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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": "JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- A suspected terrorist linked to several Indonesian bombings in the past decade was killed in a protracted firefight Saturday in the Central Java town of Temanggung, two law enforcement sources told CNN. A poster in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, has under \"dicari,\" or\"wanted,\" Noordin Top. Another raid by police Saturday averted a planned assassination attempt on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, authorities said. Noordin M. Top was killed during a raid by the anti-terrorism unit Detachment 88 that began Friday and lasted 18 hours into Saturday, said a police source and a security analyst with close ties to the police. Official confirmation of Top's identity will come next week after DNA results, said Indonesia's National Police Chief, Bambang Hendarso. Indonesia's anti-terrorism forces had been hunting Top for the past six years. He is also the main suspect in last month's twin hotel bombings in Jakarta. A statement attributed to Top, 40, a Malaysian-born explosives expert, claimed responsibility for the attacks that targeted Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. The coordinated bombings killed seven people and the two suspected bombers, and wounded more than 50. Watch more about the raid » . It was the first major terrorist attack in Indonesia in more than three years. Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bomb-maker and trainer for a splinter group of the militant organization Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to al Qaeda. He allegedly was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott in Jakarta in August 2003, as well as attacks on a Bali nightclub in 2002 and the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004, according to the FBI. In February 2006, the FBI added Top to its list of 10 suspected terrorists who have not been charged in the United States, and are wanted only for questioning. The ramifications of Top's death were not immediately clear. \"This is a huge advance in Indonesia's fight against terror,\" said Sidney Jones, a senior Asia adviser for the International Crisis Group, a global nonpartisan advisory organization. \"But this is not the end of it because we still don't know the extent of the network and the funding source of Noordin's network.\" Three to four people were believed to be holed up in the house in Temanggung, police said. Security forces had launched a raid on the house after two people believed to be nephews of its owner were arrested earlier in the day, according to the official Antara News Agency. \"Police officers entered the house and fired profusely inside the house while other policemen surrounded the house and opened its windows by force,\" Antara said. After the gunfire ended, local television showed police with their helmets off, shaking hands and carrying caskets into the house, suggesting that those inside the house had been killed or captured. Also on Saturday, in a house on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesian police killed two militants believed to be connected with a 2004 bombing and found a cache of explosives in an early morning raid, the national police chief said. Hendarso said that police found about 100 kg (220 lbs) of explosives along with bomb-making materials and a truck, which they did not immediately open for fear it might have been rigged to explode. Those bomb-making materials were going to be used in an attack on the president, Hendarso said. The two militants killed are believed to be connected with the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta in which 16 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, Hendarso said. Also, a man identified as Suryana, who uses the aliases Yayan and Gepeng, was arrested in north Jakarta on suspicion of terrorism charges, said Nanan Soekarna, police inspector general. Soekarna could not say whether Suryana was connected with last month's hotel bombings or other incidents. CNN's Andy Saputra contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Another raid averted planned assassination attempt on Indonesian president .\nTop was killed during the 18-hour raid, law enforcement sources say .\nTop is the main suspect in the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta last month .\nAlso killed: Two militants allegedly linked to the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Leon Panetta, chief of staff in President Bill Clinton's White House, will be President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be CIA director, two Democratic officials told CNN on Monday. Leon Panetta, who has a strong background in economics, was chief of staff for President Bill Clinton. The officials also said retired Adm. Dennis Blair, who formerly headed the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, will be tapped as director of national intelligence. Panetta, 70, has had a long political career, beginning in 1966 when he served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel. R-California. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1977, serving California's 16th (now 17th) District until Clinton appointed him to head the Office of Budget and Management in 1993. He was chief of staff from 1994 to 1997. Panetta and his wife, Sylvia, founded and co-direct the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University, which provides study opportunities for students there and at several other schools. He serves on several boards and committees, and lectures internationally on economics. With a strong background in economics, Panetta has little hands-on experience in intelligence. But he is known as a strong manager with solid organizational skills. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who will be the new chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she had not been told in advance of Panetta's selection. \"My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time,\" the California Democrat said. But Sen. Ron Wyden, a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, said he was consulted on the pick and praised Panetta. \"I believe he has the skills to usher in a new era of accountability at the nation's premier intelligence agency,\" said Wyden, D-Oregon. \"For too long our nation's intelligence community has operated under a policy of questionable effectiveness and legality in which consulting two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee counted as 'consulting with Congress.' \" Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, also questioned Panetta's lack of intelligence experience, as did outgoing committee chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, wouldn't comment until Obama makes an announcement, but his spokesman said that Hoekstra \"has called for a new direction and a change in the culture a the CIA for some time.\" \"Whether it is Leon Panetta or someone else, it is important the agency move in a new direction,\" Jamal Ware said. Blair, 61, was a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and attended Oxford University in Britain as a Rhodes scholar at the same time as Clinton. Blair retired from the Navy in 2002. He was the CIA's first associate director of military support and served on the National Security Council. He has been sharply critical of U.S. policy in terms of strategic long-term planning. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on Obama's cabinet picks . \"I am in awe of the sophisticated strategies that American politicians can devise and pursue over many years,\" he told a House panel in July. \"They involve very public activities -- speeches, programs, alliances -- but also backroom deals, and stratagems, tactical flexibility but strategic constancy, investment in intellectual and organizational capabilities that will not pay off for years. \"I have yet to see these same brilliant politicians come up with similar strategies to advance the national interest when they come into national office. Our national strategies show little of the depth, brilliance and effectiveness of the domestic political strategies this country produces.\" Blair also is known in Navy circles for once trying to water-ski behind the destroyer he skippered, the USS Cochrane." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Next Senate intelligence chairwoman says she wasn't told Panetta was picked .\nSen. Feinstein: CIA best served by \"an intelligence professional in charge\"\nPanetta is Barack Obama's choice for CIA director, two Democratic officials say .\nOfficials: Retired Adm. Dennis Blair to be tapped as director of national intelligence ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Richard Waltzer has a pitch for Cuba: Miller beer and Häagen-Dazs ice cream. If he has his way, those products soon will be available at supermarkets and beach resorts on the communist island. \"This is one of the things people are going to pay premium for,\" Waltzer said, \"especially the tourists that have the dollars. It's going to be a phenomenal product.\" This week, dozens of Americans are in Havana, peddling their wares at an international trade fair: apples, pears, grapes, raisins, nuts out of California. U.S.-Cuba relations appear to be thawing. In Havana, billboards depicting the U.S. president as Adolf Hitler have disappeared. In Washington, President Obama has lifted restrictions on Cuban-American travel and money transfers. The new political climate has prompted companies such as Chicago Foods to come to Havana's trade fair for the first time. They're hoping to break into the little-known market and go home with a contract. Despite a trade embargo imposed against Cuba in 1962, the United States is the No. 1 supplier of food to that country and has been for more than five years. A law passed in 2000 allows the United States to export agricultural products and medicine. But this year, the global economic crisis is taking its toll. \"Cuba has not been an exception,\" said Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, minister of foreign trade and investment. \"At the end of the third quarter in 2009, our trade fell by 36 percent.\" The country is slashing imports of U.S. food by one-third, which means some vendors will go home empty-handed. But vendors are betting U.S.-Cuba relations will only get better. They said they're also hoping the next step could be bills in the U.S. Congress that would eliminate restrictions on all Americans traveling to Cuba. \"We're in this for the long haul as well,\" said Paul Johnson of Chicago Foods. \"Like I said before, we're thinking about today as well as tomorrow.\" A tomorrow that would have U.S. tourists sipping American beer on Cuban beaches." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "New political climate prompts U.S. firms to come to Cuban trade fair for first time .\nU.S. companies want to break into market and go home with a contract .\nCuba also reeling from global economic crisis .\nCuba is slashing imports of U.S. food by one-third ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- Stevie Wonder has had more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and has won 22 Grammy Awards -- more than any other male artist. Blind from birth, Wonder's music has always reflected his concern with humanitarian and social issues. On Thursday, he joined the prestigious list of U.N. Messengers of Peace and will focus on the battle for disabled rights. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment, calling Wonder a \"musical genius\" and \"great humanitarian, who has campaigned against apartheid, for children in need, and for persons with disabilities.\" Speaking about his new U.N. role Wonder told CNN's Becky Anderson: \"It's about that ten percent of the world that suffers with a disability. It's about sounding that alarm off that says to the 90 percent: it's time to get it together for those of us with disabilities.\" Asked by Anderson what phrase which would encapsulate his mission Wonder said: \"We can never let our fears put our dreams to sleep.\" He said the 90 percent of people who aren't disabled should learn not to fear disability, whatever form it takes and called for a stop to an \"ignorance to the highest point of ridiculousness.\" Wonder hopes that politicians will listen to him in his new role as a U.N. messenger. \"If you love my music that much, then care about those ten percent as well. There are 650 million disabled people in the world. Lets do something about that. Lets make a change,\" he said. The popularity of Wonder's music at the White House is well known. Indeed, President Obama says he owes a lot to his music. When awarding Wonder the U.S.'s highest award for pop music: the Library of Congress' Gershwin prize earlier this year the president said: \"Michelle might not have dated me, we might not have married. The fact that we agreed on Stevie was the essence of our courtship.\" Wonder isn't surprised to see a black man in the White House. \"That whole place of feeling that you can't have a black president or a female president, it's always been about people's inability to think out of the box that's always been backward in the first place.\" The only downside from Wonder's new role is for his fans. His new album \"Gospel Inspired By Lula\" wont be coming out until next May he told Anderson. He admitted that after all these years in the business he still gets nervous and still hits the odd bum note. \"We did a show recently where my voice cracked and I said 'we gotta do that again!' We all laughed about it.\" Does he have a favorite song from his own catalogue? \"I always use this thing that Duke Ellington would say. He used to say that 'I haven't written it yet.' I guess I would say the same. I would say this to you: whatever your favorite is, is my favorite too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Stevie Wonder talks to CNN about his new U.N. role .\nThe multi award-winning Grammy artist is a new Messenger of Peace .\nWonder will fight for the rights of 650 million disabled people worldwide ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- Formula 1 will continue to take place in Britain for the next 17 years after a deal was struck between Silverstone's owners and the sport's chief Bernie Ecclestone. Monday's announcement by the track's owners means the oldest venue on the F1 calendar keeps its place. Silverstone's comeback took place despite rival track Donington Park being awarded the contract to host the British Grand Prix from 2010. However, that circuit lost out after failing to secure the $200 million needed to fund redevelopment plans. That had led to fears Ecclestone would look to move the race abroad. Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips told the Press Association: \"We've always had five-year deals and never been able to get the investment we needed to redevelop. \"But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward. We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. Phillips described the deal as \"peace in our time\" between the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), and Ecclestone. \"The relationship with Formula One Management has been improving,\" added Phillips. \"There's a good working relationship with him now and we don't have any issues.\" Applauding the negotiating team, BRDC president and 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill told the Press Association: \"It's not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It's a big commitment. \"But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue, and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead. \"This announcement is tremendous news. It really does cement Silverstone as a motor sport venue and is incredibly satisfying for the BRDC to cement its relationship with F1.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Formula 1 will continue in Britain after deal between Silverstone and sport's chief Bernie Ecclestone .\nAnnouncement by the track's owners means the oldest race on the F1 calendar keeps its place .\nDonington was to host British Grand Prix from 2010 but failed to secure $200 million for redevelopment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Sherrilyn Ifill is a professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law and a civil rights lawyer who specializes in voting rights and political participation. She is the author of \"On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,\" and is a regular contributor to The Root at http://www.theroot.com/. Sherrilyn Ifill says Sonia Sotomayor's speech was an honest effort to describe how judges rule on cases. (CNN) -- When Don Imus denigrated in clearly racist terms the championship women's basketball team from Rutgers University; when actor Michael Richards screamed at black guests in a comedy club, calling them the \"n-word\" and invoking the threat of lynching; when Trent Lott said that things would have been better if a southern segregationist had been elected president a half-century earlier, responsible white people from across the ideological spectrum stepped forward to explain that these individuals were not racist. The \"R\" word has become the taboo of the white world. By this I mean that calling someone racist is a taboo, not racism itself. So when Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich and several other conservative commentators call a sitting federal appeals court judge and Supreme Court nominee who happens to be Latina, a racist, it's time to push back. Real hard. The evidence offered in support of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's alleged racism is a speech she gave in Berkeley, California, in honor of Judge Mario G. Olmos, a former judge, community leader and graduate of Boalt Hall Law School who died an untimely death at the age of 43. The offending section of the speech is this: \"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.\" This passage inspired Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives and potential 2012 presidential candidate, to call Judge Sotomayor \"a Latina racist.\" To lift one statement out of Judge Sotomayor's eight-page speech without examining the context and substance of her remarks, is an example of the kind of shoddy character assassination that I suspect will dominate this judicial confirmation process. Judge Sotomayor's speech is, in fact, an excellent meditation on how the experiences of judges might affect how they approach aspects of judicial decision-making. It explores the important, and too-little examined reality that judicial deliberations can be affected by a judge's background, perspective and experience. In the next sentence immediately following the passage above, Judge Sotomayor says, \"Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice [Benjamin] Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society.\" Could she have been referring to Buck v. Bell, the 1927 case in which Justice Holmes -- widely regarded as perhaps the most brilliant justice in the Supreme Court's history -- upheld the state's plan to sterilize Carrie Buck, an 18-year-old white woman, who was accused of being congenitally retarded. Buck's main crime seems to have been the fact that she'd had a child out of wedlock. In any case, Justice Holmes upheld the sterilization order, emphatically and coldly stating, \"three generations of imbeciles is enough.\" Does anyone seriously believe that a woman, and especially a woman of color \"with the richness of her experiences\" would not have \"reach[ed] a better conclusion \" than that adopted by Justice Holmes in 1927? In fact Buck v. Bell is the perfect example of how a \"wise old [white] man\" got it wrong in a way that a woman judge or a racial minority most likely would not. It's worth pointing out that in that same speech Judge Sotomayor cautioned, \"we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group.\" But she acknowledges that \"there may be some [difference in her judging] based on my gender and my Latina heritage.\" What Gingrich and others decry in Judge Sotomayor should be applauded. Judge Sotomayor has the humility to recognize the difficulty of achieving true and pure impartiality. Instead, as she pointed out in her speech, \"[t]he aspiration to impartiality is just that -- it's an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others.\" Unlike so many judges who by virtue of being white and male simply assume their impartiality, Judge Sotomayor recognizes that all judges are affected by their background and their life experiences. Ironically, it was Justice Cardozo who recognized this when he said, \"[t]he great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men, do not turn aside in their course, and pass the judge by.\" Justice Cardozo concluded that \"[n]o effort or revolution of the mind will overthrow utterly and at all times the empire of ... [a judge's] subconscious loyalties. These are the realities of judicial decision-making evoked by Judge Sotomayor's speech. It's perhaps easier to say as [then-Supreme Court nominee] Clarence Thomas so famously did, that a judge can simply, \"strip down like a runner,\" and become utterly impartial simply by putting on a black robe. But it is more honest to acknowledge that regardless of race, gender, ideology or professional background, impartiality is always a work-in-progress for judges. Even Judge Richard Posner, a conservative stalwart on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals once observed that, \"Litigation commonly involves persons at different social distances form the judge, and the more proximate will garner the more sympathetic response regardless of actual desert.\" Justice Thomas is the perfect example of how hard it can be for a judge to lay aside the personal experiences that shape his worldview. His views about the affirmative action cases that come before him are shaped quite clearly by what he regards as the self-sufficient dignity of his hard-working grandfather and the humiliation he says he felt when others believed his scholarly accomplishments were the result of affirmative action. White judges are also shaped by their background and experiences. They needn't ever speak of it, simply because their whiteness and gender insulates them from the presumption of partiality and bias that is regularly attached to women judges and judges of color when it comes to matters of race and gender. Only a judge who is conscious and fully engaged with the reality of how her experiences may bear on her approach to the facts of a case, or sense of social justice, or vision of constitutional interpretation, should be entrusted to sit on the most influential and powerful court in our nation. Too often we have allowed ourselves to be placated and charmed by fantasies about umpire judges calling \"balls and strikes,\" without ever asking which league the game is being played in or whether the umpire was standing in the best position to see the play. We forget that when deciding whether a batter checked his swing, the homeplate umpire will routinely ask for the alternative perspective from the first or third base umpire before calling a \"swing and a miss\" a strike. Judge Sotomayor rightly suggests that these things matter. She notes in her speech that \"personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.\" She should know this. She's been a trial judge. None of the other justices who will serve with Judge Sotomayor will have had that experience. Judge Sotomayor's speech is one of the most honest and compelling statements about judicial impartiality we're likely to hear from a judge of her stature. It ends with this humble observation: . \"Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion. I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I re-evaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires. I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences, but I accept my limitations. I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggests, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate.\" It's entirely appropriate to question Judge Sotomayor about this speech at her confirmation hearings. She is evidently more than capable of explaining in compelling, clear language what precisely she wanted to convey in this speech. But Judge Sotomayor is not a racist. It is an insult of unimaginable proportion to unleash this charge on her, based on one sentence from her Berkeley, California, speech. It is not just irresponsible to make this charge against a sitting federal appeals court judge based on this flimsy record; it is -- and here I'll break the taboo -- racist to do so. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sherrilyn Ifill." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sherrilyn Ifill: The charge of being a racist is a taboo in much of society .\nCritics of Sotomayor have called her racist for one sentence in a speech, Ifill says .\nShe says judge was honestly examining how judges make their decisions .\nIfill says Impartiality is always a work-in-progress for judges ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- If the location is anything to go by, then the omens are promising. Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen -- host to the U.N. climate summit which starts today -- is already one of the greenest cities in Europe. With over 300 kilometers of cycle lanes it is estimated that around 40 percent of the 1.2 population travel to work on a bicycle. And visitors to the city are encouraged to join in by making use of the network of city bikes for a deposit of just 20 DKK ($4). The influence of two wheels has extended into Yuletide this year, as cyclists in City Hall Square are generating the electricity powering the lights on the Christmas tree. It's just one of hundreds of activities and events which Copenhageners have organized to coincide with the 11-day U.N. summit taking place at the Bella Center in the Orestad district in the southeast of the city. The opening of the summit marks the end of an exhaustive planning period by the city. Preparations at the Bella Center began two years ago. The finishing touches began eight weeks ago. \"It is, by far, the largest conference we have ever held and the largest political conference in Europe,\" the Bella Center press manager, Lars Lemche told CNN. \"If numbers continue to grow, it will be the biggest political meeting the U.N. has ever held,\" he said. The center has hosted big events before -- a European Union summit in 2002 and the 2006 MTV European Music Awards -- but the U.N. summit makes them look like a tea party. \"A conference is 36 hours. This is 11 days,\" Lemche said. The Bella Center has had to extend its floor space to 77,000 square meters -- the size of 11 football pitches -- to accommodate all delegates and 1000 staff will be on hand throughout. Numbers are expected to peak at around 18,000 in the second week when 100 heads of state arrive for the high-level political negotiations. This Herculean effort of planning is being backed up by a raft of green initiatives. Outside the conference center solar-powered streetlights are helping light the car parks. A wind turbine is helping power the lights indoors. Inside the conference center delegates will eat from a menu that is 65 percent organic and drink water that has come out of a tap rather than a bottle. Pens provided will be made from recycled plastic, and even the carpets are biodegradable. In a bid to offset the considerable carbon dioxide emissions - estimated to be 40,000 tons -- generated by the summit, organizers are funding the replacement of polluting brick factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh with 20 new efficient ones. Despite the disruption, Copenhageners have gone about their daily business as usual. Jason Heppenstall, Editor of The Copenhagen Post, a weekly English language newspaper told CNN: \"There hasn't been much of a build up until the last few days. Until about two weeks ago it's not been talked about a lot in the press and maybe a month ago half the people in Denmark didn't know there was going to be a conference,\" he told CNN. People are starting to notice changes now, and the mood among Copenhageners is positive, apart from the locals living near the Bella Center and whose lives have been disrupted by all the security arrangements, Heppenstall said. The concrete barriers and the perimeter fence erected to protect the Bella Center have been one of the more obvious signs of security in the city. And now that the conference has started, 6000 officers will be on duty during the conference. Niels-Otto Fisker, communications advisor to the Danish national police commissioner, told CNN: \"It is the single greatest operation that the Danish police have undertaken. Police are being drafted in from all over the country, and shifts are being extended from eight to 12-16 hours.\" In all, the security operations are costing the Danish government an estimated $122 million. Last week, police unveiled a 22-ton vehicle armed with a water canon which will be used if trouble flares during the conference. The only confrontations in the buildup to the conference have been between Copenhagen's female mayor, Ritt Bjerregaard, and the city's prostitutes. A row started after city leaders requested hotels display postcards saying: \"Be sustainable: Don't buy sex.\" The prostitutes -- whose are free to work under Danish law -- have responded by offering their services free of charge. \"Our office is based in the red-light district. There are prostitutes here, but it's not like Amsterdam,\" Heppenstall explained. \"I think some people coming to the conference think it might be. So the city council have been trying to pre-empt it by sending postcards saying please refrain from going to these areas. The sex workers have responded by saying that's ridiculous. They see this as their big moment.\" As Copenhagen hands over to the U.N. for two weeks, the world's eyes are now turning to negotiations which precede the arrival of U.S. President Barack Obama and company. Earlier this year, Copenhagen announced the aim of being carbon neutral by 2025. Perhaps the U.N. could take a leaf out of their host's book." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Danish capital, Copenhagen, one of the greenest cities in Europe .\nU.N. climate summit is biggest political event Denmark has hosted .\nCopenhagen aims to be carbon neutral by 2025 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six heat-trapping gases that contribute to air pollution pose potential health hazards, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday in a landmark announcement that could lead to regulation of the gases. \"This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem,\" EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. The gases -- carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride -- have been the subject of intensive analysis by scientists around the world, the EPA said. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the EPA's scientific review in 2007. \"This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations,\" EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a release, later adding, \"The science clearly shows that concentrations of these gases are at unprecedented levels as a result of human emissions, and these high levels are very likely the cause of the increase in average temperatures and other changes in our climate.\" The EPA's finding now goes into a public comment period. The report, titled \"Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone,\" is the culmination of a study started in 2000, the EPA said. The White House moved quickly to try to squelch any concerns that the EPA would immediately issue any regulations concerning the gases. \"The president has made clear his strong preference that Congress act to pass comprehensive legislation rather than address the climate challenge through administrative action,\" White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said. \"That's why the president has repeatedly called for a bill to provide for market-based solutions to reduce carbon pollution and transition to a clean-energy economy that creates millions of green jobs.\" The EPA announcement comes amid efforts by Congress to enact a limit on global warming pollution. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to begin hearings next week on a comprehensive energy and climate bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman is said to want the bill out of committee by Memorial Day, which falls on May 25, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wants to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote this year. Environmentalists hailed the EPA's announcement, with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund calling it a \"historic step ... [that] formally determined that global warming pollution 'endangers' the nation's human health and well-being.\" \"The U.S. is taking its first steps as a nation to confront climate change,\" said Vickie Patton, deputy general counsel at the environmental advocacy group. \"Global warming threatens our health, our economy, and our children's prosperity. EPA's action is a wake-up call for national policy solutions that secure our economic and environmental future.\" But critics say the finding will just produce a \"glorious mess.\" \"Today's action by the EPA is the beginning of a regulatory barrage that will destroy jobs, raise energy prices for consumers and undermine America's global competitiveness,\" said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. \"It now appears EPA's regulatory reach will find its way into schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities and just about any activity that meets minimum thresholds in the Clean Air Act.\" The EPA notes in an accompanying report released Friday that global warming could make ozone pollution worse in some parts of the United States. Future ozone management decisions may have to take into account the possible effects of global warming, the report says. \"Climate change, along with other aspects of global change, including changes in population, land use and the technologies employed for energy production and transportation, may alter the capacity for U.S. states to successfully attain the national air quality standards in the future,\" the report concludes. Ground-level ozone is formed when sunlight causes a chemical reaction in the air between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted by motor vehicles and industrial plants. Ozone levels are typically higher on sunny days in areas that have many vehicles or smoke-stack industries. Global warming also could increase the number of days with weather conditions conducive to forming ozone, potentially causing air quality alerts earlier in the spring and later in the fall, the report says. In addition to health problems, the report says global warming could lead to increased drought, more heavy downpours and flooding, and more frequent and intense heat waves and wildfires. Global warming could also cause a greater rise in sea level, more intense storms and harm to water resources, agriculture, wildlife and ecosystems, the report said. CNN political correspondent Jessica Yellin contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "EPA official says \"concentrations of these gases are at unprecedented levels\"\nEnvironmentalists say announcement is important step in reduction efforts .\nCritic: Finding may help destroy jobs, raise energy prices, cut U.S. competitiveness .\nThe House is will begin discussing the American Clean Energy and Security Act ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Women were dismissed from the military for being gay at a greater rate than men last year, according to new statistics obtained by a California research group. Women were dismissed from the military for being gay at a greater rate than men last year. All the services kicked out a disproportionate number of women under the \"Don't Ask, Don't Tell\" policy, according to Department of Defense data obtained by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The center studies gender and sexuality in the military. The \"Don't Ask, Don't Tell\" policy, implemented in 1994, bans troops who are openly gay from serving in the military. In the Air Force, a majority of those removed were women, the first time a service has had such a record since the implementation of the controversial law in 1994, according to Palm Center senior research fellow Nathaniel Frank. Watch CNN's Randi Kaye report on Obama's promises » . In fiscal year 2008, the Air Force dismissed 56 women and 34 men. In addition, the Army removed more women under the \"Don't Ask, Don't Tell\" policy at a greater rate than men when compared with the ratio of women to men in each service. Of those discharged under the policy, 36 percent were women, although women make up only 14 percent of troops in the Army, the data showed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "New statistics obtained by a California research group, the Palm Center .\nServices kicked out disproportionate number of women under \"Don't Ask, Don't Tell\"\nIn the Air Force, a majority of those removed for being gay were women ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- English Premier League Fulham produced a superb performance in Switzerland on Wednesday to eliminate opponents Basel from the Europa League with a 3-2 victory. Roy Hodgson's men went into the away game needing victory to leapfrog their opponents and join Group E winners AS Roma in the last 32 of Europe's second-tier club competition. Fulham were led by striker Bobby Zamora, who capped a recent scoring spree with two goals just before halftime. Basel hit back with a disputed penalty before Zoltan Gera put Fulham 3-1 ahead with a neat finish. But a Marco Streller 87th minute strike for the home side set up a nervous finish for the visitors, who survived to reach the knockout stages. Roma beat CSKA Sofia in the group's other match with Alessandro Cerci scornig twice. In Group F, French star Djibril Cisse scored a late double as Panathinaikos booked their passage with a 3-0 home win over Dinamo Bucharest. Ante Rukavina set the Greek giants on their way to the last 32 with a 55th-minute strike. Turkish side Galatasaray won the group but lost 1-0 to Austria's Sturm Graz, who scored through Daniel Beichler. In Group D, Bundesliga Hertha Berlin beat Sporting Lisbon of Portugal 1-0 through Gojko Kacar's second half strike. It meant Dutch side Heerenveen were eliminated despite a 5-0 home victory over FK Ventspils. Second-half goals from Gerard Sibon, who scored twice, Mika Vayrynen, Viktor Elm and Darryl Janmaat gave Heerenveen victory, but Hertha's win spoiled their celebrations. Sporting were already through as group winners. Last season's UEFA Cup finalists Werder Bremen beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to top Group L, with both guaranteed their spots in Friday's draw. Bremen netted three times in the opening 36 minutes through Claudio Pizarro, Naldo and Markus Rosenberg to complete a comfortable win." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fulham reach last 32 of Europa League at the expense of Basel with 3-2 win in Switzerland .\nGreek giants Panathinaikos book place in knockout stage with 3-0 win over Dinamo Bucharest .\nHertha Berlin go through with 1-0 win over group winners Sporting Lisbon .\nFellow Bundesliga side Werder Bremen top Goup L after 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MUMBAI, India (Reuters) -- A newborn Indian baby found abandoned with 26 stab wounds has survived, doctors said on Wednesday, despite a cracked skull and exposed intestines. The baby boy, who doctors said was aged between one and two days, was discovered soaked in blood at a garbage dump in India's financial capital of Mumbai on Tuesday, they said. His intestines were hanging out from a deep wound on his back and he had dirt and garbage stuck on him. \"When he was brought in he looked pale from blood loss,\" said Ramesh Hatti, a doctor at a city hospital. \"He is still in a lot of pain but is now stable.\" Police have not been able to trace the baby's parents or establish a reason for the attack. Babies are sometimes abandoned by unwed Indian mothers, who fear severe social repercussions for having a child out of wedlock. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A newborn Indian baby found abandoned with 26 stab wounds has survived .\nThe baby boy also suffered a cracked skull and exposed intestines .\nDoctors said he was aged between one and two days .\nBabies are sometimes abandoned by unwed Indian mothers ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Attorneys for 16 Indiana National Guard soldiers on Wednesday sued the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, alleging the company knowingly exposed the soldiers to a cancer-causing toxic chemical. 16 Indiana National Guardsmen have sued the Houston-based company Kellogg Brown and Root, known as KBR. The lawsuit against Houston-based KBR, which seeks an unspecified amount, alleges that the soldiers were exposed to sodium dichromate, an inorganic compound containing a highly toxic form of chromium known as hexavalent chromium. The soldiers say that they, along with other American civilian contractors, were exposed to the chemical at the Qarmat Ali water pumping plant in southern Iraq shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003. KBR was tasked with getting the plant up and running using civilian contractors. The National Guardsmen were assigned to protect the civilian workers. The Guardsmen and civilian contractors who worked there have described walking on and sitting near the bright orange powder that was widely dispersed throughout the grounds of the water plant. The chemical was believed to have been left behind by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein. Some of the Guardsmen already suffer from nasal tumors or respiratory system problems and other health problems, according to the lawsuit. One of the guardsmen may have died from the exposure, though the exact cause of his death earlier this year is still not clear. The odorless sodium dichromate was used at the plant as an anti-corrosive, the lawsuit says. The chemical contained nearly pure hexavalent chromium, the toxic substance that poisoned homeowners in Hinkley, California, and was made famous by activist Erin Brockovich, according to the suit. For the Guardsmen, KBR's \"knowing acts and omissions\" resulted in \"months and months of unprotected, unknowing, direct exposure to one of the most potent carcinogens and mutagenic substances known to man,\" the lawsuit alleges. A spokeswoman for KBR said the company was still reviewing the lawsuit, but denied responsibility for creating unsafe conditions at the plant. \"We are not providing comment on the suit at this time. The company does intend to vigorously defend itself,\" KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said. The Guardsmen say the company knew about the dangers of exposure to the chemical as far back as 2003, but did not act to protect the soldiers. \"KBR managers knew full well long ago that this stuff was incredibly dangerous. But there was no information about it for years. And now these soldiers are facing some pretty serious health concerns. They're going to be stuck with this the rest of their lives,\" said Doyle. \"The most frustrating thing is that these guys are finding out years later that they were exposed to something,\" said Mike Doyle, one of the Houston attorneys representing the Guardsmen. KBR took issue with the allegation that the company knowingly exposed the soldiers or anyone else and did nothing to help. \"KBR's commitment to the safety and security of all employees, the troops and those we serve is the company's top priority,\" the statement read. \"KBR appropriately notified the Army Corps of Engineers upon discovery of the existence of the substance on the site and the Corps of Engineers concluded that KBR's efforts to remediate the situation were effective. Further, the company in no way condones any action that would compromise the safety of those we serve or employ.\" Mark McManaway, a father and grandfather, was an Indiana National Guard sergeant at the water plant from May through September 2003, when the worst exposures are believed to have occurred. He is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. \"The worst part is that the military has only just recently advised us that the stuff we were exposed to was much worse than they thought while we were out there,\" said McManaway. \"It's in our bodies, but we don't know how bad it is. Maybe within the next five years cancers could start showing up. You've got a ticking time bomb in you -- and when's it going to go off?\" The U.S. military is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The toxic chemical made famous by Brockovich in California was a diluted form of hexavalent chromium that caused serious illnesses after being ingested by homeowners through their water. The chemical the Guardsmen were exposed to in Iraq was a nearly pure form of the chemical and could have been inhaled directly by anyone working at the plant. The U.S. Senate held hearings in August on emerging concerns about the exposure to the toxic chemicals after reports of civilian contractors and their exposure to the chemicals at the water plant. But officials of the National Guard -- and most of the Guardsmen who worked at the plant -- were not even aware of the possible dangers at the time of the hearing. Some heard about for the first time during the televised hearings. Only then did the National Guard begin efforts to find the men, some of whom had already been back in the United States for four years. An estimated 275 American soldiers may have been exposed to the chemical at the water plant, over a period of months through mid- to late-2003." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Suit says Guardsman, contractors exposed to cancer-causing chemical at Iraq plant .\nSuit alleges KBR knew of contamination threat and did nothing to protect soldiers .\nSome Guardsmen suffer from nasal tumors, respiratory problems .\nKBR says it's not to blame for creating unsafe conditions at plant ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A Brazilian court ordered Wednesday that 9-year-old Sean Goldman be returned to the custody of his father, David, in the United States, but his Brazilian relatives were expected to try to block the order, a Brazilian official said. Outside his home in New Jersey, David Goldman told reporters he was heartened by the news, but would not consider his efforts successful until he and the boy are reunited. \"I'm hopeful,\" he said. \"I can't be optimistic because I've gone down there so many times, always under the guise that the rule of law will be followed and Sean will come home to me and his family, and that doesn't happen.\" The 3-0 ruling by the Federal Regional Tribunal in Rio de Janeiro upheld a June decision by the 16th Federal Court in Rio, which ordered Sean returned to his home in New Jersey in accordance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abductions. But a Brazilian official with knowledge of the case predicted Wednesday's order would be appealed. So far, the boy's Brazilian family has filed 40 appeals, most of them procedural but one substantive. The Brazilian high court is to take up any appeal on Thursday, said Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who has been pressing the case for his constituent. \"Frankly, every possible nuance has been appealed by the other side,\" he told CNN's \"Situation Room.\" \"Remember, this is an abducting family, they're kidnappers, but they have had a great deal of sway with the court.\" The Supreme Court could still allow Sean Goldman to be returned to his father in the United States while it decides any appeal. Goldman, a former model, said he had last spoken with his son in June, but they did not discuss the custody battle. The case began in 2004, when his wife, Bruna Bianchi, took their 4-year-old son from their home in New Jersey to Rio de Janeiro for what was to have been a two-week vacation. She never returned, instead remarrying there and retaining custody of their son. She died last year in childbirth. Goldman has argued that, as the sole surviving parent, he should be granted custody. But the boy's stepfather and his other Brazilian relatives have argued that it would be traumatizing to the boy to remove him from what has been his home for most of his life. The case has drawn high-profile input, including pressure for the boy's return from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said Wednesday in a statement that she was pleased to hear about the decision. \"We appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the government of Brazil in upholding its obligations under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction,\" she said. \"And it is my hope that this long legal process is now complete and that the Goldman family will be reunited quickly.