whatever he does -- except maybe idle chitchat. The following is an edited version of the interview: . CNN: People know you as a versatile artist, but now it's about the banjo and your bluegrass album, \"The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.\" Steve Martin: I did a lot of things when I first started out. In order to be in show business, I juggled, I did magic tricks, cards tricks and I played the banjo. CNN: You've been playing it for 45 years, right? Martin: Yes, I have. It's a long time, and I remember when I was going through a particularly difficult time of learning, I'd go, \"Well, if I just stick with it, one day I'll be saying, 'I've been playing for 40 years.' \" CNN: Picking up the banjo might seem likely if you grew up in the Appalachians -- maybe Kentucky or somewhere down South. But you grew up in Garden Grove, California. This is the O.C. Martin: There was a lot of musical activity in Orange County in the 1960s. There were the Dillards, and Doc Watson would come by, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, all these different players. I also had this friend, John McEuen, in high school, and he played, and he actually produced this album now -- 45 years later. [McEuen is a founding member of country-bluegrass group, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.] . CNN: Isn't John the one who taught you how to do an \"Open D\" tuning on the banjo? Martin: Yes, he did. CNN: See, I read your CD liner notes. [Both laugh] There's a cute little story in there about taking a photo of the three things you love most -- your wife, your dog and the banjo. Martin: Well, we all love more things that that. I just happened to take a photo, and there was my wife, my dog and my banjo, all in the same shot -- and I thought, \"Oh, that's like a family portrait right there.\" CNN: Sounds like your next Christmas card to me. ... You're playing a benefit for the Los Angeles Public Library. Martin: As you can see, it's sold out [gestures to an empty room]. ... You know, it's also a little bit sneaky, because doing a benefit takes the pressure off having to be so great. This is the first time I've really played banjo live as a concert -- ever. I mean, I've played a song or two, but I've never done a dozen songs, so I hope people will be forgiving. CNN: Are you nervous at all? Martin: I'm a little nervous. CNN: Really? A little butterfly or two? I'm surprised. Martin: No butterflies, but it's very different playing music onstage if you're not used to it. I mean, doing comedy is one thing. I used to get nervous on that, but I was very practiced. I'm as practiced as I can be. I'm performing with the Steep Canyon Rangers, a group I met in North Carolina. They're a renowned bluegrass group -- young men who play and sing really, really well. I'm lucky to have them. CNN: You've won three Grammys and an Emmy. You do all kinds of things -- a modern-day Renaissance man. Martin: Well, in a strange way, I don't have a job, so I have a lot of time on my hands. When I do work, it might be very concentrated, and it might be months where you're not really doing anything except maybe playing the banjo or writing something. You know, there's a lot of time in the day if you're not working 9 to 5. CNN: Writing books, writing plays, doing comedy, writing music? Martin: It's been a long life. CNN: So have you decided whether you're going to embark on a full-fledged tour? Martin: I'm kind of seeing if -- you know, I haven't really performed for a long, long time -- 30 years live onstage. You know, I've done things like host the Oscars and things like that. But it's a little different. You have to get comfortable, you really have to know what you're doing, and it has to be almost boring to you to be able to do it well. You have to be so confident. I need to get some shows under my belt just to feel really good about it. CNN: They always say comedians are the least confident people in the entertainment industry. Do you feel like you're not confident? Martin: No, I feel confident, but I know what they mean because when you tell a joke, it might last six seconds, and then you have to tell another joke. But a song lasts three minutes, and then you have another song for three minutes and you've killed six minutes. In that time, a comedian does 360 jokes. Might not be the right math but anyway. CNN: When you guest-hosted \"Saturday Night Live\" in January, you performed one of the songs on your new album -- which you immediately made available on the Web. Martin: It was an exclusive release on Amazon because I knew I was doing \"SNL,\" and I wanted the record to be available, and the only way you could get it available that quickly was electronically. And now it's out on Rounder in a more normal release now. CNN: Are you a big iPod guy who downloads stuff constantly? Martin: I do, a lot. I find a lot of songs that way. I use the Internet a lot to find music. I always download it legally -- especially my own songs. [Laughs] I think it's very important to keep that honor among yourselves. CNN: Who do you find a lot of your fans are musically? Are they people who have followed your career from the early days of \"SNL\"? Martin: I honestly don't know. It's too new. I don't know if there are any fans. I know that the record sold really well on Amazon, but you know there's a bluegrass audience for bluegrass music, and there's probably an audience that wants to see, \"OK, let's see if this idiot can play.\" CNN: Can you? Martin: We'll see tonight. [Laughs] I do have a record out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Steve Martin's new album is not comedy but features bluegrass music .\nMartin is an accomplished banjo player, often used instrument as prop .\nMartin just made debut at Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A proposal to house federal prisoners, including some detainees from Guantanamo Bay, in a largely vacant maximum-security prison would be an economic boost to struggling northern Illinois, state officials said Sunday. \"This is something that is very good for our state, it's good for our economy, it's good for public safety,\" Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters. Officials from the departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security and the federal Bureau of Prisons will visit the Thomson Correctional Center on Monday, the officials said. Quinn's office on Saturday said the officials would see whether the \"virtually vacant, state-of-the-art facility\" in Thomson, about 150 miles west of Chicago, could be of use to the Bureau of Prisons. If it is, the governor and other officials said Sunday, it could provide up to 2,000 jobs and up to $1 billion in federal money to the area. And Dick Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, said he believes the proposal provides a \"once-in-a-lifetime opportunity\" for his state's residents. \"There are other states that want to take these jobs,\" Sen. Durbin said. \"We've got to win this competition.\" Under the proposal, he said, federal officials have said fewer than 100 detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba would be housed in the 1,600-bed facility. They would be in a wing under the control of the Department of Defense, while the Bureau of Prisons would assume responsibility for the rest of the facility. The United States is asking other countries to house some of the Guantanamo detainees when the prison is closed, said Durbin, the Senate majority whip. But those countries are asking why America is not housing some of the inmates itself, he said, and use of the Thomson facility would demonstrate to them that the United States is willing to shoulder some of the responsibility. An Obama administration official said Saturday that as part of the conversion at Thomson, the Bureau of Prisons and Defense Department would enhance security to exceed those of the nation's only supermax prison -- the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado. No person has ever escaped from the prison. The Thomson proposal, first reported Saturday by the Chicago Tribune, triggered immediate concern from critics. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, whose district covers suburban Chicago, circulated a letter addressed to President Obama to Illinois leaders Saturday, opposing the possible transfer of detainees and saying that housing them in Thomson would turn metropolitan Chicago into \"ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization.\" As home to Chicago's Willis (formerly Sears) Tower -- the nation's tallest building -- \"we should not invite al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target,\" says Kirk, who is running for the same Senate seat once held by Obama. Durbin on Sunday pointed to the federal maximum-security prison in Marion, Illinois, which he said already houses 35 people convicted of terrorism, along with members of Colombian drug gangs and Mexican drug cartels -- \"some of the most dangerous people in America.\" \"They're all in our prisons, and they're all held safely,\" he said. And \"things haven't changed in Marion, Illinois.\" Those housed in the Marion penitentiary include Ali al-Marri, who is serving a sentence of eight years and four months after pleading guilty in federal court to conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda. The Thomson prison was built in 2001 and sat empty for five years because the state lacked the resources to open it. Despite being built as a maximum-security facility, it houses 144 minimum-security male inmates, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections Web site. \"After living in limbo for eight years, we're open to any and all alternatives for Thomson,\" said Jerry \"Duke\" Hebeler, Thomson village mayor. He estimated that the move would cut the county's unemployment in half. \"I'd never chase jobs if I thought it would jeopardize the security and safety of my neighbors and friends,\" Hebeler said. Quinn said that during the inspection Monday, \"We want to answer any and all questions that the federal authorities have.\" The Obama administration has vowed to close the Guantanamo facility, but acknowledges it is unlikely to happen by its self-imposed January 22, 2010, deadline. About 215 men are held there. They include alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who officials said Friday will be transferred to New York to go on trial in civilian court. The federal prison system houses approximately 340 inmates linked to international terrorism, including more than 200 tied to international incidents, another Obama official said. CNN's Jessica Yellin contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Proposal calls for using maximum-security prison in struggling northern Illinois .\nOn Monday, federal officials to visit facility in Thomson, about 150 miles west of Chicago .\n\"It's good for our economy, it's good for public safety,\" Illinois governor says .\nBut Rep. Mark Kirk says plan could make Chicago \"ground zero\" for terror plots, recruitment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A suspect was arrested Wednesday night in connection with the death of Little Rock, Arkansas, television news anchor Anne Pressly, police said. Anne Pressly, 26, was a popular morning news anchor at KATV-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas. Curtis Lavell Vance, 28, was arrested at a Little Rock home soon after investigators named him as a suspect. CNN affiliate KATV-TV in Little Rock reported that police were tipped off to Vance's location after investigators publicly identified him as a suspect at a news conference. \"We went there and he's in custody,\" said Lt. Terry Hastings, a police spokesman. Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas did not say what led investigators to name Vance as a suspect, but he said it was \"a very, very solid case due to solid detective work.\" Pressly, 26, was found beaten at her home in October. The KATV anchor had been beaten around her face and upper body. She died days later in a hospital. She had been sedated and unable to speak to police or family members, and suffered massive brain swelling, her family said. Her condition had seemed to be improving shortly before her death. Police earlier said Pressly might have been the victim of a burglary because her purse was missing. Her credit card was used at a gas station sometime this week, police said. Pressly's left hand was broken, possibly as she tried to fight off her attacker. During the investigation, detectives combed the area around Pressly's home in the Heights neighborhood, a mix of bungalows and mansions near the Little Rock Country Club. A $30,000 reward, established by KATV, was offered to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of Pressly's attacker." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Little Rock, Arkansas, police chief says he has \"solid case\" against suspect .\nCurtis Lavell Vance, 28, arrested late Wednesday in death of TV news anchor .\nKATV-TV anchor Anne Pressly was 26 .\nShe was severely beaten in her home, died days later at hospital ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A militia killed a ranger in a Democratic Republic of Congo park where authorities are trying to protect endangered gorillas threatened by civil war, the park said. Safari Kakule, a ranger at Virunga National Park, was killed Thursday in an attack by a militia, the park says. A Mai Mai militia attacked a ranger station in the Virunga National Park on Thursday night and killed ranger Safari Kakule, according to a news release from the park. Another ranger was wounded in the attack, and one of the rebels was captured, the statement said. The Mai Mai are community-based militias without specific political objectives, often involved in banditry and looting, the park statement said. \"It is not clear why the group attacked [the ranger station] but the attack went on for several hours during Thursday night and the rangers were heavily outnumbered,\" the statement said. Seven rangers were at the station when the attack happened, according to the statement. That area of the park is home to an isolated population of 18 endangered Eastern Lowland gorillas. The park also is home to about 200 of the world's estimated 700 mountain gorillas, the park has said. The Virunga park's Web site said 15 additional rangers have been sent to the park, where they will be \"strengthening the position, which we cannot abandon.\" \"Because of the arrest that the rangers were able to make, we have several leads on the perpetrators of the attack, who will be brought to justice,\" a statement on the Web site said. More than 100 rangers returned to the park's gorilla sector late last year after hundreds of rangers fled the area in 2007 because of fighting involving ethnic Tutsi rebels, the Congolese army and militias. Rangers and scientists were out of contact with the park's endangered gorillas for more than a year until rangers returned late last year, the park said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One ranger killed, another injured in attack by militia, park says .\nOne attacker captured; park says it doesn't know why rangers were attacked .\nPark in Democratic Republic of Congo is home to endangered gorillas .\nRangers are trying to protect gorillas threatened by civil war ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Wired) -- Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process. Seriously. Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company. Google announced the Gizmo acquisition on Thursday afternoon Pacific Time. Gizmo5's founder Michael Robertson, a brash serial entrepreneur, will become an Adviser to Google Voice. It's a potent recipe -- take Gizmo5's open standards-based online calling system. Add to it the new ability to route calls on Google's massive network of cheap fiber. Toss in Google Voice's free phone number, which will ring your mobile phone, your home phone and your Gizmo5 client on your laptop. ÿþ . Meanwhile you can use Gizmo5 to make ultracheap outgoing calls to domestic and international phone numbers, and free calls to Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo and AIM users. You could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on your smartphone. Then layer on deluxe phone services like free SMS, voicemail transcription, customized call routing, free conference calls and voicemails sent as recordings to your e-mail account, and you have a phone service that competes with Skype, landlines and the Internet telephone offerings from Vonage and cable companies. That's not just pie in-the-sky dreaming. Ask longtime VOIP watcher and consultant Andy Abramson, who introduced the idea of integrating Gizmo5 and Grand Central (now Google Voice), long before Google bought either. \"Google is now the the uncommon carrier,\" Abramson said, punning on the iconic 7-UP commercials and the phrase \"common carrier.\" That refers to phone companies that operate on the traditional publicly switched network -- a status that gives them benefits and obligations. \"If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is now 7-UP,\" Abramson added. \"All of a sudden you have something that offers more than Skype,\" Abramson said, saying the combo could now put Google in competition with phone and cable companies, IP \"telephony\" (VOIP) companies and Vonage. \"But now you can do everything with Google and pay nothing and have a platform where engineers can build new things.\" In fact, Gizmo5 offered a rogue version of that service for $6 a month until last week. On November 2, Gizmo5 abruptly canceled the two-month old \"residential service,\" which paired the free phone number available through Google Voice with Gizmo's Internet calling service to provide the equivalent of a home-phone replacement like Vonage. Now, that service has been wiped off the Internet and, more intriguingly, Google's cache of the page disappeared the day after the acquisition was reported. For $6 a month, Gizmo5 residential users got 300 minutes a month of outbound calling anywhere in the United States, unlimited incoming calls on their home computers or even home phones (using a broadband-to-phone network conversion box) and E911 service (which means 911 calls work like landlines calls do, once you register your home address). It's not too surprising that offer got taken down. For one Google is already trying to steer clear of U.S. regulators by making it clear that Google Voice isn't a replacement for a home phone since you have to have phone service from some other company to use it. You can forward calls from a Google Voice number to your Gizmo5 number, but you must have a mobile or landline number as well. Google doesn't say it, but clearly it hopes that restriction will keep the service from incurring the common carrier obligations attached to the regular phone system (PSTN), and the 911 and wiretapping requirements that apply to Internet telephony and to traditional copper wire phones. AT&T has already tried to sic federal regulators on Google Voice because Google is blocking outgoing calls to a handful of shady calling services mostly free conference-calling services that exploit federal rules that let rural phone companies charge high fees to connect calls to rural areas. AT&T itself has sued similar services that play this arbitrage game, and complaining to the feds may have only brought more attention to an issue the FCC has procrastinating fixing for too long. Gizmo5 will also help save Google money on phone-call termination fees as users start to use computer-based clients to connect to Google Voice. That would allow Google to recoup the purchase price of $30 million in little time, if only it saves even a few dollars per user per year. Google also gets Michael Robertson, a troublemaker with technical chops. Robertson made millions from MP3.com in the dot-com boom, despite drawing lawsuits from major record labels for creating innovative services. He was later sued by Microsoft for his startup Lindows, which made Linux installations for cheap PCs. And his current music venture, MP3tunes.com, is being sued by EMI. Though still in invite-only mode, Google Voice has about 580,000 active users and nearly 1.5 million registered users, according to a Google filing with the FCC. If you are interested in the combination, you might want to sign up for Gizmo5 before the acquisition is formally announced, since Google often freezes new registrations at companies it acquires until it figures out how to integrate the technology. Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here! Copyright 2009 Wired.com." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process.\nGoogle has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype .\nUsers could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on smartphones .\nConsultant: \"If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is now 7-UP\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lima, Peru (CNN) -- Peru will turn over to Chilean authorities all evidence into allegations that a Peruvian air force officer was spying for the neighboring country, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said Monday. Garcia ordered his foreign minister and justice department to hand over all details of the investigation so Chile could \"give the corresponding explanations,\" he said in a televised address. The alleged spying by Chile, Garcia declared, was the result of fear and an inferiority complex by the Chileans. He added that Peru will not let the incident become a full-blown crisis between the two nations. The suspect, Victor Ariza Mendoza, remained imprisoned at a maximum security facility north of Lima, authorities said. Two other Peruvian air force officers, accused of being collaborators, also were detained, as were two Chilean military officers who were alleged accomplices, CNN en Español reported. Mendoza could face charges of treason, which carry a minimum sentence of 25 years. News of the spy case caused Garcia to prematurely end a trip to Singapore for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Garcia and his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, had planned to attend a workshop Saturday with other world leaders, but the Peruvian leader canceled his agenda to return to Lima. Chile has dismissed the espionage allegations. \"Chile has nothing to do with this case,\" Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez told reporters after a meeting with his nation's ambassador to Peru. According to local media, the suspected spy once worked at the Peruvian Embassy in Chile and sold secrets to the Chileans since 2002, CNN en Español reported. Chile and Peru have a history of animosity, having fought in the War of the Pacific from 1879 to 1883. Hard feelings linger to this day. The two nations nearly came to war in 1975, when left-wing Peruvian leader Juan Velasco, who was backed by Cuba, wanted to invade Chile, which was led by right-wing Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The invasion was called off, and Velasco was deposed in a coup a short while later. Tensions rose again when Peru discovered a Chilean spy mission, but war was averted. More recently, tensions between the two South American nations flared in December after the revelation that Peru's top army general said at a party that Chileans in Peru would be sent back in coffins or body bags. Both countries said they would work to heal relations after the general's comments. Journalist Gisu Guerra contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Peruvian president says Chile spied on neighbor because of inferiority complex .\nPeruvian officials ordered to turn over evidence of espionage to Chile .\nSpy suspect, Peruvian air force officer, remains in prison north of Lima .\nChile has dismissed allegations ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Two Pennsylvania teens will serve time in a county jail for participating in a brawl that left a Mexican immigrant dead last July. Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak's joint trial began in late April in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania. Brandon Piekarsky, 17, was sentenced to 6 to 23 months, and Derrick Donchak, 19, received 7 to 23 months for their roles in the beating death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez. Judge William Baldwin ordered the two to report to Schuylkill County jail on July 19 to begin serving their sentences. An all-white jury convicted the two former high school football players of misdemeanor simple assault at trial last month and acquitted them of felony counts, including aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension -- charges that carried lengthier sentences. In fashioning his sentence, Baldwin acknowledged the severity of the attack, which left Ramirez on life support for two days before he died, but said he could pass a sentence only in accordance with the jury's verdict. \"This wasn't any fight, this was a group of young athletes ganging up on one person. That's not a street fight,\" Baldwin said, referring to the defense team's characterization of the confrontation as a \"street fight.\" \"You picked out a guy who wasn't one of you and beat the pulp out of him,\" Baldwin said. The incident divided the small, rural mining town of Shenandoah into camps for and against the boys as it became a flashpoint for racial tensions across the country. After the verdict, Gov. Ed Rendell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending that the Department of Justice pursue civil rights charges. \"The evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican,\" Rendell said. \"Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance.\" During Wednesday's sentencing, Baldwin said he was surprised that Rendell had chosen to speak out on the case and told the court that his sentence was not affected by the governor's letter. Fred Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he felt the sentence was harsh, given the circumstances. The judge could have sentenced the teens to probation under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines. \"I'm disappointed that the court exceeded the aggravated range and sentenced him to six months. Having said that, I'm glad we finally have some finality with this case,\" Fanelli told CNN affiliate WBRE after the sentencing. Baldwin heard from several teachers, coaches and family friends who testified that the teens were good kids who fell into a bad situation. They urged leniency so the teens could realize their potential as adults. Ramirez's longtime girlfriend and mother of two of his children read a statement in open court before an audience consisting mostly of the defendants' supporters. \"He was my one and only love, and they took him away from me, and they took my children's father,\" Crystal Dillman said. \"Now I have to live without my best friend and love of my life.\" The court also heard a prepared statement from Ramirez's mother, Elisa Zavala, who lives in Guanajuato, Mexico. \"I'm not the same person as before, now I feel a great emptiness within my heart,\" she wrote. \"There are moments in which I'm alone and I ask myself: What do I do now that I don't have my son? I feel that without him, I am no one.\" The judge also tacked on extra days to each boy's sentence for consuming alcohol earlier in the evening. For providing the alcohol to his friends before the fight, Donchak was also convicted of corrupting minors. Jurors found Piekarsky not guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors had said he delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground in the alcohol-fueled brawl, which occurred on a residential street in Shenandoah the evening of July 12. Prosecutors alleged that a group of teens, which included Piekarsky and Donchak, baited Ramirez into the initial confrontation after a night of drinking, hurling racial epithets at the undocumented Mexican immigrant. After the fight broke up, witnesses said Ramirez came back at the teens, who beat him so severely that, according to a medical testimony, brain tissue oozed out of his skull during surgery at a hospital. Jurors heard from several teens who witnessed the incident but did not participate, as well as one teen who pleaded guilty in juvenile court and another whose case is being handled in federal court. The testimony painted a picture of confusion, with several inconsistencies as to who did what. Defense lawyers argued that Ramirez's death was a street brawl gone wrong that was not motivated by racial bias. They also suggested that Ramirez was responsible for triggering the second confrontation. Advocacy groups condemned the verdict and sentences, and called on the Department of Justice to bring federal hate crime charges against the defendants. \"The meager sentences handed to the defendants today leaves justice gasping for further redress,\" said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Citing FBI statistics, Limon said that hate crimes against Latinos have risen 40 percent in the last five years and called on Congress to strengthen hate crime laws. \"The failure to hold these defendants responsible for their atrocious crimes denies justice not just to the Ramirez family, but also to the entire community by failing to deter similar crimes in the future,\" she said. Richard Cohen, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the case had troubling implications in the wider context of race relations nationwide. \"Since the year 2000, we've seen a 50 percent surge in the number of hate groups across the country, to a record 926 by our latest count,\" he said. \"The increase has been fueled by the same factor responsible for the rise in the anti-Latino hate crimes -- a backlash against the changing demographics of our country, a backlash fueled by politicians trolling for votes and pundits looking for ratings.\" CNN's Brian Rokus and Rose Arce contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Victim's girlfriend, mother speak out; groups condemn verdict, sentences .\nDerrick Donchak, 19, sentenced to 7 to 23 months for role in death of Luis Ramirez .