\" CNN's Jill Dougherty contributed to this story." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Clinton: \"It is my hope that this long legal process is now complete\"\nDad hopeful, but not optimistic after ruling .\nCourt rules David Goldman should regain custody of his 9-year-old son .\nGoldman's wife took son to Brazil in 2004; she filed for divorce and later died ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A whopping 70 percent of American kids aren't getting enough vitamin D, and such youngsters tend to have higher blood pressure and lower levels of good cholesterol than their peers, according to two new studies published this week in the journal Pediatrics. Low vitamin D levels also may increase a child's risk of developing heart disease later in life, experts say. People who drank milk less than once a week were among those most at risk for vitamin-D deficiency, a study found. \"We were astounded at how common it was,\" says study author Dr. Michal Melamed, an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in the Bronx, New York. \"There is a lot of data that suggests adults with low vitamin-D levels are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and a lot of cancers, and if kids start out with low levels and never increase them, they may be putting themselves at risk for developing all of these diseases at a much earlier age.\" Vitamin D is often called the \"sunshine vitamin\" because the human body makes it only when exposed to sunlight -- although it only takes 10 to 15 minutes a day to make an adequate amount. Vitamin D, which helps the bones better absorb calcium, is also added to multivitamins and milk. In Melamed's study, the researchers looked at the vitamin D levels of more than 6,000 people ages 1 to 21. They checked for vitamin-D deficiency, which is defined as less than 15 nanograms per milliliter of blood (ng/mL), and vitamin-D insufficiency, which is defined as 15 to 29 ng/mL. Overall, 7.6 million, or 9 percent, of U.S. children were vitamin-D deficient, and another 50.8 million, or 61 percent, had insufficient levels of this important vitamin in their blood. Children with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein, also known as good cholesterol -- two factors that are considered major risk factors for heart disease later in life. Health.com: How cholesterol affects your heart's health . Children with low vitamin-D levels also had higher levels of parathyroid hormone than their counterparts with adequate vitamin D in their blood. Parathyroid hormone is a measure of bone health. When levels are high, it suggests that bones need more calcium to grow. Watch more on kids in the U.S. and low levels of vitamin D » . Overall, those most at risk for a vitamin-D deficiency were older, female, obese, drank milk less than once a week, and spent more than four hours a day watching TV, playing video games, or working on a computer. They were also more likely to be children with darker skin, including non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans. (Children with darker skin are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D because they have more melanin than their fairer counterparts. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin color, but it may prevent the skin from absorbing enough sunlight to produce an adequate amount of vitamin D.) Health.com: Battle aging with vitamin D . In the second study, a research team led by Jared P. Reis, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, looked at 3,577 adolescents ages 12 to 19. Those with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure, high levels of blood sugar, and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors known to increase risk of heart disease) than their counterparts with ample vitamin D in their blood, regardless of how much they weighed. Exactly how a lack of vitamin D increases the risk of heart disease is an evolving story. In terms of blood pressure, vitamin D helps control renin, a protein that plays a role in regulating blood-pressure levels. Health.com: Why belly fat increases type 2 diabetes risk . The best vitamin-D boosting strategy involves a three-pronged approach, says Melamed. \"You can get a little bit from food, but not as much as you need,\" she says. \"Supplements are readily available, and kids like to take Flintstones or gummy-bear multivitamins, which typically contain vitamin D.\" Also, parents should help their children get at least 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure daily without sunscreen. \"Set your watch and then apply sunscreen after 15 minutes,\" Melamed says. Some children, including those in high-risk groups, may need to be screened to check for low vitamin-D levels. Dr. Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., a professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, and the author of \"The Vitamin D Solution\" (to be released in April 2010), has been sounding an alarm about the dangers of low vitamin-D levels for years. Health.com: Easy food swaps cut cholesterol, not taste . \"This is a recipe for serious diseases occurring in our children when they are in their 20s and 30s,\" he says. Holick was among the first to document the return of rickets--a disorder caused by a lack of vitamin D and other minerals--which can lead to the softening and weakening of the bones. Health.com: How to get vitamin D safely . \"[But] rickets is just the tip of the iceberg,\" Holick says. \"Vitamin-D deficiency has insidious, serious long-term health consequences for children that could remain with them throughout their lives,\" he explains. \"[Parents should know] their child is likely to be vitamin-D deficient if the child does not take a supplement of 400 IU vitamin D a day and receive some unprotected sun. It is next to impossible to get enough vitamin D from diet, and the sun-phobic attitude has made the problem much worse.\" Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright Health Magazine 2009 ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Study: 70 percent of American kids aren't getting enough vitamin D .\nChildren with darker skin are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D .\nVitamin D helps control the protein renin, involved in blood pressure levels .\nVitamin D also helps the bones better absorb calcium ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Manor GP are to be rebranded Virgin Racing ahead of their Formula One debut next season. Manor team chief John Booth and Virgin supremo Richard Branson are due to announce the long-awaited sponsorship tie-up on Tuesday. The news has effectively been confirmed by motor sport's world governing body, the FIA, as they have announced the 2010 entry list for the F1 world championship. Currently there are 12 teams, with the name Virgin Racing amongst the newcomers for 2010, joining Lotus F1 Racing, Campos Meta 1 and US F1 Team. The issue of the 13th entry remains unresolved, although Sauber are widely expected to be granted a place on next year's grid following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Monaco on December 11. Peter Sauber last week regained control of the team he sold to BMW four years ago after the German manufacturing giant's withdrawal from the sport. \"I am very relieved about that development,\" the 66-year-old Swiss, who is hopeful the FIA will now look favorably on the team's entry, told reporters. \"It would have been a crying shame had one of the best Formula One factories closed down. Regarding the slot on the grid, I am very confident we will be given a final confirmation very shortly.\" The Formula One Commission are due to discuss Toyota's fate next week, again in Monaco on Wednesday. The Japanese manufacturer pulled out of F1 at the end of last season, despite during the summer signing the new Concorde Agreement that bound them to the sport for the next three years. Speculation has surfaced of late regarding a potential takeover, yet it is unclear whether a buyer would automatically be granted an entry on the basis of Toyota's signature on the Concorde. In a statement, the FIA said: \"Toyota Motorsport GmbH remains formally bound by the Concorde Agreement to put forward a team for participation, though it has indicated that it will not be in a position to do so. \"An announcement will be made regarding this entry in due course.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Manor GP are to be rebranded Virgin Racing ahead of their Formula One debut next season .\nA formal announcement will be made at a news conference on Tuesday .\nThe news has been confirmed by the FIA, who have announced the 2010 F1 entry list ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BEIJING, China (CNN) -- An executive of the Chinese dairy company Sanlu Group pleaded guilty Wednesday over her role in the contaminated milk scandal that sickened nearly 300,000 infants, state-run media reported. A salesgirl arranges powdered milk in China's Sichuan province in September. Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's former board chairwoman and general manager, and three other executives are on trial for producing and selling fake or substandard products, according to Xinhua news agency. Wenhua, 66, pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial at a court in Shijiazhuang, the capital of northern Hebei Province, Xinhua reported. She told the court that she first received tainted milk complaints from consumers in mid-May -- four months before the issue became widely known -- according to the report. Wenhua led a working team to investigate the claims, Xinhua reported. The three other executives are former deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi, and Wu Jusheng, a former executive heading Sanlu's milk division. Chinese investigators found melamine in nearly 70 milk products from more than 20 companies, according to quality control official Li Changjiang, who was eventually forced to resign. The Ministry of Health has said the contamination likely caused the deaths of at least six babies. Another 294,000 infants suffered from urinary problems, such as kidney stones. The tainted formula came to light in September after babies who were fed milk powder produced by the Sanlu Group, which recently filed for bankruptcy, had developed kidney stones. 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. Prior to the four Sanlu executives, at least eight people stood trial over charges of producing, adding melamine-laced \"protein powder\" to milk or selling the tainted milk to Sanlu or other dairies. Victims of tainted baby formula are expected to be compensated by the 22 Chinese dairy producers that made the milk. \"The enterprises offered to shoulder the compensation liability,\" the country's Dairy Industry Association said Saturday, according to Xinhua. \"By doing so, they hope to earn understanding and forgiveness of the families of the sickened children.\" The group said victims will receive a one-off cash payment, but did not provide the amounts, according to Xinhua. \"The money for compensation is in place now and will soon be handed to the people who have custody of the sickened children through various channels,\" the association said. No date for the payments was given. The dairies also raised money to cover medical bills for any after-effects suffered as a result of the poisoning, the association said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tian Wenhua, former Sanlu chairwoman and general manager, pleads guilty .\nFour Sanlu executives accused of producing and selling substandard products .\nScandal revealed after babies fed milk powder developed kidney stones .\nVictims of tainted baby formula to be compensated by 22 Chinese dairy firms ." } ]

[ { "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. &copy 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": "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": "(CNN) -- This month on MainSail . Shamrock V, a 1930's Americas Cup challenger at the J-class race in the Solent, Isle of Wight, in 2001. What makes a \"classic\" yacht? Is it age, or era? Are classics born or made? Is it size and value, or cultural significance? Classics can be modern and old -- from three-mast 1930s teak works of art like the original America's Cup racers, to cutting edge, contemporary monsters, like the \"Maltese Falcon\" and the exclusive fleets of luxury boat builders like Perini Navi and Wally. This month CNN's Mainsail investigates what makes a classic yacht at one of the world's great yachting regattas. Les Voiles de St Tropez . St Tropez, playground of the rich and famous, a bastion of class, richesse and style, plays host for the 26th year to Les Voiles de St Tropez, a classic event in every possible sense of the word. The regatta gathers together the most extraordinary modern sailing boats alongside the most beautiful traditional yachts, as sailors from all over the world gather to do battle in the Mediterranean's most glamorous bay. During the week's racing, presenter Shirley Robertson hitches a ride on board some of the world's most iconic yachts both ancient and modern, and attempts to find out what makes them \"classics.\" Ernesto Bertarelli . Reporting from Genoa in a world exclusive, Shirley chats to Alinghi team boss, Ernesto Bertarelli and drives the new \"Alinghi 5\" -- the defender of the America's Cup. Robertson is likely to be the only person in the world outside of the Alinghi team to get her hands on the wheel of the spectacular 90-foot catamaran. Will this boat, just a few months old, become an instant classic? And in a report from the Perini Navi Cup in Sardinia, boat builders and skippers of the most glamorous luxury yachts on the planet explain what makes their machines the classics of the future." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What makes a 'classic' yacht? Mainsail takes up the challenge to find out .\nShirley Robertson hitches a ride on some of the world's most iconic yachts .\nShe drives the new Alinghi 5, while chatting to Alinghi team boss Bertarelli ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Tribune Media Services) -- Three hundred and forty. At the Bandelier National Monument visitors can climb into ancient cliff dwellings used by Native Americans. That's how many steps and ladder rungs we climb to Bandelier National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/band/), to crowd into its ancient (dating back to before 1300) cliff dwellings about 50 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Even the kids are impressed that Ancestral Pueblo families lived here before Columbus arrived, even before the Pilgrims stepped foot on Plymouth Rock. We look at the crumbling adobe and try to imagine apartment-type dwellings that stretched more than three stories: We crouch inside the ceremonial Kivas where the ancient people gathered to teach the children, weave, congregate and discuss the affairs of the day. These unique sites -- Bandelier certainly isn't the only one -- and spectacular desert landscape make New Mexico a terrific family destination winter or summer, and one that will win kudos from all ages. Where else can you ski one day -- in Taos or outside of Santa Fe, gallery hop or take a cooking lesson the next, shop or tour museums till you drop and gain a new perspective on Native American history? New Mexico is home to 22 sovereign Indian nations, including the Navajo Nation, two Apache Tribes and 19 Pueblos. The Pueblo of Acoma (http://www.skycity.com/), which sits on a 367-foot-high sandstone rock, is considered the oldest inhabited village in the United States. The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque can help you get started (www.indianpueblo.com). You can even stay on a Pueblo -- the deluxe Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa (http://www.tamaya.hyatt.com), owned by the Santa Ana Pueblo and managed by Hyatt, offers holiday packages. The 350-room resort, halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, sits on 500 sprawling acres of a 73,000-acre reservation and is one of the largest resorts ever built on Native American land. And you can't beat the Sandia Mountains on the horizon for scenery. Great pains have been taken to respect the ancient spirits at the resort. One of the pools is built in a circle, replicating the ceremonial Kivas that have been an integral part of Pueblo life for centuries. Spa treatments are designed to use products that are indigenous to the area (how about a hydrating treatment using desert seaweed or an exfoliation treatment with Tamaya Blue Corn flour?) The signature Corn Maiden restaurant serves dishes from the region. The profits go back to the Pueblo and fund everything from college scholarships to senior centers. Sure you can hang out by the pool, opt for the spa, or play golf here, but horseback riding through the pueblo's backcountry to see petroglyphs, making adobe bricks, drums or pottery or visiting the cultural center and museum devoted to the history, culture and art of the Santa Ana Pueblo make this a different experience. \"All of these activities appealed to us,\" said Eric Shimabukuro, who is from suburban Chicago and was busy making bricks one morning with his two daughters, Lauren, 9, and Carolyn, 7. New Mexico, I think, as I make my way down the ladder at Bandelier and later, watch my daughters knead the dough for Pueblo bread at the Hyatt Tamaya, under the watchful eye of a member of the Santa Ana Pueblo, can be a terrific winter vacation bet for families whose members are not all equally enthusiastic about spending their entire vacation on the slopes. Especially at holiday time when there are traditional dances at Northern New Mexico Pueblos and a variety of celebrations in Santa Fe and around New Mexico (www.santafe.org, www.nmtourism.org). Santa Fe Mountain Adventures (www.santafemountainadventures.com) can help plan a unique sojourn, organizing family activities from touring Bandelier to geocaching, an outdoor treasure-hunting game, to snowshoeing, cooking and pottery making. \"You get so much more out of a visit to a place like this when you're with a guide,\" offers David Thompson, whose family joined us touring Bandelier with Santa Fe Mountain Adventures guides Bill Neuwirth, a college professor, and Anne Stanley, an artist and guide. As we climb ladders and steps, courtesy of the National Park Service, Neuwirth points out the foot holes in the volcanic rock that the ancient peoples used. We wonder what it was like to live in this community so long ago when 30 was considered old, when children were married as soon as they reached puberty and when everything was about the community, not individuals. They raised corn, (the Pueblo people have some 50 recipes to prepare corn) squash and beans. The elevation here is 7,000 feet, but it doesn't seem to bother us. Where we hike at Bandelier, there are as many as 50 dwellings in one section -- and the ground floor doesn't have any doors or windows. The people who lived here climbed up to the roof and then climbed down into the room, which they probably did to protect their homes. No one, Neuwirth explains, really knows why the ancient Pueblo people decided to leave -- whether it was drought, or illness or an impulse to move to another Mesa; Neuwirth gestures out to the desert landscape, \"You couldn't have walked a meter in any direction without running into pueblo remains.\" As we prepared to fly home, all I could think about were those ancient families (did their kids drive them crazy sometimes too?) and all those Pueblos I would have liked to visit, the cooking classes I didn't have time to schedule, the Santa Fe galleries and museums we missed, (check out the Eldorado Hotel and Spa's (www.eldoradohotel.com) Winter Wonderland package, valid now through Jan. 31, 2008. Starting at $199 per night, double occupancy, it includes daily breakfast in the hotel's Eldorado Court or via room service.), and the hikes we didn't attempt. \"We did something different every day!\" my husband said. More important, no one complained about what we did or where we were going. No one was bored. We ate great food, especially the guacamole at El Pinto restaurant (www.elpinto.com) outside of Albuquerque, which was made right in front of us. Not that our New Mexico sojourn was perfect. Traveling with kids -- no matter what their ages -- never is, even in the most spectacular locales. What matters, of course, is the chance to explore a new place -- a new culture -- together. Pass the guacamole, please. E-mail to a friend . (For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.) Copyright 2009 EILEEN OGINTZ, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Several thousand ancestral Pueblo dwellings can be viewed at Bandelier .\nNew Mexico is home to 22 sovereign Indian nations .\nSome Pueblos offer tours and activities ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has been accused of \"physical and verbal aggression\" towards a journalist after Sunday's 1-1 Serie A draw at Atalanta. The Italian Sport Union of Journalists (USSI) condemned Mourinho's alleged actions against Corriere dello Sport's Andrea Ramazzotti. A statement from the USSI urged Inter president Massimo Moratti, and the country's governing sporting bodies to investigate. It read: \"The physical and verbal aggression of Inter coach Jose Mourinho towards our colleague Andrea Ramazzotti marks one of the lowest and alarming moments in the relations between football and sporting press. \"Mourinho was already cited, prior to the Champions League game with Rubin Kazan, for his uneducated and disrespectful tone that he used towards certain colleagues. \"This aggression marks an irresponsible and unacceptable escalation. USSI expresses not only its indignation, but a strong concern for gestures and the unspeakable behavior that only increases tensions and controversies. \"It asks president Moratti to intervene energetically so that a member of his club (Mourinho) adapts to the great tradition of civility of the club and of the Moratti family. \"It asks as well of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) that the sporting justice panel intervenes to examine the behavior of Mourinho for eventual sanctions.\" Mourinho watched Sunday's game from the stands as he served a one-match touchline ban. Reports in Italy have claimed a heated argument took place between Mourinho and Ramazzotti outside the team bus. Mourinho has not commented on the incident but Moratti told the club's official Web site: \"For the moment I don't want to comment as I still don't have all the facts, but I'm sorry. \"I will talk to the head of the union to find out what he means by energetic action.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Inter coach Jose Mourinho accused of \"physical and verbal aggression\" towards a journalist .\nThe alleged confrontation happened following the 1-1 Serie A draw at Atalanta on Sunday .\nThe Italian Sport Union of Journalists (USSI) have condemned Mourinho's alleged actions ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The torch for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was lit in a ceremony at the ancient Greek site of Olympia on Thursday, less than four months ahead of the games' opening ceremony. Actress Maria Nafpliotou, as a high priestess, lights the flame for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics on Thursday. The torch will be carried on an eight-day trip through Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics, before being transported to Canada for what will be the longest domestic torch relay in the games' history, officials said. Women dressed in white togas performed a ceremony on the green hillside at Olympia, the home of the Olympic flame and the place where the ancient Olympics took place. A woman playing the role of a high priestess lit the flame by sunlight focused on a mirror, the only way by tradition it can be lit. That fire then was used to light the Vancouver Olympic Torch, which Greek skier and three-time Olympian Vassilis Dimitriadis then carried on the first leg of its journey through Greece. \"The Olympic torch and flame are the symbols of the values and ideals which lie at the heart of the Olympic Games,\" International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said before the ceremony. The torch will carry a message of peace throughout the world, he said -- words echoed by Vancouver 2010 Chief Executive John Furlong. \"Today we build a bridge between ancient Olympia and young Canada,\" he said. \"Canada is a country with a welcoming spirit and a glowing heart. ... We will do all we can to be a shining example of the ideas and values that were first kindled here in this hallowed place.\" After its 1,351-mile (2,180-kilometer) trip through Greece, the torch will be taken to Canada. On October 30, the first of 12,000 torchbearers will begin carrying it through Canada on what will be a 106-day, 27,900-mile (45,000-kilometer) relay. \"It will be the longest domestic relay in Olympic history, just to be sure every Canadian will be given the right to dream and celebrate,\" Furlong said. The torch relay is derived from ancient rituals in Olympia, where torch and relay races were popular festival events and where heralds traveled throughout Greece to announce the games. The torch for the 2010 Winter Games was designed by transportation and aerospace company Bombardier, a Vancouver Olympic sponsor. The lean curves of the white torch were inspired by the lines carved in the snow by winter sports and by the \"undulating beauty of the Canadian landscape,\" the company said. The torch's special construction will allow it to burn through a range of winter weather, including snow, rain, sleet, wind and subzero temperatures, Bombardier said. It weighs 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilograms) fully fueled, the company said. The flame is due to arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia, on February 12 when the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Games will be held at the domed BC Place Stadium." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Olympic flame due to arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia, in February .\nVancouver Olympic Torch lit in ceremony in Greece's ancient Olympia .\nTorchbearers will begin carrying flame through Canada next week on 106-day relay .\nVancouver Olympics official: \"It will be the longest domestic relay in Olympic history\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- A former New York City bouncer was sentenced to life without parole Wednesday for the brutal slaying of a graduate student from Boston, the Brooklyn district attorney's office said. Darryl Littlejohn, 44, is already serving prison time for the attempted kidnapping of another student in 2005. Darryl Littlejohn, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder last month in the 2006 death of Imette St. Guillen, 24, who had been studying criminology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Littlejohn, who is already serving 25 years to life for the October 2005 attempted kidnapping of a 19-year-old Queens college student, will serve out the sentences consecutively, said Sarah McNaughton of the Brooklyn district attorney's office. During the trial, witnesses said they saw Littlejohn and St. Guillen leaving The Falls bar in lower Manhattan together early February 25, 2006. Littlejohn was working as a bouncer at the bar. Hours later, St. Guillen's nude body was found in an isolated lot in Brooklyn. Her face was covered with strips of packing tape, and a sock was stuffed into her throat. She died of asphyxiation, and investigators determined she had been raped. Littlejohn was charged with murder after investigators linked his DNA to blood found on plastic ties used to bind St. Guillen's hands behind her back. Littlejohn's attorney, Joyce David, has filed an appeal on behalf of her client and maintains his innocence. She said that although Littlejohn has a long criminal record, he has no history of violence against women. The horrific incident spread shockwaves through New York City nightlife, which relies heavily on unlicensed bouncers to keep order in the city's bars and nightclubs. Littlejohn is being held at New York's Rikers Island maximum security facility. CNN's Chris Kokenes and Kristen Hamill contributed to this report ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Darryl Littlejohn was convicted last month of murdering Imette St. Guillen, 24 .\nWitnesses saw the two leaving Manhattan bar the morning of February 25, 2006 .\nInvestigators linked his DNA to ties used to bind St. Guillen's hands behind her back .\nLawyer for the former bouncer says he is innocent ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: How would you rate President Obama's first 100 days? You'll get a chance to make your opinion known on at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday on the CNN National Report Card. Franklin D. Roosevelt had an ambitious first 100 days, CNN's Bill Schneider says. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senior White House adviser David Axelrod has called the 100-day benchmark an \"odd custom, the journalistic equivalent of the Hallmark holiday.'' But where did the notion of a president's \"First 100 Days\" originate? With Franklin D. Roosevelt, another president who took office at a time of dire economic crisis. Roosevelt used his first 100 days to launch the New Deal, his plan to jumpstart the economy and put people back to work. Democrats had just won huge majorities in Congress and were ready to do the president's bidding. But, should Congress fail to act, Roosevelt would ask for \"broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were, in fact, invaded by a foreign foe,\" he warned in his inaugural address. Watch what FDR's First 100 Days were like » . Congress gave Roosevelt nearly nearly everything he wanted -- 15 major bills in the first 100 days, including the Emergency Banking Relief Act, the Public Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Congress also approved the Beer-Wine Revenue Act that anticipated the end of Prohibition. A White House adviser remarked that members of Congress had forgotten to be Republicans or Democrats. Comedian Will Rogers joked at the time that, \"Congress doesn't pass legislation any more. They just wave at the bills as they go by.\" Nothing since has equaled FDR's first 100 days. But as Obama nears the symbolic benchmark, he may have had the boldest 100-day agenda since FDR. Still, Congress has passed only a few major bills, including the $787 billion economic stimulus package, the public lands preservation bill and an expansion of children's health insurance. So what has changed? Presidents can no longer count on the kind of bipartisan cooperation FDR got in 1933 -- even at a time of crisis." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Franklin Roosevelt used his first 100 days to launch the New Deal .\nRoosevelt, like President Obama, took office during an economic crisis .\nRoosevelt quickly acted on 15 major bills .\nObama has bold agenda, but little legislation to show for it ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "NEW YORK (CNN) -- Criminal charges will not be filed against the 18-year-old college freshman who falsely accused five men of raping her in a dormitory bathroom at Hofstra University, an official said Friday. Instead, Danmell Ndonye must participate in a year-long psychiatric program and spend 250 hours in community service for lying to police about what was a consensual sexual encounter with four of the five accused men, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a written statement. Ndonye said she did not engage in sexual activity with Rondell Bedward, the only one of the men who attends Hofstra University. He has returned to classes. Rice said she retains the option of filing criminal charges against Ndonye if she fails to complete the course of therapy or community service. Rice added that filing criminal charges might have made any future false accuser reluctant to recant and tell the truth, possibly leading to an innocent person serving a lengthy prison sentence. Authorities dropped charges and freed the four men they had taken into custody after their accuser changed her story about having been tied up and sexually assaulted in a dormitory bathroom. The woman recanted after authorities told her that part of the incident was recorded on a cell phone video, Rice said. \"That was when she began to tell the truth,\" she said. It is against the law to report a crime when there was not one, the district attorney said. \"Her actions and her demeanor depict a very troubled young woman in need of much help,\" Rice said. Hofstra University has suspended Ndonye." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Danmell Ndonye, 18, will not face criminal charges for falsely accusing 5 men of rape .\nNdonye must participate in yearlong psychiatric program, do community service .\nShe recanted because part of the incident was caught on cell phone video .\nHofstra University has suspended Ndonye ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's family and about 200 of their closest friends gathered on a hill Thursday evening for their final farewell to the pop singer, who died 10 weeks ago. Thursday's service for singer Michael Jackson began 90 minutes past the announced start time. Jackson's burial may lay to rest some of the mystery and controversy that erupted with his sudden death on June 25. His large family was divided over where the superstar's final resting place should be, but matriarch Katherine Jackson settled on a crypt inside the well-guarded and ornate Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California. Thursday's service began 90 minutes past the announced start time, leaving dozens of celebrities -- including Elizabeth Taylor -- waiting in their seats for the 26 cars carrying the Jackson clan to arrive. Gallery: Invitation for Jackson's service » . It began with Jackson's five brothers -- each wearing a single sequined glove -- carrying his flower-covered bronze casket onto the outdoor stage among six large bouquets of white lilies and white roses, along with green topiaries. His three children, led by daughter, Paris, 11, placed a crown atop their father's coffin, which a family spokesman said it was \"to signify the final resting place of the King of Pop.\" Jackson's children, parents and siblings took their seats in the front row, while his nieces and nephews filled several rows of white chairs behind them. After an opening prayer by Pastor Lucius Smith, soul music legend Gladys Knight sang the gospel hymn \"His Eye Is on the Sparrow.\" Clifton Davis sang \"Never Can Say Goodbye,\" a hit he wrote for The Jackson 5 -- the group that featured a young Michael and his brothers. What was said by Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, and others who took the lectern is not publicly known, because the family barred news cameras from the ceremony. A family statement issued afterward said close friends and family, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, spoke \"spontaneously to celebrate Michael's life.\" News helicopters hovering above captured video from a distance, but without sound. Watch media cover Jackson funeral » . Lisa Marie Presley, one of Jackson's former wives and the daughter of Elvis, attended the service, according to the family statement. It did not mention Debbie Rowe, Jackson's second wife and the mother of his two oldest children. Macaulay Culkin, the \"Home Alone\" actor who spent time with Jackson during his Neverland Ranch days, was there with his girlfriend, actress Mila Kunis. Actors Corey Feldman and Chris Tucker were also seen arriving for the service. Motown founder Berry Gordy, who gave Jackson and his brothers their first big record deal, and Quincy Jones, who produced Jackson's \"Thriller\" album, were there. Music producer Teddy Riley, who helped with Jackson's 1991 \"Dangerous\" album, attended. The guest list included TV executive Suzanne de Passe, who produced a miniseries about Jackson's family, and Kenny Ortega, who was producing Jackson's comeback show. Thomas Mesereau, the lawyer who successfully defended Jackson in a child molestation trial, sat just behind the Jackson family. When the hour-long service ended, his brothers lifted Jackson's casket for a final time to carry him inside the Great Mausoleum, where he was placed in his crypt at 9:43 p.m. PT (12:43 a.m. ET Friday). The family statement said it was \"his final resting place.\" The family and friends then drove to an Italian restaurant eight miles away, in Pasadena, California, for \"a time of celebration.\" The massive mausoleum, the final resting place for Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and dozens of other celebrities, is normally open to tourists, though the public is denied close access to crypts. Security guards, aided by cameras, keep constant vigil over the graves and crypts, which are surrounded by a world-class collection of art and architecture. The Forest Lawn Web site boasts that the mausoleum, which draws its architectural inspiration from the Campo Santo in Italy, \"has been called the 'New World's Westminster Abbey' by Time Magazine.\" Visitors will see \"exact replicas of Michelangelo's greatest works such as David, Moses, and La Pieta\" and \"Leonardo da Vinci's immortal Last Supper re-created in brilliant stained glass; two of the world's largest paintings,\" the Web site says. Jackson's burial was delayed by division among family members, though Katherine Jackson would make the final decision, brother Jermaine Jackson recently told CNN. He preferred to see his youngest brother laid to rest at his former Neverland Ranch home, north of Los Angeles in Santa Barbara County, California. That idea was complicated by neighbors who vowed to oppose allowing a grave in the rural area -- and by Jackson family members who said the singer would not want to return to the home where he faced child molestation charges, of which he was ultimately acquitted. The mystery of where Jackson would be buried became a media obsession in the weeks after his death. After his body was loaded onto a helicopter at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center hours after his June 25 death, it stayed in the custody of the Los Angeles County coroner for an autopsy. It was only later disclosed that Jackson's corpse was kept in a refrigerated room at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn cemetery until his casket was carried by motorcade to downtown Los Angeles for a public memorial service in the Staples Center arena. Again, speculation about Jackson's whereabouts grew when the media lost track of his casket after his brothers carried it out of sight inside the arena. It was only recently confirmed that it was taken back to the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn while awaiting his family's decision. Though Thursday's interment may settle one Jackson mystery, a more serious one remains. The coroner announced last week that he had ruled Jackson's death a homicide. A summary of the coroner's report said the anesthetic propofol and the sedative lorazepam were the primary drugs responsible for the singer's death. Los Angeles police detectives have not concluded their criminal investigation and no one has been charged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jackson's three kids, led by daughter, Paris, placed a crown atop their father's coffin .\nClifton Davis sang \"Never Can Say Goodbye,\" a hit he wrote for The Jackson 5 .\nGuests included Elizabeth Taylor, Lisa Marie Presley and Macaulay Culkin ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As President Obama marks his 100th day in office, most recent national polls indicate that more than six in 10 Americans approve of the job he's doing as president. Polls reflect that most Americans approve of President Obama's performance during his first 100 days in office. According to a CNN poll of polls compiled Wednesday, 63 percent said they approve of how Obama is handling his duties. Twenty-nine percent disapprove. The rating is down 3 percentage points from CNN's previous poll of polls, which was compiled Sunday. The president's approval rating stood at 64 percent in a CNN poll of polls in January shortly after his inauguration. \"The number of Americans who think Obama has the right personal qualities to be president has gone up since the campaign last fall,\" said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. \"That wasn't true for George W. Bush eight years ago, and it may be one reason why Obama's approval rating is still in the 60s.\" How does Obama compare with his predecessors around the first 100-days mark? Bush stood at 62 percent in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll in April 2001; Bill Clinton at 55 percent in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll in April 1993; George H.W. Bush at 58 percent in a Gallup Poll from April 1989; and Ronald Reagan at 67 percent in a Gallup Poll in April 1981. \"The 100-day mark tends to fall during a period when Americans are still evaluating a new president. The danger period for most presidents comes later in their first year in office,\" Holland said. \"Bill Clinton, for example, still had good marks after his first 100 days, but his approval rating had tanked by June of 1993. Ronald Reagan's approval rating stayed over 50 percent until November of his first year in office, but once it slipped below that mark, it stayed under 50 percent for two years. So Obama's current rating certainly does not indicate that he is out of the woods yet.\" The most recent edition of the CNN poll of polls is an average of seven national surveys taken over the past week: CNN/Opinion Research Corp. (April 23-26), ABC/Washington Post (April 21-24), Fox/Opinion Dynamics (April 22-23), CBS/The New York Times (April 22-26), Marist (April 21-23), Quinnipiac (April 21-27) and the Gallup tracking poll (April 25-27). iReport.com: Grade the first 100 days . The poll of polls does not have a sampling error." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CNN poll of polls finds 63 percent approve of how President Obama handling duties .\nObama's approval rating at 64 percent in CNN poll of polls in January .\nCNN poll of polls is an average of seven national surveys taken over the past week ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- It's early April, and President Obama is on his way to France with the nation's top diplomat at his side. As he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton converse in a private room aboard Air Force One, a photographer peers through the half-open door and snaps a candid picture of the formerly bitter campaign rivals. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton share a conversation on board Air Force One. Photographing two of the most powerful people in the country up-close and personal may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to most Americans. But for photographer Pete Souza, it's a common occurrence. \"I try to photograph everything. Every meeting that the president does,\" Souza told CNN's John King on \"State of the Union.\" On leave of absence from his normal post as an assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University's School of Visual Communication, Souza is the chief official White House photographer for President Obama, meaning he has an all-access pass to the president's most intimate and private moments. \"I look at my job as a visual historian,\" Souza said on Sunday. \"The most important thing is to create a good visual archive for history, so 50 or a hundred years from now, people can go back and look at all these pictures.\" Watch Souza talk to CNN's John King about his work » . While he relishes his unobstructed seat to a historic administration, he knows his limits. \"I'm smart enough to know that if he's having a one-on-one meeting with a head of state, I let them have some privacy,\" he said. \"I let him initiate any conversation. I am not there to take up his time in conversation.\" Souza brings a unique perspective to the job, having also been the official White House photographer during Ronald Reagan's presidency. He acknowledged that Reagan was probably more formal, but told CNN he sees similarities between the two. See some of Souza's photos » . \"I think they're both comfortable with themselves, which makes them great photographic subjects. The presence of the camera in behind-the-scene situations didn't seem to bother either president, which is good for me,\" he said. Souza released four never-before-seen photos on \"State of the Union,\" including one of the president and the first lady sharing a moment on the dance floor at the annual Governor's Ball, the couple's first big event at the White House. \"Earth, Wind and Fire was the band and I think the president was singing along to the music. I think their intention is to bring some fun to the White House, too,\" Souza said while reflecting on the picture. Previously a photographer for the Chicago Tribune, Souza began documenting Obama's ascension to the presidency in 2004 after a former colleague asked him to shoot the young politician's first year as a U.S. senator. Last year, Souza published \"The Rise of Barack Obama,\" an extensive book of photos chronicling Obama's rise from junior senator of Illinois to the highest office in the country. When asked to choose one picture as his favorite, Souza selected one of the president and first lady softly butting heads in a freight elevator, surrounded by staffers who appear to be avoiding eye contact with the couple. Michelle Obama is smiling playfully wearing her husband's jacket. \"I chose this one because it's a genuine moment. It was chilly in the elevator. He took his coat off, put it around his wife's shoulders and then there is this private moment going on between the two of them,\" he said. \"It's just a complete storytelling picture.\" Though the historic nature of Obama's presidency is not lost on Souza, he doesn't view Obama any differently than past commanders in chief. \"Certainly you feel a sense of history, no question about that. When I look at him, I look at him as the president. I don't look at him as the African-American president, I look at him as the president.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pete Souza is the chief official White House photographer for President Obama .\nSouza is assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University .\nFormerly with the Chicago Tribune, Souza began following Obama in 2004 .\nSouza: \"I look at my job as a visual historian\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Everton scored twice late on and goalkeeper Tim Howard saved an injury-time penalty as they fought back to secure a 2-2 Premier League home draw with Tottenham on Sunday. Jermain Defoe gave the visitors the lead soon after the interval when nipping in front of Tony Hibbert to convert Aaron Lennon's cross at the near post for his 13th goal of the season. And they doubled their advantage soon after when defender Michael Dawson headed home a Niko Kranjcar corner. But Everton got a foothold back in the game when Seamus Coleman's run and cross was converted by fellow-substitute Louis Saha in the 78th minute. And Tim Cahill rescued a point for the home side with four minutes remaining when he stooped low to head home Leighton Baines' bouncing cross. However, there was still further drama to come when Hibbert was penalized for crashing into Wilson Palacios in the area. However, England striker Defoe smashed his penalty too close to Howard and the keeper pulled off a fine save to give out-of-form Everton a morale-boosting point. The result means Tottenham remain in fourth place, behind north London rivals Arsenal, while Everton have now won just one of their last nine league games. In the day's other match, Bobby Zamora scored the only goal of the game as Fulham beat Sunderland 1-0 to move up to eighth place in the table." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everton recover from 2-0 behind to earn a 2-2 Premier League draw with Tottenham .\nJermain Defoe misses an injury time penalty to give the visitors all three points .\nBobby Zamora scores the only goal to give Fulham a 1-0 victory at home to Sunderland ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Peruvian authorities say they have arrested four members of a gang that specialized in selling to European labs fat obtained from dead humans. Officials are investigating the disappearance of at least 60 people they believe were killed by gang members in two mountainous states in central Peru, lead prosecutor Jorge Sanz Quiroz said Friday. The four suspects have been charged with murder in the September slaying of a Peruvian man, the prosecutor said. \"They killed to obtain human fat because there were European laboratories that would pay them,\" Sanz Quiroz said. The suspects told authorities they were paid $15,000 for a liter (about 1 quart) of human fat. Officials did not disclose what possible use laboratories could have for the human fat, but fat can be a component of cosmetics and is used in reconstructive or cosmetic surgery. The use of human fat for any purpose is extremely rare, however, physicians say. Other suspects, including the Peruvian ringleader, have eluded capture, Sanz Quiroz said. Authorities have the names of two Italian suspects who are being sought by Interpol, the 188-nation worldwide police agency, the prosecutor said. He declined to reveal their identities. Sanz Quiroz acknowledged the uniqueness of the allegations. \"We are not making this up,\" he said. \"They have confessed to this. That's what's coming out now.\" One of the suspects told officials he had been committing the murders for five years. According to a criminal complaint Sanz Quiroz filed November 18, officials discovered on September 22 a small container containing a fat-like substance that had been stored at the Bella Durmiente bus station in Lima, Peru's capital. On November 3, the complaint says, suspect Serapio Marcos Veramendi Principe was arrested after he retrieved three bottles from the Estrella Polar bus station. The bottles contained a substance authorities believe is human fat, the complaint says. Lab tests are being performed to determine what the substance is. Authorities identified the three other suspects as Elmer Segundo Castillejos Aguero, Hilario Cudena Simon and Enedina Estela Claudio. The suspects identified each other for police in photo lineups, the complaint says. In addition to murder, Veramendi Principe and Castillejos Aguero face weapons charges. Castillejos Aguero, Veramendi Principe and Estela Claudio also face drug charges, authorities said. They are accused in the September 16 killing of Abel Matos Aranda, the criminal complaint says. Authorities believe the substance found at the bus stations is body fat obtained from Matos Aranda. Officials unearthed a partially buried male body November 13 in Huanuco state. They believe it was Matos Aranda. Sanz Quiroz referred to the suspects as \"brujos,\" the Spanish word for witches. He noted that the suspects are part of an Andean mountain culture that believes bodies can be used to ward off evil and prevent disasters. For example, he said, bodies are often buried at the entrances to mine shafts and bridges in the belief they will keep the structures from collapsing. Authorities are calling the suspects \"pishtacos,\" which are Andean mythological creatures. In his 1996 book \"Death in the Andes,\" Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa mentions pishtacos extensively, saying they are half-white ghouls who live in caves, lurk along dark isolated roads and suck the fat out of anyone careless enough to travel Andean roads at night. Andean myth holds that the fat is used to make soaps, lubricants, healing potions and cosmetic creams. Until the arrests, few believed that anything resembling pishtacos existed. \"It's an Andean myth that we've now been able to prove,\" said Miguel Jimenez Torres, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. Some physicians say human fat is used in some medical procedures, but a few products were taken off the market because they were considered unsafe. The longevity of implants that use human tissue often is not as good, said Atlanta cosmetic surgeon Harold Brody. Nor is there any advantage, he said, to using human fat in cosmetic creams or lotions. \"They're a little behind the times,\" Brody said. \"It makes a great moisturizer, but it has no advantages over good moisturizers that don't use human fat.\" New York dermatologist Barry Goldman said he had never heard of human fat being sold on the black market. \"The idea that anybody would use an injectable where you didn't know where it came from would be laughable if it weren't unethical and potentially dangerous,\" he said. Still, the notion of black market human fat seemed possible to him. \"They steal kidneys, so why not this?\" he asked. \"It is sick, but in the Holocaust they did use skin for lamps.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Peruvian authorities reported to have arrested gang who are selling human fat .\nOfficials investigating disappearances of at least 60 people .\nTwo suspects arrested with a plastic container with human fat in it ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Were nine attractive young Turkish women duped and imprisoned in a villa by Internet soft-core porn peddlers? Or did they simply call in the police to help them break their contract with an Internet contest similar to the reality TV show \"Big Brother\"? A lawyer for the production company, Istanbul Group Electronic Trade Communications and Advertising A.S., is arguing the latter. In a written statement on the company's Web site, Hilmi Tufan Cakir denied reports published in the Turkish and international media, that nine women were trapped against their will in an Istanbul villa, while cameras sold their images on the Internet. \"My client organized a contest with reward money, contracts were signed with the contestant girls,\" the lawyer's statement said. \"In accordance with the contracts signed by the nine girls, this contest was to be broadcast on the Internet live.\" But on Friday, an officer with a Turkish gendarme unit, told CNN that security forces raided the reality show's villa earlier this week, after they received a complaint. \"We detained one person,\" said the gendarme officer, who asked not to be identified. \"There were eight or nine young girls, some younger then 18, who were returned to their families.\" Turkish television showed footage of gendarme officers raiding the villa and detaining a suspect earlier this week. The disputed Web-site is a page of hot pink graphics and photos of scantily clad young women, accompanied by throbbing dance music and the title, \"We Are at Home.\" It shows video of the villa and its pool, and flashes photos of the nine female \"contestants\" as well as a list of ratings for viewers, who can vote for their favorite lady via cell phone text message. Audience members were also encouraged to send \"virtual gifts\" to the contestants, like pink panties, beer, chocolate and a pearl necklace. Each resident of the house had their own introductory video. The women, dressed in mini-skirts and bikinis, pose by the villa's pool, dance around in revealing outfits, and introduce themselves to the camera. In one segment, a hostess named Zeynep Karacan, who wears a long dress with a plunging neck line, reads from cue cards, introduces viewers to the house and its residents, who enter one-by-one waving to the camera and carrying luggage. According to the Web site's rating system, the second most popular contestant was woman from the town of Kocaeli who went by the name \"Tugce.\" Text on the web-page said she was 18-years old, born on September 14th, 1990. But in her on-camera appearance, Tugce tells the audience \"I am 16.\" She wears a purple bikini by the pool and goes on to say \"I came here to be discovered. My biggest dream is to be a model.\" In Turkish press reports, the women said they signed contracts requiring them to pay fines of more then $30,000 if they left the show before it completed filming. This is not the first time scandal has rocked the booming reality TV industry in Turkey. In 2005, a male contestant from the hit show \"Would You Be My Bride?\" died of an apparent drug overdose after the season wrapped up production. On that show, mothers helped their sons choose a bride. The mother of the young man who killed himself, has since gone on to host another reality match-making TV show." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Police: 8 or 9 young girls, some under 18, were returned to their families .\nTurkish television showed footage of gendarme officers raiding the villa .\nWomen were to take part in a Big Brother-style show on the Internet .\nReport: Women signed contracts requiring them to pay fines if they left show ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States needs to formulate an \"updated strategy\" for Iraq, now that the Bush administration's 18-month game plan for the country is completed, the head of the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers Wednesday. U.S. soldiers crouch at their positions during a mission in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, earlier this month. Acting U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro appeared before a House Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss last month's GAO progress report on Iraq, which reaffirmed the need for a renewed strategy in the war-ravaged country. The report, Dodaro said in prepared remarks, noted that \"some gains\" have been made in the security, legislative and economic areas since President Bush last year announced \"The New Way Forward\" -- the near-term goals for Iraq that included the military surge. The surge, or troop escalation, ended this month. \"The United States had made some progress in achieving key goals stated in 'The New Way Forward,' \" the report said. \"Looking forward, many challenges remain, and an updated strategy is essential.\" Dodaro said the progress report recommended an updated strategy in Iraq to the Departments of State and Defense. He told lawmakers that the departments said they will \"review and refine the current strategy as necessary, but asserted that 'The New Way Forward' remains valid.\" Dodaro also argued that a renewed strategy is important \"for several reasons.\" The goals and objectives for the present phase end this month and they are \"contained in disparate documents rather than a single strategic plan,\" he said in his prepared remarks. \"Much has changed in Iraq since January 2007, when the president announced 'The New Way Forward.' Violence is down, U.S. surge forces are leaving, and a new framework for the U.S. presence in Iraq needs to be agreed upon beyond the U.N. mandate,\" Dodaro said. The GAO report said that while the number of enemy-initiated attacks in Iraq have decreased about 80 percent from June 2007 to June 2008, the \"security environment remains volatile and dangerous.\" The agency noted that not all of the country's provinces have lead responsibility for security and less than 10 percent of Iraqi security forces \"were at the highest readiness level.\" The progress report also cited the enactment by Iraqi lawmakers of measures \"to return some Baathists to government, grant amnesty to detained Iraqis and define provincial powers.\" It said there is an \"unfinished\" legislative agenda, citing the need for measures on \"sharing oil revenues, disarming militias, and holding provincial elections.\" A provincial election law was passed on Tuesday by Iraq's parliament, the Council of Representatives, but Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has rejected it, his office said Wednesday. The measure was strongly opposed by Kurdish lawmakers and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government had criticized it, calling for its rejection. It's not clear whether further negotiations may take place to amend the legislation. As for the economic arena, crude oil production is below U.S. goals, even though it has \"improved for short periods,\" the GAO report said. Goals for water service are \"close to being reached,\" but the daily electricity supply \"met only slightly more than half of demand in early July 2008.\" It also noted that Iraq \"spent only 24 percent of the $27 billion it budgeted for its reconstruction efforts between 2005 and 2007.\" Dodaro said the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies should \"develop an updated strategy for Iraq that defines U.S. goals and objectives after July 2008.\" \"This strategy should build on recent security and legislative gains, address the remaining unmet goals and challenges for the near and long term, clearly articulate goals, objectives, roles and responsibilities, and the resources needed,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Head of Government Accountability Office speaks to House committee .\nThough attacks are down, situation in Iraq remains \"volatile and dangerous\"\nReport cites \"unfinished\" legislative agenda in Iraq .\nIraq's oil production remains below U.S. goals, report says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Gennaro Gattuso has ended speculation over his future by signing a new AC Milan contract, the Serie A club have announced. Gattuso has been linked with moves to the English Premier League in recent weeks as he was said to be unhappy with his first-team opportunities after battling injury. But the club have confirmed he will be remaining in Milan for the next three years. \"Milan announce that Rino Gattuso has extended his contract with the club until 30 June 2012,\" said a statement on the club's official Web site. Gattuso, who turns 32 next month, has spent the last decade with Milan after spells with Perugia, Glasgow giants Rangers and Salernitana early in his career. He also has 70 caps for Italy and was a member of the World Cup-winning squad in 2006." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gennaro Gattuso has ended speculation over his future by signing a new contract at AC Milan .\nGattuso has been linked with moves to the English Premier League in recent weeks .\nBut the club have confirmed he will be remaining in Milan for the next three years ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- Lang Lang Revealed - narrated by Jazz Legend Herbie Hancock. Heralded as the \"hottest artist on the classical music planet\" by The New York Times, 27-year-old Lang Lang has played sold out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world. The Chinese child prodigy started playing piano at the age of 3, won his first competition aged 5, and today age 27, he is on Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. On this month's Revealed, we follow the piano prodigy on an adventure out of his classical zone, and into the jazz world to meet his hero, American legend Herbie Hancock. Hancock narrates us through this journey, following Lang Lang back to China for a bittersweet trip down memory lane, and then onto Montreux in Switzerland for his first foray into the jazz world. Today Lang Lang is so much in demand that he is constantly on the move, joking to CNN, \"I am a professional traveler.\" Revealed joins Lang Lang on board his private jet on a trip to China, where his megastardom has reached levels which make public outings rather problematic; Lang Lang is mobbed as soon as he sets foot on the street. We talk to his parents about the practice regime they implemented from the age of 4, and the ruthless work ethic that they believe has brought him success. Lang Lang has made it his mission to share classical music around the world, with an emphasis on training children through outreach programs. Following his performance at the opening of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games, he became a symbol of the youth and future of China. This status has inspired over 35 million Chinese children to learn to play classical piano - a phenomenon popularly referred to as \"the Lang Lang effect.\" Revealed documents the days leading up to Lang Lang's next major Chinese performance. He has been selected by the government to perform in celebrations of the 60-year Anniversary of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, a fitting performance for the prodigy who is seen to embody modern China. The frenzy surrounding Lang Lang in China inspired iconic piano maker Steinway to create their first piano branded in someone's name. On a visit to the Steinway shop along the way, Lang Lang meets two aspiring young pianists, and Revealed captures an impromptu masterclass with the two young boys. Lang Lang is not however everyone's cup of tea. Famously \"loved by some, reviled by others,\" there are those who find his flashy image and demonstrative performing styles at odds with the world of classical music. But Lang Lang is not concerned about that. His mission is to spread a love of music and popularize classical works. Revealed follows him to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, where he teams up with his hero, Jazz legend Hancock. The feeling of admiration is entirely mutual, and for Hancock who has not played classical repertoire in many years, he is feeling out of his depth. \"Lang Lang is totally amazing, I'm pretty terrified to be up on stage playing alongside him. I've never practiced so much in my life!\" Backstage another Jazz legend Quincy Jones has popped by for the concert, remarking, \"Lang Lang has taken the world by storm. This is as good as it gets.\" Only 27 years old, Lang Lang is high on life and music, and hungry for as much adventure as he can get his hands on. His energy and enthusiasm rubs off on all those he comes into contact with, and as Revealed quickly discovers, a trail of laughter, hugs and applause seems to follow him everywhere he goes. Tune in to Revealed to join Herbie Hancock as he walks and laughs us through the adventure that brought him and Lang Lang, two worlds, two generations, and two musical genres together. Join Revealed for a glimpse into a musical genius' life. www.cnn.com/revealed . Watch Lang Lang on Revealed in November at the following times: Wednesday 18 November: 0930, 1730 Saturday 21 November: 0930, 1800, 2130 Sunday 22 November: 0630, 1830, 0400 (all times GMT)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Chinese child prodigy Lang Lang started playing piano at the age of three .\nHe has performed at the Beijing Games and China's 60th anniversary .\nWatch Lang Lang collaborate with jazz legend Herbie Hancock ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Comcast rolled out a Web-based on-demand television and movie service on Tuesday that gives customers access to more than 2,000 hours of television and movies. The move comes as users increasingly are bypassing their TV sets and heading straight to the Web -- both legally and illegally -- to watch their favorite shows. The service, named Fancast XFINITY TV (formerly called TV Everywhere), is the biggest cable industry initiative to keep people from skipping traditional TV service in the United States. \"I watch TV online every day. I find it more convenient than my regular TV...,\" Michael Heard, a self-employed computer repairman from Atlanta, Georgia, said via e-mail. \"I'm usually watching TV on one window while reading e-mail or tweets on another. \"And also my time is important, so sitting down and watching a show at 8 or 9 p.m. isn't convenient. Online TV allows me to watch what I want when I want.\" Networks have tried for the past couple of years to find a way to reach Web-watching audiences by streaming content on their Web sites or making partnerships with Hulu, one of the larger online TV sites. Now, Comcast is hoping it can make a dent in the market by serving up premium content. It is available to all Comcast customers, so long as they subscribe to both Internet and Cable service. Heard said he doesn't expect to give up Hulu, though many of the same episodes and Web clips will be available on Fancast. Heard, trying out the site Tuesday after it went live, tweeted that he thought the service was \"awesome,\" and he finally had a place where he could watch the entire series of \"The Sopranos.\" \"The quality, it's really clear and loads fast,\" he said, though he noted there were still some bugs in the product. Heard occasionally had to reload the site, and felt that installing the video player and authorizing the computer took a bit more time and was harder than simply pressing play on Hulu. The service is getting mixed reviews on Twitter, with customers giving instant feedback about their experiences. Some complained that high-definition videos, which are available on Hulu, are not available on Comcast's service. Others complained about having to download a separate video player, the service not being compatible with the Linux operating system, and only being able to authorize the service on a total of three computers. Comcast hopes to wow customers even more in the future. In the next six months, after the service has gone through more beta testing, the company plans to open the service to a broader customer base. Customers will be able to access all content -- depending on the tiered level of service they subscribe to. Those not paying for HBO regularly, for example, won't be able to snag the newest episode of \"Curb Your Enthusiasm\" online. In addition to catching up with sites like Hulu and Clicker, Comcast executives told media outlets they expect to serve up a feature that Tivo fans have come to love -- allowing customers to program their DVR from afar. Executives said they hope the service would be available in about six months. To access the content, users simply need to log in with their Comcast e-mail address at fancast.com. The site is offering live online help, including help retrieving those addresses." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Comcast's Fancast XFINITY TV goes live Tuesday for its Internet, TV subscribers .\nService follows trend of trying to keep users from abandoning cable TV for Web .\nSite allows users access to premium content, like HBO, if they subscribe .\nNew user finds a few bugs, but calls site \"awesome\" for its selection and load time ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Health.com) -- More than one in 10 women develops depression during pregnancy. Now, a new study suggests that women who are treated with antidepressants are more likely to give birth early or to have newborns that need to spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit. Babies of women taking SSRIs were born earlier and were more likely to have been admitted to intensive care. Depression itself can have ill effects for both mom and baby. Therefore, the benefits of the antidepressants -- known as selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors -- may still outweigh the risks for some women, researchers say. \"There is no easy way out of this,\" says Dr. Tim Oberlander, a developmental pediatrician at BC Children's Hospital, in Vancouver, Canada, who has studied the effects of SSRIs on children exposed in the womb, but was not involved in the current study. \"Depression needs to be managed, and for some women, the use of these medications is appropriate and necessary.\" Health.com: 3 Signs you should stop, adjust, or switch antidepressants . The new study, led by Dr. Najaaraq Lund, of Aarhus University, in Denmark, found that babies whose mothers had taken SSRIs were born earlier and were more likely to require treatment in an NICU. Women have been using SSRIs during pregnancy since the early 1990s, Lund and her colleagues point out in the report, which is published in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. These drugs, which include Zoloft, Prozac, and others, are widely considered to be the safest type of antidepressant medication to take during pregnancy. It's been difficult to confirm their safety, however, especially since investigators have to find a way to distinguish between the effects of depression itself -- and habits that depressed women may be more likely to engage in, like drinking and smoking -- and the drug on the newborn. Health.com: Do pregnancy and bipolar disorder mix? Lund and her colleagues tackled this issue by including a group of women who reported a history of some type of psychiatric illness but weren't taking SSRIs. Some, but not all, of these women had suffered from depression. \"Using this group as a comparison group takes into account possible genetic or lifestyle factors associated with present or previous psychiatric disorders,\" the researcher notes. The analysis included 329 women who took SSRIs in pregnancy, 4,902 with a history of psychiatric illness who weren't taking the drugs, and 51,770 women who reported no history of psychiatric illness and weren't taking SSRIs. All had received prenatal care at Aarhus University Hospital between 1989 and 2006. Babies of women taking SSRIs were born an average of five days earlier than those born to women who had no mental illness, and were twice as likely to be born preterm. The babies whose mothers took SSRIs were 2.4 times as likely to have been admitted to the NICU than infants who hadn't been exposed to the drugs in utero. They were also more than four times as likely to have Apgar scores below eight, just five minutes after birth. (Apgar scores measure an infant's health at birth by looking at his or her breathing, heartbeat, reflexes, muscle tone, and skin color; scores of seven and above are considered normal, and a newborn's Apgar score has no influence on how he or she will fare later in life.) There was no difference between SSRI-exposed babies and unexposed babies in head circumference or birth weight. Antidepressant medication is just one part of the equation in addressing women's mental health during pregnancy, notes Oberlander, who says depression in pregnancy is a \"huge public health issue\" with lasting implications for women and their children. Helping ensure that women are getting enough social support and adequate nutrition is essential, he adds, while alternative treatments for depression -- such as exercise, light therapy, and omega-3 fatty acids -- ought to be explored further. \"In general, optimizing non-pharmacological treatment would be a really important step,\" he says. He explains that it is essential to follow SSRI-exposed babies as they grow up, to identify any problems and intervene as necessary. However, he and Lund agree that it's still unclear whether the differences seen at birth will have lasting effects on a child's development and health. Health.com: 6 Rules for a healthy postpartum slim-down . \"As depression itself can influence birth outcome in a negative direction, treatment is warranted in some cases based on the existing body of evidence,\" Lund says. \"In cases with mild or moderate symptoms, psychotherapy can be used as an alternative treatment. In severe cases and in patients with a history of recurrent, severe depression, continuation or initiation of treatment might be the best option. \"Every single case should be considered individually, and the decision should be made by the woman and her ob-gyn and psychiatrist,\" she says. Health.com: Why you cannot wait to treat postpartum depression . Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright Health Magazine 2009 ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Danish study finds babies whose mothers took antidepressants were born earlier .\nBabies of mothers who took SSRIs were 2.4 times likely to be in intensive care .\nIt's unclear whether differences seen at birth will have lasting effects on child ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The drinking water in the area of last month's coal-sludge spill in eastern Tennessee is safe, but elevated levels of arsenic have been found in the sludge, authorities said. Properties near ground zero of the December 22 Tennessee spill are covered in sludge. A billion gallons of the sludge, made up of water and fly ash from a coal-burning Tennessee Valley Authority steam plant in Kingston, Tennessee, swamped 300 acres of mostly private property when a dike on a retention pond collapsed December 22. All residents in the area were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, according to the TVA. About a dozen other homes were damaged. Preliminary results from water samples taken in the spill area show no unsafe levels of toxins, said Leslie Sims, on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency. The testing includes municipal supplies and private wells, he said. Kingston Mayor Troy Beets said he let his grandchildren drink and bathe in city water at his house over the holidays and didn't worry about it. At a Friday news conference, he drank a cup of water he said was straight from the tap in his home. View a map of where the spill occured » . \"I'm gonna be fine,\" he quipped. However, samples of the fly ash scooped up along roadsides and river banks show elevated levels of arsenic that normally would trigger an EPA response, Sims said. \"These are levels that we consider harmful to humans,\" he said. But the EPA is not responding because the TVA is taking action to fix the problem, he added. Arsenic is a natural element found in soil and minerals, but exposure to it can cause sickness, the National Institutes of Health says. Learn more about arsenic » . The arsenic is in the sludge but not in the air in significant amounts, said Alan Nye, a scientist with the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, a private scientific consulting company based in Arkansas. \"The bottom line is that the air quality is very good and continues to be so,\" Nye said. That's not good enough for Suzanne Solomon, who rents a home about 2½ miles downwind from the spill zone. She and her family are moving somewhere they feel will be safe from fly ash that might blow around once it dries. \"We have a 2-year-old daughter whose health is not worth the risk, even if it is a minuscule risk,\" she said. \"I am an opera singer with mild asthma [and] I do not wish to expose [my lungs] to any dust which might become airborne. ... I do not see any way that they can keep all of this out of the air.\" Rather than try to gather up all the spilled ash, the TVA plans to lock it in place by planting seeds and covering it with mulch, said Bob Summers, the TVA's operations section chief. \"We're hearing all kinds of stories,\" said Tom Vereb, whose formerly picturesque lakefront property is now caked in deep, swirling layers of gray muck and debris. \"We're hearing everything from 'This is perfectly fine to be around,' to 'Get away, as far as you can, from it.' So we really don't know what the right answer is there. We're not going to get panicked about it.\" Howie Rose, director of the Roane County Emergency Management Agency, said the city of Kingston, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, has asked the EPA for long-term environmental monitoring, \"and we've got a commitment for that.\" The TVA also is rebuilding the dike, as well as the roads and railroad tracks that were heavily damaged by the rushing sludge. \"It's 40 feet deep of sludge in the middle of a channel, and they're talking about four to six weeks of cleanup,\" said Travis Cantrell, another local resident. \"That'd be a stretch.\" Whether the plant will continue to store its fly ash -- a byproduct of coal-burning -- in ponds will have to be evaluated, said Tim Hope, the TVA's incident commander. \"I would imagine that things would be done differently,\" Hope said. CNN's Brooke Baldwin, Taylor Gandossy and Mike Phelan contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "EPA says water safe, but arsenic at levels \"considered harmful to humans\"\nFamily moving to avoid potential risk to toddler from arsenic .\nMayor chugs cup of water, says, \"I'm gonna be fine\"\nBillion gallons of fly-ash sludge from TVA coal plant spilled December 22 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Paris, France (CNN) -- French investigators said they are looking into problems encountered by an Air France jet last month in nearly the same spot over the Atlantic where another Air France jet mysteriously crashed in June. Air France flight 445 was flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France, the night of Nov. 29 when it encountered the problems, the French accident investigation agency, BEA, said in a news release this week. It is the same route taken by Air France flight 447 when it went down in the Atlantic Ocean in stormy weather June 1, killing all 228 people aboard. The investigation agency has not established the cause of the crash, and large parts of the plane -- including both flight recorders -- have never been found. \"The analysis of what happened could lead to complementary explanations about the accident of flight AF 447,\" the investigation agency said. Flight 445 encountered \"severe turbulence\" about four hours after takeoff on Nov. 29, forcing the pilots to descend, Air France said in a statement after the flight. The crew sent out an emergency radio message to indicate it had left its flight level, Air France said. The flight, with 215 people aboard, \"continued normally\" after half an hour of moderate to severe turbulence, the airline said. Air France declined to comment on the investigation agency's statement this week. The BEA said the November flight was an Airbus A330-203, the same model involved in the June crash, but Air France said the November incident involved an Airbus A330-200. While French authorities have not yet determined what caused the June crash, tests have brought into question the performance of pitot tubes, which are used to measure the pressure exerted on the plane as it flies through the air, and are part of a system used to determine air speed. Flight 447 sent out 24 automated error messages before it crashed that suggested the plane may have been flying too fast or too slow through the thunderstorms, officials have said. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a directive in late August requiring airlines to replace pitot tubes manufactured by Thales Avionics on Airbus A330s and A340s. It said airlines should replace them with other Thales tubes and those manufactured by Goodrich. -- CNN's Luc Lacroix contributed to this report ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Air France jet encountered problems near where Airbus jet crashed earlier this year .\nFlight 445 encountered \"severe turbulence\" about 4 hours after takeoff on Nov. 29 .\nFlight 447 went down in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, killing 228 people ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Italy's Valentino Rossi gave his bid to seal a seventh Moto GP world title at the Malaysian Grand Prix a boost after qualifying for the race in pole position. The defending champion set a name lap-record time of 2 minutes 00.518 seconds despite sweltering conditions on Saturday. The time smashed Casey Stoner's 2007 lap record of 2 minutes 02.108 seconds. The Yamaha rider celebrated his seventh pole of the season by pulling a wheelie as he drove into the pit lane at the Sepang circuit. The 5.5-kilometer track that is situated south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, is a notoriously tought test for rider and machine alike with its combination of tight corners, long straights and tough high-speed bends. The 30-year-old currently leads the world championship by 38 points, a position that means a top-four finish at Sepang would seal the title on Sunday. Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo qualified in second place, just 0.569sec behind -- a result that prompted Rossi to pay tribute to the hard work of his team. \"The team worked well, the bike performed well, hence I was able to go faster. \"Starting from pole is important since the (first) corner is far away,\" he added. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Honda) was 0.736sec behind Rossi while Australian Stoner was fourth at 0.937sec. Ducati rider Stoner, who finished ahead of Rossi in last weekend's Australian Grand Prix to take the win, is third in the world championship standings, with Pedrosa fourth on a Honda." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Italy's Valentino Rossi qualifies in pole position for the Malaysian Moto GP .\nThe 30-year-old's fastest time smashed the lap record at the Sepang circuit .\nRossi currently leads the world championship by 38 points with two races left .\nThe defending champion can clinch his seventh title with a top-four finish ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- \"For architects, perfection is necessary,\" said Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. \"It is my mission to use the kindness and delicateness that old architecture had. I believe that this mission is not easy to complete. So I am planning to work until I fall down.\" With nearly 60 projects on the go across the world, Kuma's search for perfection is all consuming; he rarely takes a day off from work and sometimes even finished projects are analyzed and amended. The 55-year-old from Tokyo has become synonymous with delicate simplicity and sensitivity to a building's surrounding. From the Great (Bamboo) Wall House located near the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing to the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo, Kuma has employed natural materials that complement a building's location to great acclaim. View the gallery of Kuma's spectacular buildings . \"I try to catch the atmosphere of the place where we build the house. We try to find out how the people live there and what kind of materials they use. After we find out the atmosphere of the place, we will think how we can relate that with the architecture.\" Using mostly glass and Chinese bamboo to make the house by the Great Wall, it comfortably blended into the natural surroundings, but the Suntory Museum of Art, completed in 2007 presented different challenges. \"Usually, a building in a massive developed area tends to be a sad building. However, I wanted to make a building which is warm and could feel a human's touch. To make that ideal building, I used natural material such as Japanese paper and paulownia [wood]. I wanted to take back the human element even if the building was inside the city.\" Much of modern architecture is often unfairly portrayed as lacking that human element, but Kuma's focus on retrieving and remaining Japanese traditions in architecture has gone some way to dispel that myth. It is a far cry from his initial architectural fascination with concrete, in part inspired by the Olympic stadium designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Games in Tokyo. \"I learned that architecture can impress people. If the Olympics were not held in Tokyo, I might not have become an architect,\" he told CNN. If Tange's buildings for the Olympics were responsible for sparking Kuma's imagination, he's followed a different path in his career. After earning a master's degree in architecture from The University of Tokyo in 1979 and further study at Columbia University in New York, he returned to Japan in 1986 -- a boom time for architects. \"People who were only about 30-years-old could design a building. It was an era of post-modernism and a lot of young people were making outstanding buildings during that time.\" But the economic recession hit Japan in 1992 and it had a profound impact on Kuma's life and changed his attitude to architecture. \"I didn't have a job in Tokyo for 10 years. I was designing small buildings in the countryside. I worked with a craftsman and studied how to use natural materials in those 10 years. From this experience, I learned the great aspects of Japanese traditional architecture. I started to design traditional Japanese architecture and foreign people took notice of the design,\" he said. \"I think the cities of Japan are a bit damaged by the concrete buildings,\" Kuma added. \"Because of the sub-prime issue and now another economic crisis, I feel this is again a good opportunity for architects to design buildings slowly.\" In focusing taking a more holistic approach to his craft, Kuma has promoted the humanizing elements of architecture and its ability of improve people's lives. It's an approach that he has likened to making sushi. \"There are two important things to make sushi. One is the material and the other is the skill... For sushi, both the power of the material and skill is important and their balance is very important. \"I believe that this balance is what people want,\" Kuma continued. \"People and society are seeking the thing like sushi for the architecture and their city. A variety of people are interested in Japanese architecture and traditions and this is parallel to why sushi is popular in Western country.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Japanese architect has popularized sensitive Japanese traditions in buildings .\nHas works across the world including museums and private residences .\n\"Architecture is like sushi: balance of material and skill is very important\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A parade of world leaders took the lectern at the United Nations on Wednesday. But days before the speeches on a host of issues, the global body quietly undertook an issue that often flies under the radar: Women. The United Nations consolidated four agencies that tackle women's issues and created a new super agency. Last week, the United Nations consolidated four agencies that tackle women's issues and created a new super agency. Humanitarian workers around the world embraced the move. It was about time, they said, that the world got serious about how half its population lives. The 1945 charter on which the United Nations was founded mandates equal rights for men and women. Since then, the United Nations has added new agencies that focus specifically on children, the environment, refugees, health, education, atomic energy and Palestinians. All report directly to the secretary general, except the agencies pertaining to women. Women's advocates said the agencies were run by lower-ranking officials and lacked clout. In 2006, a high-level panel on U.N. reform described the women's agencies as \"incoherent, under-resourced and fragmented.\" It recommended that the United Nations create a dynamic agency focused on gender equality and women's empowerment. And last year, a coalition of 300 private development agencies launched the European Campaign for Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR), which pressured the United Nations to create a single organization to address what it described as consistent neglect of women's needs. Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World, said a double standard persists, despite the image of the United Nations as a strong women's advocacy machine. The only thing the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has in common with the well-known U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) is a similar sounding name, Donovan said. UNIFEM had neither the high-level U.N. staff nor the money of UNICEF, said Donovan, who worked at UNICEF for 15 years. She said UNIFEM's entire global budget equaled the budget of the UNICEF operation in Ethiopia. Donovan hopes the new agency will \"lift the ideals that are worded so eloquently in U.N. declarations and resolutions off of the inert pages they're written on and plant them in real women's lives.\" \"Women who have been leading and achieving for decades without the help of the U.N. system will now enjoy the strengths and benefits that the U.N. can offer,\" she said. Development agencies shared high expectations for the new agency's promotion of women's rights in a world where a disproportionate number of the suffering and persecuted are female. \"This is a great move,\" said Helene Gayle, president of CARE, an international humanitarian agency that focuses on empowering women and girls in developing nations. \"Now, what's needed are resources, a clear mandate and strong leadership,\" she said. \"But I think what we're looking for most is the accountability to make sure gender is integrated into all U.N. strategies. It's up to member states to move quickly, get this new agency off on the right foot and turn the plan into reality.\" Ahead of this week's U.N. meetings, UNIFEM issued a report on the progress of women's rights, part of a set of development goals that global agencies have committed to achieving by 2015. \"Implementation still has a long way to go in translating commitments to women's rights into changes in women's lives,\" UNIFEM said. Roughly 60 percent of the world's population living in poverty are women and girls. According to UNIFEM: . • Women are outnumbered four to one in legislatures around the world. • Over 60 percent of all unpaid family workers globally are women, and women still earn on average 17 percent less than men. • About one-third of women still suffer gender-based violence during their lives. • In some parts of the world, one in 10 women dies from pregnancy-related causes even though the means for preventing maternal mortality are cost-effective and well-known. \"Gender gaps on this scale are symptomatic of an accountability crisis,\" UNIFEM said. \"Governments and multilateral organizations have a responsibility to do a better job of answering to women.\" Last week, the General Assembly voted to merge UNIFEM and three other U.N. women's agencies to better address glaring gender inequities. In Kenya, for example, the Parliament adopted a new sexual offense bill that hands a minimum 10-year-sentence to a man who is convicted of rape. If he is acquitted, his accuser goes to jail for 10 years. The bill was adopted two years ago over the objections of women lawmakers. Donovan cited the Kenyan law as an example of the uphill climb women face in developing nations. She said AIDS-Free World and other non-governmental organizations are urging the United Nations to fund the new women's agency with an initial $1 billion budget. Advocates would also like to see a presence of the agency in every developing nation, she said. HIV/AIDS agencies especially welcomed the news. \"This is a historic opportunity to advance the rights of women and girls,\" said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the U.N. agency on HIV/AIDS. He noted that 60 percent of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. Some aid agencies say that number is as high as 75 percent. Donovan said the new agency has the potential to change the way the United Nations functions in everything it does, as every institution -- whether it's a courtroom or classroom, a political party or a pub, a gymnasium or a country club -- opens its doors to women. And treats them differently, once they step inside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "United Nations consolidates agencies, creates group focused on women's issues .\nWomen's advocates say previous agencies lacked clout .\nRoughly 60 percent of the world's population living in poverty are women and girls ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Danyel Smith is the chief content officer of Vibe Media Group and the editor-in-chief of Vibe. Danyel Smith says Michael Jackson sacrificed himself in the name of his art. (CNN) -- It falls to me to prepare a statement on behalf of Vibe magazine when someone is promoted, when there is trouble, or when something major happens in the world of pop. It occasionally falls to me to write an obituary or a tribute when an entertainer dies. It's a part of my job. One has to do it quickly, and I've never been prepared. Yet I've been prepping for this one my whole life. Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. The sorrow at his passing is palpable, and wet, and illogical -- in my 20 years of being a critic and an editor, I've never met him. But this is a death in the family. I've known Jackson's work since I was 5 years old and was given The Jackson 5's \"ABC\" as a gift. He was on the surface the most uncomplicated of all boys -- beautiful, emotional, untouchable, ours. Michael has bruised my heart many times -- his antics and the accusations, his seeming desire not to be, at least physically, who he'd been. Which is who I am. But as his funeral is prepared, I, like the Jackson brothers sang with optimistic melancholy in 1976, think about the good times. There is no moonwalk down memory lane about Michael. The legends mix in with the rumors mix in with the ice-cold facts of 1960s black working-class Gary, Indiana. That mixes in with girls fainting at the sight of him when he was barely a teenager; which mixes with the many sold-out tours, and with Michael collaborating with Quincy Jones on 1979's \"Off the Wall\" and 1982's \"Thriller.