\nBrandon Piekarsky, 17, gets 6 to 23 months for simple assault .\nDefense lawyers said assault was street brawl gone bad; no racial bias ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Living Golf's resident pro Adam Scott shows the tricks of the trade that have helped him conquer some of the world's toughest courses. Whether it is acheiving a better drive, improving approach shots to the green or tackling testing bunkers, Scott has the tips to help your game. Improve your game by following the Living Golf lessons every month on CNN.com ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Australia's Adam Scott tells Living Golf the tricks of the trade .\nImprove your game by following Scott's lessons each month ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The media has been abuzz since former Sen. and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted to an extramarital affair. Cubby Squires met John Edwards in 2007. He said news of the affair makes Edwards' political career \"nonexistent.\" Edwards told ABC News' \"Nightline\" on Friday that he had an affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter. The affair began in 2006 after Hunter was hired to make documentary videos for Edwards' presidential campaign. The scandal was a hot topic in the news, including among iReport contributors. \"I took it really personally,\" said Cubby Squires of Charlotte, North Carolina. \"I always thought John Edwards was different from the typical politician.\" Squires said there has been nonstop coverage of Edwards' affair in Charlotte. \"It just makes his political career nonexistent,\" he said. \"I really don't think he can get into politics again.\" Mike Daly of Santa Barbara, California, said he sympathizes with Edwards. Daly, who lost his wife to breast cancer six years ago, noted that Edwards had been facing a great deal: the loss of his child, a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and wife Elizabeth's diagnosis with cancer. \"These are real hard hits and perhaps he's crumbling,\" Daly said. iReport.com: Read Daly's opinions . Many iReporters questioned why the Edwards scandal deserves so much media attention. Carroll Byrd of Richmond, Virginia, described it as a \"nonstory,\" adding that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain deserves the same level of scrutiny of his sexual relations. \"[Edwards] is not a candidate for office now,\" said Byrd, a supporter of the former senator from North Carolina. \"I think something that happened two years ago should be a private matter between him and his wife.\" Read below to see a sampling of responses from iReport.com users, some of which have been edited for length and clarity: . iReporter jd1rymal: Good grief. ... He has an affair. Terrible. The shame, the agony of it all. I'm not talking about his moment(s) of weakness, but the blood in the water that the media are feeding on as if they were sharks. Get over it! Shellyta: No, I am not surprised by a powerful man having an affair. At least twice a year we hear about one of those. What amazes me is how in the world someone thinks that they can get away with something like this without thinking about the consequences. kardolfin: It is disappointing to hear that Edwards had an affair, but it's not the end of the world. He isn't the first person to do it and I'm sure he won't be the last. It is just a big deal because he was in the presidential race and that it is obviously a negative thing. I am disappointed in Edwards, but I don't think he is a bad person and I don't think it will destroy him. captain1944: Obama is in Hawaii, McCain is, as usual, taking the weekend off, and the Olympics are on. The media needs something to fill up airtime. Now CNN, please, this does not really need to be a 24/7 story. cgigante: I still believe in John Edwards' message. He was a true progressive candidate with a shot at winning, and it's a shame he'll now be sidelined over an indiscretion like this. Sure, it's no good that he was dishonest in his personal life, but I don't see how it has any bearing on his plans for economic equality and justice in the United States. JanaSagan: This affair in no way affects or concerns anyone other than the three adults involved. This should not even be in the news. We have no right to judge him or anyone else in matters of love. It is not a crime to fall out of love with one person and into love with another. Love is beyond our control. No one knows what causes love to begin or end. If we are trying to crucify him for this because of our moral Christian values, then we should also not cast stones on him or judge him. Leave him and his family alone so they can sort this out in peace and dignity. thebridge: From my perspective, John Edwards' affair does not diminish his capabilities or enhance his lack of capabilities as a leader or public representative or any other job other than being a husband. However wrong or immoral we may find cheating (and lying about cheating), the truth is that it does not necessarily reflect the other roles individuals have to fill. A great mother could also be a cheater or a great judge could lust after women 50 years his junior. That said, I think John Edwards is the same John Edwards -- politically -- that we knew before his affair hit the news." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Former Sen. John Edwards admits to an extramarital affair .\nMany iReport contributors question why Edwards' affair is a big news story .\n\"We have no right to judge him or anyone else,\" one iReporter says .\niReport.com: What do you think? Share your verdict on Edwards' affair ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Sunset) -- '\"I had such a crush on him when I was a kid,\" says my friend Didi Linburn, pigtails peeking out from beneath her pink ski helmet rather than the wool pompom hat she wore as a kid. I peer into the tiny ski shop at the Alta Peruvian Lodge and catch a glimpse of a cute guy in glasses behind the counter. \"No idea how old he is,\" she says, \"but I've seen him here every winter since I was 15.\" Didi and Jeff Linburn on the slopes . Twenty-two years later, and Didi and her teenage crush are still here? I've yet to even take a run down the powder white slopes, but I already sense that Alta, Utah, just might be as special as everyone says it is -- including my self-proclaimed \"Altaholic\" husband. Tired of not getting an invite to his annual \"guys' trip,\" and admittedly jealous about the other love in his life, I decided to tag along on Didi's annual father-daughter jaunt. And finally experience for myself this almighty Alta -- with just seven lifts (and not much else) spread across 2,200 acres of heart-pumping hikes and narrow chutes, chest-deep powder, and total lack of pretension. Skis slung over our shoulders, we walk out the weathered wooden door of the lodge, taking in a deep breath of fresh -- albeit thin -- mountain air. I'm instantly happy to be here at 10,550 feet, on leased U.S. Forest Service land at the resolutely un-corporate resort, where faded one-pieces outnumber Bogner jackets, chairlifts seat at most four across, and five no-frills lodges, scattered up Little Cottonwood Canyon, sleep 1,200 skiers, tops. Skiers. Not shoppers. Not ski bunnies. Sunset.com: Plan your trip to Alta . And, above all, not snowboarders. As the mountain motto goes, Alta is for skiers. During my stay, I see it flaunted on banners, baseball caps, bumper stickers. Alta is, after all, one of just three resorts left in the country that ban boarders, since Taos Ski Valley opened its slopes to all in March. Geared up, Didi, her dad, and I creep along in a bar-less triple chair, surrounded by nothing save blue sky and the towering peaks of the Wasatch Range. \"Same as it was in the '60s,\" says Geoff Linburn, who first came to Alta from California in search of what he'd heard was the best snow in the West. Back then, lift tickets cost $8, and there were only five slowly moving chairlifts, but apart from building a couple more and raising ticket prices to a reasonable $64, Alta remains Alta. Didi's dad smiles. \"Still the best snow in the West.\" A whopping 500 inches annually of light-as-a-feather powder -- and I can't wait to try it. But that will take some effort. Without a convenient tram to Alta's best terrain, the limited number of skiers allowed uphill work for every turn with an almost perverse pleasure. As a typically lazy, play-it-safe sort of skier, I'm intimidated. Is this really worth it? We hop off the Sugarloaf chair and onto a big \"dump\" (a record-setting blessing of snow) and join the parade of people inching their way, single file, up, up, up, and gliding precariously, over, over, over, only to climb again. Is this really worth it? I think to myself, sweating in the snow. I contemplate taking off my skis, but then I look up. \"Aw, it's a bootpacker!\" one guy yells at another fellow who's stomping with his skis on his shoulders rather than suffering the steep sidestep with everyone else. I press on, inspired by the unspoken camaraderie on the traverse toward Devil's Castle -- a wide-open bowl and depository of powder -- and the shared anticipation among strangers bound by a passion for Alta's almost guaranteed fresh tracks. Still, exhausted -- okay, panting really -- I stop and watch as the hard-core hikers keep stomping; my heart is pounding. I look downhill at the almost untouched powder and decide I've had enough hiking. Who needs the untouched stuff? Time to ski. After a blissful day on the slopes, the return to the Peruvian lodge is a comedown. The guest rooms remind me of my college dorm. There are shared bathrooms and a Ping-Pong table but no TVs. Still, the Peruvian, like all of Alta's lodges, has a 75 percent return rate. Sunset.com: Top 10 ski resorts . I'm honestly baffled, but by the end of dinner -- a slippers-acceptable, family-style affair, where a wine collector wearing turquoise sweatpants shares rare bottles he brought from home and our table swaps stories like old friend -- I start to understand. But, unlike most of the longtime guests, who remain fiercely loyal to \"their\" lodge, never venturing steps away to check out another, I'm curious and leave Didi a few nights later for Alta's Rustler Lodge, where things are a tad more civilized (read: pricey). Now I have a television and my own bathroom, and reservations are taken for the window-walled dining room, where the next morning, I overhear a waiter bellow \"Welcome back!\" to guest Roger Urban, who has been staying here since his bachelor days. He and his wife -- looking very '80s (like the lodge) in their matching rainbow-striped rugbys -- fuel up at the breakfast buffet, while their teenage daughter, Alexandra, heads out for a lesson with the same instructor she's always had. Meanwhile, I finish my eggs alone and realize that I miss the chaos of the Peruvian's hostel-like atmosphere. I slip on my skis and hop the rope tow to meet Didi for another day on the slopes. Alta never changes . From the chatter around the lift line, it's clear that it's not just the powder that draws people to Alta -- it's also the people themselves. Old college buddies, moms and sons, widows who used to come with their husbands ... everyone returns without question. Likewise, all the locals I meet say they'd intended to come out for a season and do the ski-bum thing. But before they knew it, 10, 20, 30 years had passed -- and they're still here. \"Alta just swallows you up,\" says Craig Dillon, Didi's ski shop crush, who, it turns out, is 41 and has lived here half his life. And so, because people never leave Alta, it's only natural that they grow old here. Not in the typical, canasta-by-the-pool way of growing old. Rather, Alta is like a real-life \"Cocoon,\" where the mountain is the fountain of youth. Senior passes start at age 80. Didi and I return to the Sugarloaf chair and ride up with an 86-year-old couple. \"Skiing is only getting easier!\" the husband says, beaming. \"Free tickets!\" says his wife. Inspired, I make a mental note to be just like them in 50 years. As we climb, once again, toward Devil's Castle, a father whizzes by with a tiny skier bouncing on his shoulders. \"Daddy? Are we at Devil's Castle yet?\" He hikes as far as possible, plops his daughter in knee-deep powder, and off she goes: a 4-year-old making fresh tracks. I watch, dumbfounded. And determined. I decide to hike out as far as I can. I want those fresh tracks, and this time I'm willing to work for them. Heart racing, legs aching, I reach the end of the ridge. I rest for a moment and then dip in. Flying solo through feet of untouched powder, carving near-perfect turns, snow spraying like the pros, I realize that I'm floating. This is it. This is why I've come to Alta. Sunset.com: Top 10 hotels for nature lovers . Later that evening, lounging around the Peruvian lobby after dinner -- with Scrabble, impromptu sing-alongs, nothing to face tomorrow but more fresh snow -- I get the feeling I'm continuing a tradition at risk of being lost forever to the fast-paced, froufrou world beyond Little Cottonwood Canyon. \"Everything changes in your life ... so much,\" reflects Leslie Johnson, who's been coming here every winter since 1982. \"Friends move on ... my family's homes have come and gone ... but Alta, Alta never changes.\" I get it. I'm hooked. Another Altaholic is born. Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright 2004-2009 Sunset magazine. All rights reserved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alta is spread across 2,200 acres of heart-pumping hikes and narrow chutes .\nThe resort is one of just three in the country that ban snow boarders .\nGuests at the resolutely un-corporate resort stay in five no-frills lodges ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- An elementary school teacher was arrested for punching an 8-year-old student in the face this month, Fort Lauderdale police said Tuesday. David Adam Grant is accused of striking an 8-year-old student at a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, school. David Adam Grant, 36, an art teacher at Sunland Elementary School, turned himself in to police Tuesday in connection with the November 5 incident, authorities said in a written statement. Police responded to a report of battery at the school, and \"preliminary investigations revealed that an 8-year-old student ... had been battered.\" Authorities allege that Grant \"hit the 8-year-old student around his left eye with a loosely closed fist, causing a bruise over his right eye,\" according to the police statement. Grant surrendered to police after detectives contacted him, the statement said. He faces child abuse charges. The incident remains under investigation, authorities said. CNN's Rich Phillips contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fort Lauderdale art teacher said to strike 8-year-old in the face .\nMan turned himself in to police Tuesday .\nSunland Elementary teacher faces child abuse charges, police say ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "New York (CNN) -- When US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River and all of its 150 passengers and five crew members were safely rescued in January, the landing of the airplane by pilot Chesley Sullenberger was quickly proclaimed the \"Miracle on the Hudson\" and dominated national news for days. A pilot who virtually grew up in airplane cockpits, writer William Langewiesche set out to analyze what happened in the five-minute flight of US Airways 1549, which lost power in both engines when it collided with a flock of Canada geese. His conclusion after writing a new book \"Fly by Wire\" -- there was no miracle. \"I'm sure Mr. Sullenberger himself wouldn't have used that word,\" Langewiesche said in an interview with CNN. \"There was no miracle. There was extremely skillful flying going on and skillful engineering in the background. You can include the flight attendants and the passengers. ... There was a lot of altruism, kind of a bravery, soberness. They were not hysterical, and there was no stampeding. \"Many good things happened, but they all related to the individual strength of the people involved. That includes [Bernard] Ziegler [the designer of the aircraft], Sullenberger, [co-pilot Jeffrey] Skiles and Patrick Harten, the air traffic controller -- he was as good as it gets, offering alternatives, the backing off of alternatives, staying cool.\" Langewiesche, international editor for Vanity Fair and author of six other books, was drawn to the story because it allowed him to use it as a window to tell the tale of the aircraft, the Airbus A320, a controversial plane built with digital controls that rein in pilots who exceed safe flying limits. \"Within the limits of physics and structural science,\" Langewiesche writes, \"Ziegler and his colleagues identified the wrinkles of conventional handling and mostly ironed them out. The result in the A320 is the product of a genius -- an airplane that is ... exquisitely wrought, a delight to handle, and extraordinarily easy to fly.\" It also allowed Langewiesche to describe the economic squeeze that has affected pilots as airlines have come under tremendous pressure to lower fares and reduce costs. Just one example described in the book -- Sullenberger had seen his salary cut 40 percent and his retirement pension destroyed through airline bankruptcies and cutbacks. Sullenberger, for his part, has been critical of Langewiesche's book, saying it makes too much of the aircraft's automation. In an interview with The New York Times, Sullenberger said, \"There are some situations where the automation will protect a pilot, but at the same time a highly automated airplane makes possible other types of errors, so it's a mixed blessing. And greater knowledge is required to fly a highly automated aircraft.\" CNN spoke with Langewiesche this week. CNN: What got you interested in the story? William Langewiesche: I realized that because this airplane is the A320, which is a revolutionary plane, not just any airplane, the story of the A320 is in many ways the story of the modern airline industry of the last 20, 30 or 40 years. CNN: How did you become a pilot? Langewiesche: My father was a well-known aviator and writer. I got my first flying job when I was 18; I worked my way through college flying airplanes. My father was a German immigrant, an anti-Nazi who came here before the beginning of the war ... who became a test pilot for the U.S. Navy. CNN: What's it like to fly an A320? Langewiesche: It all relates to flight control characteristics and how the stick feels in your hand. ... The attitude or the pitch of the airplane stays where you put it, it's an airplane that responds in an extremely docile manner to the control stick when it's flown by hand. ... The airplane was very controversial in the early 1980s, especially in France. The unions really resented it; it was because of flight envelope protections that kick in when the plane goes where a normal airline pilot will never go. ... The airplane will take over, and it will override the pilot, and philosophically that's a really provocative thing to do. CNN: Did the flight envelope protection kick in during the landing in the Hudson? Langewiesche: It was sort of a normal flight until the challenge of the flare itself, when the nose rises just before touchdown, that was a different flare for various reasons. For one thing it was done with no power, no thrust. ... Also the landing gear was up. So at the very end in the flare, in the last two seconds or three seconds, it went into alpha protection, it got into the protection zone. The airplane lowered its own nose. It happened so late in the flare that my gut feeling is that it was kind of irrelevant, that the inertia of the airplane was going to dominate the landing and so it probably doesn't matter. CNN: Sullenberger's flying ability was widely praised. Was that justified? Langewiesche: Of course, it's justified. The thing that was most important about it was the concentration he brought -- the intense concentration on what was important. Other people could have been distracted. It didn't happen in this case. He was intensely focused on making the right decision. CNN: What was the most important decision he made? Langewiesche: The decision he made to go into the water as opposed to trying to return to LaGuardia [Airport]. While in most simulations conducted after the fact, pilots were able to get back to the airport safely, he made the right decision. In the real world, that would have been an unacceptable crapshoot. Obviously, calling it a miracle is silly. In a way to use the word miracle is to insult what they did -- skilled flying in an extremely competent airplane. CNN: Why was the A320 so controversial? Langewiesche: The role of the pilot had been downsized. And with deregulation, the salary of the pilot had been downsized. So when this technology came in it was kind of coming in in that context. That's why the French saw it as such an attack on their professional future. There had also been a global shift in the industry to two-pilot crews. The flight engineer position had been eliminated through automation. The emotions that this airplane produced still linger. No one's going to be flying pilotless airliners anytime soon. It's technically possible, and the U.S. flies drones in Afghanistan ... but obviously that's not the future of airlines in a dense traffic world with the public aboard. CNN: Is automation the reason for the downsizing of pilots? Langewiesche: We're not looking at technology as the reason for the decline of pilots. It's because of deregulation. The public demands cheap tickets. There was a time, a glorious interval, when airline pilots were paid a lot of money and there was still prestige associated with the job ... but after deregulation everything changed. CNN: How important is the pilot to safety? Langewiesche: Pilots, of course, are central. Without the pilot, forget about it. The aircraft's not going to land itself on the Hudson River. In day-to-day operations the pilot is central to flight safety -- the relationship between that and salary is a whole different question. CNN: Should people be concerned about the effect of the lower salaries? Langewiesche: If you look at new pilots coming in now, these guys are as competent as the older guys, and they're being paid a lot less money. The standard correlation between how much you're paid and how good you are, I would question that. CNN: The book quotes a National Transportation Study Board study of the most lethal 50 percent of U.S. airline accidents from 1983 through 2000. It found that 86 percent of the occupants survived. Wouldn't most people find that surprising? Langewiesche: The problem is that the accidents that get the most attention are the ones that kill the most people -- with this one being an exception. CNN: What advice do you have for maximizing your chances of survival? Langewiesche: This thing we hear so repetitively -- it's actually the safety briefing on a plane, which is probably a pretty good guide to it. Where are the exits, how do the life rafts work; it's probably all a passenger needs to know. And by the way, airline accidents are very, very rare. Let's face it, airlines are extremely safe, specifically because of the contributions of the people involved in this success story -- the pilots, the engineers, the flight controllers, the flight attendants. These are the agents of the public's safety at work. CNN: Sullenberger has criticized your book, saying it places too much emphasis on the plane's automated systems. Langewiesche: There's no quarrel at all. The book elevates legitimately and correctly what Mr. Sullenberger and Mr. Skiles did as pilots. ... Without those two pilots in the cockpit, doing the job they did, people would not have survived. Clearly, they were flying a fly-by-wire airplane, and that's part of the story. I never imply that, had they been flying a 737, things would have been worse. That would be highly speculative and silly. I'm writing about what did happen. There's no argument here from my side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The safe landing of Flight 1549 was hailed as the \"Miracle on the Hudson\"\nAuthor William Langewiesche says there was no miracle .\nAuthor says the skill of the crew, engineering of the plane made a difference .\nLangewiesche: Airbus A320 is controversial, especially with French pilots ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "SHENZHEN, China (CNN) -- The white BMW Mr. Liu drives around this humid coastal city in southern China may be real, but the spiffy little black smart phone he carries with him is definitely fake. Phone clones: China's \"bandit\" mobile phone market is huge. \"But it has Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, FM radio, a digital video camera, hundreds of games, even a voice recorder,\" says Liu. \"And I invested over $500,000 to make it.\" Liu, a 31-year-old who studied fine arts in college and designs cigarette cartons on the side, is one of countless thousands here who've earned big bucks manufacturing \"gray market\" mobile phones, millions of which are not only being sold across China but also exported to dozens of developing countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and other regions around the world. \"They are everywhere,\" said Karl Weaver, a wireless evangelist and mobile device specialist for the Chinese handset ecosystem. \"You can find them in major department stores and malls, in back alleys and in underground markets. Everyone is selling them. It is really very entrepreneurial.\" In 2008, an estimated 150 million, or 20 percent, of the 750 million handsets produced in China were either counterfeit or off-brand phones, according to CCID Consulting, a market research firm based in Beijing. Of those, over 51 million were sold in China while the remainder were sent to foreign markets. Known here as \"shanzhai ji\", or bandit phones, China's gray market handset industry was virtually non-existent just a few years ago. While a handful of illegal companies produced black market mobiles, they often were of poor quality mainly because the technology needed to make them was hard to come by and even harder to master. This all changed in 2005 when Mediatek, a microchip design company from Taiwan, developed what experts call a turnkey solution -- a platform that integrated many complex mobile phone software systems onto a single chip. This made it much easier and cheaper to build handsets and churn out new models at astounding speeds. \"[Mediatek] basically commoditized the entire market,\" said Jonathan Li, founder of Shanghai-based technology design studio Asentio Design. \"They made it really simple and really cheap to make your own phone. Almost anybody could do it.\" The shanzhai business got another boost a couple of years later when the Chinese government relaxed regulations limiting the number of companies that could manufacture handsets, lowering the entry barrier for hundreds of entrepreneurs eager to have a piece of the world's biggest mobile phone market. \"It is so easy to do because this whole ecosystem is in China,\" said Weaver. \"It isn't so complex for a guy to figure out by watching how the global supply chain works in the mobile handset space to do his own thing.\" Small operations, big rewards . By 2008, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 shanzhai businesses had emerged, many with fewer than a dozen employees operating in offices sometimes comprised only of a back bedroom in a small apartment or basement of a private home. Some blatantly copy major brands, producing knock-offs with slight twists in their names, others come up with special makes of their own. Either way, the shanzhai phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by legitimate handset manufacturers. The gray market phones, which typically sell for around $100, have already driven down the prices of brand name mobiles and are beginning to take away their market share, too. \"You cannot compete with them. You can't,\" said an employee of Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies who spoke on the condition of anonymity. \"It is almost impossible to make a profit [from handsets] now because of shanzhai.\" Some manufacturers, like Nokia, say they are working with the Chinese government to crackdown on the counterfeiting companies as well as raise awareness about the potential dangers of the fake phones, some of which have had exploding batteries or expose consumers to abnormal amounts of radiation. \"We have a very good working relationship with the Chinese authorities,\" Lucy Nichols, Nokia's global director of intellectual property rights and brand protection, told CNN. \"They recognize this is an issue that needs to be addressed.\" Aside from also trying to highlight the risks of using shanzhai mobile phones, Beijing has yet to take serious steps to curtail the proliferation of the underground mobile phone industry. Some experts say this is because the companies involved in it blur the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate enterprises. Even though they may still partake in shady practices, such as evading taxes, avoiding safety checks and using pirated software, a growing number of bandit phone firms are becoming licensed, creating brands with nearly as much recognition as established domestic ones. And whether licensed or not, nearly all the grey market firms place orders with mobile phone component companies that work with major manufacturers as well, which keeps factories up and running especially as handset sales plummet amidst the economic downturn. Not just faking it . Many shanzhai companies have begun to move beyond mere copying and into the realm of creativity. Some have been developed to suit the needs of the local market, with two slots for SIM cards for businesspeople traveling between Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland. View the gallery of the phones » . Some have gimmicky appearances, like cigarettes boxes or watches, but others have special lights that can be used to identify fake money, large screens and keypads for the elderly or extra loud speakers for farmers who may not be able to hear their phones while working outside. \"This is an important way to cultivate grassroots innovation,\" said Jack Linchuan Qiu, a communications professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong who has studied the shanzhai industry. \"There is a lot of raw power in the development of these bandit phones that could be channeled into normal, productive creativity from the bottom up.