\" There is the alleged abuse inflicted on Jackson and his brothers by his father, Joe, along with the strong love and late rivalry with his superstar sister, Janet. There is the magic and melodrama of Motown. The accusation of child abuse (no charge; he agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit against him in 1994), and the 2005 trial in which Jackson was acquitted of child molestation and other heinous charges. There is the drastic change of his skin color, the radical narrowing of his nose, the short marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter, the friendship with Emmanuel Lewis, the 13 Grammys, the 13 No. 1 singles, the two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the haunting, otherworldly performance at Motown's 25th Anniversary special. The way he integrated MTV in 1983 with \"Billie Jean,\" the \"We Are the World\" extravaganzas, the face masks, the oxygen tanks, the Neverland Ranch -- all that mixes in with everything from \"Stop the Love You Save\" to \"Dancing Machine,\" \"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',\" \"P.Y.T.,\" \"Man in The Mirror,\" adding up to the more than 750 million albums sold worldwide... I mean. And this is not the half, the tenth, the thousandth of what he was. It comes down to the fact that Michael Jackson gave. Whether he chose to or did it because it was all he knew, he sacrificed himself in the name of his art. Jackson gave almost his entire life on this planet to singing, to dancing, to recording, to performing. He practiced, he watched James Brown and Jackie Wilson and Diana Ross and he watched his brothers. He bent, when he had to, to the will of those who could have done better by him. He was knowing enough about who he was to pretty much demand we all call him The King of Pop, but it was the public shyness, the nerdiness of Michael Jackson that endeared. The whispery voice juxtaposed with the explosive grace he demonstrated on stage and on record. The tenderness, especially of his childhood work, and of \"Off the Wall,\" that seduced, and that inspired loyalty. He made me a believer. He made millions believe. I saw The Jacksons in 1981 in Los Angeles on the Triumph tour, sat in the nosebleeds and was living a dream. It was ecstasy, for what I know of it -- unadulterated joy at witnessing. I saw The Jackson 5 live in 1972 at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. My mother got tickets for herself, my sister and me for my 7th birthday. What moves a heart? What makes a fan? I deserted my family and dashed toward the revolving stage. I told people until I was in my teens that Michael Jackson touched my hand. I know he didn't. I never got close, I was 7 and my mother grabbed me back. I know he didn't touch me, but he did touch me. I swear he did. Is it as simple as saying that an era has closed, that part of our childhood and teen years has died with him, that we have to face true adulthood with its Adult Contemporary radio formats, logical love, and guided tours through Neverland? Is the world grieving Michael Jackson, or mourning for a time when such earnest fandom was possible? Michael was truly something rare, the last of an endangered species. That he is the best entertainer who ever lived I will argue for life, and I come from an Elvis Presley and Motown household. iReport.com: Share your favorite memory of Jackson . In his absolute prime (1974-1986) there was no holding back. There was no cool. Michael Jackson had a sense of humor, but there was little he did, as a performer, with a wink or a nod to himself at our expense. He sometimes got tired of singing \"ABC,\" and the ditties of his (and my) childhood, but he was working. We could see it. It's a dying art. We took and take pride in it. For a time, with the white gloves and flooding pants and loafers and odd military jackets, we emulated it. He gave himself to the world. And Michael Jackson left nothing but blood on the dance floor. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Danyel Smith." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Danyel Smith: Michael Jackson made millions believe .\nShe says he gave almost all of his life to entertaining others .\nSmith: He sacrificed and left nothing but blood on the dance floor .\nSmith believes Jackson was the best entertainer who ever lived ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- As I raised my hands toward the ceiling and then pointed them toward my head, I had to wonder: How would the 19th-century Russian writer Nikolai Gogol feel if he knew that a bunch of foreigners were dancing the YMCA at a nightclub named after him? The iconic St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square takes on a brighter, more colorful look at night. Gogol the man is considered the father of modern Russian realism, with works such as \"Dead Souls.\" Gogol the cafe-club is considered a favorite hangout for Russians and expatriates alike, perfect for meals, coffee, fruity cocktails and music 'til everyone clears out around 2:30 a.m., when Moscow's \"real\" nightclubs heat up. Since the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Russia's capital city has progressed in many ways, breaking free of old social structures while struggling to maintain its cultural heritage. The city has preserved a lot of its old beauty, boasting monuments such as St. Basil's Cathedral and gorgeous landscapes such as Tsaritsino Park. At the same time, there are Internet cafes and 24-hour bookstores, and you'd be hard-pressed to meet someone who doesn't carry a cell phone. But, as an American studying abroad at Moscow State University, I sometimes felt perplexed in this immense modern metropolis that still makes certain familiar conveniences inconvenient. In Moscow, kiosks for adding money to your cell phone seem far more common than ATMs. Even nice restaurants with $40-minimum meals -- for example, the best beef stroganoff and fried cheese balls of your life -- accept only cash, no cards. After two weeks, I never figured out where to buy a nail clipper -- but I did see Vladimir Lenin's body, perfectly preserved since 1924. View more photos of Moscow » . At the university, I had to present a special ID card to one set of guards at the entrance, a dorm pass to another crew, and then confront a third layer of hallway-based security before arriving at my room. I also needed written approval from my floor's \"administrator\" to take luggage out of the building. Then, there's money. Moscow, or \"Moskva\" in Russian, holds the distinction of the world's most expensive city, according to Mercer's 2008 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. Be prepared for fees from your bank and the Russian bank whenever you use an ATM. Try to stay away from touristy restaurants for meals, and do your souvenir shopping at Izmailovsky Market (Metro: Izmailovsky Park) instead of in stores. The expatriates I encountered all echoed the sentiment that Moscow is a city of constant stress. Maybe that's why I will always love most the Moscow I experienced at night. The monuments that look mildly impressive by day suddenly come to life with light against the onyx sky. You can look out over Sparrow Hills and see the endless glittering skyline, or settle down somewhere like Gogol (Metro: Tverskaya) for vodka-enhanced beverages and music from around the world. And, as long as you know \"Mozhna?\" (\"May I?\") and \"Spasiba\" (\"Thank you),\" it matters less that few people speak substantial English. Café Bilingua (Metro: Chistye Prudy) is another cozy place to mingle with locals and ex-pats for hours on end -- you can have your coffee in the tiny two-story book shop, or take it up to the restaurant and performance section. Another bar I liked is Etage (Metro: Pushkinskaya), right off Pushkin's Square near a large neon-light sculpture of flowers (how would the great poet feel about that?). Nightclubs dedicated to too-many-people-to-move dance floors don't start up until well after midnight. Propaganda (Metro: Lubyanka), conveniently located near the headquarters of the KGB, spins all kinds of dance music -- go on a Thursday evening for a less crowded experience. Then there's The Real McCoy (Metro: Barrikadnaya), so packed with people that merely crossing the room to stand in the bathroom line requires bumping bodies to the beat. At first we couldn't even get in because the bouncer shook his head at my Swiss friend. But, as always, it's all about who you know -- my Spanish friend's Spanish friend had VIP status, so we went as his entourage to an upscale restaurant-like room in the back. Part of my Moscow nightlife adventures included riding on an overnight train. For my trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow, I had been told at every ticket office that only seats were available. But upon boarding at midnight, I asked a crew member if I could have a bed. Five minutes and $80 later, the fleshy man who took my ticket had locked me into a less-than-closet-sized space with him. I prepared to claw at the door with my untrimmed nails and scream. \"Close,\" he said. Then he unlocked it to demonstrate \"open.\" He stepped out, gave me a stiff wave, and said, \"See you in Moskva.\" I sighed and fell asleep on the child-sized mattress. Among the plethora of Moscow's unspoken rules: Do not talk in the elevators or hallways of your student dorm. Accustomed to the silence, one night I was surprised to hear the glorious sound of a Frédéric Chopin nocturne coming from behind a security guard's desk. \"Mozhna?\" I asked, pointing to the door his chair blocked. He just shrugged, so I quietly ducked behind him and pulled the handle. Behold, a secret two-story ballroom with tables and chairs and an upright piano in the corner, and a Russian student who abruptly lifted his hands from the piano keys when I sat down. We took turns playing (thus, my failed-love song \"Sad Panda\" debuted on a new continent) and, in broken but passionate English, he told me how he wished he could sound like the Russian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz, and said he often comes with his friend to play around 9 p.m. As if it were the end of a great Russian novel, I never heard music in that hallway again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The preserved body of Vladimir Lenin is on display in Moscow's Red Square .\nMoscow has been named the world's most expensive city .\nIzmailovsky Market has the best souvenir shopping at reasonable prices .\niReport.com: Show us your travel snapshots ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A Florida man is using billboards with an image of the burning World Trade Center to encourage votes for a Republican presidential candidate, drawing criticism for politicizing the 9/11 attacks. Businessman Mike Meehan says he has put up three billboards such as this one around Orlando, Florida. \"Please Don't Vote for a Democrat\" reads the type over the picture of the twin towers after hijacked airliners hit them on September, 11, 2001. Mike Meehan, a St. Cloud, Florida, businessman who paid to post the billboards in the Orlando area, said former President Clinton should have put a stop to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda before 9/11. He said a Republican president would have done so. \"I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we'd had a Republican president at the time,\" Meehan said Wednesday on CNN's \"American Morning.\" But Democrats and Republicans are saying Meehan shouldn't be using a 9/11 image to make a political point. \"This is a blatant exploitation of that terrible tragedy for political and, perhaps even worse, personal gain,\" Bill Robinson, the Orange County, Florida, Democratic Party chairman told CNN affiliate WFTV-TV in Orlando. The local Republican Party called the billboard \"inappropriate,\" according to WFTV. \"There are many ways to convey the importance of national security in this election without going to extremes, and we encourage a constructive dialogue,\" the Florida Republican Party said in a statement Tuesday. According to Meehan, President Bush has done \"an excellent job ... going after these terrorists.\" Watch Meehan's take on terrorism and the election » . \"You got to remember all the ... people that George Bush did catch and how much success he did have. And we haven't had an attack on this soil since 9/11,\" Meehan said. \"Unlike Bill Clinton, who actually had bin Laden right in his hand and through the CIA and other high officials decide to get him go,\" Meehan said. In a 2006 interview with \"Fox News Sunday,\" Clinton said he authorized the killing of bin Laden in 2000 after the attack on the Navy warship USS Cole in Yemen, but the order was never carried out because U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies refused to certify that bin Laden was behind the Cole attack. \"I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since,\" Clinton said in the 2006 interview. Meehan also is using the billboard to promote his Web site, the republicansong.com, where he's trying to sell copies of his song, \"Please Don't Vote for a Democrat.\" The song goes beyond the national security issue, ripping Democrats on taxation and energy issues, too. \"They want to take the money from the hard workin' man, and give it to the lazy folks that don't give a damn,\" Meehan sings. Another verse takes on the oil issue. \"We're not fightin' for oil, we got plenty if we drill it,\" he sings. The song's not a moneymaker, he said, just an effort to recoup some of what he's invested in the billboards. A copy of the song on CD cost $5 on the Web site, and the site points out that Meehan can be hired to perform at a \"concert, party, meeting or event.\" \"I'm willing to pay the cost for the fact that our soldiers that have died protecting this country have paid a heck of a lot more than what these billboards cost,\" Meehan told \"American Morning.\" Florida resident Mary Anderson told WFTV she doesn't see politics when she's looking at the billboard. \"Just looking at it, I'm not thinking about Democrat or Republican, I'm thinking about the twin towers and all the people killed,\" she told WFTV." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Billboards use image from 9/11 to encourage GOP votes .\n9/11 image wrong for ad, say Florida political parties .\nFloridian praises President Bush, says ex-President Clinton failed to stop al Qaeda ." } ]

[ { "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) -- Brenda Gardenhire shows off her new home with pride. It looks like an oversized shopping cart covered with a khaki canvas. But to her, it's \"wonderful\" -- a stepping stone to get her off the streets and get her life back in order. Brenda Gardenhire was homeless over the last year, until she got her EDAR unit. \"It's like your own home, your own apartment, your own room,\" she said, showing off the 7-foot-long living space on wheels. \"No one else can come in here but me.\" Gardenhire is talking about her makeshift home called an EDAR, which stands for Everyone Deserves A Roof. The units are being distributed to homeless people in the Los Angeles area by the Everyone Deserves A Roof nonprofit organization. It's the brainchild of \"Revenge of the Nerds\" movie producer Peter Samuelson, who has spent much of his life working with charities to help impoverished children. He got the idea to help the homeless in recent years as he rode his bicycle from Los Angeles to the beach at Santa Monica. Watch a canvas-covered 'home' for the homeless » . On those bike rides, he began seeing more and more homeless people. But he didn't just whiz by. He stopped to talk with them -- 62 people in all. One by one, he listened to their needs and what they wanted most: a roof over their heads. And the idea for the EDAR was born. iReport.com: Homeless in pink tents . \"If you had to define the value of a civilization, it's not how many SUVs you've got,\" Samuelson said. \"To me, I think it's how well do we take care of our children, our homeless people, our mentally ill, those less fortunate.\" He partnered with the Pasadena Art Center College of Design for a design contest and the current contraption was created. Each unit costs about $500 to make. The four-wheeled home has an expandable base that stays off the ground and is covered by a canvas, giving it the feel of a tent. It extends 86 inches and is 32 inches wide, thin enough to fit through standard doorways. Each unit has a mattress and sleeping bag to provide comfort. It's also flame-retardant and sturdy enough to keep its occupants dry during heavy rains. A braking mechanism prevents the unit from rolling away at night. They also come with a chain and padlock to prevent it from being stolen. Samuelson said he initially wanted to build more permanent shelters for all of the homeless people in the Los Angeles area. \"But when you do the math, you're looking at $3 billion to get 60,000 people off the damp concrete, and that's just in L.A.,\" he said, explaining why he opted for the cheaper EDAR instead of permanent shelters. He said the EDAR isn't a perfect solution, but it's a good, economical stopgap. \"This is $500 to get a man or a woman or a child off the damp concrete,\" he said. \"I don't think it's the best. ... But for now, I think a little bit of privacy -- not being rained on, not sleeping on the ground, not getting pneumonia from the damp -- has a little bit of value.\" Jose Font, 50, agrees. He got an EDAR late last year. He said he's been homeless off and on since 1979. He slept on a tarp with a blanket and worked on computer repairs before he became one of about 60 people to get an EDAR. \"Everybody calls it the hobo condo. Everybody envies me because I sleep on a mattress inside,\" he said. \"It makes me feel like I've got something to come to. It feels more like a home than just a tarp and concrete.\" He added, \"It's light as a feather when I push it. I can put it anywhere.\" Font keeps it locked to a telephone on public property when he's away. James Ramirez, a social worker with the Venice Community Housing Corporation, said he has been able to use the EDAR as incentive to get people's lives back on track. \"What we're doing is using the EDAR as a carrot for them to come in to see us,\" Ramirez said. \"They want the EDAR because they want to keep dry when it's raining and they want a place to stay at night that's comfortable. So we're using this to connect with them.\" \"For us, it's working really well,\" he said. \"This is their home. This is what they're proud of at this moment. ... It means a step in the right direction to get back into society.\" The EDAR organization says it's starting with baby steps. In addition to the 60 units already given out, another 110 units have been ordered. The units are distributed to shelters, churches and other organizations that help the homeless. Those groups then distribute the units. The EDAR group tries to stay in phone contact with its users every week or two. EDAR.org: How you can help . EDAR currently has about 30 people on a waiting list, plus another 10 shelters in the Los Angeles area. The organization is also looking at land provided by a local authority where they could let women and families stay on a site that also has functioning bathrooms. EDAR has fielded dozens more calls from across the country and around the world about the units. Samuelson said they're \"studying what works best\" and looking at an array of options. \"People talk about the homeless as if it's some homogeneous group of drunken, unemployed, too-lazy-to-get-a-job men. They're totally wrong. They need to come meet people,\" he said. \"What's the point in having a society if it's devoid of helping people less fortunate?\" He added, \"As we raise money, we will get people off the concrete.\" For Brenda Gardenhire, that means the world. \"It's a step up to you. It's like you're making progress,\" she said. \"Now, I have me a little place to stay. I'm moving up.\" CNN's Traci Tamura and Gregg Canes contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A Los Angeles-based charity has begun distributing makeshift tents .\nCharity was brainchild of \"Revenge of the Nerds\" movie producer Peter Samuelson .\n\"This is $500 to get a man or a woman or a child off the damp concrete,\" he says .\nHomeless man: \"Everybody calls it the hobo condo\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- That's right, I said it. And I mean it. Roland Martin says the GOP is missing its chance to win black voters. The GOP as a whole is completely scared of black voters, and the actions by the front-runners for the party's 2008 nomination show they are continuing the same silly political games the party has played for years. Oh, don't bother tossing out the appointments of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state by Bush. Yes, they are African-American. But I'm speaking of the party. Ever since Richard Nixon ran for the White House, the GOP has run on a \"Southern Strategy,\" meant to alienate blacks in an effort to garner white voters. They've worked the strategy to perfection. When he was head of the Republican National Committee, Ken Mehlman apologized for that strategy as he sought to make inroads among black voters. Republicans will tell you they are the party of Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but their outreach efforts to black voters are lacking. Oh, yes, I know. Democrats have a stranglehold on the black vote, receiving upward of 90 percent in national elections. A significant part of that is a result of the party seeing blacks as the backbone of the party. But the reality is that when you have only one party that truly makes a play for those voters, of course you will see such disparities! That's why it's dumb, dumb, and dumber for the leading GOP candidates to skip Thursday's debate hosted by Tavis Smiley and airing on PBS. Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain have all cited \"scheduling conflicts\" as the reason for their lack of attendance to debate at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, even though Smiley personnel tell me they began discussions with then-RNC head Mehlman in February 2006. When the debate was announced earlier this year, along with a Democratic forum held in June at Howard University, the RNC promised their candidates would speak. But those of us who follow politics knew that wasn't going to happen. This summer, all of the Republican candidates, save Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, skipped the NAACP and the National Urban League conventions. OK, I get the former, but the Urban League? President Bush has spoken there several times as president! The GOP keeps blowing a big opportunity by ignoring blacks. And what about the debate sponsored by Spanish language TV station Univision? Only McCain accepted the invite. Today's generation of blacks and Latinos shouldn't be seen as the same as their parents. An increasing number of people are refusing to identify themselves with a party, and looking at issues. Latinos have been a huge part of the Republican outreach, but the immigration debate is turning that in a different direction. Why should the GOP talk to black voters, and what would they talk about? First, I can tell you that immigration is huge in the black community, and gets folks riled up in a hurry (you ought to see my talk show lines when this comes up). Education and health care are also major. And every GOP debate has been about faith in the public square, and we know that plays well with black voters. Now, when it comes to the war in Iraq, the GOP can forget that tune. No one is listening. And they are completely uneven on the issue of civil rights. Here is an example that further explains the GOP's stupidity on this topic. Several years ago, a Republican in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was trying to unseat then-Rep. Martin Frost, a heavily entrenched Democrat. That summer, a series of black churches were being burned. My good friend, Michael Williams, a third-generation black Republican, was planning to hold a fundraiser at his home for the GOP candidate. He called the campaign and said it would be a good idea for the candidate to make a statement on the burnings, condemning them and saying it didn't make sense. The campaign said no. Williams called back and made the suggestion again, and the response was they didn't want to seem as if they were pandering to the black community. He laughed at that because the campaign was bringing then-Rep. J.C. Watts, a prominent black Republican, to visit black churches with the candidate. Hello! That's pandering. So Williams told his wife, Donna, what the candidate said. She replied, \"Any man who is such a coward that he can't speak against churches being burned is not welcome in my home.\" The fundraiser was called off. Here was a simple opportunity to actually show that he cared, but the candidate was so scared to say something, he turned off a campaign donor. Will speaking at one debate turn around decades of black support for the Democrats? Nope. But not speaking will just mean business as usual, and the GOP needs less of that. Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning, multifaceted journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian Communications at Louisiana Baptist University, and is the author of \"Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith.\" You can read more of his columns at www.rolandsmartin.com . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Martin: Republican outreach efforts to black voters are lacking .\nMartin: Democrats win the black vote because they try for it .\nMartin: GOP could appeal to blacks on immigration, education, health care ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- China's space program has really taken off in the last six years. Back to Earth: Yang Liwei faces the cameras on returning to Earth in 2003. In 2003 Yang Liwei became a national hero when he became the first Chinese man in space, followed five years later by Zhai Zhigang who became the first \"taikonaut\" to make a spacewalk. \"The moment I stepped out of the hatch and entered space, the sensation of completely becoming one with space was a feeling I had never felt before on Earth,\" Zhai told CNN. \"I deliberately looked into outer space, looking past my toes and deep into outer space. The differing brightness and distances of the celestial bodies really brought out the deepness of outer space. The vast , boundless expanse of outer space stirred my soul.\" View the photo gallery to learn more about the history of China's space program. From out of this world moments to their place in Chinese history, these two pioneering spacemen tell CNN's John Vause about their missions, how they had prepared for the worst should things go wrong and if China and other nations with the moon in their sights are creating a new international space race." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Chinese \"taikonauts\" Yang Liwei and Zhai Zhigang talk to CNN .\nFirst Chinese man in space and first Chinese to conduct a spacewalk, respectively .\nTalk about their historic moments to international space race ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The drama of the action in-and-around the golf course has enraptured fans of the game through the generations and around the world. But the same drama that pulls in the crowds has also provided rich material for filmmakers too. Stars of the screen including Dean Martin, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy have all starred in club-themed movies, as have more contemporary celebrities like Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Will Smith. Though the stories committed to celluloid vary in their approach - from The Stooges comedic farce entitled \"Three Little Beers,\" to the Ben Hogan biopic \"Follow the Sun,\" - the central attraction of golf remains at all the film's core. Here is CNN's best ten golf movies ever made - do you agree with our selection? If there is another film you feel should be included then add your comments to the Sound Off below." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The drama and comedy of golf has provided great material for film makers .\nFunny films Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore lead the list .\nDean Martin, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn all starred down the years .\nSOUND OFF - Do you agree with the ten movies CNN has picked?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Archaeologists in Israel have discovered what they believe is the bust of a Roman boxer from the second or third century. The figurine is small -- about 6 centimeters high by 4 centimeters wide -- but very detailed, archaeologists say. \"It seems that what we have here is a unique find,\" the two directors of the excavation said in a statement released Monday by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The figurine, made of marble, comes from a time when \"the art of Roman sculpture reached its zenith,\" Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets said. It's tiny -- only about 6 centimeters high by 4 centimeters wide, Ben-Ami told CNN. \"That's why it is so impressive. It's so small, but still you can see every little detail on the marble,\" he said. The archaeologists believe a merchant family from the eastern part of the Roman Empire most likely passed down the \"precious object\" through the generations until the fourth or fifth century, when an unfortunate family member had it with him at a public building, perhaps a hostel -- and an earthquake struck. A team has been digging up the building in the City of David, part of Jerusalem. The object is part of the \"silent testimony of the drama that occurred in this impressive structure prior to its collapse,\" the Israel Antiquities Authority said. The \"short hair style, the prominent lobes and curves of the ears, as well as the almond-shaped eyes suggest that the object most likely portrays an athlete, probably a boxer,\" the statement said. Little bits of the sculpture have broken off. It is missing part of the nose and mouth, Ben-Ami said. \"The high level of finish on the figurine is extraordinary,\" Ben-Ami and Tchekhanovets said in their statement. They added: \"To the best of our knowledge, to date no similar artifact made of marble (or any other kind of stone) bearing the same image that was just found has been discovered in excavations elsewhere in the country.\" A few similar artifacts made of bronze have been found \"at different sites in the country and they have been found in large numbers in different places throughout the Roman Empire, where the overwhelming majority of them date to the third century CE (the Roman period).\" Two tiny holes in the figurine suggest it was used as a suspended weight together with a balance scale, the archaeologists said. Last month, the excavation team at this same site discovered \"one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever found in Jerusalem,\" the Israel Antiquities Authority said. \"It consists of 264 gold coins and was found at about the same time as a gold earring, inlaid with expensive pearls and remarkably well preserved.\" \"Every single object has a story behind it,\" Ben-Ami said in an interview with CNN. \"Behind every object there are people. And, for us, the most important thing is to try to tell the stories behind these items.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Archaeologists in Israel unearth tiny marble figurine .\nDetails on bust suggest it is that of an athlete, probably a boxer .\n\"High level of finish on the figurine is extraordinary,\" archaeologist says .\nStash of gold coins was found last month at the same site ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man in a wheelchair blew himself up Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing three National Police officers, including a commander, police said. Soldiers stand by as pilgrims gather Sunday in Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of holiest days on the Shiite calendar. The attack also wounded nine officers on the police force, which the Iraqi Interior Ministry operates. The bombing in Samarra raises concern about the recent tactics employed by insurgents in Iraq. Bombs have been placed inside dead animals and hidden in carts. And in recent days, vagrants have been involved in bombings. \"As a sign of desperation, some of those terrorists resorted to some new methods and techniques,\" said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan. One of the tactics is the use of remote-controlled \"sticky\" bombs, small enough to tape under vehicles. A high-ranking Samarra police official said the disabled man came to meet with Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabbar Rabei Muttar, deputy commander of security, at the security operations building in Samarra. The pair met last week as well. The man was searched when he entered the building, but police didn't look under his wheelchair seat, where the explosives had been placed. The man, who police say was cogent, detonated the explosives when Muttar approached him. Also Monday, a roadside bomb exploded in the middle of a crowd of Shiite Muslims in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15, an Interior Ministry official said. The strike, in southeastern Baghdad's Zafaraniya district, is the latest attack against pilgrims trekking to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of the holiest days of the Shiite religious calendar. It falls on Wednesday. On Sunday, a suicide bomber in Iskandariya killed at least 45 people and wounded 68 others, and armed militants attacked pilgrims in southern Baghdad, killing three and wounding more than 30 others. Pilgrims traditionally make their way to Karbala on foot as a demonstration of piety, and those who head to the city from Baghdad go through Babil province, where Iskandariya is located. Joint forces have stepped up patrols during the pilgrimage to protect the thousands headed to Karbala. Last year, more than 180 pilgrims were killed in a series of attacks, most during twin suicide bombings in Hilla, Babil province's capital. Sunday's attack in Iskandariya, conducted by a bomber wearing an explosive vest, prompted authorities there to replace the police chief, Hilla police said. More National Police officers have been deployed to Babil to ensure the safety of pilgrims heading to Karbala, a police official said. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and American-led coalition forces condemned Sunday's \"barbaric attacks in Baghdad and Iskandariya\" against \"innocent citizens participating in an important religious commemoration.\" Every year, thousands of pilgrims amass in Karbala for al-Arbaeen, which commemorates the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Hussein, one of the most revered Shiite martyrs, is buried in Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. Karbala's main holy site is the gold-domed Imam Hussein Shrine. Other developments . CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Iraqi major says attacks show how insurgents are resorting to new methods .\nPolice: Bomber had met at least twice with deputy security chief before blast .\nThree people are killed, 15 injured in roadside attack in southeastern Baghdad .\nPilgrims on way to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of holiest days on Shiite calendar ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Hold on to the audacity of hope but shun the arrogance of over-promising. A scholar says President Obama could learn from Lyndon Johnson's Great Society mistakes. That's the message from a scholar who says President Obama can learn much from the success and mistakes of another ambitious attempt to remake America. Robert Weisbrot, co-author of \"The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s,'' says the Great Society revolution was \"tremendously liberating\" for members of the most vulnerable groups in America. The Great Society was President Lyndon Johnson's sprawling legislative attempts in the mid-1960s to lift Americans out of poverty, erase racial injustice and clean up the environment. But historical circumstances won't permit Obama to push through his own Great Society, Weisbrot says. \"Obama is living in a different age,\" Weisbrot said. \"The circumstances won't permit him to be another Lyndon Johnson.\" Obama came to office with the nation's economic institutions verging on collapse. He also has to contend with bitter partisanship and a public that's suspicious of big government programs. \"Obama needs to not only learn lessons from the Great Society but keep in mind the limits of what he can draw from a fundamentally different age,\" Weisbrot said. Americans were ready for the Great Society when Johnson became president, he says. The country was enjoying a post-World War II economic boom. The Republican and Democratic parties worked together because both had a significant number of moderates. And people had more faith in the federal government, which had led the nation out of the Great Depression and World War II and helped rebuild the European economy, Weisbrot says. \"For many Americans, the federal government could achieve anything for which there was a national mandate,\" Weisbrot said. Yet that same optimism helped stain the Great Society's legacy, Weisbrot says. He says Johnson framed the Great Society as a war to defeat poverty and racial injustice. He over-promised, particularly when the Vietnam War began to drain away resources for the Great Society. \"Lyndon Johnson dealt in hyperbole,\" Weisbrot said. \"It works well in getting legislation through Congress, but it sets the nation up for disillusionment when the promised Utopia didn't materialize.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scholar: Circumstances won't allow another Great Society .\nObama could learn from President Johnson's mistakes, he says .\nDid Great Society sputter because Johnson over-promised?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, began Saturday with Iraqis hoping for tranquility but fearful after recent attacks that have shaken the country. Plastic flowers and banners hang on cars destroyed in Wednesday's bombings in Baghdad. Al-Iraqia state TV interrupted regular programming Saturday afternoon to broadcast Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's address to Iraqis on the occasion of the start of the holy month. The prime minister said that as he congratulates Iraqis, his \"heart is full of sadness and sorrow.\" Four Iraqi soldiers and a government worker were killed Saturday in attacks in Baghdad and Mosul, according to an official of the Interior Ministry. Gunmen opened fire earlier in the day on an army checkpoint in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya in northeastern Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding one. Two more soldiers died and two were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in Zummar, about 50 miles northwest of Mosul. Mosul is 260 miles north of Baghdad. A bomb left inside the district manager's office in the Qahira neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed the manager and two children. A roadside bomb also exploded near a car and wounded two people in the Saidiya district of southeastern Baghdad. The holy month of Ramadan, considered to be a time of peace and giving, is when Muslims across the world fast from dawn until dusk, and its observance is one of the five pillars of Islam. But since the start of the war, Iraqis every year brace for an uptick in violence during the holy month. Some years have seen a rise in suicide attacks. Extremist attacks during Ramadan are sometimes \"fueled by a belief that to carry out violence -- 'jihad,' a suicide bombing -- during a holy month such as this one will gain them more credibility with the Lord,\" said CNN Correspondent Arwa Damon in Baghdad. Ramadan \"is meant to be a time to show one's devotion to God, a time of sacrifice,\" said Damon, \"Unfortunately, even though it is very much intended to be a time of peace ... it has proven over the last few years in places like here in Iraq to be a time of increased violence.\" On Wednesday, more than 100 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded in a series of truck bombings in Baghdad. It was the deadliest day since the United States pulled its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns nearly two months ago and left security in the hands of the Iraqis. Watch report on bombings of Iraqi ministries » . At least four people were killed and 76 were wounded Thursday in a string of bombings in Babil province, according to the Iraqi government. It is not just Iraq where extremists see Ramadan as a time of opportunity. Kuwait's state-run news agency reported earlier in August that security forces had arrested six Kuwaitis linked to al Qaeda who had planned to attack a U.S. military installation. The suspects had planned to bomb Camp Arifjan in Kuwait during Ramadan, Kuwaiti security sources told CNN. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Iraqis hope for peace but fearful with start of Muslim holy month .\nIn recent years, Ramadan in Iraq has been time of increased violence .\nThis week, dozens have died in series of bombings in Iraqi capital ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's \"The Situation Room,\" \"Campbell Brown,\" \"AC360°\" and \"State of the Union With John King,\" as well as special event coverage. Gloria Borger says we could be in for a month of venting sessions aimed at members of Congress. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ah, the summer. Time for all those members of Congress to go home, meet with their constituents, get their input on health care reform and take back what they have learned from the voters. Not exactly. In some town hall meetings around the country, anger and fear are trumping any constructive argument -- at least so far. Recently, for instance, Sen. Arlen Specter held a town hall meeting with Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary. In attempting to answer questions, they were shouted down by folks more interested in venting than discussing. On the conservative FreedomWorks Web site, the display was headlined \"Specter Gets Schooled.\" Above the video of the event, the site says \"... this is a must watch and a must emulate at town halls across the country over the next month.\" Really? What about those folks who are actually interested in debating and discussing a very complex issue they're trying to digest? There are some who may actually want to figure out the best way to solve the health care problem. What ever happened to asking questions about the quality of care, the cost of insurance, the impact of any public plan on the health care system? After all, this has been a turbulent economic time for this country, and another huge shock to the system is naturally worrisome. Especially when it comes to an issue as complex as health care. But it's not just the folks at these town halls who have learned how to heckle. Their bad behavior is a derivative of the questionable quality of the political debate they listen to every day. Indeed, if there's one thing we've gotten really good at over the years, it's this: reducing complicated problems to bite-sized slogans. It seems to work, so we keep doing it. Ipso facto, Obama's reform ideas become \"socialism\" to his Republican critics. And the administration is not above creating a handy bogeyman of its own: the insurance companies. At least according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who accuses them of \"full-force carpet-bombing and shock and awe against the public option.\" Too bad they actually support the rest of reform, and are still running positive ads about the effort. They weren't at the table at all 16 years ago when Hillary Clinton's effort at reform failed. The world has changed since then, and the congressional plans for reforming health care have changed, too. But the invective of the debate, sad to say, has not. The effort on Capitol Hill has been serious. I hate to sound like Pollyanna, but members of Congress are actually doing some real work. Some policy differences may never get resolved because they are too ideological; others are regional, and that's tough, too. But they're working at it, for hours on end, behind closed doors. No cameras, no grandstanding. One of those working the hardest, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, was derided at a town hall recently on the matter of his own health insurance. So here's the fellow who is spending every waking hour trying to get a bipartisan measure that can pass the Senate -- and be fair to Iowans -- and he goes home and gets an earful. Maybe the discourse will become more productive as the summer progresses. And maybe not. But the health care dilemma remains, no matter how loud the discussion. As John F. Kennedy told us, \"To govern is to choose.\" Especially when the choices are not easy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gloria Borger." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gloria Borger: Congressional recess provides chance for health care discussion .\nShe says some people more interested in shouting than serious talk .\nShe says Congress is grappling with a tough, complex issue .\nBorger: Stop reducing complicated issues to simplistic sound bites ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House of Representatives passed a $3.55 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010 Thursday night, capping off weeks of acrimonious partisan debate and a long day of voting marked by the defeat of several alternative plans. The U.S. House passed a $3.55 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010 Thursday night. The House version of the budget passed by a margin of 233-196 in a virtual party-line vote. All but 20 House Democrats supported it; no House Republican voted in favor. In London, England, where he has been attending the Group of 20 summit, President Obama lauded the House vote. \"Tonight, the House of Representatives took another step toward rebuilding our struggling economy,\" he said in a statement. \"And by making hard choices and challenging the old ways of doing business, we will cut in half the budget deficit we inherited within four years. With this vote comes an obligation to pursue our efforts to go through the budget line-by-line, searching for additional savings. Like the families we serve, we must cut the things we don't need to invest in those we do.\" The Senate plans a vote on its $3.53 trillion version of the budget later Thursday night. That vote, too, is expected to fall on party lines. Moderate GOP Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, who voted in favor of Obama's stimulus bill last month, intend to vote against what is essentially the blueprint of Obama's economic policies going forward. The House budget largely tracks Obama's initial proposed spending plan, with the exception of a decision to drop his $250 billion request for potential future bailouts of struggling financial institutions. Watch more on Obama's budget details » . Fiscally conservative House Democrats, known as Blue Dogs, also negotiated with House Democratic leaders to cut $7 billion from the president's $540 billion request for nondefense discretionary spending. Under the House Democrats' plan, the federal government will run an anticipated deficit of $1.2 trillion in the next fiscal year. Their plan promises to cut the deficit by more than half by 2013. House Democrats agreed to extend the middle class tax cut that was included in the recently passed economic stimulus plan, but failed to specify how the cut would be paid for after 2010. They also included language that allows for the controversial procedure called \"budget reconciliation\" for health care, a tool that would limit debate on major policy legislation. Senate Democrats did not include reconciliation in their version of the budget. The matter is guaranteed to be a major partisan sticking point when the two chambers meet to hammer out a final version of next year's spending plan. If it passes, it would allow the Senate to pass Obama's proposed health-care reform without the threat of a Republican-led Senate filibuster. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, speaking for most of his GOP Senate colleagues, warned Tuesday that if a health-care \"reconciliation winds up in the budget bill, it'll be like a declaration of war. ... I hope that that wedge doesn't get thrown in there.\" Both the House and the Senate version of the budget allow former President George W. Bush's tax cuts for couples who make more than $250,000 to expire in 2010, and both plans let Obama's signature tax cuts -- $400 for individuals and $800 for couples -- expire as well, unless the White House finds a way to pay for them. Under the House plan, the cuts would expire in 2010; in the Senate plan, they would expire in 2012. Key differences between House and Senate include deficits and nonmilitary discretionary spending. The House budget would reduce the deficit from $1.7 trillion in 2009 to $598 billion in 2014, House Democrats said, while the Senate Democrats say their plan would bring the deficit down an additional $80 billion. The House rejected an alternative proposal put forward by the GOP leadership, which called for $4.8 trillion less in overall spending over the next decade, in part through a five-year freeze in most non-defense discretionary spending. \"House Republicans were united in the desire to find reasonable solutions for middle-class families, focused directly on creating jobs, tax relief and empowering small businesses to survive and grow,\" said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. \"The Republican budget was crafted to help those Americans worried about their jobs, their health care, their financial security, and their real fears that Washington is spending and borrowing money that America does not have. Republicans offered a comprehensive budget that provides the American people with the ideas, energy and common-sense solutions they are looking for.\" Among other things, the House GOP's version of the budget would have repealed the entire $787 billion economic stimulus package except for an extension of unemployment insurance benefits. It also would have rolled back a recently passed 8 percent spending boost in the budget for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Watch more on the GOP budget alternative » . Thirty-eight Republicans voted against their own leadership's bill in that vote, while two Democrats voted in favor of it. The final vote was 293-137 against the GOP proposal. Overall, the Republican version of the budget called for $3.6 trillion less in borrowing over the next 10 years. CNN's Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: In England, President Obama praises House vote .\nBudget passes 233-196 in party-line vote; no House Republican voted in favor .\nBudget drops Obama's $250 billion request for potential financial institution bailouts .\nSenate plans vote on its $3.53 trillion version of budget later Thursday night ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miami, Florida (CNN) -- He wanted to sit outside for a while and enjoy the night air, then took a shower and curled up on the couch to watch a cartoon movie. A boring night by many teenagers' standards. But 15-year-old Michael Brewer, who suffered burns over 65 percent of his body in October -- allegedly at the hands of a group of youths he knew -- reveled in it, his mother told reporters Wednesday. Being out of a hospital burn unit, she said, was \"the only thing he wanted for Christmas.\" \"He's really looking forward to spending Christmas with his family,\" Valerie Brewer said of her son, who was released from the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center on Tuesday. \"We hope everybody has as wonderful a Christmas as we're going to have.\" Three teens -- Denver Jarvis and Matthew Bent, both 15, and Jesus Mendez, 16 -- are accused of being in a group that poured alcohol over Brewer and set him ablaze October 12 in what police said was a dispute over $40, a video game and a bicycle. All three teens are charged as adults with one count of attempted murder. Each has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, each could face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. The family did not return to their Deerfield Beach, Florida, home, and does not plan to, Valerie Brewer said. Instead, they went to \"a safe place\" -- both so they can have privacy and so Michael Brewer can feel secure. \"He doesn't feel safe going back to the neighborhood,\" she said. \"The families of the boys live within five blocks of us. He does fear for his life going back there. ... He doesn't want to go back and I don't blame him. We're looking forward to moving on and having some peace.\" She told CNN in an interview later Wednesday the family is looking for another home. Brewer, who suffered second- and third-degree burns over about two-thirds of his body, has \"a long road ahead of him,\" Dr. Louis Pizano, associate director of the burn center, said Wednesday. He faces hours of physical therapy five days a week, Pizano said -- a painful process both because of the burns and because of muscle atrophy resulting from the recovery process. Therapists are working to help him walk more easily and regain a range of motion in his arms and legs, Pizano said. Doctors are hopeful Brewer will not require any more skin grafts, he said. Valerie Brewer told CNN in a later interview Wednesday that her son managed to shower \"all by himself\" Tuesday night. Showers can be excruciating for him, she said, as it hurts when the soap and water hit his open wounds. Plus, she said, he must take a piece of gauze and wipe his wounds to get any dead skin off. \"He's very courageous for doing it by himself.\" Besides his painful treatment and recovery, Brewer suffered an emotional toll, his mother said. \"He really doesn't talk about it with me or with his father,\" Valerie Brewer said. \"He talks to the therapists about it because he doesn't want to upset us.\" He takes medication to help with night terrors, she told CNN, but \"he wakes up every night with nightmares.\" She said she sleeps about three or four hours a night, depending on how many times her son wakes up in pain or with a nightmare. Detectives say eyewitnesses told them that Mendez used a lighter to set fire to Brewer after Jarvis poured alcohol over him. Bent allegedly encouraged the attack, police said. Brewer jumped into a pool at his apartment complex to put out the flames. Authorities have said Mendez admitted setting Brewer on fire. According to an arrest transcript, the boy said he made a \"bad decision.\" Pizano said Wednesday he would have predicted a six-moth hospital stay for Brewer. While he said it is \"miraculous\" that Brewer was released in two months, \"the reason why he's home so early is because of him.\" He said Brewer did everything he needed to do, a formidable task even for an injured adult. \"He followed everything to the T, and he got home early.\" Brewer will be home-schooled for the rest of this year and possibly next to allow his recovery to progress, Valerie Brewer said. \"He never gave up on anything,\" she said. \"He got a little depressed once in a while -- anybody would, going through this kind of situation -- but his will to live is just unbelievable, and to move on and live a happy, normal life.\" She told CNN, \"He's such inspiration to me. Seeing him go through this -- I know the rest of his life, he's going to have challenges, but nothing is going to ever amount to what he has gone through now, and what he's going to go through for the next several months.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Michael Brewer, 15, was severely burned in October, allegedly by teens he knew .\nGetting out of hospital was \"the only thing he wanted for Christmas,\" his mom says .\nBrewer family to spend holiday at \"a safe place,\" not their old home .\nDoctors credit Brewer's \"miraculous\" recovery to his determination, spirit ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The new seven wonders of the world were named Saturday following an online vote that generated server-crushing traffic in its final hours. The Great Wall of China was among the top vote-getters of the \"New 7 Wonders of the World\" project. The final tally produced this list of the world's top human-built wonders: . • The Great Wall of China . • Petra in Jordan . • Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer . • Peru's Machu Picchu . • Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid . • The Colosseum in Rome . • India's Taj Mahal . Before the vote ended Friday, organizers said more than 90 million votes had been cast for 21 sites. Watch the contenders and controversy surrounding the 'new' seven wonders » . Voting at the Web site, www.new7wonders.com, ended at 6 p.m. ET Friday. Traffic was so heavy Friday that the site was crashing at times. One message urged voters to use text messages as an alternative form of voting. \"Keep on voting, as it is your votes that decide the New 7 Wonders of the World,\" the message said. \"We have traffic that is simply off the scale,\" Tia Vering, spokeswoman for the \"New 7 Wonders of the World\" campaign, told CNN.com. \"Things are just going ballistic.\" The new wonders were announced at a star-studded event Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal, that featured performances by Jennifer Lopez and Chaka Khan. The event was hosted by Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Ben Kingsley as well as Bollywood star Bipasha Basu. Send CNN.com photos and video of your favorite \"wonder\" The top contenders for the seven wonders were last made public in early June. The oldest candidate was Britain's Stonehenge; the newest was Australia's Sydney Opera House. The U.S. Statue of Liberty also was among the choices. Voting nearly doubled after the June results, when organizers said about 50 million votes had been cast. A single user can cast multiple votes. To be considered for the competition, all structures had to be built or discovered before 2000. All are among top tourist attractions around the world. Of the seven ancient wonders of the world, only one remains standing today, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Some nations have enthusiastically endorsed the new wonders campaign. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Jordan's Queen Rania actively promoted their countries' hopefuls. But the new wonders campaign hasn't been universally recognized. The United Nations' cultural organization, UNESCO, issued a statement saying it has \"no link whatsoever\" to the vote. Egypt's top antiquities expert also objected to the list. He said Egypt's pyramids are a \"symbol of the genius of the ancient people\" -- and are above any sort of online poll. As a result, the organizers struck up a compromise. The pyramids have been assured honorary status, in addition to the new seven wonders. The new wonders project was the brainchild of Swiss businessman Bernard Weber. He said he wanted to invite the people of the world to take part in selecting the world's greatest wonders. \"So that everybody can decide what the new seven wonders should be and not some government, not some individuals, not some institutions,\" he said. Vering said she believes the vote has accomplished that goal. \"We've managed to bring culture out of the museum -- out of the dusty, dry academic corners -- and have people talk about it,\" she said. \"That, we feel, is the greatest achievement of this campaign.\" E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: .\nStar-studded event in Lisbon, Portugal, unveils the new wonders .\nVoting in the final hours so intense the Web site crashed at times .\nPyramids of Giza given honorary status as a \"wonders\" member ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- What do Elvis, Kim Kardashian, the Jonas Brothers, Dilbert and teen vampires have in common? Calendars like this one featuring the movie \"Twilight\" are big sellers. They are all subjects of hot calendars. Be it pinned to the wall, tucked in a pocket or lounging on a desk, calendars have maintained popularity even as they face stiff competition from technology. While just about every cell phone or PDA allows users to keep track of those ever important events and appointments, calendars still seem to hold an allure for users day by day. \"We do not see technology-based calendars as the competition,\" said Robert Gilbreath, director of marketing for Calendars.com, one of the largest e-commerce sites for calendars on the Web. \"They do not evoke memories of past occurrences, experiences, and pleasures.\" A cell phone calendar also can't give fans the opportunity to gaze upon 12 images of their favorite celebrity or object of desire in the comfort of their own home or office. Some of Calendars.com's most popular sellers include classic movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne as well as today's hottest fan favorites like the cast of the movie \"Twilight.\" Calendars featuring beautiful women who also happen to be celebrities are also always in demand such as those featuring \"Transformers\" actress Megan Fox, Hugh Hefner's former girlfriends, known as The Girls Next Door, and a perennial favorite -- the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. If sales are any indication, print calendars are still holding their own. \"We've seen double-digit annual growth in our e-commerce channel every year until the last one,\" said Paul Hoffman, chief operating officer of Calendar Holdings LLC, parent company of Calendars.com and Calendar Club retail stores. \"We are very optimistic about the future growth online.\" Calendars have a long history as a part of American culture. Larry Krug, one of the founders of the Calendar Collectors Society, said calendars used to be must have collectors items when they were produced using the works of famous photographers and artists such as Norman Rockwell. Calendars still have their enthusiasts, Krug said, especially among those who are able to tie in calendars to an already existing passion, such as collecting Coca-Cola memorabilia. \"People collect different kinds of calendars,\" he said. \"There are wall calendars, desk calendars, pocket calendars, towel calendars and calendar plates. It's really a very broad and interesting area.\" And while there are a multitude of calendars that can be found -- often in a kiosk at the mall where a savvy shopper knows the prices will drop after the first of the year -- there are some that start out as collectors' items even before they are produced. The Pirelli calendar, with its limited availability and artistic nude photos of some of the world's most beautiful models, has become a sought-after item known for its exclusivity. Gruppo Campari, the makers of spirits, wines and soft drinks, also produces a limited-edition calendar every year which is not for sale and has featured various starlets including Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba and Salma Hayek. Since 2000, the company has employed world-famous and emerging photographers to capture the images, which are designed to tell a story within the calendar. Chiara Bressani, head of Gruppo Campari's Communication, said the calendars are marketing works of art. \"The calendar is always trying to convey seduction and passion,\" Bressani said. \"It's a creative way of showing what Campari is.\" She said the women chosen to appear in the calendars are selected because they convey the Campari values. The calendars have become very popular in Europe and the United States, Bressani said, despite the fact --or maybe because -- they are not easy to obtain. \"[The popularity] is growing every year,\" said Bressani, whose company has chosen Bond girl Olga Kurylenko to appear in the upcoming 2010 calendar. \"You can enjoy the pictures on the Web, but it's a different feeling when you have the calendar in your hands.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Celebrity calendars still the rage among fans .\nCalendars featuring stars and beautiful women among top sellers .\nLimited-edition Campari calendar features international starlets ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Senior Taliban official Maulvi Faqir Mohammad has named himself acting head of the Pakistani Taliban, a close relative of Mohammad and local Taliban spokesmen in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas told CNN Wednesday. Baitullah Mehsud, right, and a bodyguard arrive at a meeting in South Waziristan, Pakistan, in 2004. Pakistani and U.S. officials believe that the group's leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in an August 5 drone attack in Waziristan. Through his relative, however, Mohammad said that Mehsud is alive but ill and temporarily unable to perform his duties. Mohammad believes that he is in line to lead the group because he is a deputy of Mehsud's, the relative said. A year ago, Mohammad was falsely believed killed in a Pakistani airstrike, according to media reports at the time. The relative also said that Mohammad appointed Haji Muslim Khan as the group's spokesman. Khan is a former provincial Taliban spokesman in Swat. Pakistani officials announced Tuesday that two top figures in the Pakistani Taliban had been arrested. Saif Ullah is believed to have been Mehsud's right-hand man, and Maulvi Umar is the well-known spokesman for the militant group. Umar recently declared that Mehsud had not been killed in the drone strike on his father-in-law's house, but a senior Pakistani official said Umar had admitted under questioning that Mehsud was dead. The top U.S. envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, said the Pakistani Taliban have not confirmed his death because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor. Journalist Janummah Hashaimzada contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Group's leader is believed to have been killed in air attack this month .\nDeputy claims leadership; he was falsely believed killed last year .\nPakistani officials announce arrest of two top Taliban figures ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Parkersburg, West Virginia (CNN) -- At nearly $12.1 trillion, the U.S. national debt has reached a size that is incomprehensible to most people and as intangible as the '\"Big Bang\" or bipartisanship. But it is real in West Virginia, where a small, nearly anonymous group of government accountants calculate the public debt to the penny each day, living a mathematic nightmare and number cruncher's dream. At a large desk in Parkersburg, Jaime Saling watches over roughly 6,500 pieces of data and trillions of dollars each day. Her title takes up a few characters itself: Saling is the debt accounting branch manager for the Bureau of Public Debt. She and a division of just 15 people quietly and relentlessly work to account for every penny of the national debt. It is tedious and potentially overwhelming work, but Saling acts as if she flies jet fighters. \"I get very excited,\" the petite and energetic Saling says, \"They call me a nerd, several times; I think it's because I get very excited about all the work we do.\" That work happens in a simple one-story, brick building in Parkersburg, some 300 miles from Washington. The public debt offices landed there thanks to heavyweight home-state Sen. Robert Byrd. The bureau's offices are tucked into a corner of town that's easy to miss. A brown hill and train track sit on one side, parking lots for county offices on the other. The locale is still a surprise to some. \"Every now and then we get a comment, 'Where are you? Parkersburg?'\" Saling says. The public debt building has become a number nerds' paradise. Employees say they balance their checkbooks at least weekly, some daily. A big happy-face sign marks progress on a recent audit. A written goal is taped to a Nerf-sized football. And the security guards brag that someone brings in a cake about every other day. Inside, Saling's office is pin-neat, but her computer screen is cramped. A full-screen photo of Saling's 4- and 5-year-old children is covered by dozens of icons for spreadsheets and documents, so that glimpses of bright blonde hair poke out from under a field of white data squares. \"I need to clean it out right now,\" Saling says with a shrug, then laughs. She then calls up the brain of the debt-management system, a software program called PARS, or Public debt Accounting and Reporting System. The acronym is a pun only an accountant would love. \"Par value\" means \"stated value\" in the field. PARS is a custom program, designed in the early '90s to check and double-check the constant buying and selling of U.S. debt. Thanks in part to the debt software, what used to take 100 people a month to compute now is done by 15 people in a day. Even so, the program looks like it's from another time, with a black screen and neon-colored letters that recall computer monitors of the \"War Games\" era. \"It is outdated,\" Saling says of the font. But she insists the program itself still operates well. Annual government reviews of PARS back that up. And the division overall has a remarkable record of 13 straight years of unqualified audits, the accounting gold standard of accuracy. That brings a massive smile to Saling's face; you see how someone so enthusiastic can be called a nerd. \"Things like that make me very excited.\" (Her favorite report, by the way, is the \"schedules of public debt\".) Each day, to check the funds flowing in and out of the public debt, Saling types in five-digit codes into PARS and checks a slew of accounts. She knows about 50 of those codes by heart. In general, there is a scale to this work that would disrupt most minds. \"Most people don't have a sense of it until they come here and see it,\" said accounting director Mike Linder, who is Saling's boss. \"Most calculators don't handle what we do.\" And almost no one sees the debt as they do. \"A lot of people, I don't think realize what the debt's made of,\" Saling put forth. \"In that $12 trillion you have both debt held by the public and intragovernmental holdings.\" In other words, the debt held by those outside the government and debt the government owes to itself, such as money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund. At the end of November, $7.7 trillion was debt held by the public and $4.4 trillion was intragovernmental holdings. Saling sees a heartbeat in the numbers. \"It's actually helping us operate government.\" And never has government been larger. But Saling and these accountants of the people are careful on that note. \"It's not that we're saying this is the right thing to do,\" she states matter-of-factly. \"A lot of times we're saying, 'If they pass this, how are we going to account for it?' A lot of times that takes a lot of meetings.\" Saling is right, in the age of deficits and debt, all of that literally keeps government operating. Yet those trillions of dollars are overseen by a small division that works without contractors and is content with a software system that may look clunky, but which they insist works more than well. There is an irony here. These self-proclaimed nerds oversee the very symbol of big government but exude sobriety and restraint. Saling and her staff are nearly anonymous but deeply significant. And they are more than happy that way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In West Virginia, a small group of accountants calculate the public debt to the penny each day .\n\"Most calculators don't handle what we do,\" accounting director says .\nThe program accountants use is outdated, but works well, Jaime Saling says .\nThe public debt building has become a number nerds' paradise ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- A man described as a former employee shot and killed two people and seriously wounded another at a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, construction company before workers wrestled him to the ground, sheriff's officials said. Dianna Tullier, 44, of Walker, Louisiana, and Cheryl D. Boykin, 55, of Denham Springs, Louisiana were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. They were both clerical workers in the construction office. The suspect, identified as Richard Matthews, 53, of Slaughter, Louisiana, parked outside Grady Crawford Construction Co. shortly before 2 p.m. and entered a building, where he shot a female dispatcher, said Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Casey Rayborn Hicks. Hicks said Matthews then went into a second company building and killed two people inside. Matthews left the second building to reload his weapon, Hicks said. He re-entered that building, shot at and missed a fourth person, Hicks said. Four people then wrestled Matthews to the ground. One of them, a foreman at the construction company, put his finger between Matthews' finger and the trigger guard of Matthews' gun, stopping the gunman from shooting, Hicks said. The four people held Matthews down until police arrived. Matthews was transported to the sheriff's office in downtown Baton Rouge, Hicks said, and was being questioned. Hicks said police are uncertain if Matthews has prior arrests, mental health or substance abuse issues. Matthews will be booked on two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, Hicks said. As he was escorted in for questioning, in response to a reporter's question about the shooting, the Matthews replied numerous times: \"I couldn't get my unemployment, they wouldn't give me my unemployment.\" CNN's Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: Victims from Walker, Louisiana, and Denham Springs, Louisiana, official says .\nOfficial: Worker put finger between trigger guard of gun to stop suspect from shooting more .\nOfficials identify suspect as Richard Matthews, 53, of Slaughter, Louisiana .\nSuspect: \"They wouldn't give me my unemployment\" as he is escorted by police ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "New York (CNN) -- He was a cold, calculating, \"morally depraved\" man who spent the last years of his socialite and megaphilanthropist mother's life bilking her fortune to line his pockets. That's one way to see Anthony Marshall -- and it's the only way, according to the prosecutors who secured a conviction against him for grand larceny and scheming to defraud his mother, Brooke Astor. Now as the 85-year-old son prepares to be sentenced Monday for his crimes, another portrait of him has emerged -- thanks to close friends and celebrity acquaintances (including Al Roker and Whoopi Goldberg) who sent letters to the court in hopes of saving him from a lengthy prison sentence. The man prosecutors described during the trial is apparently unrecognizable to many of Marshall's friends and acquaintances. He was a loyal, churchgoing man, a Purple Heart recipient wounded in Iwo Jima during World War II and a son who tried mightily but could never live up to the high ideals of his socialite mother, according to letters friends submitted to the court. And now, they say he is a frail and sickly man who has faced extreme humiliation and would essentially be given a death sentence if a judge hands down the maximum sentence allowed. It will be up to Judge A. Kirke Bartley Jr. to decide how to reconcile the two portraits of Tony Marshall. He faces a minimum one to three years, or as much as eight to 25 years in state prison. The drastically differing views have only further heightened interest in the case, which during the trial stage was a tabloid feeding frenzy, fostering headlines such as \"Bad heir day,\" \"Mrs. Astor's disaster\" and \"DA's kick in the Astor.\" The witness list was a virtual \"Who's Who\" of New York's social elite -- including Henry Kissinger, Graydon Carter, Barbara Walters, Vartan Gregorian and Annette de la Renta. During the case, prosecutors and witnesses portrayed Marshall as an only son preying on his physically and mentally ill 101-year-old mother. Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the case \"disturbing,\" and said the trial told the story of \"how a son, an only son, would stoop so low to steal from his own mother in the sunset years of her life in order to line his own pockets and the pockets of his wife.\" His only goal, they said, was to selfishly tap her fortune -- money that prosecutors said Astor intended to donate to ordinary New Yorkers who needed help after she died. He was convicted of the most serious charges against him -- first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud. One of the most serious convictions involved Marshall giving himself a $1 million-a-year raise for handling his mother's affairs, Seidemann said. During trial testimony, Marshall's lawyers called no character witnesses to come to his defense. So the new letters from friends are the first attempts by those who know him to share what they believe is his true character. Whoopi Goldberg told a judge in her letter that she met Tony Marshall and his wife, Charlene, 10 years ago when Goldberg moved into a building on the Upper East Side with Frank Langella. Unlike other residents who turned their nose up at her, Goldberg said she became quick friends with the Marshalls. Her interactions with Tony, she wrote, gave her an insight into his relationship with his mother, and in turn taught her about how fame can affect family dynamics. \"I also understand what it must be like for my own daughter to be around my fame,\" she wrote. \"I am not comparing myself to Mrs. Astor, but I've seen how you can be dismissed as not being good enough, or hip enough, and seeing it happen to Tony made me make sure that it didn't happen to my own daughter.\" The humiliation and ugliness of the trial was punishment enough and a prison sentence would be unjust, friends argued in the letters. Marshall's cardiologist, Kenneth W. Franklin, also wrote to urge the judge to consider his age and health in sentencing. A prison sentence \"will accelerate his deterioration from cardiac and neurologic disease and would result in his premature death due to medical complications,\" he wrote. NBC's \"Today\" show weatherman Al Roker came to Marshall's defense too, having met him at his church 10 years ago. He argued Marshall had suffered enough, paying a price greater than any sentence a judge could hand down -- seeing his son turn on him during the trial and being portrayed in a negative light each day. \"Given his advanced age and deteriorating health, justice may be better served by turning a compassionate eye towards this good son, father and patriot and finding it in your heart not to add 'prisoner' to Anthony Marshall's otherwise unblemished resume,\" Roker wrote in his letter to the court. Goldberg too, believed \"breaking this man\" by putting him in prison, was not the right punishment. \"Please don't put him in jail,\" she writes at the end of her letter. \"It would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose. Hasn't Tony been through enough?\" CNN's Beth Karas and Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whoopi Goldberg, Al Roker among those asking for a compassionate sentence .\nTony Marshall convicted of bilking mom Brooke Astor of money before her death .\nMarshall faces a minimum one to three years, or as much as eight to 25 years in state prison .\nFriends cite Marshall's age of 85, deteriorating health, among reasons for light sentence ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- An anti-abortion activist charged with gunning down a Wichita, Kansas, doctor cannot use the \"necessity defense\" at trial, a judge ruled Tuesday. Scott Roeder, 51, is set to stand trial January 11 on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot to death at his church May 31. Tiller ran a women's clinic in which he performed abortions. Tiller, 67, was one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions. He had already survived one attempt on his life before he was slain. Under a necessity defense, a defendant argues an action was justified because breaking the law was more advantageous to society than following it. Several anti-abortion activists facing criminal charges have attempted to use the defense but none has been successful. In an Associated Press interview last month, Roeder admitted killing Tiller and said he plans to argue at this trial that the shooting was justified. \"Because of the fact preborn children's lives were in imminent danger, this was the action I chose,\" he said. \"... I want to make sure that the focus is, of course, obviously on the preborn children and the necessity to defend them.\" Roeder's comments prompted prosecutors to file a motion asking Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert to bar Roeder's attorneys from using the defense. Wilbert noted that the Kansas Supreme Court, in a previous case regarding blocking entrance to an abortion clinic, ruled the necessity defense cannot be used when the harm the defendant claims to be avoiding through his or her actions is a constitutional and legal activity, and the defendant broke the law. That precedent, Wilbert said, required him to rule that the necessity defense is not a viable defense in Kansas or in the Roeder case. Defense attorney Mark Rudy pointed out to Wilbert that the defense team has not yet acknowledged what their tactic might be. Roeder, however, filed a 100-page motion on his own behalf, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said Tuesday, on the necessity defense, acknowledging it previously has been unsuccessful. Prosecutors also asked Wilbert to bar Roeder's attorneys from claiming his alleged actions were justified because he used force in the defense of another -- the unborn. Wilbert said that would require further argument -- particularly an offering from defense attorneys regarding the evidence they plan to present in support of that premise at trial. \"I will leave the door open on the issues surrounding use of force in defense of another,\" the judge said, adding he does not mean it's \"wide open.\" Under the law, such a defense can only be used if a defendant was preventing unlawful conduct. Foulston argued that Tiller posed no threat that would justify his shooting. \"Dr. Tiller was not an aggressor,\" she said. Roeder is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault for threatening two church members. Dressed in a coat and tie, he conferred with his attorneys and listened intently to the arguments on Tuesday. In a June interview with CNN's Ted Rowlands, Roeder would not admit that he killed Tiller, but said that if he is convicted, \"the entire motive was the defense of the unborn.\" Roeder's attorneys also argued Tuesday that the trial should be moved outside Wichita because extensive pretrial publicity in the case could have tainted the jury pool. Foulston, meanwhile, noted that Roeder, who has talked often to the media, brought some of that publicity on himself. Wilbert said 300 jury summonses have gone out in the case, and he was optimistic that some impartial jurors could be found. However, he said he would revisit the issue later if the court experienced difficulty in picking jurors. Rudy also asked that the judge prohibit prosecutors from excluding potential jurors because they have anti-abortion beliefs. The judge said he was confident that some individuals who are anti-abortion would still be able to make an impartial decision, but suggested the issue be examined on a juror-by-juror basis if the court recognizes a pattern of exclusion during jury selection. \"I can't make a pretrial ruling and just make a broad-brush approach,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scott Roeder is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Dr. George Tiller .\nTiller was one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions .\nNecessity defense: Defendant argues breaking the law is better for society than following it .\nJudge bars Roeder from using the necessity defense in the doctor's slaying ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "London, England (CNN) -- Formula 1 will continue to take place in Britain for the next 17 years after a deal was struck between Silverstone's owners and the sport's chief Bernie Ecclestone. Monday's announcement by the track's owners means the oldest venue on the F1 calendar keeps its place. Silverstone's comeback took place despite rival track Donington Park being awarded the contract to host the British Grand Prix from 2010. However, that circuit lost out after failing to secure the $200 million needed to fund redevelopment plans. That had led to fears Ecclestone would look to move the race abroad. Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips told the Press Association: \"We've always had five-year deals and never been able to get the investment we needed to redevelop. \"But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward. We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. Phillips described the deal as \"peace in our time\" between the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), and Ecclestone. \"The relationship with Formula One Management has been improving,\" added Phillips. \"There's a good working relationship with him now and we don't have any issues.\" Applauding the negotiating team, BRDC president and 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill told the Press Association: \"It's not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It's a big commitment. \"But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue, and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead. \"This announcement is tremendous news. It really does cement Silverstone as a motor sport venue and is incredibly satisfying for the BRDC to cement its relationship with F1.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Formula 1 will continue in Britain after deal between Silverstone and sport's chief Bernie Ecclestone .\nAnnouncement by the track's owners means the oldest race on the F1 calendar keeps its place .\nDonington was to host British Grand Prix from 2010 but failed to secure $200 million for redevelopment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A man died after being gored in the neck during the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, the Navarra regional government said Friday on its Web site. Runners take part in the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain on July 9. The death would be the first in the running of the bulls since a 22-year-old American was gored to death in 1995. The latest victim was a Spanish man, Daniel Jimeno Romero, age 27, from the Madrid area who was vacationing in Pamplona with his family, CNN partner station CNN+ reported from the hospital, where authorities identified him. He was rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest and underwent surgery but died soon after, said the statement from the regional government, whose capital is Pamplona. Watch man try to scramble away from bull » . Amateur video footage showed the victim falling to the ground toward the end of race, just before the entrance to the bullring, and apparently being gored in the neck. Three other runners were gored and suffered less serious injuries on Friday, and six others went to the hospital with bruises or other injuries, the Navarra government said. Emergency workers and ambulances line the route to quickly attend those who fall. Do you think this tradition should be banned? The run in Pamplona started 400 years ago and became popular worldwide after author Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in the 1920s in his book \"The Sun Also Rises,\" also published under the title \"Fiesta.\" The event is held July 7-14. Six bulls and a pack of tame steers run from the corrals, through Pamplona's old town, to the bullring -- where the bulls will die later in the day in a bullfight. Including the recent death, 14 people have been killed in the runs since 1924, when record-keeping began." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Victim was a 27-year-old Spanish man from the Madrid area .\nTragedy happened during annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain .\nDeath the first since 22-year-old American was gored to death in 1995 ." } ]

[ { "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 new witness in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann has told investigators he talked with a \"Victoria Beckham look-a-like\" who may have revealed clues about the girl's fate, a family spokesman said Thursday. Sketch shows woman who may hold new clues to disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Investigators would not release what was said in the conversation but the clues have led police to try to find the woman. Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined in a nearby restaurant. She was 3 years old at the time. The suspicious woman was seen outside a bar in Barcelona, Spain, by partygoers on May 7, 2007, and the new witness had a conversation with this woman, said McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell. Watch McCann spokesman describe new lead » . Authorities released a sketch of the person, described as a woman who spoke with an Australian accent and who could also speak fluent Spanish. Former detective inspector Dave Edgar, who was hired by the McCann family, called the new witness a significant movement in the case. Edgar would not say why the witness waited so long to come forward, stating only it was personal reasons. Mitchell described the woman they are looking for as similar in appearance to the former Spice Girl singer and wife of soccer star David Beckham. She was described as in her 30s and about 5 feet 2 inches tall. Madeleine's parents have garnered international support in an effort to find their daughter, enlisting the aid of celebrities and even Pope Benedict XVI. At one point, authorities in Portugal had named the girl's parents as suspects, along with a British man living in Portugal, Robert Murat. But a spokesman for the Portuguese public prosecutor's office said in July 2008 that authorities found no evidence of involvement by any of the three and were no longer considering them suspects. Portuguese investigators closed the case in July 2008." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Investigators would not release specific details of new clues .\nMadeleine McCann vanished from holiday villa in Portugal in May 2007 .\nMadeleine's parents have garnered international support in hunt for their child ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hamid Dabashi is the author of \"Iran: A People Interrupted.\" He is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. His Web site is http://www.hamiddabashi.com/ . Hamid Dabashi says it's wrong to view the conflict in Iran as a battle of the middle class vs. the poor. (CNN) -- In a short essay that Abbas Amanat, a scholar of 19th-century Iran at Yale University, was asked to write for The New York Times on the current crisis in Iran, he asserted that what we are witnessing is \"the rise of a new middle class whose demands stand in contrast to the radicalism of the incumbent President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and the core conservative values of the clerical elite, which no doubt has the backing of a religiously conservative sector of the population.\" This learned position of a leading scholar very much sums up the common wisdom that Iranian expatriate academics are offering an excited public mesmerized by the massive demonstrations they witness on their television sets or computer screens and eager to have someone make sense of them. In part because of these hurried interpretations, the movement that is unfolding in front of our eyes is seen as basically a middle-class uprising against a retrograde theocracy that is banking on backward, conservative and uneducated masses who do not know any better. While the illiterate and \"uncouth\" masses provide the populist basis of Ahmadinejad's support, the middle class is demanding an open-market civil society. Highly educated, pro-Western and progressive Iranians are thus placed on Mir Hossein Moussavi's side, while backward villagers and urban poor are on Ahmadinejad's. The fact that in North America and Western Europe, usually unveiled and fluently English-speaking women are brought to speak on behalf of the women demonstrators further intensifies the impression that if women are veiled or do not speak English fluently then they must be Ahmadinejad supporters. This is a deeply false dichotomy that projects a flawed picture to the outside world. It is predicated on the spin that a very limited pool of expatriate academics are putting on a movement that is quite extraordinary in Iranian political culture, one whose full dimensions have yet to be unpacked. The fact is that given the structural limitations of a nascent democracy that is being crushed and buried in Iran under a particular interpretation of a Shiite juridical citadel, opposition to Ahmadinejad is fractured into the followers of three candidates with deeply divided economic programs and political positions. Moussavi is universally known as a hard-core socialist in his economic platform and a social reformist in his politics. Mehdi Karrubi is far to Moussavi's right in his economic neo-liberalism and social conservatism. Mohsen Rezaie, meanwhile, is even more to the right of Karrubi in his social conservatism but to his left in his economic platform. What above all challenges the reading of this event as a middle-class revolt against \"uncouth radicalism\" is a crucial statistic that professor Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, one of the most reliable Iranian economists in the U.S., provides in the same set of responses that The New York Times solicited from experts. \"Young people ages 15-29,\" Salehi-Isfahani reports, \"make up 35 percent of the population but account for 70 percent of the unemployed.\" The overwhelming majority of the people pouring into streets of Tehran and other major cities in support of Moussavi are precisely these 15- to 29-year-olds. How could this then be a middle-class uprising if the overwhelming majority of those who are supporting it and putting their lives on the line are in fact jobless 15- to 29-year-olds who still live with their parents -- who cannot even afford to rent an apartment, let alone marry and raise a family and join the middle class in a principally oil-based economy that is not labor-intensive to begin with? Another crucial statistic that Salehi-Isfahani does not cite is the fact that more than 63 percent of university entrants in Iran are women, but only 12 percent are part of the labor force. That means that the remaining 51 percent are out of a job, and yet the most visible aspect of these anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrations is that women visibly outnumber men. How could jobless men and women be participating in a massive middle-class uprising against their \"uncouth\" leaders? If we were to look closely at Moussavi's campaign commercials, his social and economic platforms since he entered the race, and the presidential debates with all the other candidates, we see that a sizable component of his supporters are indeed university students, young faculty and the urban intellectual elite --such as filmmakers, artists and the literati. But the fact is that a major constituency of Moussavi is also the urban poor and particularly the war veterans who have no respect for Ahmadinejad, believing he had an inglorious war record, but are full of unsurpassed admiration for Moussavi because of his role as a fiercely dedicated prime minister during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Conversely, there is a significant segment of the traditional middle class, the bazaaris, that is in fact the beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad's economic policies of governmentally subsidized commodities and services, and thus supports him. As for the \"uncouth\" among the Iranian peasantry, Eric Hooglund, a senior scholar of Iran with decades of experience in rural areas, has recently said that when he hears reports that Ahmadinejad's support base is rural, he is left quite baffled. \"Is it possible that rural Iran,\" he asks pointedly, \"where less than 35 percent of the country's population lives, provided Ahmadinejad the 63 percent of the vote he claims to have won? That would contradict my own research in Iran's villages over the past 30 years, including just recently.\" The fact is that we really don't know how this uprising is going to pan out, and yet we seem to be in too much of a rush to assimilate it backward to inherited assumptions that may have lost their validity in face of this new reality. I am convinced that we are witness to something quite extraordinary, perhaps even a social revolution that is overriding its economic roots. Although there are many similarities, this is a much different event than the 1977-1979 Islamic Revolution. I am not sure that this movement either sees itself as a revolution or will actually transmute into one. Given the brutality it faces, it has no choice but opt for a nonviolent civil disobedience route. The age of ideological warfare is over in Iran. If anything, this momentum is the closest event in Iran to the civil rights movement of the 1960s in the United States, and precisely like that movement, its economic dimensions are couched in social demands. We need to adjust our lenses and languages in order to see better, and there is no better adjustment than just cautiously, hopefully and responsibly watching what is unfolding in front of us and reading it accordingly. This movement is ahead of our inherited politics, floating ideologies or mismatched theories. We need to sit back, hope for the best and let this inspirational movement of a whole new generation of hope teach us courage and humility. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Hamid Dabashi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hamid Dabashi: Some are depicting Iran conflict as a battle of middle class vs. poor .\nDabashi: Mir Hossein Moussavi draws support from wider group than middle class .\nHe says it's wrong to say Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supporters are poor, rural Iranians .