\" Fierce competition among bandit phone firms continues to drive prices down while prices for more advanced technology continues to go up, causing many of the companies to close simply because they can't make the margins they did a couple of years ago. Thousands of shanzhai companies have disappeared in recent months or have moved into new areas of opportunity, making shanzhai laptops and digital cameras. Mr. Liu is now planning his exit strategy, too. He says he is not sure what he'll do next, but whatever it is, he hopes it will involve making lots of money. \"I am trying to realize a big dream,\" he said. \"But every success has a shortcut.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One fifth of 750 million mobile phones produced in China thought to be 'fake'\nNew microchip allowed phones to be made cheaper, better and develop new models .\nBig name manufacturers working with Chinese gov. to crack down on counterfeiting .\nDespite legal gray area, growing number of bandit phone firms are becoming legit ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN Student News) -- November 12, 2009 . Download PDF maps related to today's show: . • Brazil • Pakistan • Macon, Georgia . Transcript . THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. SUMAYA AHSAN, PAKISTANI STUDENT: He's like a legend to us because he saved our lives, our friends' lives. CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: We've got that incredible story coming up in just a minute. I'm Carl Azuz. CNN Student News starts right now! First Up: Executive Agenda . AZUZ: First up, a look at President Obama's executive agenda. Today, he's taking off for Asia, making a nine-day trip to the region to meet with world leaders and to take part in an economic conference. Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea. All of them are stopping points along the way. The president plans to talk about the importance of the U.S. and Asian countries working together on things like economic growth, climate change and the war in Afghanistan. That last subject, the war, is something he discussed with his war council yesterday. It was the latest in a series of meetings to review the U.S. approach to the conflict in Afghanistan. President Obama is said to be considering four options, some of which may include sending additional troops to the country. That's something that military leaders have requested and some Republican lawmakers have urged the president to do. In a recent CNN poll, 56 percent of people were against sending more troops, while 42 percent were in favor of it. Earlier in the day, President Obama took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. Just one of the Veterans Day events held around the country. He and first lady Michelle Obama walked through the cemetery's Section 60, where service members from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been laid to rest. During a speech yesterday, the president said \"to all who served in every battle in every war, it's never too late to say thank you.\" Is this Legit? RICK VINCENT, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? Brazil is the biggest country in South America. Legit! In fact, Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world, and it's home to nearly 200 million people. Blackout in Brazil . AZUZ: About 60 million of those people were left in the dark Tuesday night by a massive power outage. Officials say it affected 18 of Brazil's 26 states, including some of the country's largest cities. There's some uncertainty about what actually caused the power outage, but it's been linked to a hydroelectric dam. The power was back on in most areas by Wednesday morning. Unsung Hero . AZUZ: Pakistan is a country that's seen a lot of violence this year. Three weeks ago, suicide attacks at a university claimed seven lives. One of them was a janitor who had only started working at the school a week earlier. But his reported actions on that day have many people in Pakistan calling him a hero. Ivan Watson shares his story. (BEGIN VIDEO) IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, ISLAMABAD: 70-year-old Kurshaid Siddique makes this walk every day, clutching a photo of her son. Pervaiz Mahsi was killed on October 20th when a suicide bomber attacked the university cafeteria where he worked. Pervaiz was a janitor. He barely earned enough money to feed his family. Now, some people are calling him a hero. SUMAYA AHSAN, STUDENT: Now, he's like a legend to us because he saved our lives, our friends' lives. WATSON: 20-year-old Sumaya Ahsan and her classmates are also in mourning. The suicide bomber killed three of their friends in the women's cafeteria of Islamabad's International Islamic University. But if it wasn't for the janitor named Pervaiz, they say many more of their classmates could have been killed. AFSHEEN ZAFAR, STUDENT: If he couldn't stop that suicide attacker, there could have been great, great destruction. WATSON: On October 20th, a suicide bomber disguised in women's clothes shot and wounded the guard on duty and then approached this cafeteria, which was packed full of hundreds of female students. The café where this deadly attack took place is back open. This is the doorway where, by some accounts, Pervaiz Mahsi helped stop the suicide bomber from coming in and doing more damage. The explosion instantly killed Pervaiz. Who knows how many young women would have died if the bomber had gotten got into this room? Pervaiz's family lives here, in a house crowded with three other families. The family of eight people lives in this single room, sleeping on three beds. You all are Christians? MAHSI'S SISTER: Yeah . WATSON: They are members of Pakistan's Christian minority, one of the poorest communities in Pakistan. They had to borrow money for Pervaiz's coffiin, and now they're behind on the rent. Pervaiz's mother is inconsolable. From what we've heard, your son really helped save a lot of people and he's a hero. KURSHAID SIDDIQUE, MOTHER OF PERVAIZ MAHSI [TRANSLATED]: \"But my hero is dead now,\" she says. WATSON: The illiterate Christian man who saved the lives of so many Muslim girls is buried here, just a few feet from a muddy road in a garbage-strewn grave. The government of Pakistan is calling him a national hero. Ivan Watson, CNN, Islamabad. (END VIDEO) Word to the Wise . TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: A Word to the Wise... segregation (noun) the separation of people or groups, especially by race . source: www.dictionary.com . Together at Last . AZUZ: Segregation was a policy that was practiced in many schools across America before a Supreme Court ruling declared it unconstitutional. In Macon, Georgia, many students from the class of 1959 recently attended their 50th reunion. And they decided that while their schools were segregated then, they wanted to come together now. Brooke Baldwin takes us there. (BEGIN VIDEO) BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are the nametags, the nerves, the hugs of recognition. But a typical 50th high school reunion this is not. Instead, this luncheon marks the first time Macon, Georgia's classes of 1959 have sat side by side ever. BETTY WEBB-HAYES, 1959 GRADUATE, BALLARD-HUDSON HIGH SCHOOL: I grew up in a town for 50 years with all those people around and never knew who they were. BALDWIN: Betty Webb-Hayes knows. In 1959, the southern city's three public high schools -- Ballard-Hudson, Lanier and Miller -- were segregated. In the 1950s, Jim Crow laws ruled, and separate was supposedly equal. But as a Ballard Hudson alumna, as a young child, she says segregation was simply a way of life. WEBB-HAYES: We didn't find out that we were being discriminated against until we were in high school, until that high school teacher told us that we were living in a segregated society. We didn't know it. BALDWIN: Fifty years later, Lanier alumnus Tom Johnson, former CNN president and publisher of the \"L.A. Times,\" had an idea to close the five-decade gap. In a letter to Macon's three classes of 1959, Johnson wrote, \"It was a different world then. We were divided by policies, politics, and tradition. It is a different world today. We no longer are separated except by personal choice.\" That letter and several months of planning later, 210 members of the class of 1959 sat together at last. RUBY DEAN DUPREE, 1959 GRADUATE, BALLARD-HUDSON HIGH SCHOOL: Well, the old saying is better late than never. I could not sleep last night. So, it just means the world to me. It was just like waiting for Santa Claus to come. LINDA CARSTOFFEN GUGEN, 1959 GRADUATE, A.L. MILLER HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: I realized how much we actually missed, people that we could have known. BALDWIN: For this former class president, the gathering of old and new friends brings tears to her eyes, not just because of the symbolism, but for the empty seats, classmates whose attitudes on race 50 years later haven't changed. GUGEN: There are some people that still feel resistant to the idea and think that what we're pushing for is not a good thing. And I think we have to focus on the ones that were here today. I think those people went away with a changed heart. BALDWIN: It may have taken those people 50 years to come together. Unlike these old-fashioned photos, their story is no longer told in black and white. Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Macon, Georgia. (END VIDEO) Promo . AZUZ: CNN Student News has made an online upgrade! To check it out, go to the U.S. page on CNN.com, scroll down, and click on \"Student News.\" Or you can enter \"CNNStudentNews.com\" into your browser. Our redesigned site has all of the free materials you love: Daily Discussion questions, downloadable maps, our blog. Log on and check out our new look today! Before We Go . AZUZ: Before we go, some reputations are hard to keep. But Joey Chestnut -- the guy in the middle -- is up for the task. He's one of the world's top-ranked competitive eaters, and he showed off his skills, if that's what you want to call it, at this meatball eating contest. Chestnut gobbled up 50 meatballs in just 10 minutes, setting a world record along the way. The guy who came in second finished one meatball behind. Goodbye . AZUZ: A close loss like that has to be a punch to the gut. You guys have a great day. CNN Student News will see you tomorrow to close out the week." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Find out some topics that President Obama plans to address on a trip to Asia .\nHear the story of a late Pakistani janitor who is being hailed as a hero .\nVisit a class reunion that brought former students together for the first time .\nUse the Daily Discussion to help students understand today's featured news stories ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Are you one of the seemingly few Americans in the market for a car? There are more of you out there than you might think. Clark Howard: Before jumping at all the new car deals, think about the bigger picture of car ownership costs. CNW Marketing Research, a respected automotive marketing research firm, reports that 4 million used cars were purchased in the United States during the month of May alone. That's amazing when you consider that the market for new cars is 9 million in the United States over the course of an entire 12 months. Yet don't overlook the new car as a potential purchase just yet. New data from Comerica Bank's Auto Affordability Index shows that new cars are now the most affordable they've been since records started being kept in 1979. In fact, the average new car is now $1,700 cheaper than it was during the last quarter of 2008. And we've got more price cuts coming because of oversupply. As you probably know, I'm a used car guy, the self-proclaimed champion of driving a car until the wheels fall off. So I can't believe the advice that I am about to give ... but it's now possible to get a better deal on a brand new car than on a relatively new used car. Watch Clark Howard talk to a woman who learned what not to do when buying a used car » . It's really just a classic case of supply and demand. The used car market is up about 23 percent, and new car sales are down 34 percent, according to CNW. More new cars on dealer lots mean more deals for you. But realize this: It's just a temporary phenomenon. Do not take this blip on the radar as gospel for the future; in most instances, a used car will almost always be a better buy. Just not right now. When buying a new vehicle, you want to start by arranging your financing first. Go to your bank or credit union and prequalify for a car loan or apply online. This will tell you how much car you can afford and what type of monthly payment you will have to budget. Next, you want to get a price for the car you have in mind. In the past, I've talked about using CarsDirect.com to get a guaranteed quote. A car dealer then can do his or her best to beat that online quote and win your business. In some cases, the price from CarsDirect.com winds up being the best a consumer can get. But now there's a new kid on the block known as Zag.com. This service gives buyers instant guaranteed upfront prices from a network of certified dealers. It also offers an easy delivery process that helps you avoid \"the grind\" at a dealership. Do you know what \"the grind\" is? That's when you're at a dealer lot, and the sales representative says he or she will go talk to the manager about getting you the best deal. Instead they go watch TV for five minutes, and then come back and tell you that the manager couldn't help out with a good price -- despite their best efforts on your behalf. That's why sites such as Zag and CarsDirect are so appealing; they take you out of the car dealers' ballpark and put you on level playing ground. But before you jump at all the new car deals, take a moment to think about the bigger picture of car ownership costs. It's more than just the sticker price and the expense of gas. AAA reports that the true annual cost of owning and operating a car is $9,369. Ouch. That $9,369 takes into account somewhat hidden costs such as insurance, maintenance, interest on a car note, depreciation and other factors. Hey, maybe driving your current car until the wheels fall off is still a great idea." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Four million used cars reportedly purchased in the U.S. during May .\nAverage new car is $1,700 cheaper than during the last quarter of 2008, data shows .\nClark Howard: Arrange financing first to see how much car you can afford .\nAAA reports the annual cost of owning and operating a car is $9,369 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Do you need to borrow to fund a college education for yourself or your child? Be sure you're taking my \"Clark Smart\" approach to borrowing. Clark Howard: If a four-year college is too cost prohibitive, try a two-year institution at a fraction of the cost . Subsidized Stafford loans are the single best source of money you can borrow. The interest is picked up by the federal government -- courtesy of your fellow taxpayers -- while you're in school and for a six-month grace period following graduation. Once the loans go into repayment, subsidized Stafford loans taken out during the 2009-10 school year carry a fixed interest rate of 5.6 percent. The rate will be lower still at 4.5 percent for loans originating during the next school year, and all the way down to 3.4 percent the following year. There are, however, limits to the amount you can borrow. Freshman can get up to $3,500 annually; sophomores can borrow $4,500 each year; and juniors and seniors cap out at $5,500. Once you exhaust your subsidized Stafford stockpile, you want to move on to unsubsidized Stafford loans, which are now offered at 6.8 percent. Remember, though, to borrow as little as possible because the interest on these unsubsidized loans accumulates while you're in school. Watch smart choices when paying back the loans » . As a third option, parents can take out PLUS loans, which are issued at a fixed rate of 8.25 percent. Visit FAFSA.ed.gov to determine your eligibility for all these loan options. What's one type of loan you do not want to take out? Private student loans. Back in 2005, the private student loan industry used its political influence to gain the right to use any and all tactics (short of threatening bodily harm or actually causing it) in their efforts to collect money. In fact, private student loans typically can't even be dismissed in bankruptcy. Remember my rule of thumb when it comes to determining what level of borrowing you can comfortably handle: Do not take on a total loan amount that exceeds the likely first-year earnings in your field. If college is still too cost-prohibitive after you've gotten all the financial aid and loans you can, I'd love for you to think about starting your degree at a two-year community college. The cost of a community college can be as little as one-tenth to one-twentieth that of a private college, as I discovered when I researched schools with my eldest daughter. Let's say you decide to do your first two years at a community college. People often worry about the lack of prestige associated with these kinds of schools. But most employers only look at the name of the traditional college that issues your degree after you've put in your time at a community school. In fact, an employer might even prefer someone who worked their way through a community college and had to struggle financially. Doesn't that show more fortitude in a job candidate than the person who cruised through a 4-year college on the silver-spoon plan? And for those of you already dealing with paying off student loan debt, there's a radical change coming that I want you to know about. Effective July 1, an income-based repayment plan (IBR) became available to borrowers with Stafford loans and Grad PLUS loans. Under the new program, your payment will be based on your current income and family size. That means your monthly payment could be an unprecedented zero dollars if you qualify! Contact your lender to see if you qualify and to apply for the IBR. In addition to the IBR, other new provisions that went into effect July 1 include loan forgiveness options for certain workers. Nonprofit workers and some government employees are eligible for loan forgiveness after making on-time monthly payments for 10 years. If you work in the traditional for-profit sector, it will take 25 years of on-time payments before you're eligible for loan forgiveness. Visit LoanConsolidation.ed.gov for more information." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Interest on subsidized Stafford loans picked up by government while in school .\nNext best options are unsubsidized Stafford loans and PLUS loans with fixed rates .\nHoward warns against private student loans ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- As part of the investigation into the remains of 11 women found inside and outside the Cleveland, Ohio, home of a registered sex offender, police have turned to the self-described \"bug guy.\" Joe Keiper, curator of invertebrate zoology from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, started consulting with law enforcement in 2001. His job is to identify the bugs found on bodies and determine their age, to help police determine the \"post-mortem interval\": the time between death and body discovery. It's a grisly task but a useful one, as it can help police determine a timeline for deaths. Bugs \"can be the most important evidence when it comes to pinpointing a timeline,\" Keiper said, adding that bugs' sense of smell \"puts bloodhounds to shame.\" And in this case, with 11 deaths -- each with their own mystery -- bugs could play a huge role in helping investigators figure out how and when each of these bodies ended up at the home of Anthony Sowell, 50. From the beginning, Keiper was involved in the case of the remains found at Sowell's home. All the remains are of African-American women, police said. All that remains of one victim is a skull, wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed into a bucket in the basement. Police conducted an additional search at Sowell's home and an adjacent property Wednesday, Cleveland police Lt. Thomas Stacho said. Although \"various items\" were removed, no more remains were found, he said. Police had used ground-penetrating radar to analyze the properties. Sowell, who served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted rape, now faces five counts of aggravated murder, rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in connection with the deaths. Typically, Keiper said, he requires three weeks to a month to complete a report on one body, but in the Sowell case, he hopes to have an initial report completed \"before Christmas. ... It isn't going to be a three-week process.\" The difference between one bug and another can be \"minute,\" with some of them looking \"very similar,\" he said. But the minute difference can be huge in terms of bug species, as different species can tell very different stories about the time of death. For instance, there are only a few dozen species of flies in his part of Ohio, he said, but the presence or absence of each one can tell a story, since each has a different rate of growth in varying temperatures. Temperature will be a factor in this case, he said, because some of the bodies were found inside and others outside. Keiper said he'll need to determine what effect the bodies being \"hidden\" will have on the bugs he finds, as well. In research done with dead pigs, he said, bugs will cover the pig's face within an hour. Keiper said his job is to be \"meticulous,\" as any mistakes can disrupt an investigation. Preliminary information is generally not useful, he said, so he has not spoken to police or the coroner regarding any of his findings. Asked how exact his findings will be concerning time of death, he declined to answer, saying that would mean giving specifics on the conditions of the bodies when they were found. He said only that he believes he can do \"better than years\" in trying to pinpoint a time of death for each victim. \"This is a singular situation that I hope is once in a lifetime,\" he said of the Sowell case. \"This is something, for the sake of our society, I hope I never have to do again.\" CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Consultant identifies bugs found on bodies and determines their age .\nHe is helping police investigate remains of 11 women found in Cleveland, Ohio .\nHis work could help authorities establish timeline in case ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kennett, Missouri (CNN) -- A woman accused of cutting in line at a Wal-Mart, shoving merchandise and assaulting police officers will plead guilty to disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. Under the agreement -- reached after the jury received the case for deliberations -- Heather Ellis will plead guilty to disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. She will serve a year of unsupervised probation, attend an anger management course and serve four days in jail before the end of the year. The sentence stipulates that if Ellis stays out of trouble for a year, the charges will be sealed and the arrest won't be on her permanent record. Ellis said after court was adjourned that she was \"taking responsibility for her actions and [hopes] that everyone else involved in the case will take responsibility for theirs.\" Earlier Friday, Ellis, 24, took the stand and denied all charges in the racially charged case. Witnesses and police say Ellis cut in front of customers at a Wal-Mart in January 2007, pushed aside merchandise belonging to another customer to make room for hers on the conveyor belt and, after police were called to the scene, kicked one officer in the shin and split another's lip. The prosecution has also alleged the Ellis went \"ballistic in a profane tirade\" that continued when police officers arrived. Ellis, now a schoolteacher, denied all accusations against her, although she acknowledged in her Friday testimony that she touched another shopper's items on the conveyor belt. She was initially charged with assaulting police officers, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. Had she been convicted of those charges, she could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Ellis, then a college student with no criminal history, has said that some white patrons shoved and hurled racial slurs at her when she switched checkout lines. Store employees refused to give her her change and called police, she said. She said Friday that the incident began when she joined her cousin in the checkout line and was ignored by the clerk. She did not not cut in line and did not yell or use profanity, said Ellis, who has not spoken about the case outside of court. As she left the store, Ellis told the Dunklin County Circuit Court, a police officer told her, \"Look at this stupid bitch. Take your ass back to the ghetto.\" She alleged that an officer behind her forcefully grabbed her shoulder without telling her she was being arrested. She did not resist, but said her body was \"flung around\" by officers. She screamed loudly for help as officers \"choked\" her and pulled her hair, but she did not hit or kick them, she testified. Testimony from Ellis' cousin, who was with her at the Wal-Mart, and from her aunt, whom the cousin called as Ellis was arrested, backed up the young woman's account. Ellis said she saw a doctor after the incident because tight handcuffs had cut her and made her bleed. She said she also had a headache and neck pain from the incident. An emergency room doctor testified that he had seen bruises on one of Ellis' wrists, but did not see cuts or bleeding. He also said he did not see any neck or head injuries. Surveillance tapes from the store were shown in court Thursday and released publicly, but the tapes don't show much of the alleged confrontation. A camera from above the cash register appeared to show Ellis' arm shoving merchandise to the side on the register's conveyor belt. Another camera showed her being led out of the store by police, with her arm in the air. A third, from the parking lot, showed her being handcuffed and put into a police car. It appeared to show Ellis kicking backward at police, as authorities allege. Her defense maintains she did so after police had assaulted her. Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference have said the case is indicative of racial bias in the town, where 13 percent of the population is African-American. Black and Hispanic residents have long complained of being unfairly profiled during traffic stops by the predominantly white police department. When Ellis' supporters held a peaceful rally in June, officers found business cards scattered along the route that read: \"You have been paid a social visit by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The next visit will not be social.\" During another rally on Monday, a handful of opponents stood on the sidelines waving Confederate flags. Her lawyers have not brought up race as a contributing factor in the incident. Two years ago, prosecutors offered a plea deal under which Ellis would have received probation if she dropped her complaint against the police. \"She decided not to sign it, because she was taught to never admit guilt when you're innocent,\" her father has said. CNN's David Mattingly and Tristan Smith contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Ellis' permanent record will be cleared if she stays out of trouble for a year .\nHeather Ellis agrees to probation, anger-management class .\nPlea deal reached as jury deliberated .\nEllis testifies on her own behalf in racially charged case ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN) -- A Florida teenager attacked and set on fire last month, allegedly by five teenage friends, was undergoing skin graft surgery Friday, the first procedure in his recovery, a hospital spokeswoman said. Michael Brewer, who suffered burns over 65 percent of his body, will have his own skin transplanted onto the burned areas of his back and buttocks, said Lorraine Nelson, a spokeswoman at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center. Brewer will return to the intensive care unit after the surgery. He has been heavily sedated since the October 12 incident and on a ventilator until last week to keep him alive. He is listed in guarded condition. On Thursday, three teens accused of setting Brewer on fire pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, a public defender for one of the boys said. Each of the three -- Denver Jarvis and Matthew Bent, both 15, and Jesus Mendez, 16 -- is charged as an adult with one count of attempted murder in the second degree in the attack in Deerfield Beach, Florida. They were arraigned in Broward County Circuit Court before Judge Dale Cohen, and are being held without bond. Prosecutors say the three boys were in a gang that poured alcohol over Brewer, then set him ablaze in a dispute over $40, a video game and a bicycle. Gordon Weekes, Bent's attorney, denounced the fact that the teens were charged as adults. \"It's been decided by society that a 15-year-old can't vote, can't join the armed forces and cannot buy alcohol, because society has recognized that children do not have the ability to appreciate the long-term consequences of their actions,\" he said. \"But they can treat them as adults in court, when we have very capable remedies for them in the juvenile justice system, which is geared towards rehabilitation,\" Weekes added. The attorney said he and the other two public defenders plan to make separate motions to the court asking that their clients be allowed to post bond. Detectives say eyewitnesses told them that Mendez used a lighter to set fire to Brewer after Jarvis allegedly poured alcohol over him. They said Bent allegedly encouraged the attack. Authorities say that Mendez admitted setting Brewer on fire, and that he made a \"bad decision,\" according to an arrest transcript. Two other boys who were allegedly involved -- a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old -- have been charged as juveniles. Witnesses say Brewer jumped into the swimming pool at his apartment complex to put out the flames. Detectives with the Broward County Sheriff's Office have been unable to interview Brewer. \"We hope that we can maybe get a statement this week,\" sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal said. \"Detectives have been waiting for him to recover to the point where he's strong enough to give us a complete statement.