\nDabashi says best parallel may be to the U.S. civil rights movement of 1960s ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- When Barack Obama is sworn in as president January 20, there will be music -- by, among others, Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and the U.S. Marine Band. There will be prayers and speeches -- including Obama's inaugural address. And for the fourth time in the nation's 56 inauguration ceremonies, there will be poetry -- by someone far less well-known. Elizabeth Alexander says poetry can help solve problems by looking at them from a fresh angle. After the president's speech, Elizabeth Alexander will read a poem she is writing for the occasion. Alexander is a 46-year-old Yale University professor and a friend and former faculty colleague of Obama's. She joins three other poets who have read at inaugural ceremonies -- Robert Frost in 1961 for John F. Kennedy's inauguration and Maya Angelou and Miller Williams, who read at Bill Clinton's 1993 and 1997 inaugurations. Alexander has written five books of poetry, including \"American Sublime,\" a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005. Her father is Clifford Alexander, secretary of the Army in the Carter administration, and her mother teaches history at George Washington University. Her brother is an adviser to Obama's transition team. Alexander's view of poetry is captured in a few lines from \"American Sublime\" (Graywolf Press): . Poetry is what you find / in the dirt in the corner, . overhear on the bus, God / in the details, the only way . to get from here to there. / Poetry (and now my voice is rising) is not all love, love, love, / and I'm sorry the dog died. Poetry (here I hear myself loudest) / is the human voice, . and are we not of interest to each other? Alexander spoke Friday to CNN.com. CNN: What do you think is the role of a poet in a ceremony like this? Alexander: I think that the fact that President-elect Obama has decided to have a poem in this ceremony is a wonderful affirmation to the power of language, the way in which poetry gives us distilled and mindful and careful language that can both give us a moment of pause, a moment of contemplation and that can also ... look at the world from a slightly different angle. CNN: You met Barack Obama when you were both teaching at the University of Chicago? Alexander: In the community in Hyde Park, he and Mrs. Obama were just people I'd heard about for a long time and heard wonderful things about, and we were of a generation. ... He was in the law school, and I was in the Department of English so our day-to-day work didn't really cross so much. ... [We were in] the community of people who were at that time in our early 30s, thinking about the different ways that we could contribute to improving things with whatever skills we had -- political skills, intellectual skills, skills in the discipline of law, in literature, artistic skills. That was the common ground, thinking about how we could contribute to bettering our community. CNN: And you did it by writing? Alexander: By writing and teaching. I've been a professor for many years now, and I now teach in the African-American studies department and the English Department at Yale. ... My teaching is incredibly important to me ... helping people see that the study of African-American history and culture is fundamental to understanding this country that we live in. It's been wonderful to be able to share those riches of the culture over the years. CNN: We have this historical moment, the 80th birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, the inauguration of the first African-American president. How does that resonate with you? Alexander: It's amazing, isn't it? I just shake my head and say, \"Isn't that something?\" The civil rights struggle in this country and in the world is not over because we have an African-American president. At the same time, this must be recognized as a tremendous moment in our nation's history. I can't tell you how many older people have said to me, \"I never thought I'd live to see this day.\" The fact that this country has -- with a multiracial coalition -- elected an extraordinary president who is African-American really does feel like just an exquisite moment for us to savor even as we recognize there's still a tremendous amount of work ahead of us. CNN: What's ahead of us? Alexander: Oh my goodness, so much. There are wars or conflicts in many different places, there are potentially incipient conflicts in different places, there's the tremendous challenge of the economy. ... The larger metaphysical challenge is to think about how to work together in new ways that are, if not post-partisan -- because I don't think there's anything wrong with partisanship per se -- borne of new coalitions. Within our communities large and small, making new coalitions and finding common ground is absolutely what we're going to have to do in order to make things better. CNN: Can poetry help in that regard? Alexander: I do believe that it can. The way in which poetry models precise and mindful language is useful, because after all if we can't be precise with language, how can we share ideas? Also the felicity of art ... the way in which it makes you draw a breath and look at the world in a different way is very useful to the process of thinking through new solutions. You can look straight in front of you and never get any yield to a problem, but if you can look around the back of it or step to the side of it, those are the ways that we experience some movement with calcified problems. CNN: So you're going to write a poem about health care? Alexander: That would be fun. Of course, this [poem for the inauguration] is an occasional poem, it has to serve the moment, it has to serve the day, right? So those are the challenges of writing something that makes sense at this moment on this particular day. But of course, what I hope to do, rather than the laundry list poem, is to find language that will hopefully have a little resonance after the day is done. CNN: Will you show it to anybody before you read it? Alexander: I show it to my husband [artist Ficre Ghebreyesus] , and he is my first, last and best critic. CNN: You wrote an essay about Gwendolyn Brooks [the Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American poet] in which you said that \"the pressure on creative work can be intense for artists who belong to groups still struggling for their fair shake in society.\" And then later on you said you've seen your work \"overpraised by narrow-minded white critics\" and \"criticized small-mindedly by more than one black woman elder poet -- the same poets I imagined would be pleased by it.\" Your work is read very differently depending on who's reading it? Alexander: I think what I was trying to say is that at the end of the day, demographics doesn't really tell you about how your work is going to be received. ... On the one hand, I have devoted much of my work to African-American culture. That's my group, that's who I am, [I'm] proud and unambiguous about that -- but at the same time, one of the really great discoveries of a life in poetry has been that poetry is quirky. It reaches people unexpectedly. You really, really can't predict who is going to connect with various aspects of your work. That's been a real gift to me; it's made me try not to assume too much about who thinks what and who is able to gain something from work. CNN: You have two children? Alexander: Two sons, 9 and 10. CNN: How do they feel about the poem? Alexander: They are so excited, and that's of course a lovely thing. And in the excitement, we still live in our every day, so mommy is still mommy, and all the mommy things are expected of me, and that's the way I like it. CNN: What are your tastes in music? Alexander: Jazz is the music that I know deepest and love the most, and I mean jazz across the board because that's an incredibly diverse art, and also I must say, R&B, funk and soul speak very powerfully to me. CNN: Favorite artists? Alexander: Thelonious Monk is quite a favorite artist. Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane, and also the breadth and accomplishment over a career of Duke Ellington. CNN: And Aretha Franklin? Alexander: Can you imagine? I get to hear her at close range. Boy, that's going to be my gift for the year." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Elizabeth Alexander will be fourth poet to read at an inauguration .\nAlexander: Poetry can provide a fresh way of looking at problems .\nShe says poetry is quirky and no one can predict how people will react to it ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was once a student revolutionary himself, perhaps not much different from the thousands of protesters who this week have taken to the streets in Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became a political activist while a religious scholar studying under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini . Khamenei became a political activist while a religious scholar studying under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, among others, according to his biography on his official Web site. He was part of a circle of clerics who opposed the rule of the shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and was jailed by the shah's secret police, the Savak, at least six times in the 1960s and 1970s. He says he was tortured in prison before being exiled in 1976, three years before the revolution that deposed the shah. Khomeini was in exile in Paris, France, when the shah fled Iran in 1979. He appointed Khamenei to represent him on an Islamic Revolutionary Council, alongside other key figures such as Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The appointment may have been a career-making moment for Khamenei, who was a fairly low-level scholar at the time, said Iran analyst Shireen Hunter, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University in Washington. Learn more about Iran's recent history . \"He is not qualified to be an ayatollah,\" or top-ranking Islamic scholar, she said, saying he had picked up the title by dint of succeeding Khomeini as supreme leader, \"like an honorary doctorate.\" Khamenei, now 70, was briefly minister of defense and head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the early 1980s before becoming president, a post he held from 1982 to 1990. In power, he clashed ideologically with Rafsanjani, favoring a more left-wing politics than Rafsanjani, who came from a more bourgeois background than the poor Khamenei. He also locked horns with the man who was prime minister when he was president -- Mir Hossein Moussavi, now the most prominent opposition leader. The two had similar anti-American, left-wing politics but struggled over power in what Hunter called \"the two-headed monster\" that was then the Iranian political structure. \"There were turf battles between the president and the prime minister,\" she said. Khomeini died in 1989, and Khamenei was appointed the next supreme leader. The post of prime minister was abolished. Rafsanjani seems to have been a \"kingmaker\" in the elevation of Khamenei to the top job, Hunter said, perhaps thinking he would be the power behind the throne. But with time, Khamenei has become his own man, she said. Rafsanjani was president in the 1990s, but lost a comeback attempt in 2005 -- defeated by current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As supreme leader, Khamenei is the ultimate arbiter of policy in Iran. He appoints the Guardian Council, the country's election authority. He also appoints key posts in the intelligence services and the armed forces, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard. Additionally, he confirms the president's election. In theory, the supreme leader is appointed by a body of clerics whom voters elect. But in practice, this body -- the Assembly of Experts -- has answered to the supreme leader. Khamenei's authority has been challenged at times. Nearly half the members of Iran's parliament criticized him openly in 2004 for ordering general elections to go ahead despite a widespread belief that they would not be free or fair. The elections took place as scheduled. Khamenei supports the country's controversial nuclear program, and when President Obama reached out directly to the people of Iran with a video message, it was Khamenei who responded. Khamenei said in March he saw no change in U.S. policy toward Iran despite Obama's promise of a \"new beginning.\" He said a change in rhetoric was not enough, and Washington must practice what it preaches, according to the English-language Press TV channel in Iran. He hailed the disputed Iranian presidential election as \"a miracle\" for the record turnout, but that very public enthusiasm for the election may signal a shift that Khamenei failed to anticipate. \"He has now very much become his own man, but the country has changed,\" Hunter said. \"Look at the women's situation. They make a big deal out of saying how many women they have educated. That is true, but then you cannot expect them to keep doing things the same way.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Post on Islamic Revolutionary Council may have been career-making .\nAyatollah Ali Khamenei was minister of defense, head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards .\nMir Hossein Moussavi was prime minister when Khamenei was president ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "DIR VALLEY, Pakistan (CNN) -- The rugged beauty of the expansive Dir Valley can mask the detail of what is happening on the ground. Pakistani soldiers look on from a mountain during a patrol in the troubled area of Maidan. In June, the Pakistani military organized a media tour to areas of the Lower Dir in North West Frontier Province that were under their control. The town of Maidan had been at the center of fierce fighting between Pakistan's military forces and militants. Tension was visible on the faces of those escorting us. The IED (improvised explosive device) craters in the road and the bullet holes in our unarmed pickup trucks explained why. The direct fighting had stopped some days before, after opposition forces were reported killed or they disappeared into the surrounding hills and among the population. Under the watchful eye of government forces, anxious local residents were starting to return. A Pakistani army spokesperson now tells us that all of those who fled the town due to the fighting have returned home. They have a lot of rebuilding to do. Most of the structures we saw had some kind of damage to them from bullets or direct hits from artillery fire. One person who will likely not be returning anytime soon is the pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a short-lived deal between the Taliban and the government that allowed the Taliban to enforce Sharia law in the Swat Valley. But the deal collapsed and the government set off this offensive. Sufi Muhammad was arrested in Peshawar in late July, accused of encouraging violence. His ransacked house was the last stop on our tour." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The beautiful Dir Valley has been the scene of ferocious fighting against the Taliban .\nTown of Maidan had been at center of fighting between military forces and militants .\nPakistani military show off pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad's ransacked house ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- For almost a week, tens of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in daily protests -- handkerchiefs shielding their faces from the pungency of tear gas, fists punching the air, and chants of \"Down with the dictator\" echoing against buildings. Moussovi supporters rally Wednesday in Tehran, Iran. Released by Fars News Agency of Iran. The massive outpouring is a result of a disputed presidential election that the protesters think coronated the incumbent hard-liner, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over their candidate, Mir Hossain Moussavi. Context can help put their grievances into perspective: . Q. The Iran that we know today is the result of the Islamic Revolution. What is it? A. The Islamic Revolution is the name given to the Iranian revolution of 1979, when the ruling U.S.-supported monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was forced into exile. See timeline of recent Iranian history » . The country held a national referendum to become an Islamic republic and approve a new constitution. The constitution was a hybrid of democracy and unelected religious leadership. It appointed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the leader of the revolution -- the supreme leader of the country. Before he died in 1989, he made it known that he wanted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to succeed him. Q. Is it true that the ultimate power in Iran lies with Khamenei? A. Yes. The supreme leader has the final say in all important matters of the country, such as ties with foreign nations or Iran's nuclear aspirations. He appoints the Guardian Council -- the country's election authority. He also appoints key posts in the intelligence services and the armed forces, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard. Additionally, he confirms the president's election. In theory, the supreme leader is appointed by a body of clerics whom voters elect. But in practice, this body -- the Assembly of Experts -- has answered to the supreme leader. Khamenei, 70, was appointed supreme leader for life in 1989. Q. What is the Guardian Council, which has been in the news, saying it will recount some of the votes in the disputed election? A. The unelected Guardian Council is the second-most influential body in Iran politics. It consists of six theologians whom the supreme leader picks and six jurists nominated by the judiciary and approved by parliament. The council approves all candidates running for office in the country, and verifies election results. It vetoes bills passed by the parliament if they do not conform to the constitution and Islamic law. In the present crisis, opposition leader Moussavi has had to take his grievance to the Guardian Council. It has agreed to some vote recounts. See galleries of protests in Iran » . Q. So, how much power does the president wield? A. It depends on how nicely he plays with the Guardian Council. The president is elected by direct vote to a four-year term, for a maximum of two terms. He is responsible for economic policy and social programs, but most of the larger decisions are made by the supreme leader. In theory, his powers are second to the supreme leader's. But in practice, he is often hamstrung by the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council has worked with hard-liner Ahmadinejad, a 53-year-old former mayor of Tehran who was elected in 2005. But it thwarted reform attempts by his predecessor, Mohammad Khatami. Q. What is the Revolutionary Guard, who said they will take legal action against pro-Moussavi Web sites? A. The guard was initially created to protect the leaders of the revolution. But over the years, it has broadened its scope. Today, it is directly under the control of the supreme leader and enforces the governments' Islamic codes and morality . With more than 200,000 members, it is tasked with overseeing the country's crucial interests, including guarding its oil fields and missile arsenals. Q. What is the Basij, who are said to be behind most of the violence against opposition supporters? A. The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force that takes orders from the Revolutionary Guard. It plays the role of de facto morality police and is often summoned to crack down on protests. It is unknown how large the force is, though estimates are in the millions. Q. What evidence is there of ballot fraud? A. There are no concrete examples of fraud, because independent monitors did not oversee polling in Iran, but the circumstantial evidence is persuasive. The government had initially said it would take three days to verify the ballots after Election Day on June 12. But the election authority proclaimed Ahmadinejad the winner two hours after the polls closed. At the same time, the interior ministry said that 85 percent of the country's 46 million eligible voters had cast ballots -- a record turnout. To many, so many ballots could not have been hand-counted in such a short time. Also, the published results showed that Ahmadinejad won even in his opponents' strongholds, including Moussavi's hometown of ethnic Azeri Turks. \"This is the equivalent of Barack Obama losing the African-American vote to John McCain in 2008,\" said Karim Sajadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Furthermore, Moussavi went into the election with massive support from the country's youth, who were unhappy with the faltering economy and an unemployment rate that tops 30 percent by some accounts. The youth make up 60 percent of Iran's population of 70 million. Q. Is it true that Ahmadinejad still enjoys widespread support? A. Yes. Ahmadinejad is popular across Iran's rural areas and among the Basij militia. He presents himself as a populist and a fighter. He has paid attention to the families of the bloody Iran-Iraq war, offering special preferences to veterans' children in university admissions. As president, his hardline approach has won him support among the Guardian Council. He has earned a reputation internationally as a fundamentalist for his Holocaust denials, calls to annihilate Israel, and cat-and-mouse games with the United States and the United Nations over Iran's nuclear activities. Many in the establishment view him as someone who does not cower to big-footing by the West. Q. Why, then, do some analysts think the vote was manipulated? A. Some experts say that even if it is likely that Ahmadinejad won the election, it is unlikely he could have won by the margin the government is claiming -- 62.63 percent of the vote. Time magazine's Joe Klein explains it this way: \"It is entirely possible that Ahmadinejad would have won anyway, but narrowly, perhaps with less than 50 percent of the vote, setting up a runoff election he might have lost as the other candidates united against him. It is possible that his government, perhaps acting in concert with supreme leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, decided to take no chances.\" Q. Why is Iran's population so young? A. After the revolution, the leaders encouraged early marriage and large families, rewarding families with cars and television sets for each additional child. During the country's devastating eight-year war with Iraq, which began in 1980, the regime continued encouraging population growth, because more children meant more future soldiers. It is those children who are now coming of age. Q. Why did Iran summon Switzerland's ambassador to complain about perceived U.S. involvement in Iran's election process? A. The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran following the hostage crisis in 1979, when students in support of the Islamic Revolution took 52 Americans hostage and held them for 444 days. Q. Is this movement a challenge to the Islamic republic? A. The demonstrators say their demand is simple: Hold fresh elections. They say they are not out to challenge the Islamic regime. Watch protests Wednesday in Tehran » . Furthermore, Moussavi is an unlikely man for the job. Though the 67-year-old former prime minister is credited for successfully navigating the Iranian economy as prime minister during the Iran-Iraq war, he also was a hard-liner whom the Economist described as a \"firm radical.\" He, like most Iranians in power, does not believe in the existence of Israel. He defended the taking of the American hostages in 1979. He was part of a regime that regularly executed dissidents. And as late as April, he opposed suspending the country's nuclear-enrichment program but said it would not be diverted to weapons use. The protests have exposed a fissure in the country, however, with tens of thousands of Ahmadinejad backers taking to the streets in a show of force of their own. Q. Are the current protests likely to continue? A. For now, the government seems to be allowing the populace to vent pent-up frustrations. But it also is gradually cracking down, such as blocking Web sites and banning international journalists from filming the rallies. The demonstrations have so far been focused on urban areas. Should the populace in rural areas take up the call for reform, the government might step in quickly to quash the protests, analysts say. See map of demonstration sites in Tehran » . Q. Is this the first time Iranians have risen up in mass protests against the regime? A. No. Iran has twice seen public calls for reform in recent years: in 1999, after the closing of a reformist newspaper, and after parliamentary elections in 2000. On both occasions, the Revolutionary Guard descended on the streets after a few days and crushed the movements. Q. So, can true reform come to Iran? A. It is possible. Ahmadinejad's predecessor, Khatami, was elected president in 1997 by a landslide, despite being a reformer. During his two terms, he championed freedom of expression, tried to mend diplomatic relations, and supported a free market. He was, however, hamstrung at every step by stiff resistance from the supreme leader and the Guardian Council. This report includes information from various sources, including the U.S. State Department, the CIA Factbook, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, previous CNN reports and guest commentaries." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Protests have followed disputed presidential election results in Iran .\nPresident Ahmadinejad is popular across Iran's rural areas, among Basij militia .\nProtesters say not out to challenge the Islamic regime, just want fresh vote .\nIran previously saw protests, public calls for reform in 1999 and 2000 ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A former Iranian presidential candidate is calling on one of the Islamic republic's most powerful clerics to approve a special committee to investigate alleged mistreatment of detainees arrested in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections. Mehdi Karrubi says an \"impartial committee\" is needed to investigate alleged mistreatment of detainees. In an open letter to Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani posted Saturday on his party's Web site, reformist Mehdi Karrubi says an \"impartial committee\" is needed to \"investigate these tragedies with transparency until they are resolved.\" He said he is willing to lead the investigation in a \"truthful, unbiased fashion.\" The letter is dated July 29 and was posted on the Karrubi's Eetemade-Melli (National Trust) party's Web site, called Saham News. The Web site said the letter was posted after Rafsanjani failed to respond. The treatment of detainees at Iran's prisons has increasingly become a high profile issue, with human-rights groups accusing guards of conducting harsh interrogations, beatings, sleep deprivation, and threats of torture to coerce false confessions. Iranian media reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, ordered one prison, Kahrizak, shut down amid reports it did not measure up to the required standards. Kahrizak's chief was fired and arrested over allegations of detainee mistreatment, according to local reports Saturday. A special parliamentary committee has made rounds at Tehran's Evin prison, but did not find any signs of abuse, according to recent media reports. Hundreds of detainees have since been reportedly released from Evin, though \"political figures\" were held and put on trial. In his plea for an investigation, Karrubi says he has heard descriptions of torture and violence that make his \"body shake,\" though he doesn't specify a prison. \"Some of the former detainees have told of such brutal and violent, repeated rapes of the young women [in detention] that have caused irreparable damage to their reproductive systems,\" Karrubi says in the letter. \"Others have raped our detained young men with such brutality that they [the victims] have been afflicted by depression and are no longer speaking with anyone and refuse to leave the dark corners of their houses.\" He adds that an investigation will \"teach a lesson to the thugs and criminals in the future and prevent the smearing of the reputation of the Islamic Republic.\" Rafsanjani -- a former president and head of the Assembly of Experts, the council responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader -- called for the release of the detainees during a highly anticipated July 17 sermon at Friday prayers. He backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi in the presidential election, in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the overwhelming winner. Karrubi and Moussavi unsuccessfully challenged the results for weeks, and Ahmadinejad was sworn in for his second term last week. Rafsanjani himself has been accused of helping fuel the post-election unrest as part of recent mass trials of the remaining detainees over the past week." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mehdi Karrubi calls for investigation in letter to Rafsanjani posted on Web site .\nHe said he is willing to lead the investigation in a \"truthful, unbiased fashion\"\nKarrubi sites brutal beatings, torture and rapes of both men and women detained .\nMehdi Karrubi was one of the candidates in June's disputed presidential election ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: John Feehery worked as a staffer for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans in Congress. He is president of Feehery Group, a Washington-based advocacy firm that has represented clients including the News Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He formerly was a government relations executive vice president for the Motion Picture Association of America. John Feehery says Al Franken's victory gives liberal Democrats a dominant position in Washington . (CNN) -- The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate. After the Watergate scandal in 1974, Democrats trounced Republicans in the mid-term elections, getting 61 seats in the Senate and 291 in the House. In the Senate, they adjusted the rules to make it harder for Republicans to filibuster (reducing the magic number from 67 to 60 to invoke cloture, which ends debate). In the House, they passed all kinds of reforms to take power away from senior members and give it to junior members. And Congress mandated that the American people embrace the metric system. The metric system idea never really caught on, and although the pain of Watergate afflicted Republicans for another two elections, they eventually pulled themselves out of their deep hole, with some good ideas and a charismatic leader, who promised to restore America to greatness. Democrats have once again reached the magic number of 60, as Norm Coleman finally threw in the towel against the one-time joke writer for Saturday Night Live, Al Franken. Republicans have little reason to laugh, though, as they look at their diminished ranks and wonder how they have put themselves in such a weakened position. It was only four-and-a-half years ago that the GOP was on the top of the world, and some of their more smug strategists were confidently predicting a permanent Republican majority. This is a good time for such self-reflection. Republicans lost three top-notch senators in the last election -- Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith and John Sununu -- who lost not because they were bad senators, or because they had scandals, or because they had lost touch with constituents. All three lost because they were Republicans. In other words, the brand killed them. And if you look at the latest polls, the GOP brand hasn't gotten any better in the last six months. In fact, according to Gallup, even 38 percent of Republicans have a negative view of the Republican Party. But let's not throw in the towel yet, my Republican friends. Just as in the mid-1970s, when Democratic overreach led to a Republican resurgence, the house that Franken has built will inevitably collapse on its own leftward-self. A new Gallup poll shows that the American people are starting to catch on that Democrats are pushing the country to a place that it doesn't want to go. The poll \"finds a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being \"too liberal,\" from 39 percent to 46 percent. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party's losses in that year's midterm elections.\" It is no surprise that Americans would have that impression of Democrats in the White House and in Congress. When they passed a so-called stimulus bill that Republicans branded as pork-filled, they lost their credibility on fiscal responsibility. When the president assumed control over General Motors, dictated terms to Chrysler, and then refused to allow some banks to pay back their TARP loans, independent voters grew nervous about the government's stepped-up intervention in the private sector. And last week, when Democrats passed a climate change bill that Republicans insist will sharply raise energy prices for middle-class families, moderate Democrats started to jump ship. In fact, 44 Democrats defied intense pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and voted no. Democrats are now making plans to intervene in the health care marketplace, with some liberals insisting on a government-run \"public option\" health insurer. In any event, many won't be satisfied until the government basically sets prices for health insurance and prescription drugs. The arrival of the man from Minnesota will make the Democrats move even more to the left. He will not only be one more vote for the left, but one more loud voice for liberal policies. Because of his celebrity status, he will attract media attention, and because of his philosophy, he will use that attention to move Democrats further left. When Franken first started in politics, he did so as the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh. Imagine if Rush were the 60th vote for Republicans, with George Bush as president. Now, think how Franken will act as the 60th vote for President Obama. Yes, Democrats will move left by more than a few kilometers, but they will do so at their own peril. Another poll showed that while 40 percent of Americans identify themselves as conservative, only 21 percent think of themselves as liberal. The American people voted for change. They didn't vote for a liberal orthodoxy that promises more government, higher taxes, slower growth, more pork and a liberal social agenda. In 1975, the newly dominant Democratic Congress sent President Gerald Ford a bill that declared that America was going to be metric, which he signed. When Jimmy Carter became president two years later, he signed a law that told Americans that they couldn't drive faster than 55 mph. These measures made perfect sense to the liberal sensibilities of the time. But they didn't make sense to the American people, and are symbols of a philosophy that was out of touch with the people in the 1970s and is still out of touch with the lives of most Americans today. Most Americans still don't use the metric system, and most certainly don't stick to the 55 mile an hour speed limit on the highways of America. And while they may still like Barack Obama and still laugh at jokes written by Al Franken, they will eventually grow weary of the newly dominant liberals who now run Washington. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Feehery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Feehery: With Franken as 60th vote in Senate, liberals dominant in D.C.\nHe says liberal control in 1970s led to bill to convert U.S. to metric system .\nFeehery says Democrats are overreaching and will lose public's support .\nHe says voters wanted change but not bigger government ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Officials warned Wednesday that the bridge linking the California cities of San Francisco and Oakland will likely remain closed Thursday morning, promising more delays for Bay Area commuters. That work is intended to dampen vibration on the structure. Vibration may have played a role in causing pieces of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to fall Tuesday night from the span onto the roadway, resulting in its closure. The 73-year-old bridge spans the San Francisco Bay and carries an average 280,000 vehicles daily, according to the state's Transportation Department. \"Right now, we do not have a time when the bridge will potentially open,\" said Bart Ney, a spokesman for California Department of Transportation. \"The work has to be completed first.\" Once the new steel is in place and the rods have been made tense, at least three hours of testing will be carried out before the bridge will reopen to vehicular traffic, Ney said, refusing to speculate on when that might occur. \"The first thing that I would say to motorists is that you need to be at this point planning other routes over the next day or so,\" he said. The Federal Highway Administration and the Seismic Peer Review Board are scrutinizing the repair plans, he said. Wednesday's commute was a horror show for many. \"My wife actually drives over to the peninsula; she says it's taken her two hours to get to work so far and she's not there yet,\" commuter Seth Carp told CNN affiliate KTVU as he prepared to board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train. \"I tried to take the Golden Gate Bridge,\" said a woman who identified herself only as Yemi. \"It was a big mistake.\" She gave up and wound up taking BART. \"It was back-to-back bumper, there were rows of cars everywhere,\" said Christina Chou, who lives in Foster City near the San Mateo Bridge, which served as an alternate route for many. \"It was just horrible.\" Ridership increased on ferries, too, with some people finding a silver lining to the snafu. \"I have been looking for an opportunity to go across the bay in the ferry,\" said Jack Pierce of Oakland. \"I'm sorry the cable parted, but I am glad to get the opportunity.\" Ney said wind gusts of up to 50 mph slowed repair efforts on Tuesday, but the winds had diminished by Wednesday evening. Winds increased vibration by the rods that were fatigued and ultimately failed, he said. \"It was a contributing factor, but not necessarily the only factor, and we are analyzing what the factors are right now,\" he said. Travelers flocked to BART, which ran longer trains and extra trains. The rail line was on track to exceed its peak ridership of 405,000 in a single day, said BART spokesman Linton Johnson. Were you there? Send photos and video . \"We have called in extra personnel to help us make sure we operate with every available train car we have in order to provide as much capacity as possible,\" said BART's assistant general manager of operations, Paul Oversier. Amtrak was running a shuttle between the San Francisco and Martinez stations for Coast Starlight and California Zephyr passengers. The pieces that fell -- a cross beam and tie rods -- came from the same section that was repaired in September over Labor Day weekend, when crews worked almost around the clock to fix a crack in the span. A 50-foot section of the bridge collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake, killing one person and prompting efforts to make it quake-tolerant. The whole Bay Bridge is slated to be replaced in 2013, said Patrick Siegman, a transportation planner at Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates, a national transportation planning firm based in San Francisco. The bridge is \"really showing its age,\" he said. \"It's kind of a race against time to finish the new bridge before the next quake hits.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge closes after parts of it fall to roadway .\nRepair work ongoing, but there's no word when bridge will reopen .\nTravelers flock to public transit, including trains and ferries .\nRepairs aim to stop vibration, which may have caused the problem ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday the United States and its allies must have patience if his country is not ready to assume control of its own security by July 2011, when U.S. troops would begin leaving under President Obama's plan. Karzai spoke to CNN's \"Amanpour\" program in his first television interview since Obama's announcement last week that he will deploy an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Obama also said the U.S. forces would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011. The date was not \"an exit announcement,\" but instead a goal for Afghan forces to be able to start assuming security control from U.S.-led allied forces, Karzai said in the interview. \"We will try our best as the Afghan people to do it the soonest possible,\" Karzai said. \"But the international community must have also the patience with us and the realization of the realities in Afghanistan. If it takes longer, then they must be with us.\" Karzai also offered his own timeline goal, saying Afghanistan wants to be able to assume security control in some parts of the country in two years, and to lead security for the entire country by the end of his five-year term, which just started after his recent re-election. \"We as Afghans will try our very best to reach that goal, and we hope our allies will back us to reach that goal,\" Karzai said. Later Sunday, Obama's national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones, told CNN's \"State of the Union\" that the July 2011 date was \"not a cliff\" for U.S. withdrawal, but instead the start of a gradual slope for turning over security responsibility to Afghanistan. Obama \"has also said that we're not leaving Afghanistan,\" Jones noted, adding: \"We are here to make sure that Afghanistan succeeds.\" To prepare his country, Karzai said, he would do all he can to root out corruption and improve governance. He has fired corrupt officials already, he said, adding he is prepared to act against anyone proven to be breaking the law. However, he warned against other nations using the corruption as a political tool in making decisions about Afghanistan. And he said the United States and its allies also must halt practices that contribute to corruption from outside the country or create what he called \"parallel\" governance issues. The main objective for Afghanistan and its allies is to defeat terrorism and return peace to the nation, neighboring Pakistan and the region, Karzai said. That means training Afghan security forces, rebuilding the economy and other nation-building efforts, he said. \"I have fired people and I will be firing people,\" Karzai said. He seemed to laugh when he was played a video clip of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying the United States would bypass corrupt government officials if necessary. \"Afghanistan is a sovereign country, it has a sovereign government, it's not an occupied country,\" Karzai said, adding that a foreign power can't undermine or go around the government to deal with whomever it chooses. Top priorities on a \"long list\" of reforms include improving the rule of law, improving the judiciary, reducing bureaucracy that forces people to visit dozens of offices to get licenses, and other steps to make the government more transparent and simpler, Karzai said. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in interviews broadcast Sunday that Karzai still must prove he means what he says. \"The proof is in the pudding,\" Clinton said on the ABC program \"This Week.\" \"We're going to have to wait to see how it unfolds.\" U.S. assistance will be \"based on a certification of accountability and transparency,\" Clinton said on the CBS program \"Face the Nation,\" adding that \"certain ministries ... American money will not be going to.\" In his CNN interview, Karzai said his government would welcome Taliban supporters who had no ties to al Qaeda or other terrorist networks, renounced violence and pledged to support the constitution. Clinton told ABC's \"This Week\" that such reintegration might be possible with lower-level Taliban members, but not the hard-core leadership. \"We have no firm information whether any of those leaders would be at all interested in following that kind of a path,\" Clinton said. \"In fact, I'm highly skeptical that any of them would.\" Eradicating terrorist networks and helping Karzai's government defeat the Taliban insurgency are main goals of the U.S.-led mission. Approximately 1,000 U.S. Marines are expected to deploy this month as the first wave of the new deployment, military officials say. The Army may not deploy the first soldiers until at least March. Testifying before a congressional committee last week, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a \"significant\" number of troops will arrive in the spring and summer, with the final troops moving to Afghanistan by late summer or early fall. Meanwhile, the White House said Obama would meet with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, on Monday. Both are expected to testify before Congress this week. Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday that Britain, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and non-NATO member Georgia are among at least 25 countries offering to send a total of 7,000 additional troops. At present, there are 68,000 U.S. troops operating under both NATO and U.S. commands in Afghanistan, and around 42,000 non-U.S. forces under NATO." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: \"Proof is in the pudding\" on Afghan reform promises, Hillary Clinton says .\n\"We will try our best\" to be ready to take over security in 2011, Karzai says .\nPresident Obama has said U.S. troops will start leaving Afghanistan in 2011 .\nAfghan president says Obama timeline is a goal, not \"an exit announcement\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A Georgia man who spent a year in jail for nonpayment of child support -- despite the fact he has no children -- has been cleared of the debt, his attorney said Tuesday. Frank Hatley was ordered to make back payments even after he learned a teenager wasn't his son. Frank Hatley, 50, spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat dad before his release last month. A judge ordered him jailed in June 2008 for failing to support his \"son\" -- a child who DNA tests proved was not fathered by Hatley. Last week, Cook County Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins signed an order stating, \"defendant is no longer responsible for paying any amount of child support.\" The order permits the state's Office of Child Support Services to close its file on Hatley. \"We're satisfied with the result for Mr. Hatley, but still troubled by the state's monumental lapse of judgment in this case,\" attorney Sarah Geraghty with the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights told CNN in a written statement. Hatley did not immediately return a call from CNN Tuesday. His story dates back to 1986, when Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison, who gave birth to a son. According to court documents, Morrison told Hatley the child was his, but the two ended their relationship shortly after the child was born. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents said. When the child turned 2, Morrison applied for public support for the child. Under Georgia law, the state, can recoup the cost of the assistance from a child's non-custodial parent. For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning in 2000 that the boy might not be his. A DNA test that year confirmed the child was not fathered by Hatley, court documents said. He returned to court and was relieved of any future child support payments, but was ordered to pay more than $16,000 he owed the state before the ruling. Since 2000, Hatley paid that debt down to about $10,000, Geraghty said. Court documents showed he was jailed for six months in 2006 for falling behind on payments during a period of unemployment, but afterward he resumed making payments, continuing to do so even after he lost another job and became homeless in 2008. But last year he became unable to make the payments and was jailed. The argument for keeping Hatley liable for the back payments, according to the attorney who represented him in 2000, was that he signed a consent agreement with the Office of Child Support Services. The court agreed that Hatley had to comply with the consent agreement for the period he believed the child was his son, said attorney Latesha Bradley. But many, including Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey, didn't think Hatley's incarceration was fair, given that the child was not his. \"I knew the gentleman's plight and didn't know how to help him,\" Daughtrey told CNN last month. When the Southern Center for Human Rights visited the jail earlier this year, Daughtrey told them about Hatley's case. Hatley was released from jail last month after Perkins ruled he was indigent and should not be jailed for failing to make the payments. The Georgia Department of Human Services, which includes the Office of Child Support Services, plans to propose legislation in the next session of the state Legislature that would prevent similar situations in the future, said agency spokeswoman Dena Smith. Two things still remain to be cleared up for Hatley, Geraghty said -- lifting the child-support holds on his driver's license and his income tax. It remains unclear whether he will be reimbursed for the $6,000 in payments he made since 2000, she said -- so far, he has not been. Cook County, Georgia, is in the south-central part of the state, about 200 miles south of Atlanta." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Frank Hatley was jailed last year for falling behind on child support payments .\nHatley had paid for 13 years until he learned boy might not have been his .\nDNA test proved child wasn't Hatley's, but court still ordered back payment .\nThe south Georgia man is cleared from his debt, his attorney announces ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- South Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd seemed to suggest Wednesday that the time had come for GOP Gov. Mark Sanford to consider resigning from office. Gov. Mark Sanford has said it's better for him to keep his governorship to \"learn lessons.