\" Doctors say Brewer is improving but his condition is tenuous because of the severity of his burns and the possibility of infections. Most of his burns are on his back and buttocks; his face and hands were largely spared, doctors say. Brewer's doctor told CNN the teen faces several more months in the hospital, and will need multiple skin grafts and surgeries. \"They still have to perform several operations on him for skin grafting, but his parents are with him all the time,\" Nelson said. \"I don't tell him what happened,\" Brewer's mother, Valerie, told CNN affiliate WFOR-TV. \"I just tell him he's in the hospital and he's safe and he's getting better. \"And he'll say, 'Am I going to be OK?' And I say 'Yes, Michael. You're going to be fine. You're going to be just fine,' \" she said. Investigators believe Brewer owed Bent $40 for a video game. When Brewer did not pay, police say, Bent stole Brewer's father's bicycle. Brewer reported him to police and Bent was arrested, police say. The next day, the group surrounded Brewer. According to witnesses, the five boys called Brewer \"a snitch\" and set him on fire. The Brewer family told WFOR that none of the families of the accused boys have tried to contact them, but that it doesn't matter. \"We can't focus on it. They'll get theirs is all we can say. I don't focus on it,\" Brewer's father, also named Michael, told WFOR. If convicted, each of the three teen suspects could face up to 30 years in prison. A court-appointed psychologist who has examined two of the five boys allegedly involved in the attack told CNN they are competent to take part in legal proceedings and assist their attorney. \"I can describe both of them as being afraid, being fearful,\" said Michael Brannon, a forensic psychologist, without identifying the boys. \"I can describe both of them as being tearful at various times during the interview, especially when talking about the specific incident which led to the injuries of the victim.\" Psychologists are often brought into cases involving teenagers and young adults to judge their mental capabilities to determine their competency to proceed. They must determine whether the alleged attackers understand the charges against them, the court proceedings and potential sentences. Psychologists also must evaluate whether the defendants can talk about what happened and communicate effectively with defense attorneys. \"I don't think they expected to have happened, what happened,\" Brannon said. \"It's a horrible event that occurred, but this was not their conceptualization, in my opinion, of what was going to happen.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hospital spokeswoman says Michael Brewer having own skin put onto burned areas .\nBrewer, 15, in guarded condition, will go back to intensive care after procedure .\nMore surgeries to come; October 12 attack left burns over 65 percent of his body .\n3 of the 5 teens accused of setting Brewer on fire plead not guilty to attempted murder ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Forget Hollywood special effects or Impressionist paintings -- some of the most stunning images are created by the mysterious and often violent forces in the universe. The Butterfly Nebula is about 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Witness the handful of new snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, which was equipped with a new imaging camera during a space shuttle servicing mission in May. It's back in business and there's lots to ooh and aah over. \"Let there be no doubt, this is truly Hubble's new beginning,\" said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, during a news conference Wednesday. Take the image on the left of planetary nebula NGC 6302, also known as the Bug Nebula or the Butterfly Nebula. Its \"wings\" are made of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit and there is a dying star at its center. \"The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour -- fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes,\" NASA's Web site says. The \"butterfly\" is more than 2 light-years across. NASA took advantage of the special filters on Hubble's camera to isolate the light of different elements, said Bob O'Connell, chair of the science oversight committee for Wide Field Camera 3. The red in the image is nitrogen gas, for example, and the blue is oxygen. See some of the previous amazing images taken by Hubble . Colors are also prominent in the image of globular star cluster Omega Centauri, which contains almost 10 million stars, but the color contrast here is real. The gold dots are stars like our sun, but the blue ones are extremely hot, while the red ones are cool, O'Connell said. \"Just by looking at the color of the stars in the picture, you can sort them by temperature and evolutionary state because the temperature differences here are caused by differences in the internal structure of these stars and in the kinds of fuels they're burning deep inside of them,\" O'Connell said. Another image shows Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies -- some of which are 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Over time, those galaxies will eventually merge into a single big galaxy, O'Connell said. Finally, images of a stellar nursery as seen in visible and infrared light reveal the secrets inside the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away. \"This is a cloud of dense material which is being bombarded by intense radiation from surrounding stars,\" O'Connell said. \"But dissolve to infrared and the cloud disappears. ... An energetic infant star is being formed inside this cloud.\" Hubble is expected to continue its mission for at least five more years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hubble Space Telescope was equipped with a new imaging camera in May .\nNew snapshots show beautiful images from the universe .\nButterfly Nebula is more than 2 light-years across .\nStar cluster Omega Centauri contains millions of colorful stars ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The Iranian government has blocked access to the social networking site Facebook amid political jockeying for the June 12 presidential elections, according to the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency. Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad like Mir Hossein Mousavi are using technology to reach voters. Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi -- a former prime minister considered a threat to current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- created a Facebook page for his campaign that has more than 5,000 supporters on the site. Those attempting to visit Facebook received a message in Farsi saying, \"Access to this site is not possible,\" according to CNN personnel in Tehran. ILNA reported the Masadiq Committee, made up of representatives from Iran's intelligence ministry, judiciary and others had ordered the action. After a few hours, the blockage was lifted, but was then reinstated, ILNA said. No reason was given for the block. \"We are disappointed to learn of reports that users in Iran may not have access to Facebook, especially at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions,\" a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. \"We believe that people around the world should be able to use Facebook to communicate and share information with their friends, family and co-workers. It is always a shame when a country's cultural and political concerns lead to limits being placed on the opportunity for sharing and expression that the Internet provides.\" Ahmadinejad's challengers are increasingly turning to new technology to spread their message, according to a May 13 article in the Financial Times newspaper. Iran's population -- estimated at more than 66 million by July 2009, according to the CIA World Factbook -- has a median age of 27. The Financial Times, which put the country's population at 70 million, said 47 million Iranians have cell phones and 21 million have Internet access. \"We are using new technologies because they have the capacity to be multiplied by people themselves who can forward Bluetooth, e-mails and text messages and invite more supporters on Facebook,\" Behzad Mortazavi, head of Mousavi's campaign committee, told the Financial Times. At a Mousavi rally at a stadium Saturday, the Facebook blockage was a topic of conversation among reporters. Many said they had accessed Facebook on Friday night and believe the site was blocked Saturday morning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Facebook visitors see message in Farsi saying, \"Access to this site is not possible\"\nIran's intelligence ministry reportedly behind action; no reason given for blockage .\nReformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi created Facebook page for campaign .\nPresident Ahmadinejad's opponents are using new technology to spread message ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Four people, including a 12-year-old, died when an Amtrak train hit their car in Hardeeville, South Carolina, an official said Tuesday. The accident occurred Monday night near the South Carolina-Georgia state line, not far from the intersection of South Carolina 46 and U.S. 17. \"It appears that the vehicle tried to go around the gate arms ... to beat the train across the tracks,\" said Ted Felder, Hardeeville's interim city manager. The Jasper County, South Carolina, coroner has not released the names of the dead. The car became wedged onto the front of the southbound train, which pushed it for a mile down the track, Felder said. The Hardeeville Fire Department received a call shortly before 9 p.m. ET Monday, but teams from various agencies reportedly were unable to detach the car until about midnight. Felder said no one on the train was injured, and once the car was detached, a bus took passengers to the Amtrak station in Savannah, Georgia. The train was en route from Charleston, South Carolina, to Savannah when the crash occurred." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amtrak train hits car near South Carolina-Georgia state line .\nCar apparently tried to beat train across tracks, official says .\nFour killed in car, including 12-year-old .\nNo train passengers injured, official says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The state you live in may affect your state of mind, according to new report that shows that rates of stress, depression, and emotional problems vary by geographic region. Where you live may affect your state of mind, according to a new mental health report. That's good news if you live in Hawaii, where only 6.6 percent of people report frequent mental distress. Not-so-good news for those in Kentucky: In the Bluegrass State, 14.4 percent of people said they frequently experienced mental distress -- the highest prevalence in the country. Frequent mental distress is defined as having 14 or more mentally unhealthy days during the previous 30-day period. The researchers were surprised that the study, which will be published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed such a broad range in mental distress depending on geographic location. \"The occurrence of frequent mental distress in adults differs much more than expected among the residents of U.S. states and counties,\" said lead researcher Dr. Matthew M. Zack, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. People who have frequent mental distress may have treatable and preventable mental illnesses or problems, and social programs or interventions may help, Zack said. Health.com: How stress may affect psoriasis . In the study, the researchers looked at rates of mental distress by state among 2.4 million adults across two time periods -- 1993 through 2001 and 2003 through 2006 -- as part of the ongoing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System study. Overall, the prevalence for frequent mental distress across both time periods was 9.4 percent, with the lowest rate in Hawaii and the highest rate in Kentucky. Why the difference? It may be because residents in some areas of the country are more likely than others to have health conditions such as disability or diabetes, untreated mental conditions like anxiety or depression, high unemployment rates, risky behaviors including cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse, and/or social circumstances such as lower incomes. Health.com: Manic spending puts bipolar patients at risk for financial woes . An area centered on Kentucky showed high levels of frequent mental distress that remained elevated over time, while in other parts of the country (such as the upper Midwest) low levels of frequent mental distress remained low over time, the study showed. Health.com: Secrets to a stress-free home . Overall, though, frequent mental distress seems to be on the rise. The rate of frequent mental distress increased by at least 1 percentage point in 27 states, and by more than 4 percentage points in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia from the first time period to the second time period. \"In some areas, normal or low frequent-mental-distress levels increased over time, implying the introduction of influences that increased levels of frequent mental distress,\" Zack said. Health.com: Stress-reduction therapy may hike breast cancer survival rates . The new state-by-state breakdown of rates of mental distress should have ramifications as the Obama Administration takes on health care reform, said Chuck Holzer, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. \"From a public health standpoint, it's great to be aware of places with high rates of frequent mental distress so we can help make sure that access to care is increasing in those areas,\" he said. Many of the states with high rates of frequent mental distress are struggling economically, as are their residents. As a result, they may not be able to afford health insurance that includes mental health services. \"The big message is that you need to monitor the health and mental health of the country because it will lead to greater equity in mental health services,\" Holzer said. And Zack said, \"Community mental health agencies, social service agencies, and public health agencies in counties where frequent mental distress is increased should recognize that such increases may indicate unmet health and social service needs.\" Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright Health Magazine 2009 ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mental distress differs among residents of U.S. states and counties .\nHawaii: 6.6 percent of people report frequent mental distress; Kentucky: 14.4 percent .\nResidents in some areas are more likely to have health conditions or disabilities ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- Health care reform backers won a key victory Saturday night as the Senate voted to move ahead with a floor debate on a sweeping $848 billion bill. The 60-39 vote to prevent a Republican filibuster against the start of debate on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's legislation broke down along strict party lines. All 58 Senate Democrats -- along with independent Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- supported bringing the measure to the floor. Thirty-nine of the 40 Senate Republicans opposed the motion. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, didn't vote. \"Tonight's historic vote brings us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in spiraling health care costs, providing stability and security to those with health insurance and extending quality health coverage to those who lack it,\" White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. The polarized vote set the table for a holiday season now virtually certain to be marked by acrimonious deliberations on President Obama's top domestic priority. Top Senate Democrats, who are trying to pass a bill before the end of the year, spent much of the day tarring their Republican colleagues as defenders of a broken status quo benefitting rich insurance companies at the expense of ordinary American families. Republicans, in turn, slammed Democrats for pushing a bill that conservatives insist will force millions of Americans to drop insurance plans they like while boosting premiums, raising taxes and leading to government rationing of care. Read the health care bill (PDF) \"Today we [decide] whether to even discuss one of the greatest issues of our generation,\" Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said shortly before the vote. \"Whether this nation will finally guarantee its people the right to live free from fear of illness and death, which can be prevented by decent health care for all.\" The Republicans \"are frightening people,\" said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. \"Now is not the time to go wobbly in the knees. Now is the time to stand strong ... and move this country forward.\" \"This bill... is a massive monument to bureaucracy and spending,\" replied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. It \"imposes punishing taxes on almost everyone. ... A vote in favor of proceeding to this bill is a vote in favor of adding to the tax burden of the American people in the midst of double digit unemployment.\" The bill \"does worse than nothing,\" said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. It \"threatens the economic recovery. ... Changes to the health care system must be responsible and not break the backs of the taxpayers.\" The procedural vote represented another milestone in what has become an epic battle over the future of America's health care system. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a more than $1 trillion bill this month. If the Senate also manages to pass a bill, a congressional conference committee will then need to merge the House and Senate proposals into a consensus version requiring final approval from each chamber before moving to Obama's desk to be signed into law. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that Reid's 2,074-page bill would extend health insurance coverage to 31 million additional Americans. The agency estimates that the proposal would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years, through 2019. Any effect on the deficit in the following decade would be \"subject to substantial uncertainty,\" but probably would result in \"small reductions in federal budget deficits,\" according to budget office analysts. A minimum of 60 votes is required to break a filibuster in the 100-member Senate. The outcome of the Senate vote was unclear before Saturday afternoon, when Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, announced her intention to back a floor debate on the measure. Lincoln, a key moderate probably facing a tough re-election campaign in 2010, said the issue deserved further debate and consideration. She made clear, however, that she opposes several aspects of Reid's bill, including a controversial government-run public option. \"Although I don't agree with everything in this bill, I believe it is important to begin debate,\" Lincoln said. \"The issue is very complex. There is no easy fix.\" Republicans wasted no time tearing into Lincoln's vote, issuing a news release while she was still announcing her decision, proclaiming that she had caved to \"pressure from the left wing of her party.\" \"There's no doubt that this vote will be a critical issue for Sen. Lincoln as she embarks on her uphill re-election bid,\" said Amber Wilkerson Marchand, a GOP spokeswoman. \"The people of Arkansas will have an opportunity to hold her accountable when they cast their ballots next November.\" Two other Democratic moderates whose support was considered to be in doubt -- Nebraska's Ben Nelson and Louisiana's Mary Landrieu -- also announced their decision to back a full debate shortly before the vote. Reid's bill, projected to ensure coverage for 94 percent of Americans, includes a range of tax increases and new fees. The Medicare payroll tax on individuals earning $200,000 a year and couples earning $250,000 a year would increase by half a percentage point, from the current 1.45 percent to 1.95 percent. In addition, insurers providing costly health coverage -- known as Cadillac plans -- would face a 40 percent tax on policies worth more than $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families. The bill also includes a 5 percent tax on the cost of elective cosmetic surgery, as well as new fees for insurers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The total projected revenue raised by all the taxes and fees would exceed $200 billion. The bill would require individuals to buy health insurance, with a fine for non-compliance of $95 in the first year that would escalate to $750 by 2016. Unlike the plan recently passed by the House, the Senate bill does not mandate that all employers offer health care. Businesses with more than 50 workers, where at least one employee qualifies for government subsidies, would face a penalty of $750 for every full-time employee if it does not offer health care coverage. Reid's bill also would expand government-run Medicaid coverage for the poor to everyone making less than 133 percent of the national poverty level. Democratic leaders in both chambers have been wrestling with the most contentious issues, including abortion and immigration, as well as how to pay for reform. The House bill has more restrictive abortion language and includes a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 and couples earning more than $1 million. Both bills include a government-run public option, but the Senate version allows states to opt out before the national program would go into effect in 2014. The two bills are virtually identical on a broad range of changes, including creating health insurance exchanges, expanding Medicaid, subsidizing insurance for low- and some middle-income families, and capping out-of-pocket medical expenses while preventing insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Insurers under both plans would be barred from charging higher premiums based on a person's gender or medical history." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tonight's historic vote brings us one step closer,\" White House press secretary says .\nAll 58 Democrats, two independents clinch vote .\nDemocrats rip into Republicans as defenders of status quo .\nGOP decries \"massive monument to bureaucracy and spending\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "New York (CNN) -- There are dozens of get-well cards on his wall. On his bed, there's another pile from family, friends, high school pals. The patient must be 19 or 20 -- a kid -- and his smile is magnetic. His mother hugs every visitor, strangers like us included. \"I'm a hugger,\" she explains. His girlfriend is by his bedside too, wearing a sweatshirt from her college in upstate New York, her studies interrupted. \"My leg will never be a hundred percent,\" he says, \"which means I just have to get a new hundred percent.\" It helps that we were visiting this wounded soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a few weeks ago, with the actor Woody Harrelson, instantly recognizable from TV and movies. Woody is profoundly good-natured and can make anyone smile, even the maimed young men and women, just back from a combat zone they carried home with them. But this particular soldier/kid is happy anyway. Happy to be alive, mature enough to be grateful. A few weeks earlier, an Afghan soldier he had known for eight months -- a man who fought by his side -- turned his rifle on his American \"allies\" and killed two of this soldier's buddies, wounding three, including him. This kid knows he's among the lucky ones. \"I have no idea why he did it,\" he says. \"It's the Middle East,\" I reply. \"I guess so,\" he says with a sigh. In room after room, our delegation encounters stories of war that are just not a part of the national conversation. I keep thinking: Whatever happened to the telling of these stories in America? Do we need a Washington lobbyist to push the soldier's-story agenda? Individual tales make up the reality of war; anecdote by anecdote, they become the truth of combat. But in the U.S. mainstream media, they have too little presence. How did we get to a place where sharing a soldier's narrative or reading soldiers' names on television or meeting their coffins when they are brought back to their country becomes a political or disloyal act? Why can't we share the truth about war? When I was growing up in Israel, we saw scenes from military funerals on the news: screaming, crying mothers and all. Wounded soldiers would be interviewed, sometimes with burned bodies or missing limbs. It was not political; it was just the subjective, human reality of the soldier. There was a need to know. It gave our warriors a public stage from which to reconnect. I remember coming back from Lebanon when I was a soldier in the '80s, feeling like I've just been to another planet. Filmmaking, storytelling, was my therapy. We made an earlier trip to Walter Reed, along with our lead Ben Foster, to immerse ourselves in the lives of returning soldiers in preparation for making a movie about casualty notification officers, the soldiers who knock on the door to bring the grim news of a loved one's death while on military duty. We think of it as an uplifting movie about getting back to life. When we tell these troops about our movie, most smile bitterly; they know their families were spared that awful encounter -- they got a phone call -- but they imagine their friends' families having their hearts ripped out by two soldiers in Class A uniforms at the door. \"The secretary of the Army regrets to inform you ...\" Visiting a military hospital is always an inspiring, shocking, beautiful, complicated experience. I highly recommend it. It's a gift to the soldier, and it's a blessing for the visitor. Those who are in good enough shape to talk take us to the front lines of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in vivid, visceral detail. We feel privileged to hear their voices crack, to see their eyes fill with tears. Firefights. IEDs. Accidents. Friendly fire. Boredom. Porn. Burn pits. Torn up buddies. Locals. Shifting alliances. Lives lost in translation. The stuff of war. Nothing pretty about it. And that's OK. If these guys can live through it, we can listen. It doesn't take much before you're reminded that wars are about human beings -- on both sides. With more than 5,000 dead; more than 35,000 soldiers coming back with injuries, many that will last a lifetime; with one in six returning soldiers afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder; and with families torn apart by multiple deployments, domestic violence, substance abuse, divorces, suicides, homelessness, etc., we are slowly transitioning into the longest part of the war: the aftermath. There are many dedicated professionals and volunteers who are dealing with these issues. They're the ones who will be learning the soldier-stories that we all must know, the individual accounts that should allow us to address, head-on, our collective responsibility as a society toward those who fight in our name. But we won't hear these stories unless we insist. Instead, we'll get more statistics, political punditry, screamers trying to pull us left or right. We say goodbye to this kid in his military hospital bed. He waves and says, \"No need to worry about me.\" Which is the only thing I think he got wrong. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Oren Moverman." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oren Moverman says soldiers' stories tell war's truth, but media often avoid them .\nHe says visiting soldiers in a military hospital is inspiring, not pretty, but important .\nListening to soldiers' experience lets society confront its responsibility in war, he says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Chilean inspectors stumbled upon hundreds of exotic animals from Peru destined for illegal trade while conducting what they thought was going to be a routine inspection of a fishing boat, the government said Tuesday. A family of Scarlet macaws in Costa Rica in June 2008 at a zoo aimed at conserving the species. The Chilean boat, the Rosa Isabel, was carrying macaws, toucans, parrots, turtles, squirrels and crocodiles, most of them protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which prohibits the sale of these species, the government said in a statement. In all, officials counted more than 400 exotic animals from Peru, the statement said. The incident began before dawn, when inspectors from Chile's Maritime Administration boarded the boat and found the live cargo stuffed inside dozens of cardboard boxes lined with chicken wire and with holes cut on the sides for ventilation. The animals were handed over to the Farm and Cattle Service of Arica, Chile's northernmost city, for return to Peru, the minister of agriculture said Monday in a statement. The captain of the ship, Moises Segundo Diaz Verdugo, a Chilean national, faces a possible fine of between $188,000 and $940,000, to be determined by an Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) court. Under an agreement between SAG and the National Institute of Natural Resources of the Republic of Peru, signed in 2007, the animals will be returned to Peru, SAG said. The national director of SAG, Francisco Bahamonde, credited coordination among various state bodies with impeding the illegal entry of protected species and products that can transmit pests or illnesses and said they would \"redouble\" their efforts. Chile busts trade in exotic animals from Peru ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More than 400 exotic animals from Peru were found .\nThe animals include macaws, toucans, parrots, turtles, squirrels, crocodiles .\nMost of the animals are protected under international pact on endangered species .\nThe wildlife will be returned to Peru ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Tribune Media Services) -- A century and a half ago, Athens was a humble, forgotten city of about 8,000 people. Today, one out of every three Greeks packs into this city of about 4 million. To avoid the Parthenon crowds, go in the early evening when the marble turns golden as the sun sets. Athens has been famous for its sprawl, noise and pollution. My advice has long been to see the big sights, then get out. But visiting it recently to research a new guidebook, I've seen a dramatic change. The city has made a concerted effort to curb pollution, clean up and pedestrianize the streets, spiff up the museums, build a new airport and invest in one of Europe's better public-transit systems. Even with its new look, the Greek capital still has its \"big three\" sights: the stunning Acropolis, the Ancient Agora just below and the remarkable National Archaeological Museum. But coming in June is the opening of a fourth big sight -- one that will stoke a battle over Greece losing her marbles more than 200 years ago (more on that later). To many, the most important ancient site in the Western world is the Acropolis, rising gleaming like a beacon above the gray concrete drudgery of modern Athens. This is where the Greeks built the mighty Parthenon -- the most famous temple on the planet, and an enduring symbol of ancient Athens' glorious Golden Age from nearly 2,500 years ago. The major monuments of the Acropolis survive in remarkably good condition. While the Persians, Ottomans, and British were cruel to the site in the past, the greatest dangers it faces now are acid rain and pollution. Ongoing restoration means that you might see some scaffolding -- but even that can't take away from its greatness. I like to come late in the day, as the sun goes down, when the white Parthenon stone gleams a creamy golden brown. While the Acropolis was the city's ceremonial showpiece, it was the Ancient Agora that was the real heart of classical Athens. For some 800 years, it was the hub of all commercial, political, and social life and home to many of the city's religious rites. Little survives in the Agora from the classical period. Other than one very well-preserved temple and a rebuilt portico, it's a field of humble ruins nestled in the shadow of the Acropolis. But that makes it a quiet, uncrowded spot to wander and get a feel for the ancients. Romantics can't help but get goose bumps as they kick around the same pebbles that once stuck in Socrates' sandals, with the floodlit Parthenon forever floating ethereally overhead. North of the city center is the world's best collection of ancient Greek art, the National Archaeological Museum. It takes you from 7000 B.C. to A.D. 500 on a beautifully displayed and well-described sweep through Greek history, from prehistoric and Mycenaean artifacts through the evolution of classical Greek statuary. This museum now has a worthy competitor -- the New Acropolis Museum, slated to open in June. It's a world-class space, custom-built to showcase the Parthenon sculptures, along with truckloads of other artifacts, all complemented by modern exhibits. And the state-of-the-art building itself is worth a look, as the boldest symbol yet of the post-Olympics vision for Athens. The new museum also serves as a sort of 21st-century Trojan horse, intended to lure the famous Elgin Marbles (the Parthenon sculptures) away from London's British Museum. In the early 19th century, the British ambassador to the Ottomans, Lord Elgin, got permission to strip marble panels from the Parthenon and take them to England. For years, the Greeks have asked for the marbles back, and for years, the Brits have responded with claims that Greece can't give them a suitable home. And yet, now that this state-of-the-art facility is ready and waiting, it still seems unlikely that the marbles will be returned anytime soon. Britain is reluctant to give in, for fear of setting a precedent ... and getting \"me, too\" notices from Italy, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and all the other nations who'd like the missing pieces of their cultural heritage back. But even without the Elgin Marbles, this new museum will be worth the wait, capturing the timeless splendor of ancient Athens in an ultra-modern building. Athens is more than a showcase for its past. Take some time to smell the souvlaki, whether by wandering through the touristy Plaka district, browsing through the Monastiraki flea market, or exploring the Psyrri neighborhood, the cutting-edge place to go for nightlife and dining. The narrow winding streets can be confusing, but you can't get too lost with a monument the size of the Acropolis looming overhead to keep you oriented. And after you visit Athens, get out -- to the wild, mountainous landscape of Greece's Peloponnese, covered in my next column. Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. E-mail him at [email protected], or write to him c/o P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, Wash. 98020. Copyright 2009 RICK STEVES, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows .\nHis TV series, \"Rick Steves' Europe,\" airs on PBS stations .\nSteves' company, Europe Through the Back Door, conducts European tours ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- \"The LHC is back,\" the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced triumphantly Friday, as the world's largest particle accelerator resumed operation more than a year after an electrical failure shut it down. Restarting the Large Hadron Collider -- the $10 billion research tool's full name -- has been \"a herculean effort,\" CERN's director for accelerators, Steve Myers, said in a statement announcing the success. Experiments at the LHC may help answer fundamental questions such as why Albert Einstein's theory of relativity -- which describes the world on a large scale -- doesn't jibe with quantum mechanics, which deals with matter far too small to see. Physicists established a circulating proton beam in the LHC's 17-mile tunnel at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) Friday, CERN said, a critical step towards getting results from the accelerator. \"It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again,\" said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. \"We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way.\" Located underground on the border of Switzerland and France, the LHC has been inching towards operation since the summer. It reached its operating temperature -- 271 degrees below zero Celsius -- on October 8 and particles were injected on October 23. Now that a beam is circulating, the next step is low-energy collisions, which should begin in about a week, CERN said. High-energy collisions will follow next year. The collider has been dogged by problems. It made headlines early this month when a bird apparently dropped a \"bit of baguette\" into the accelerator, making the machine shut down. The incident was similar in effect to a standard power cut, said spokeswoman Katie Yurkewicz. Had the machine been going, there would have been no damage, but beams would have been stopped until the machine could be cooled back down to operating temperatures, she said. The collider achieved its first full-circle beam last year on September 10 amid much celebration. But just nine days later, the operation was set back when one of the 25,000 joints that connect magnets in the LHC came loose and the resulting current melted or burned some important components of the machine, Myers said. The faulty joint has a cross-section of a mere two-thirds of an inch by two-thirds of an inch. \"There was certainly frustration and almost sorrow when we had the accident,\" he said. Now, \"people are feeling a lot better because we know we've done so much work in the last year.\" Mark Wise, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, said he's just as excited about the results that will come out of the LHC as he was last year and views the September 2008 accident as a delay rather than a devastating event. Wise noted that Tevatron, the collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has also had its share of failures but is generally considered to work just fine. \"It's a horribly complicated piece of equipment, it's not like there's not going to be problems along the way,\" he said. \"They will surmount those problems.\" The LHC will probably be in operation more than 20 years, Myers said. But it won't be that long before scientists could potentially discover new properties of nature. The as-yet theoretical Higgs boson, also called \"the God particle\" in popular parlance, could emerge within two or three years, Myers said. Evidence of supersymmetry -- the idea that every particle has a \"super partner\" with similar properties in a quantum dimension (according to some physics theories, there are hidden dimensions in the universe) -- could crop up as early as 2010. For some theoretical physicists such as Wise, finding the Higgs boson and verifying every prediction of the Standard Model of physics would be the worst outcome. He wants the LHC to deliver surprises, even if that means no Higgs. \"When push comes to shove, the name of the game is 'what is nature,' and we're not going to know until our experimental colleagues tell us,\" Wise said. ATLAS and CMS are the general-purpose experiments designed to find the Higgs boson and other rare particles that have never been detected before. ALICE, another experiment, will explore the matter that existed some 10 microseconds after the Big Bang, said John Harris, professor of physics at Yale University and national coordinator of ALICE-USA. At that time, there was a \"hot soup\" of particles called quarks and gluons at a temperature of around 2 trillion degrees above absolute zero, he said. Although they have never been directly seen, these particles are theoretically the building blocks of the bigger particles -- protons, neutrons and electrons -- that form the universe as we know it. CNN's Elizabeth Landau contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "LHC restarted more than a year after being shut down by electrical fault .\nThe full scientific program for the LHC wil probably last more than 20 years .\nThe LHC will look for the Higgs boson, quarks, gluons and other small particles .\nRestarting $10B research tool described as \"herculean effort\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI is expected to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury on Saturday, the first meeting between the religious leaders since a Catholic overture to disaffected Anglicans that some commentators compared to a hostile takeover on Wall Street. Rowan Williams, the nominal head of the world Anglican Communion, threw down a theological gauntlet to the pope in a highly challenging speech in Rome in the run-up to their meeting. He laid out a series of questions suggesting that decades of hard-won apparent reconciliation between the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations might have weak foundations. He also proposed that a truly universal Christian church might have to be structured more like the Anglican Communion -- with no central authority laying down the law -- than like the Catholic Church, with the pope on his throne. \"Is there a mechanism in the church that has the clear right to determine for all where the limits of Christian identity might be found?\" Williams asked. \"Is the integrity of the church ultimately dependent on a single identifiable ministry of unity to which all local ministries are accountable?\" The meeting comes in the wake of a Vatican move that some say will shatter more than 40 years of efforts to reconcile the Catholic and Anglican churches. The Vatican announced in October that it had worked out a way for Anglicans who are dissatisfied with their church to switch allegiance en masse to Rome. The process will enable groups of Anglicans to become Catholic and recognize the pope as their leader, yet have parishes that retain Anglican rites, Vatican officials said. The move comes some 450 years after King Henry VIII broke from Rome and created the Church of England, forerunner of the Anglican Communion. The number of Anglicans wishing to join the Catholic Church has increased in recent years as the Anglican Church has welcomed the ordination of women and openly gay clergy, said Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in announcing the move in October. Williams was said to have been taken by surprise by the move, which critics described as an end run around a long-established Catholic-Anglican dialogue. \"The Catholic Church is responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion,\" Levada said. Levada said \"hundreds\" of Anglicans around the world have expressed their desire to join the Catholic Church. Among them are 50 Anglican bishops, said Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Catholic and Anglican theology and rites are broadly similar, but Anglicans have long allowed priests to marry and have children. In recent decades, the Anglican Communion has allowed women to become priests. The Episcopal Church, the United States branch of the Anglican Communion, has ordained an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, and appears to be on the verge of ordaining more. Those developments have caused controversy within the communion, with more conservative parishes setting up alternative structures of authority. Pope Benedict hinted clearly when he last met Williams in Rome almost exactly three years ago to the day that Rome did not look kindly on the Anglican moves. \"Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only internal relations within the Anglican Communion but also relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church,\" the pope said in November 2006. \"We believe that these matters, which are presently under discussion within the Anglican Communion, are of vital importance to the preaching of the gospel in its integrity, and that your current discussions will shape the future of our relations,\" he added. There are about 77 million Anglicans worldwide, and about 1.1 billion Roman Catholics." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pope Benedict XVI, Anglican head to meet, discuss ideologies .\nVatican recently opened door to disillusioned Anglicans wanting to join Catholic Church .\nAnglican Church has welcomed ordination of women, openly gay clergy ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A Jersey City, New Jersey, police officer shot in the line of duty last week died of his injuries Tuesday, a day before his 38th birthday, a spokeswoman for the city's mayor announced. Police officers gather at the site of a shootout in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday. Jennifer Morrill said Officer Marc DiNardo, who was wounded last Thursday in a shootout, passed away Tuesday morning. Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey told reporters Monday night that DiNardo was not expected to live. DiNardo was one of five officers injured early Thursday as they moved in for a tactical entry into an apartment where a shooting suspect and another person were holed up. Officials say the officers were met with gunfire, and a shootout ensued. Both suspects were killed, and DiNardo suffered two gunshot wounds to the face. Melissa Bartholomew, a family friend and fellow police officer, read a statement Monday from DiNardo's family, which includes his wife Mary, three young children and his parents. She said DiNardo, whose 38th birthday is Wednesday, had a personality that no one could forget. \"Marc was not a selfish man. He was a moral man; a man who gave himself for those who couldn't care for themselves,\" she said. DiNardo's family plans to donate his organs, said Joe Scott, president of LibertyHealth and its Jersey City Medical Center. \"This unselfish act will live on in the lives that Marc will impact through organ donation.\" Officer Michael Camacho, who was also wounded in the shootout, was upgraded from critical to serious condition and moved out of the intensive care unit, Scott said Monday. Camacho was shot in the neck during the gun battle. The other three officers were treated at a hospital and released." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Marc DiNardo was one of five officers injured in New Jersey shootout last week .\nTwo suspects were killed in shootout; DiNardo was shot twice in face .\nDiNardo's family plans to donate his organs, medical center's president says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Two Pakistani men accused of providing logistical support for last year's deadly terror attacks in Mumbai, India, were arrested Saturday in Italy, police said. They were arrested in the northern Italian city of Brescia, said Stefano Fonzi, head of Italy's Division of General Investigations and Special Operations. The attacks on India's largest city lasted four days. The attackers targeted several sites in Mumbai, taking over several hotels and a Jewish center. The attacks left 160 people dead. On November 25, 2008, the day before the attacks in Mumbai, the two men arrested allegedly transferred $229 that was used to activate Internet phone lines used by the suspects. Two others connected with the longstanding money transfer agency in Brescia also were arrested for other illegal activity, Fonzi told CNN. Police are looking for a fifth man. Italian police started their investigation the following month after being alerted by Indian authorities and the FBI that funds had been transferred from Italy, Fonzi said. Authorities suspected the agency after money was transferred under the Muslim name of a man who had never entered Italy, a police statement said. Indian police have said 10 Pakistanis were involved in the deadly assault, nine of whom were killed in the carnage. The lone surviving suspect has linked the coordinated shooting and bombing incidents to the leader of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a militant group that is banned in India. CNN's Hada Messia in Rome contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two men arrested in Italy in connection with November 2008 Mumbai, India, terror attacks .\nPolice say men transferred money to activate Internet phone lines for terrorists .\nSiege at hotels and attacks on other targets left 160 people dead ." } ]

[ { "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) -- Carrie Prejean has filed a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title, accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage. Carrie Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA title earlier this year. \"We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage,\" her attorney, Charles LiMandri, said in a news release. Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April when, in response to a question from a judge, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage. Prejean finished as first runner-up. The complaint was filed in Superior Court of California against Miss California USA officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, as well as publicist Roger Neal. It alleges that Prejean suffered because of \"libel, public disclosure of private facts, religious discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.\" LiMandri had threatened to file a defamation lawsuit if Lewis did not retract statements he made about the former beauty queen. LiMandri's letter to Lewis' attorney also accused Lewis of setting Prejean up to be fired because of her statements opposing same-sex marriage. When Prejean, 22, was dethroned in June, Lewis said it was for \"contract violations,\" including missed public appearances. He said then it wasn't one thing Prejean did, but \"many, many, many things.\" \"She came to us and said I'm not interested in your input; I'll make my own decision what I'm going to do,\" Lewis told CNN's Larry King in June. \"You know, when you have a contract, when you're working for someone, you have a responsibility to follow through on what that requirement is.\" Lewis said it was clear \"she was not interesting in upholding the title or the responsibilities.\" After that interview, LiMandri penned a letter to Lewis' attorney saying, \"Carrie Prejean's good name has been tarnished by your client's false and defamatory accusations.\" \"Please view this letter as a last opportunity for Mr. Lewis to retract the defamatory statements made against my client and to seek to restore her good name,\" LiMandri wrote. He denied any contract violations by Prejean, calling those claims a \"complete and utter pretext\" for her firing. The list Lewis gave to reporters of Prejean's missed appearances was \"an outright fraud,\" he said. \"She did not think it was appropriate for her to accept Mr. Lewis' invitation to attend a gay documentary in Hollywood promoting same-sex marriage,\" he said. \"It was not my client's job, as Miss California, simply to help your client promote his personal or business interests as a Hollywood agent and producer, or gay activist.\" Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump announced in May that Prejean could keep her title despite a controversy over topless photos, missed appearances and her statements against same-sex marriage. Trump later reversed himself. \"I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract with the Miss California USA organization, and I gave her the opportunity to do so,\" Trump said. \"Unfortunately, it just doesn't look like it is going to happen, and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Carrie Prejean was stripped of Miss California USA title earlier this year .\nPrejean claims she suffered because of officials' statements, actions .\nPrejean was involved in controversy after statements about same-sex marriage ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- A dispute over abortion between the only remaining Kennedy in Congress and his Roman Catholic bishop has highlighted the political volatility of the issue and the challenge it presents to the nation's Catholics. \"How can you claim to be a Catholic and also support abortion?\" Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, asked Monday, discussing his request that Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, stop receiving Holy Communion because of his pro-choice politics. Kennedy went public Sunday about Tobin's request, originally made in a private letter to Kennedy in 2007. Tobin responded with a statement Sunday followed by his television appearance Monday, in which he acknowledged holding Kennedy to a higher standard than an ordinary parishioner because of the congressman's position as a legislator who can shape abortion laws and policy. The issue is considered much broader than a public rift between the two men. A sweeping health care bill in Congress could get derailed by conflicts over abortion language, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week criticizing a Senate version of the measure for lacking the tougher language adopted earlier by the House. Kennedy, a member of the most influential Catholic family in U.S. history, is the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and nephew of the late John F. Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president. When running for president in 1960, John Kennedy famously said he was \"not the Catholic candidate for president,\" but \"the Democratic Party's candidate for president who also happens to be be a Catholic.\" Edward Kennedy was known for his liberal policies, including support for a woman's right to choose an abortion. When he died earlier this year, a Roman Catholic funeral Mass was held in Boston's Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica. Patrick Kennedy holds similar views to his late father, and the dispute with Tobin festered anew when Kennedy publicly criticized the Catholic Church for opposing health care reform that lacked stringent anti-abortion language. Requests to Kennedy's offices in Washington and Rhode Island for comment Monday went unanswered. Tobin, appearing on CNN, called Kennedy's support of abortion \"a scandal.\" Asked why he was singling out Kennedy, Tobin said the congressman started the dispute by attacking the church's opposition to a health care bill that lacks tough abortion restrictions. He acknowledged \"a difference between someone who is the average Catholic in the pew ... and someone like the congressman who is in a high-profile position and is in a position to affect legislation on allowing access to abortion.\" Other Catholics questioned Tobin's stance. \"The simple fact is that most bishops don't want to deny communion to politicians, and we know for a fact that Pope John Paul II gave communion to pro-choice Italian politicians,\" said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. \"So the question is, is Bishop Tobin more Catholic than the pope on this?\" Politicians have previously run afoul of Catholic bishops on the abortion issue. Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to stop receiving communion when she was a pro-choice governor of Kansas, and former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said in 2004 he would deny communion to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for being pro-choice. Brian McLaren, a longtime Christian pastor who has written a book coming out next year called \"A New Kind of Christianity,\" said politicizing religious views limits the perception and, eventually, the impact of a church's teachings. \"Both Catholics and Protestants have allowed themselves to be pushed into this kind of binary, either-or thinking\" on abortion and homosexuality, McLaren said. \"It's disturbing for me as a non-Catholic to see the Catholic Church possibly risking its moral authority on a number of other issues by only focusing on abortion.\" The Roman Catholic church strongly opposes abortion, which has been legal across the United States since 1973. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lobbied for tight restrictions on federal funding of abortion in the health care bill the House passed earlier this month. In an October interview, Kennedy criticized the bishops for threatening to oppose the health care bill if it lacked the tough restrictions. In the House debate on the measure, Kennedy opposed a provision with the church-backed restrictions on federal money for abortions, but voted in favor of final passage of the bill that included that language. He repeated that criticism and revealed Tobin's earlier admonition in an interview published Sunday, the 46th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Tobin responded by calling Kennedy's position \"unacceptable to the church and scandalous to many of our members.\" Most bishops and priests oppose using communion as a \"political weapon,\" and Kennedy's disclosure of Tobin's admonition may be an attempt to push back against the bishops' support for the abortion restrictions in the House bill, CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen said. \"The Catholic bishops have been fairly successful, at least to date, at putting abortion at the center of the debate over health care reform, and that obviously has generated some resentment from people who don't share their views,\" Allen said. Kennedy's decision to come forward \"in effect puts the Catholic bishops in a negative light, because it ends up making them look intolerant.\" To McLaren, the admonishment by Tobin displays an inconsistency. \"The bishops have taken I think a wise stand against the proliferation of nuclear weapons,\" he said. \"Would they apply withholding of the Eucharist to someone who supports increasing nuclear stockpiles?\" The health care debate reveals the depth of division on the issue, according to McLaren. Both sides apparently believe they are advocating language that makes the legislation effectively \"abortion neutral,\" meaning it doesn't change existing abortion law. \"What we discovered is 'abortion neutral' is a matter of interpretation,\" McLaren said, adding: \"This is what happens in the politics of polarization. Each side plays to its more extreme base. It makes common ground and respectful dialogue harder to achieve. The idea that we're playing a win-lose game, that you're saying if you don't agree with us, we're not even going to have a conversation with you, that attitude chills civil discourse.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rep. Patrick Kennedy's support for abortion rights brings criticism from church .\nBishop tells Kennedy not to take communion .\nThe issue is considered much broader than a public rift between the two men ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- U.S. President Obama sent a direct message to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeks before this month's disputed election, Iranian sources said Wednesday. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calls for an end to protests last week at Tehran University. The letter requested dialogue and engagement between the two nations, the sources said. The sources said that Khamenei has yet to reply to the letter but that nonetheless it \"had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election.