\" \"For the past two days, I have been speaking with Republican leaders across South Carolina,\" she said in a statement. \"There is clearly a growing view that the time may have come for Governor Sanford to remove himself and his family from the limelight, so that he can devote his efforts full-time to repairing the damage in his personal life.\" The statement comes on the same day as a growing number of GOP state senators called for Sanford to step down. CNN has learned that GOP Sens. Daniel Verdin, Shane Martin, Ronnie Cromer and Wes Hayes joined the anti-Sanford chorus Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of Republican senators calling for the governor's resignation to 13. There are 27 Republicans in the state Senate. Another state senator stopped just short of calling for Sanford to step down Wednesday. Glenn McConnell, Senate president pro tempore, didn't explicitly ask Sanford to resign, but he did ask him \"to do the right thing for himself, his family and our state.\" Sanford and his staff have said repeatedly this week that he will not resign. He wrote in a message to his political action committee e-mail list Monday that while he considered resigning, \"I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm.\" After returning last week from a secret trip to Argentina that his staff and wife didn't know about, Sanford admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman identified as Maria Belen Chapur. Sanford also told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he's \"crossed lines\" with other women, although Chapur was the only one he had sex with. Watch a report on Sanford's situation » . Sanford's support among legislators and grassroots leaders in the state eroded considerably Tuesday after Sanford told The Associated Press he had met with his mistress more times than he had previously disclosed. He also admitted to dalliances with other women. At least four county GOP chairmen have also called for Sanford to go. Glenn McCall, the York County Republican Party chairman who has been leading a grassroots effort against the governor, said Wednesday that he and other conservative activists are postponing a rally at the State House next week because legislators are starting to come out strongly against Sanford. The rally had been scheduled to pressure Senate and House leaders to call for Sanford's resignation and start an investigation into his activities. But now that officials are publicly coming out against the governor and Attorney General Henry McMaster has begun investigating Sanford's travel records, McCall said the rally may not be necessary. \"We are hoping that legislators can quietly, in private talks with the governor, ask him if he would please step down,\" McCall said. A top South Carolina Democrat also called for Sanford's resignation Wednesday. \"While I believe an investigation should still be done to determine the full extent of Mark Sanford's abuse of power, [through] his long stream of confessions he has already revealed enough immoral and reprehensible behavior to justify asking him to step [down],\" state Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said in a statement. \"State officials seem unable to do anything except worry and talk about Governor Sanford's extramarital affair, which we learn more about every few hours. \"... South Carolina can't afford to be at a standstill for the next 18 months with a governor who ignores his job responsibilities while pursuing personal interests,\" the statement said. \"Any other worker in South Carolina would be fired for not showing up at work with no notice.\" Late Tuesday, seven GOP senators, including Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, jointly issued a letter demanding that the governor step down because he has lost the trust of South Carolinians. \"The bottom line is that the Governor's private matters should remain private, but his deception and negligence make it impossible for us to trust him, and for him to govern in the future,\" they wrote. Peeler told CNN that Sanford \"has lost his ability to lead, and I'm afraid he has lost his ability to function as a man.\" \"He is sitting all alone in that big governor's mansion, totally alone,\" Peeler said. \"It's about leadership and moving forward and it's time for him to resign.\" Peeler issued the statement along with Sens. Hugh Leatherman, Paul Campbell, Thomas Alexander, Jake Knotts, Larry Martin and William O'Dell. Earlier Tuesday, two of Sanford's top conservative allies in the senate -- Larry Grooms and Kevin Bryant -- also said Sanford must go. The Greenville News, one of the largest papers in South Carolina, also issued a sharply worded editorial Wednesday telling Sanford to go. It wrote that Sanford has \"acted like a heart-sick school boy, and he's revealed facts that clearly demonstrate he is capable of exceptional deception, arrogance and narcissism.\" The State, of Columbia, South Carolina's largest paper, editorialized earlier that he should remain in office. Watch a reporter from The State comment on the situation » . The attorney general of South Carolina asked the State Law Enforcement Division to review Sanford's travel records after the governor admitted Tuesday to more visits with his mistress than previously disclosed. The review by law enforcement officials would be the first formal investigation into whether Sanford abused his power while carrying on his affair. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said he would not characterize the review as a criminal investigation. He told reporters on a conference call that law enforcement officials are reviewing documents from the governor's office going back to 2003, when Sanford came to power. He said the review should be concluded by the end of the week. Attorney General Henry McMaster, a Republican, had been reluctant to move forward with calls for an investigation into Sanford, saying he is wary of mixing legal matters with political score-settling from longtime Sanford opponents. However, an aide to McMaster told CNN on Tuesday that \"that all changed this morning when the governor disclosed additional trips that were not disclosed last week.\" Sanford said in a statement Tuesday that he's \"pleased that [the State Law Enforcement Division] will look into this matter.\" \"There's been a lot of speculation and innuendo on whether or not public moneys were used to advance my admitted unfaithfulness. To be very clear: no public money was ever used in connection with this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "GOP chairwoman suggests Sanford may have to step down .\n13 of South Carolina's 27 GOP state senators now calling on Sanford to resign .\nSouth Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman calls for Sanford's resignation .\nCounty GOP Party chair cancels anti-Sanford rally, says it may not be needed ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Despite his threats of \"consequences\" and the subsequent beatings and shooting deaths by government agents, the open protests on Iran's streets by hundreds of thousands of people have dented the shield of invincibility of Iran's Supreme religious Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, say sources in Iran. Riot police patrol a Tehran street earlier this week. Chants of \"Death to Khamenei\" broke a state-imposed, and a self-imposed absolute prohibition on criticizing a leader believed to be wielding the wisdom and authority of God himself. But right now, the massive network of Iran's intelligence agents, Revolutionary Guard, paramilitary Basij, and police of all sorts, are cracking down. Sources say they are also going house to house, through email accounts and web postings, through cell phone calls and SMS text messages (when the system is allowed to stay up) and even to taxi agencies whose drivers hoisted Mir Hossein Moussavi posters during the election campaign. They are rounding people up and, as it was chillingly put to me, in Iran's prisons \"we have room for all of them.\" In addition protestors are being paraded \"confessing and repenting\" on Iranian state TV. The government also claims to be arresting \"foreign agents\" accused of stirring up the protests. Sources say the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), aligned with Ayatollah Khamenei, plucked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from total obscurity as presidential candidate in 2005, in order to hold the line against \"reform\" in the country after eight years of the reformist president Mohammad Khatami. Sources in the Iranian government and well-placed analysts inside the country Say the IRGC has taken up influential positions in many major sectors of Iranian society, such as the oil industry, finance, transport, construction and other businesses and politics. Iran has been \"increasingly radicalized over the last four years,\" one told me. While there are divisions within the clerical establishment and in parliament, sources tell me that for now that does not threaten the ruling establishment. I was told the weekend arrests of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter and other relatives, and their swift release, were a warning to Rafsanjani, who backed Moussavi in the election. So far the powerful mullahs, monitoring it all from the holy city of Qom, are mostly quiet. And finally, for now, while Moussavi has startled the system with his willingness to press the election case, he is also considered, at this moment, no Ayatollah Khomeini. Nowhere near as charismatic and powerful as the leader of the successful revolution in 1979. Sources say Moussavi is not formally arrested or under house arrest. However his movements and words are \"controlled\" by security and intelligence officials. So in effect there is no visible leader for the street protesters today -- unlike 1979, when Khomeini led from exile. Sources say all this could change if mass demonstrations hit the streets and simply remain there all over the country, if the security forces refuse to expand the crackdown, or if people go on nationwide strike, like they did in 1978-79. As long as the streets and squares remain blanketed by security, they are mostly clear of protesters. Right now, chants of Allahu-Akbar still resound from the rooftops at night. Although residents say they seem to be dying down in some neighborhoods. Even the honking horns and flashing headlights are fading from the traffic. At this moment, however, it is impossible to know how this contest of wills -- and powers -- will play out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amanpour: Ayatollah's credibility dented by huge street protests in Iran .\nSources say security forces are monitoring activists' emails, SMS messages .\nIran: Intelligence officials could lose their control in face of mass protests ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "ARNOLD, Missouri (CNN) -- On his 100th day in office, President Obama said Wednesday that he was \"pleased with the progress we've made but not satisfied.\" Obama marked his 100th day in office Wednesday with a town hall meeting and later a news conference. \"I've come back to report to you, the American people, that we have begun to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and we've begun the work of remaking America,\" the president said at a town hall meeting in a high school gymnasium in Arnold, a St. Louis suburb. \"I'm confident in the future, but not I'm not content with the present,\" he said. \"You know the progress comes from hard choices and hard work, not miracles. I'm not a miracle worker,\" he said. Obama acknowledged challenges of \"unprecedented size and scope,\" including the recession. These challenges, he said, could not be met with \"half measures.\" \"They demand action that is bold and sustained. They call on us to clear away the wreckage of a painful recession, But also, at the same time, lay the building blocks for a new prosperity. And that's the work that we've begun over these first 100 days,\" he said. He responded to critics who say he is trying to do too much as he works to address the recession as well as health care, energy and education. \"There's no mystery to what we've done; the priorities that we've acted upon were the things that we said we'd do during the campaign,\" he said, prompting loud applause. The president made an opening statement that lasted about 20 minutes before taking questions from the audience. The last question was from a fourth-grade girl who asked about the administration's environmental policies. Later Wednesday, Obama will hold a prime-time news conference in the East Room of the White House. Leading up to the date, White House aides had labeled the 100th day as a \"Hallmark\" holiday. \"They don't mean anything,\" quipped one aide, \"but you have to observe them.\" More than six in 10 Americans approve of the job Obama is doing as president, a recent poll of polls shows. According to a CNN Poll of Polls compiled early Wednesday, 63 percent say they approve of how Obama is handling his duties. CNN's Ed Henry contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We've begun the work of remaking America,\" he says in Missouri .\nObama warns that progress comes from \"hard work, not miracles\"\nHe will hold a prime-time news conference later Wednesday ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- With the 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa next year CNN takes a look at one of the greatest talents South African football has ever produced, Jomo Sono. Jomo Sono's international career never took off because of South Africa's exclusion from world football. Matsilela Ephraim Sono was born in 1955 in Soweto, but his career as an international player never got off the ground as South Africa were officially expelled by world governing body FIFA in 1976 during the apartheid regime in the country. The Black Prince, as he was known, made his mark as a player of legendary skill who was denied a world stage through circumstances beyond his control. Sono was a midfield general and renowned for his dribbling and accurate passing -- but it is difficult to say how he would have faired against the best players in the world as he was not given the opportunity. Watch CNN's interview with Sono. \"He was one of the first South Africans to play overseas where he played for the New York Cosmos alongside Pele,\" South African football writer Mo Allie told CNN. \"He played at a time when South Africa was internationally isolated so there was no opportunity for players to showcase their skills to the world. \"But he was fortunate in that he got the opportunity to go to the U.S. and he did very well there, playing alongside greats such as Pele.\" After accomplishing everything that he set out to do at home club Orlando Pirates, Sono starred for the New York Cosmos, Colorado Caribous and Toronto Blizzard in the United States. On his return to South Africa after his retirement, Sono bought the Highlands Park Club in Johannesburg in 1982 and renamed it Jomo Cosmos in honor of his old team in New York, before becoming coach of the South African national side. \"So many of today's South African players would have heard a lot about Jomo Sono but many wouldn't have seen him in action apart from a few snippets of TV highlights,\" Allie added. \"They will identify more with him as a coach because he led the national side in the 1998 African Cup of Nations and took them to the 2002 World Cup finals.\" Sono has proved to be as astute off the pitch as he was on it and has become a successful businessman, owning a number of companies around Johannesburg. And the current South African squad will be looking to carry on his footballing legacy when they attempt to become the first African team to win the World Cup next year." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jomo Sono is one of the greatest footballers South Africa has ever produced .\nSono's international career never took off because of South Africa's exclusion .\nHe was major success at Orlando Pirates before playing in the United States .\nSono also coached South African national side to the 2002 World Cup finals ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American U2 reconnaissance planes have been flying over the Turkey-Iraq border to observe military movements, said three U.S. military sources Wednesday. A Turkish army convoy heads toward the Turkey-Iraq border on Monday. Word of the flights comes a day before top-level meetings between U.S. and Turkish government officials and prior to a regional conference aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and Kurdish rebels across Turkey's border with Iraq. Turkey -- which shares its Incirlik air base with U.S. forces -- is a key member of NATO and acts as a vital conduit for U.S. military supplies. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed Wednesday that U.S. military and intelligence communities are sharing information with Turkey to help them fight members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who have made cross-border attacks. See location of key U.S.-Turkish air base » . \"We are assisting by supplying them, the Turks, with intelligence, lots of intelligence,\" said Morrell. \"There has been an increased level\" of intelligence sharing. Turkey has urged Washington to offer more support against the rebels and Ankara has threatened to launch a full-scale offensive if Iraqi and Kurdish officials fail to neutralize the PKK. U.S. and Iraqi diplomats have been working to restrain Turkey from such a response. Recent limited fighting in southeastern Turkey has spilled into northern Iraq. During operations near the border on Monday, Turkish forces fired on suspected rebel positions. Watch Turkish helicopters fire on rebels » . On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to meet with Turkish officials in Ankara and President Bush holds talks in Washington with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Also, a conference of regional officials, including Iraq, is scheduled Thursday and Friday in Istanbul. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has joined efforts to ease cross-border tensions. Mottaki met in Iraq Wednesday with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Mottaki's involvement prompted him to delay a scheduled visit to Lebanon, according to Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency, which quoted Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Sheibani. Iran's foreign minister is offering his \"full support\" to the regional conference in Istanbul, said a statement from al-Maliki's office. The statement also said Mottaki wants to help \"solve the border crisis between Turkey and the PKK.\" Earlier this month, proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress prompted Turkey to threaten to restrict U.S. access to Turkish airspace or cut off access to the air base at Incirlik. Some lawmakers wanted a vote on legislation that would have officially declared that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in World War I was \"genocide.\" Turkey recalled its ambassador to the United States and warned of repercussions in the growing dispute. Sponsors of the congressional resolution have asked for a delay in the vote. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Increased level\" of intelligence sharing with Turkey, says Pentagon .\nU2s observing military movements amid tensions between Turks, Kurd rebels .\nTurkey has threatened full-scale attack on rebels; U.S. relies on Turk air base .\nBush, Rice to meet with Turk officials; Iranian diplomat meets with Iraqi PM ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday that the United States \"will never turn our back\" on Afghanistan. Gates, who is on an unannounced visit in the war zone, held a joint news conference with Karzai. \"President Obama is sending 30,000 more U.S. troops, the first of which are scheduled to arrive within days,\" Gates said. \"Afghanistan's international partners have pledged at least 7,000 additional troops; when all is said and done, some 43 nations will make up a force.\" Gates also was scheduled to meet with Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, as well as American military officials. Karzai has asked for patience as his nation struggles to take control of its own security. \"A number of years Afghanistan will not be able to sustain our force with our own resources, \" Karzai told reporters. \"We hope the international community and the U.S. will help Afghanistan reach the ability to sustain our force with numbers and equipment.\" Obama has said that U.S. forces will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011 -- at which point international troops would begin to turn over security responsibility to Afghan forces. Gates spoke about the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan on Tuesday. \"Our relationship with Afghanistan is a long-term commitment,\" Gates said. \"As security improves our relationship grows ... especially with economic and political development. As President Obama said, we will never turn our back on the region.\" Karzai also offered his own timeline goal, saying Afghanistan wants to be able to assume security control in some parts of the country in two years, and to lead security for the entire country by the end of his five-year term, which just started after his recent re-election. \"We as Afghans will try our very best to reach that goal, and we hope our allies will back us to reach that goal,\" Karzai said. Building and developing Afghan security forces will be a continuing challenge, Gates said, and is an effort that has involved some trial and error. \"One of the eye-openers for us was learning that the Taliban for the most part are better paid than the Afghan security forces, so that's something that we and the Afghans have already taken steps to correct,\" Gates told reporters on the way to Afghanistan. \"I think, frankly, that's the biggest obstacle.\" The Afghan president is under intense pressure to clean up government corruption, a task he said is under way. \"I have fired people and I will be firing people,\" Karzai said. Some of those changes will become known when Karzai announces his new Cabinet. The Afghan president said at the news conference with Gates that he would try to get a list to parliament by the middle of next week. Karzai was originally expected to submit the list on Tuesday." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NEW: U.S. relationship with Afghanistan \"a long-term commitment,\" Robert Gates says .\nNEW: U.S. defense secretary meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul .\nKarzai sets his own timeline goal for security handover in Afghanistan .\nGates acknowledges Taliban \"for most part\" better paid than Afghan security forces ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Airline pilots and cabin crew across Europe are holding demonstrations Monday to protest over rules governing their flying hours which they say are putting the lives of passengers at risk. European pilots and cabin crew are calling for shorter flying times to protect passenger safety. Organized by the European Cockpit Association (ECA), and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), protesters are demanding that European Union rules on flying times are brought into line with scientific evidence. The Moebus Report -- mandated by the EU in September 2008 -- recommends that an airline crew should not operate for more than 13 hours during the day and 10 hours at night. Current EU rules stipulate pilots work up to a maximum of 14 hours during the day and nearly 12 hours at night. Are you concerned at the hours worked by airline pilots? Tell us. Speaking from one of the protests outside the European Parliament in Brussels, Captain Martin Chalk, President of the ECA told CNN: \"At the moment, the EU level is not adequate. That's not our view that is the view of experts employed to review the EU's own level of protection.\" Chalk said that despite being in possession of the report, the EU completely ignored the recommendations when they produced new fatigue proposals in January 2009. The ECA and the ETF have printed over 100,000 dummy airline tickets which they will hand out to airline passengers. The tickets contain cigarette-style warnings giving details on crew fatigue and an explanation as to why the EU current legislation needs to be changed. \"All we are trying to do at this stage is raise public's awareness. We're not trying to get in anyone's way,\" Chalk said. Hundreds of protesters are attending events taking place at 22 airports across Europe. 400 ECA members are expected to attend the protests at Madrid airport. \"What we are saying today is that they need to listen to the safety review,\" Chalk said. \"It was conducted by the best scientists in this field in Europe. It was commissioned by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and therefore it should not be ignored when writing the rules.\" Francois Ballestero, Political Secretary of the ETF echoed Chalk's concerns. \"Flight safety is the core mission of every cabin crew member. But EU law is insufficient to ensure that air crew can perform their safety role in an alert and effective way,\" he said. But the EASA were critical of the protests and their timing. \"This is jumping the gun. It is not a constructive contribution to a debate which is yet to happen,\" Daniel Hoeltgen, EASA communications director told CNN. Hoeltgen believes that the pilots are simply setting up stall for an industrial debate between the unions and the airlines. \"It's got nothing to do with safety regulations. We have made it clear that we will invite the unions and the airlines to take part in a review of the current rules and the timeframe for that has been made clear.\" The current law in Europe on air crew fatigue is set at two different levels. There is a minimum level set by EU and then there is a level set by individual countries that can be better than that minimum level. In 2012 the EU level is due to come into force. \"There needs to be a change in the law to protect passengers and our members from the insidious effects of airport fatigue,\" Chalk said. The ECA represents over 38,000 pilots and flight engineers in 36 European countries." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hundreds of pilots across Europe are protesting about flying hours and safety .\nPilots argue the EU is ignoring scientific evidence which says hours are too long .\nDemonstrators to hand out dummy airline tickets with a list of their complaints ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- A third beluga whale belonging to the world's largest aquarium has died, the Georgia Aquarium announced late Monday. The exact cause of Nico's sudden death on Saturday is inconclusive from the initial necropsy or animal autopsy. The Georgia Aquarium hopes to find out more information in the months ahead from a more detailed necropsy. \"As we work with and care for the many animals at the Georgia Aquarium, we become attached emotionally,\" said Dr. Gregory D. Bossart, chief veterinary officer at the aquarium. \"The loss is not unlike that of faithful dog or special horse that has been a part your life for years.\" Nico died at Sea World in San Antonio, where he and two other beluga whales had been moved temporarily while the Georgia Aquarium is undergoing renovation. Nico was scheduled to return home to Atlanta next month with companions Maris and Natasha. Nico arrived in Atlanta with Gaspar, two whales obtained from a park in Mexico. Both animals suffered \"significant health issues\" from their times in a foreign park and were essentially \"living on borrowed time,\" said Bossart, who had been caring for the two whales as far as nine years ago, while they were still in Mexico. \"We rescued Nico knowing that he had health issues due to his prior home, but we were confident that we could provide a better quality of life for his final years,\" Bossart said. Gaspar was suffering from a bone disease contracted before arriving at the downtown Atlanta aquarium and was euthanized in January 2007. Another beluga whale, Marina, died 11 months later from complications of old age. Beluga whales or white whales, whose name is derived from a Russian word meaning white, typically live in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions including Canada, Russia, Greenland and the U.S. state of Alaska. They can live up to 35 years. The belugas are not the only high-profile deaths at the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in late 2005. A pair of whale sharks have also died at the eight-million-gallon facility, the only one outside Asia to display the giant fish. CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After autopsy, the cause of Nico's sudden death Saturday is inconclusive .\nNico died at Sea World in San Antonio, where he was kept temporarily .\nThe Georgia Aquarium is undergoing renovations, which is why Nico was moved ." } ]

[ { "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) -- In her first television interview since Mel Gibson went public with their relationship in April, his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, made it clear to CNN: \"I'd like to be known for my music.\" Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson are expecting a child this year. Still, the 39-year-old singer was willing to talk about her beau and her pregnancy, as well as her new album, \"Beautiful Heartache.\" \"Beautiful Heartache\" was released to iTunes on July 23 by Icon Distribution, Gibson's company, which up until now has handled only soundtracks for his movies. \"He's an incredible artist,\" Grigorieva said. \"A visionary. He enabled me to produce this album, for my music to live.\" The Oscar-winning (\"Braveheart\") filmmaker also directed four music videos for Grigorieva during a whirlwind week in Mexico. Watch Grigorieva talk about Gibson, love » . \"They're like dramatic miniature films -- a whirlpool of different, exciting, bright images. That's quite rare,\" she said. The music videos and music are available on her Web site, www.oksana.fm. Grigorieva has a background in music. She said she was classically trained as a pianist in her native Russia, and both her parents are musicians. In 2006, a song she penned called \"Un Dia Llegara\" was recorded by Josh Groban for his album \"Awake.\" Though she describes her album as being about \"different facets of love,\" she cautions that listeners shouldn't overthink the lyrics. \"This album is not autobiographical -- maybe only partially so. It's not a diary.\" Gibson, 53, and his wife of nearly 30 years, Robyn, filed for divorce in April. The two have seven children. Grigorieva and Gibson were first photographed together on the set of his movie \"Edge of Darkness,\" according to People magazine. Grigorieva is pregnant with Gibson's child and is to give birth this year. She said the couple has opted not to learn the sex of the child. It will be her second child, after Alexander, her 12-year-old son with actor Timothy Dalton. \"I'm already buying things in gender-neutral colors. It's very cute,\" she chuckled. Alexander, she added, is excited about having a sibling. \"He's like a little man, protecting me. He's looking forward to it very much.\" Grigorieva says she and Gibson have no immediate plans for marriage. \"We don't know yet. We haven't really talked about it,\" she admitted. She acknowledged that her relationship with Gibson has given her a unique opportunity to present her skills. \"If you think about it, every talent needs a serious push and help from somebody who is stronger, because it's pretty much impossible for anybody to succeed in this industry. So I've become very lucky, and I'm very grateful,\" she said. \"You don't control the situations or the people you meet. I did not plan this. I'm just doing what I've always been doing. It's not like I've changed my goals at all.\" In the meantime, Grigorieva is adapting to life in the public eye. \"It hasn't been too bad, actually. There was a period of time where it was a little bit difficult, but now it's much better,\" she said. Before embarking on limited press for the new album, Gibson did offer a few words of advice, she added: \"Just be myself and speak the truth. What I most like to talk about is my music and 'Beautiful Heartache.' And that's pretty much it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson have been a couple for at least a year .\nGrigorieva has a new album, \"Beautiful Heartache\"\nSinger is pregnant with Gibson's child, describes Gibson as \"a visionary\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "CAVITE CITY, Philippines (CNN) -- At 16, Rhandolf Fajardo reflects on his former life as a gang member. Efren Peñaflorida's Dynamic Teen Company offers Filipino youth an alternative to gangs through education. \"My gang mates were the most influential thing in my life,\" says Fajardo, who joined a gang when he was in sixth grade. \"We were pressured to join.\" He's not alone. In the Philippines, teenage membership in urban gangs has surged to an estimated 130,000 in the past 10 years, according to the Preda Foundation, a local human rights charity. \"I thought I'd get stuck in that situation and that my life would never improve,\" recalls Fajardo. \"I would probably be in jail right now, most likely a drug addict -- if I hadn't met Efren.\" Efren Peñaflorida, 28, also was bullied by gangs in high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year . \"Gang members are groomed in the slums as early as 9 years old,\" says Peñaflorida. \"They are all victims of poverty.\" For the past 12 years, Peñaflorida and his team of teen volunteers have taught basic reading and writing to children living on the streets. Their main tool: A pushcart classroom. Stocked with books, pens, tables and chairs, his Dynamic Teen Company recreates a school setting in unconventional locations such as the cemetery and municipal trash dump. Peñaflorida knows firsthand the adversity faced by these children. Born into a poor family, he lived in a shanty near the city dump site. But he says he refused to allow his circumstances to define his future. \"Instead of being discouraged, I promised myself that I would pursue education,\" he recalls. \"I will strive hard; I will do my best.\" In high school, Peñaflorida faced a new set of challenges. Gang activity was rampant; they terrorized the student body, vandalized the school and inducted members by forcing them to rape young girls, he says. \"I felt the social discrimination. I was afraid to walk down the street.\" Peñaflorida remembers standing up to a gang leader, refusing to join his gang. That confrontation proved fateful. At 16, he and his friends \"got the idea to divert teenagers like us to be productive,\" he says. He created the Dynamic Teen Company to offer his classmates an outlet to lift up themselves and their community. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved. \"They need education to be successful in life. It's just giving them what others gave to me,\" he says. Today, children ranging from ages 2 to 14 flock to the pushcart every Saturday to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and English from Peñaflorida and his trained teen volunteers. Watch Peñaflorida and his group in action with their push cart classroom » . \"Our volunteers serve as an inspiration to other children,\" he says. The group also runs a hygiene clinic, where children can get a bath and learn how to brush their teeth. Since 1997, an estimated 10,000 members have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle. Take a look at the slums where Peñaflorida and his group spend their Saturdays » . Through his group, Peñaflorida has successfully mentored former gang members, addicts and dropouts, seeing potential where others see problems. \"Before, I really didn't care for my life,\" says Michael Advincula, who started doing drugs when he was 7. \"But then Efren patiently dug me from where I was buried. It was Efren who pushed me to get my life together.\" Watch Advincula describe how he met Peñaflorida in the slums » . Today, Advincula is a senior in high school and one of the group's volunteers. Peñaflorida hopes to expand the pushcart to other areas, giving more children the chance to learn and stay out of gangs. \"I always tell my volunteers that you are the change that you dream and I am the change that I dream. And collectively we are the change that this world needs to be.\" Want to get involved? Check out the Dynamic Teen Company and see how to help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Efren Peñaflorida was bullied by gangs in high school in the Philippines .\nNow his Dynamic Teen Company offers an alternative to gangs through education .\nSince 1997, some 10,000 members have taught more than 1,500 children in slums .\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": "(InStyle.com) -- Michelle Obama dazzled on the dance floor Tuesday night at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington, wearing an elegant, one-shouldered ivory gown created for her by 26-year-old designer, Jason Wu. First lady Michelle Obama dazzled in a Jason Wu original gown. The one-of-a-kind silk chiffon confection was embellished with organza rosettes, Swarovski crystal rhinestones and silver embroidery. The first lady accessorized with diamond chandelier earrings, a white gold and diamond ring and a stack of diamond bangles by jeweler Loree Rodkin. The president summed up his wife's look best before their first dance -- to Beyoncé's rendition of \"At Last\" -- when he said, \"First of all, how good-looking is my wife?\" Michelle Obama has worn Wu once before, during an interview with Barbara Walters. Wu, one of America's leading young designers, debuted his first collection in February 2006 and has since earned accolades such as Fashion Group International's Rising Star Award. Watch InStyle.com's Joe Berean discuss the gown » . Obama was likely introduced to the designer in one of her favorite Chicago, Illinois, boutiques, Ikram. The new first lady has made a conscious effort to support young, diverse talent in the fashion community. In choosing Wu, who is originally from Taiwan, Obama continues a tradition of wearing American designers who hail from other countries. They include Cuban-American designers Isabel Toledo, who designed her yellow lace inauguration ensemble; Narciso Rodriguez, designer of the red and black dress she wore on election night; and designer Thakoon Panichgul, originally from Thailand, who designed the floral dress she wore the evening her husband accepted the Democratic nomination for president. Michelle Obama's style statement is one meant to inspire ethnic and class diversity in the world of fashion. Aside from being a socially conscious purveyor of style, Obama also sends a clear message of hope and promise by choosing colorful, reasonably priced pieces. Watch the Obamas enjoy the night » . She prefers bright, cheerful shades such as yellow, electric blue, red and purple, and has been seen on multiple occasions in head-to-toe looks from moderately priced American retailer J.Crew. In fact, daughters Malia and Sasha braved Tuesday's chilly weather in coats from the brand's children's collection. Michelle Obama was first seen in J.Crew during a visit to the \"Tonight Show\" with Jay Leno on October 27. \"This is a J.Crew ensemble,\" she told the host. \"We ladies, we know J.Crew.\" The first lady also said she had a penchant for Internet shopping, saying, \"When you don't have time, you gotta click!\" Obama wore J.Crew again at the Kids' Inaugural Concert on Monday. She gave the colorful ensemble a luxe spin with dangling green sapphire earrings from Loree Rodkin and a Deco-inspired belt buckle. InStyle magazine Fashion Director Hal Rubenstein appreciates Obama's straightforward approach to fashion. \"People tend to think classic looks are synonymous with boring, but they're not,\" he explains. \"Michelle Obama has a specific style that works for her. She has a lady-like approach to style that is elegant and inspiring. \"What we'll see as a result is this idea of looking put-together and sophisticated, as opposed to being daring or flamboyant. It's all about looking polished, like you know what you're doing.\" Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2009 Time Inc. All rights reserved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "First lady's elegant, one-shouldered ivory gown created by 26-year-old Jason Wu .\nThe one-of-a-kind silk chiffon confection was embellished with organza rosettes .\nMichelle Obama has tradition of wearing American designers from other nations .\nHer time-saving shopping secret -- buying on the Internet ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Editor's note: Since 2007, CNN and CNN.com have followed the story of Youssif, an Iraqi boy disfigured when he was burned by attackers. Today, CNN's Arwa Damon catches up with the boy and his family, now living in California where Youssif is undergoing treatment. Today Youssif goes to school in California and continues to have treatment to help his scars. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Youssif stands on stage beaming as he belts out \"Jingle Bell Rock,\" his tiny burned hands waving in sync with his classmates at Hamlin Street School. His mother, Zaineb, stands at the back, cradling his little sister, Aya, tears rolling down her face. \"I am so proud of him,\" she says. \"It reminds me of what he was like in Iraq when he used to sing in kindergarten. I felt for a moment that none of this had happened. My son was back, without fear, strong.\" Youssif spots us, and waves wildly. Little appears to remain of the sullen and withdrawn dark-eyed boy we first met in Baghdad more than a year ago. It has been almost two years since masked men in Baghdad doused Youssif, then just 4 years old, in gasoline and set him on fire. His mother still doesn't sleep at night. \"I still blame myself. I should have protected him. Sometimes I say to myself that I wish it had happened to me, just not to him.\" Zaineb says, her voice starting to quiver. \"If only I hadn't let him go out to play that day.\" Today Youssif plays freely, without fear. \"Let's race\" he shouts to his friend Brandon as the two boys dash across the schoolyard. A couple of minutes later the two are playfully jostling over a rubber ball. Youssif shrieks and bursts into laughter as the two play catch. \"It's like this weight has been lifted off of me, off of him,\" his father, Wissam, says. \"It's like we've left this dark, depressing state where we were consumed by Youssif and the attack that had happened. You know, it's so hard to see a child, my child, go through something like this. When I see him like this, I feel like he's coming back.\" Watch more on Youssif's recovery » . After CNN and CNN.com first reported Youssif's story in 2007, more than 12,000 CNN.com users contributed to a fund set up by the Children's Burn Foundation of Sherman Oaks California, enabling the boy and his family to travel to the United States for treatment. Youssif has undergone more than a dozen surgeries. Much of the thick scar tissue around his eyes, mouth and nose -- left by his treatment in Baghdad -- has been removed. He currently has yet another tissue expander in his left cheek, intended to stretch out \"good skin\" to be used to replace his scar tissue. Youssif has grown used to the sometimes painful treatments. \"When I started this process of tissue expansion, I would have to chase him around the room,\" Dr. Peter Grossman, Youssif's surgeon, tells us as he injects more liquid into the expander. \"We'd need three people to hold him down for these injections.\" Youssif will probably have many more surgeries stretched out over time. \"The problem we have with Youssif is that every operation we do tends to heal well after surgery, but then a month after, he starts to form these really thick scars,\" Grossman said. \"It's probably best at this time to let his body relax, let these scars mature over a period of a year or two years.\" Today, Youssif grimaces in pain but braves it alone, refusing to take his father's hand. \"Seven or eight times put water,\" Youssif says back at home, explaining how the tissue expansion works. \"I am not scared. It goes here,\" he says pointing to the scarring over his lip. He's not all that interested in talking about medical procedures. \"When I sharpen this it broke,\" he says, trotting over with his new pencils. We all smile. \"You cut it like this\" he orders, handing me scissors and what is meant to be a snowman he's just drawn. A few moments later I am being berated for coloring \"wrong.\" \"Great, I am taking orders from a 6-year-old\" I think to myself, laughing. Keely Quinn with the Children's Burn Foundation comes by for an extra reading lesson. They are reading one of the \"Five Little Monkeys\" books, Youssif's favorite. By the time I join them on the couch, Youssif's got Dr. Seuss' \"Foot Book.\" \"What's the biggest change you've seen in him in the last year?\" I ask her. Youssif pipes up, reading, \"Small feet, big feet.\" \"Aside from reading and learning English,\" Keely says as we're both laughing. \"I think it's the change in confidence, in his ability to handle himself in social situations. He's worked really hard in saying good morning to his teachers, saying hello back, answering questions and just gaining social confidence.\" He's thriving at school, loving the first grade. \"He's amazing,\" his teacher Mario Daley says. \"I work with children of all levels of ability, and Youssif, with what he's gone through, his motivation, what he produces is fantastic. He just tries so hard.\" Before the attack, Zaineb says, Youssif wanted to be a doctor. Now he says \"I want to be a doctor to help burned Iraqi children.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Youssif continues to be treated in California for his burns, scars .\nHe is enrolled in school and learning English .\nMore surgeries lie ahead .\nBoy was doused with gasoline, set on fire by masked men in Baghdad ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Earlier this year, Matt Keller sat down with officials in Afghanistan -- not to discuss troop deployments, suicide bombings or opium traffickers. He was there to talk about getting laptop computers into the hands of little girls. Girls in India take a seat on the floor and get to work on their new laptops. As Taliban insurgents continue to crack down on girls who go to school and women who dare to teach them, Keller was awestruck by the Afghan government's determination to educate all children, even if it means finding tools that allow them to intellectually grow in the privacy of their own homes. \"For them to propose this was astounding,\" said Keller, who works for One Laptop per Child, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, nonprofit committed to creating and distributing affordable, durable and solar-powered laptops to the world's poorest children. \"That hunger for knowledge, that desire to learn, is pretty profound.\" From Uruguay, Haiti and Mexico to Mongolia, Ghana and the small Polynesian island of Niue, at least 750,000 kids -- a number that will double by June, Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said -- are tapping away on One Laptop per Child-produced XO laptop keyboards. They're exploring mathematics, composing music and art, learning new languages, designing animation, collecting data, collaborating with peers across borders and accessing learning tools (including textbooks) that they would never see otherwise. Targeting current and historic conflict zones, including Iraq, Rwanda and most recently the Gaza Strip, not only fulfills the group's mission to offer equal-access education to the most isolated children, it may also promote world peace, Keller said. By putting laptops \"into the hands of kids who would otherwise be indoctrinated,\" he explained, \"we can make the case pretty successfully that doing this is a long-term solution to root causes.\" When the laptops, which incorporate free wireless Internet connectivity and open-source programming, first rolled out in 2007, they cost $205 each. Now, they're down to $180. The price is higher than Negroponte's original goal of $100 a pop, but it's a figure he believes will keep going down as One Laptop per Child finds ways to engineer the product with fewer components. The hope is that with corporate sponsorships and donations, collected through a program called Give One Get One, the computers can be delivered to kids at no cost to the poorest host-country governments. The laptops allow students to engage in learning differently, enjoy a customized approach and hone critical thinking skills, explained David Cavallo, One Laptop per Child's vice president of learning. And their mere existence, he said, keeps kids coming to school. Cavallo spoke of a school in Rwanda that lacks electricity and traditionally had a 50 percent attendance rate. It is now drawing 1,000 more students than its previous full capacity, he said, and is even attracting kids -- who in turn are teaching their parents and grandparents -- on weekends. \"Rwanda is recovering from genocide,\" he said. This is a \"real engagement of a society directing itself to a different future.