\" The White House refused to \"get into the specifics of our different ways of communicating,\" a senior Obama administration official said. \"We have indicated a willingness to talk for a long time and have sought to communicate with the Iranians in a variety of ways,\" the official said. Khamenei made an indirect reference to the letter in his sermon on Friday at Tehran University. \"The U.S. president said that we were waiting for a day like this to see people on the street,\" the Iranian leader said. \"Some people attributed these remarks to Obama, and then they write letters to say we're ready to have ties, that we respect the Islamic Republic, and on the other hand, they make such comments. Which one should we believe?\" One Iranian source said, \"We thought President Obama would send congratulations to President Ahmadinejad,\" and before the election, his senior advisers prepared a response to the anticipated note, which never came. The Iranian source said the election dispute is wasting time on the issue of starting U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Watch how the reported letter is part of a new policy of engagement » . \"The longer it is delayed,\" the source said, \"the less likely [U.S.-Iranian talks] will happen.\" Another Iranian government official said there is still \"no trust\" between Iran and the United States. The source said he is waiting for \"real change\" even though the Iranian government welcomed the change in tone of the Obama administration before the current election turmoil in Iran. The official went on to cite a recent gesture by Iran toward Obama: the release of journalist Roxana Saberi. The official said Iran accepted Obama's assurances that she was not a spy and had allowed the Iranian citizen to leave the country. Since, under intense scrutiny amid growing concerns over Tehran's violent crackdown on street protests, Obama has sharpened his language on Iran. \"The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days,\" Obama said Tuesday, adding that he strongly condemns \"these unjust actions.\" He has not spoken in support of Ahmadinejad or his main rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, whose supporters have taken to the streets to protest the results of the June 12 election that gave Ahmadinejad a second term. Obama's letter to Khamenei is in keeping with his publicly stated aim of engagement with Iran and his New Year's message in which he described a new way forward. The Obama administration has \"made it clear that any real dialogue -- multilateral or bilateral -- needed to be authoritative,\" according to the senior administration official. The official noted that the Iranians have yet to respond to a diplomatic outreach made during talks on Iran's nuclear program April 8. At that time, the administration asked the European Union's international policy chief, Javier Solana, to invite Iran to new talks with the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. But the administration's tack toward Iran may be changing, as senior officials in Washington said the Obama administration is seriously considering not extending further invitations to Iranian diplomats for July 4 celebrations overseas. Some invitations had been sent and will not be rescinded, senior administration officials said. The officials said intense discussions on the issue were taking place, but the final decision had not been made. The Obama administration had decided to invite Iranians to the celebrations at overseas posts as part of Obama's policy of engaging the Iranian regime. As part of that engagement, Obama videotaped a message for the Iranian people on the Persian new year, and U.S. officials have engaged members of the Iranian government. CNN's Elise Labott and Dan Lothian contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "White House refuses to \"get into the specifics,\" administration official says .\nObama's letter requested dialogue and engagement, Iranian sources say .\nSources: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hasn't replied to letter sent before June 12 election .\nKhamenei made an indirect reference to letter in sermon last week ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CareerBuilder.com) -- The importance of references seems to be a hot topic these days. Employers want to make sure they are hiring the right person for the job; but some thwart the process because checking references can be labor-intensive. On the other hand, job seekers provide references they know will give a glowing report, but employers are getting smarter and finding references you didn't provide. So, what's the deal? Do references matter? Do employers even check them anymore? What's the protocol for providing them to a potential employer? Who are the best people to include as references? And, if an employer doesn't call any of your references, is it a bad sign? While the definitive answer to any of these questions depends on the employer, overall, yes, references do still matter. The process has just changed. \"References play a huge role in the hiring process, perhaps now more than ever,\" said Heather R. Huhman, founder and president of Come Recommended, an online community that connects internship and entry-level job candidates with employers.\" Oftentimes, hiring managers fall in love with a candidate on paper and then again in an interview, only to find out through a reference check that none of their previous employers would ever hire them again. By checking a candidate's references, hiring managers save themselves the frustration of hiring a person who is not a good fit for a company. In this economy, where hiring budgets are slim, every hire must be a great fit.\" Provided references are no guarantee . Though the majority of employers do check references, others skip this step. Not only is it labor-intensive to check references for people who might not be poised for a job offer, but Jack Harsh, adjunct professor at the University of Richmond Robins School of Business, said that many employers worry about the risk of liability in rejecting a candidate based on poor references. \"[Hiring] decisions cannot be based on information that is discriminatory in nature, so to avoid any liability, the checks are forgone,\" Harsh said. \"Sadly, the first reference the employer gets in such cases is from colleagues after employment has begun.\" Steve Langerud, director of career development at Depauw University, adds that sometimes, the quality of references is benign. \"Everyone wants to be helpful and supportive to former employees, but in the end, they offer little substance to a new employer,\" he says. \"Legally, they are limited by what they can or want to say about former employees. I think the old formal system of references is dead in most professional fields.\" Langerud warns that just because an employer isn't checking personal references the traditional way doesn't mean he isn't checking references at all. \"Employers are more likely to check the informal, but tangible, behavioral reference sources like LinkedIn, Facebook, credit history [or] criminal history than the more subjective references provided by candidates,\" he said. \"Candidates should be much more intentional about crafting a professional identity that serves the role of a 'reference' but within the context of the work, profession and colleagues you seek to engage. It eliminates the weaknesses inherent in the old style of references that become so watered down they are useless.\" Making the right choices . The last thing you want to do is give an employer useless references, but many job seekers make the mistake of not taking the time to thoughtfully choose the right people to speak on their behalf, said Elaine Varelas, managing partner for Keystone Partners, an outplacement and talent management consulting firm. \"You want people who can speak to your role as a professional, not as a nice neighbor,\" Varelas said. \"Candidates can make their references count by prepping them to discuss their specific skills as they relate to the job and the impact they brought to the job, which can be just the differentiation needed in this highly competitive market.\" Harsh agrees that when he receives a résumé with references attached, he gives them virtually no weight. \"They seldom are specific to the role my company seeks and are not meaningful in considering qualifications or traits of successful candidate,\" he said. Finally, when it comes to protocol for submitting references, the process has changed as well. It used to be that applicants sent them in with their other application materials, but now, Varelas says, you should wait to provide references until you are asked. \"Most companies do not want your references until the end of the process and they will let you know when to provide a list of names and contact information. Do not send written references,\" she said. \"These do not offer the highest impact as they are not specific on how you will fit into the job you are pursuing. It is better to spend your time preparing your references for the kinds of questions they will be asked, and what they can do to help you close an offer.\" Helpful hints . Harsh, Varelas and Langerud offer these 10 tips to ensure you do everything right when it comes to providing references: . 1. Include references only when requested by an employer. 2. Carefully consider whom to provide after discussion with the prospective employer. The time to check references is before an offer is made, but after the candidate is either the final candidate or among the final few for the job. 3. Seek references from people who actually know you and your work. Ask for permission to list them as a reference. 4. Ask directly if they can provide you with a positive reference for the position(s) you are seeking. If they hesitate, move on! 5. Prepare your references about who will be calling them and what to focus on when talking about you. Always ask them to call you after they have been called. 6. Prepare your references to speak consistently about your skills, but not identically. Suggest a different highlight for each person. Have 100 percent confidence in what they will say and how they speak about you, or cross them off the list. 7. Provide accurate contact information about your references, and ask your references how they prefer to be contacted (e-mail, phone, etc.). 8. Let your references know what happens to you and the position(s) you applied for. Thank your references. 9. Prepare a LinkedIn site to demonstrate your skills and interests. 10. Participate in professional blogs to create a history of professional involvement in your field that is independent of your work history." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Refrences still matter these days, but the process has changed on how they are used .\nOften times an employer will use more informal tools like Facebook and LinkedIn, said an expert .\nMake sure to include references only when requested by an employer, and never before .\nSeek references from people who actually know you and your work, not just personaly ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- When Amanda Knox's parents head to Italy for closing arguments in their daughter's murder trial they'll be carrying a present they hope desperately she can use soon: a plane ticket home. In that purchase lies one family's entire hope. Curt Knox and Edda Mellas say their daughter is nothing like the person they've seen depicted before and during her trial. They grimace at the description prosecutors have used in court: that Amanda Knox was a resentful American so angry with her British roommate Meredith Kercher that she exacted revenge during a twisted sex misadventure at their home two years ago. Prosecutors say Knox directed then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and another man infatuated with her, Rudy Guede, to hold Kercher down as Knox played with a knife before slashing Kercher's throat. \"She is totally nonviolent, almost a passive person,\" Mellas told CNN in a joint interview with her former husband. So passive was Knox, the parents said, that she couldn't even continue a kickboxing class because she felt it was too violent. She was so caring, they said, that she would make her friends stop a car to let a spider out rather than kill it. Knox was an easy child to raise in Seattle, Washington, along with her younger sisters Deanna and Ashley, her parents said. She took to soccer early on but hit the books as hard as she played. It was on the field that she earned the nickname Foxy Knoxy, though they say it was rarely used and taken out of context when Kercher was found killed to portray their daughter as a sex-hungry party animal. \"It was totally associated to soccer and how she prepared herself as a defender, waiting to take on a striker going down,\" Curt Knox said. \"So how people read this nickname is totally wrong.\" Eventually, though a star player at college, Knox gave up the sport to focus on her education. She knew she wanted to study in Italy and wouldn't be able to leave the team to go abroad. Her mother said she threw herself into jobs to help the family save for the trip, working as a soccer coach, a barista and in a gallery. They recall a young woman far different from the wild party girl depicted by prosecutors, one they said found more enjoyment in going to a coffee house and reading a book than going out to a club. They say she met her former boyfriend and co-accused Sollecito at a classical concert. Yes, they concede, Knox, now 22, and Sollecito say they were smoking marijuana and having sex at his home the night Kercher was killed, but that was as wild as it got. They reject the idea of revenge as a motive for Knox to kill Kercher. Mellas said her daughter e-mailed and called to tell her about her new roommate regularly. Knox told her they got along great and spent time together, going to libraries and a chocolate festival. What has happened in Perugia, Italy, is unfathomable to them. On November 2, 2007, at 4 a.m. in Seattle, Mellas was awakened by the phone. \"Amanda called [and said] 'I hate to wake you up, but something's not right here, I think someone's been in my house,' \" Mellas recalled. The door to the home she shared with Kercher had been ajar when she came home that morning, and when Knox got out of a quick shower, she noticed drops of blood. Kercher's door was locked, and Knox couldn't reach her, she told her mother, adding that Sollecito was calling the police. Later, when officers broke down the door to Kercher's room, Mellas said her daughter struggled to understand what was going on, hanging on the few words of Italian she understood at the time. \"They were screaming 'A foot, a foot,' that's what they could see,\" Mellas recalled Amanda Knox saying. When she learned Kercher was dead in the room, a hysterical Knox called her mother, Mellas remembered. \"We were constantly on the phone,\" she said. \"She was tired, scared, there was a murderer out running around and she was afraid to be alone.\" On the day Knox was arrested, Mellas was flying to Italy to be with her daughter, to comfort her and help her find a new place to live since her home was still a crime scene. But Mellas' plane was diverted to Switzerland, where she switched on her phone and learned that Knox had been charged with murder. \"I felt physically ill, I went to the bathroom to throw up. I was stuck [in Switzerland] for five hours,\" Mellas recalled, beginning to cry. By the time she reached Italy and was allowed to see her daughter, Mellas had already heard news reports that Knox had confessed. She was flabbergasted and confused. See the evidence against Amanda Knox . \"It was horrible. We cried most of the time,\" Mellas recalled of the first meeting. \"But we held each other and it all made sense. She told me what happened in the interrogation, how they asked her to imagine the possibilities. She talked about being hit, screamed at, threatened; it was the most horrible thing she had ever been through in her entire life.\" But even with the way Knox has been treated and portrayed, her parents know they are the lucky parents in this case. \"As parents, the Kercher family received the worst phone call they could get,\" Curt Knox said, adding he believes Kercher has gotten lost in the sensational coverage. \"At least our daughter called us.\" After the arrest, Mellas was sure there was a mix-up or problems with translation that would soon be cleared up. But they weren't. When Guede was later arrested in Germany, police said he had been speaking to a friend on a Skype call monitored by police and had been talking about being at Kercher's house. Mellas and Curt Knox were sure again that everything would be fixed. During the conversation, despite saying that he knew who Amanda Knox was, he never indicated she was at the home the night of the murder. But after being jailed, his story changed, and he pointed the finger at Knox and her then-boyfriend, Sollecito. Her family said they've tried to shield Knox from knowing how high-profile the case has gotten and how people are talking about her, discussing what she wears to court and what kind of person she is. But she does know she may be going to jail for a very long time. During closing arguments, prosecutors asked for her to be sentenced to life in prison, shocking her family who had expected a demand for 30 years. Read about the case against Amanda Knox . Still, at occasional prison visits, Curt Knox and Mellas try to give Knox a light at the end of the tunnel. \"We have to try and put on a face that it is going to work out,\" Mellas said, beginning to cry. \"We keep telling her it's taking way longer than expected but she will get out of there. They will not put an innocent 20-year-old in jail, they just can't.\" They take solace and hold onto the moments the court allows Knox to share with her parents after the trial has recessed each day. \"They allowed us to go into the back room and say goodbye and hug her, tell her we love her,\" Curt Knox said choking up. \"Just those few seconds are worth a lot.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Parents of Amanda Knox say they still hope murder trial will acquit their daughter .\nThey say they don't recognize the vengeful killer portrayed by the prosecution in Italy .\nKnox's parents say they know they're luckier than parents of victim Meredith Kercher ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama's decision on the future of the eight-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday. Obama held a lengthy meeting with top advisers Monday night and said Tuesday that he would announce plans for Afghanistan after the Thanksgiving holiday. A Defense Department official with direct knowledge of the process said there has been no final word on the president's decision. But planners have been tasked with preparing to send 34,000 additional American troops into battle with the expectation that is the number Obama is leaning toward approving, the official said. Obama ordered more than 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in March. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, reportedly has called for up to 40,000 more to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic militia originally ousted by the U.S. invasion in 2001. The president has weighed several options for bolstering the American contingent, ranging from sending a few thousand troops to sending the 40,000 McChrystal requested. McChrystal was among those who took part in Monday's conference with Obama and other top advisers, which broke up at 10 p.m. Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, were among the other senior officials in the meeting. Obama said Tuesday that the deliberations have been \"comprehensive and extremely useful.\" \"It's going to be important to recognize that in order for us to succeed there, you've got to have a comprehensive strategy that includes civilian and diplomatic efforts,\" he said at a news conference Tuesday with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The military has planning under way to send these units: three U.S. Army brigades, totaling about 15,000 troops; a Marine brigade with about 8,000 troops; a headquarters element of about 7,000; and between 4,000 and 5,000 support troops -- a total of approximately 34,000 troops, according to a defense official with direct knowledge of Pentagon operations. CNN reported last month that this was the preferred option within the Pentagon. The troops would be dispatched throughout Afghanistan but would be focused mainly on the southern and southeastern provinces, where much of the recent fighting has taken place. Currently, brigades from Fort Drum in upstate New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky are among those that are next in line to deploy. About 68,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, along with about 45,000 from the NATO alliance. Two U.S. military officials said NATO countries would be asked to contribute more troops to fill the gap between the 34,000 the Pentagon expects Obama to send and the 40,000 McChrystal wanted. The request is expected to come during a December 7 meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell would not discuss specific numbers, but he said NATO would be asked for additional help. \"Clearly, if the president decides to commit additional forces to Afghanistan, there would be an expectation that our allies would also commit additional forces,\" Morrell said. U.S.-led troops invaded Afghanistan in response to the al Qaeda terrorist network's September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The invasion overthrew the Taliban, which had allowed al Qaeda to operate from its territory, but most of the top al Qaeda and Taliban leadership escaped the onslaught. Taliban fighters have since regrouped in the mountainous region along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, battling U.S. and Afghan government forces on one side and Pakistani troops on the other. Al Qaeda's top leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, remain at large and are suspected to be hiding in the same region. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 900 Americans and nearly 600 allied troops. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday suggests that the U.S public is split over whether more troops should be sent to Afghanistan. Fifty percent of those polled said they would support such a decision, with 49 percent opposed. The poll found that 66 percent of Americans believe the war is going badly, up 11 percentage points from a similar survey in March. Overall support for the war has fallen to 45 percent, with 52 percent opposed. iReporters sound off; share your views on sending more troops in Afghanistan . Afghanistan was among the topics Obama and Singh discussed in their meetings Tuesday. Singh said the international community needs \"to sustain its engagement in Afghanistan, to help it emerge as a modern state.\" \"The forces of terrorism in our region pose a grave threat to the entire civilized world and have to be defeated,\" he said. \"President Obama and I have decided to strengthen our cooperation in the area of counterterrorism.\" India is one Afghanistan's biggest international donors, contributing $1.2 billion in aid. That involvement has been met with suspicion in Pakistan, India's nuclear rival in South Asia. But it has helped the United States by sharing some of the burden of stabilizing the country and providing civilian support. In addition, several leading analysts have argued that settling the decades-old tensions between India and Pakistan would allow both sides to pull troops off their borders, giving Pakistan more resources to battle the Taliban along its northwest frontier. \"I think that will certainly be at the center of the agenda this week,\" Nicholas Burns, a former State Department official, said on CNN's \"American Morning.\" U.S. prospects in Afghanistan depend partly \"on convincing Pakistan to be more cooperative in the fight against those terrorist groups.\" \"The United States is not going to be an outright mediator between Pakistan and India, but we can quietly, behind the scenes, push them to reduce their problems,\" Burns said. CNN's Elaine Quijano and Mike Mount contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: NATO allies will also be asked to send more troops, officials say .\nAnnouncement on troop increase to come after Thanksgiving .\nObama met with national security team Monday night to discuss Afghanistan .\nObama wanted clarification on how, when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- After the fire, all that was left of Jonathan Reyes' massive Hot Wheels collection was a piece of metal that once was part of a toy car. Jonathan Reyes shows off his new Hot Wheels cars sent by Mattel after they heard his own toys were lost in a fire. But on Wednesday, the arrival of two cardboard boxes at his grandparents' house sent 7-year-old Jonathan flying to the door, said his mother, Jan Reyes. Mattel, the company that makes Hot Wheels, sent racetracks, play sets, stickers, folders, T-shirts, hats and hundreds of toy cars. \"He was speechless,\" Reyes said. \"He didn't say anything. He just smiled. He opened it up. It was like Christmas. All of us were bawling, crying. He was so happy.\" Jonathan, who has autism, meticulously collected more than 500 Hot Wheels. But all that was destroyed when his Sylmar home, along with hundreds of other structures, were burned down by wildfires in Los Angeles County. Toys are like anchors for children with autism, psychologists say. They like to play with the same toys, eat familiar foods and be in a consistent environment. When faced with unpredictable changes, they can feel frustrated or anxious and become disruptive, according to experts. On Tuesday, Jonathan and his parents searched for his toys among piles of debris, but they found only a piece of a Hot Wheels car and a rusty tricycle. The rest of Jonathan's toys were reduced to ashes. Watch the Reyes family return to their home. » . Mattel, with headquarters in El Segundo, California, wanted to get involved after hearing on CNN that Jonathan, who had been collecting Hot Wheels since he was 2, had lost everything. Looking for hope in the ashes. \"We wanted to send as many as possible,\" said Deborah Dicochea, associate manager of the Mattel Children's Foundation, which sends toys globally to children affected by crisis. \"With autistic children, they like sorting them, arranging them.\" Offers of toys, a computer, resources to connect to other families dealing with autism and financial donations have been pouring into the family. \"It's wonderful, because he literally lost every toy he had,\" Reyes said. \"He had a personal attachment to all of his toys. Part of autism is they have a little connection to everything and his biggest thing was to his cars. For Mattel to send him the cars and tracks, it's just incredible. He is so happy.\" The toll of the disruption to Jonathan's life is starting to become evident. He has been throwing more frequent tantrums as his parents are trying to establish a new routine. But the toys definitely have helped, Reyes said. \"The cars were like gold,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Box full of Hot Wheels sent to boy with autism who lost everything .\nFamiliar toys are important for children with autism .\nIt was \"like Christmas\" to receive donations, mother says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- South American nations have always played a major part in the world of football, and when it comes to the World Cup they are considered among the main contenders every time. But this time around there may be a new threat from the continent making its mark internationally. Nelson Valdez (left) celebrates his goal against Venezuela, Tuesday, to keep Paraguay top in qualifying. Out of 18 World Cup Finals to date, a South American team has won the competition nine times, demonstrating that although Europe may be where the money is, the other side of the Atlantic has the raw talent. Generally speaking, however, the continent's dominance has been largely down to two countries: Brazil, who have won the title an astonishing five times; and Argentina, who have made it to the tournament's final match four times and taken the trophy home twice. The rest of the continent has rarely played a major part in the proceedings. Now, though, as the qualifying stages for the 2010 World Cup Finals gather speed, the two giants are being put to shame by a footballing nation that has, until now, had very limited success at international events: Paraguay. Having only qualified for the finals seven times, and never made it further than the second round of the competition, Paraguay aren't usually seen as a serious threat to the big international teams, but this year the bookmakers may have to take a serious look at the small country from the center of the continent, with a population of just 6.1 million. Following Tuesday night's 2-0 victory over Venezuela, Paraguay cemented their position at the top of the South American qualifying group, with 17 points from eight matches -- four points clear of the faltering Argentina and Brazil, who share second place. So far in the group, the Paraguayans have recorded a 2-0 home win over Brazil and managed to secure a 1-1 draw away to the recent Olympic champions Argentina, proving they can keep up with the best in the world, even without one of their star players, striker Roque Santa Cruz, who was injured for the Buenos Aires fixture. So, how are they managing it? And can they continue this form through the qualifiers and into the finals themselves? Since 2006, the team has undergone some radical changes. A lot of big names in the squad and behind the scenes left the team following Paraguay's relatively poor performance in the World Cup Finals in Germany. So it was goodbye to the old, including Paraguay's most capped player, Carlos Gamarra and coach, Anibal Ruiz, who has been replaced by Argentine Gerardo \"Tata\" Martino. But this left the door open for a whole new face for the nation's team. And the new breed of players clearly have a lot of skill, impressing people all over the world. Players like Santa Cruz, for the English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, and Edgar Barreto, an integral part of the Reggina Calcio squad in Italy's Serie A, represent Paraguay's swelling talent in the major European leagues. The Paraguayan presence in the world's top leagues, shows the depth of their squad, and it also means players will be given the benefit of experiencing top level football on a regular basis; something that can only aid the development of an already talented player. The style the team plays -- emphasizing a strength in attack, boosted by Santa Cruz and his gifted strike partners, Club America's Salvador Cabanas and Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Valdez -- hints at a tactical change, as well. In the past, the Paraguayans have relied heavily on a solid defense to secure results, and not always had the goals to back that up. Now, although the defense is still strong -- featuring Boca Juniors regular Claudio Morel Rodriguez, and the powerful partnership of Paulo Da Silva and Julio Cesar Caceres -- there is some flair up front, which the manager is capitalizing on. So, with an influx of good players, who are getting the necessary top level experience and a manager who knows how to get the most out of his team, this may be an opportunity for a new country to step to the foreground from South America and end the dominance of Brazil and Argentina. As the table stands now, Paraguay are looking good to qualify, and if they can exercise the same level of skill they have shown in the opening eight matches, they could top the group and head to South Africa as the team to watch in the finals." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the past Brazil and Argentina have dominated South American football .\nParaguay are challenging, beating Brazil and topping World Cup qualifying group .\nThe team has had a reshape since 2006, many new, talented players .\nExperience of playing in major leagues across the world helps player development ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Doctors chose a woman who survived a shotgun wound to her face as the first recipient of a face transplant after treating her for nearly four years. This image projects what Connie Culp, 46, may look like two years after the face transplant. Connie Culp knew of the Cleveland Clinic's interest in face transplants and approached the medical staff, doctors said at a news conference Tuesday. Dr. Maria Siemionow, the Cleveland, Ohio, hospital's director of plastic surgery research and head of microsurgery training, had more than 20 years of experience in complex transplants. By 2004, Siemionow was looking for the right candidate for a face transplant who wasn't doing it for vanity. \"They are not looking to go out on the street and be beautiful,\" Siemionow told CNN in a 2006 interview. \"Some of these patients, when they were interviewed just said 'I want to walk on the street and just make sure I am not sticking out.' They just want to have a normal face.\" The doctors examined the patient's history, motivation and ability to understand the risks of the transplant. And they found Culp to be an ideal candidate. Five years after a gun blast shattered her nose, cheeks and upper lip, she had a band of scar tissue extending across her face. \"The most devastating of all was the fact that society had rejected her and children were afraid of her,\" said Siemionow, who led the December 10 transplant operation. See before and after photos of Culp » . Culp, a mother of two and a grandmother, told her doctors she could understand that some adults would shun her. \"But what really bothered her the most were children -- the children that shied away from her,\" said Dr. Frank Papay, the chairman of Institute of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. \"That sense of innocence, and her not being able to see that innocence really, really affected her.\" The shooting . In September 2004, Culp's estranged husband shot her in the face in an attempted murder-suicide outside a restaurant in Hopedale, Ohio, according to CNN affiliate WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio. Culp was 8 feet away from her husband, Thomas Culp, when he pulled the shotgun's trigger. He then turned the weapon on himself, according to local news reports. They both survived. Thomas Culp was sent to prison. Despite her wounds, she told WTOV in 2008, \"I'll always love him. He was my first love.\" At the same time, Culp said, she felt angry. \"I wouldn't be human if I didn't. I forgive him, but I have to go on, you know?\" After the shooting, Culp recuperated in a hospital and in a personal care home for two years. Culp told WTOV she had vision problems and was learning Braille. Her approach to life was to \"keep motivated. Don't sleep your life away -- that could have happened. I could be depressed. I'm not.\" As she spoke, her breaths emitted a small whistle from her tracheotomy tube, which protruded from a surgical opening in her neck. \"I cannot smell. I will never be able to smell,\" she said in the interview. Culp was wrong. How doctors transplanted a face . The doctors at the Cleveland Clinic analyzed Culp's injuries using CAT scans and developed plastic models of her skull. They practiced face transplant operation on cadavers several times. Culp met with the hospital's surgeons, ethical committee members and psychiatry and psychology specialists who determined that she was an ideal candidate for the surgery. Then, the wait for the right donor began in 2008. \"We thought we were going to wait a long time because we had to find a Caucasian female in her mid 40s to match Connie, so we expected a year before we were able to find a donor,\" said Papay, who is also head of craniofacial surgery. \"Well, three to four months later, I got a call at around midnight from Dr. Siemionow saying 'I think we have a donor.'\" The family of a brain dead woman granted permission to use her face. He likened the preparation for the December transplant to a rocket launch, saying, \"Everything was prepared beforehand very, very, very carefully.\" Surgeons sheared out the donor's mid-facial area including the lower eyelids, cheekbones, the nose, some of the sinus and the whole upper jaw, with the blood vessels. Watch CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta discuss the face transplant » . When it came time to move the donor's parts to Culp, they had to see that the donor and recipient parts aligned. \"One of the ways you can tell that is how your upper teeth fit to the lower teeth,\" Papay said. \"We knew it was like a hand in a glove, exactly where we needed to be.\" They secured the bones into Culp's face using titanium plates and screws. Then the microvascular surgeons attached the vessels. They tucked the scars around Culp's ears or underneath her eyelid, where they would not be visible. How the doctors operated » . Doctors added more skin than needed in case of tissue rejection. After monitoring Culp's progress, doctors say they will remove the excess tissue and tighten her jawline in future surgeries. Contrary to science fiction and movies, the surgery did not make Culp look like the donor. \"If you just took the skin and transplanted it to the other patient, the bony structure is different,\" Papay said. \"If you took the bony structure and transplanted it on the other side, it ends up being a composite. So, it doesn't look like the donor. It doesn't look like the recipient. It ends up looking like someone new.\" Recovery . At this point, all the transplanted parts of Culp's face are functioning except for her facial nerves, which are growing about an inch a month. Doctors anticipate Culp will be able to have full facial function -- and more expression -- by this winter. In physical therapy, she learns to train her nerves, make facial expressions, smile and purse her lips, doctors said. \"If you cry or you laugh or you smile, it's not like you think about it. You just emotionally do it. So that's a wait and see for us,\" Papay said. \"As far as the emotional one, that's really the key issue. A far as when she laughs, cries and grimaces and gets angry at you...what's her face going to look like? That's the exciting part about it.\" Five months after the first face transplant in the United States, Culp lives at home. She has checkups with the medical staff once or twice a month and will do so for the next year, her doctors said. Initially, Culp used immunosuppressants that transplanted kidney, liver or heart patients would normally take. Transplant patients must take immune-suppressing drugs throughout their lifetime to prevent tissue rejection. But she showed improvements that enabled the doctors to reduce her regimen to one medication, doctors said. \"She's taking her medications,\" Siemionow said. \"We know she is compliant. She cares about how she looks. She has her hair done in a new color...She is full of life. She does her push-ups. She's on the treadmill. What else can I say?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Face transplant recipient was shot in 2004 by her husband .\nIn a 2008 interview she told CNN affiliate that she forgave her husband .\nDoctors say Connie Culp fit criteria for ideal face transplant recipient ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Two people were executed Tuesday in China for their part in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six babies and sickened about 300,000 others, state-run media reported. Zhang Yujun was executed for endangering public safety and Geng Jinping was executed for producing and selling toxic food, the Xinhua news agency said. The tainted formula came to light in September 2008, after several babies fell ill from drinking formula that contained melamine. Melamine is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants. Some Chinese dairy plants added the chemical to milk products so they would appear to have a higher protein level. The tainted milk caused kidney stones and urinary tract problems in hundreds of thousands of children. The 22 Chinese dairy producers that made the formula have offered compensation to victims' families. In all, 21 people were tried and sentenced in January for their roles in the scandal, Xinhua reported. Among them, Zhang and Geng were sentenced to death, and most others received at least 15 years in prison." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping executed for their roles in toxic milk scandal .\nIn all, 21 people were tried and sentenced in January for their roles in the scandal .\nTainted milk killed at least six babies and sickened about 300,000 others .\nDrinking formula held melamine, a toxin dairy plants used to make protein levels appear higher ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The American Psychological Association concluded Wednesday that there is little evidence that efforts to change a person's sexual orientation from gay or lesbian to heterosexual are effective. The report looks at 87 studies conducted between 1960 and 2007. In addition, the 138-page report -- covering 87 peer-reviewed studies -- said that such efforts may cause harm. \"Contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation,\" said Judith M. Glassgold, chairwoman of the task force that presented the report at the group's annual meeting in Toronto, Canada. The Washington-based association represents more than 150,000 members. \"At most, certain studies suggested that some individuals learned how to ignore or not act on their homosexual attractions. Yet, these studies did not indicate for whom this was possible, how long it lasted or its long-term mental health effects. Also, this result was much less likely to be true for people who started out only attracted to people of the same sex.\" In response, the group's governing Council of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday urging mental health professionals not to recommend to their clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or any other methods. The group's Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation reached its conclusion after its review of 87 studies conducted between 1960 and 2007 and finding \"serious methodological problems\" in the vast majority of them. Those few studies that did have \"high-quality\" evidence \"show that enduring change to an individual's sexual orientation is uncommon,\" it said. In addition, the report cited evidence that efforts to switch a person's sexual orientation through aversive treatments might cause harm, including loss of sexual feeling, suicidality, depression and anxiety. Many who tried to change and failed \"described their experiences as a significant cause of emotional and spiritual distress and negative self-image,\" it said. The six-member task force was appointed two years ago to address concerns about \"efforts to promote the notion that sexual orientation can be changed through psychotherapy or approaches that mischaracterize homosexuality as a mental disorder.\" The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1975. The task force noted that some people attempt to change their sexual orientation because it conflicts with their religious beliefs, and recommended that their mental health care providers help them \"explore possible life paths that address the reality of their sexual orientation, reduce the stigma associated with homosexuality, respect the client's religious beliefs, and consider possibilities for a religiously and spiritually meaningful and rewarding life.\" \"In other words,\" said Glassgold, \"we recommend that psychologists be completely honest about the likelihood of sexual orientation change, and that they help clients explore their assumptions and goals with respect to both religion and sexuality.\" Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, a network of more than 250 ministries that he said \"reach out to men and women and families that are affected by what we call 'unwanted same-sex attraction'\" disagrees. He offered himself as proof that such efforts can work. \"The fact is that there are tens of thousands of men and women just like me who once identified as gay,\" Chambers said in a telephone interview. \"For me and for these people, the truth is change is possible.\" Chambers said his transformation from gay man began more than 18 years ago, when he attended a support group at the organization he now leads. Chambers, who said he married a woman nearly 12 years ago, has written a book, \"Leaving Homosexuality,\" which was published last month. \"You can't refute a personal story,\" he said, adding that about a third of those who try to switch their sexual orientation through the group's ministries wind up doing so. \"We're not talking a light switch that you turn on and off, we're talking about very deep and complex issues that, I think, take years to resolve.\" Though all mainstream health and mental health organizations concluded years ago that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, the American Psychological Association formed the task force to work on the report two years ago after noting a resurgence of groups that identified homosexuality as a defect or spiritual or moral failing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "American Psychological Association: Trying to change orientation can be harmful .\nGroup urges mental health professionals not to advocate changing orientation .\nHomosexuality de-listed as mental disorder in '75, but some programs still treat it .\nOfficial with one such program says, \"Change is possible\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are detailing their plans for solving the country's energy crisis and criticizing each other's proposals this week as they campaign in battleground states. Here's a look at the candidates' energy proposals: . Overall strategy . McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has proposed a national energy strategy that would rely on the technological prowess of American industry and science. McCain has said he would work to reduce carbon emissions 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. He has said he would commit $2 billion annually for 15 years to advance clean coal technology. He also has pledged to oppose a windfall profits tax on oil companies that, according to his campaign Web site, \"will ultimately result in increasing our dependence on foreign oil and hinder investment in domestic exploration.\" McCain also believes the U.S. needs to deploy SmartMeter technologies, which collect real-time data on the electricity use of individual homes and businesses. Meanwhile, Obama laid out his comprehensive energy plan Monday in Lansing, Michigan. \"If I am president, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal -- in 10 years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela,\" the presumptive Democratic nominee told a crowd. Obama's plan also would invest $150 billion over the next 10 years and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that he said would harness American energy and create 5 million new jobs. He also called on businesses, government and the American people to meet the goal of reducing U.S. demand for electricity by 15 percent by the end of the next decade and said he would modernize the national utility grid. Another prominent feature in the plan: Immediately give every working family in America a $1,000 energy rebate and pay for it from oil company profits. Offshore drilling . McCain: Proposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling as part of his plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil and help combat rising gas prices. Would let individual states decide whether to explore drilling possibilities. Opposes drilling in some wilderness areas -- including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and said those places must be left undisturbed. Obama: Opposed new offshore drilling, but later shifted to say that he would consider it if it were part of a larger strategy to lower energy costs. Supports bipartisan energy plan from the Senate that combines alternative energy innovation, financial, nuclear energy and drilling proposals. Effort by five Democrats and five Republicans to break Congress' energy impasse would allow expanded offshore oil exploration and embrace ambitious energy efficiency and efforts to develop alternative fuels. Believes oil companies should drill on the 68 million acres they have access to but haven't used and would require oil companies that will not drill to give up their leases. Strategic oil reserves . McCain advocates suspending the purchase of foreign oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during periods of high prices to reduce demand. Obama called for tapping into strategic oil reserves as part of his plan to provide relief from high gas prices. (He previously said he was opposed to using the strategic reserves, but on Monday he proposed selling 70 million barrels of oil from the reserves to lower gas prices). Cars and driving . McCain: Proposed a $300 million award for \"the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.\" Called for the suspension of the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gas tax and 24.4-cent-a-gallon diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Says the lost revenue would be paid for by money from the general fund. Obama: Would provide $4 billion in loans and tax credits to American auto plants and manufacturers so that they can retool factories and build fuel-efficient cars; would put 1 million 150-mpg, plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads within six years and would give consumers a $7,000 tax credit to buy fuel-efficient cars. Nuclear energy . McCain: Calls for building new nuclear reactors, saying barriers to nuclear energy are political, not technological. Would put a plan in place to build 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 -- with the ultimate goal of 100 new plants. Would provide for safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and give host states or localities a proprietary interest so when advanced recycling technologies turn used fuel into a valuable commodity, the public would share in the economic benefits. Obama: Says he'll find safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste. In Democratic debate earlier this year, he said, \"We should explore nuclear power as part of the energy mix.\" Renewable energy . McCain: Would commit $2 billion annually to advance clean coal technologies. Calls for a permanent tax credit, which he says will \"simplify the tax code, reward activity in the U.S., and make us more competitive with other countries,\" according to his campaign Web site. Encourages development of low-carbon fuels -- wind, hydro and solar power. Obama: Would require 10 percent of U.S. energy come from renewable sources by the end of his first presidential term. The plan would extend the Production Tax Credit for five years to encourage the production of renewable energy. Create five first-of-a-kind, coal-fired demonstration plants that would capture and store carbon dioxide emissions and invest in technology that will allow for more coal use. Climate change . McCain: Proposes a bipartisan plan to address the problem of climate change and stimulate the development and use of advanced technologies. It is a market-based approach that would set caps on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and provide industries with tradable credits. Obama: Calls for a reduction of carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 by using a market-based cap-and-trade system. Would create what his campaign calls a \"Global Energy Forum\" and re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. CNN's Ed Hornick, Kerith McFadden and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sen. Barack Obama lays out comprehensive energy plan this week .\nObama vows to eliminate the need for Mideastern, Venezuelan oil in 10 years .\nSen. John McCain proposes an energy strategy relying on technology and science .\nMcCain says the federal government should lift restrictions on offshore drilling ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "SHENANDOAH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Crystal Dillman says she will never understand why a group of teenage boys beat her fiancé to death. She says she will spend the rest of her life seeking answers -- and justice -- for the man she has lost as she struggles alone to raise her three young children. \"My life is forever destroyed,\" said Dillman, who was 24 at the time of her fiancé's death. \"My family is forever destroyed.\" Her fiancé, Luis Ramirez, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, was walking down the street in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, on July 12, 2008, with Dillman's half-sister, who is white. A fight broke out between him and a group of white high school football players. He died from his injuries two days later, leaving a small community stunned at the brutality of the crime. A central issue in the case is race in a town with a reputation for being an ethnic melting pot. Witness Eileen Burke said she heard the group call Ramirez a \"spic.\" One of the boys who was charged as a juvenile, Brian Scully, admitted telling Ramirez to \"go home, you Mexican motherf---er.\" Residents speak out about the crime, racial overtones . Scully was charged with ethnic intimidation. Another teen pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations in a plea deal. But two teens who faced a local jury were acquitted of charges of ethnic intimidation. Dillman doesn't doubt that the attack was racially motivated. \"They said some racist remarks to him,\" Dillman said of the teens. \"Truly, in my heart, I believe they beat him up because he was Latino.\" Many in Shenandoah deny that race played a role and say it was just a street fight gone wrong. The young men involved were ordinary high school students -- good kids, according to their families, friends and coaches. Shenandoah resident interrupts CNN interview . It took almost two weeks for arrests to be made. But on July 25, Colin J. Walsh, 17, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation. Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged as an adult with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Walsh, who admitted throwing a punch that left Ramirez unconscious, got straight A's in school and ran track. His father says he was never a troublemaker. See photos of key figures in the case . But how do ordinary kids get caught up in such a brutal incident? Experts say everyone has biases, and violent instincts are common, especially in young adults. Young offenders . \"Hate is part of our culture,\" said Jack Levin of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University. \"It transcends generations, it's widely shared, and it's learned from an early age,\" Levin said. \"Even otherwise decent, honorable people can be pulled into it.\" Jack McDevitt of Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Justice said, \"We all carry around biases with us, and it's not the extraordinary monster that decides to act on it. Generally speaking, it's someone more like us and our children than a member of the [Ku Klux] Klan.\" Research conducted by both Levin and McDevitt shows that there are three major types of hate crime offenders: . • \"Thrill seekers\" who look for excitement and power in attacking a person they perceive as different. • \"Retaliators\" who seek revenge for a real or perceived crime against someone similar to the attacker. • \"Defenders\" who are trying to protect their neighborhood or way of life. Perhaps the most expected type is also the rarest: an offender who may be a member of a group like the KKK and has a deep-seated hatred of a specific ethnic group. \"Hate criminals, most of them young men, believe they are carrying out the fervent, unspoken wishes of their communities,\" said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report. McDevitt says offenders often \"believe other people share their biases ... everybody feels the way they do, or at least the majority.\" By taking action, he says, they think \"they're being heroic while others are scared.\" Communities most likely to experience a hate crime have a \"special combination of ethnic homogeneity and a rapid in-migration of groups perceived to be outsiders,\" according to Donald Green, a professor at Yale University. He says a \"flashpoint\" can occur \"when there's a boundary-crossing.\" For example, \"an inter-ethnic, inter-sex relationship on public display.\" Offenders sense that an outside group is crossing a boundary, and when women are involved, it can trigger a defensive reaction, especially among young men. Shenandoah's rich immigrant heritage has long been a source of pride in the former coal-mining town, and families have held tight to their cultural traditions for generations. But an influx of Latinos in the late 1990s brought some discomfort. Cheap housing and jobs in agriculture and construction drew undocumented immigrants -- among legal Latino residents and citizens -- to a community that was struggling economically. Crimes against Latinos rising . FBI statistics show that anti-Latino crimes are on the rise. There were 595 anti-Latino crimes in 2007, up almost 40 percent from the 426 crimes in 2003; the Latino population in America grew only 14 percent during that time. In December, Ecuadorean Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhañay died after he was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn, New York. One month earlier, a group of seven teenagers with a history of harassing Latinos went out looking for \"Mexicans to f--- up\" and fatally stabbed Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, New York. FBI figures from 2007 show that anti-Latino attacks account for about 8 percent of all hate crimes. About 35 percent of hate crimes were directed at blacks, 16 percent at homosexuals and 13 percent at Jews. But experts say hate crimes in general are underreported. States are not required to report those figures to the FBI. And it can also be hard for law enforcement and prosecutors to prove that a perpetrator's motive was hate, especially if a robbery occurs or the attacker had a prior relationship with the victim. Often, the victims themselves -- especially Latinos who may not be in the United States legally -- don't report the crimes and may mistrust the police. McDevitt says many victims may not realize or want to acknowledge that they have been the target of a hate crime. Experts say communities can heal after hate crimes occur, and even prevent them from happening altogether, if local leaders take certain steps. \"Different people need to be welcomed,\" McDevitt said. Donald Green says a community can portray change as positive, \"saying, 'we've got more great restaurants, more people who work hard, more people who are family-oriented,' \" for example. Still struggling . Eventually, Piekarsky was convicted of simple assault and consumption of alcohol, and Donchak was convicted of simple assault, and three counts of corruption of a minor, providing alcohol to minors and consumption of alcohol. The jury acquitted Piekarsky and Donchak of ethnic intimidation charges. Piekarsky was sentenced to between six and 23 months in prison and Donchak from seven to 23 months. Walsh pleaded guilty to violating Ramirez's civil rights. More than a year after Ramirez's death, Shenandoah is still struggling. Civil rights officials at the Department of Justice are investigating the death and the actions of the Shenandoah police officers who urged the boys to get their stories straight before talking to investigators. But there is no closure for Crystal Dillman. \"It's not done for me,\" she said, \"not by a long shot. That's not justice at all. Not even close.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Small town stunned by death of Mexican immigrant after fight with white teens .\nFiancèe: \"Truly, in my heart, I believe they beat him up because he was Latino\"\n\"Hate is part of our culture,\" expert says .