\" And the kids, no matter their previous exposure to technology, immediately gravitate to the machines. Keller, the group's director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, recalled a visit to rural Ethiopia. As he passed out the laptops, he kept one eye on the children, the other on his watch. Seven seconds was all it took for an 8-year-old boy to flip open the never-seen-before computer, find and then hit the power button. Within two weeks, that boy and his classmates would be programming. Meanwhile, the nearby adults stared at the oddball objects and flashed the international look of, \"What the hell is this thing?\" Keller said. \"Kids are technology natives, and adults are technology immigrants.\" Despite its ongoing successes, the downturn in the economy has taken a toll on the nonprofit. The last Give One Get One promotion brought in $2.5 million, while the first incarnation brought in $37.5 million, Negroponte said. And corporate sponsors fell from 11 to three in the span of 30 days, he added. Early this year, the organization laid off half of its staff, bringing the total on payroll to just 32. These economic realities, though disappointing, won't impede the mission, said Negroponte, who created One Laptop per Child with others from the MIT Media Lab. Thousands of volunteers around the world offer technical support and training, and serve as translators and programmers. \"If we could get all the children in the world -- 1.2 billion of them between 6 and 12 -- to have a connected laptop, that would be success,\" Negroponte said. \"Roughly half of those children have no electricity at home or school. The poverty is so extreme, and the environmental conditions are so extreme, we have to focus on them.\" The push has been to reach out to developing nations, but that hasn't precluded the group from serving American communities that can pursue the program at a scale that makes sense financially. Birmingham City Schools in Alabama, for example, now has 14,000 of the group's laptops in students' hands. Michael Wilson, principal of Glen Iris Elementary School in Birmingham, opened his building's doors last year as the district's pilot school for the free laptop program. \"It's been an overwhelming success at our school,\" which has a poverty rate of 83 percent, Wilson said. Through professional development and a summer camp for kids, the school is learning how to best utilize the computers. And the students, who own their laptops, are learning about responsibility. They're \"totally engaged in what they're doing,\" Wilson said. \"I have kids getting out of cars in the morning with their laptops open.\" One of those kids might be Amicah Bitten, a fourth-grader who is using the computer on her own time to learn Spanish with her mother, Kamonia Bates. \"It gets me more interested because she's interested. ... She doesn't put it down,\" said Bates, who used to take her daughter to the library when she needed a computer. \"I like it because people can learn stuff,\" Amicah, 9, said after school. \"You can listen to music. You can take pictures. You can also learn how to make different things. I can learn Spanish. I can learn French. I can learn how to use the keyboard. ... Yes ma'am, my laptop can do many things.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One Laptop per Child targets kids in poorest and most conflicted regions .\nLaptops can help girls learn in Afghanistan, where Taliban cracks down on schools .\n1.5 million laptops will be distributed by June, chairman says .\nEconomy may be a challenge, but goal to give equal access to all kids won't stop ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai bowed to Western pressure Tuesday, agreeing to take part in a presidential runoff vote in two weeks. Hamid Karzai failed to score a first round win in August's election. Karzai, who will face his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah in the November 7 second round, said he was putting his country's interests over his own. \"It was not important who the winner is, and we need to leave this to the people of Afghanistan to judge who the winner was,\" Karzai said at a news conference through an interpreter. \"Whether I am the winner or not, it's probably in my interest, but I prefer the national interest of Afghanistan over my personal interests.\" Western powers, particularly the United States, had been pushing Karzai to accept the final election results in order to ensure Afghanistan has a legitimate government, particularly as Washington considers beefing up its military presence there. Karzai spoke shortly after Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission certified the election results, which gave him less than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission had invalidated nearly a third of Karzai's votes from the August 20 presidential election because of \"clear and convincing evidence of fraud.\" Last month, final uncertified results showed Karzai with 54 percent. \"We welcome the decision made by the Independent Election Commission, we believe the session is legitimate, legal and according to the constitution of Afghanistan,\" Karzai said Tuesday. \"It's going to be a historic period that we all are waiting to go through.\" The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said that it would \"support the Afghan National Security Forces' preparations to ensure a safe runoff election.\" Spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said that ISAF had been preparing for a possible runoff election \"for some time.\" \"As in the election's first round, ISAF will only provide third-layer of security, reinforcing the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army in line with the security plan signed by the chairman of the Afghan Independent Election Commission along with representatives from the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Defense, and ISAF in 2008,\" Shanks said. Karzai's decision was immediately hailed by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, one of several Western representatives who appeared alongside the Afghan president at Tuesday's delayed news conference. Kerry, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Karzai's decision to participate in the runoff \"will allow the national leadership to govern with legitimacy.\" \"We believe with this decision by the president today that a time of enormous uncertainty has been transformed into a great opportunity,\" Kerry said. Watch President Karzai and Sen. John Kerry discuss runoff elections » . Minutes after the news conference concluded, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement praising Karzai for accepting the election results and agreeing to a second round of voting. \"While this election could have remained unresolved to the detriment of the country, President Karzai's constructive actions established an important precedent for Afghanistan's new democracy,\" Obama said. Obama is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan, and Kerry has said the results of the country's election should be settled before the United States makes any decision on troop levels. Watch Nic Robertson discuss pressure President Karzai is under » . Abdullah told CNN on Monday he was prepared to participate in a runoff, but said \"the door is open\" to other alternatives. \"There are some practical questions ahead,\" Abdullah told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, citing winter, the security situation \"and other realities on the ground.\" If the election were not held by early November, winter weather would make voting impossible in some areas and force a delay until spring of 2010, according to Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said Jawad. Such a delay, he warned, would be a \"recipe for disaster\" that would create confusion in Afghanistan and heighten tension between the United States and Karzai's government." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Afghan runoff election scheduled for November 7, officials say .\nRunoff follows probe into election fraud that invalidated thousands of votes .\nRunoff with pit Karzai against his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- \"All politics is local.\" That four-word statement, originally uttered by former Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill, is one of the favorite clichés of political pundits everywhere. But it's seldom respected when it matters most. Consider, for instance, the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District, which conservative Democrat Bill Owens won in spite of partisan and nonpartisan polling that had shown Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman with a solid lead. Almost overnight, Hoffman became a sort of folk hero among conservative activists around the country, a decidedly ordinary-looking man who seemed poised to take an extraordinary path into Washington. Some 95 percent of his fundraising came from outside the district. Hoffman, indeed, had some initial success. The original Republican nominee, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race after polling showed her trailing both Hoffman and Owens. But when push came to shove, Hoffman lost. Why? Because those activists -- however well-meaning they might have been -- misunderstood the district. The 23rd is a Republican district, but it is not a particularly conservative one, having split its vote between Barack Obama and the moderate Republican John McHugh last November. If Nancy Pelosi is regarded suspiciously in the 23rd, so are Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson, who cut commercials and robocalls on behalf of Hoffman. What the voters there wanted was a candidate who understood them. Owens -- superior to Hoffman in his command of local issues -- provided the best approximation. Alternatively, consider the outcome in New Jersey, where Republican Chris Christie knocked off incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. This election is being touted as a referendum on Obama, who took a risk -- a bad one, indeed -- by campaigning on behalf of Corzine. But Obama was the least of Corzine's problems: Voters in Tuesday's election approved of Obama's performance 57 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polling. It was Corzine they didn't like; 27 percent of the voters who approved of Obama nevertheless found someone other than the Democratic incumbent to vote for. Corzine, for his part, ran a polarizing campaign; every time Christie's name appeared in one of his commercials, it came with a scarlet (R) -- for Republican -- attached. Republicans are not popular in New Jersey, but local issues drove the race. Whereas three-quarters of Corzine's voters cited a national issue -- health care or the economy -- as their primary reason for voting for him, two-thirds of Christie's picked a local one (property taxes and corruption). There is a much stronger case that national factors were in play in Virginia. The voters who turned out there Tuesday were more likely to have supported John McCain than Obama last year. Obama carried the state by 6 percentage points last year. But exit polls found that 51 percent of this year's voters in Virginia were people who had voted for McCain. Even a strong Democratic candidate would have struggled under the circumstances. But Democrats also made a mistake in thinking that Creigh Deeds, who hails from rural Bath County on the West Virginia border and wears his upbringing on his sleeve, would be the best candidate to represent them in the state. In many other states -- Ohio, say -- it's the rural, working-class vote that swings elections. But that's not the case in Virginia, which is one of the wealthiest and most suburban states in the country. There, suburban moderates such as Mark Warner tend to do better. Deeds might have been the right candidate -- but he was in the wrong state. State-level politics, indeed, routinely differ from national ones. That's why you have Democratic governors in red states such as Oklahoma and Wyoming, but Republican ones in blue states such as Vermont and Hawaii. That does not mean that local elections can't tell us anything about national trends -- the White House would be feeling better, certainly, if Democrats had won New Jersey, and likewise Republicans if they'd won NY-23. But usually the party that applies a one-size-fits-all approach to local races is the losing one. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nate Silver." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This year's elections more about local concerns than national ones, says Nate Silver .\nSpecial election in New York in a district that isn't particularly conservative, Silver says .\nNew Jersey voters rejected Gov. Jon Corzine for local reasons, Silver says .\nSilver: In Virginia, Democrats had candidate who didn't appeal statewide ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A restaurateur has gone to great lengths to tackle the spread of the H1N1 virus in his eatery, including taking staff's temperatures before they start work and preventing them from touching plates directly. Kitchen staff at Silk and Soya restaurant in Spain wear face masks and gloves while preparing food. Silk and Soya, a Thai-themed restaurant in Madrid, Spain, implemented the measures to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, in the upscale locale. \"We implemented these measures so that our employees would serve only food, not a virus,\" restaurant owner Cipri Quintas told CNN. As well as employees having their temperatures taken before starting their shifts, windows are opened to aerate the restaurant before meals. Each table is set at least one meter -- 3.2 feet -- from any other table. Any member of the kitchen staff involved in food preparation must wear a mask and gloves, and waiters are required to hold napkins when carrying plates to avoid touching them directly with their hands. Upon entering the elevators leading to the top-floor restaurant, customers find an automatic disinfectant gel dispenser. At each table, diners find a packet of gel next to their silverware. The restaurant's restroom doors are propped open, the lights turn on automatically and the faucets are hands-free -- measures intended to keep customers from having to touch surfaces after they've washed their hands. Similar initiatives are under way around the world. Last spring, during the peak of the scare in Mexico City, restaurants were closed for 12 days. When the restaurants reopened, the government ordered owners to put extra space between the tables and not to allow more than half of seats to be filled at any given time; cooks and waiters were mandated to wear surgical masks. The World Health Organization's Web site states that hand-washing is one of the best ways to prevent infection and provides instructions with drawings that can be printed and posted in public places, such as restaurants. Silk and Soya's Quintas started his anti-H1N1 measures in August and has already proved popular with some customers. Simona Savin, who was having lunch, told CNN, \"These are measures you don't see everywhere. Here you have everything. They are great because there's a need for hygiene.\" Another diner, swimming coach Fernando Barea, said, \"We came to the restaurant because we heard good things about it and I wanted to see these measures against the H1N1 flu. These measures should be used by other restaurants.\" Quintas predicted they soon will be. \"People from other businesses like hotels and theaters have called us asking, 'What have you done? Can we come see your setup?' There's been a big response,\" said Quintas. He insisted that his goal is not solely to garner publicity, but to protect his customers and staff -- a responsibility, he said, that the business community at large should undertake. One expert on the disease applauded the efforts and recommended they be broadened. \"They should implement them every winter against all respiratory diseases,\" said Dr. Tom Jefferson, a medical epidemiologist with the Cochrane Collaboration. The international organization reviews health care interventions and \"promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions,\" according to its Web site. As of September 13, the WHO had tallied more than 296,000 cases worldwide, 3,486 of them fatal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thai-themed restaurant in Madrid implements anti H1N1 flu measures .\nEmployees have their temperatures taken, windows are opened, gel provided .\nRestaurant owner says there is \"a big response\" from other owners ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Reality TV star Heidi Pratt was hospitalized Saturday in Costa Rica, her publicist confirmed. Heidi Pratt was taken to a hospital for an undisclosed illness, her publicist said Saturday. The details about Pratt's hospitalization were not immediately available. Pratt, star of MTV's \"The Hills,\" has been competing on NBC's \"I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here,\" a reality show about surviving the jungle. Pratt and her husband, Spencer, tried to quit the show earlier in the week, but later decided to return. \"We realized that we made a big mistake and that the devil got to us and said, 'Get out of the jungle,'\" Pratt said. \"We realized it's not even about us. \"It's about the charity, and it's about the experience here and we took that for granted,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Heidi Pratt was rushed to a hospital in Costa Rica for undisclosed illness .\nPratt is currently appearing on \"I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here\"\nPratt had blamed \"the devil\" for wanting to leave show earlier in week ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is the United States the \"greatest country on earth\"? You hear that a lot, or phrases like that, during this presidential campaign. Candidates may attack other candidates, or the sitting president, but they never attack the idea that America is special, a \"city upon a hill.\" \"The last, best hope of Earth.\" It's part of America's ideology and its tradition of political rhetoric. To many Americans' ears, it sounds normal. But to citizens of other countries it's sometimes jarring, as if Americans put their country ahead of any other, as if the United States thinks it has the right to tell the rest of the world what to do. We went to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. and asked visitors if they agree America \"knows best\" and the United States has an obligation to spread its values around the world. Almost everyone we talked with did not agree. Rachel Army, a teacher with a Washington, D.C. non-governmental organization, said: \"I have a lot of pride in our government however, at the same time, it is ours and I don't think that it is right to force it on other people.\" Jermane Bonilla, from Los Angeles, said he thinks the United States is a special country, \"the most powerful nation on earth and the most beautiful country on earth, in my mind.\" But, he told us \"it might not be the same model that everybody should be using.\" They're not the exception, it turns out. In their book, \"America Against the World,\" Pew Research Center President Andrew Kohut and journalist Bruce Stokes say it's more often U.S. leaders who want to impose American values in other countries -- not the American people. The authors analyzed international surveys of people around the globe going back to the 1980's as well as more than 100,000 interviews in 60 countries. Their conclusion? \"Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Americans' pride in their country is not evangelistic. The American people, as opposed to some of their leaders, seek no converts to their ideology.\" Citizens of many other countries, too, may think their national way of life is the best but, these authors say, \"they don't dominate the globe.\" Americans may not be that different from others but the differences that do exist are magnified, fueling resentment around the world. E-mail to a friend ." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"U.S.A. the special\" is a staple of political rhetoric .\nAuthors find citizens are proud but not evangelistic about the country .\nView is similar to citizens of other countries but it's magnified by U.S. power ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(Entertainment Weekly) -- \"Whip It!\" suggests what might have happened if Juno had gone to a high school as poky as Napoleon Dynamite's and decided that although her mother wanted her to be a beauty queen like Little Miss Sunshine, she'd rather just strap on roller skates. Ellen Page plays roller derby competitor Babe Ruthless in \"Whip It!\" Only here the petite, droll, feisty, Ellen Page-like heroine played by Ellen Page is named Bliss. And her idea of sass while chatting up a cute rocker (Landon Pigg) in this desexualized, slow-speed grrrl-power sports fantasy is \"I'm Bliss, but I could change that.\" Bliss does change her name, at least at the Roller Derby rink. She sneaks away from her square parents (Marcia Gay Harden as the U.S. Postal Service's least likely mail carrier and Daniel Stern as a nice schlub who likes beer) to roll with a sisterly Austin team who call themselves the Hurl Scouts. There, she dubs herself Babe Ruthless, making up in speed what she lacks in muscled aggression. She's heck on wheels, or so we are asked to believe: The rink footage is pretty un-whippy. Even Juliette Lewis, playing the film's designated bad girl and Bliss/Babe's nemesis on the rink, is more of a cute bee-yotch than a real threat. The movie is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut (she also plays fellow Hurl Scout Smashley Simpson), and it's clear she's more attuned to grrrlishness than real athletic power: Smashley is the first to scream ''Food fight!'' and the 34-year-old actress leads the charge in kidlike mayhem. EW Grade: C+ . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . Copyright 2009 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Whip It!\" marks Drew Barrymore's directorial debut .\nEllen Page plays woman who signs up for roller derby .\nFilm leans towards softness, which hurts impact of roller derby ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- There will be no criminal charges filed in the death of a Green Beret who was electrocuted in his quarters in Iraq last year, the Department of Defense said Friday. Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret, died in a shower at his base in Iraq in January 2008. The Army's 11-month investigation \"concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that any one person, persons or entity was criminally culpable\" in the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, the Department of Defense said in a written statement. Maseth, a 24-year-old decorated Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was electrocuted in a shower in his Baghdad quarters -- a former palace of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein -- in January 2008. \"The investigation revealed that there were numerous entities, individuals, both contractors and government employees, who breached their respective duties of care; however, none of those breaches, in and of themselves, were the proximate cause of his death,\" the Army said. A report released last month from the Pentagon's inspector general found that Maseth's death stemmed from failures both by the U.S. military and by military contractor KBR. The company did not properly ground and inspect electrical equipment, the inspector general's report found, while Maseth's commanders failed to ensure that renovations to the building where he was based had been properly done. The Army did not set electrical standards for jobs or contractors. KBR has said the palace was not properly grounded by contractors when it was built. The Pentagon report concluded that KBR failed to ground a water pump at the building, and the company did not report improperly grounded equipment during routine maintenance. Maseth's family is suing the company. After the Pentagon inspector general's report Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, called on the Pentagon last month to take back more than $83 million in bonuses paid to KBR. Casey said the Pentagon should fine KBR: \"Make it hurt and make it count.\" The Department of Defense said there were 18 reported deaths caused by electrocution in Iraq since the war began and that a task force designed to assess fire and electrical safety issues in Iraq was created \"after a series of electrical accidents and incidents.\" The task force has inspected more than 67,000 of the approximately 90,000 pieces of equipment and facilities in Iraq. Almost 14,000 deficiencies have been corrected, the department said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Army: Probe reveals \"numerous entities ... breached their respective duties\"\nPentagon report last month found failures by U.S. military and contractor KBR .\nFamily of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, is suing military contractor .\nDefense says nearly 14,000 deficiencies in gear and facilities have been fixed ." } ]

[ { "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) -- Actor Tim Roth is in an abandoned building near downtown Los Angeles, and he's about to mix things up. British actor Tim Roth plays a human lie detector on the hit series \"Lie to Me.\" \"This is a scene where the FBI is interrogating a suspect,\" Roth said. \"I'm breaking into the interrogation to get information out of him using the sort of techniques that my character espouses as opposed to pressuring him.\" Roth, who plays Dr. Cal Lightman on the hit Fox series \"Lie to Me,\" is shooting scenes for the season finale, which will air May 13. His character is an expert on body language and the detection of deception. \"Our series is based on the idea that we can read what's going on across your face and if it's contradicting what you're actually saying,\" Roth said. Lightman and his colleague, Dr. Gillian Foster -- played by Kelli Williams -- run \"The Lightman Group.\" They observe body language and interpret what it means in order to help law enforcement agencies see through the bull. His character is based on Dr. Paul Ekman, a specialist who reads clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose the truth in criminal investigations. Ekman, who in 2001 was named as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century by the American Psychological Association, is a scientific consultant for the show. Roth says Ekman can be intimidating. \"He makes me very, very nervous, Paul, you know,\" he said. \"I mean, he's the sweetest man, as sweet as can be, but when he's around, you feel like your acting is really being judged.\" Roth is perhaps best known for his outings with famed director Quentin Tarantino. The British actor pulled off a convincing American accent in the cult classics \"Reservoir Dogs\" and \"Pulp Fiction.\" He uses his true-Brit accent in \"Lie to Me,\" which debuted in January and is one of the season's few successful new dramas. In a review for Entertainment Weekly, critic-at-large Ken Tucker wrote that \"Like 'Monk' and 'Psych' and 'The Mentalist,' 'Lie' offers us an eccentric who's brought in by law enforcement to solve crimes.\" Though he gave the show a B-minus, Tucker praised Roth for \"resist[ing] the cuddly/cranky.\" The show has quickly found its fan base, though ratings have declined slightly since the show was put in its 8 p.m. Wednesday time slot, ahead of \"American Idol.\" (The first five episodes aired after \"Idol.\") \"I got stopped because one of my lights was out and I was coming back from work and the guy, the cop that stopped me said 'Oh, we watch your show' and they seemed to enjoy it,\" said Roth. \"ER\" alum Mekhi Phifer is set to join the cast as an FBI agent for two episodes this season, starting Thursday. \"I'm here to kick ass and take names, you know. So it's kind of different,\" Phifer said. \"It's fun, you know. Obviously, I carry a gun and I'm in law enforcement rather than being a doctor.\" Phifer particularly likes acting in intense scenes with Roth. \"I have my own way of doing it,\" he said. \"It's a little different than the way Tim does it. It's a lot of fun, and we're having a great time.\" And will time spent on the show help Phifer better detect when people are lying to him in real life? \"It's going to take a few more episodes, but I'm pretty perceptive,\" he said. Roth, however, makes no claims of special powers -- at least when he's away from the set. \"I try not to know too much, because it actually is quite extraordinary,\" he says. \"When you watch politicians on TV, you can use the stuff that Paul does to see if they're lying or not. I try not to take it home.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "British actor Tim Roth stars in the hit Fox series \"Lie to Me\"\nActor best known for his appearances in Quentin Tarantino films .\nRoth plays a body language expert who can detect liars .\n\"ER\" alum Mekhi Phifer is set to join the cast ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will join the judges' panel on \"American Idol\" for the show's ninth season beginning in 2010, a Fox spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres brings years of experience in front of a live audience to her role. \"I'm thrilled to be the new judge on American Idol,\" DeGeneres said Wednesday. \"I've watched since the beginning, and I've always been a huge fan. So getting this job is a dream come true, and think of all the money I'll save from not having to text in my vote.\" The popular comedian and entertainer will fill a seat left vacant by Paula Abdul, who announced she was leaving the show in August after eight seasons. Was DeGeneres the right replacement? DeGeneres will sit alongside Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi after auditions are completed for the popular talent show, which starts in January. Until then, guest judges including Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas and Neil Patrick Harris will fill the empty slot, Fox said. Watch Jackson discuss what DeGeneres brings to the show » . \"We are thrilled to have Ellen DeGeneres join the \"American Idol\" judges' table this season. She is truly one of America's funniest people and a fantastic performer who understands what it's like to stand up in front of audiences and entertain them every day,\" said Mike Darnell, president of Alternative Entertainment for Fox. \"We feel that her vast entertainment experience, combined with her quick wit and passion for music, will add a fresh new energy to the show.\" DeGeneres brings years of experience in front of a live audience as the host of \"The Ellen DeGeneres Show,\" now in its seventh season, and the host of the 79th Annual Academy Awards. In her new role, the Emmy Award-winning talk show host faces the task of winning over Abdul's supporters, who lamented that her departure would irreparably alter the show. The singer-dancer turned \"Idol\" judge was known for her positive comments to the singers participating in the shows. She was also known for her on-camera run-ins with Cowell and other judges in the show. \"With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to Idol. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day 1 become an international phenomenon,\" a statement on Abdul's verified Twitter account said last month." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The popular talk show host will fill seat on judges' panel left empty by Paula Abdul .\nDeGeneres will will join the judges' panel after the auditions, which begin in January .\n\"Think of all the money I'll save from not having to text in my vote,\" DeGeneres says ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been asked to investigate whether Panama tortured an Ecuadorian citizen who was being held as an illegal immigrant, an official hemispheric human rights organization said. Jesus Tranquilino Velez Loor was arrested November 11, 2002, and deported to Ecuador on September 10, 2003. During that time, he was held without receiving procedural guarantees, the right to be heard and the right to present a defense, said the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. \"The case also involves the lack of investigation of complaints of torture presented by Mr. Velez Loor before the Panamanian authorities, as well as the inhumane conditions of detention under which he was held in several Panamanian penitentiaries,\" the human rights commission said in a release Tuesday. The human rights panel, which is part of the 35-nation Organization of American States, said it referred the case to the court last week because Panama did not adopt sufficient measures to address issues raised in a previous commission report. Velez Loor \"was sentenced to a prison term for having repeatedly entered Panama illegally. ... Panamanian law provides that foreign nationals, who repeatedly enter Panama, without the necessary papers, will be imprisoned for two years and then deported,\" Panama said in a 2006 report. Velez Loor admitted he had gone into Panama without proper papers or visas. The commission said it received an e-mailed complaint from Velez Loor on February 10, 2004, \"in which he claims to have undergone torture, forced isolation, and mistreatment at the hands of Panamanian police officers at two Panamanian detention centers without being given the opportunity to defend himself, without the benefit of any court of law, without being allowed to make a telephone call and while being deprived of all medical care.\" Panama denied those allegations in the 2006 human rights commission report. Officials at the Panamanian embassy in Washington did not return a telephone request Tuesday from CNN for comment on the latest development. The human rights commission consists of seven members who act in a personal capacity, without representing any country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Commission says it received complaint from Velez Loor in 2004 of alleged torture .\nVelez Loor sentenced to prison term for illegal entry into Panama, Panama says .\nOfficials at Panamanian embassy in Washington did not return request for comment ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "BROOKLYN, New York (CNN) -- Every Friday evening, the Nunez family sits down to a traditional religious dinner. Moshe Nunez and his family moved to Crown Heights, a New York neighborhood with thousands of Hasidic Jews. Like most families in their Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, their Jewish Sabbath meal includes blessings over the wine and bread, the company of family and friends and excellent food. But for the Nunez family, the Sabbath table would not be complete without salsa picada and jalapeno dip. Moshe Nunez, an information technology consultant and motivational speaker, was born to a Mexican father and American mother and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. His wife, ChanaLeah, grew up in Panama, the daughter of a Salvadoran mother and American-born father. \"Our home is a Latin American home,\" Nunez says. \"We bring into our home a mixture of the American and Latin culture, and that's reflected in the way we eat. We also enjoy hosting guests, so it's a very Hispanic thing, and a Jewish thing.\" The couple and their two children moved to Brooklyn's Crown Heights area about five years ago so their son, Michael, 17, and daughter, Simcha, 18, could have \"the best Jewish education available,\" Nunez says. Crown Heights is the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidism that is itself a form of Orthodox Judaism. Among the thousands of Hasidic families in the neighborhood, a significant number are also Latinos, Nunez says. \"There are a lot of Latin American Jews here,\" Nunez says. \"Some of them have moved from countries like Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina, where there's political unrest. We make a life here, settle down and become part of the fabric of American society, but we still don't lose our roots.\" Join the conversation: How has America changed Latinos? Many non-Jewish Latinos are surprised to see Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn who speak Spanish, carry on their Hispanic traditions and even keep up with soccer scores from their home countries, Nunez says. Although Moshe and ChanaLeah Nunez were raised in Christian homes, they believe that Moshe's family name is proof that his ancestors are Marranos -- Jews who were forced to denounce or abandon their faith centuries ago in Europe. Moshe Nunez began studying his family genealogy about 13 years ago, while the family was living in Atlanta, Georgia. He met Lorraine Nunez, a woman raised as a Christian who believed she was a direct descendant of Samuel Nunez, a Portuguese physician who fled Europe in the early 1700s to help start one of the oldest Jewish synagogues in the United States, Congregation Mikve Israel in Savannah, Georgia. Like other Marranos living in Europe, Samuel Nunez pretended to be Catholic and practiced Judaism in secret, according to Chabad.org, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's Web site. Meeting Lorraine Nunez inspired Moshe Nunez -- who was still going by his Christian name, Marco -- to further explore his own genealogy. ChanaLeah -- who was going by her Christian name, Jacqueline -- had already known that her grandfather, a well-known army colonel in El Salvador, was Jewish. Like many Jews of his time, he hid his Judaism and married a non-Jewish woman. Marco and Jacqueline believed that their descendants were also Marranos from Spain and Portugal who had to hide their Judaism for fear of persecution. \"The Nunez family started as a Jewish name,\" Moshe Nunez says. \"During the Inquisition they were forced to convert or practice their faith in secret. Most of the Nunez family... like mine assimilated and lost their Judaism.\" Watch Nunez talk about his life in Crown Heights » . While researching his genealogy, Moshe Nunez also began to study the Bible more closely, including the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. \"When I began studying the Torah, I saw that the Sabbath was on Saturday and not Sunday,\" he says. \"That opened [a] Pandora's Box,\" he says, figuring that \"if the Jews had the Sabbath right, maybe they have other stuff right, too.\" Around that time, the Nunez family relocated to Milan, Italy, for Nunez' work as a consultant. Marco and Jacqueline -- who changed their names to the Hebrew Moshe and ChanaLeah while in Italy -- continued their Judaic studies under the tutelage of Orthodox rabbis and decided to undergo an Orthodox conversion to Judaism. \"When I got to Italy and continued to research our family name and studied the Torah, I decided we were going to live a Jewish life,\" Nunez says. The Jewish community in Milan welcomed the family \"with open arms,\" Moshe said. \"The rabbi said to me, 'Moshe, you are Jewish, you were always Jewish.'\" Moshe says he and ChanaLeah \"took every step together,\" going through a formal conversion process. As part of the process Moshe and his son had ritual circumcisions. (They had both been circumcised at birth.) The final step was for the family to appear before a Beit Din, or religious council, to approve the conversion. \"We decided we had to make our full return to Judaism, and we had such good mazal (luck) because the rabbis made it relatively easy. They saw that we were serious people that had studied the religion,\" Nunez says. The Nunez family's story is not out of the ordinary, says Rabbi Shea Rubenstein, an Argentine rabbi who leads the Jewish Latin American Connection at The Shul in Surfside, Florida. \"We have a very vibrant synagogue, and a very large percentage happen to be from Spanish background from countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and Cuba,\" the rabbi says. Rubenstein says that quite a few non-Jewish Hispanics come to The Shul to learn more about Judaism, and while they may not be able to prove they are Jewish, they believe they are descendants of Jews and seek to reconnect with their Jewish roots. If a person wants to practice Judaism but cannot verify their Jewish roots, Rubenstein recommends they go through a formal conversion as the Nunez family did. \"It's difficult to verify because there's some 400 or 500 years of history that people cannot trace, especially since Judaism is passed through the mother and the last name reflects that of the father,\" Rubenstein says. Inspired by their experiences, Moshe and ChanaLeah -- both songwriters and musicians -- wrote a song called \"Jews of Spain,\" with lyrics in Spanish, English and Hebrew. Nunez recorded the song, part of the album \"Kol Haneshema (Every Soul).\" Aside from his work as a consultant and musician, Nunez leads seminars, conducts a weekly program called Quality Life Now at the Empire State Building and teaches weekly Webinars from his Brooklyn home. His seminars, taught in both Spanish and English, focus on seven core values found in the Old Testament. The seven values are often referred to as the Noahide Laws. According to the Bible, the laws were given from God to Noah to serve as a moral code for all humankind. \"I've taken the seven Noahide Laws and I teach them as universal core values, so everyday people can apply them to their lifestyle,\" Nunez says. He says he hopes to share his teachings with all of mankind, regardless of religion, to help them lead a more meaningful life. \"Sharing the knowledge of Torah to the world through education, songs and acts of kindness will help ensure that what happened to the Marranos during the Inquisition will never happen again.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Moshe and ChanaLeah Nunez are Latino Jews who were raised in Christian homes .\nNunez believes he is a decendant of Jews who left oppression in medieval Europe .\nHe and his wife converted to Judaism and moved to a Hasidic New York area .\nThe couple and their children blend Latino and Jewish culture in their lives ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- The president of Athletics South Africa has admitted that he lied about gender tests on runner Caster Semenya before her gold-medal win at the World Athletics Championships last month. Caster Semenya celebrates her gold at the world championships in Berlin. The national sports body has always denied that it agreed to the tests before the race in Berlin, Germany -- an event that kicked off international controversy over the 18-year-old Semenya's gender. But after South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper printed e-mails on Friday showing that ASA President Leonard Chuene was aware of the tests, he held a news conference to apologize. \"I now realize that it was an error of judgment and I would like to apologize unconditionally,\" Chuene said on Saturday, according to South Africa's SAPA news agency. After receiving the results of the tests, the South Africa team doctor requested the 18-year-old Semenya be withdrawn from the 800-meter race she ended up winning, Chuene said. But Chuene said he refused to do it because the sport's international governing body did not request withdrawal. He also said withdrawing Semenya might have looked bad. \"If we did not let her run, we would be confirming that she is not normal,\" Chuene told the news conference in the capital, Pretoria. The e-mails printed by the Mail & Guardian are an exchange between team doctor Harold Adams and ASA General Manager Molatelo Malehopo, with Chuene copied in. \"After thinking about the current confidential matter I would suggest that we make the following decisions,\" Adams wrote on August 5, more than a week before the Berlin race. \"1. We get a (gynecological) opinion and take it to Berlin. 2. We do nothing and I will handle these issues if they come up in Berlin. Please think and get back to me ASAP.\" An e-mail response from Malehopo to Adams, sent the same day, says: \"I will suggest that you go ahead with the necessary tests that the IAAF might need.\" The controversy over Semenya erupted after she crushed her rivals in the 800 meters and secured victory in one minute, 55.45 seconds -- the best women's time in the world this year. Semenya's masculine build and dominant performance fueled existing questions about her gender, and the International Association of Athletics Federations -- which oversees the sport worldwide -- ordered tests on her. Reports in two newspapers last week said the results of the tests showed Semenya has both male and female characteristics. The IAAF declined to confirm those reports and said a decision in the case would come in late November. The IAAF said it sought tests on Semenya's gender before the Berlin championships because questions had been raised after her winning performance at the African junior championships in July. South Africans have rallied behind Semenya, angrily dismissing reports about her gender. Semenya's relatives and the South Africa team manager have maintained she is female. This week, South Africa's minister for women, children and people with disabilities wrote to the United Nations to complain that Semenya had not been treated in line with international protocols on gender and quality. Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya sent a letter to the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women, urging it to investigate, SAPA reported. \"The questioning of her gender is based on a stereotypic view of the physical features and abilities attributable to women,\" she wrote in the letter, according to SAPA. \"Such stereotypes demonstrate the extent of patriarchy within the world's sporting community.\" The process of gender verification has undergone big changes since it was first introduced for international competition in the 1960s, the IAAF said. The first mechanism involved \"rather crude and perhaps humiliating physical examinations,\" which soon gave way to mouth swabs to collect chromosomes. There were too many uncertainties with mouth swabs, so the IAAF abandoned them in 1991 and the International Olympic Committee discontinued them in 2000. A proper test has yet to be found, the IAAF said, and the current tests are considered a good interim solution." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "President of Athletics South Africa admits that he lied about gender tests .\nNational sports body had denied it agreed to tests on runner before Berlin race .\nLeonard Chuene apologizes in aftermath of controversy over Caster Semenya .\nE-mails reveal that team doctor had advised not allowing her to compete ." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "You are a summarization AI. Provide a succinct and relevant summary of the provided text." }, { "from": "human", "value": "(CNN) -- The solution to ending an abusive relationship seems simple: Walk out the door. But for an abused woman, leaving can be a confusing process, complex at every step, said a newly published article in an University of Illinois journal. Co-author and graduate student Lyndal Khaw told CNN that abused women actually go through a five-step process of leaving that involves denial, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. And the transition from one step to another is hardly seamless, Khaw said. \"Some women can skip stages, some repeat a cycle of going back and forth to other steps and others go through the motions -- going from one stage to another\", she said. In their study, Khaw and co-author Jennifer Hardesty, an assistant professor of human and community development, applied their model to 25 abused women. The report was published recently in the Journal of Family Theory and Review. Khaw said that moving from step to step can put a strain on those who are being supportive to an abused woman because they can have a hard time understanding why she returns or refuses to leave. Hardesty said that physically leaving a relationship entails more than a woman's decision to embrace change and prioritizing her own safety. The abuser can affect her decisions, as can children, who can motivate her to return to the relationship, Hardesty said. Even though a woman may return to the abuser at some point, practitioners and women themselves need to understand that every time the woman disengages she gains additional resources and support, Hardesty said. \"So next time she is contemplating and preparing she'll be stronger and perhaps more likely to stay out of that relationship,\" she said. Khaw said service providers, family members and other sources of support need to recognize the stages of what can be a lengthy -- and risky -- process. \"When trying to leave, abusers may get more violent,\" Khaw said. Recognition of the five-step process can be helpful to abused women, Hardesty said. \"Not all women are ready to leave, but recognizing it's a process can be empowering,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Authors say leaving abuse can be a confusing process, complex at every step .\nProcess includes denial, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance .\n\"Not all women are ready to leave,\" says co-author Jennifer Hardesty ." } ]