\nWatch CNN Presents \"Latino in America\" tonight at 9 ET on CNN TV ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Shoes tell a lot about a person. If you stumbled into my closet, you would probably think I was a security guard, a construction worker or a Nurse Ratched wannabe. My taste in shoes tends to be boxy, low-heeled and sturdy. If the equipment isn't cleaned properly, you could be at risk for infection when you get a pedicure. So it probably doesn't surprise you to learn that when it comes to pedicures, I am hardly a nail salon enabler. Unfortunately, in some sort of twisted cosmic comedy, both my teen and my tween daughters are pedicure addicts. To pedicure addicts, there is nothing better than being seated in those massive padded massage chairs, chin deep in fashion magazines, while some woman bathes, chisels, files and paints their toes. And up until now, the only thing I worried about was how much the extra flower motif on her big toe was going to cost me. Now, I have plenty of other stuff to worry about. Dr. Dina Tsentserensky, a podiatrist in New York, made it clear. \"I definitely see patients that have had problems as a result of getting a pedicure,\" she said. \"I guess the most common is fungal nails.\" Fungal nails!!! I really don't want to pay for that. The National Institutes of Health, unfortunately, describes fungal nail in less-than-clear terms: Fungal nail infection is an infection of the nails by a fungus. Prescription treatments are only about 50 percent effective, and most of these infections usually require the loss of the infected nail itself, the NIH Web site says. Cuts, scrapes and some other infections are also common results of seemingly soothing foot romps. Tsentserensky thinks it's nothing new. \"I think it's a chronic problem that has been going on for a while,\" she said. \"People just maybe chose to ignore it or don't pay attention as much as they should.\" Anyone who did pay attention could have known about some of those risks eight years ago. That's when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported finding a nasty infection that hit more than 100 pedicure patients. The culprit: a less-than-sterile footbath screen. The result: an infection called mycobacterium fortuitum. That mouthful of a malady left these customers, most of them women, with prolonged boils on their lower legs and some long-term scars. Although that report prompted nail salons to clean the screens on those foot baths more often, it doesn't mean that in the land of pedicure pampering, you can just relax and enjoy the polishing. Tsentserensky's chief advice is to be on high cleanliness alert. \"I tell patients to make sure that the bathtubs are being cleaned properly, that they are using enough time in between so the disinfectant has time to work,\" she said. And the magic timeframe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is about 10 minutes between clients. The EPA also stresses that to ensure the safest conditions, the tubs need to be cleaned with an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant, which means the bottle itself will have a EPA registration number listed somewhere on the label. But it's not just the tubs that need to be clean. So do those instruments. \"Make sure that instruments are getting sterilized properly,\" Tsentserensky cautions, \"that they are using a sterilizer or an autoclave to properly sanitize the instruments or using the liquids for the proper periods of time.\" Timing is also important, but that's a condition that's on your side. Don't get a pedicure right after you've shaved your legs, had laser hair removal or have any cuts or bites on your legs. Any opening in the skin is an invitation that you might not want to be extending. And finally, make sure you can communicate with your nail technician to ensure he or she is taking the proper precautions to make your pedicure a stress-free experience and, more important, to ensure that the only thing you're taking with you when you leave that salon is the pretty polish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Some people get fungal nails or infections from pedicures .\nMake sure that instruments are getting sterilized properly .\nTubs need to be cleaned with an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One doctor says the study \"very clearly shows that autism did not arrive through a vaccine.\" A new study published in the January 2008 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry found the prevalence of autism cases in California children continued to rise after most vaccine manufacturers started to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in 1999, suggesting that the chemical was not a primary cause of the disorder. Researchers from the State Public Health Department found that the autism rates in children rose continuously during the study period from 1995 to 2007. The preservative, thimerosal, has not been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, except for some flu shots. The latest findings failed to convince some parents and advocacy groups, who have long blamed mercury, a neurotoxin, for the disorder. For years, parents have been concerned that a mercury-containing vaccine preservative may play a role in autism. But a study conducted in California found that autism rates increased even after thimerosal was removed from most vaccines. The study authors say this is evidence that thimerosal does not cause autism, although advocacy groups say it's too soon to determine whether autism rates have been affected. Do these findings suggest that autism isn't linked to mercury in vaccines? Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent: Let me explain. In 1999, manufacturers began removing thimerosal - which is a mercury-based preservative - from vaccines. Some people believed autism would decrease as a result, because they thought the two were connected. A new study in the Archives of General Psychiatry says this just didn't happen. Researchers looked at cases of autism in California after 1999. They reasoned that if mercury exposure in vaccines was a major cause of autism, the number of affected kids should have dropped after thimerosal was removed. Just the opposite happened. From 2004 to 2007, when exposure to thimerosal dropped significantly for 3- to 5-year-olds, the autism rate continued to go up, from 3 per 1,000 children to 4 per 1,000 children in California. A child psychiatrist who supported the study said it \"very clearly shows that autism did not arrive through a vaccine.\" But advocacy groups say it's too soon to determine whether autism rates were affected by removing thimerosal from vaccines. The National Vaccine Information Center says the study doesn't include children under the age of 3, which they say is the only group that was never exposed to mercury in vaccines. It says thimerosal wasn't completely off the shelves until 2002 or 2003. Their main point is that mercury is a neurotoxin, so why take a chance by putting it in vaccines? What do scientists think causes autism? As many as one in every 166 children in this country is found to have autism, and doctors still don't know why. Doctors point to genetics and environment as culprits, but it could be more complicated than that. The latest research shows these children are not necessarily born with autism but with the potential to develop it. What exactly are these outside factors? It's hard to pinpoint. What we eat, what we breathe, what we drink -- all these things could play a role. Some doctors say the increase is due to a change in the way the condition is diagnosed kids who were once labeled mentally retarded are now being labeled as autistic. What are possible signs of autism in your child? Doctors are now looking for signs of autism in children as young as 18 to 24 months. Some red flags that indicate your child may have autism: no babbling or pointing by 12 months, no single words by 16 months, no brief phrases by 24 months, loss of language or social skills. If you see any of these signs, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends seeing a pediatric neurologist, developmental pediatrician or child psychologist. What led companies to remove thimerosal from vaccines to begin with? Several things pushed companies in this direction. Over the past decade, more and more attention was given to the health effects of mercury on humans. And then in the '90s, the CDC added new vaccines to the list of routine shots that children should get. Some of them used thimerosal as a preservative. This was happening while the government was trying to decrease our exposure to mercury. So the FDA began looking into the issue. In 1997, Congress passed a bill that mandated review of products containing mercury, which led manufacturers to begin removing thimerosal from vaccines two years later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Removal of thimerosal from most vaccines hasn't reduced the number of autism cases diagnosed in the state of California." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- An advisory panel is recommending a major step up in protection for health workers dealing with patients suspected or confirmed to have H1N1 influenza. One expert says that based on current knowledge, N95 respirators offer health workers the best protection. The Institute of Medicine said Thursday, in recommendations requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that loose paper masks are inadequate because the workers could still breathe in the virus. Instead, health workers should switch to N95 respirators that form an airtight seal around the nose and mouth. If properly fitted and worn correctly, N95 respirators filter out at least 95 percent of particles as small as 0.3 micrometers, which is smaller than influenza viruses, the report notes. The institute provides independent, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, private entities and the public. It is one of four groups that make up the National Academies. The study released Thursday was requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. \"Scientists do not know to what extent flu viruses spread through the air or whether infection requires physical contact with contaminated fluids or surfaces,\" a summary of the report says. It calls for \"a boost in research to answer these questions and to design and develop better protective equipment that would enhance workers' comfort, safety and ability to do their jobs.\" \"Based on what we currently know about influenza, well-fitted N95 respirators offer health care workers the best protection against inhalation of viral particles,\" said committee chairman Kenneth Shine, executive vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. He is a former president of the institute. \"But there is a lot we still don't know about these viruses, and it would be a mistake for anyone to rely on respirators alone as some sort of magic shield.\" Health care workers should use several strategies to guard against infection, such as innovative triage processes, washing hands, disinfecting, wearing gloves, getting vaccinated and using antiviral drugs, Shine said. The institute was asked specifically to evaluate personal protective equipment designed to guard against respiratory infection, and therefore the committee focused on the efficacy of medical masks and respirators." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Panel recommends health care workers wear N95 respirators for H1N1 patients .\nN95 respirators form an airtight seal around the nose and mouth .\nThey filter out at least 95 percent of particles as small as 0.3 micrometers .\nReport says it is not known to what extent flu viruses spread through the air ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Washington (CNN) -- President Obama toasted a growing U.S. friendship with India at the first state dinner of his administration Tuesday, an evening of regal pageantry and symbolic politics in a tent on the White House South Lawn. \"To the future that beckons all of us,\" Obama said with glass raised toward his guest of honor, visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. \"Let us answer its call. And let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us.\" A tradition dating back to 1874, state dinners are the most treasured and formal honor a U.S. president can offer a foreign dignitary, and the most coveted invitation in Washington. The Tuesday night dinner showed Obama's intention to signal strong ties with the world's largest democracy and go his own way in navigating the pomp and tradition of White House customs. Traditionally, a new administration's first invitation goes to the leader of neighboring Canada or Mexico, though recent presidents also haven't followed that precedent. The event planned by first lady Michelle Obama emphasized eco-friendly themes such as White House-grown herbs and lettuce served to guests and sustainably harvested magnolia branches -- from species native to both India and the United States -- in arrangements adorning the tent where more than 300 guests wearing tuxedos and gowns were wined, dined and entertained. A White House document said common themes of state and official visits are \"forging friendships, exchanging knowledge and building bridges that last for years.\" In a toast that followed Obama's, Singh praised his host's leadership and prompted applause by citing the charm of the U.S. first lady. Obama's election was \"an inspiration to all those who cherish the values of diversity, democracy and equal opportunity,\" Singh said, adding that India \"warmly applauded\" the Nobel Peace Prize awarded Obama this year for \"the healing touch you have provided and the power of your idealism and your vision.\" \"We need to find new pathways of international cooperation that respond more effectively to the grave challenges caused by the growing interdependence of nations,\" Singh said. \"As two leading democracies, India and the United States must play a leading role in building a shared destiny for all humankind.\" Obama, in a black tuxedo, and the first lady, in a dazzling cream gown with silver accents, greeted Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, as they arrived, shaking hands on the White House steps and posing for pictures before leading their guests inside. Guests in tuxedos and evening gowns streamed into the White House for the historic social event, passing a line of journalists. In one humorous mishap, the cummerbund of Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, fell off as he and his wife walked in. The guest list included political allies, a few opponents, celebrities and members of the Indian diplomatic community. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the list, but not her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Democratic colleagues of the president including other Cabinet ministers, several senators and top aides made the list, including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (but not his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag. Ticker: See the list of expected attendees . A couple of Republicans also made it, notably Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Celebrities included Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, actors Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood, CBS News anchor Katie Couric and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. However, one name rumored to be included, but not appearing on the list, was Oprah Winfrey. The dinner, in a tent set up on the White House South Lawn with a view of the Washington Monument, featured round tables for 10 set in resplendent colors -- apple green, ruby, gold -- with floral arrangements of roses, hydrangeas and sweet peas in plum, purple and fuchsia. Place settings in fine china from three previous administrations -- Eisenhower, Clinton and George W. Bush -- were flanked by five pieces of silverware and crystal glasses. Place cards were in script -- \"The President\" and \"Mrs. Obama\" read two. A seasonal menu reflecting both American and Indian flavors started with a potato and eggplant salad made with White House-grown arugula and accompanied by an onion seed vinaigrette, according to the White House. Red lentil soup with fresh cheese followed, and then a choice of entrees -- roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chick peas and okra for vegetarians, or green curry prawns, caramelized salsify and smoked collard greens. Dessert was pumpkin pie tart and pear tatin with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Each course was paired with a different wine, all of American vintage. The herbs and lettuces were harvested from the White House Kitchen Garden started by Michelle Obama, with honey from the White House beehive used to poach the dessert pears. Entertainment was by jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, Grammy and Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson, the National Symphony Orchestra directed by award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, Academy Award-winning Indian musician and composer A.R. Rahman, and The President's Own United States Marine Band. \"It's not every day you get to sing at the White House or even get invited to the White House,\" said Hudson, who said she would dress in a purple and black gown \"with the longest train I've ever worn\" and sing standards including \"The Very Thought of You,\" \"What a Difference a Day Makes\" and \"Somewhere.\" Veterans of state dinners said the planning for such a trend-setting event is meticulous. \"It's stressful, it's very stressful,\" said Lisa Caputo, a press secretary for Hillary Clinton when she was first lady. \"What is the first lady going to wear? What will be served? How are the flower arrangements being done? There's a lot of protocol in terms of the serving line.\" Every unit in the White House weighs in on the dinner's guest list, Caputo said, with a lot of thought going into who sits where. \"There's particular protocol in terms of who is seated at the president's table and the prime minister's table,\" Caputo said. \"But don't forget that an enormous amount of thought goes into that with the White House social office and the president and first lady in terms of who will round out the appropriate table, who will get along with who, what will be the dynamics of each table. \"Yes, of course it's social, but, of course, there's business done,\" Caputo said. The final list is ultimately decided by the president and the first lady, said Anita McBride, who was chief of staff for first lady Laura Bush. \"Of course, having friends and supporters is really important to share that kind of event, and it's also important for all the other guests that are there and the Indian members of the delegation to meet these people that are a cross-section of America,\" McBride said. Amy Zantzinger, who was a social secretary for President George W. Bush, said all state dinners are different, and an administration's first one is a big one. \"First they'll bring the newness -- the newness of the whole day because it's their first big dinner,\" she said. What makes a successful dinner? It's what you don't plan, Zantzinger said. During a Reagan state dinner, Princess Diana and actor John Travolta took to the dance floor. \"What made it so special was that it was so absolutely spontaneous,\" she said. \"You had one of the most beautiful women in the world and one of the best dancers in the world come together in this incredible place, and I think the spontaneity of it and the combination of the two of them was perfection.\" CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Samantha Hayes, Kiran Chetry, Ed Hornick, Becky Brittain and Tom Cohen contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Obama toasts India prime minister, urges greater cooperation between two countries .\nTuesday's event is the first state dinner of Obama administration .\nState dinners are deemed one of the most treasured and formal honors .\nMenu includes greens from White House garden, honey from White House bees ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Tananarive Due is an American Book Award-winning and NAACP Image Award-winning novelist. She is based in Los Angeles. Her Web site is http://www.tananarivedue.com/. The Due sisters -- Johnita, left, Tananarive, center, and Lydia -- prepare for a Jackson concert in 1984. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson died Thursday, and my family gathered by telephone from Florida, Texas, California and Georgia to mourn and remember. But we began mourning long ago. I was 17 when the \"Motown 25th Anniversary Special\" aired in 1983, and my parents, sisters and I first saw Michael Jackson moonwalk to \"Billie Jean.\" He sent a lightning bolt through our living room, and all of us leaped to our feet with shouts. He may have been the best entertainer I live to see. His music asked us to transcend race and geography, hate and bigotry, and made us feel like we were the world. In recent months, I showed my 5-year-old son, Jason, that Motown performance on YouTube. \"Billie Jean\" made Jason want to moonwalk and wear a glove. \"Beat It\" inspired Jason to kick his leg and fling his head from side to side like Michael. But it has been a long time since I could watch Michael Jackson videos without feeling sad. His death is only the next stage of the loss. Michael Jackson left the music world to mourn -- but many of us, especially black Americans, felt like we lost a family member on Thursday. He pained and puzzled us, but we still loved him. Until Thursday, some of us had forgotten how much. Michael was not always easy to love. He tested us, sometimes asking us to ignore what we could see with our own eyes. We may never know fully what Michael did or didn't do, but he was like the lost relative we wished we could bring back to shore. When Jason asked questions about Michael's changing face in the videos, I showed him the beautiful brown-skinned, bright-eyed little boy who grew up in my family's living room. There is supreme irony in the death of Michael Jackson the same year as the inauguration of the first black president. Michael, who would ascend higher than any black artist in music history, learned a bitter lesson: Even at the top of the mountain, there is only the man in the mirror. Jason isn't old enough to fully understand black and white, why his grandmother was sent to jail for ordering a hamburger at a Woolworth lunch counter in 1960, or how an ill-used child's soul might never find its way back home. So I told Jason about the time Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Johnita [now an assistant general counsel at CNN] drove from Miami to Jacksonville to see the Jacksons' Victory Tour in 1984, when Michael Jackson ruled the world. How his aunties and I dressed up for the concert in our own gloves. After the concert, still floating from the surreal experience, we approached a stretch limousine on the highway. As my father sidled our car closer and my sisters and I pressed our noses to the window to try to see, the limo's tinted electric window slid down. A sparkling silver glove waved out to us. When we saw that glove, the whole car screamed -- even my father, who was driving. My sisters and I begged my father to follow the limousine...and it finally came to a stop in front of our budget hotel. When the rear door opened, a white blond-haired decoy stepped out -- wearing a silver Michael Jackson glove. If only we'd never seen past the tinted window. If only we had a perfect memory of Michael waving goodbye. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tananarive Due." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tananarive Due: My family mourned the loss of Michael Jackson last week .\nIn some ways, she says, the mourning began long ago with his puzzling behavior .\nShe says many black Americans forgot how much they loved him ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Health officials say the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, is likely to cause more illnesses and deaths in the United States, even though much of the initial anxiety has eased. A researcher investigates swine flu at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May and an unusual number of outbreaks in schools. Some clinics reported high numbers of respiratory diseases more commonly seen during the peak of flu season. \"We do think that the way the virus is spreading in the U.S., we are not out of the woods, and the disease is continuing,\" said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health program at the CDC in a news conference this week. In the United States, six deaths have been linked to the swine flu, although it's unclear whether these were caused by the virus or pre-existing conditions. Nationwide, at least 5,123 cases of H1N1 flu have been reported, although the actual number of people affected may be higher. New data released by the CDC Tuesday showed that the majority of the 30 patients who were hospitalized with H1N1 in California had other medical conditions, such as chronic heart and lung disease, suppressed immune system, diabetes, and obesity. None of the patients died. They had fevers, coughs, vomiting and shortness of breath, according to the CDC report that examined the patients. Six of them were admitted to the intensive care unit and four required mechanical ventilation. See an explanation of H1N1 flu » . Five of them were pregnant -- two of the fetuses did not survive. Earlier this month, Judy Dominguez Trunnell became the first U.S. resident to die from complications of the H1N1 flu. Her daughter was delivered via emergency Caesarean section. Dominguez Trunnell felt body aches and numbing in the left side of her face and went to the hospital, her husband, Steven Trunnell, told CNN's Larry King. Watch the interview. » . Trunnell has filed a wrongful death claim against Smithfield Foods, a pork and meat producer, alleging that the company's actions may have contributed to the virus' creation. \"She was a healthy, pregnant woman who was eight months pregnant until she contracted the virus,\" he said. \"She became acutely ill, but she was never diagnosed with any major medical complications of any kind.\" Health officials have said repeatedly since the outbreak's beginning that the virus cannot be contracted from eating pork. Pregnancy increases the risk of certain medical problems and creating complications from the flu, Schuchat said. \"There is some immunosuppression that occurs during pregnancy,\" she said. \"There maybe also a role of the mechanical effect of pregnancy in decreasing the lung capacity that maybe you're not easily able to handle lung infection or respiratory problems.\" Early steps toward an H1N1 vaccine are being taken. The process could take between five and six months from the time the virus appeared to when the vaccine would be available to the public, officials have said. Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman, said the agency has sent H1N1 strains to roughly seven labs around the world to use in the first steps of vaccine development. The CDC expects to get the viruses back from the institutions by the end of the month and \"if we do go in the direction of producing a vaccine, we could see the production of pilot lots, and clinical trials, beginning as soon as late June.\" Though the initial surveillance of the California cases indicates that most healthy patients recovered and were discharged after short hospital stays, those with other medical conditions had greater complications. \"Our best estimate right now is that the fatality [with the H1N1] is likely a little bit higher than seasonal influenza, but not necessarily substantially higher,\" Schuchat said. The seasonal flu kills 36,000 people every year. While people of all ages get the seasonal flu, its complications more severely affect older people or those with weakened immune systems. About 95 percent of people who die from the seasonal flu are 65 years old and above, according to the World Health Organization. Many of the confirmed and probable cases for the H1N1 virus have been younger people between the ages of 5 and 24. \"The hospitalizations that we're tracking have this disproportionate occurrence among younger persons,\" Schuchat said. \"That's very unusual to have so many people under 20 requiring hospitalization and in some of those intensive care units.\" While there have been no deaths in that age group in the United States, Schuchat said: \"We would not be surprised to see serious hospitalizations and deaths occurring in people in this age group and I think we need to be prepared for that.\" \"It's important to dispel the idea that we're out of the woods, or that this was a problem that really didn't merit response,\" she said. \"Influenza is unpredictable, and we really need to stay attuned to that, to be prepared for surprises in the days and weeks ahead.\" And the flu viruses can mutate. Dr. Dan Jernigan, deputy director for the CDC's influenza division said last week, \"We're not seeing significant evidence of any mutation towards more virulence in the U.S.\" H1N1 flu activity has been confirmed in 22 states and appears to be most active in the Southwest. In April, concerns about the H1N1 virus prompted travel warnings, airport checks and school closures. The outbreak has sickened 9,830 people worldwide and caused at least 79 deaths -- mostly in Mexico, according to the WHO. Last month, U.S. officials discouraged all nonessential travel to Mexico after the flu strain killed dozens of people there. On Friday, the CDC downgraded its warning and advised people with medical complications, advanced age or pregnancy to check with a doctor before going on a trip to Mexico. CNN medical senior producers Saundra Young and Shahreen Abedin contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CDC reported higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May .\nHealth officials warn disease is likely to continue and contribute to more deaths .\nInitial data shows hospitalized patients had underlying medical conditions ." } ]